The Best of 2010 in Metal

#1. Blind Guardian — At the Edge of Time
No other album in 2010 united all metalheads, regardless of usual subgenre preference, quite like the ninth studio album from German power metal stalwarts Blind Guardian. Typical of their style, the band sings primarily about fantasy novels and has plenty of pomp and circumstance frilling their songs, but unlike so many of their lesser competitors, they diffuse any possible cheesiness and instead make the trappings of the genre their greatest strengths. “At the Edge of Time” isn’t simply a business-as-usual record in a storied career, either; it’s quite possibly the best thing Blind Guardian has ever done.

Melechesh — The Epigenesis
The skillfully crafted black metal elements are excellent by themselves, but the Middle Eastern elements add an enchanting quality that is hard to find in any subgenre of metal. Melechesh makes the Sumerian mythology present in their lyrics truly come alive with their engrossing sound.

Cephalic Carnage — Misled By Certainty
Cephalic Carnage achieved great diversity with this album while still maintaining cohesion. The songs on the album go from deathgrind, to prog and even to sludge metal and jazz. It all combines to form one truly enjoyable, mind-warping experience.

Enslaved — Axioma Ethica Odini
It is impossible for Enslaved to create anything even remotely boring. They have shown time and again that they have the songwriting chops to do pretty much anything they want, and it is all on display in their latest offering. Black metal aggression combined with the inherent diversity of prog metal merge for an entrancingly atmospheric album.
 
As I Lay Dying — The Powerless Rise
While most of their peers in the mainstream of metal have steadily gotten mellower, As I Lay Dying has continually gotten heavier. Their “core” influences take something of a backseat on their newest album, producing the closest to straight death metal they have come yet. The solos are the best the band has written to date, and this is definitely their best album yet, only to possibly be topped by whatever they release next.

Allegaeon — Fragments of Form and Function
This is, without a doubt, one of the best debut albums ever made. The first full-length effort from Allegaeon is a fluid blend of technical and melodic death metal that most first attempts can’t even touch. Even greater things seem inevitable from this band.

Veil of Maya — [Id]
Sumerian Records seems determined to prove that deathcore is not just for mediocre scene bands. If their artists keep putting out records like this one, they’ll get no argument from me. This is a truly talented group of musicians who use their “core” elements to complement their already technically proficient style instead of as a crutch.

Ihsahn — After
Three words: saxophone in metal. It is not just used as a background for interludes or backing tracks but as an integral part in several songs. Obviously, this isn’t necessarily the highlight of the album, but it is an excellent example of how crazy the progressive metal genre can be and how seemingly limitless its possibilities are.

Misery Index — Heirs to Thievery
Deathgrind doesn’t get much better than this. It starts out relentlessly and doesn’t let up. It’s a very straightforward album that doesn’t get bogged down in anything that could detract from its inherent brutality. This is simply Misery Index doing exactly what Misery Index does best.

Dääth — Dääth
The guys in Dääth outdid themselves with this one. There is a hint of groove metal mixed in with their already superb melodic death metal, and it sounds so good you’ll want to start a mosh pit the minute you hear it. It is impossible to sit still listening to this album. It’s packed with catchy riffs and excellent solos, all played with some of the highest energy of the year.

Landmine Marathon — Sovereign Descent
Usually, when metal bands have an attractive 24-year-old woman for a singer, it’s a gimmick, the music can’t back it up, they only sell records to horny adolescents, and they’re off the tour circuit as soon as their selling point gets a wrinkle. Such is not the case with Landmine Marathon, whose third LP is packed with more vicious early deathgrind worship than their first two and whose frontwoman Grace Perry remains one of the best band leaders in the business.

The Ocean — Heliocentric
This album by German post-metallers The Ocean shows their mellower, more melodic, progressive side, which they’re infinitely better at than their heavier material. It’s like Isis-meets-Tool-meets-saxophone-and-cello, and it’s awe-inspiring at every turn. It’s a pretty ambitious disc that tries to sell an unbelievable amount of German-accented crooning and classical instrumentation to a metal fan base, but all of its experiments are blistering successes. Here’s hoping they release something else like this at some point.

Slough Feg — The Animal Spirits
They’re still underground, true, but Slough Feg are stalwarts of heavy metal at this point. Everybody’s heard of them, and everybody who likes them expects each album to become a minor classic in the scene. Their Profound Lore debut is no exception; Mike Scalzi has cranked out yet another batch of brilliant traditional metal tunes, this time reverting to a rawer, more stripped-down production, presentation and songwriting approach than his past several Slough Feg discs.

Man’s Gin — Smiling Dogs
Cobalt’s “Gin” was one of the finest metal albums of 2009, and this album is made by its musical mastermind, Erik Wunder. “Smiling Dogs” has been called a tribute to Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” — the cover art suggests as much — but I kind of see it as the folk/Americana version of “Gin.” A lot of the lyrics and atmosphere are similar to that album, they’re just adapted to a dark folk context instead of black metal. Whatever this album is, though, it works, and it’s one of the most addicting listens of the year.

Iron Maiden — The Final Frontier
Arguably no other metal band has as storied a history and as respected a body of work as Iron Maiden. Their output since 2000 has been somewhat polarizing, and this album is no different, but fans of their more subdued material should find nothing to complain about here. “Starblind” and “Isle of Avalon” are two of the band’s finest songs, and the rest of the album isn’t far behind.

Watain — Lawless Darkness
There are very few bands who are more serious about their image than Watain; it’s difficult to tell whether they’ve convinced themselves that they’re in bondage with the dark arts or if all that animal sacrifice is just for show. For being so extremely extreme on stage, their actual music is shockingly worldly — this is a tr00 black metal album, yes, but it incorporates influences from just about every subgenre, perhaps most notably NWOBHM in some of those enormous guitar harmonies and unlikely scream-along choruses. “Lawless Darkness” is a great album because of those influences, not despite them.

Atheist — Jupiter
After a 17-year hiatus, the highly anticipated fourth album by technical death metal pioneers Atheist was almost certain to be a letdown; the expectations were just too high. Kelly Shaefer, Steve Flynn and their new hired guns wouldn’t let that happen, though, and the band dropped its most impressive and complete disc aside from the classic “Unquestionable Presence.” Shaefer’s vocals may have changed since the band’s ’90s heyday, but his musical vision hasn’t.

Alcest — Écailles de Lune
Following up their debut EP “Le Secret” and first full-length “Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde” with a marriage of the styles found in each, France’s Alcest has set the bar once again for atmospheric beauty in black metal. It’s not cold mountaintops or steamy city sidewalks they seek to evoke with their music; it’s green pastures and idyllic dream worlds. The way everything-but-drums mainman Neige alternates between his enchanting, childlike clean vocals and his tortured black metal shrieks is truly a thing to behold.

Ludicra — The Tenant
This album is a melodic black metal rumination on the claustrophobia and artificiality of city life, as well as the best reflection yet on the aftermath of the recent financial crisis by a metal band. Every riff, every lead and every strangled vocal from frontwoman Laurie Sue Shanaman is rife with the agony of job loss and tenanted living. Sometimes the grimmest and most frostbitten thing is reality.