Silhouettes is over 2 years old. I'll throw Death Angel and Volbeat in there, but those weren't anywhere near memorable. Other than that, it's been a sorry ass year for metal. Gojira better be throwing out some new shit out soon to compensate.
Oh I don't even perceive the "heavy" stuff as being heavy at all, especially considering some of the styles I'm listening to. It's just awesome music in every aspect and I enjoy all of the songs entirely.
+1 To Labrie and Dimmu! I didn't even know Helloween had a new album (yes, I live in a cave). Sorry Carlos, while I dig the music of the new BG...I just can't see what others see in that singer.
By far: Deathspell Omega - Paracletus, but these are also interesting: Twilight - Monument to Time End Weapon - From the Devil's Tomb Gorath - MXCII Ash Pool - For Which He Plies The Lash Ondskapt - Arisen from the Ashes Though I only listen to extreme stuff...
Exodus - Exhibit B The HUman Condition Accept- Blood of the nations Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast Haste The Day - Attack of the Wolf King (only from a production view)
Enslaved, October Tide, Ihsahn, Mar de Grises....I'm sure there are some others but those are coming to mind as stand outs right now.
After listening the songs on youtube, the new Agalloch will definitely the album of the year for me. This band never disappoints.
Fear Factory - Mechanize James Labrie - Static Impulse Soil Work - The Panic Broadcast Accept- Blood Of The Nations Exodus - Exhibit B Other then that nothing really impressed me in 2010, and thats a huge thing being that Nevermore released a CD. Although I do think Andy got the best guitar tone yet on any Nevermore CD, I just didn't do it for me musically. It was kinda boring. I am also still listening to Megadeth - End Game. That simple fact should let me put it in the list of the best of 2010. Cant get enough of it.
Helloween just came out on tuesday here probably the heaviest thing they've done yet BG .... well, to each their own I guess Personally I find his voice to be thrilling and his sense of melody to be pretty unique was the Exodus cd this year? In that case I'm adding that to my list as well .... that disc fucking SLAYS
Hail of Bullets - On Divine Winds This album is so unbelievably great in every way. Not a single song that I want to skip, and the sound is just stunning. They really manage to get so much atmosphere into their music by using great riffs that make you want to smash everything, and melodies / moments that are truly epic. This (and their previous album) really transports the atmosphere / feeling of war, not just "some cool death metal stuff". Fuck yes. Other great cds so far: Aeon - Path of Fire The Grotesquery - Tales of the Coffin Born
The Contortionist - Exoplanet Periphery - Periphery Veil of Maya - [id] (wasn't great compared to TCMC, but way better than most stuff) Within the Ruins - Invade Really excited for new After the Burial too. Whitechapel let me down for the most part.
I really hope they´ll choose an excellent producer for their next (and probably their last) album. But I guess, it wouldn´t be easy dealing with Steve Harris. Megadeth, Accept, Exodus...all my goddamn heros have such a great sound, thanks Andy Sneap. WHY NOT MAIDEN?? Edit: Beside of that, the songwriting is a disapointment, as well.
Within The Ruins - Invade (awesome, incredible guitar playing) The Contortionist - Exoplanet (awesome, great use of ambience/atmosphere) The Deftones - Diamond Eyes (best Deftones release in a long time, self-titled track is especially awesome) Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast (great guitar playing... solid album) Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within (catchy, melodic, great guitar playing) Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise (great production, great songwriting, great singing, great album) Minus The Bear - Omni (Minus The Bear never disappoints... more mainstream sounding without losing what makes them special) Cynic Re-Traced (just an EP, but I love anything Cynic puts out) Allegaeon - Fragments of Form and Function (very impressive melodic death metal, fast paced, great riffs, tons of energy) Periphery - Periphery (disappointed with vocals and mix, but still good music, and I still like the band) Veil of Maya - [id] (again, not as great as it could have been, but some cool songs for sure) Tesseract - Concealing Fate (more mix disappointments, but I enjoyed it. the music is a little dull at times, but the vocals make up for it) Nevermore - Obsidian Conspiracy (somewhat of a letdown in some ways... too many ballads, too much cheesy Warrel, but I'm a big Loomis fan) Levi Werstler - Avalanche of Worms (a lot better than Daath in my opinion, completely badass guitar playing) Can't wait to hear the new After the Burial that comes out in about 2 weeks!
Off the top o me head: Deftones - Diamond Eyes Dillenger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis Agalloch - Marrow Of The Spirit Periphery - Periphery Wow, I cant even think of any other metal album I liked released this year. Even after I checked out this handy wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_in_heavy_metal_music O well 2009 was awesome at least.
