Friday, December 31, 2010

Autothrall's Top Metal Albums of 2010

The Top 20 Metal Albums of 2010

01. Ihsahn (Norway) - After
02. Enslaved (Norway) - Axioma Ethica Odini
03. Sadist (Italy) - Season in Silence
04. Deathspell Omega (France) - Paracletus

05. Urfaust (Netherlands) - Der frewillige Bettler
06. The Wounded Kings (England) - The Shadow Over Atlantis
07. Hooded Menace (Finland) - Never Cross the Dead
08. Darvulia (France) - Mysticisme Macabre

09. Solefald (Norway) - Norrøn Livskate
10. Sigh (Japan) - Scenes from Hell
11. Sargeist (Finland) - Let the Devil In
12. Hail of Bullets (Netherlands) - On Divine Winds
13. Mortualia (Finland) - Blood of the Hermit
14. Odem Arcarum (Germany) - Outrageous Reverie Above the Erosion of Barren Earth
15. Ghost (Sweden) - Opus Anonymous
16. Electric Wizard (UK) - Black Masses
17. The Sword (USA) - Warp Riders
18. I Shalt Become (USA) - Poison
19. Blizaro (USA) - City of the Living Nightmare
20. Hour of 13 (USA) - The Ritualist

Perhaps not so 'loaded' of a year as 2009, but still really deep and impressive. Enslaved, who have become one of my favorite artists on Earth, put out their best album, or at least my favorite. However, after revisiting this list to update it, I had to go with what has gradually grown into one of my favorite metal albums of the last decade, After, by their countryman Ihsahn. Just one of those cases where I wouldn't change a single note on the album, and outside of In the Nightside Eclipse this is the best music I've ever heard from him, and that's saying a lot...because he's consistently excellent. Actually looking through the list, there's a lot of progressive or eclectic black metal here, mixed in quite a lot of good heavy and doom metal from The Wounded Kings, Hour of 13, The Sword, Electric Wizard, and the debut from Sweden's Ghost which is another one that has grown a bit on me as the years have rolled on.

UPDATED FOR 2020

No comments: