Metal Awards

Dylan's Top 15 albums of 2007

  1. Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omniscient
    An amazing combination of all the things that make Townsend's sound so infectious and recognizable. Wacky as hell to boot.
  2. Coheed & Cambria - No World For Tomorrow
    This band just won't stop impressing me. Probably the catchiest album I've heard all year. The songs grabbed me after my second listen or two, but I kept hearing something new many listens after that.
  3. Vital Remains - Icons of Evil
    Everything that Dechristianize had, this thing has bigger and better versions of it. A truly relentless album tinged with the right amount of melody to keep it from killing you.
  4. The Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal
    This is the best band's best work by far. Fantastic drumming by Shannon Lucas pushes this one into the stratosphere. It's a short ride, but that just makes the sickness seem that much sicker.
  5. Aeon - Rise To Dominate
    Straightforward in the best sense of the word. A great improvement over Bleeding The False, it's about as catchy as brutal death metal can get.
  6. Blood Red Throne - Come Death
    Altered Genesis is still one of my favorite death metal albums ever, but this is still an above average output from the Norwegians. Getting a new singer and drummer doesn't seem to have phased them at all.
  7. Akercocke - Antichrist
    Another one of those albums that jumps all over the place stylistically. Normally I don't like that, but Akercoke really seem to know what they are doing here. Takes a few listens to get into, but it's a very interesting listen once you "get" it.
  8. Candlemass - King Of The Grey Islands
    Robert Lowe should be the vocalist for every doom metal band. Candlemass were established as doom metal legends long, long ago, but the modern production, thick-ass riffs, and Lowe's godly voice makes this a fantastic addition to the band's seminal discography.
  9. Symphony X - Paradise Lost
    Absolutely awesome prog / power metal.
  10. Down - III: Over The Under
    It may show a more mellow side of Down, but this record still posses those southern-fried riffs and Phil's instantly recognizable voice. Down is obviously a band to choose quality over quantity, with this being only their third album in over a decade. As long as a IV gets released before I die, I'll be spinning this one for quite a while.
  11. Susperia - Cut From Stone
    Not quite as godly as Unlimited, but it comes close!
  12. Mithras - Behind The Shadows Lie Madness
    Very interesting death metal. It has a very gliding-through-space-while-tripping-off-acid sorta feel to it.
  13. Behemoth - The Apostasy
    The Apostasy doesn't really start clicking until the middle of the album, but once it does, you just have to stand back in awe. The mid and closing section of this disc are as strong as anything the band has done in a while. I still think Demigod is their finest, most consistent album to date, but this one isn't far behind.
  14. High on Fire - Death is this Communion
    A step up from Blessed Black Wings. The album is as heavy as the cover art.
  15. Naglfar - Harvest
    Looking back, I might have over-quoted this thing. Still, its a more than solid slab of polished black metal.
Dylan's Top 5 surprises of 2007

  1. Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
    The best thing the band has put out in years.
  2. DevilDriver - The Last Kind Words
    Again, another band that once wandered in mediocrity comes out and slays critics like me. If you weren't already a fan of DevilDriver, you've got to at least respect them after this fury.
  3. Gire - Gire
    This band came out of nowhere for me. Thanks Alex!!
  4. Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon - Something Wicked Part 1
    They still have it left in them! The entire metal-loving community and I will all be waiting Pt. 2 anxiously now.
  5. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
    Tarja who?
Dylan's Disappointment(s) of 2007

  1. Exodus - The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A
    Shovel Headed Kill Machine v 1.1
  2. Shadows Fall - Threads of Life
    By far their weakest album. Hopefully they will be able to relive the glory days of The War Within with their next release.
  3. The Absence - Riders Of The Plague
    The hype machine strikes again.
  4. Nightrage - A New Disease Is Born
    I never realized how important Gus G. and Tomas Lindberg were until they left.
  5. Nile - Ithyphallic
Dylan's Joke(s) 2007

  1. Beneath The Massacre - Mechanics of Dysfunction
    How the hell are they doing that?
Dylan's words about 2007
  1. This was a fucking crazy year, both for the metal world and in my personal life. Bands, both new and seasoned, keep churning out stellar material seemingly every week. The past five years have been a fantastic time to be a metalhead. I'd like to thank all of my fellow reviewers who keep this site going. It takes a lot of work, but in the end it is definitely worth it! And of course, everyone who comes to this site and takes the time to read the reviews has my sincere thanks. Don't go away!