More of the same from me; metal, rock, glam and power pop. This year turned out better than last year.

The Stand Outs (alphabetical order).

Christian Mistress “To Your Death”
Heavy Metal. Yeah a throwback but they back it up with great guitar work and most importantly good songs.

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Pinkish Black “Brown Rainbow”
Spacey, psychedelic, doom rock. Picked this off of someone else’s top music list. A bit of weird with hooks to drag you in.

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Mirror s/t
Heavy Metal. This came out of nowhere. From the cover I was expecting generic stoner rock, I got an amalgam of classic metal; Rainbow, Sabbath, Priest, and the NWOBHM.

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Razorbats “Camp Rock”
Rock. The Norwegians sure have rock in their blood. Following the long lineage of Scandinavian bands that can write a good tune while giving you a kick in the ass.

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Wand “Golem”
Take Hawkwind and mash it with Black Sabbath and you get Wand’s “Golem”.

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The Rest of the Good Stuff (again alphabetical).

Baroness “Blue”
Neurosis/Mastodon sound gone pop. The bellowing vocals get old after a while. What’s lacking in the vocals is made up in the diversity of the songs. Note: The recording, mixing mastering quality of this album is awful. I think you’d have to try to make it this bad.

Biters “Electric Blood”
More 70’s influenced hard rock/power pop. Not as exciting as past release but still worth your time.

Creem Circus “Rock and/or Roll”
Dudes that love Kiss make a glam album. A bit too much tongue in the cheek.

Fidlar “Too”
More of the snotty bratty punkish rock. They do hit you with a hook now and again.

Ghost “Meliora”
BOC/Lucifers Friend 70’s rock. Their best album.

Giuda “Speaks Evil”
An album of glam hand clapping and foot stomping. Not nearly as strong as their first two albums.

Imperial State Electric “Honk Machine”
They rock on adding some 60’s R&B influence into the Thin Lizzy playing Kiss sound.

Meat Wave “Delusion Moon”
If you dig 90’s noisy indie rock.

Michael Monroe “Black Out States”
More Nordic 70’s inspired rock. No new ground but if you have dug his latest revved up Hanoi Rocks solo material, check it.

Paradise Lost “The Plague Within”
Doom Death Metal. Been hearing of a return to form for year. This is it. Great guitar work and well put together songs.

RAM “Svbversvm”
Heavy Metal. I guess you’d might call this power metal. This one just clicked with me not sure it’s of interest to anyone. Thought it was a bit like the first Sanctuary album.

Satan “Atom by Atom”
Heavy Metal. Not as mind blowing as “Life Sentence” but still good. The second half really picks up steam.

Tenement “Predatory Headlights”
People keep calling this band pop-punk, they aren’t it’s power pop with some weirdness thrown in. The album drags on a bit. Editing, so much is in the editing.

White Reaper “White Reaper Does It Again”
More indie label power pop. Nothing to write home about but a good listen.

Vhol “Deeper Than Sky”
Thrash, hardcore and crossover  added to the black metal meets NWOBHM base. Better than their debut. “The Desolate Damned” is one hell of a thrash jam.

Disappointments

The Darkness “Last of Our Kind”
Never though I’d use the word dull to describe them.

Denner / Sherman “Satan’s Tomb”
Was probably over excited for this one. I was expecting early Mercyful Fate awesomeness. The singer, while he has a good voice, ruins much of the album by singing over all the cool guitar riffs.

Torche “Restarter”
What happened to the hooks? What’s with all the sludgy droning?