The Inevitable Top Ten of 2010

After much deliberation, Metal Harmony is proud to present the Top Ten of 2010. This wasn't an easy one to be honest, and I very nearly bottled it and went for a Top Twelve so apologies to Annotations Of An Autopsy and Black Country Communion - so close, yet so far. And Justin Bieber narrowly missed a position. But let's be honest; you didn't come hear to read an intro, you came to hear to see which beauties I picked.

So without further ado let's get ready to rumba...

10. Eluveitie - Everything Remains (As It Never Was)

Despite being released in the opening weeks of 2010, Everything Remains.... was rarely bettered this year. Whilst this album has received mixed reviews, in my eyes the undeniably fantastic mix of traditional Celtic folk music and brutal heavy metal is something to behold. You're not sure whether to stand on a Highland mound, hair blowing in the wind, gazing out over the horizon, or down a bottle of Newcastle Brown and smash it over your head.

9. Valkyrja - Contamination

Thoroughly unpleasent and as heavy as a Sumo wrestler's first dump of the day following an All You Can Eat Steak And Lentils party, Sweden's Valkyrja have no place for the theatrical over-production of more succesful black metal bands. Breakneck speed and acid-gargling vocals combine to create a phenomenally bleak atmosphere. Brilliant.

8. Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

There is no doubt that The Final Frontier was the most highly anticipated metal release of 2010. From newly-annointed teens in Drop Dead t-shirts to fat denim-clad 50-somethings with mullets, we eagerly waited for the Irons' new album to drop. First single Eldorado was greeted with mixed reviews, as was follow up The Final Frontier and when it hit the shelves, there was some disappointment. Okay, it's not Number Of The Beast or Live After Death but it's undeniably Maiden. Huge riffs, galloping drums and one of the greatest metal vocalists of all time mean The Final Frontier is a worthy addition to any metal fan's collection.

7. Dyscarnate - Enduring The Massacre

Horsham in West Sussex isn't the most obvious place to find a slice of highest quality extreme/death metal. With Enduring The Massacre, Dyscarnate recorded as a four-piece but lost their second guitarist, so played the live tour as a trio. Despite's vocalist Tom Whitty's concerns, I saw them debut this crushing arrangement and my bowels subsequently collapsed. So heavy it would make Kerry King cry like a bitch.

6. Bad Religion - 30 Years Live

I know it's a bit of a cheat to have a live/'best of' but I run this shit, so deal with it. Bad Religion gave the fans a treat-and-a-half by offering this album totally free. No obligation to join fan clubs, no daily spam emails, just click on a link and it's yours. As a result, the website's traffic rocketed resulting in mass failure to download, but this was eventually rectified once the inital burst of "me firsts" had chilled out. Recorded during the 30th anniversary tour, it's easy to hear why Bad Religion have been around as a band for longer than I've been alive. Quite frankly one of the greatest punk outfits of all time.

5. System Divide - The Conscious Sedation

Clean female vocals, massive breakdowns, death grunts - The Conscious Sedation could have been a contrived piece of detritus. Instead, it's one of my favourite albums this year. Both unremittingly heavy and beautifully harmonic, System Divide fuse all manner of metal genres through out The Conscious Sedation and although I'm sure a large percentage of metal fans will think it's toilet, I can't get enough.

4. Wormrot - Abuse

Hailing from the metal mecca that is Singapore, this trio's Earache debut is an example of straight up, in your fucking face grindcore. Without doubt one of the heaviest albums of the year, this opus full of 20-second blastbeat-riddled screams and cruching, distorted guitar has catapulted Wormrot into the grindcore public eye. You simply will not find a bad review of either Abuse, or any of their extensive European/North American live shows. Awesome.

3. Alter Bridge - AB III

After a decent debut and frankly remarkable second album, Alter Bridge were under pressure to deliver with their tricky third, and by David Lee Roth's trousers did they do a good job. Frontman Myles Kennedy is one of the greatest vocalists of our time and despite the fact that the rest of the band are from post-grunge God botherers Creed, with Kennedy in the chair they are a truly exquisite proposition. From immensley heavy riffs to lighter-waving melodies, AB III is an absolute blinder.

2. Leatherface - The Stormy Petrel

Six years after the release of the less-than-spectacular Dog Disco, Leatherface returned to form this year. The multi-layered guitars we grew to know and love back in the day are here again thanks to the return of man mountain Dickie Hammond. Frankie Stubbs' rough-as-fuck vocals once again deliver the irreverent and poetic metaphors that only Sunderland's finest can execute, and despite not having the raw, under-produced feel of their earlier work The Stormy Petrel is another momentous Leatherface album.

1. Dommin - Love is Gone

Dommin arrived on the scene this year with the greatest debut I have heard for many moons. Combining the melancholy of Type O Negative with the catchy hooks of HIM, Love Is Gone is start-to-finish brilliance. Listening to it makes you feel depressed, elated, amorous, neglected, and every other emotion under the sun. I was blown away on first listen, even more so after witnessing two exceptional sets at Download 2010. Dommin have raised the bar to stratospheric levels so there's a huge amount of pressure on the as-yet-to-be-discussed follow up. I for one can't wait.

So there we have it. Job done. A pretty fucking robust list, in my opinion. No doubt there'll be some disagreements and grievances; feel free to air these in any way you see fit, as long as it doesn't involve coming to my house and throwing shit at the windows. That can get really tiresome.

I've got one final post left in me for 2010 - a round-up of the year, if you will, which will look at some of the best gigs, worst albums, and general musings on the imminent passing of the twelve-month. This may not be next week due to a fully booked agenda of drinking and vomiting for the next few days...but it will be soon...

Ciao for now motherfuckers and motherfuckettes

M

\m/

Music; it's a funny old game

The past few weeks have undoubtedly been the hardest of my life so far but I don't want to dwell and just repeat last week's post. So, for the shit loads of messages me and Hot Chick got from people we know, people we don't, and a fantastic collective of folks on Twitter, I shall simply say thank you.

Music has been a massive remedy for me recently. It's also been the catalyst for disaster but more on that in a moment. I've always had a particularly emotive response to some songs - Leatherface's How Lonely always causes me to smile, Slipknot's Disasterpiece from the 9.0: Live album makes me want to run down a street smashing windows, etc. But add personal grief and booze into the equation and as a badass ghetto homeboy like myself would say, shit gets crazy.

I went for a few drinks the other night, as one does, but started to feel a bit melancholy so though I'd do an early swerve and head home. My shuffle's formidable choice of tunage at this point was Dance Hall Crashers' Lockjaw album. Those who know the band will be aware that this is not metal at all; it's simply the most upbeat, positive 'ska' sung by a couple of chicks and I love it. So with Pick Up Lines chirping away in my ears, things were bearable as the booze hammered it's way through my blood system. Then it all went a bit wrong as my shuffling landed on Dyscarnate's Enduring the Massacre. Angry music makes angry man. I should have probably skipped immediately but I love this album and in a way, wanted to be angry. So after six tracks and with blood pressure at an all time high, I made the executive decision to shuffle on and landed on Ugly Kid Joe's Cats in the Cradle, and promptly spent the rest of the evening (including a rather awkward leg of a train journey home) crying.

Isn't that fucking amazing though? Isn't the fact that music does this to people extraordinary? Beer had loosened up my emotions but even walking along stone cold sober, certain songs will cause me to well up, certain songs will cause me to smile and certain songs will cause me to punch the crap out of a moving vehicle.

Some bearded fellow once wrote a few plays and in one, he said "if music be the food of love, play on". I couldn't agree more son, but it's not just the food of love - it's the food of pain, happiness, sorrow, joy, and just about every other emotion.

With that in mind, my beautiful freaks, away with thine and listen to some fucking tunes.

Laters
M
\m/

'D' is for...well, lots of things

Am I the only person who plays air drum blast beats when walking past people using pneumatic drills?

Today's Metal Harmony is brought to you by the letter 'D'. The first 'D' is for Dommin. I can't get enough of Dommin's debut album Love is Gone at the moment. The mixture of church bells, synthesizers, quality riffs and Kristofer Dommin's haunting vocals creates the album you'd get if HIM's Love Metal got knocked up by Type O Negative's Bloody Kisses. I don't want to get too excited but Dommin has the potential to fill the 6'8" hole Pete Steele left in metal. Hopefully he won't do an eye-ruining Playgirl shoot though.

At the other end of the metal spectrum, my next 'D' is for Dyscarnate. I saw these boys supporting Wormrot and was impressed but fuck me with a lawnmower, Enduring The Massacre is a truly monstrous death metal album. Tom Whitty and Henry Bates's dual vocals are ear-shredding, and this lump of savagery is currently sitting in my top ten of the year. There's going to have to be some sphincter-quivering brilliance crossing my path for it not to remain there.

My final 'D' is for disappointment. Only in the crowd, mind. Trigger The Bloodshed graced my lowly home town last week and the best we could do was a crowd of about 20. Scottish newbies Bleed From Within brought the support and despite the typically scenetastic hair and full sleeve adorning vocalist Scott Kennedy, these lads could make some noise. Playing to no more than 10 people, they went hard and went fast, and did a fucking good job. I'm a big fan of their "Death To All But REAL Metal" t-shirt, and now have a BFW poster on my wall of a Scandinavian metaller with a flying V and corpse paint beheading a character who bears more than a passing resemblance to Steel Panther's Satchel. They're not massive fans of the comedy 80s hair metal clowns, it seems.

Trigger were typically excellent and Jonny Burgan is developing into a formidable frontman. He breaks his neck windmilling, clambers over the amps, shouts at the crowd, and generally acts as a true spokesman for the Trigger cartel. This gig was only a warm up for their headline tour but they still played with the ferocity and sheer savage metalness that I've come to expect. I spoke to Jonny after the gig about the turn out. He shrugged his shoulders and was diplomatic about the whole thing, proving that these boys aren't full of themselves; they know they have to play the shitty venues and shitty crowds to get their name out there and they're not scared to do just that. Thank fuck, or they wouldn't come to my neck of the woods.

And with the glorious sun burning my hungover eyes, I'm off to regret mixing Guinness and vodka yet again.

Adieu scumbags,

M
\m/

Earache, stomach ache, general aches

Yesterday was a good day. I spent a couple of hours with Wormrot and it has to be said; what a thoroughly lovely bunch of blokes. The interview will be up on MetalsFuck in the next week or so, it's worth a read. Of course I would say that as I'm a shameless, self-promoting whore.

Supporting Wormrot were British death metallers Dyscarnate who were playing their first live performance as a three piece having recently lost a guitarist, plus launching their new album Enduring The Massacre. No pressure then. Vocalist/guitarist Tom Whitty, although a solid-looking bastard, was pretty quiet and mildly spoken pre-gig. I bought my copy of the album despite having no idea what to expect (support music folks) but if it's anything like the live performance, it's £10 well spent. Raw, harsh, pure fucking metal. Go to their MySpace and check it out.

So thanks to Earache for sorting yesterday out. Despite the fact I now have an absolute thundercunt of a hangover, it's was time well spent.

Time to spare a though for the late Pete Steele. The Type O Negative frontman died a month ago and I feel a bit of an arsehole for taking it with a pinch of salt. After all, It's not as if he hasn't died before, and calling the last album Dead Again (fair enough, that was a 2007 release) is a bit suspicious. All this aside, the guy way a legendary trailblazer of thoroughly miserable music and goths all over the world are more depressed than usual after his passing.

R.I.P Pete Steele (January 4, 1962 – April 14, 2010)

On a more positive note, I suggest you all go and listen to the new Arma Gathas album Dead To This World. Thrashing hardcore loveliness; I'm a big fan.

Now I need to go and eat something substantial lest last night's Guinness gets the better of my poor guts.

Bye monkeys

M
\m/