Metal Awards

Jeff's Top 15 albums of 2006

  1. I - Between Two Worlds
    I love Immortal's "Sons of Northern Darkness" and this album is probably the closest thing to it. Best described as Bathory meets Immortal, it was a release that came into the race late but finished on top for me!
  2. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
    This band does for me what The Darkness did a few years back. They offer something fresh and exciting to the rock world. They bring the best characteristics of late 60's and early 70's rock and bring it into the new millenium only to give you flashbacks of times long gone but not forgotten.
  3. Shadows Fall - Fallout From The War
    This band continues to stay the course in excellent speed/thrash metal. This is the stuff I put on when I'm pissed off! So full of energy and agression!
  4. Torture Killer - Swarm!
    Fun, grooving death metal. I can't get enough of it!
  5. Hammerfall - Threshold
    Consistent polished power metal. I still find something about these guys that makes me want to listen to them. Good stuff!
  6. Slayer - Christ Illusion
    Slayer is back! This album brought them closer to what they last did with "Seasons In The Abyss" yet maintains some of the styles and sounds used on the last few releases. I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
  7. Falconer - Northwind
    A welcomed return to form. This album grows on me with each listen and with that said I realize just how much better this band is with Mathias Blad.
  8. Venom - Metal Black
    This was a good effort in trying to re-create a raw yet updated feel of older albums.
  9. Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth
    I like this album better than "A Night At The Opera". I just feel it sounds closer to that of "Nightfall In Middle Earth". Some great folk/speed/power metal.
  10. Dream Theater - Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra
    Never have I heard a full live concert that was played from start to finish flawlessly and effortlessly with such precision and superior sound recording. These guys are true virtuosos in every sense of the word.
  11. Gwar - Beyond Hell
    Another band that seemed to take a stab at re-capturing their sound from earlier albums. I think they succeeded with this one!
  12. Metal Church - A Light In The Dark
    Bless David Wayne's soul, but Ronnie Monroe does a fine job filling the vocalist position. Metal Church must have had an ace up their sleeve as the overall songwriting on this album was their best in years.
  13. Warmachine - The Beginning of the End
    This album reminded me alot of classic Anthrax. Probably the diamond in the rough out of all of my Top 15.
  14. Dimmu Borgir - Stormblast (re-recorded)
    I never heard the original version of this album but I know what I heard regading this one and I must say that it was a great idea
  15. Jon Oliva's Pain - Maniacal Renderings
    I felt that Jon Oliva's vocals started to go down hill with the Savatage release "Streets". You could start to hear him straining more and more and it was evident on the next release that a new vocalist (Zak Stevens) was much needed to help bring Savatage to the next level. I give Jon credit for taking a solo career. This album really reminds me of the older Savatage albums like "Gutter Balet" and "Hall of the Mountain King".
Jeff's Top 5 surprises of 2006

  1. Twisted Sister - A Twisted Christmas
    Yes, a Christmas album by a heavy metal band that knows what it is trying to do won't bring back the glory days of the 80's. That is what I like about Twisted Sister. Not trying to be something they know they can't be....
  2. Wuthering Heights - The Shadow Cabinet
    Excellent neo-classical/progressive speed metal
  3. Obsession - Carnival of Lies
    Nice to see this underrated heavy metal band from the 80's re-surface to give us something that sounds like yesterday.
  4. Ihsahn - The Adversary
    As "I" is to "Immortal", so is "Ihsahn" to "Emperor". This album seems to continue what he did on Emperor's "Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire and Demise".
  5. Týr - Ragnarok
    I've never really heard Viking Metal as polished and progressed as this. I'm always used to hearing the more harsh, aggressive styles like Bathory, Thyrfing or Mithotyn.
Jeff's Disappointment(s) of 2006

  1. Dio - Holy Diver Live
    On paper the idea sounded good. The end result for me was not. Dio sounds tired, the music is in a flat key, etc. Overall I feel they should have released something from his prime, not something most current. I do have to give him credit for still making the effort at an age where most would me in a wheel chair or incapacitated in some way
  2. Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death
    What's next, one song that is made up of ten parts and clocks in at 60 minutes? Maiden needs to go back to the drawing board and write shorter, more straight to the point metal songs under 5 minutes or less!
  3. Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed III (LIVE)
    Not the best of this series. Some of the song choices were good, but the production and peformances were average.
  4. Tool - 10,000 Days
    Over hyped, a few good tracks but alot of progressed out industrial mood swings.
  5. Celtic Frost - Monotheist
    I was expecting something along the lines of "To Mega Therion" or even "Into The Pandamonium". There were some parts that reminded me of these albums but over all it's a metallic, sludgy, dark mish mosh of industrial sounding pounding slabs of gothic confusion.
Jeff's Joke(s) 2006
  1. "Why did Frosty the Snowman pull down his pants?" - HE HEARD THE SNOWBLOWER COMING!
    Ok, seriously, that is my joke of the year!
Jeff's words about 2006
  1. Out of all the years I've had to compile my yearly awards list, this one seems to be the toughest for me. During the first six months of the year, there were very few albums that grabbed me. It's now been another six months and I can still come to the same conclusion. When I use the term "grabbed", I refer to it as any album that can get some kind of reaction out of me, whether it be positive or negative. Alot of albums I listened to this year did neither. There could be other factors as to why many releases of 2006 didn't click with me. Time is always a factor; trying to free some of it up in order to really dedicate a fair listen and try to absorb what is being played. There are probably numerous releases that went under my radar that could have well deserved a few spins. Only word of mouth, discussion boards or news of some kind would have helped these appear on my scope. In any case, I tried to compile my list the best I could. Aside from the top 5, everything else is really in no particular order..... The following releases would be albums that didn't make the list but do deserve an honorable mention: Hallow's Eve "History of Terror" Box Set (for this box set to even see the light of day as remastered with a bunch of rare tracks was definately something that stoked me!) Pearl Jam "Pearl Jam" (another good comeback album, concentrating on getting back to a more rock oriented style.) Beyond Fear "DTO" (nice to see "Ripper" Owens doing something that showcases what he can do without being in already established acts.) Cheap Trick "Rockford" (another classic rock band that keeps on rocking; their sound never seems to age.) Motörhead "Kiss of Death" (just when you thought these guys have done it all, they still show that they had THE ACE OF SPADES up their sleeve!) Circle II Circle "Burden of Truth" (very good melodic heavy metal, probably their best yet) Attacker "The Unknown" (another underground heavy metal band from the 80's that has reformed to try and continue what they started. Excellent American made power metal!) Cronian "Terra" (this avant garde/progressed out album probably deserved to be in my top 15 just based on the 90 / 100 score, but like I said earlier, these listings are really in no particular order after the first top few.) Hammers of Misfortune "The Locust Years" (it's because of Alex's review for Metal Reviews that I learned about this band. I really like Slough Feg and like progressive metal, especially with some NWOBHM thrown in the mix. Thanks dude!) Cradle of Filth "Thornography" (I really like the direction the Filth have taken last few albums: less bombastic blast beat stuff and screaming til you up-chuck your vocal chords, and more melody and more memorable song passages. The shit is still erie and as gothic as ever!)/p> Paul Stanley "Live To Win" (not what I was expecting from him, but it's something I came to like and respected the effort made to do something other than was expected.) I also want to thank all of my metal brothers and sisters at Metal Reviews for all of their support and the endless dedication and effort they put into Metal Reviews. I also want to thank the readers for reading the reviews and participating in the discussions. Here's to 2007! I hope it's better than 2006! Jeff