Phase II:
21.) Austrian Death Machine- Triple Brootal
FFO: Comedy Metal, Thrash Metal, Modern Metal
Will Tim be back? No, he won't.
6/10
22.) Evil Masquerade- The Digital Crucifix
FFO: Hard Rock, Power Metal, 70s Rock
Nice flowing Power Metal/Hard Rock. Mostly mid tempo. Good stuff for Power Metal fans that want more than the fast songs and more of a Rainbow approach.
7/10
23.) Lazer/Wulf- The Beast Of Left And Right
FFO: Instrumental Metal, Thrash Metal, Prog Metal
If I understand the album concept correctly, this is an album that can be played the same forward and backward. A very cool concept. Great debut album. Definitely worth checking out.
8/10
24.) Job For A Cowboy- Sun Eater
FFO: Progressive Death Metal, Sludge Metal, Doom Metal
JFAC will forever get a bad name, it's a shame because they just put out an amazing album and easily their best work. Danny Walker does a great job taking the drum throne position (In studio) from Jon Rice (now of Scorpion Child). Dare say a masterpiece of an album if you are willing to give it a chance.
9/10
25.) Long Distance Calling- Nighthawk
FFO: Instrumental Metal, Progresive Metal, Post Metal
Even though the band now has a singer, the band released an instrumental improv/jam album. It takes a few albums to get it. But it is really cool. it's not Avoid The Light, but it does has awesome moments of brilliance.
8/10
26.) Adjentist- Riven Liaison
FFO: Djent
Much like the band name suggest, this is as stereotypical Djent as it gets. It will work for those who love the early day Djent. It's not bad by any means if you like the style, but nothing mindblowing, just a nice Djent album. I can see things getting bigger for these guys on their next release.
6/10
27.) Yossi Yassi- Desert Butterflies
FFO: Middle Eastern, Instrumental Progressive Rock,
Except for some occasional chants, this is the latest instrumental album from the ex Orphaned Land songwriter. Beautiful music, like a lot of instrumental album, it's hard to digest from start to finish, but in small doses, it's fantastic.
7/10
28.) Death Destruction- II
FFO: Modern Metal, Groove Metal
Heavily Pantera/Groove Metal inspired with a tad different vocal approach. This will appease pretty much any Pantera fan.
6/10
29.) Barbelith- Mirrors Unveiled
FFO: Atmospheric Black Metal, Deafheaven, Vattnet Viskar, Post Black Metal
An AMAZING album. It's brilliantly written and flows together like a very sinister sounding soundtrack. Don't get scared off by the comparisons if you're not into this kind of music, give it a shot, it's more than worth it.
9/10
30.) Pink Floyd- The Endless River
FFO: Instrumental Rock, Soundtrack Music, Soundscapes.
With only one song that has vocals, the rest of the album is all songs that were written by Richard Wright. It does feel very long until you get to the end. Now how most would have wanted the last Pink Floyd album to be, but a nice send off to the fallen keyboardist.
6/10
31.) Crobot- Something Supernatural
FFO: Hard Rock, Myles Kennedy type vocals
Magnificent music. Halloween/Horror type vocals over Scorpion Child/Clutch/Slash (solo) type music with Myles Kennedy type vocals. It s alot of fun for hard Rock fans. these guys will explode next year. And hey, they are one letter off from being a MST3K reference!
9/10
32.) Silent Call- Truth's Redemption
FFO: Melodic Progressive Metal
Another awesome Melodic Progressive Metal band. soaring vocals, perfect musicianship, just overall great music.
8/10
33.) Slash- World On Fire
FFO: Hard Rock, Guns And Roses, Alter Bridge, 80s Hard Rock
MUCH better than Apocalyptic Love. More rocking songs, not nearly as many ballads. A solid rock record. Anything Myles Kennedy is a part of is fantastic. this is jsut another example.
8/10
34.) Electric Wizard- Time To Die
FFO: Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Music with passable production
The one grip I personally have with Stoner and Doom Metal is mainly the production. It's not hard to get production to sound good now a days. Time To Die from the legendary Electric Wizard is one of the best albums they've ever produced. The production isn't perfect, but it's enough to get by, the music is worth it. If you like your Stoner/Doom Metal RAW, this is for you.
8/10
35.) Scars Of Tomorrow- Failed Transmissions
FFO: Metalcore, 2000s Metal
Literally had no clue these guys were still around until I got the promo. It sounds like it is straight outta 2002. Some call that a great thing, some call that a bad thing. If you are into Metalcore, you'll dig this. If not, stay away.
6/10
36.) Tombs- Savage Gold
FFO: Death Metal, Doom Metal, Atmosphere
Without question, the best Tombs album to date. this takes the best elements of Tombs, adds some atmosphere and then takes on Erik Rutan's excellent producing approach and made a killer Metal album. Even though it just barely missed my top 100, it is not an album to let sneak past if this may interest you. Such great stuff.
9/10
37.) Gladenfold- From Dusk To Eternity
FFO: Power Metal, Melodic Death Metal
This is a phenomenal album that perfectly blends Power Metal and Melodic Death metal. It gives everything a perfect, epic, feel from the Power Metal orchestration and vocals, to the MDM twists and turns that underlie it all. For those that love both styles, give this a chance, it may be one of your favorite albums of the year.
9/10
38.) Amadeus Awad's Eon- The Book Of Gates
FFO: Progressive Metal, Middle Eastern, Russell Allen not disappointing you
Amadeus Awad wrote all the music to this album and Russell Allen sings all the male vocals. For classic Symphony X fans, he doesn't use is post Paradise Lost vocals, he sticks with his all clean no raspy approach. Essentially, if you like Symphony X with a little Middle Eastern melodies, this is for you.
9/10
39.) Gravehill- Death Curse
FFO: Old School Death Metal
This is as classic Death metal as it gets. Great but raw production, solid songs and musicianship. Killer growls. Lots of melodies and harmonies that death metal bands today forget can exists. This has it all.
8/10
40.) Delain- The Human Contradiction
FFO: Symphonic Metal, Progressive Metal, Literally Ball-Crushing Metal (look up that story if you haven't from a couple weeks back, SERIOUSLY!)
Not a bad album, not completely my bag. But no falsetto operatic vocals. Mostly high to mid range. Some occasional male screams. For the female Fronted Metal fans, this a good album to check out, and again check out the story about how they are literally ball crushing Metal.
6/10
41.) Epica- The Quantum Enigma
FFO: Female Fronted Symphonic Metal, occasional Death Growls
Epica albums are a lot like Windows OS updates, every other one is good. This is one that is superb. Fantastic writing on every song. Catchy and memorable. for fans of the style, pick this up if you haven't already.
8/10
42.) Mortals- Cursed To See The Future
FFO: All Female Sludge Metal; Doom Metal
These girls seriously kick ass. Like a much heavier Kylesa and only one drummer. Every song is as good as the next and it makes you want to put it on repeat. A textbook example of how to keep a genre fresh.
9/10
43.) Framework- A World Distorted
FFO: Melodic Death Metal
Pretty solid MDM. Brutal when it needs to be brutal, melodic when it needs to be melodic. it's a great mixture done right. Not the best MDM album of the year, but honestly, not that far off.
8/10
44.) Gus G.- I Am The Fire
FFO: Hard Rock, Power Metal, Acoustic
When i interviewed Gus G. last year, he told me if Firewind was Deep Purple, his solo album would be Led Zepplin. He is pretty close. No other album would I think to see members of Steel Panther, Evergrey, Megadeth, Mr. Big and more. Overall the album really showcases everything Gus G. is capable of. Soft Acoustic Ballads, Fast Power Metal, Perfect Hard Rock, what else do you really need? Solid album
9/10
45.) Trash Talk- No Peace
FFO: Hardcore, Punk, friends of Loiter Squad
Fast, fun, thrash, Hardcore Punk. It makes for a fun show to watch and good music to listen to. Not into the Loiter Squad connection, but hey, what can you do?
7/10
46.) Stealing Axion- Aeons
FFO: Progressive Metal, Djent
The second album from this band is a nice progression from where the band started. A little more focused on melodies and harmonies this time around instead of just the Djent riffs. Many will blow this off because of the Djent sound, but I think it's at least worth checking out. You never know what you could be missing out on.
8/10
47.) Wolvhammer- Crawling Into Black Sun
FFO: Black Metal, Doom Metal
A great band that doesn't get enough love. A great mixture of the slow Doom Metal mixed with the fast paced Black Metal stylings. This album showcases both sides perfectly.For a great blend of Black and Doom, check this out!
8/10
48.) Omainen- Shades Of Grey
FFO: Nevermore
Basically the French Nevermore. Almost to the point of being a tribute album to the band, yet staying original. Not the perfect production, but the awesome songs make up for it. I really wanna hear more from this band.
8/10
49.) Seamless- Reflective
FFO: Progressive Metal; Djent tone; High clean vocals and low growls
Not so much of a Djent band as it is taking the tone for the lows and doing a lot more with it in a progressive Metal sense. These guys are obviously a young band with vocals shown, but this gives them a lot to look forward to when they get older. As they keep growing, they will explore a lot more territories. This is off to a great start.
7/10
50.) Winger- Better Days Comin'
FFO: 80s/90s Hard Rock, Progressive Rock
*Obligatory Stuart from Beavis and Butt-Head reference* Ok, now that I'm past that, this album is actually really good. It gets fast and heavy at time, some great slower melodic songs. this is one of the few albums that comes from an 80s-90s band this year that did not blow. that seriousl says a lot.
8/10