Yes, it's the time of the year blah, blah, blah...top lists continue to flourish all over the internet and it's not my job to stop them. "People are attracted to lists because we live in an era of overstimulation, especially in terms of information, and lists help us in organizing what is otherwise overwhelming." says David Wallechinsky, a co-author of the Book of Lists (1977). When December starts and you realize you've listened to 100 new albums, compiling a list is not only "a bit" of work but also a very interesting exercise. According to a New Yorker article lists are easy to write. Since I'm no writer, thank God for the lists!
While seeing the world going into shit in 2017 (when we though 2016 was bad), which makes me worried and sad, I personally can't complain about 2017. Specifically in the metal world, despite countless big losses, we saw very good releases and extreme music doing well. I went to more concerts than the last couple of years. Two major highlights were seeing Maiden in a closed arena and Helloween reunion with Kiske and Hansen...those events alone would already make an amazing year in music. But there was much more, including Anthrax playing Among the Living in full. This year, I kept my "new album capacity" at about 100 which is still a lot, but I can't seem to reduce that. But I did "gave up" more quickly on albums and moved on more effectively than I did in 2016. I also tried to buy less records, because it was getting out of hand, but I'm not sure I succeeded. Anyways, let's get to it...
As always, this is personal list. Music is not a competition and sometimes the difference between albums is virtually non existent. Moreover my appreciation for a specific album or piece of music varies depending on mood and feelings of a particular day or moment. This year was unusually skewed with several Death Metal and Hardcore related albums while not forgetting my prog/power metal roots. Without further ado, here it is...
Honorable Mentions:
SECT - No Cure for Death
Savage Messiah - Hands Of Fate
Ne Obliviscaris - Urn
Thy Art Is Murder - Dear Desolation
50.Code Orange - Forever
49.Cavalera Conspiracy - Psychosis
48.Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black
47.August Burns Red - Phantom Anthem
46.Sólstafir - Berdreyminn
45.Decapitated - Anticult
44.Immolation - Atonement
43.Stone Sour - Hydrograd
42.Soen - Lykaia
41.Steven Wilson - To The Bone
40.Temple Of Void - Lords of Death
39.Arch Enemy - Will To Power
38.Archspire - Relentless Mutation
37.Accept - The Rise of Chaos
36.The Faceless - In Becoming a Ghost
35.Pink Cream 69 - Headstrong
34.Iced Earth - Incorruptible
33.Unleash The Archers - Apex
32.Black Country Communion - BCCIV
31.BloodBound - War Of Dragons
30.Communic - Where Echoes Gather
29.John 5 & The Creatures - Season of the Witch
28.The Contortionist - Clairvoyant
27.Leprous - Malina
26.Sepultura - Machine Messiah
25.Threshold - Legends Of The Shires
Threshold have been on my best of list since 2007 and their winning streak continues. It isn’t their best work, as typically happens with a double album, it overstays its welcome. But it's full of interesting music and prog overdose that hooks you.
24.DragonForce - Reaching Into Infinity
It's a fact that my lists are influenced by the bands I saw live in that year. While I really liked their previous album, at first I was disappointed with this one. But their show was great and the new songs on the setlist are awesome. Yes, the full album is not perfect, but the best parts are so great that makes it worthwhile repeated listens.
23.Almanac - Kingslayer
A very late release from a band that I didn't know (albeit featuring very well known power metal legends), Almanac simply brought one of the best power metal album of the year. The impressive line-up led by former Rage guitarist Victor Smolski sophomore release is bombastic, catchy and pure melodic power metal brilliance!
22.The Black Dahlia Murder - Nightbringers
The album is brutal, groovy, direct and "easy" to digest. Vocals and riffs are sick and as evil as fuck. Note that despite the new guitar player, the solos are fantastic, different, but great. Melo Death Metal as it should be.
21.Trivium - The Sin And The Sentence
While not perfect, this is Trivium's best album in a long time, probably since Shogun. It features some of the heaviest moments of the band's career, conversely it doesn't shy away from catchy choruses, hooks and accessibility. A highlight is the guitar riffs and solos, just great stuff all over the album.
Building on the highly acclaimed predecessor, Medusa is a logical next step in the Paradise Lost discography. The album masterfully mix Gothic, Doom and Death metal without loosing its identity and also being true to the band's sound. The musicianship is superb and the songs are each independent and unique but glued by their gloomy and dark atmosphere. No doubts that after 30 years, they continue to be one of the best in their genre.
Brilliant and unique, it’s almost like a tech death band with a power metal singer. The guitar work is superb and so are the vocals. The song structures are also very interesting, the guitar solos are all over the place and not only before the last chorus. I hope for Witherfall to have a brilliant future! Shout out to Jake Dreyer, who is also on Iced Earth, as one of the best young guitar players out there. Debut album of the year? Yes sir!
Gunmen grew on me to the point of becoming the best power metal album of the year. In fact it's another case in which going to their show has helped, my initial review was not that great. Orden Ogan continues to be consistent with their sound based on epic German melodic metal (think Blind Guardian) with folk, symphonic and modern metal elements into their sound. If you are not into this genre or band, it is worth checking it.
Now here is another "djent band" that expanded their sound and with great evolution into a prog rock band. Think Haken with touches of Periphery. Great vocals, guitar work, specially the solos and overall song writing. They balance the technical musicianship with slow beautiful moments. One of the best modern progressive albums of the year.
16.While She Sleeps - You Are We
I'm glad I gave this record several spins because I was very close to miss one of the best metalcore albums of the year. While I liked the previous effort, I didn't give it a lot of chance. Therefore leaving comparisons aside, You Are We is a jump forward for a band that was already being seen as the "next big thing" in this genre.
This is a very consistent album with no surprises for those who know the band. There's groove, technicality and brutality well mixed by one of the most brutal Death Metal bands out there. From the first second to the final 10th tittle track, we are hammered with crushing drums and super technical, fast and heavy riffs. Great extreme metal album!
It's black metal, sludge, death metal, post-punk...no, it's not messy or schizophrenic, this is actually Tombs 4th studio album. A concise and impressively executed genre mix resulting in one of the best extreme metal albums of the year.
The songs are strong, powerful and obviously epic and doomy. The tCofFK proves that Sorcerer has perfected the song writing, and delivered great riffs and guitar solos. But the most impressive performance is from the singer, Anders Engberg. The vocals are clean but powerful delivering epic melodies throughout the record.
With the 3rd album the band has distanced themselves from their traditional doom roots and dove into more 70's bluesy rock with a Deep Purple touch. At first I wasn't into it because in comparison I still favor their debut album. However, the album grew on me and I came to appreciate it for what it is. I listened to it so many times this year that it deserves to be that high in the list.
This album showcases an epic, heavy and dark style of doom. Think late Black Sabbath, Candlemass, King Diamond but with vocals that remind me of Michael Kiske or Geoff Tate. I really enjoyed this album, tight song writing, catchy songs, fantastic vocals, and awesome doom riffs. All packaged with a very good production and dynamic mix. A top traditional doom album.
24 min of voracious headbanging metal madness. With that said, the album is dynamic with pauses, samples, tempo variation and two vocal styles. After 9 brutal metal songs, we come to the title track that unexpectedly opens with a beautiful female vocal over some samples. While for some this would sound like an album closer, no, Full of Hell returns to voracious grindcore to close the album with the 6 min "At the Cauldron's Bottom" featuring fantastic marching drums.
9.Pallbearer - Heartless
Heartless is a very progressive and melodic album. Clean singing dominates, but in a good way and it's brilliantly executed. It's never too high and translates well the melancholic feel of most songs. The 12-min "Dancing in Madness" is a masterpiece and almost an homage to Pink Floyd. In addition to fantastic song writing and musicianship, Heartless also sounds amazing and dynamic. Over the last couple of years, doom bands have been making appearances in my year-end list. 2017 was not an exception.
8.Darkest Hour - Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
A perfect blend of hardcore and melodic death metal. The memorable songwriting showcases fantastic guitarwork and drumming throughout the record. John Henry delivers relentless visceral vocals from start to finish. And that's a great thing. because due to outstanding guitarwork, groves, and tempo changes, Darkest Hour is able to break the monotony and add enough variability to the songs. A fantastic metalcore record as it should be.
A fantastic album that cements Kreator as the current masters of Thrash Metal. The album is a lesson of modern thrash metal with no frills, no bullshit. Kreator can combine one of the best thrash vocals and very aggressive thrash riffs with melody therefore creating instant heavy metal anthems. Not to mention the drumming and guitar solos that complete this receipt for success. With that said, Kreator took baby steps to incorporate traditional heavy metal (e.g. Priest and Maiden) into the mix . Therefore avoiding repeating themselves while delivering another modern masterpiece. Gods of Violence is one of their best albums ever. Hail to the hordes!
The tenth studio album by the Swedish progressive metal (or rock?) band Pain of Salvation was one of the first releases of 2017. And since then it has been topping my list. Their last studio album with original songs dates back 7 years ago. Overall ItPLoD sounds heavy, full of tempo changes and deeply emotional. All songs are great and the album flows beautifully. Special highlight to the title track that closes the album. It is a 15:30 min beautiful and emotional masterpiece of modern prog rock.
Enslaved has released so many good album that every time the comparison is difficult. The good news is that E, despite an average production, is a great album, relatively short with easier to digest. There's a lot of groove and some different tricks like the keys sound (Jon Lord?) and the sax (Pink Floyd?). Enslaved were able to seemly transition to the new key player/vocalist while maintaining their sound progression from last albums. .
Year 2017 and Power Trip delivered a Thrash Metal masterpiece that can already be included in best thrash metal album of all times. That's how good it is. When it comes down to it, it's all about song writing. The melodies, the riffs, the album flow, it's all perfectly mastered. All of that without loosing high level of energy from the hardcore influences. One of the biggest accomplishments of Power Trip is to tear down barriers among sub genres and create a something special that appeals to many metal heads, new and old.
Now, that was a pleasant surprise. The Dusk In Us is one of those records that hypnotizes you. From the first riff, I was sold! Then we go into 5 aggressive tracks with lots going on before diving into the 7 min title track. It's basically a post-rock song with a very slow build up and a great pay-off. And in one of those rare moments an album gets even better as you enter the second half. It has even more groove and killer riffs. Overall, the vocals are emotional and pissed off, the drumming is relentless, the riffs catchy and dissonant at times. It's modern music as art for a world that is completely fucked up.
The Source is a concept studio album from Ayreon, a project by Arjen Lucassen. 12 characters are portrayed by some of the best prog/power metal singers in activity. All singers deliver amazing performances without loosing his own sound. Arjen is able to get the best of each singer, they sound natural and relaying on their strong characteristics. The Source concept and story are told in 17 songs which flow perfectly, like an opera. The 1.5 hr fly by when enjoying this fantastic piece of music. Power progressive metal lovers will dig this masterpiece!
Emperor of Sand is by far the album that I listened to the most this year. An outstanding modern prog metal showcase. The album sounds like a fusion of the latest efforts with Crack the Skye. The musicianship is superb, the division of vocal duties among the 3 singers has been perfected, and the 3 are singing better than ever. The guitar riffs, duos and solos are just fantastic, Brent and Bill have found the perfect harmony. Troy maintains the trademark bass sound and Brann is, simply put, one of the best drummers in activity. I love all 11 tracks and have almost no complains. The album flows amazingly well and it's my album of the year.
Biggest Disappointments:
Byzantine - The Cicada Tree
Serious Black - Magic
Sons Of Apollo - Psychotic Symphony
The Best Sounding Albums:
Pallbearer - Heartless
Steven Wilson - To The Bone
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Ayreon - The Source
Threshold - Legends Of The Shires
Bell Witch
Full of Hell
Favorite Guitar Solos:
Pain of Salvation - Angels of Broken Things by Daniel Gildenlöw
Mastodon - Jaguar God by Brent Hinds
Ayreon - The Dream Dissolves by Marcel Coenen (Sun Caged)
Decapitated - Kill the Cult by Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka
Witherfall - What We Are Dying For by Jake Dreyer
Black Country Communion - Wanderlust by Joe Bonamassa
Sons Of Apollo - Signs Of The Time by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
Roots Remain by Mastodon
The Day That The World Breaks Down by Ayreon
Curse of Darkness by DragonForce
The Passing Light Of Day by Pain of Salvation
Kill the Cult by Decapitated
Iron Maiden at Sportpaleis, Antwerp
Helloween at O13, Tilburg
Anthrax at Trix, Antwerp
Axel Rudi Pell at GMM2017
Omnium Gatherum at Biebob, Vosselaar
