2016 Gully and Joe's Top Ten Albums Of The Year

Another year is coming to an end and another top 10 list. Every year I am blown away by how so much is going on in a scene that the majority of people know nothing about. While it’s no secret the metal scene is arguably over saturated with bands and artists in my eyes it’s pushing up the fresh hold of the quality needed to stand out above the crowd. Over the last 5 years I’ve been blown away by the quality of music from all over the world. I have discovered bands from Chile, Iran, India, and Japan just to round off a few examples. My point being is that you can go anywhere in the world and find a metal scene. For a form of music that is constantly sneered at by the masses it’s everywhere. It’s the true “World Music” that hipsters can only dream of. No matter what your taste you can find something new and exciting going on. You just have to look beyond the surface but that’s what we aim to do here at The Rock show with Gully and Joe. We aim to show you what you otherwise may have missed and we champion the underground. Don’t let anyone tell you the metal scene is dying and that there is nothing going on. They have nothing going on!

Here we share our top 10 albums of the year as well as other year highlights and on a later episode of the podcast we will combine out lists bat ideas back and forth and come up with our collective joint Album of the year.

Joe's Top 10

Which is in order

Megadeth – Dystopia

The anticipation for this album was electric, yet with an underwhelming advance single and the bad taste left over from “Super Collider” the heat really was on Dave and his not so merry men to deliver. Dystopia was a breath of fresh air which was combined all of the best elements of Megadeth’s glory days from the memorable anthems of “Countdown to extinction” to the technical efficiency of “Rust in Peace”. This was exactly the album I needed from Megadeth and it’s an album I’ve constantly returned to throughout the year. Seeing Chris Adler step up to the plate on the drums was also an added bonus.

Prong – X – No Absolutes

Prong are one of those bands I will always have time for. Tommy Victor is a musical hero of mine and they are criminally under rated. The band have been on a winning streak since 2012 turning over 3 albums, a covers album and a live album in just four years and in that time they have released some of their best ever material. “X- No Absolutes” carries on that tradition. Picking up where the previous albums left off and doing what they do best. Simple yet twice as effective riffs, big hook, big chorus. It’s Prong! Oh, and the track “Do Nothing” is just beautiful!

Obscura – Akroasis

The spirit of Chuck Schuldiner is running through the next two albums. Obscura have always been at the forefront in modern Death Metal’s progressive league but the band really outdid themselves on this release. Finding the fine balance between musical wizardry and keeping you entertained this album is like a journey through the cosmos. It takes a few listens to fully digest everything but rewards repeated listens. The closing 15 minute epic with stunning orchestration is a stunning achievement.

Vektor – Terminal Redux

Much of what I said about Obscura also applies here but where Obscura are Death Metal Vektor are Thrash. As hotly as this album was anticipated I don’t think anyone was ready for this hour and a quarter space opera. Again much like with the previous album this sees a band absolutely stretches themselves to their limit. There is so much going on here it’s mad. I believe we won’t really feel the full effect on the importance of this album for another 20 years but something very special happened with this album.

The King is Blind – Our Father

This album is fantastic. My favourite new band of the year and they have become good friends with the show. This album has the grey ambience that only a band from this dull, always raining country can make. From fast punishing riffs to slow and dirty this album has everything and it’s heavy as fuck. What more do you need? This is also the most consistently played band on the show this year. Whenever we needed an extra track we could find something from this album to play.

Mercyless – Pathetic Divinity

French Death Metal veterans Mercyless return with a masterpiece. This is a near perfect Death Metal album. It’s fresh and vibrant but has a very classic old school feel. It has thick infectious riffs, a good use of groove when needed and also good measure of atmosphere and melody when needed. Much like Death’s “Spiritual Healing” era. Mercyless have been on fire since they reformed and this could well be their finest album to date.

Blood Incantation - Starspawn

This is not only one of the greatest Death Metal albums of this current era but will go down as one of the greatest debuts of all time. It has the rawness of a live album and feels like it can go off the rails at any moment. Brutal, chaotic and atmospheric. Stunning!

Gutter Instinct – Age of the Fanatics

This is music to crash your car to! This album is just punishing. Pure Swedish Death Metal at its finest. 45 minutes of chainsaw guitars, pummelling drums and songs that demand headbanging. It’s raw, dirty and nasty. Fantastic \m/

Destroyer 666 – Wildfire

This is 40 minutes of pure glorious Heavy Metal. The album cover alone shows you all you need to know. A perfect mixture of Thrash Metal at its harshest but with the classic spirit pf Metallica’s kill em all, Iron Maiden’s debut, Angel Witch’s Debut, and Motorhead topped with the atmosphere of 90’s Black Metal. It’s fucking Amazing.

Azooma – The Act of Eye

This band from Iran completely caught me off guard. This is an hour of progressive Death Metal. The complexity of Nile and Later era Death. It’s an album that reveals more with each listen and yet with so much going on it’s an effortless listen. It’s long but the time flies by. The band finds the perfect balance in terms of pace and timing. It takes inspiration from the past while looking forward. It’s everything I want from a modern Metal album.

Gully's Top Ten

Gully's which is in no particular order

Destrage - A Means To No End

This album came out of nowhere I honestly had not heard of them when the album dropped in my inbox. And it hit me like a left hook. Technical with catchy hooks and great music to get angry in the gym to. Having looked back at the older music from the band this is maturity point in the music where it is all where it should be. I have not gone a week without listening to this album once since I got it.

Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake

The singles started dropping with this one and I was very eager to hear the full album. I admit at first it didn't have the impact I thought it would but after a while this album has grew on me each time I listen to it. It's certainly heavier then times passed and i'm a altogether happier metal head with testament still around. This year we got to speak to them on the show for me was a big bucket list thing to do also and with them playing Bloodstock next year I have to say things are looking bright.The track that I like the most is Stronghold it's classic thrashy and you know what sometimes that is enough.

The King is Blind - Our Father

This album for me is intense and gritty and brings to it a force of intent which I can tell you from first hand experience is carried right on to the live show with the performance at Bloodstock this year being one of my favourites of the whole weekend. The album for me one of the heaviest in the top ten on my side. This is not a band for the future this is a band for now and it's nice this year that other media people are taking notice to and so they should if you don't you will certainly miss out.

Whitechapel - Mark of the Blade

When looking back at this year I thought this album was last year. I'm happy that it wasn't because this mixes brutality and melodic overtones in one tidy package. It reminds me of older Slipknot and I don't like the newer stuff all that much so that is a big compliment. The vocal ability on show throughout this album is very impressive, Every single so far I have liked which in this day and age is no mean feat. I like band who can mix up shouting impressively when they need to but can also sing a lyric and give you a catchy hook now and again all the boxes got ticked with this album.

Stuck Mojo - Here come the infidels

This album was another surprising one for me this normally isn't my type off metal. It's rappy and catchy would be my tagline. Once you hear songs like Charles Bronson or Rape Whistle they turn into an ear worm which makes you go back and listen again. Like a nice vicious circle of metal. This isn't the full original line up but that doesn't matter the music matters and the music is good.

Revocation- Great Is Our Sin

If you had not noticed by now I kinda like technical metal. Revocation bring you this and more. We got the single to play on the show before the album landed and it blew my head clean off without the use of a magnum. This is an intense album and it falls into the category of music to get shit done to and shit done quickly. Before this album I had not heard much from the band and I'm sorry I didn't. Arbiters of the Apocalypse is a riff fest of a song and is my favourite of the album. All in all another strong showing to make my top ten.

Megadeth - Dystopia

This landed early in January and has outdone anything else from the big 4 this year. I was not expecting much because the previous album was terrible. And it surprised me quite a bit. Dave seems angry again and that can only mean good things for the music. When people lose the fire sometimes it shows in the music the perfect example of that for me is the new Metallica album. I think Mustaine learned from his mistakes and put out an album we all wanted to hear and even nearly a year on I still listen to it.There really hasn't been a big four this year for me just the big 1 and that's Megadeth.

Serpentine Dominion - Serpentine Dominion

This was a late entry in to my top albums this year. Heavy and technical and brutal. Crushing drums and great guitar riffs and mean vocals. All that and this is just a side project I repeat just a side project. Featuring members of Cannibal Corpse, Killswitch Engage, and the Ex drummer from the Black Dahlia Murders . This band need to take this album on the road and sharpish. And can somebody explain to me why the drummer is not smashing out beats for a big band somewhere? He drums like a machine and anybody who doesn't think he should be in a big band is an idiot.

Allegaeon - All Hail Science

This nearly didn't get put in my top ten due to the fact they now use Patreon as form of income and if you listen to the podcast i'm all against it. That aside I like the music and it is good and is pretty heavy in places . This makes the fact they can't seem to make any money out of the music all the more surprising to me. It has all my prerequisites for a good album as discussed before but at the risk of repeating myself do the maths if you can't afford to live your dream of being in a band then do something else.

Gojira - Magma

This album for me was a grower and I never really liked them all that much to start with. But then the ear worm of song stranded got me when at a festival and since loading the album onto my phone I never skip it. The riffing is good and they are a great live act to boot. Once in a while a song represents a period in time for you. And this summer it was stranded for me.Good lyrics and interesting videos and good music all together makes a good effort to round out my top ten.

Next weeks podcast we are going to try and put a top ten together from both our picks for this year.

Wish us luck......