Shred Your Ego's Most-Played Metal Albums of 2010 Part One

"Dio has rocked for a long, long time
Now it's time for him to pass the torch
He has songs of wildebeasts and angels
He has soared on the wings of a demon."

Thus sang Jack Black on "Dio" from Tenacious D's debut album, and while the words still bring a smile to my face, Ronnie James Dio's death earlier this year makes them bittersweet. Yes, 2010 had the long shadow of Dio's passing over it, but it also brought honor to his kingdom by providing an incredibly diverse crop of ass-kicking metal.

Here in no particular order are the first five selections for the year. And please keep in mind that I call this list "Most-Played Metal Albums of 2010", as opposed to the "Top 10 of 2010", which would indicate I had somehow managed to listened to every single album released this year and formed an opinion about each and every one, an impossibility for a lone metal fan with a limited budget and time. So it comes down to this:

I listened to a lot of metal albums in 2010. Some I didn't care for, some I dug. This is the result.

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

From the moment the very un-Maiden like atmospheric intro "Satellite 15" segues into the title track, this album gets into a massive groove and never strays. Gone are the maddening repetitious choruses that have plagued every release since Brave New World, replaced with tight song structures that incorporate the band's more epic, progressive tendencies seamlessly into their old-school gallop. The album is filled with instant classics, and "Coming Home" is one of the best Maiden songs ever put on record. The band sounds reinvigorated, and Bruce sounds absolutely phenomenal, adding up to my favorite post-Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album thus far (sorry Brave New World).



Iron Thrones - The Wretched Sun


What are you smoking, labels? Somebody step up and sign these guys and put them on tour now, because they could be huge. This Minnesota troupe play a blend of melodic black...er...progressive doom...er... alright, I'm just going to call it "brutal progressive". Whatever it is, it's terribly beautiful in that awful, swirling vortex end-of-the-world way music like this can be. And heavy as hell. And awesome.


Ghost - Opus Eponymous

A late-year arrival (only available in the states via import or download until early 2011), this gem quickly shot to the top of my playlist for days on end. Like the great commercial crossover record Mercyful Fate never recorded, or the doom album Blue Öyster Cult never made, Opus Eponymous is a unique mixture of pop hooks and doom riffs that defies categorization and distills everything that's great about occult metal into 35 short minutes. Read my full review.



Accept - Blood of the Nations

Yeah. You're all like, "Balls to the Wall!" and remembering a short dude wearing fatigues and having a laugh then this album comes from out of nowhere like a set of brass knuckles to the bridge of your nose. If this album had released in '88, it would be hailed today as a classic. Of course, it wouldn't have sounded like this in '88 without today's recording techniques and the crisp, full-bodied production from the talented Andy Sneap. "Teutonic Terror" is the immediate standout, a riff-tastic, fist-pumping throwback, but I submit to you, sir or madam, that if you can get your hands on it, the bonus track "Time Machine" is where the real money is.



And the singer, Mark Tornillo (formerly of T.T. Quick), man. This dude's voice IS metal, period. Listen to it. The grit, the power, the range. If I had this guy's singing voice, I'd use it ALL THE TIME.

Mose Giganticus - Gift Horse

Am I crazy or did this album not come out this year? I ask only due to its conspicuous absence from other Top Ten lists I've been reading, because in my opinion this flat-out rocks. Mose Giganticus is actually one man, multi-instrumentalist Matt Garfield and assorted hired hands, who deliver a sound like nothing I've ever heard. It's a mid-tempo, thick soup of stoner, grunge and electronic, with heavy use of the vocoder and synthesizer, emphasis on the heavy, because this album has a huge sound. Album-closer "The Seventh Seal" goes out on a riff so huge and brain-pleasing I could ride its thundering wave forever.



Stay tuned for Part Two.
Edit! Here it is!

Review: Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Ghost 
Opus Eponymous 
Import: October 21, 2010 / US: January 18, 2011
(Available for download now through iTunes / Amazon)
Rise Above Records








A all-too-brief collection of the catchiest songs about Satan worship ever created.

Of all the traditional (read: hoary) subject matter metal lyricists return to time and time again, satanic themes are probably the most well-tread. From Black Widow to Sabbath, Venom to Blasphemy, metal has given the devil his due and then some. However, over time, as the volume and intensity of the music has risen (and metal listeners have become more jaded) the fear factor has diminished. What was once thrilling has been rendered trite through over-the-top theatrics that mistake cheap horror shocks and gore for any real sense of danger.

Enter new Swedish metal band Ghost, who on their debut Opus Eponymous turn back the hands of time nearly 30 years by stripping occult metal down to its most essential, enjoyable elements. Heavily indebted to the classic occult bands of the late '70s and early 80s (Blue Öyster Cult and Mercyful Fate spring to mind), Ghost delivers old-school heavy metal (blessed with today's production) with a dollop of pop that achieves a dark, disarming beauty in its purity. Simple minor-key riffs blend seamlessly into choruses that compel you sing along, and yes, I said sing, because unlike many sound-alike barking black metal bands choking the market today, Ghost is fronted by a vocalist who can craft a compelling melody.

In a brilliantly hilarious marketing move, the band has declared via a press release that their mission to is gain converts "via the ever so popular rock music medium" and expressed their hope to charm listeners with their music, "so that in time the easily manipulated will come to share the views and goals of the Coven's ministry and can prepare their own plans for the downfall of humanity."

While this may have the trappings of an elaborate joke, the truth is that once you find yourself joyfully singing along to tracks about human sacrifice ("Ritual"), nuns pregnant with demon seed ("Prime Mover") and witchcraft ("Stand by Him"), you may begin to wonder if there truly isn't a more devious method to their playful madness.

And yes, I'm serious as hell about the nun thing, and so is the band.

So dedicated are they to the act of being cultists that no one knows who they are - no names are printed anywhere in their materials - and this sense of mystery carries over to their live show, where the singer performs as demonic cardinal in macabre face paint, flanked by his band mates as hooded, anonymous figures. The singer sways as one with the music, his face a somber mask as he intones ominous words of sin and damnation. Yes, its a gimmick, but its a simple one and therein lies its power; it sells the music in a way that menacing corpsepaint faces and armbands loaded with spikes never could.

The music of Ghost isn't going to challenge you or change the world of metal. Its strengths lie in its addictive songwriting and immense accessibility, which is more than enough to recommend it. The only real downfall of this album is that it's so damn catchy that at only 30 minutes running length, it may quickly wear out its welcome. Until then, it's an addiction this heavy music lover will gladly indulge.