Top 10: Metal Albums of 2010

Rejoice! We’ve officially reached the decade I know like the back of my hand, the ’10s. While I discovered metal in the late ’00s, it was the ’10s that saw me spend my weekly allowance on new releases, scour monthly copies of Decibel, and start going to shows on a near weekly basis. As a matter of fact, I owned nearly every one of these albums around the time they were released, so admittedly, my own personal bias will be coming into play more than ever on this list and beyond. Take that however you may. If you too fall in the “too young to be a millennial, too to be Gen Z” category, then sit back and relax as we unveil our Top 10 Metal Albums of 2010.

10. Atlantean Kodex – The Golden Bough

The late ’00s were a great time to be an epic doom fan. Candlemass were absolutely killing it with a string of reunion outings that rivaled the brilliance of their ’80s catalog. Then the ’10s rolled around and Atlantean Kodex entered the realm. Having spent the first 5 years of their existence honing their craft with splits and EPs, it was in 2010 that they unleashed their first full length attack, The Golden Bough. Fusing the mystique of Candlemass with the epic leanings of early ’90s Bathory, The Golden Bough gave forth a truly unique aura that hadn’t been heard in metal in quite some time. Admittedly, the ambitious arrangements and plodding guitars aren’t for everyone, but those with a penchant for truly mythological metal will find themselves in Valhalla.

9. High on Fire – Snakes for the Divine

Adored by both hipsters and heshers alike, High on Fire continued their stoner-speed domination into the new decade with their fifth album, Snakes for the Divine. Expanding upon the formula showcased on Blessed Black Wings (2005) and Death Is This Communion (2007), Snakes saw Matt Pike and the gang continue to break new ground within the extremely limited world of stoner/doom/sludge metal. There’s no shortage of lengthy epics, such as the title track, “Bastard Samurai”, and “How Dark We Pray”. On the other hand are violent THC infused thrash outbursts like “Fire, Flood & Plague” and “Frost Hammer”, the latter a homage to Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. OUGH yeah!

8. Sodom – In War and Pieces

Sodom goes “modern”…and absolutely kills it. Now granted, M-16 (2001) and Sodom (2006) weren’t the most retro sounding affairs either. And I’m sure after The Final Sign of Evil (2007), a re-recording of 1985’s In the Sign of Evil, at least a handful were hoping for a full length return to their early black metal sound. Instead, we got In War and Pieces: An album that takes cues from the modern thrash and melo death scenes, while still retaining Sodom’s core ethos of pure metallic violence. The band remains fired up as ever on cuts like the title track, “Nothing Counts More Than Blood”, and “Storm Raging Up”, boasting far more energy than many of their Teutonic peers even then.

7. Crazy Lixx – New Religion

Thrash wasn’t the only ’80s subgenre making a resurgence in the late ’00s and early ’10s. So was glam metal, and in a big way. By now, the glam metal revival had produced at least two bonafide classics in Crashdïet’s Rest in Sleaze (2005) and Hardcore Superstar’s Dreamin’ in a Casket (2007). Sweden’s Crazy Lixx were ready to join the party with their sophomore album, New Religion. Musically speaking, there’s no denying this album draws heavily from Skid Row’s self titled debut with its arena-esque production, gang vocals, and feelgood aura. In the same breath, I’m willing to argue every song on here is as strong as any on Skid Row’s debut, far from a braindead rehash. The fact that this album didn’t immediately cement Crazy Lixx as a global headliner phenomenon is nothing short of tragic.

6. White Wizzard – Over the Top

Remember how I said my personal bias would heavily impact this list? Here’s an example. As an 11 year old obsessed with the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Saxon, old school metal ruled supreme in my heart. Hell, it still does, but I digress. It was on Music Choice’s Metal channel (remember them?), a channel I frequented regularly in those early years, that I first heard White Wizzard with their explosive single, “Over the Top”. Everything about this song, the chorus, the vocals, the guitars and so forth, blew my middle school mind. I immediately downloaded the namesake album via iTunes, cranking the likes of “40 Deuces” and “Live Free or Die” at deafening volume. This album was as Over the Top as it promised. Although today White Wizzard can be filed under the “whatever happened to” category, in 2010, they were a shining beacon of throwback metal light.

5. Y&T – Facemelter

How convenient that my introduction to Y&T via VH1 Classic’s Metal Mania happened right around the same time as the release of their comeback album, Facemelter. Like many ’80s hard rock and metal acts, Y&T struggled through the ’90s and ’00s, playing to far smaller, yet dedicated as ever audiences around the globe. At some point, founder/frontman Dave Meniketti must’ve said, “Screw it!”, and we’re sure glad he did. Facemelter, the first Y&T album in 13 years, is a glorious continuation of the fiery melodic metal heard on the band’s early ’80s output. Every single one of these songs could fit on Earthshaker (1981), Black Tiger (1982), or Mean Streak (1983), each boasting hellacious hooks and enough energy to blow out a power grid.

4. Triptykon – Eparistera Daimones

In a perfect world, Celtic Frost would’ve retreated to the studio after a largely successful reunion tour to write and record the sequel to their masterpiece comeback, Monotheist (2006). Unfortunately, this never happened. Instead, the influential Swiss extreme metal band disintegrated yet again, this time for good in 2008. This left founding guitarist/singer/songwriter Tom G. Warrior with a wellspring of ideas, but nowhere to execute them. That is until the formation of Triptykon. Expanding upon the blackened goth-doom sound of Monotheist, Triptykon’s debut album, Eparistera Daimones, is as bleak and misanthropic of an album as anyone could as for from the master that is Mr. Warrior. One could even argue he had grown more cynical in age, and it shows from beginning to end here.

3. Overkill – Ironbound

The early ’10s weren’t just about the likes of Municipal Waste, Havok, and Warbringer cementing themselves as dominant forces of the modern thrash scene. It was also about veteran acts like Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament banding together for their biggest tour in decades, the American Carnage Tour. Furthermore, Overkill came storming back, shedding any hint of groove that had impacted their sound over the past 15 years with the nonstop thrash attack of Ironbound. A now nostalgia market that hadn’t paid attention to New Jersey’s nastiest since 1991’s Horrorscope were back on board, as was a whole new generation of pimple-faced, greasy headed thrashers. It’s a high that Overkill has been riding ever since, and have yet to let us down.

2. Enforcer – Diamonds

Similar to White Wizzard’s Over the Top, a personal story accommodates Enforcer’s Diamonds as well. I’ll never forget seeing an advert for this album in an issue of Metal Hammer, desperate to know who on earth Enforcer was. They LOOKED cool. By default, their music had to be cool as well, right? Wrong. It was cool and then some! Diamonds saw the Swedish trad metal revivalists go full blown NWOBHM mode, subsequently unleashing the strongest songs of their career upon the unsuspecting metal public. Seriously folks, every song on here goes toe to toe with the finest moments of Tygers of Pan Tang, and I’ll die on that hill.

1. Accept – Blood of the Nations

The last time Accept released an album without Udo Dirkschneider on vocals, things didn’t go so well. In fact, it led to their breakup altogether. Doing so again, especially this late into their career, seemed like a death wish. And yet, Accept proceeded to prove everyone wrong, releasing one of the greatest comeback albums of all time in Blood of the Nations. Equipped with TT Quick singer Mark Tornillo and the ever grandiose guitar attack of Wolf Hoffmann and Herman Frank, Accept was back with a vengeance. Every song on here is an absolute classic, many becoming as synonymous today with headbangers as anthems like “Fast as a Shark” and “Balls to the Wall”. For this timelessness, as well as the inescapable “Teutonic Terror”, Blood of the Nations is the greatest metal album of 2010. Accept no substitutes!

Honorable Mentions

• Blind Guardian – At the Edge of Time
• Cruel Force – The Rise of Satanic Might
• Enslaved – Axioma Ethica Odini
• Immolation – Majesty and Decay
• The Lord Weird Slough Feg – The Animal Spirits