5 Albums I Forgot To Talk About in 2016

Happy New Year, fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

I know that greeting is slightly dated now, but I figured it was appropriate since this is my first post of 2016 (Excluding the update I did to my Korn overview). It’s ironic that I’m talking about last year, since it was a crapshoot for a good chunk of it’s runtime. However, the one area where it didn’t suck was music. Heavy Metal or otherwise, 2016 had a horde of great tunes, as evident by my top 10 album list I put out last month. As jampacked as that list was, there were still a couple records that fell through, and thus I didn’t notice them, or not pay much attention. Today I’ll talk about 5 such releases, and maybe you’ll like what you see. Enjoy!

1) Devin Townsend - Transcendence (Sample Song)

Okay, I should start that much of the albums selected for this list came from my top 10 album list of 2016, and Transcendence was the highest rated of the albums I picked. Ironically, I’ve talked about Devin Townsend once already back in 2015 during Kid’s month, and it’s insane that I’ve held off talking about the King of Prog for so long. The base album is great on it’s own, but this is one of the few times where each of the different editions offer something unique to the listener. It’s hard to describe a Devin Townsend release, as they’re all a different kind of musical experience. I’ll conclude with this one point: buy Transcendence!
 
2) Metallica - Hardwired...To Self Destruct (Sample Song)

Out of everything to come out in 2016, this is the one that surprised me the most. Metallica have long since lost their past credit, but late last decade Death Magnetic managed to get some of it back......only for Lulu to come out in 2011 & degrade their reputation even further. So when it was announced that they would have something come out in 2016, I admit I was rather hesitant to jump on the excitement bandwagon. Then the singles came out, and I admit they were fun. Maybe not like something from their glory years, but definitely not bad by any stretch. I haven’t listened to the whole album, but the tracks that came my way weren’t a waste of time. I’ll have to listen to this soon, and from there I’ll give you all a better opinion.

3) Pain - Coming Home (Sample Song)

Anyone who’ve met me personally knows I’m a big fan of Industrial music, metal or otherwise. Rammstein was my gateway into the subgenre, and since then I’ve discovered many bands I frequently listen to today. One of the more recent Industrial bands I’ve discovered (Coincidentally, I talked about this group briefly when I revised my Rammstein overview when talking about Lindemann) is Pain, helmed by Peter Tägtgren. Pain has made quite the name for themselves since the mid 90s, and with their 2016 release Coming Home, they continue to prove that they’re one of the best. The singles that came out definitely stuck in my head, but for whatever reason I didn’t really listen to this record until the past 2 to 3 months. It’s a good listen, and anyone who’s a fan of Industrial Metal from Europe will get a kick out of this.

4) Sodom - Decision Day (Sample Song)

Ironically enough, I had talk about this band during the 2nd portion of my “Summer of Thrash” event. In both of the reviews for that part, I talked about how much I loved the band, and with their 15th studio album released in the late summer last year (August 26th, if you were curious), this love continues on. I’m shocked that I didn’t talk about this record (Apart from my top 10 album list), as this release is fantastic! It’s really more of a hybrid record, mixing the speedier elements of Better Off Dead & Epitome Of Torture with the Death Metal styling of Tapping The Vein. The end result is a CD that has a little more variety to it than many of Sodom’s other releases, but at the same time doesn’t lord over other release. Make the right decision, and buy this album!

5) Rotting Christ - Rituals (Sample Song)

Although I’ve gained an appreciation for Death Metal & Black Metal in recent years, truth be told I’m still not a full-blown fan of either subgenre. Within Death Metal there are only 4 bands I like (3 I actually listen to, 1 I’m fond of more for historical purposes), and in Black Metal there are far less I enjoy. Some Darkthrone, a sprinkling of Mayhem, and just a dash of Emperor. Much like Septicflesh, Rotting Christ was a Greek band that took me completely. They were definitely extreme, but like their Death Metal counterpart, always tried to due new things across their discography. Released around mid-February last year (Making this release almost a year old), Rituals is no exception to the Black Metal/experimental attitude Rotting Christ had. They still pay homage to their homeland, but they expand their horizons to other lands like India. Rituals is a release that I only managed to appreciate about halfway/three-fourths through last year, but it’s one I hope you like immediately.

So there were 5 albums from 2016 I forgot to talk about. After talking about each of them, you’ll no doubt see then reviewed on the site. One in particular you’ll see very soon, but I can’t spoil thing yet. In the meantime, I might be able to get a obscurus metalus review out sometime during the rest of January. See you then!