JD's Top Metal Albums of 2010

In the same boat as Meta this year with being generally not so thrilled with a good portion of albumsI have heard this year, but that is probably the result of being spoiled by a few really amazing years this past decade. There is a lot of quality nonetheless.

Top 20 Metal Albums

01. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

02. Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

03. Sargeist - Let the Devil In

04. Solefald - Norron Livskunst

05. Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber I

06. Calm Hatchery - Sacriledge of Humanity

07. The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis

08. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus

09. Island - Island

10. Twilight - Monument to Time End

11. I Shalt Become - Poison

12. Mar de Grises - Streams Inwards

13. Melechesh - The Epigenesis

14. Hail of Bullets - On Divine Winds

15. Mortualia - Blood of the Hermit

16. Hooded Menace - Never Cross the Dead

17. Dark Fortress - Ylem

18. Electric Wizard - Black Masses

19. Trauma - Archetype of Chaos

20. Burzum - Belus

Top 5 Non-Metal Albums

01. MGMT - Congratulations

02. Sanctus Daemoneon - The UnaVOIDable

03. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

04. Klaxons - Surfing the Void

05. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

Narian's Top Metal Albums of 2010

I'm too fickle to number my list this year, there's been too much good metal to choose from that I'm just going to list them in alphabetical order (with italics indicating a new band):

Arkaik - Reflections Within Dissonance [US]
Beyond Creation - Demo [CA]
Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time [DE]
Carach Angren - Death Came Through a Phantom Ship [NL]
Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty [US]
Cephalic Impurity - Unique Brute Revival [Rus]
Cerebral Bore - Maniacal Miscreation [UK]
Decrepit Birth - Polarity [US]
Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance [DE]
First Fragment - The Afterthought Ecstasy (EP) [CA]
Flesh Consumed - Ecliptic Dimensions of Suffering [US]
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Mafia (EP) [It]
Formless - Demo [US]
Galar - Til Alle Heimsens Endar [No]
Gamma Ray - To the Metal! [DE]
Heathen - The Evolution of Chaos [US]
Hideous Deformity - Defoulment of Human Purity [No]
Hour of Penance - Paradogma [It]
Human Filleted - Blunt Force Embludgeonment [US]
Human Parasite - Proud to Build the Insidious Catastrophe [Fr]
Immersed - In the Ire of Creation [CA]
Innumerable Forms - Dark Worship (Demo) [US]
Kalmah - 12 Gauge [FI]
Kamelot - Poetry for the Poisoned [US]
Keep of Kalessin - Reptilian [No]
Kerasphorus - Cloven Hooves at the Holocaust Dawn (Demo) [US]
Martriden - Encounter the Monolith [US]
Maveth - Of Serpent and Shadow (Demo)/Impious Servant (Demo) [FI]
The Monolith Deathcult - The White Crematorium II (2010 Remake) [NL]
Torture Division - Evighetens Dårar [SE]
Trauma - Archetype of Chaos [PL]
Trigger the Bloodshed - Degenerate [UK]
Watain - Lawless Darkness [SE]
The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis [UK]
The Wretched End - Ominous [No]

There were a lot of awesome new death metal bands this year - so many that after listing the ones I deemed to be my favorite the list encompassed almost all of the new bands. I will however give a mention to countrymates Immerse with their awesome melodeath debut, and Beyond Creation and First Fragment for their relative debut tech debut offerings from the year - go Canada!

Futt Bucker's Top Metal Albums of 2010

1. Darkthrone - Circle The Wagons
2. Sadist - Seasons In Silence
3. Fear Factory - Mechanize
4. Enforcer - Diamonds
5. Metal Inquisitor - Unconditional Absolution
6. Overkill - Ironbound
7. Severe Torture - Slaughtered
8. Atheist - Jupiter
9. Forbidden - Omega Wave
10. Halford - Made Of Metal
11. Satanic Warmaster - Nachzehrer
12. Soilwork - The Panic Broadcast
13. Helloween - 7 Sinners
14. Iron Attack - Vampire Concerto
15. Abuser - Threats Of Fate

Biggest Surprise
Biggest surprise this year was definitely Fear Factory. Let's face facts: Fear Factory's last good album came out in 1996. When I first read the news that Dino Cazares and Burton C. Bell were reuniting, I wasn't very excited, especially since they had released some pretty bad material with Dino in the band. However, I am very glad to say that Mechanize shattered my expectations and is easily on par with Demanufacture.

Biggest Disappointment
I have to go with Gamma Ray on this one. 2007's Land Of The Free Pt. II is one of my favorite power metal releases ever. I couldn't wait to see what they had in store for us in 2010. Turns out that what they had in store was a forgettable, bland, mess of an album that destroys all the momentum they had with Land Of The Free Pt. II. I know Gamma Ray have always been inconsistent but To The Metal was such a sheer drop in quality that I still can't believe that this is the same band that released LotF II.

"Good, not Great"
When I first listened to Enslaved's new album I was very into it. It felt like they reigned in some of the more "out there" elements of Vertebrae and returned to a more solid Black Metal foundation like on Ruun. Yet for some reason, every time I listened to Axioma Ethica Odini, I liked it less and less. I can't stop myself from being bored by it and zoning out completely. It's a solid album but in my opinion it's nowhere near flawless and failed to capture me the way Ruun did.

Meta's Top Metal Albums of 2010

I really just wasn't that impressed with the music output this year, so my lists are a bit short.  Plenty of good stuff, but not enough that resonated with me personally.    

The Mandatory...11
01. Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
02. Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini
03. The Wounded Kings - The Shadow Over Atlantis
04. Horned Almighty - Necro Spirituals
05. NAILS - Unsilent Death
06. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
07. Kvelertak - Kvelertak *debut album of the year*
08. Dark Fortress - Ylem
09. Solefald - Norren Livskunst
10. Watain - Lawless Darkness
11. Borgne - Entraves De L'Âme

Honorable Mention
Electric Wizard - Black Masses 
There were plenty of other good albums this year, but I just wanted to point out that this sounds fucking great on vinyl and if I had experienced it this way earlier it would probably have made my list. 


"I just don't get it" Album of the Year
I have to go with Sadist.  I like the lofi keyboards, while I could give or take the mix of guitar styles at play here, but the singer just ruins any chance that I could enjoy it.  His overdone thrash cum proto-death tone is too prominent in a pretty thin mix, and combined with the generally laughable lyrics (even accounting for English as a second language), makes it seem like this is a take on Gloomy Grim's humour that lacks all of the self-awareness.  His vocals are also completely at odds with the dry, serious music, creating disparate planes of feeling that detract from each other. My reaction is a bit disappointing because I'm largely sick of generic death metal vocals and the lyrical premise at play here is promising, but I just can't find any value in it. 


Top 10 Non-Metal Albums

Sanctus Daemoneone could go in either metal or non-metal, so I put it over here to make things simpler. 

01. Sanctus Daemoneon - The UnaVOIDable
02. Lights Out Asia - In The Days Of Jupiter
03. Vex'd - Cloud Seed
04. Eleven Tigers - Clouds are Mountains
05. Dead Prez - Revolutionary but Gangsta Grillz
06. The Radio Dept - Clinging to a Scheme
07. MGMT - Congratulations
08. Delphic - Acolyte
09. Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - The Logic Of Chance
10. Salem - King Night


Best Book

Kraken by China Mieville
I found this so engaging that I didn't do anything for two days besides eat and read it.  A fantastic return to form after The City and The City's decent material.


Best Movie

Air Doll
This came out last year technically, but wasn't viewable outside Japanese theatres until this year. I think it's the only 2010 movie I saw, giving it a shoe-in for my choice, but it was also an instant favourite.  Ignore the critics crying for it to be shortened -  while I don't think the movie would be compromised to remove at least one of the brief side-stories, the pace is excellent.  And, ignoring all other factors, the World's End Girlfriend soundtrack ensures that it's a movie to luxuriate in.

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