Sunday, January 28, 2018

The Best Metal of 2017 but in 2018!



Hails and pixels! The first month of 2018 is almost over and here I am just finally publishing my favorite metal albums of 2017! To be honest, I didn't think I would end up making a list because while I did have some favorites; there not enough standouts in my opinion to narrow down the list to fifteen. With some downtime I did manage to create a top fifteen of 2017, so here it is! But let's start off with the runner ups. There are a lot of them. About 180 albums or so that I deemed worthy enough for my favor but not enough to say they are my absolute favorite.



Abhorrent Decimation - The Pardoner
Accept - The Rise of Chaos
Act of Defiance - Old Scars, New Wounds
Aeternam - Ruins of Empires
Aetheric - Serpents Beneath the Shrine
A Hill to Die Upon - Via Artis Via Mortis
Alestorm - No Grave but the Sea
All Hell - The Grave Alchemist
Al-Namrood - Enkar
Amplitude Problem - The Frequency Modulators Orchestra, Vol. 1
Angel Vivaldi - Synapse
Anomalie - Visions
Antropomorphia - Sermon Ov Wrath
Archspire - Relentless Mutation
Artificial Brain - Infrared Horizon
Artificial Language - The Observer
The Atomic Bitchwax - Force Field
August Burns Red - Phantom Anthem
Azarath - In Extremis
Beast in Black - Berserker
Beheaded - Beast Incarnate
Belphegor - Totenritual
Beneath - Ephemeris
Benighted - Necrobreed
Blood Freak - Total Destruction of the Human Form
Body Count - Bloodlust
Broken Hope - Mutilated and Assimilated
Cannabis Corpse - Left Hand Pass
Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black
Celesterre - The Wild
Chaos Moon - Eschaton Memoire
Cloak - To Venomous Depths
Cloven Hoof - Who Mourns for the Morning Star?
Code - Lost Signal
Code - Under the Subgleam
Com Truise - Iteration
The Contortionist - Clairvoyant
Contrarian - To Perceive is to Suffer
Converge - The Dusk in Us
Heretoir - The Circle
Hideous Divinity - Adveniens
Horisont - About Time
Hour of Penance - Cast the First Stone
Immolation - Atonement
Incantation - Profane Nexus
In Search of Sun - Virgin FUnk Mother
Intervals - The Way Forward
Junius - Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light
KMFDM - Hell Yeah
Kreator - Gods of Violence
Living Colour - Shade
Lunar Shadow - Far from Light
The Mantle - The Mantle
Master Boot Record - C:\>COPY*.*A:/V
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Me and that Man - Songs of Love and Death
Monolord - Rust
The Monolith Deathcult - Versus
Moonspell - 1755
Morbid Angel - Kingdoms Disdained
Mors Principium Est - Embers of a Dying World
Municipal Waste - Slime and Punishment
The Mute Gods - Tardigrades Will Inherit the Earth
Mutiny Within - Origins
Myrkur - Mareridt
Myrone - Humanity
Narcotic Wasteland - Delirium Tremens
Necrowretch - Satanic Slavery
Nervecell - Past, Present...Torture
Neun Welten - The Sea I’m Diving In
Nidingr - The High Heat Licks Against Heaven
Nightbringer - Terra Damnata
Night Demon - Darkness Remains
Nightrage - The Venomous
Nordheim - Rapthor
Nova Collective - The Further Side
Novembers Doom - Hamartia
Vintersorg - Till Fjälls del II
Virulent Depravity - Fruit of the Poisoned Tree
Vomit Remains - Hyper Groove Brutality
Vulture Industries - Stranger Times
Warbringer - Woe to the Vanquished
Witchery - I Am Legion
Witherfall - Nocturnes and Requiems
Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere
Woe - Hope Attrition
Wolfheart - Tyhjyys
Wolves in the Throne Room - Thrice Woven
Wormwood - Ghostlands - Wounds from a Bleeding Earth

Cut Up - Wherever They May Rot
Cytotoxin - Gamageddon
Daemusinem - Thy Ungodly Defiance
Dälek - Endangered Philosophies
Darkest Hour - Godless Prophets and the Migrant Flora
Dawn of Disease - Ascension Gate
Deathwish - Unleash Hell
Decrepit Birth - Axis Mundi
Demon Eye - Prophecies and Lies
Destruction - Thrash Anthems II
Desultory - Through Aching Aeons
Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pacifisticuffs
Divinity - The Immortalist
Dreaming Dead - Funeral Twilight
Dying Fetus - Wrong One to Fuck With
Dyscarnate - With All Their Might
Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
Eluveitie - Evocation II - Pantheon
Empyrean Throne - Chaosborne
End of Green - Void Estate
Enfold Darkness - Adversary Omnipotent
Ensiferum - Two Paths
Enslaved - E
Entrails - World Inferno
Eruption - Cloaks of Oblivion
Evocation - The Shadow Archetype
The Faceless - In Becoming a Ghost
Falls of Rauros - Vigilance Perennial
Fen - Winter
Firewind - Immortals
Foscor - Les Irreals Visions
Full of Hell - Tempting Ecstasy
Game Over - Blessed are the Heretics
Game Over - Claiming Supremacy
Ghost Bath - Starmourner
God Dethroned - The World Ablaze
Grave Digger - Healed by Metal
Gruesome - Fragments of Psyche
Gwar - The Blood of Gods
Harlott - Extinction
The Haunted - Strength in Numbers
Havukruunu - Havulinnaan
Origin - Unparalleled Universe
Overkill - The Grinding Wheel
Paganizer - Land of Weeping Souls
Pallbearer - Heartless
Persefone - Aathma
Phobia - Lifeless God
Pillorian - Obsidian Arc
Portrait - Burn the World
Power Quest - Sixth Dimension
Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Of Chaos and Carnal Pleasures
Pyramaze - Contingent
Replacire - Do Not Deviate
Ritual of Odds - Ritual of 9
Russkaja - Kosmopoliturbo
Samskaras - Asunder
Satyricon - Deep Calleth Upon Deep
Scale the Summit - In a World of Fear
Seer - Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void
Sentient Ignition - Enthroned in Gray
Septicflesh - Codex Omega
Shugo Tokumaru - TOSS
Sinister - Syncretism
Sólstafir - Berdreyminn
Sons of Crom - The Black Tower
Soul Demise - Thin Red Line
Soul Remnants - Ouroboros
Steven Wilson - To the Bone
Street Cleaner - Payback 2
Subterranean Masquerade - Vagabond
Suffocation - ...Of the Dark Light
Theory in Practice - Crescendo Dezign
The Thirteenth Sun - Stardust
Threat Signal - Disconnect
Through the Eyes of the Dead - Disomus
Tombs - The Grand Annihilation
Trivium - The Sin and the Sentence
Ultraboss - Kyrie Electron
Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Unleash the Archers - Apex
Vampire - WIth Primeval Force
Vhäldemar - Against All Kings
15. Stone Sour - Hydrograd


When I was in high school I picked up Stone Sour’s first album because I was a big Slipknot fan at the time and wanted to hear what else Corey Taylor and Jim Root would be playing. As I got older, I started to lose a taste for Slipknot and Stone Sour only to revisit Stone Sour on some of their later albums. They have progressed quite nicely since their debut and have definitely put out some of their best in the past few years.

Standout Track - Fabuless









14. Exhumed - Death Revenge

My first exposure to Exhumed was on All Guts, No Glory which I reviewed for Teeth of the Divine. Since then, they’ve become one of my favorite death metal acts. With Death Revenge they continue on their Carcass inspired death ride while infusing more melody and horror film elements to their current album.

Standout Track - A Funeral Party











 13. Firespawn - The Reprobate

Here is some really solid death metal that hearkens back to Entombed and Dismembered except without that classic Boss HM-2 sound, which is fine since the album sounds great regardless.

Standout Track - Death By Impalement














12. Mutoid Man - War Moans

Just some catchy, hard hitting rock and roll with a vague early Mastodon feel to it.

Standout Track - Date with the Devil















11. Akercocke - Renaissance in Extremis

After a short break up and ten years since their previous record, English Satanic rockers Akercocke are back at it with their blend of progressive and death metal. Despite being gone for awhile they still retain the dark and beautiful musical bite that they’re known for.

Standout Track - First to Leave the Funeral











10. Impureza - La Caída De Tonatiuh

This technical death metal band is what Obscura would sound like if they had more flamenco influences.

Standout Track - Otumba, 1520















9. In the Presence of Wolves - Of Two Minds, Stages 1-2: The Ape and the Cage

I’m sensing a theme in my top list here and it’s that most of the bands are progressive or have progressive elements in them. This band takes ingredients from the Between the Buried and Me and Coheed and Cambria; throw them in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby you got a prog stew going!

Standout Track - The One Who Fell to Earth










8. Ne Obliviscaris - Urn

On Ne Obliviscaris’ third album they continue with the progressively epic metal that they’ve been known for since their debut.

Standout Track - Intra Venus














7. Caligula’s Horse - In Contact

This is my first time hearing of this Australian quintet progressive outfit. Caligula’s Horse sounds like a blend of Leprous and Nevermore.

Standout Track - The Hands are the Hardest
















6. Leprous - Malina

I absolutely loved the Congregation when it came out back in 2015 and was absolutely impressed by their live show when I saw them in late 2016. I was understandably stoked for their next album but I feel that it falls a bit short of the expectations that the Congregation set up. Malina is not a bad album by any means, it just didn’t wow me like their last one.

Standout Track - Stuck









5. The Black Dahlia Murder - Nightbringers

It’s been two years since the last Black Dahlia Murder release so it’s time for a new record. If you’re familiar with Black Dahlia Murder then you know you’re going to be getting a hyper blend of Swedish melodic death metal with American Florida style death metal and some tasty leads from newcomer Brandon Ellis.

Standout Track - Matriarch











4. Double Ferrari - Double Ferrari

If you like riff driven rock music that gets you pumped and feel triumphant, then Double Ferrari is the band for you. They take some of the best elements from the Fucking Champs and mix it in with some of the best Capcom tracks from their NES output. A little aside though, I do know guitarist Jace Bartlet so I’m a little biased here.

Standout Track - Thumbs Up Molten Steel












3. The Night Flight Orchestra - Amber Galactic

This is the most 70s album oriented rock album to come out in 2017 and probably in the past decade. Björd Strid sounds amazing on here.

Standout Track -Star of Rio
















2. TWRP - Ladyworld

Originally known as Tupperware Remix Party, TWRP continuously put out some damn catchy synthpop. This is a groovy blend of Daft Punk and disco.

Standout Track - Ladyworld















1. Grave Pleasures - Motherblood

This one came out of nowhere for me. I never heard the previous incarnation of Grave Pleasures as Beastmilk but I’m glad to have the pleasure to hear them as Grave Pleasures for Motherblood. This is catchy, atomic post punk. For all the talks of nuclear annihilation today, this is the soundtrack for our nuclear winter.

Standout Track - Be My Hiroshima

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