1) Ghost, Infestissumam (Loma Vista/Republic)
Whether or not Ghost (or Ghost B.C., as a lawyer would have you call them) are metal or not is up for debate. They certainly sing about Satan, but it’s more garage rock with pop sensibilities than metal. If making this my album of the year gets me branded as false metal, then so be it, but for pure enjoyment, listening pleasure, and their fantastically campy live show, it’d be disingenuous to put any other album on top of my list.
Honorable mentions:
Beastmilk, Climax (Magic Bullet)
Wow, this record crept up on me. It’d be hard to call this a purely metal album, as it’s much more rooted in ‘80s post-punk despite the fact that vocalist Mat “Kvohst” McNerney has a black metal pedigree. Hwoever, the band knows their way around a hook, and I like this even more than I like some of the bands that influenced them. The fact that it snuck on to my year end list even though it was just released a few weeks ago speaks to how catchy it is.
Queens of the Stone Age, …Like Clockwork (Matador)
This isn’t a metal album, but it’s a damn good one. In fact, their best since Songs For the Deaf.
Sun and Sail Club, Mannequin (Satin Records Recordings)
I love me some stoner rock, so a collaboration featuring current and former Fu Manchu and Kyuss members piqued my attention right away. Then hearing the first track released, “Held Down,” went beyond my expectations. With vocoder instead of regular vocals, it sounded, as I said at the time, like “Daft Punk losing control of their Tron light cycles and crashing into Torche.” If it wasn’t so well-done, it would get old pretty quickly, but the riffs beneath the vocals keep it interesting.
Nails, Abandon all Life (Southern Lord)
Hard to nominate a 17-minute album in your top ten.
The Dillinger Escape Plan, One of us is the Killer (Party Smasher/Sumerian)
Remember that mediocre album TDEP made? No? That’s because they’ve never made a mediocre album.
Black Sabbath, 13 (Republic)
Is this on here mainly because it’s Ozzy’s first album back in over 30 years? Yeah, pretty much.
Shining, One One One (Prosthetic)
Saxes. Metal. The most straightforward album the band has written is still insane.
