11. Dope - No Regrets:
I never would have thought this band would make such an amazing album, seeing as the piles of shit they released before this with only a couple good songs, but damn this album is great. The vocals obviously make the album here, don't get me wrong the instruments are great but if there was a different vocalist this album would suck big time...
Best Tracks: 6-6-Sick, Addiction, and Nothing For Me Here.
10. Shadows Fall - Retribution:
Even though I am not really a fan of metalcore, I've loved this band since their first album came out and this one did not disappoint like Threads Of Life did. It has their greatest clean vocals ever, greatest screams, best guitar solos, and amazing drums. Even Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God makes a guest appearance in one of the songs: "King Of Nothing."
Best Tracks: Still I Rise, King Of Nothing, and Picture Perfect.
9. Slayer - World Painted Blood:
Slayer is my favorite thrash band and this is definitely their best since Seasons In The Abyss but I also think it sounds too much like Christ Illusion, which I don't really like, yet still has many great tracks. Unit 731 is also one of my favorite Slayer songs of all time.
Best Tracks: Unit 731, Public Display Of Dismemberment, and Hate Worldwide.
8. HammerFall - No Sacrifice, No Victory:
HammerFall is one of the greatest power metal bands ever and this album shows that. Epic vocals, amazing guitar, and great drums. The "My Sharona" cover may be sort of a weird way to end a power metal album, but its done perfect.
Best Tracks: Any Means Necessary, Hallowed Be My Name, and Life Is Now.
7. Evile - Infected Nations:
Although this didn't blow me away as much as 2007's "Enter The Grave," "Infected Nations" shows me that Evile are able to go farther than just coping Slayer and still make an amazing album. The drumming, guitars, and bass are insane when at the same time you get vocals that remind you why thrash kicks ass so much. There is still a lot of ability to improve for Evile though, which I hope to see some of in their next releases, but for now this is a great thrash revival album.
Best Tracks: Infected Nation, Genocide, and Devoid Of Thought.
6. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate:
My favorite newer death metal band once again showing me how fucking insane they can be. Shannon Lucas is one of the greatest drummers ever, who can take a normal beat and just add in random shit in and still make it awesome. The guitar parts show me that they are some of the best in metal nowadays. The vocals go from the best sounding high screams, to the most brutal low screams in a perfect way that doesn't sound wrong at all. When this album still isn't as good as 2007's "Nocturnal" it still blows me away in every way.
Best Tracks: Black Valor, Necropolis, and A Selection Unnatural.
5. Ensiferum - From Afar:
Viking/Folk metal at its finest. Guitars fast and complex, great screams and singing, and great drums. I don't really know how to explain how this album is so good except for to go listen to it... Even the track "Vandraren" which I cannot understand(in a different language) is still great and really cool to listen to.
Best Tracks: From Afar, Twilight Tavern, and The Longest Journey (Heathen Throne Part II.)
4. Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings:
Dream Theater has been at the top of prog metal forever now and this album does not disappoint me at all, other than when Portnoy(drummer) does his vocals... LaBrie's vocals are top notch, Petrucci has amazing guitar playing, Portnoy DOES A BLAST BEAT IN A DREAM THEATER SONG, Rudess shows of his amazing keyboard skills, and Myung plays bass like a god. Even though it isn't one of their best releases, its still really fun to listen to and especially if you buy the Deluxe edition you can make covers of the songs on the instrumental tracks and also hear 6 amazing covers. With only 6 tracks, you'll be amazed at the length of this album, almost an hour long. 4/6 of the tracks are over 12 minutes and the other 2 are longer than 5 minutes.
Best Tracks: A Nightmare To Remember, The Shattered Fortress, and The Count Of Tuscany.
3. Judas Priest - A Touch of Evil (Live):
Although this isn't an original album, I've always enjoyed Judas Priest's live albums more than studio ones (other than Painkiller and Screaming For Vengeance, those are the best ever.) This live album takes their greatest songs and has them all perfect live (other than Painkiller, which is awful...which saddens me because its an amazing song.) Everything until then is full of perfect vocals, guitars, drums, and bass (Painkiller has everything right but the vocals...) and they get better with random quick solos going into the next part of the songs that weren't there originally but fit perfectly... Sure it isn't as good as "Unleashed In The East (Live)" but thats probably the greatest heavy metal album ever made...
Best Tracks: Eat Me Alive (Live), Dissident Aggressor (Live), Between The Hammer & The Anvil (Live), and Breaking The Law (Live.)
2. Megadeth - Endgame:
Megadeth's true return since Rust In Peace... Sure all the albums since then have all had one or more good song (Some songs off of Risk are amazing live, even though the album is terrible) but none of them have had as many good songs as this. The album reminds me a lot of "So Far... So Good... So What?" and thats not a bad thing. The only songs that aren't that good are "The Right To Go Insane," "How The Story Ends," and "Bodies." Other than that, this album has everything you would want in a Megadeth album... Dave's style vocals, a ballad that is actually really good, palm-muting, blistering solos, double bass drums, everything thats made Megadeth who they are.
Best Tracks: Head Crusher, 44 Minutes, Dialectic Chaos/This Day We Fight!, 1,320', The Hardest Part Of Letting Go.... Sealed With A Kiss, and Endgame.
1. Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect:
Holy shit. This band has such variety in their music I don't even know what to put them as... but god damn, this album is so insane. "Mirrors" is like a combo of the songs "The Backtrack" and "Viridian" from their "Colors" album and it is more of a soft song. "Obfuscation" is full of great drumming, sick basslines, beautiful solos, and brutal vocals. "Disease, Injury, Madness" and "Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain" are both amazing death metal tracks with also great clean vocals. "Desert Of Song" really shows off the vocalists skill to sing clean songs and is a Pink Floyd/Blues combo that works perfectly. "Swim To The Moon" combines everything that makes a metal song great and makes it the best song BTBAM could possible. Drum solos, bass solo
s, guit
ar solos,
cle
an vocal
s, death
metal vocals, blast beats, everything! Although this album doesn't beat Colors, its still fucking amazing and definitely should be checked out by everyone.
Best Tracks: All of them, this album is perfect.
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Honorable Mentions(Either not metal or not good enough):
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Lamb of God - Wrath
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
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Best
Non-Metal album of the year:
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures:
Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones have made an amazing album here. At first when I saw that Grohl was in this I thought, "Crap, its just gonna be a Foo Fighters album with better instruments." but then I saw that he was drumming and got intrigued and then I heard it, this blew me away. Although I'm not really the biggest fan of QOTSA, Josh Homme does an amazing job on vocals here and John Paul Jones is John Paul Jones, 'nuff said.
Best Tracks: New Fang, No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, and Elephants.
Oh, and you may notice a word in here telling you what most of this list is...
Dream Theater
