Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.
So Ghost won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance, and while those little golden phonographs are among the many things metalheads like to slag on (usually for good reason), seeing Papa get up onstage is one of the better things to happen involving the award. Even better is the pure gold that is their red carpet interview featuring (surprise!) an interviewer who knows nothing about the band she’s interviewing. Seriously, you couldn’t have taken two seconds to pull up a Wikipedia page on Ghost to find out about their outfits? I mean, I’m not one to tell you how to do your job, but at least you could have asked if they prayed to Lucifer before coming to the ceremony. Oh well, just another way for us to laugh at the Grammys. Oh, and we have ten debuts listed below so that’s cool.
Notable Debuts:
The Cult, Hidden City (Cooking Vinyl) #58 sold 4,900 sold
The band’s tenth album had a better debut than their previous album.
Drowning Pool, Hellelujah (eOne) #77, 3,775 sold
Drowning Pool’s first album one eOne doesn’t quite hit as high as 2013’s Resilience.
Fleshgod Apocalypse, King (Nuclear Blast) #113, 2,350 sold
The band’s fourth album is their best debut yet in the US.
Obscura, Akróasis (Relapse) #151, 1,800 sold
Obscura’s first album in five years is their highest charting in the US.
Prong, X – No Absolutes (SPV/Steamhammer) #181, 1,450 sold
The band’s latest manages to outdo 2014’s Ruining Lives.
Product of Hate, Buried in Violence (Napalm) 690 sold
This is the band’s debut record.
Textures, Phenotype (Nuclear Blast) 580 sold
The band’s fourth album is its first in five years with another release planned for next year.
Seven Sisters of Sleep, Ezekiel’s Hags (Relapse) 420 sold
The third album from the band that, incidentally, doesn’t actually have a member who is a sister.
Rhapsody of Fire, Into the Legend (AFM) 370 sold
The band’s eleventh album is its second without guitarist Luca Turilli.
Moon Tooth, Chromaparagon (Self-Released)
This is the debut LP from this Long Island band.
Notable Sales:
Megadeth, Dystopia (UMe) #33, 7,775 sold
Over 70,000 sold thus far.
Disturbed, Immortalized (Reprise) #39, 6,750 sold
This has held the same chart position for three weeks, but takes a nice 19% jump. Guess touring really does work!
Dream Theater, The Astonishing (Roadrunner) #52, 5,400 sold
An 82% drop in week two, but it’s sold 35,000 so far.
Five Finger Death Punch, Got Your Six (Prospect Park) #75, 3,825 sold
Over 300,000 sold.
Various Artists, Now That’s What I Call Rock (Sony) #90, 3,100 sold
There’s also an album titled Now That’s What I Call A Workout. What, so Slayer isn’t workout music but Maroon 5 somehow is?
Shinedown, Threat To Survival (Atlantic) #95, 2,900 sold
A 5% boost for survival.
Breaking Benjamin, Dark Before Dawn (Hollywood) #138, 1,975 sold
An 8% boost dawns.
Red, Of Beauty and Rage (Essential) #147, 1,850 sold
Another boost, this time by 10%.
Bring Me The Horizon, That’s The Spirit (Columbia) #171, 1,550 sold
Just under 130,000 sold.
Ice Nine Kills, Every Trick In The Book (Fearless) 910 sold
A huge boost of 96%.
Avantasia, Ghostlights (Nuclear Blast) 670 sold
A big second week drop of 73%.
Abbath, Abbath (Season of Mist) 650 sold
A 36% drop.
Black Tusk, Pillars of Ash (Relapse) 520 sold
This only dropped by 14% in week two.
Primal Fear, Rulebreaker (Frontiers) 420 sold
Another second week drop of 73%.
Witchcraft, Nucleus (Nuclear Blast) 350 sold
A 26% drop, witch isn’t good.
Red Sun Rising, Polyester Zeal (Razor & Tie) 350 sold
A 10% drop.
Silent Planet, The Night God Slept (Solid State) 290 sold
This gets boosted back onto the charts.
Borknagar, Winter Thrice (Century Media) 280 sold
A cold drop of 23%.
Failure Anthem, First World Problems (Razor & Tie) 280 sold
Failure via 38% drop.
Wage War, Blueprints (Fearless) 270 sold
Wager a 17% boost.
Bury Tomorrow, Earthbound (Nuclear Blast) 1,250 sold
A second week drop of 82%.
Exmortus, Ride Forth (Prosthetic) 210 sold
Taken for a ride by a 44% drop.
