Top 10 Metal Albums of 2016

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Did you really put Metallica ahead of Mithras?!

The Mithras, and Coldworld records are great. And the Trees of Eternity record is also impressive. Definitely caught me off guard.

 

[zerostatic]

Seriously? Tempted to check it out.. it's at least better than worship music right?

I'm probably one of the few people on this forum who appreciated Worship Music. I think it is a great album, easily Anthrax's best since Persistence of Time, and the best album released by any of the "big four" in the last 20 years. For All King is good, but not as great as Worship Music. For those interested in giving it a listen I recommend the title track, or one of the following songs: Defend/Avenge, All of Them Thieves, This Battle Chose Us, Zero Tolerance.

 

[The Ozzman]

and the best album released by any of the "big four" in the last 20 years.

I highly doubt this but I will listen to it.

 

[Burkhard]

You thought that Mortillery album was good? Her voice ruins it for me.

Initially, I was somewhat disappointed by this album and this impression also had something to do with the vocals. While I still think that the vocals on some of the songs are too "extreme"/overdone (or whatever one should call it) and that I would have prefered them more in the vein of the two first albums, this album seems to have grown on me and eventually, it became my most-played album in 2016.

 

[AlienZombie]

That Mistur took me by surprise, I need to check out the rest of these. I did hear a bit of that Behexen and remember liking it.

Yeah, Mistur is probably at least in my personal top 5, wish I saw it mentioned more. They were the band that I thought carried the torch for Windir (a band I LOVE) more than any other, and I was impressed with their latest album (also check out their first album if you haven't). Behexen got my attention originally with "By the Blessing of Satan", but I also loved the new one despite the difference in vocals/sound. If you're going by my list and dig Mistur, you would most likely also like Moonsorrow and Fimbultyr.
I also bought the new stuff from Rimfrost and Metallica, and plan to get Witchery, Ravencult and Necrot as far as 2016 releases go.

 

[nizzon]

Did you really put Metallica ahead of Mithras?!

The Mithras, and Coldworld records are great. And the Trees of Eternity record is also impressive. Definitely caught me off guard.

15-21 is really hard to even grade. I find Mithras cool and interesting but can never listen to the entire album without geting bored. I guess Metallica gets a bit higher rating than it deserves because on history, hype and that they went in the right direction.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

right direction but still failed miserably imo

 

[The Ozzman]

right direction but still failed miserably imo

You probably just fast forwarded through the album anyway

 

[CiG]

In this instance he was probably justified.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

You probably just fast forwarded through the album anyway

Hit a soft spot, did I? I mean you cannot honesty say that this is a good album and deserves to be mentioned even in the top 100 releases of 2016.

 

[The Ozzman]

Hit a soft spot, did I? I mean you cannot honesty say that this is a good album and deserves to be mentioned even in the top 100 releases of 2016.

I only liked 4 songs on this album. I was fucking with you.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

oh

 

[Talos of Atmora]

My Top Ten for 2016 (in no particular order):

1. Be'lakor - Vessels
2. Witherscape - The Northern Sanctuary
3. Eternal Champion - The Armor of Ire
4. Khemmis - Hunted
5. Vektor - Terminal Redux
6. Sumerlands - S/T
7. Blood Incantation - Starspawn
8. Insomnium - Winter's Gate
9. Haken - Affinity
10. Spiritus Mortis - The Year is One

So, there you have it. I'll post a list of honorable mentions as well because this was quite an exciting year for metal.

 

[Sirjack]

l dont really buy new stuff so for me probably Vektor and Watchtower

 

[Baroque]

My Top Ten for 2016 (in no particular order):

1. Be'lakor - Vessels
2. Witherscape - The Northern Sanctuary
3. Eternal Champion - The Armor of Ire
4. Khemmis - Hunted
5. Vektor - Terminal Redux
6. Sumerlands - S/T
7. Blood Incantation - Starspawn
8. Insomnium - Winter's Gate
9. Haken - Affinity
10. Spiritus Mortis - The Year is One

So, there you have it. I'll post a list of honorable mentions as well because this was quite an exciting year for metal.

Haven't heard the new Bel'akor yet, thanks for reminding me to check it out

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Haven't heard the new Bel'akor yet, thanks for reminding me to check it out

What did you think of The Northern Sanctuary?

 

[Baroque]

What did you think of The Northern Sanctuary?

I'm not familiar with that, will look it up.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I'm not familiar with that, will look it up.

You should. Dan Swano's name is on it therefore you should look it up. That's how this works.

 

[Draehl]

Edit: I lied. Gave Uada another spin. A good album for sure, but not top 10.

This was by far the year I've stayed most current in (ever) and I have a little more variety than past years. Still, I pretty clearly show my sub-genre biases so this is in practice a list of the year's strong atmospheric/melodic BM releases with a splash of other stuff. In 2017 I'm going to try to delve into Stoner/Sludge, Dungeonsynth and Neofolk more as they're all genres I enjoy greatly but admit my exposure is lacking.

Top 10

Cobalt - Slow Forever
Fyrnask - Fórn
Hyperion - Seraphical Euphony
Kvalvaag - Malum (bizarre symph-ish BM, check it out!)
Mare Cognitum - Luminiferous Aether
Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika
Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä
Sunnata - Zorya
Urfaust - Empty Space Meditation
Vektor - Terminal Redux

Honorable Mentions (tags for less known stuff)

Ash Borer
Astral Path (atmo/ambient BM)
Cult of Luna/Julie Christmas
Desaster (BM/Thrash)
Destroyer 666
Eternal Champion
Frozen Forest (BM, more harsh/lo-fi than my standard)
Forteresse
Forndom (neofolk)
Galdur (dungeonsynth)
Grand Magus
Latitudes
Sig:ar:tyr
Spaceslug (stoner/psych)
Uada
Wardruna (neofolk)
Witherscape
Yith (black/doom)

Letdowns

Bolzer - I dig the title track but compared to the last two EPs...
Opeth - Meh. The worst since Watershed.
Saor - It just felt less than inspired, if not forced.
Zaum - Way too ambient compared to the GODLY 'Oracles' prior. Good background music maybe.
Zhrine - It loses its effect greatly with more listens, but I was in love on the first listen.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika
Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä

Both of these are in my honorable mentions.

Letdowns

Bolzer, Opeth, Saor, Zaum, Zhrine

Fucking hell, no kidding. Especially with prog metal like Terminal Redux and The Northern Sanctuary having come out this year. Sorceress, especially, was an absolute bore. This is coming from the same band that released Still Life, Ghost Reveries, Blackwater Park, Morningrise, Deliverance, Damnation (which was pure prog rock but actually had great songwriting and sound unlike Sorceress), etc.