06) Steel Panther, Balls Out (Universal)
Oh yes, Steel Panther. Even after seeing the band live several times, I’m still on the fence about whether I should consider their act genius or flat-out absurd and cheap. One thing is for sure: Steel Panther never shied away from controversy and has managed to raise the bar (by lowering the bar) continuously throughout their career. Their second album, Balls Out, took everything that made their debut, Feel The Steel, great (or terrible, depending on which side of the aforementioned fence you land), and cranked it up to eleven. No matter whether you take songs like “17 Girls in a Row,” “Gold Digging Wh**e,” or “If You Really Really Love Me,” – the band’s crude humor and strictly non-PC content are on full display here, and you can either love it or absolutely despise it. Musically, it’s a very well-produced and great-sounding glam rock album, even if the songs themselves are not exactly outstanding masterpieces. Still, rather serviceable vehicles for the band’s sometimes more, sometimes less humorous lyrics.
07) ReinXeed, 1912 (Liljegren Records)
Power metal aficionados will know guitarist/singer Tommy Johansson quite well as the current axeman for Swedish war metallers Sabaton. Still, he’s also a prolific songwriter and bandleader in his own right. Before rebranding his band “Majestica” and releasing two albums to date, Tommy mainly was known for his first role in ReinXeed, founded in 2000. Under the ReinXeed name, the band released six albums until 2013, with the album titled 1912 being their fourth outing. The record is a concept album about the sinking of the Titanic and was released only eight months after the album’s predecessor, Majestic. Musically, the album delivers exactly what you’d expect from a Scandinavian melodic metal release: epic choirs, sweeping guitars, neoclassical elements, high-pitched and clean singing. If that’s something you’re into, and you like bands like Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica, then 1912 is definitely worth checking out. Everyone else who is more into the darker, heavier side of things should steer clear of this, much like the Titanic should’ve stayed clear of that iceberg.
08) Mastodon, The Hunter (Reprise Records)
The fifth album by Mastodon is the band’s second non-concept album and was received with stellar reviews by the press. The album features some of the band’s most straightforward work, especially compared to the previous two albums, Crack the Skye and Blood Mountain. The band may have alienated some of its fans with this outing. It wasn’t exactly what some of them expected from the band at the time, but the album has its merits, including a Grammy nomination for “Curl of the Burl” and wins at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and the Kerrang! Awards for best album.
09) Anthrax, Worship Music (Megaforce Records)
The band’s tenth studio album is notable for several reasons. It is the first full-length album since the return of Joey Belladonna on vocals and the last album featuring guitarist Rob Caggiano. The album marked a certain “return to form” for the band, with some critics calling it the band’s best work since 1990’s Persistence of Time. And even though fans had to wait a whopping eight years for Worship Music to come out after 2003’s We’ve Come for You All, it seems the wait was worth it. Instead of forcibly trying to “go with the times” and follow the nu-metal type of sound that had been popular in the early 2000s, Worship Music instead sees one of the classic “Big 4” bands return to its pure Thrash metal roots.
10) Riot, Immortal Soul (SPV/Steamhammer)
The last entry for this list will be another special one. Before (another, still ongoing) reunion under the name “Riot V,” courtesy of the addition of current singer Todd Michael Hall as the fifth singer in the band’s history, the “old” Riot got together one last time in their classic “Thundersteel” lineup. Featuring Tony Moore on vocals, Mark Reale and Mike Flyntz on guitars, Don Van Stavern on bass, and Bobby Jarzombek on drums. Immortal Soul marked the short-lived return of this lineup. The album title could not be more fitting, as band founder Mark Reale passed away in January 2012, shortly after the album’s release, due to complications from Crohn’s disease. With songs like “Still Your Man,” “Wings Are for Angels,” or the eponymous “Riot,” the album is a bona fide last hurrah for a much-beloved, classic lineup of one of US power metal’s seminal bands.
