Tales from the Jugular

Staff Year End Awards for 2012!

STAFF AWARDS FOR 2012: BRAD CAPLAN, DAVID LOVELESS, EC, FRANK HILL, JONAH HAZE, VINAYA

EC - Top 5 Albums Of The Year
Casablanca - "Apocalyptic Youth"
Shinedown - "Amaryllis"
Dokken - "Broken Bones"
Jack Blades - "Rock 'N Roll Ride"
Blessed By A Broken Heart - "Feel The Power"

Comeback Of The Year
Van Halen - "A Different Kind Of Truth"

Best Non-Metal Albums Of The Year
Corb Lund - "Cabin Fever"
Whitehorse - "The Fate Of The World Depends On This Kiss"
Old Crow Medicine Show - "Carry Me Back"
Prometheus Original Motion Picture Score

Worst Album Of The Year
Soundgarden - "King Animal"

Frank Hill - Top Releases
Accept - Stalingrad
Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
Ammotrack - Come Die With Us
Sister Sin - Now and Forever
Overkill - The Electric Age
Blessed By A Broken Heart - Feel The Power

Looking Forward to Hearing:
Black Sabbath
Queensryche

VINAYA - The Dynamic Dozen
Overall, not the most exciting year for metal, in my opinion. Personally, I find myself looking forward to what 2013 will bring, with some quality releases already in the pipeline from what I’ve heard. As for 2012...Funny that the top spot on my list is taken by what is basically a prog rock band, but man, I’d have to argue that Swedish proggers Beardfish delivered one of the most stunning metal tunes of the year in the form of a little ditty called "Voluntary Slavery".

Beardfish: The Void
Earthen Grave: S/T
Accept: Stalingrad
Candlemass: Psalms for the Dead
Testament: Dark Roots of the Earth
Storm Corrosion: S/T
Ram: Death
Loudness: Eve to Dawn
The Gathering: Disclosure
Joe Stump: Revenge of the Shredlord
Fastway: Eat Dog Eat
Grand Magus: The Hunt

Good news: The return of Scandinavian cult heroes Oz, despite the absence of their ripping original axe duo (and apparent inability to maintain a new one for very long). Nice to see these nutters enjoying a resurgence. And speaking of good news regarding Scandinavian acts, personal favorites Silver Mountain returned in 2011 with a live reunion show DVD and a YouTube vid for one new song, "Breaking Brains," this year. Really looking forward to a new album from them in 2013!

Very sad news: The death of Riot guitarist and founder Mark Reale, not long after the release of the band’s stunning "Immortal Soul" album, no less. May he rest in peace.

BRAD CAPLAN - Top 21 Releases
2012 was a great year for metal and rock albums. Rush has been my favorite band since day one, and this has been an epic couple of years. "Clockwork Angels" is a great Rush album and is my easy pick for album of the year. It has all the elements of a great Rush album - the prog rock, the concept album, the musicianship and more than in the past couple of albums - the songwriting. It all comes together on this album! I was never a big fan of Gojira, but "L'Enfant Sauvage" is a great album. One part brutal metal, with a hint of something progressive. I will need to revisit their back catalogue in 2013 for sure. I really enjoyed the Van Halen album. Much has already been said and written, but it is a good album and I listened to it many times this summer. It was nice to see Lynch Mob and Dokken sounding more like themselves this year - very solid old school albums.

1. Rush - Clockwork Angels
2. Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage
3. Devin Townsend - Epicloud
4. StoneSour - House of Gold and Bones Part 1
5. Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth
6. Shinedown - Amaryllis
7. Lamb of God - Resolution
8. DragonForce - The Power Within
9. Nighwish - Imaginaerium
10. Iron Maiden - En Vivo (Live in Santiago, Chile)
11. Megadeth - Thirte3n
12. Shadows Fall - Fire From The Sky
13. Slash w/Myles Kennedy - Apocalyptic Love
14. Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name
15. Testament - Dark Roots of Earth
16. Lynch Mob - Sound Mountain Sessions
17. Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
18. KoRn - Path of Totality
19. Dokken - Broken Bones
20. Tremonti - All I Was
21. HellYeah - Band of Brothers

I also enjoyed some great "non-metal" albums from: The Killers, Keane, Amy MacDonald, John Mayer, Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Linkin Park.

There are also some albums that might have made this list, but I have not had time to properly listen to them. Those that are worth mentioning: As I Lay Dying, KISS, All That Remains, Kamelot, In This Moment, Soundgarden, etc. - Maybe some of these will make my 2013 rankings.

David Loveless - Top 20 Metal Albums!
(In Order)
1. Evoken – Atra Mors
2. Vaura – Selenelion
3. War From A Harlots Mouth – Voyeur
4. Deftones – Koi No Yokan
5. The Acacia Strain – Death Is The Only Mortal
6. Car Bomb – w^w^^w^w
7. Earthrise – Eras Lost
8. Indesinence – Vessels Of Light And Decay
9. A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance
10. Serpentine Path – Serpentine Path
11. 7 Horns 7 Eyes – Throes Of Absolution
12. Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind
13. The Contortionist – Intrinsic
14. Imbroglio – Declared Self Hatred
15. Blacklisters – BLKLSTRS
16. Blut Aus Nord – 777: Cosmosophy
17. Architects – Daybreaker
18. Flourishing – Intersubjectivity (EP)
19. Old Man Gloom – No
20. The Tony Danza Tap dance Extravaganza – Danza IIII

THESE BANDS RELEASED AWESOME ALBUMS IN 2012 AS WELL, THEY JUST DIDN’T MAKE MY TOP 20 LIST:

(No Particular Order)
1. The Algorithm – Polymorphic Code
2. Cannibal Corpse - Torture
3. Enslaved – RIITIIR
4. Every Time I Die – Ex Lives
5. Exotic Animal Petting Zoo – Tree Of Tongues
6. Glass Cloud – The Royal Thousand
7. Katatonia – Dead End Kings
8. Klone – The Dreamer’s Hideaway
9. Napalm Death – Utilitarian
10. Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster - Exegesis

HERE ARE SOME AWESOME NON-METAL ALBUMS THAT WERE RELEASED IN 2012:
1. Constants – Pasiflora
2. Majeure – Solar Maximum
3. Steve Moore – Light Echoes
4. Swans – The Seer
5. Young Prisms – In Between

JONAH HAZE - The Best Rock/Metal of 2012
We were gifted with great releases from many an established band this year. A few newer-newerish bands also kicked our asses like Black Country Communion, Christian Mistress, Gojira and Sister Sin. Van Halen made themselves an official punchline but were not joking about rockin. God Bless Burzum for always keeping us in the black and Overkill and Testament for championing thrash. Lita and Trixter led left field comebacks, while Accept and Tank are still on the attack. However two new incredibly infectious bands made the list this year, Adrenaline Mob and Casablanca. Each is almost a supergroup in its own right. If you own your music right, you will own this music right now. I am personally excited about the personal value of up coming releases for 2013. The nations are crying for metal and we shall deliver the goods! I appreciate every band participating but I expect more out of the big boys. Holding them accountable and their releases accountable are not so very different. Chart sales mean nothing, but home runs with the fans do. I dont want to have the uneasy feelings that Aerosmith, Kiss and Van Halen left, but I have a feeling more things uneasy wait on the other side of the new year. In specific: Black Sabbath. More...

The Best:
Accept - Stalingrad
Adrenaline Mob - Omerta
Black Country Communion - Afterglow
Burzum - Umskiptar
Crazy Lixx - Riot Avenue
The Cult - Choice of Weapon
Casablanca - Apocalyptic Youth
The Cage - 3
Christian Mistress - Possession
Cradle of Filth - The Manticore & Other Horrors
Doro - Raist Your Fist
Dokken - Broken Bones
Europe - Bag of Bones
Lita Ford - Living Like A Runaway
Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage
Jimi Jamison - Never Too Late
Kiss - Monster
LA Guns - Hollywood Forever
Marilyn Manson - Born Villian
Mob Rules - Cannibal Nation
Marduk - Serpent Sermon
Overkill - The Electric Age
Sister Sin - Now and Forever
Slash - Apocalyptic Love
Sunstorm - Emotional Fire
Tank - War Nation
Testament - Dark Roots of Earth
Trixter - New Audio Machine
Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
Venom - Fallen Angels
Who Cares: Iommi/Gillan

Worst:
Aerosmith - Music From Another Dimension
Baroness - Yellow and Green
Bang Tango - Pistol Whipped in the Bible Belt
Down - Down IV Part 1 The Purple Ep
Great White - Elation
Steve Harris - British Lions
Heart - Fanatic
Yngwie Malmsteen - Spellbound
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Jeff Scott Soto - Damage Control
Soundgarden - King Animal
The Sword - Apocryphon
Geoff Tate - Kings and Thieves
Devin Townsend - Epicloud
T&N - Slave to the Empire

Lulu of the Year:
Geoff Tate's: Kings And Thieves

Lars Ulrich of the Year:
Geoff Tate

LOOKING FORWARD TO:
AC/DC
Ann Boleyn/Hellion
Bad City
Black Sabbath
Crash Diet
Danzig
Deep Purple
Guns N Roses
Jack Russell's Great White
Helloween
Immortal
King Diamond
King Kobra
Jeff Keith
Krokus
Lynch Mob
Michael Schenker/Don Dokken project
Queensryche
David Lee Roth
Saxon
Slayer
Tesla
& My new Favorite band: GHOST

Raise your horns to Heaven! I love you all!

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