Metal as Fuck's Top 100 Albums of 2011: 25 - 1
25. Agnostic Front - My Life My Way (Nuclear Blast)
"Unlike other pretenders within the hardcore genre Agnostic Front haven't succumbed to trends and despite an increase in production quality, the authenticity and roots remain." - MaF's own shaven-headed moonstomp maniac MADman on why those who know what they're talking about rated AF v.2011 so highly.
24. Fair to Midland - Arrows and Anchors (E1 Music)
"Their first record cut with all new material is as resplendent and playful as ever, still retaining that hotheaded energy that seems to glow from each and every child’s imagination." - Crushtor explains the appeal of FTM's breakout elpee.
23. Edguy - Age of the Joker (Nuclear Blast)
"Like most of the Edguy albums that came before, Age of the Joker is a mix of spectacular brilliance and solid proficiency, and you’ll find much to enjoy if melodic power/speed metal gets you out of bed in the morning". MaF's resident old man Scott Adams purrs with old school approbation...
22. Symfonia - In Paradisum (Avalon/Marquee)
It looks sadly like this will be Symfonia's only release, as maveric axe God Timo Tolkki has decided to pull the plug on the project. That being the case, In Paradisum is a pretty special last will and testament. Epic, gloriously overblown yet always with an ear for a melodious pop hook, this is about as good as this style of music gets.
21. Decapitated - Carnival is Forever (Nuclear Blast)
Gut-wrenching heaviness rarely sounds this good; Decapitated doesn't worry about melody too much on Carnival... preferring instead a steady diet of hack n'slash that made this eagerly awaited opus something of a hit around these parts. Uncompromisingly excellent stuff.
20. Diamond Plate - Generation Why? (Earache)
A bit of an opinion divider this. MaF's resident thrashspert Micky Strong wrote the band off as a mundane if harmless by-numbers thrash exercise, whereas US correspondent Victoria Anderson declared DP to be 'Hard driving, in your face and full of heavy metal goodness'. Their high placing in our end of year roundup suggests Vic might have been a bit nearer the mark than Mick...
19. Brian Robertson - Diamonds and Dirt (SPV/Steamhammer)
The former Thin Lizzy/Motorhead guitarist returned to the fray with the backing of a veritable smorgasbord of hard rock talent, and the resulting album was a triumph of melodic hard rock. The man can play, obviously, but he always favours restraint here, preferring to add a series of great solos to a set of songs that cover the man's 30-odd year career with aplomb and panache. Not metal as fuck by any means, but bloody great nonetheless.
18. Chrome Division - 3rd Round Knockout (Nuclear Blast)
MaF's Carrie Gibson likes a bit of 'pure textbook, balls out, whiskey guzzling titty metal', which is just as well, since that's what CD provided on 3rd Round Knockout. Chrome Division don't mess about here; kicking the living shit out of a set of a set of songs for whom the term 'filth bitch boogie' may well have been specially coined. Exciting stuff to be sure...
17. Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising (Metal Blade)
'Riffs heavier and slower than James Gandolfini's breathing' remarked MADman in his review of SR... We still haven't managed to verify the breathing claims, but our man was certainly right about the riffage. Raging Viking metal of the highest order that made everyone at MaF HQ start cultivating beards - with precious little success, it has to be said - in honour of Johan Hegg and co. Glorious.
16. Rival Sons - Pressure & Time (Earache)
Another opinion dividing album. Scott Adams couldn't hide his mirth, dismissing the album as an unintentionally hilarious (and failed) attempt at fusing the Doors with the Monkees which ended up sounding like a bad Grand Funk Railroad album, whereas longgoneloser proclaimed the album an unreserved success in his review; 'There's nothing to fault here. This album's damn fine' - so who was right?
15. Danmaku - Turn Up the Gas (Thrash Lizard)
Pure, unadulterated thrash madness, hailed by Mick Strong as being 'essential thrash listening'. 'Turn up the gas?' he bellowed, trousers, round his ankles, 'more like turn up the THRASH!'. And, try as we might, we can't put it better than that ourselves.
14. Absu - Abzu (Candlelight)
'Mark my words,' enthused Carrie Gibson back in October 'this is heavy metal in its finest and purest form' - and who are we to argue. Proscriptor McGovern may well be mad as a goose on stilts, but there's no denying he's got his head screwed firmly on when it comes to bringing the noise. Roll on Apsu and, before that, the Australian tour!
13. Whitesnake - Forevermore (Frontiers)
'An absolute corker of an album' cooed Scott Adams, 'absolutely full of big-bollocked, theatre-levelling shag anthems that sees David Coverdale back to his preening, caterwauling best'. Age doesn't appear to wearing the 'prince of slow poke music', and Forevermore is a massively welcome addition to Mr Coverdale's canon.
12. Absolute Power - Absolute Power (Feto)
A 'supergroup' actually worthy of the name, AP came together with one stated aim - to celebrate the glory days of British heavy metal (a period that lasted more or less between the years 1979-1984). That they succeeded is beyond debate. That they succeeded so spectacularly well is surely cause for daily services of thanksgiving the metal world over. Simply a great album.
11. Symphony X - Iconoclast (Nuclear Blast)
Equally at home on the big ballad or the big bruiser, Symphony X returned in 2011 with a sprawling, ambitiously pompous opus that once again highlighted just what a titanic singer Russell Allen is. The best around? That's a big call, but the man's voice certainly took this album to another level. A huge talent.
10. Hell - Human Remains (Nuclear Blast)
Quite simply, the comeback album to end all comeback albums. Twenty-odd years in the making, the Brit outfir confounded naysayers by re-entering the world of metal with one of the best albums of theatrically-tinged power metal we've heard, ever. Let's hope they don't take another quarter century to come up with another one.
9. The Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual (Metal Blade)
'Modern and genre-spanning metalcore crossover death metal that sheds what’s wrong and leaves only the golden riffs behind' said our man in Melbourne Crushtor. And we can't think of anything more to add. Brutality incarnate.
8. Within Temptation - The Unforgiving (Roadrunner)
Of course, comic book/band tie ins are incredibly infra dig these days, but, when the album part of the deal is this good, then who cares? A golden repository of pop-informed pomp rock, sang by Sharon den Adel in the form of her life, meant that The Unforgiving was always going to be an irresistable proposition. Astoundingly good songs like Sinead abound, and MaF HQ has returned to this album again and again when in need of a shot of the good stuff.
7. Evile - Five Serpent's Teeth (Earache)
The 'saviours of British metal' spawned album number three in 2011 to universal excitement and no little acclaim from 'the kids' But was it any good? We venture that it was, and is. 'FST is the best British metal album of the year' said our man in the Union Jack underpants Dan Bond. And he lives in Britain so he should know. 'Evile are the new master of their genre' he continued, warming to his theme, before ending with a frenzied 'this is thrash metal with teeth.'
6. Sebastian Bach - Kicking and Screaming (Riot Entertainment)
We couldn't leave Bas out of any list concerned with heavy metal, could we? Luckily the album he released this year, Kicking and Screaming was a barnstorming mix of styles and sounds, so we are happy to give him such a high ranking. No matter what he was trying his hand at stylistically on KaS, one thing - THE VOICE- shone through on every track, making this album an absolute masterclass in heavy metal vocalising.
5. Amebix - Sonic Mass (Easy Action)
Christ on a crusty bike! we weren't expecting this! And neither was our underground guru Lee Barrett. 'Well I certainly wasn't expecting this.". Yes, we've established that Lee. Any more thoughts? 'A powerful, vital and epic album that isn't steeped in nostalgia like most other band reformations seem to be about." Nail on the head, Lee, nail on the head. A mighty, mighty album.
4. Ghost - Opus Eponymous (Metal Blade)
We spend hours here wondering about stuff. Like, what would Mercyful Fate sound like if they wrote an album with Blue Oyster Cult? Well, thanks to the good offices of Ghost now we know. The answer is absolutely bloody marvellous.
3. Machine Head - Unto the Locust (Roadrunner)
Burn My Eyes is one of the great metal debuts of all time. But, for fifteen years, it looked like Rob Flynn and co were never quite going to follow through on the promise of that album. The Blackening came close; Unto the Locust finally delivers. A coruscating, bellicose blast of pure, unadulterated heavy metal thunder, this is about as good as it gets if its straight up, honest, sincere, no side heavy metal you're after. Marvellous, faith-affirming stuff.
2. Mastodon - The Hunter (Roadrunner)
'Proof that Mastodon is one of the most creative and talented bands there is' said Dan Bond. 'Produced to a tee, our revered sludge-tinctured and wily fingered Southerners with everything to gain do so with aplomb; as ambitious as it is enjoyable' said Crushtor. Can both these men - and thousands of metalheads the world over, for that matter - be wrong?
All of which brings us to the moment you've all been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, there can be only one. The Metal as Fuck album of 2011 is..
ANTHRAX - WORSHIP MUSIC (NUCLEAR BLAST)
This had to be the most keenly awaited album of the year - would it be worth the wait? Would it thrash like a maniac? For that matter, and perhaps more appropriate a question in the circumstances - would it drive us metal thrashing mad? As it goes, Worship Music probably didn't thrash as hard as most people would have liked, but that couldn't take away from the fact that this was an absolutely titanic slab of heavy metal. The likes of Fight 'em Till You Can't remind you why you fell in love with this band - and this whole metal movement we love so much - in the first place, and for that alone we think Anthrax deserve the ultimate MaF accolade. Worship music for sure - but worship Anthrax too, for delivering such a corking album. Hail and Kill! heres to 2012!
