Honorable Mention: Carcass also released a new album

Well that took long enough. It had been 17 years since Carcass last put out an album (1996’s Swansong) and 20 years since they put out a good album (1993’s Heartwork). So while people were pretty psyched to hear that the band were releasing a new album, the expectations weren’t all that high. Surprise: Surgical Steel was a return to form that ranked with the band’s best work. Not just aping their own sound, which inspired countless melodic death metal bands since they’d disbanded, but actually improving on it. It debuted in the top 50 here, and their instantly sold-out mini-tour will be supplanted by a full-on North American tour next year. Everyone wins!