Call Upon The Author

Well here we are, it’s coming to the end of the year once again and you know what that means, its time for the year end polls. As everyone is scrambling trying to put together their top ten or twenty albums, and for the last two weeks I’ve been doing the same thing. Every year we try to remember back to try and thing about all the albums both good and bad and try to whittle down all we’ve heard into an easy to manage list. I’ve opted for a top ten list and will be listing the reasons why I’ve chosen each record, as well as listing some notable mentions Narrowly missed the mark.

I’m going to start with the list of albums that didn’t crack the top ten, here are the honorable mentions:

Honorable Mentions:
Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Opeth – Heritage
Devildriver – Beast
Within Temptation – The Unforgiving
Funeral For A Friend – Welcome Home Armageddon

Whilst all of those albums were good, they just fell short of the top as they were trumped and in some cases overshadowed by the albums I’ve put in my top ten. The albums I’ve chosen for my top ten were selected due to the amount of time I’ve spent listening to them, their ability to stand up to repeated listens and the fact that I am still listening to some of them months after they have been released and still discovering new things I like about each of them.

Here are my top ten albums of 2011:

10: Anthrax – Worship Music.
An astounding 8 years after the band released their last studio album with then vocalist John Bush in ‘We’ve Come For You All’ the band reformed with classic singer Joey Belladonna and re recorded the album they had been working on for years with previous vocalist Dan Nelson. The resulting album Worship Music is a heavy groove laden monster of an album that perfectly encapsulates everything that makes Anthrax great and provides 2011 with one of the comebacks of the year.

9: Chimaira – The Age Of Hell.
2011 has been a rough year for Chimaira after the departures of their bassist, drummer and keyboard player/programmer the band looked almost set to fall apart, but they managed to pull themselves back from the brink and deliver what may be the definitive Chimaira album, a brutal uncompromising sucker punch of an album that will pound you into oblivion. As the news has broken that now Matt Devries and Rob Arnold have now left the band, the future seems uncertain for Chimaira but The Age Of Hell is one hell of a way for them to be remembered.

8: The Defiled – Grave Times.
The Defiled have sprung from the gutters of London and given the British metal scene a much needed shot in the arm with their stunning debut album Grave Times the band put everyone else on notice, taking a collection of songs and crafting a fine album that sounds more accomplished than most bands do in their entire careers. Brilliant brutally macabre stuff from one of the world’s finest new bands.

7: Megadeth – Th1rt3en.
One of the albums that just missed out of being in my top five this was was Th1rt3en by Megadeth, and that was for a couple of reasons. One being that whilst still being a good record it was nowhere near as good as Endgame, and Ive found myself not listening to it as much as I have previous Megadeth albums, in saying that though its still a damn fine album that stands on its own and reaffirms Megadeth as one of the best metal bands of the last 30 years.

6: Machine Head – Unto The Locust.
Unto the Locust missed out on a place in the top five due to a couple of different things.First and foremost the hype surrounding this albums release absolutely killed it for me, because there was no way it was ever going to live up to the ridiculous amounts of praise heaped upon it, and secondly it doesn’t feel like a Machine Head album to me, but stood on its on as just a metal album, there are still moments on brilliance on here that earn it a place in my top 10 despite my initial disappointment.

5: Staind – Staind.
I can already hear people asking how the fuck Staind made it into my top 5 when Dream Theater and Opeth didn’t even make it into the top 10. The answer is simple Staind delivered an album that I havent heard from them in a long time, a heavy pissed off album that went back to their roots, their self titled album is everything you want from a Staind but many feared that they had forgotten how to make, and is a great album full of some of the bands best work in years.

4: The Devil Wears Prada – Dead Throne.
The Devil Wears Prada grew up in 2011, after the success of the bands Zombie E.P last year, they got their heads down and released one of the most addictive and heavy albums of the years, just jam packed full of metalcore anthems from start to finish, an album that I listened to every single day for a full month without getting bored of it and still listen to on a regular basis now.

3: Adele – 21.
Yes there is a non metal entry on my favourite albums of the year, don’t all look so shocked. It was always going to be Adele and I don’t really think I need to tell anyone why this album is on the list. Its just a beautiful masterpiece. Just look at the singles this album spawned Rolling In The Deep, Someone Like You, Set Fire To The Rain, Turning Tables. Every one of them is a heart wrenching classic, from the most talented female vocalist currently in the world. Enough Said.

2; Mastodon – The Hunter.
Mastodon returned this year with a new home on Roadrunner Records and a new album in the shape of The Hunter, an album that is a little more loose than their previous work, featuring a more laid back straightforward style of songwriting, its also a little more bluesy and less progressive. Its also probably my favourite Mastodon album and definetely one of the best albums that has been released this year, and album that I cant get enough off.

1: Foo Fighters – Wasting Light.
Let’s be honest, it was always going to be the Foo’s. Wasting Light is THE Foo Fighters album that people have been after since their debut, a pure unfiltered pure Foo Fighters record, that takes everything that they have done in their career and just boils it down to it purest form. Not only the best album the band has ever made by a country mile but also for me personally the best album to come out in 2011.

Well there you have it folks, my top ten albums of 2011, who will be number 1 this time next year? Who knows but with albums coming out by Lamb Of God, Bleeding Through, Savage Messiah, Black Sabbath and Gojira 2012 is already shaping up to be one hell of a year.