Too Soon? Chuck and Godless’ Best of 2016… So Far
It would seem like everything metal is on the rise right now: the big media has taken notice of the festival circuit growing, ticket sales are going up, the rekindling of those Ozzfest cockles tickled many fancies, etc. Yet, for those of us who pay close attention to this poker game that is the music industry, metal always had a seat at the table, whether the masses took note or not. A failure in one arena meant the success in another, and so the hand kept getting dealt, although the pot may be getting ever smaller. That being said, the output in this genre has grown by leaps and bounds, most of it being shit, but the cream that rises to the top is pretty sweet.
Amon Amarth – Jomsviking (Metal Blade)
Architects (UK) – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (Epitaph)
Black Cobra – Imperium Simulacra (Seasons of Mist)
Borknagar – Winter Thrice (Century Media)
Fallujah – Dreamless (Nuclear Blast)
Fleshgod Apocalypse – King (Nuclear Blast)
Gojira – Magma (Roadrunner)
Ishahn – Arktis (Candlelight)
Magrudergrind – II (Relapse)
Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (Nuclear Blast)
Primitive Weapons – The Future of Death (Party Smasher)
Toothgrinder – Nocturnal Masquerade (Spinefarm)
2016 holds so much promise… new Wovenwar, Kreator, Monuments, and Insomnium might deliver where my response has been muted for new Gojira, Kvelertak, and Deftones in Q1 and Q2. Maybe the Gojira will grow on me…
In the meantime… wow. Metal is still in a sweet-spot. And the great material is coming from unexpected places – the previously written off and the never-heard-of-em-befores.
Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (Epitaph)
Asking Alexandria – The Black (Sumerian)
Fleshgod Apocalypse – King (Nuclear Blast)
I See Stars – Treehouse (Sumerian)
Otep – Generation Doom (Napalm)
Polar – No Cure No Saviour (Prosthetic)
Protest the Hero – Pacific Myth (self-released)
Textures – Phenotype (Nuclear Blast)
Walls of Jericho – No One Can Save You From Yourself (Napalm)
Zeal and Ardor – Devil Is Fine (self-released)
Godless’ Best Albums of 2016 Playlist
