- First thing I must address: the "dissappointments". In 2010, I can honestly say that there was a not a single album that I "dissappointement". The biggest dissappointments I have are instead the albums that I never got around to, or the albums that I spent only a little time with. Obviously, those five I listed are great albums, and there are many, many more great 2010 releases that I didn't get around to, as there are every year.
Until now, I never realized how hard it was to actually make an album of the year list. Usually, at this time of the year, my friends and I just name a few albums that we liked. But to actually compile a concrete, ordered list is an entirely different beast. This was my first experience with such a process, this being my first year with Metal Reviews. The difficulty was compounded with the fact that I discovered more bands and more genres of music this year than I had in all of the previous years of my life. And if I had to pick one word to sum up this year for me, it would be this: Scandanavian. Yes, the epicenter for much of the world's best metal is the unifying theme in so much of what I have listened to this year. Norwegian black metal, Swedish death metal, Finnish folk metal; more music that shaped my musical year came from that region than from any other area. Darkthrone, Emperor, Opeth, Celtic Frost, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Entombed, Kvelertak, Immortal, Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved. These are all bands that I fell in love with this year, among numerous others from the forests and mountains that gave us vikings, skiing, and nifty sweaters. How appropriate, then, that I have placed four albums from the region in my top 15 list, and that my number one album of the year is the debut from the Norwegian band Kvelertak. Speaking of which, what a story Kvelertak are! In a year that such established Scandanavian acts as Enslaved, Burzum, Darkthrone, Dimmu Borgir, Darkthrone, and Finntroll released phenomanal albums, I find it incredible that I can honestly say that my favorite release of the year is at the moment utterly unknown in my country (the US). Their eponymous debut kicks more ass than I can describe with words, and I've only listened to it front to back once; that's how goddamn powerful it is.
Unfortunately, 2010 will forever be a year remembered as much for the tragedies that shook the metal world as the album's that were released within it. We recently passed the one year anniversary of James "The Rev" Sullivan's death (drummer for Avenged Sevenfold), and Chi Cheng of Deftones remains in the coma he entered after his car accident in 2008. In 2010, some of the most notable losses suffered by the metal world were Peter Steele (Type O Negative), Paul Grey (Slipknot), and the great Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio), among others. Each one shook the metal world to its core. I won't try to eulogize them or offer some deep introspection of the value of life or the legacies we leave behind; it has been done plenty of times this year, so there is nothing that I can really add at the moment. What I will say is this: if your're a metal fan, and you lost a hero this year (or ever in your life time, for that matter), you still feel it. You know you do. I haven't gone a single day without thinking about at least one of them. When I hear one of the many anecdotes that make Dio sound like the Coolest Cat on Earth, or watch videos from Slipknot's wild live shows, or listen to BLOODY FUCKING KISSES, I can't help but to feel a sense of loss for these people I have never met. And regardless of the reaction that many of this site's readers had to my review of Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare, I'm not sure that anyone with a pulse can't be a little haunted by The Rev's goodbye on Fiction. I remember getting goosebumps when listening to that song for the first time. I remember discussing the song with a friend soon after I had heard the song and read the lyrics. I was honestly shaken by the forboding message in that song's lyrics; I believe my quote in the conversation had been "he fucking knew that he was going to die." I was moved, shocked, saddened, and horrified all at once. I popped Nightmare into my CD player for the first time in months last weekend, and I had an epiphany: that is a damn good album. I feel like I should be about to unveil my grand point, but I'm not sure that I have one. But I suppose their is a lesson to be learned from Avenged Sevenfold, like them or not. They lost someone very near and dear to them. Within a year, they had completed their loved one's final work, his masterpiece, and given it to the world. The album went number one in places, but the band is still reeling. Read any recent review by them, and that is apparent. They truly don't know where to go next; hell, they kicked out Mike Portnoy. So allow me to blow this up a bit and expand. It's 2011 now, and many of us aren't really sure what is next. Maybe 2010 was a great year for you, maybe it was a terrible one, and maybe it was somewhere in between. And yet we must solider on, leaving some of the ones we love behind, whether they are musical heroes that have passed, or in my case, family members that I will soon leave behind for college. But Enslaved had a lyric this year that I have adapted as something of a life philosophy since reading it. It comes from the song Ethica Odini off of the album Axioma Ethica Odini, and this it is: "Honor Life. When Life has ceased, welcome the dawn."
Now, I'd like to list some of my own highlights from this year:
Song of the year: Don't Look Back- Kylesa
Honorable Mentions: Fiction- Avenged Sevenfold
Blodtorst- Kvelertak
Ride Into Obsession- Blind Guardian
Coming Home- Iron Maiden
Raven King- Killing Joke
The Power is Mine- Shrapnel
Crucify Me- Bring Me the Horizon
Final Exit- Fear Factory
Solsagan- Finntroll
Farewell, Mona Lisa- The Dillinger Escape Plan
Ethica Odini- Enslaved
Rocket Skates- Deftones
Dimmu Borgir- Dimmu Borgir
Gateways- Dimmu Borgir
We Are the Undead- Cancer Bats
Cover of the year: Sabotage (Beastie Boys)- Cancer Bats
Honorable Mention: The Crystal Ship (The Doors)- Emptiness Unobstructed
Best New Band: Kvelertak
Biggest Breakthrough/Band to watch: Cancer Bats
Comeback of the year: Deftones
Vocal Performance of the year: Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) on Ride Into Obsession (At the Edge of Time)
Shredder Award: Matt Pike (High On Fire) on the album Snakes for the Divine
Douches of the Year: Bullet for My Valentine
Best album art: Kvelertak-Kvelertak
Albums to watch out for in 2011: Down, Trivium, Metallica, Opeth, Machine Head, Amon Amarth, Devildriver, Soundgarden (?), Van Halen (?), Manowar, ect.
Band that needs to get back together and do a show in Cleveland, Ohio- Emperor
Tour that I am most pissed about because they passed up Cleveland- Alice in Chains, Deftones, Mastodon
Best Metal DVD release- Until the Light Takes Us
Best Show that I went to: IRON MAIDEN!!!
Party song of the year: Mjod-Kvelertak
Honorable Mention: Party Wounds- Rolo Tomassi
Worst song of the Year: Fever- Bullet for My Valentine
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