2016 was yet another great year for metal music and a very interesting one for me personally. Almost none of my absolute favorite bands (Iron Maiden, Enslaved, Iced Earth, Overkill, Atlantean Kodex, Pallbearer, just to name a few) released an album in 2016, so the year instead was dominated by debut albums and a ton of surprises by bands I either never liked or had given up on completely. And no, do not expect to find Meshuggah or Nails on this list. Those bands suck. These bands don’t. Enjoy.
Note: All genre labels are as written on http://www.metal-archives.com.
25. Zaum – Eidolon
Genre: Psychedelic Doom Metal
Favorite Song: Just listen to the whole thing
For the most part, those two-member stoner doom bands without a guitarist leave me pretty cold. I find Om, probably the most notorious band exploring the style, to be almost completely unlistenable. But I rather like Zaum. With Eidolon, the band favors long-form doom with a psychedelic twist, a welcome departure from the same old stoner trash. There are only two songs here, “Influence of the Magi” and “The Enlightenment,” both of which clock in at over twenty minutes. I listened to this album a lot last year as I was drifting off to sleep, which is high praise since music I dislike makes me restless. This album rises and falls again and again, the duo of vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Kyle McDonald and drummer Chris Lewis carefully crafting an experience that never feels as long as it is. Despite the two enormous songs, Eidolon remains a quite economical effort from a band I had never heard of before 2016.
24. Gojira – Magma
Genre: Progressive/Groove/Death Metal
Favorite Song: “The Shooting Star”
I am not a Gojira fan. Like, at all. If you held a gun to my head right now I don’t think I could name two songs that didn’t come from this album. They’ve just never impressed me before, and I have never understood the hype surrounding them. While Magma still doesn’t really help me see why they are supposed to be one of the best bands in the universe, I do like it a whole lot. For this album, vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier took the often-maligned route of adding much more clean singing in with his usual harsh style, and I think it was successful. “The Shooting Star” is a great, almost mechanical sounding song with haunted, spacey vocals. The fabulous ‘singles’ “Silvera” and “Stranded” are taken to a whole other level when Duplantier sings clean, giving the songs added emotion that he simply couldn’t pull off by just barking like he normally does. Interestingly, this album hasn’t been getting much love on metal reviews sites, which was unheard of for any previous Gojira album. I guess people dislike their newer, more melodic approach. Oh well. For me, Gojira are finally a good band, even if they will never be and never were close to the best.
23. Sabaton – The Last Stand
Genre: Power Metal
Favorite Song: “Winged Hussars”
This album is getting destroyed critically. It currently has a 49/100 on the Metal Archives, and I can even understand why. Here we have Sabaton, one of the most samey bands ever, releasing an album of very samey material, with dialed up keyboards and softened guitars. But god help me I love this band so much. No, The Last Stand isn’t as good as Heroes and doesn’t hold a candle to their true masterpiece The Art of War, but there are still some fine songs here. “Sparta” is a perfect opener as much as “The Lost Battalion” was the logical first single. “Winged Hussars” is one of the best Sabaton songs ever, and it was an absolute joy to see the band play it live last year. So yes, critical metal community, I see all the faults with this album and I understand where you are coming from. I just don’t care.
And that album cover is glorious.
22. Sumerlands – Sumerlands
Genre: Heavy Metal
Favorite Song: “The Seventh Seal”
Ah, this is the stuff right here. Sumerlands play that good, classic style of heavy metal that everyone on earth should love. The kind you crank when you are out driving and thinking about the next patch you want for your battle vest. Featuring the guitar team of Arthur Rizk and John Powers, two members of Eternal Champion (it was a damn good year for these guys, and The Armor of Ire would’ve made this list if it wasn’t so scanty), the rhythms and leads on this album are divine. “The Seventh Seal” and “The Guardian” explode with confident, fuzzy riffage as if born out of the ‘80s. The band is rounded out by drummer Justin DeTore, who played bass on Magic Circle’s album Journey Blind, which made my 2015 list, and vocalist Phil Swanson. Swanson has sung for so many bands it’s almost sarcastic, with Hour of 13, Atlantean Kodex, and Briton Rites probably being the most noteworthy. He sounds better here than he ever has, sounding like a by-god confident frontman on the aforementioned “The Seventh Seal” and “The Guardian,” even incorporating his uncommonly-used upper register during the latter. Honestly, this album has no bad songs, even if I wish they didn’t end it when an instrumental. While I still think the best Swanson-fronted album is Briton Rites’ 2010 underrated classic For Mircalla, Sumerlands clearly contains his best recorded performance, rocketing the band near the top of his seven million projects.
21. Metallica – Hardwired…to Self-Destruct
Genre: Hard Rock/Heavy/Thrash Metal
Favorite Song: “Spit Out the Bone”
I love Metallica. I just can’t help it. The Black Album got me into metal over ten years ago, after all. Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets are two of the greatest albums ever. Hell, with the exception of ReLoad, I can find something to like on any Metallica album, and yes that includes St. Anger. This one comes eight years after Death Magnetic, a good album with HORRENDOUS production. This time around the production is better, though it isn’t perfect, and there are some songs on here that rank among their best material since 1991. “Hardwired” rips while “Moth Into Flame” masterfully blends catchiness with aggression. “Halo on Fire” is a joy, riding a fantastic outro with Hammett briefly reclaiming some of his past glory. And my god if “Spit Out the Bone” isn’t the best Metallica song since the ‘80s: fast, progressive, and chock full of Hetfield’s best riffs. This doesn’t rank higher because there are simply too many tracks. “ManUnkind” and “Murder One” shouldn’t have made the cut, even if the latter is about Lemmy Damn Kilmister. There are too many Ulrich jungle drum intros. Had Hardwired… been cut and edited down to the eight best songs, we would have had a true powerhouse on our hands.
20. Schammasch – Triangle
Genre: Avant-garde/Black Metal
Favorite Song: “Above the Stars of God”
Ah, the triple album. Personally, I normally find double albums to be overlong and ponderous, so a triple album is just downright silly. However, like Swallow the Sun’s massive 2015 album Songs from the North I, II & III, yet another triple album has made my end of the year list. I had never heard of Schammasch before, but Triangle has certainly grabbed my attention due to the sheer scope and range the band conjures up throughout the three discs. Thankfully much shorter than Swallow the Sun’s 153:39 monstrosity, each disc here was meticulously arranged to have a 33 minute runtime, with each disc (naturally) giving off a different flavor. The first disc is pure modern Behemoth in the best possible way, with “Father’s Breath” and “In Dialogue with Death” leading the charge. The second disc is more progressive, featuring longer songs like the masterful “Above the Stars of God,” one of the best songs of the year. The third disc is a mostly instrumental exercise in ambience and atmosphere that is both relaxing and mildly unsettling. Simply, Triangle is a great piece of work and is definitely one of the most mysterious albums of the year.
19. King Goat – Conduit
Genre: Progressive Doom Metal
Favorite Song: “Flight of the Deviants”
Of all the albums on this list, with the exception of the Schammasch, I understand King Goat’s debut Conduit the least. Epic doom is very close to my heart, and this album has that in spades, but King Goat play with the form much more than I am normally used to. All of these songs go to places you don’t expect, both in the music and Anthony Trimming’s shape shifting vocals. Seriously, the guy sounds like Messiah Marcolin (like on the masterful first few minutes of “Feral King”) as often as he uses a more aggressive, almost death metal side of his voice. The whole album, which is only five songs long, is just plain weird. But I keep coming back to it. I would recommend this for anyone who loves classic Candlemass, but with the warning that this is weirder than that legendary band ever was. But if you listen to it long enough, Conduit reveals itself to be a new take on epic doom, one that I am hoping the band expands upon for years to come.
18. Spiritus Mortis – The Year is One
Genre: Doom Metal
Favorite Song: “I Am a Name on Your Funeral Wreath”
I am a big fan of defunct Finnish doom masters Reverend Bizarre, so it should come as zero surprise that this album is on this list. I’ve never listened to Spiritus Mortis before, but I checked them out immediately when I finally heard that Sami Hynninen, aka the mighty Albert Witchfinder, was the band’s singer. Witchfinder is one of the most instantly recognizable vocalists in doom, and he sounds as good as ever on The Year is One. You can practically see the smile on his face as he tackles “Robe of Ectoplasm,” and you can definitely see me smile when he intones during the midsection of the absolutely splendid “I Am a Name on Your Funeral Wreath.” People who loved his style in Reverend Bizarre will immediately feel warm inside when “Holiday in the Cemetery” blasts out of the speakers, his voice sounding completely possessed and deranged amongst the doomiest of riffage. Apparently this is Witchfinder’s second album with the band, so of course I plan on checking out their back catalogue, even the ones without him. But for now, 2016 was a great year for doom metal, and it was great to hear a master remind everyone that he was still around.
17. Insomnium – Winter’s Gate
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Favorite Song: …yeah, about that…
The whole one song album thing is tricky. Obviously. In order to have an album length song, the temptation for repetition must be almost unbearable. I mean, it only makes sense. Why not ride out a riff for fifteen minutes and eat up some of that playing time? (Sleep, I’m looking at you). The only way a single song album can work is if the band can seamlessly blend several different sections together to form a coherent piece that doesn’t repeat itself, while simultaneously being open to repeated motifs and movements. Two major examples of two bands who pulled this off successfully in 2016: Gorguts and their “EP” Pleiades’ Dust and Insomnium’s seventh full-length Winter’s Gate. Now, had Gorguts considered their 30+ EP a full-length, it would’ve easily made the top ten of this list. But, since it’s not considered a full album, here we have Winter’s Gate carrying the flag for 2016 long-as-hell songs. The song does what it should: encapsulate everything about the band’s sound. We have blast beats, furious riffage, the demonic growls of bassist Niilo Sevanen (who wrote the Viking short story that inspired the album’s lyrics), the clean singing of guitarist Ville Friman, and open, pastoral acoustic moments that give the song its beauty. While there is no section on here as catchy as “While We Sleep” or “Lose to Night” from the previous album Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014), Winter’s Gate proves that Insomnium, who have pretty much mastered the melodic death metal sound as far as I’m concerned, are a great band and can still be daring and experimental almost 20 years after its formation.
16. Defecto – Excluded
Genre: Progressive Metal
Favorite Song: “Excluded”
Defecto feel like my very own little discovery. I have not seen this album on a single best of list, nor does it have any reviews on the Metal Archives. Even though I guess the album lives up to its name, Excluded is a strong debut album in a year filled with them. Defecto play prog, but don’t think about the long and wanky Dream Theater variety. No, this is short and sweet, well-played prog, with the longest song (album closer “The Sands of Time”) stretching to a very manageable seven minutes. Most of the songs are under four minutes long, but the band makes the most out of each track with subtly technical instrumentation and big, catchy hooks. If any of your friends scoff at prog for its more indulgent tendencies, I urge you to play them “Excluded,” “When Daylight Dies,” or “Drifting into Blackness,” as they are all fine examples of composition trumping technical showboating. Hopefully Defecto’s next album will create some well-deserved buzz for the band, because we could certainly use more progressive bands like them.
15. Fleshgod Apocalypse – King
Genre: Symphonic/Technical Death Metal
Favorite Song: “Gravity”
Barring the occasional song here and there (particularly “Epilogue”), I’ve never been able to click with Fleshgod Apocalypse. I considered SepticFlesh, a less-technical symphonic death metal group, to be the infinitely better and more creative band, and I never really understood why so much attention was on Fleshgod Apocalypse. Well, at last, the band has produced an entire album I thoroughly enjoy, and that album is titled King. Finally, the painful production marring the band’s previous two efforts is no more, and the songs can shine at last. Because of this improvement, King finally finds the band marrying their tech death approach with wondrous orchestrations in a clear manner. It’s hard to not get excited when furiously driving numbers like “The Fool,” “Mitra,” and the crushing “Gravity” (I FEEL THE WEIGHT OF METAAALLLL!!!!) burst out of the speakers/headphones in a rush. What elevates King onto a greater plane, though, are the two mini-epics, “Cold as Perfection” and “Syphilis,” two of the band’s most successful tunes truly deserving of the term “epic.” Plus the lyrics are cool, which is always a bonus, as the record concerns a king (obviously) who tries to do what he thinks is right, only to fill his court with liars and cheats who want to use him for their own nefarious means. So, yeah, great album Fleshgod Apocalypse, it was about damn time.
14. Condition Critical – Extermination Plan
Genre: Thrash Metal
Favorite Song: “Genocidal Void”
This is balls to the wall thrash metal. Plain and simple. Even though this is Condition Critical’s second album, it is more or less a new beginning for the band as Extermination Plan features two new guitarists, Tony Barhoum and Ryan Taylor, the latter also filling the role of lead vocalist. What we have here is 31:48 of no nonsense testicle-stomping thrash, the way it should be. There are no pretentious epics to break up the flow of carnage, the longest tune clocking in at 4:30. Opener “Interminable Surgery” is damn near perfect and immediately puts the world on notice: this band is gunning for the Slightly Smaller Thrash Throne (you know, the one that sits next to Overkill’s big one) left vacant in the wake of subpar albums from Warbringer and Havok. Everything from performance to production is how it should be. Seriously, you rarely hear a bass tone that mighty in thrash metal from anyone except D. D. Verni. If you love thrash and this album doesn’t do it for you, then we just can’t be friends. Just crank the album’s closer, the ripping “Genocidal Void,” and let the band crush you into powder and sweep you out of my life.
13. Katatonia – The Fall of Hearts
Genre: Depressive Rock/Metal
Favorite Song: “Takeover”
I’ve grown into a pretty big Katatonia fan over the years. While I still don’t much care for anything they released before Last Fair Deal Gone Down (2001), I love the more melancholic and depressive sound they’ve been nurturing since. The Fall of Hearts sees the group take on a more progressive edge, featuring some of their longest songs since the ‘90s. Opener “Takeover” is an absolute masterpiece, setting the tone (as all good openers should) for the direction of the album: longer, a bit more complex, and heavier, all anchored by one of Jonas Renkse’s most emotive vocal performances. “Old Heart Falls” is another instant classic, calling to mind one of the catchier moments of Night is the New Day (2009), which I still think is the band’s best album. Both “Sanction” and “Last Song Before the Fade” feature some of Renkse’s most heartbreaking lyrics. The albums ends in much the same way is it began with “Passer,” a longer workout blending the band’s sorrowful atmosphere with interesting musical offshoots and some great drum work by new member Daniel Moilanen. If you don’t like Katatonia (or their direction over the last ten years), The Fall of Hearts probably won’t change your opinion. To my ears, though, it’s an impressive work from one of metal’s most consistent and dependable bands.
12. Abbath – Abbath
Genre: Black Metal
Favorite Song: “Root of the Mountain”
Abbath is, of course, the debut solo album of Abbath Doom Occulta, legendary vocalist/multi-instrumentalist of black metal gods Immortal. The band split with Abbath and vowed to keep going, which makes no sense to me at all. Oh well. Abbath strikes first with a rock solid debut album, featuring a bit more of that “swagger” from his I project than classic Immortal. “To War!” and “Fenrir Hunts” tear through the speakers with furious blast beats courtesy of the mysterious Creature on drums, and even though I’ve listened to the album a dozen times, I still get a rush hearing the band kick it up a notch. Even amongst such speed and aggression, the adept playing of bassist King Ov Hell shines through clear as day with his classic rock-inspired style. But for my money, the best stuff can be found in the slower stuff. “Ocean of Wounds” and “Root of the Mountain” consistently make me misty, with both songs featuring some insanely metal lyrics from Abbath’s lyricist Simon Dancaster. I mean seriously, just look at this “Root of the Mountain” verse:
Beneath vast crush of crag
Entombed in gut of molten slag
An Archon-King cursed to live
As regent in Abyss of eldritch Necropolis
That verse, like this album, is so metal it’s downright foolish.
11. Kroh – Altars
Genre: Stoner/Doom Metal
Favorite Song: “Feed the Brain”
Man, these female-fronted doom bands are just popping up like crazy, aren’t they? I mean my word, there are a lot of them these days, so much that I’ve seen the “movement” described in reviews and magazines as a “fad.” I don’t know about that, but I’m glad the ladies are here, saving us from YET ANOTHER death/doom band. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like death/doom, but to me doom is the purest of all metal genres, and for the purity to be, well, pure, you gotta have a clean vocalist. If more ladies want to sing clean than the boys do these days, more power to them. Altars is Kroh’s second album and the first with their young (seriously, she is 22) Polish singer Oliwia Sobieszek. All of the songs are fairly economical for doom metal (no song goes over the six minute mark) and of the hooky variety I always enjoy. Every song is memorable, and I enjoyed the album immediately. “Mother Serpent” and “Living Water” display both the muscle and atmosphere I crave in my doom metal, while “Feed the Brain” features a grandiose chorus that sounds like it was written by Leif Edling himself. Sobieszek soars on “Break the Bread” just as well as she quietly croons on “Malady” and the chorus of the awesome “Stone into Flesh.” This is a very impressive album, and while I wish they threw in a longer song or two to truly stretch their legs and do some exploring, I have to hand it to Kroh for creating probably the most immediately accessible doom album of 2016. Good for you, boys (and girl).
10. Anthrax – For All Kings
Genre: Speed/Thrash Metal, Groove Metal
Favorite Song: “Monster at the End”
Everybody knows Anthrax, so there’s no point in me going into detail about their classic output. All I’ll say is the band has been back on track since bringing classic singer Joey Belladonna back into the fold in 2010, finally releasing Worship Music the year after, and touring endlessly. For All Kings comes five years after Worship Music, and it continues that album’s rejuvenated vigor, with some extra thrash thrown in with the band’s very melodic and catchy songwriting. “You Gotta Believe” perfectly showcases the band’s classic New York attitude that always set them apart from the other bands in the “Big Four,” even featuring a surprising calm midsection with a great performance by bassist Frank Bello. “Monster at the End” is catchy and riffy while “For All Kings” and “Breathing Lightning” are somehow even catchier. The band even slows down a bit and broods on the longest track, “Blood Eagle Wings,” to great effect. Sure, “This Battle Chose Us” probably shouldn’t have made the cut (even if I do like it) and I still don’t understand why Ian insists on adding little instrumental intros and interludes that don’t really add anything, but For All Kings is clearly a triumph, proving once again that Anthrax is the strongest of those famous four bands as they all march into their latter years.
9. Avantasia – Ghostlights
Genre: Symphonic Power Metal
Favorite Song: “Draconian Love”
Tobias Sammet is quite possibly the most prolific heavy metal artist working today. Seriously. Since forming Edguy in 1992, the man has released eleven studio albums with his “main” band while also maintaining the epic side project Avantasia since the year 2000. Ghostlights is already the seventh studio album by Avantasia, and it seems as if the “side project” term no longer applies to Tobias’ rock opera supergroup. While I enjoy Edguy a good deal, particularly the Mandrake album, I’ve always preferred Avantasia’s bombastic Meat Loaf-inspired approach once Tobias injected a more pop-conscious flavor to his songwriting with the 2008 masterpiece The Scarecrow. I admit I still find the group’s previous album, The Mystery of Time (2013), to be fairly forgettable when compared to the three albums preceding it, but Ghostlights steers the ship back on course with some of Sammet’s strongest songwriting in years. These are all good songs, though I have to single out “The Haunting” (featuring a great performance from Dee Snider) for its pure pop brilliance in the theater-metal style, the absurdly catchy “Draconian Love,” and “Let the Storm Descend upon You,” without question one of Tobi’s finest epics. There are far too many guest vocalists and instrumentalists to name, but just know that Marco Hietala, Sharon den Adel, Michael Kiske, and (thank heavens) Jørn Lande are all belting it out with Tobi. This was the album I had hoped Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman would’ve released in 2016 instead of Braver Than We Are, but that wasn’t the case. Oh well. Meat, just call Tobias Sammet and ask him to write your next album. I’m sure he’ll be back with you in about three days with something fantastic.
8. Trees of Eternity – Hour of the Nightingale
Genre: Doom Metal/Ambient
Favorite Song: “Gallows Bird”
There’s some tragedy to this one. Apparently formed in 2009, this is the debut album from Trees of Eternity, and (I assume) will also be the last record they ever release. Sadly, Aleah Stanbridge, the band’s vocalist and principal lyricist, succumbed earlier in 2016 to cancer before the album’s release. I was familiar with her guest vocals on the last three Swallow the Sun albums, as well the most recent Amorphis album, so I knew what I was getting with Hour of the Nightingale. Stanbridge is a very soft singer, certainly a far cry from the wailing and often operatic style of traditional doom, and her style brings a lot of melancholy to these recordings. Opener “My Requiem,” the aching “A Million Tears,” and the possibly even more aching “Black Ocean” are fine examples of the band’s brand of doom metal: solemn, heartbreaking, and mildly haunting. I’d say the album probably gets better as it goes along, as the penultimate song is an almost unbearably sad ballad “Sinking Ships,” and might contain Stanbridge’s best and most emotional performance ever. The song works wonderfully alongside album closer “Gallows Bird,” the longest and best song on the album. The tune features guest vocals from the mighty Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost, who is a personal hero of mine, and his deep croon always sounds best when being surrounded by doom riffs. I must give props to guitarist Juha Raivio, the deeply talented songwriter who wrote most (if not all) the music for this album. He’s mainly known as the leader of Swallow the Sun, who just released one of their best albums the previous year. The man is clearly in the midst of a very fruitful songwriting period. Even so, this album will forever belong to Aleah Stanbridge, and it is about as fitting of a metal swan song as any I’ve ever heard.
7. Inquisition – Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
Genre: Black Metal
Favorite Song: “A Black Aeon Shall Cleanse”
- Cosmic eagles
- Black serpent dragons
- Poison gas clouds
- Wars of ancient ones
- Crypts of stars
These are just a few of the many very metal subjects found on Inquisition’s seventh studio album, Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith, easily the most evil album on this list. But before I jump in, it should be known: I don’t like black metal. Of all the major metal genres, black metal has proved to be the most difficult for me to enjoy. While I do like key albums from Emperor and Immortal, as a whole I find the genre to be fairly boring. So many bands focus on obtaining a “trve” atmosphere by having the worst production possible that they forget the most important thing: the music. Luckily, once again we have Inquisition leveling just about every other black metal band on earth to nothingness with this new album, which has an album title so hilariously long I shan’t type it again. I love everything about this: great production, monstrously catchy riffage, demonic vocals that sound like they came from a massive robotic toad, etc. It’s great! This album has everything, from the fury of “From Chaos They Came” and “Wings of Anu,” to the more chuggy and measured “The Flames of Infinite Blackness Before Creation” and album highlight “A Black Aeon Shall Cleanse.” Seriously, if more black metal bands looked to this band for inspiration, I might actually enjoy the genre as a whole. So, all you other bands, look not to your awful basement productions. Look to the almighty riff.
6. Asphyx – Incoming Death
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
Favorite Song: Three way tie between “Candiru,” “Wardroid,” and “The Grand Denial”
Oh, lord yes. Yes, indeed. YES. A new Asphyx album is almost always guaranteed to make my top ten metal albums of the year, and Incoming Death is certainly no exception. Probably the most whiplash-inducing album on this list, Asphyx’s ninth studio album continues the band’s creative resurgence since reforming in 2007. “Candiru” is the perfect opener, and I was immediately grinning like an idiot when I first heard Martin van Drunen’s immediately recognizable voice. I love van Drunen, even if his hoarse-sounding voice is easily mocked (I do it myself from time to time). But anyway, Incoming Death just keeps firing out pure death metal soaked in attitude. I particularly adore “Division Brandenburg” and how it transitions into the glorious science fiction of “Wardroid.” This classic band can basically do it all, as the aforementioned “Candiru” and the title-track are both short bursts of badassery that sound even more furious alongside something like “The Grand Denial,” surely one of the best doom songs of the year. While (and this is saying something) still not as good as the previous album, the insanely awesome Deathhammer (2012), Incoming Death probably has the best production of any Asphyx album, and it is a (crushingly amazing) pleasure to listen to. Death served, as always, the brutal way.
5. Sodom – Decision Day
Genre: Thrash Metal
Favorite Song: “Strange Lost World”
Tom Angelripper and his band Sodom have been putting boots to asses since 1981, so it should come as no surprise that their fifteenth(!) studio album Decision Day is another solid piece of work. But I argue that it is more than solid. Much more, actually. It’s as if Angelripper’s ass-stomping boots finally started to wear out, so he bought a brand new pair that were painstakingly handmade by hell’s tormented legions. Anyway, this album just kills from start to finish. Angelripper uses an almost black metal sounding vocal throughout, spitting acid on the sensational opening one-two punch of “In Retribution” and “Rolling Thunder.” The songwriting here also has a catchy quality to it, particularly on “Caligula” and “Blood Lions.” When I listen to this album, I always think about a desolate, hot landscape out of one of the Mad Max movies. A biker gang chases down a hopeless soul as “Strange Lost World” cranks louder than the engines. If that isn’t metal, I don’t know what is.
4. Khemmis – Hunted
Genre: Doom Metal
Favorite Song: “Candlelight”
I didn’t like Absolution, the 2015 debut album from Colorado based group Khemmis. Don’t get me wrong, I liked parts of it, but as a whole the band squandered their songwriting away with weak stoner moments and unimpressive extreme vocals. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Hunted, coming just a year after the debut. I’m always on the lookout for good doom metal, so in the end I caved and gave the band another chance, and I’m glad I did. Sometime during the writing of this album, apparently Khemmis realized that they should move away from the stoner elements of their sound and instead embrace…Pallbearer! And thank heavens for that, because Hunted mercilessly blows away Absolution with ease. All five songs on here are great, with “Candlelight” and epic closing title-track probably being the best of the bunch. Even though the extreme vocals are greatly diminished, they still pop up every now and then (particularly on the speedier “Three Gates”), but they sound better than they did on the debut. Hunted is simply doom metal done right. The riffs are great, the vocal melodies are memorable, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome with a runtime of 43:48. The album cover is badass. I could’ve used a beefier recording job, as some added weight to the riffs would certainly be welcome, but that’s a small complaint. I placed Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden as number one on my metal list of 2014, also adding that I hoped that other doom bands would look to the young group for inspiration. Hunted is a direct example of what I had hoped for doom metal. The stoner vibe is washing away into greater, more majestic waters.
3. Fates Warning – Theories of Flight
Genre: Progressive Metal
Favorite Song: Tie between “From the Rooftops” and “The Ghosts of Home”
Fates Warning was one of the great bands of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. With vocalist John Arch they released three classic albums, the best being the undisputed 1986 masterpiece Awaken the Guardian. After Arch’s exit in 1987, the band recruited Ray Alder and swiftly moved away from epic power metal to a more Rush-influenced progressive style. Without missing a beat, the band kept releasing classic albums, culminating in Parallels (1991), which I think is probably their best album with Alder. After that, though, the band got less interesting and the gaps between releases got longer and longer. After guitarist Jim Matheos came roaring back with John Arch on the utterly sublime Arch/Matheos album Sympathetic Resonance, which was my album of the year (I’ve been doing these lists for a while), Fates Warning shook off the cobwebs and released Darkness in a Different Light in 2013, their first album in nine years. That entire back story was essential because I just had to drive home how long it has been since Fates Warning kicked as much rear end as they do with Theories of Flight, which is (to my ears) the band’s best album since Parallels.
This album is just hooky songwriting mastery. The album starts rather oddly with “From the Rooftops,” which is quite laidback and soft for the first two minutes before exploding into a powerhouse of a tune with a monstrous chorus. Alder sounds completely rejuvenated on these songs. “Seven Stars,” “SOS,” and “Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen,” all have fantastic choruses, and I’m not sure the Alder from Disconnected or Fates Warning X could’ve pulled them off. This is still a band effort, though, as the rhythm section of bassist Joey Vera and drummer Bobby Jarzombek blend together seamlessly. And then there is the master, Jim Matheos. A songwriter of the highest caliber, Theories of Flight proves that he can still write short and direct songs just as well as he can the long stuff. I have to single out the ten-minute “The Ghosts of Home,” which Matheos wrote the music and lyrics for, as being a masterpiece in the band’s catalogue. The song’s lyrics about childhood and the past really strike a chord with me:
So goodbye again to empty rooms
And farewell to walls and windows
Print them once more in your memory
As the lights recede and the road behind you grows
Fates Warning is, at long, long last, back in the best sense of the word, I could not be happier. I never expected Theories of Flight to be this good, but it is, and completely blows Darkness in a Different Light away. If you used to love the band but lost interest in them over the years, give this one a try. They are still one of the best progressive metal bands on the planet.
2. Sunburst – Fragments of Creation
Genre: Power/Progressive Metal
Favorite Song: Tie between “Out of the World” and “Lullaby”
This was my album of the year for a long, long time, pretty much since it was released in February. It was the album to beat for almost the entire year until a surprise snuck up and grabbed the top spot during the last few months of 2016. Fragments of Creation is the debut album from Greek band Sunburst, who sound like a wondrous mix of Symphony X and Kamelot, two of my favorite bands of all time. The vocalist, Vasilis Georgiou, sounds almost exactly like Roy Khan, which is actually what drew me to the band in the first place. That wouldn’t mean anything, though, if the songwriting was subpar, and it certainly is not. Every single song on this album is a memorable highlight, from the driving opener “Out of the World” to the 12+ minute closer “Remedy of My Heart.” This is the kind of progressive metal I love: great, memorable tunes with complex playing and soaring guitar solos. Seriously, guitarist Gus Drax is a wizard, as his solos are a great mix of shred and soul in the Criss Oliva (probably my favorite metal guitarist ever) style.
This album is just, well, correct. I decided to give it the number two spot, though, because of two reasons. First off, I wish there was a theatrical element tying all of the songs together, like the best work of Symphony X and Kamelot. Now I know, I shouldn’t be comparing this new band to genre legends, but I can’t help it. As GREAT as the songs are, this album (somehow) feels like a great collection of songs as opposed to an album. All of the songs are pretty much of the same verse/chorus/verse/chorus style, with the exception of instrumental “Beyond the Darkest Sun” and the aforementioned closer “Remedy of My Heart.” Had the band added some curveballs to the mix more often, this would probably be my album of the year. Oh, and the second reason I gave Sunburst the number two spot is because I’m probably just blinded by my love of Roy Khan, who will forever be Kamelot’s greatest vocalist and the best damn power metal singer of all time. Seriously, just listen to Georgiou’s performance on “Lullaby” and then play “Wander” by Kamelot. The resemblance is uncanny. Every day I wake up I lament the loss of Roy Khan to the metal scene, and I wish he would return like the god he is. Oh well. For now, I have Sunburst, and don’t let my reasons for docking the band keep you away. This is still the second best album of the year, and one of the best debuts power/progressive metal has seen in a while.
1. Messa – Belfry
Genre: Doom Metal, Ambient/Drone
Favorite Song: Tie between “Babalon” and “Blood”
Behold: Belfry, the debut album by doom band Messa, Carson Ray’s metal album of the year. Belfry is one of those great albums that slowly grow on you over time until you just keep thinking about its greatness when you should be doing things like eating, working, or breathing. The first song I heard off this was “Babalon,” which the band made into a video, and I immediately loved it. Yes, this is yet another female-fronted doom band, the singer being (apparently) only known as “Sara.” Female-fronted doom bands are popping up every day here lately, but I’ll be damned if Belfry isn’t the best album of the style I’ve ever heard, and that says a lot considering how much I love the two Avatarium albums. But it seems I’m getting ahead of myself.
Considering that Messa was formed in 2014, it makes zero sense that the band could release a debut album this amazing. Now, as the Metal Archives genre tag suggests, Messa do incorporate some ambient and drone styles into their music, but mostly in the form of a few brief instrumentals that buffer the band’s more “traditional” and longer doom songs. Don’t think they play a verse, hit a chorus, and then go on a long Sunn O))) drone section for ten minutes before coming back around to the chorus again. This isn’t like that. The droning instrumentals like “Faro” and “Alba” are meant to set up some atmosphere before the real behemoths, like the aforementioned true opener “Babalon” and “Hour of the Wolf” pummel you with traditional epic doom might of the Epicus Doomicus Metallicus variety. This is an album you would play at night as you walked through the woods looking for abandoned churches or witch houses. This is the kind of ambience I crave in metal albums, and Belfry delivers in spades while throwing curveball after curveball. The album’s centerpiece is “Blood,” a downright haunting song featuring a mesmerizing performance from Sara and…get ready for this…a damn clarinet solo. That’s right. A clarinet solo. I guess it could be coming from a keyboard for all I know, because there is no mention of a clarinet in the album’s liner notes, but it sure does sound like one and instantly makes “Blood” one of the most memorable metal songs of the year. Just to further demonstrate that they aren’t going to follow any traditional routes, the band end things with the relatively short and catchy acoustic number “Confess,” which is no less haunting. Without going on any longer, if you are a fan of doom metal, fantastic singing, great riffs, and haunting atmosphere, you owe it to yourself to check out Belfry. It’s the album that slowly grew and grew in my estimation until I had no choice but to name it my album of the year. Doom metal is coming back, folks, and with Belfry unleashed upon the world, I am, for the first time in a few years, no longer so sure that Pallbearer is the best doom band in the land. A masterwork.
Dark Reflections 