The year bore witness to a plethora of new material from various metal artistes. As they -- old and new, the famous and the underground -- decided on innovations and new ideas, it energised a whole genre.
At the same time, rock charts showed little or no creativity by most of the alternative and Indie bands that dominate, rehashing the sound of their past. That, however, does not mean that rock is dead. There were still bands putting out some really cool stuff.
Here's a look at top metal and rock offerings which made a difference during the year.
- Metal: 'Pal' by Kalmah. The Finnish melodic death metal legends returned with yet another brilliant album after five years. While no means groundbreaking, 'Pal' features amazing arrangements, melodies and death metal aggression and technical dexterous precision.
Rock: 'Eat The Elephant' by A Perfect Circle. American rock band's fourth studio album was worth its 14-year wait. This record is more of an atmospheric art rock record and lacks the band's previous heavier alternative metal sound. But nonetheless, it's a great piece.
- Metal: 'Cobra Speed Venom' by The Crown. The Swedish melodic death and thrash metallers have come back with added energy. There is a lot of violent fervour, growls, heavy thrashy riffs, melodic leads and powerful drumming. It is a combination of thrash or death metal LP.
Rock: 'Prequelle' by Ghost. While definitely not a straight-up pop rock album as it does contain plenty of heavy elements, this is far removed from metal, though it does have a lot going on: Hard rock, pop rock, some prog and for the first time arena rock. Most songs have the element of catchiness due to the openly pop influences here such as ABBA.
- Metal: 'The Wake' by Voivod. One of the most underrated and creative bands, the Canadian progressive thrash metal veterans have released one of the greatest albums of their career. 'The Wake' manages to rival their original classics like 'Killing Technology' and 'Dimension Hatross' while combining modern production.
Rock:'Stone Temple Pilots' by Stone Temple Pilots. The self-titled album of the San Diego legends brings their trademark sound of distortion-filled heavy hard rock riffs, marked by a psychedelic but also grooving melodic atmosphere. New lead singer Jeff Gutt does a splendid job.
- Metal: 'Electric Messiah' by High on Fire. You can always count of Matt Pike if you want something barbaric. This is definitely one of High On Fire's best. This album descends upon you with a plethora of monstrously heavy riffs and is just straightforward metal.
Rock: 'Still Cyco Punk After All These Years' by Suicidal Tendencies. While essentially a near complete re-recording of frontman Mike Muir's '96 solo album 'Lost My Brain', it is still fully energetic, raw, fast, hard and fun.
When making a rock'n roll record with heaviness and attitude one can never truly go wrong with the guitar legend Slash and vocalist Myles Kennedy. Bluesy hard rock riffs and passionate soaring vocals, grooving drums and strong bass make this record yet another strong hard rock piece.
American punk band's second album is an instant classic for the hardcore scene. It has pretty much everything you want: raw, loud, aggressive, heavy, short and does not mess around with any experimental tendencies.
Rarely has a band sounded so consistent and yet not managed to grow dull. It has hard heavy metallic riffs, melodic choruses with clean singing and raw screams packed with a dark emotional atmosphere. Nothing different and yet everything sounds fresh and original.
Full of hard, raw gritty engaging songs, with southern rock and blues influences. And it packs a punch.
Having influences in hard rock, alternative rock, progressive rock, metal and punk, 'Vaxis' is a continuation of the concept based on frontman Claudio Sanchez's comic book series 'The Armory Wars'. Engaging to say the least.
What is astounding about the British progressive rock veterans is how inspired Bob Catlin and Tom Clarkin, the creative core of Magnum, manage to sound in their 70s. 'Lost' is all you can want -- melodic, catchy, progressive and full of pomp.
'Love In Shadow' by Sumac;'A New Kind Of Horror' by Anaal Nathrakh;'The Science' by Sleep;'Our Raw Heart' by YOB;'Diluviu' by Obscura; and'Sunshine Dust' by Skyharbor.
'Vicious' by Halestorm; 'Resistance Is Futile' by Manic Street Preachers and 'Joy As An Act Of Resistance' by Idles.
