Well, 2016 has been a year. I’ll avoid the stuff Charlie Brown’s Linus van Pelt says not to talk about and jump into music, because politics aside, it’s been a crazy year for music. I discovered so many bands! Veldes, Avantasia, Shadow of Intent, Moonsorrow, Septic Flesh, Lamb of God, Soar, Dissection, Delain, Sonata Artica, The Wagaki Band, Chthonic…the list could probably go on. Some of my most-anticipated albums came out this year, and some of them were amazing! Some were also not amazing.
2016 strikes in more than one way.
Concert wise, I’ve seen four of my five favorite bands live: Nightwish, Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, and Bobaflex. I also got to see Deff Leppard, Delain, Sonata Artica, Hed P.E. Powerman 5000, REO Speedwagon, Sixx. a.m. Slipknot, Disturbed, Beartooth, Nothing More, Another Lost Year, and a darn good few others that I can’t recall off the top of my head.
In that respect, 2016 couldn’t bring me down at all. Do you know how crazy Slipknot were live? Like, all of the crazy!
So let’s stick with positivity and jump into my top-ten albums of 2016! This list is…well, it’s a list!
10 Korn — The Serenity of Suffering
Genre: Nu Metal
Perhaps the craziest thing about 2016 is that it got me excited for a new Korn album. Do you know how long it’s been since that happened? Like a decade! But I’m an adult that isn’t in middle school, and Goddamn, Korn put out an album that’s awesome. It’s got everything I want from them, from the scat singing to the crunchy riffage to the angsty lyrics.
It appeals to me on so many nostalgic levels, yet it’s also just good. It’s catchy as all hell, catchy as all hell, and also catchy as all hell. Also, it’s Korn without the electronic gimmicks from their last few efforts. That means…that means so much. You have no idea.
Standout tracks are “Rotting in Vain,” “When You’re Not There,” and “Everything Falls Apart.”
09 Amaranthe – Maximalism
Genre: ???
Amaranthe are a band I discovered early in 2015 and fell in love with because they’re a strange mess of noise. They have three vocalist: A pop singer, a rock singer, and a metal growler, and they mix pop-rock with straight metal. I don’t know what they are, but I love their sound. It’s different. It’s everything I want in music, really.
Their new effort is more of the same in that regard, with huge pop songs that pack on the metal grit. It’s a sing-along affair that turns into a scream-along, and you don’t really know where one part begins and another ends. It might also get you dancing and headbanging at the same time. It’s not every day an album will get both of those things out of me.
Not that I should dance. I suck at dancing.
Standout tracks are “Boomerang,” “On the Rocks,” and “Limitless.”
08 All Hail the Yeti – Screams from a Black Wilderness
Genre: Death Metal…?
All Hail the Yeti are the only band I know that can do horror lyrics and not sound like cartoons. Cannibal Corpse and Infant Annihilator bring on the gore, yet they do so with a cheesy shine that kind of hurts the overall package. Yeti? They’ll do up death, torture, and the apocalypse with the brutal salesmanship of a person promising a cure to cancer yet giving you snake oil.
Screams from a Black Wilderness is their sophomore effort, and in that respect, is much more refined than their former. That’s neither a condemnation nor a praise; just a fact. It flows better, and it has a hair less grit than their self-titled, yet it also packs one hellova punch. The songs are driving forces, the kind that make you want to go fight someone because anger is anger and you’re angry! They make you want to chant and scream too, because all good music makes you want to do those things, and this is good music.
Standout tracks include, “Witch is Dead,” “Before the Flames,” and “Daughter of the Morning Star.”
07 Thomas Rakowitz – The Musings of Balance
Genre: Hard Rock
Full discolor: Thomas Rakowtiz is a good friend of mine. Full disclosure: The Musings of Balance is a killer record.
The Musings of Balance probably has my favorite guitar work of any album released in 2016. Every track is different and flavorful, yet every track has that brutal riffage that you want from this brand of hard rock. It makes you want to mosh like a crazy person, and it makes you want to sing along while you do so. The vocal melodies are catchy!
Thomas mixes clean singing with death growls like a pro, and he layers them over just the best guitar work. It’s insane. Lyrically, he knows how to channel the things that keep him up at night, both good and bad. Musically, well musically it’s a bit of everything. There’s a goddamn bull-fighting song on this thing! Color it surprising, and use a black marker while you do so.
Standout tracks are “The End of it All,” “Frantic,” and “The Illusion.”
06 Six a.m. – Prayers for the Damned
Genre: Rock
This isn’t the first time Six a.m. have made my top-ten list, and given their track record, it won’t be the last. They do rock like rock needs to be done: catchy, hard, and awesome. Prayers for the Damned is a harder version of their sound, bringing the big guitars and the fast vocals without any letup. There are no ballads here.
It’s awesome.
The album does get some bonus points for their live performance, which was killer as all hell, but really, if you’re into rock, this is the prime example of it. It’s got just a bit of classic flair to entice all walks of life, but the gut-punch we all want and need from new-timey music.
And I dare you to try and not sing along while this album is going. Try. Just try. You’ll fail as miserably as I do, because I suck at singing and shouldn’t try at all. This album gets me to try though, and it’s always a blast.
Standout tracks are “Belly of the Beast,” “When We Were Gods,” and “Can’t Stop.”
05 Delain – Moonbathers
Genre: Symphonic Metal
So I’m basically going to jump for joy if you’re either symphonic metal or folk metal, and this is the former. Happy day there, because Nightwish need to have some supplements for the years they don’t release an album. Queue Delain!
Delain are some prime-time symphonic metal, yet they have some subtle twists. I find that Moonbathers comes and goes when it comes to the symphony; it’s either very prominent or in the background. When it’s prominent, it’s the swelling sound we all hope and want, yet when it’s in the background, well, that’s when the guitars and drums just explode.
Mix that with some amazing vocals and even more amazing vocal melodies, and you have an album that I have not been able to stop listening to. Bonus points for Delain being phenomenal live. And they were an opening band! How the hell were they an opening band? They make most closing acts look like chump change.
Standout tracks are “Hands of Gold,” “The Glory and the Scum,” and “Dance Macabre.”
04 Gorjia – Magma
Genre: Death Metal
I’m tempted to just write, “It’s Gojira and Gojira can do no wrong,” because that’s probably the truest thing that’s been said this year. However, Gojira didn’t just do no wrong here; they did amazing. Magma is the only death metal album I’d call gorgeous. Seriously, this is pretty death metal! How is that even possible?
Magma is when you take pure, pure sorrow and put it to music. It’s when you take the frustration of death and just yell at it, yet it’s also what you do when you’re done yelling. There are real moments of contemplation here, of deep introspection on life and loss. It’s brilliant.
It’s also an album that takes the band away from their norm with quite a bit of clean vocals. Yeah. Gojira with clean vocals. Holy hell. Yet they work! At first they seem monotonous, almost in the background, yet the more you listen, the more they jive perfectly with what the record wants. They’re this sad, pretty drone, and they make this album something special.
Standout tracks are “Low Lands,” “Stranded,” and “Silvera.”
03 Moonsorrow – Jumalten Aika
Genre: Black Metal
Perhaps my favorite thing about 2016 is that it taught me that black metal can be amazing. At one point I wrote the genre off, and then Moonsorrow came along and slapped me upside the head with a gorgeous, atmospheric, and heavy album about gods and man.
It’s also in Finnish.
Juamlen Aika is one of two 2016 albums I’d call epic. Of the five tracks, four are over ten minutes long and two boarder on fifteen minutes. The whole package is a bit over an hour, yet the variety here is off the charts. The songs move in this glorious, unpredictable way, going from heavy riffs to soft keyboards and other classical instruments. The album keeps you on your toes in this tense way, yet it also asks you to relax, to sit back and enjoy.
Lyrically, the album is awesome (assuming you’re willing to check the booklet. The whole thing is in Finnish, but that really only adds to it. The vocals become another instrument, a distorted wail that sucks you in and doesn’t let you go at all. It’s so awesome!)
Standout tracks are “Jumaltin Aika,” “Ihmisen Aika,” and “Ruttoleto sis. Paivattoman Paivan Kansa.”
02 Avantasia – Ghostlights
Genre: Power Metal
Ghostlights came out sometime in January and remained my favorite album for most of the year. It’s a massive concept album about a guy journeying into the afterlife and finding God, and it’s nothing short of amazing. I cannot get over how phenomenal the guitar work is here, and I cannot get over how just…epic this piece is! Every song has at least one guest vocalist because Avantasia isn’t a band; it’s an event.
It’s also the pinnacle of power metal.
This isn’t cheesy stuff, and this isn’t repetitive riffage. It’s plain glory from start to finish, the kind of songs I want to belt out but cannot because my range is like three and a half notes. It’s smart and awesome and will not leave your head until you hit the repeat button in a failed attempt at purging such amazing notes. Even then, you might as well toss a coin, because you’re probably screwed.
You cannot make music this awesome go away! And you shouldn’t want to either!
Standout tracks include “Master of the Pendulum,” “Ghostlights,” and “Draconian Love.”
01 Sully Erna – Hometown Life
Genre: ???
Back in 2014 when I did my first top-ten music list, I said that I was a massive fanboy of Godsmack. That fanboyism includes their front man, Sully Erna. I kind of want to marry his voice.
Avalon was my favorite album for a good many years until I discovered Wintersun, and even then, it still remains my second favorite album. It’s goddamn perfection, and as luck would have it, so is Hometown Life. Blending five or six different genres—including jazz!—Hometown Life is half a love-letter to music and half a love-letter to personal triumphs and failures.
It’s such an interesting album to listen to, because on one hand it’s a biography of Sully Erna himself, on another it’s a message to his children, and on a third (because this monster has three hands) it’s open to interpretation. As an English major, it’s basically a wet dream I can throw into my ears.
Wow. That sounded strange.
What doesn’t sound strange is this album though (saved!). It’s a little bit country, a little bit alternative, a little bit jazz, a little bit soul, a little bit rock, and a little bit tribal. It might have bits and pieces of other genres too, because it’s just that kind of record. Sometimes Sully has half a symphony behind him, and sometimes he’s playing a piano. Sometimes that happens in the same song.
And all the while, it’s mixed wonderfully, vocally impressive, and makes you want to weep or dance.
Standout tracks are “Your Own Drum,” “Turn it Up,” and “Forever my Infinity.”
Nonsense 