Brian Gould's Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of 2006
Published January 03, 2007
5. Motorhead - Kiss of Death
Old school thrashers, if not the originators, come to the table with their strongest release in years. So full of energy, the album is able to get your head banging one minute, but singing along the next. Lemmy and company have stayed relevant all these years, thanks to their no bullshit attitude and timeless delivery. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best albums they have ever produced.
6. Eyes of Fire - Prisons
California's Eyes of Fire and their form of metal moves around from doom to death to gothic, but what does remain constant, their music is very dark and atmospheric. Melodies and building crescendos make them appear in and swim around the ever present wall of stoner fuzz, punctuated by vocals that are gruff and buried within the music. The cadence of it all makes it a very enjoyable listen, even after the 50th spin. I see a bright future for these guys and patiently await a new album.
7. Vader - The Art of War (EP)
Quite simply, the best EP I have ever heard, and therefore deserves a slot in this
year's top ten. Brutal technical death at its finest, it could have been the defining
moment of this genre had it been released and been able to sustain its greatness as a full length album. They almost achieved just that later in the year, with their full length release, Impressions In Blood. This has been a great year for death metal, due in part, to veteran bands like Vader coming through with solid efforts.
8. Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis
Another veteran band within the technical death genre who came through in spades in 2006, with this release. The change at lead vocals did nothing to slow this band down, even though Coven is a little more accessible to the ear than Sauron was, but I believe their credibility is still fully intact, as is their vast well of creativity. I fully expect many more great albums from this, still, young band.
9. Vader - Impressions In Blood
This is the full length release I mentioned earlier in this top ten list. This band has become, to me, the barometer of excellence in death metal. These guys just can not seem to do anything wrong. All of these death metal albums I have listed here have one thing in common; they are short, sweet, and to the point. They don't play around with layers and layers of slow melodic pretentiousness. The only thing they are interested in is bludgeoning you over the head with superior chords and blast beats. I am one of those that screams "swing away!"
- Brian Gould's Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of 2006
- Published: January 03, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Lists, Music: Metal
- Writer: Brian Gould
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Comments on this articleComments
I agree, everyone will have their own list, and that's the way it should be. I would HOPE your list would be different than mine.
Essentially, these represent what I spun most often, and I still say it was a bad year for music all around, as it was for movies. Hopefully 2007 will be MUCH better. Legion of the Damned have a new album coming out soon, Trouble's new one FINALLY hit the stores in Feb.
Yup... Just my assessment, compliment & full use of Freedom of speech here. Granted, everyone's list could be different, I would HOPE people would still understand an excellent Metal band when they hear it especially in the US but this is not the case! We are constantly bombarded over here with the useless,pretentious ramblings from the Nu-Metal & Wanna-be Death Metal crowd which in turn confuses most people about what qualities & attributes make a genre what it is,i.e; Death Metal,Thrash,Speed,Progressive. AND what really classifies a band as innovative and brilliant.
not bad...one of the better lists i've seen from bloggers.
if you like place of skulls than you will love: pentagram(old band of place of skull's guitarist) days of reckoning and relentless are their best albums. mandatory.
solitude aeturnus
saint vitus
cathedral
burning saviors
reverend bizarre
witchcraft
Wasn't into the new Motorhead album as much as you were. Good list, lots of stuff that I will check out.
points added for Motorhead, but no 10,000 Days by TooL?
Ok, some might not think of it as "metal", but some do. And ya gotta admit , the album is massive.
Could just be me.
Good list, and thanks for sharing, keep banging!
Thanks for compliments, I knew the list might raise or lower some people's brows depending on which side of Motorhead or In Flames they fall, but in a year that wasn't spectacular, it becomes a free-for-all.
I definately listen to Pentagram, Solitude, and Cathedral... never was much of a Vitus fan though, and I will check out those other bands listed above that I didn't know.
About the Tool album, I liked it, eventually thumbed it an 8 because, although good, it didn't capture my attention.
What did you think of last year's Maiden album? I thought it was a very good, quality release.
I liked it ... gave it a solid 7... overall thought it was kinda blah... but I can't bitch about the musicianship... they still got it.
uhhh...Christ Illusion??
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Finally, a list that is packed with some pretty decent releases, though I don't like 'em myself, and it isn't filled with crappy nu-metal bands. I am quite shocked though that In Flames rated rather high... Oh well.
In comparison, I would replace your #1 w/ Arsis United in Regret which would've been a tough call against Gorod Leading Vision
Motorhead shouldn't even be on the list,but that's my opinion, and would've been easily replaced by the revisit to Kreator's Enemy of God(2005-that includes a DVD(A) version of the album as well as live concert footage)as I agree that this year was very hard to find more than one CD that was worth raving about.
BUT..they did re-release AtrophySocialized Hate which is worth a mention in any top 10 even though it came out a long time ago.