Top Ten 2020

[Wyvern]

Is that time of the year again, and many know the drill, but there have been newbies coming lately.

Write your top (10 minimum, no maximum) list of albums, concerts, videos, for 2020.
No bashing, no hit and run comments, all lists are valid in the eyes of the poster.

I post mine usually on Dec 31, but anyone who like put it before is welcome. This thread will be "sticky" until Feb 2021 and then will have its own rotation.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

i don't even remember what was released in 2020. this year seems like 8 years long

 

[Bloopy]

Top gigs/concerts in approximate order:

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Auckland, 6th Mar
Bleed This Earth/Fatdick/Slave Cadaver etc. - Wellington, 25th Jul
Ulcerate - Wellington, 19th Dec
Unruly/Piggery - Wellington, 28th Nov
Earth Tongue/Ripship - Raglan, 20th Nov (rock gig but ET is heavy live and too good not to list)
Not Woodcock festival - Tauranga, 22nd Feb (headlined by The Schizophonics but metal bands Unruly and Abysm played)
DAHTM - Wellington, 21st Oct (supporting rock band Threat.Meet.Protocol)
Sadius Fiend - Wellington, 5th Dec (supporting Bulletbelt, a record for me: longest wait to see a band again, as I last saw Sadius Fiend in 2006)
Okilly Dokilly/Dr. Colossus - Wellington, 18th Feb
Stälker - Wellington, 6th Nov


Top metal releases:

1. Stälker - Black Majik Terror
2. Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
3. Bleed This Earth - Bleed This Earth
4. Unruly - Unruly
5. Vader - Solitude in Madness
6. Ulcerate - Stare Into Death and Be Still
7. Thousand Limbs - Mara
8. Enter the Soil - The Still Forest, Bathed in Mist
9. VVARP - First Levitations
10. Terasophe - Terra Vitae/Terra Mori

11. Draulicht - Cruciatus
12. In Malice's Wake - The Blindness of Faith
13. Corpsefeast - Fence of Shrunken Heads
14. Demons of Noon - The Summoning

 

[Hawk]

This is a preliminary list. All these albums impacted me in one way or another.
It can change in the coming weeks.

01 - Haken - Virus
02 - Afsky - Ofte Jeg Drørmer Mig Død
03 - Auõn - Vöudraumsins Fangi
04 - Diamond Head - Lightning To The Nations 2020
05 - Luna’s Call - Void
06 - Mors Principium Est - Seven
07 - Power Trip - Live in Seattle
08 - Second To Sun - Leviathan
09 - Havok - V
10 - Septic Flesh - Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX

11 - Kansas - The Absence of Presence
12 - Redemption - Alive in Color
13 - The Ocean - Phanerozoic II Mesozoic | Cenozoic
14 - King Witch - Body of Light
15 - Derek Sherinian - The Phoenix
16 - Furious Trauma - Decade at War
17 - Omniarch - Omniarch
18 - Igorrr - Spirituality and Distortion
19 - Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment
20 - Arch Echo - Story I

21 - GoGo Penguin - Live From Studio 2
22 - Ruin - Foretoken
23 - Cloudkicker - Solitude
24 - LIK - Misanthropic Breed
25 - Inferi - Of Sunless Realms

 

[TageRyche]

Since I was only able to see three shows before the concert industry got shut down, it's easy to list them in order of how much I enjoyed the shows.

1. UFO with opener Damon Johnson - KNAC.COM review link.

2. Geoff Tate with opener Mark Daly & The Ravens- KNAC.COM review link.

3. The Appice Brothers with their All-Star Band with opener Guitar Wars (Paul Bielatowicz & Ethan Brosh)

 

[Slammed]

Top 10 albums

1. Testament – Titans Of Creation
2. Alestorm – Curse Of The Crystal Coconut
3. Bonded – Rest In Violence
4. Plague Years – Circle Of Darkness
5. In Malice’s Wake – The Blindness Of Faith
6. Wreck-Defy – Powers That Be
7. Harlott – Detritus Of The Final Age
8. Gama Bomb – Sea Savage
9. Sodom – Genesis XIX
10.Victorius – Space Ninjas From Hell



Top 10 albums that didn't quite make the top 10

1. Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons – We’re The Bastards
2. Armored Saint – Punching The Sky
3. Warbringer - Weapons Of Tomorrow
4. Burning Witches – Dance With The Devil
5. Secutor – Executor
6. Grindpad – Violence
7. Hazzerd – Delirium
8. Wartooth – Programmed Dichotomy
9. Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man
10. Annihilator – Ballistic, Sadistic


Top 10 Live albums

1. Orange Goblin – Rough And Ready Live And Loud
2. Iron Maiden – Night Of The Dead The Legacy Of The Beast Live
3. Power Trip – Live In Seattle
4. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Live In Adelaide 2019
5. Kreator – London Apocalyption
6. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Live In Brussels 2019
7. Striker – Live From the Studio
8. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Live In Paris 2019
9. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Chunky Shrapnel
10. HammerFall – Live Against The World


Top 10 (that isn't 10) which didn't make the above.

1. BPMD – American Made
2. Falconer – From A Dying Ember
3. Orden Ogan – Land Of The Dead
4. Raven Black Night – Run With The Raven
5. Almanac – Rush Of Death
6. Zakk Sabbath – Vertigo
7. Grave Digger – Field Of Blood
8. Iron Savior – Skycrest
9. Shatter Brain – Pitchfork Justice
10. Thrashwall – Thrashwall
11. War Agenda – Propaganda
12. Warbringer – Firepower Kills EP

 

[TageRyche]

You can check out my Top 10 CDs of 2020 via this Classic Rock Bottom link.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

i've seen enough lists now to remember what came out this year. my top 10 hard rock/metal releases in no order just numbered

1 AC/DC- power up
2 enuff znuff-brainwashed
3 ozzy osbourne-ordinary man
4 testamanent- titans of creation
5 black swan- shake the world
6 every mothers nightmare- resurrect the faithful
7 stryper- even the devil believes
8 deep purple-whoosh
9 tokyo motor fist- lions
10 armored saint- punching the sky

non metal check out
allman betts band- bless your heart
willie nelson- first rose of spring
white buffalo- on the widows walk

 

[TageRyche]

i've seen enough lists now to remember what came out this year. my top 10 hard rock/metal releases in no order just numbered

1 AC/DC- power up
2 enuff znuff-brainwashed
3 ozzy osbourne-ordinary man
4 testamanent- titans of creation
5 black swan- shake the world
6 every mothers nightmare- resurrect the faithful
7 stryper- even the devil believes
8 deep purple-whoosh
9 tokyo motor fist- lions
10 armored saint- punching the sky

We have three albums in common plus one that I didn't like all that much. I also have that Tokyo Motor Fist album but didn't get around to reviewing it before I had to do up the list. Oh, and I recently ordered that Testament album...finally.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

We have three albums in common plus one that I didn't like all that much. I also have that Tokyo Motor Fist album but didn't get around to reviewing it before I had to do up the list. Oh, and I recently ordered that Testament album...finally.

did you like the first TMF album?

 

[TageRyche]

did you like the first TMF album?

I loved it actually.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

I loved it actually.

just my opinion the 2nd TMF is better

 

[TageRyche]

I plan to listen to it but I just ran out of time before I had to submit my list to KNAC.COM to review everything I still had that got released in 2020.

 

[Wyvern]

Heavy Metal

1. Nils Patrick Johansson – “The Great Conspiracy”

2. Mike Lepond’s Silent Assassins – “Whore Of Babylon”

3. Tokyo Blade – “Dark Revolution”

4. Primal Fear – “Metal Commando”

5. Serious Black – “Suite 226”

6. Falconer – “From A Dying Ember”

7. Death Dealer – “Conquered Lands”

8. Ironflame – “Red Cross Victory”

9. Northern Crown – “In A Pallid Shadow”

10. Wolf – “Feeding The Machine”

11. Demons & Wizards – “III”

12. Heathen – “Empire Of The Blind”

13. High Spirits – “Hard To Stop”

14. Neuronspoiler – “Spoiled For Choice”

15. Alestorm – “Curse Of The Crystal Coconut”

16. Armored Saint – “Punching The Sky”

17. Testament – “Titans Of Creation”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hard Rock

1. Marko Hietala – “Pyre Of The Black Heart”

2. Spellbook – “Magick & Mischief”

3. John Petrucci – “Terminal Velocity”

4. Biff Byford – “School Of Hard Knocks”

5. Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons – “We’re The Bastards”

6. Deep Purple – “Whoosh!”

7. Joe Satriani – “Shapeshifter”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Progressive Metal /Rock/Jazz

1. Rick Wakeman – “The Red Planet”

2. Ayreon – “Transitus”

3. Derek Sherinian – “The Phoenix”

4. Sons Of Apollo – “MMXX”

5. The Tangent – “Auto Reconaissance”

6. Lazuli - “Le Fantastique Envol de Dieter Böhm”

7. The Flower Kings – “Islands”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EPs

1. Impaler – “The Great Hereafter”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stuff that didn’t arrived on time to be ranked before Dec 31

· A Sound Of Thunder – “Parallel Eternity”

· Vhaldemar – “Straight To Hell”

· Kiko Loureiro - “Open Source”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Concerts

1. Time’s Forgotten

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Slammed]

Oh I'd forgotten about Deep Purple. I need to give that another listen.
I couldn't get into Kiko though.

 

[Wyvern]

Oh I'd forgotten about Deep Purple. I need to give that another listen.
I couldn't get into Kiko though.

I want that Loureiro album, but both Finland and Brazil said they couldn't ship to my country the CD. Ludicrous as I got one from UK and I'm awaiting another from Spain (in transit).

The new DP is not bad but I rather go with "Bananas" for Don Airey era, a friend of mine went nuts with "Whoosh". Depends on the listener like always.

 

[Slammed]

I did only listen to Kiko on YT when he (or the label) released it. I didn't hate it, I thought there was some good playing on it but as good as the guy is I just find it harder and harder to listen to "guitar wank" these days. Of course I could just be jealous because I can't play one

Deep Purple don't release too many duds but after listening to them for 40+ years it's hard not to compare today's releases to the classics.

 

[Wyvern]

I did only listen to Kiko on YT when he (or the label) released it. I didn't hate it, I thought there was some good playing on it but as good as the guy is I just find it harder and harder to listen to "guitar wank" these days. Of course I could just be jealous because I can't play one

Deep Purple don't release too many duds but after listening to them for 40+ years it's hard not to compare today's releases to the classics.

I don't compare DP now with the Blackmore era. Different bands with different approach to rock, and as they get older also the music has a different feeling, and they still superb musicians (more than anyone can say about other acts, bigger commercially but lost their magic long, long ago).

I´m fan of Kiko's solo albums, saw him live a guitar clinic he gave and the guy knows his trade. Saddens me that today (and more with the pandemic) small artists has problems with physical releases distribution. Many times I rather go for one of those than some label backed crap found on Amazon.

 

[mdmatt4ever]

I want that Loureiro album, but both Finland and Brazil said they couldn't ship to my country the CD. Ludicrous as I got one from UK and I'm awaiting another from Spain (in transit).

The new DP is not bad but I rather go with "Bananas" for Don Airey era, a friend of mine went nuts with "Whoosh". Depends on the listener like always.

the song "haunted" from bananas is one of the best DP songs ever

 

[Slammed]

I don't compare DP now with the Blackmore era. Different bands with different approach to rock, and as they get older also the music has a different feeling, and they still superb musicians (more than anyone can say about other acts, bigger commercially but lost their magic long, long ago).

Using compare was probably the wrong word. I don't actually pick up a new DP and compare it to Machine Head or the like. But when the mood takes me for a bit of Purple it's hard to go past some of those originals because I grew up with them and listened to them thousands of times. I know the albums back to back. Whereas the newer ones I'm less familiar with and therefore if I find myself thinking "it's time for some Purple" I don't rush for Purpendicular or Bananas etc, I probably should do it more often, but I don't.

I last saw DP on the Total Abandon Tour, an old mate of mine was friends with Gillian so we got free tickets and watched the entire thing from backstage. I got an unedited copy of what would become Total Abandon: Australia '99 straight off the desk on the night of the concert. For me I don't think I've seen a better concert since that show and I don't even think they were at their best on that show.