Top 10 Metal Albums of 2016

Since we are only in the infancy of 2017, I thought I’d post a list of my top 10 favorite metal albums of 2016. While many of these also appeared on the Top 40 Albums of 2016 list and  the Top 10 Favorite Songs of 2016 podcast, I wanted to give metal its due in a year where we saw the boundaries of the genre continue to widen. For some of these posts I used excerpts from past write-ups (I hope you don’t mind!).

Top 40 Albums of 2015 (40-21)

This year didn’t quite live up to the high expectations I had back in January. Artists like Chance the Rapper, Frank Ocean, Jai Paul, Kanye West, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, and The Wrens didn’t make good on their promise for a new full-length album in 2015. Fortunately, others were there to pick up the slack and provide us with some great albums. Below you will find this year’s edition of what I consider the top 40 albums of the year. You’ll find albums from varying genres and possibly a few albums that are new to you. In a time where you can look up any song on a streaming service and hear it instantaneously, I hold on tightly to a love for the album as a whole, a collection of songs that work off each other, building toward one major theme or mood. As you will see in the list below, I’m a bit obsessed with new music and the art form that is the album. I take great pride in this list and hope that you find something worth checking out by the end.

Top 20 Albums of 2015 (So Far…) 20-11

We are almost halfway through the year, and there have already been some great releases in 2015. With a stockpile of potentially great albums coming down the pipeline soon (Chance the Rapper, High On Fire, Beach House, Deafheaven, Frank Ocean, Jai Paul, Kanye West, Joanna Newsome, Majical Cloudz, Ghostface Killah, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, and allegedly, The Wrens) I’d like to take a breather and appreciate some of my favorite albums from the year so far. To try to keep some semblance of control, I’ve limited my list to 20 albums released prior to June 1st. Below are albums 20-11.

Honorable Mention

An Autumn For Crippled Children, The Long Goodbye

Joey Bada$$, B.4.DA.$$

Built to Spill, Untethered Moon

Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress

Lightning Bolt, Fantasy Empire

The Mountain Goats, Beat the Champ

Sannhet, Revisionist

Collin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld, Never Were The Way She Was

Thee Oh Sees, Mutilator Defeated At Last

Fred Thomas, All Are Saved

 

BDWPS #35: Cinco De Metal

In this episode aptly titled “Cinco De Metal,” we take a look at some of the best metal albums to come out so far in 2015, including Torche, Sannhet, Sumac, and An Autumn For Crippled Children. We also check out a new track from Lightning Bolt, and revisit classics from Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix. Check it out HERE or subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher (search keyword: BDWPS).

Track List:

Torche “Minions”
Sannhet “Enemy Victorian”
Sumac “Thorn in the Lion’s Paw”
Lightning Bolt “The Metal East”
An Autumn for Crippled Children “Converging Towards the Light”
Black Sabbath “Hand of Doom”
Jimi Hendrix “All Along the Watchtower”