EC's Top 10
10. In Flames - Sounds Of A Playground Fading
9. Poisonblack - Drive
8. Iced Earth - Dystopia
7. Artillery - My Blood
6. Widow - Life's Blood
5. Mother Misery - Stand Your Ground
4. Falling In Reverse - The Drug In Me Is You
3. Anthrax - Worship Music
2. Burn Halo - Up From The Ashes
1. Rise Against - End Game
Worst Record - Metallica/Lou Reed "Lulu" (also worst album cover I might add)
Best Album Cover - Deceased "Surreal Overdose"
Frank Hill's 's Top 10
Alpha Tiger - Man or Machine
Underride - Distorted Nation
The Living Fields - Running Out of Daylight
The Embodied - The Embodied
Rise Against - Endgame
In Flames - SOAPF
Anthrax - Worship Music
Artillery - My Blood
Aesthesia - Shattered Idols
Widow - Life's Blood
Almost Made It:
Electric Sister - The Lost Art of Rock & Roll
The Dirty Youth - Red Light Fix
Solar Fragment - In Our Hands
Non-metal:
Two Steps from Hell - Invincible
Red Hot Cilli Peppers - I'm With You
Troy Cole's 's Top 10
Burn Halo - Up From The Ashes
Anthrax - Worship Music
Megadeth - 13
Amorphis - The Beginning of Times
Consfearacy - S/T
Poisonblack - Drive
Helstar - Glory of Chaos
Widow - Life's Blood
Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions
Mercenary - Metamorphosis
BEN MCCRAW's Top 10
10. Sonata Arctica: "Live In Finland"
9. Rammstein: "Made In Germany"
8. Megadeth: "THIRT3EN"
7. Burzum: "Fallen"
6. Seven Witches: "Call Upon The Wicked"
5. Symphony X: "Iconoclast"
4. Fleshgod Apocalypse: "Agony"
3. Origin: "Entity"
2. Amorphis: "The Beginning Of Times"
1. Deicide: "To Hell With God"
BRAD CAPLAN - Albums of the Year (Hard Rock/Metal)
Here are my albums of the year. I have included some albums that are not quite
"metal" but are close enough for me. I cannot believe that I really did not know
Volbeat before this year. I spent more time listening to their albums than any other band
this year. Perfect mix of Metallica meets Green Day and Social Distortion. Good to see
them getting some airplay on XM Octane, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the Arch Enemy
album. Three or four tracks that are amongst their best. Foo Fighters had a great year. If
you did not see their documentary "Back and Forth" you need to try to catch it
on Palladia or somewhere. This is a great rock album and would have been my #1 on this
list, but they are not metal. Devin Townsend's album was his hardest and most metal since
his Strapping Young Lad albums. Complex and brutal - perfect Devin. While Opeth has
clearly taken a turn into the Prog Rock world (no death metal vocals on Heritage) it is
still pure Opeth and a really great rock album. I was happy to see Children of Bodom get
back to form with their 2011 realease after a couple of sub par efforts. I did include one
live album on my list - that being the Rush (Time Machine) album. The production is very
good and the band are still at the top of their game. Hearing the "Moving
Pictures" album in its entirety is something to behold. A great DVD as well. All in
all, a great year in metal.
1 Volbeat - Beyond Hell/Above Heaven
2 Arch Enemy - Khaos Legions
3 Foo Fighters - Wasted Light
4 Scar Symmetry - Unseen Empire
5 Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
6 Opeth - Heritage
7 Devin Townsend - Deconstruction
8 Times of Grace - The Hymn of the Broken Man
9 Rush - Time Machine 2011 Live in Cleveland
10 Whitesnake - Forevermore
11 Black Label Society - The Song Remains Not The Same
12 Within Temptation - The Unforgiven
13 All That Remains - For We Are Many
14 Evanescence - Evanescence
15 My Chemical Romance - Danger Days: True Lives of Fabulous Killjoys
16 5 Finger Death Punch - American Capitalist
17 Edguy - Age of the Joker
18 Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever
CHRIS KINCAID's Top 10
10. Iced Earth - Dystopia
Everyone needs a Power Metal fix once in awhile and this album satisfies the hunger!
9. Helstar - Glory of Chaos
Dig James Rivera's chops and the menacing guitar duo of Larry and Rob. Power/Speed mix.
8. Anvil - Juggernaut of Justice
Lips and Robb retain their energy and create their most sonically sound album yet.
7. Lazarus A.D - Black Rivers Flow
Heavy Pantera influence. Tons of groove!
6. Onslaught - Sounds of Violence
Brutal! This album seen more action than me!
5. Destruction - Day of Reckoning
German legends in Thrash dish out an assortment of blitzkrieg riffs and solos that slay.
4. Havok - Time Is Up
One of the leaders in the new breed of Thrash. Eargasm Metal!
3. Vicious Rumors - Razorback Killers
Raped the play button on my MP3 Player with this album! Good workout music!
2. Anthrax - Worship Music
Joey is back! Mixes classic Thrash with the more melodic edge of former vocalist John
Bush.
1. Steel Panther - Balls Out
2nd album from SP that parodies the hilarious trappings of being a Rock Star.
David Loveless - Top 10 Metal Album's of 2011
1. Textures – Dualism (Nuclear Blast) = I was a little concerned
after Eric (former vocalist) left the band, as his vocals had become the staple in the
signature sound of Textures. I was a little apprehensive – at first – to hear
Daniel on vocals, but he is simply amazing and has added even more dimensions to Textures,
as can be heard on “Dualism” – my pick for Metal Album of 2011.
2. Mastodon - The Hunter (Roadrunner Records) = Just when you think
Mastodon couldn't do any better, they release “The Hunter”, an outstanding album
that shows the band at the top of their game. Overall, the songs are not as heavy as
previous efforts, but the songwriting is the best it's ever been. And the vocals are in
top-notch form!
3. Junius - Reports From The Threshold Of Death (Prosthetic Records) =
With obvious influences from the Deftones, Katatonia, & Anekdoten, Junius create a
massive sound of their own on their 3rd album that is equally catchy, beautiful and
brutal!
4. Dirge - Elysian Magnetic Fields (Blight Records) = Taking the sludgy
grooves of Neurosis and combining them with the devastating heaviness of Godflesh, Dirge
have probably just created the greatest post metal album of all times.
5. Gigan - Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes (Willowtip Records) =
Featuring former members of Hate Eternal, Gigan have created a new genre of brutal
psychedelic death metal! This album slays, folks!
6. A Hope For Home - In Abstraction (Facedown Records) = A Hope For Home
have picked up where the great Isis left off and has offered us a massive post metal album
called In Abstraction! This band has grown tremendously over their short 4-album career!
7. Dim Mak – The Emergence of Reptilian Altars (Willowtip Records)
= I have been waiting over 5 years for a new Dim Mak and it was finally released this
year. Although not as fast as their previous album, this is their most brutal album to
date and the production couldn't have been any better. My only gripe is that the album is
a mere 31 minutes long! I hope we don't have to wait 5 more years!
8. TesseracT – One (Century Media) = Tesseract gave us a teaser EP
in 2010 called Concealing Fate. This year we get the whole album and it is one of the
years best. Although they soon lost their vocalist, I'm excited to hear what is next from
this young band.
9. Uneven Structure – Februus (Basick Records) = Probably the most
anticipated Djent album of the year, France's Uneven Structure doesn't disappoint with
their debut album, Februus. Brutal, catchy & epic, this album is great from start to
finish.
10. Vildhjarta – Masstaden (Century Media) = There have been a lot
of complaints about the genre this band considers themselves to be. Whether it's Thall or
Djent, I don't really care because this is one hell of a Metal album and it sounds even
better at loud volumes (although, what metal album doesn't, right?). They take the sounds
of Meshuggah to the next level and leave the competition in the dust!
THESE BANDS ALSO RELEASED AWESOME ALBUMS IN 2011 AS WELL, THEY JUST DIDN'T MAKE MY TOP 10
LIST:
1. Terra Tenebrosa - Tunnels
2. Ulcerate - The Destroyers
Of All
3. Dir En Grey - Dum Spiro
Spero
4. Fen -
Epoch
5. The Arusha Accord - The Echo Verses
6. Symphony X - Iconoclast
7. Smohalla - Resilience
8. The Botanist - The Suicide
Tree/A Rose From The Dead
9. The Browning - Burn This
World
10. Morbid Angel - Illud Divinum Insanus (That's
right, I like it damn it)!!
HERE ARE SOME AWESOME NON-METAL ALBUMS THAT WERE RELEASED IN 2011:
1. Anathema - Falling Deeper
2. Blueneck - Repetitions
3. Chelsea Wolfe - Apokalypsis
4. Fallon Bowman - Human/Condition
5. Zombi - Escape Velocity
JONAH HAZE'S Top 40 Best of 2011!
Whitesnake - Forevermore
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Kimball/Jamison - s/t
Saxon - Call to Arms
Black Country Communion 2
Black Widow - Sleeping With Demons
Tank - War Machine
Anthrax - Worship Music
Alice Cooper - Welcome 2 My Nightmare
Lechery - In Fire
John Sykes - Bad Boy Live
The Elves - Before There Was Elf
Mr. Big - What If...
Iron Fate - Cast In Iron
Astral Doors - Jerusalem
Meanstreak - Declaration of War
Charred Walls of the Damned - Cold Wind on Timeless Days
Sinner - One Bullet Left
Chickenfoot - III
Sebastian Bach - Kicking And Screaming
Motorhead - The World is Yours
HeadCat - Walk the Walk Talk the Talk
Reece/Kronlund - Solid
Doogie White - As Yet Untitled
House of Lords - Big Money
Jan Holberg Project - Sense of Time
Electric Boys - And Them Boys Done Swang...
George Lynch - Kill All Control
Duff McKagan's Loaded - The Taking
Night Ranger - Somewhere Out in California
Steel Seal - Redemption
Crash Diet - Generation Wild
The Poodles - Clash of the Elements
Outloud - Love Catastrophy
Crazy Lixx - New Religion
Bad City - Welcome to the Wasteland
Miss Crazy - II
King Kobra - s/t
Artillery - My Blood
Nightmare - Insurrection
JONAH HAZE's Top 10 Worst of 2011!
Metallica & Lou Reed - LuLu
Queensryche - Dedicated to Chaos
Y&T - Facemelter
Jorn - Live in Black
Bullet Boys - Rocked & Ripped
Warrant - Rockaholic
Symphorce - Unrestricted
Iced Earth - Dystopia
Michael Schenker - Temple of Rock
Tesla - Twisted Wires