Metal Sucks announces 25 Best Metal Albums of the 2010s
The 25 Best Metal Albums of 2010 – 2019 according to Metal Sucks website:
#25: Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas, Mariner (2016)
#24: Triptykon, Eparistera Daimones (2010)
#23: Pig Destroyer, Book Burner (2012)
#22: Yob, Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014)
#21: The Black Dahlia Murder, Ritual (2011)
#20: Mastodon, Once More ‘Round the Sun (2014)
#19: At the Gates, At War with Reality (2012)
#18: Meshuggah, Koloss (2012)
#17: Gorguts, Colored Sands (2012)
#16: Between the Buried and Me, The Parallax II: Future Sequence (2012)
#15: The Ocean, Pelagial (2013)
#14: Kvelertak, Kvelertak (2010)
#13: Judas Priest, Firepower (2018)
#12: Metallica, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016)
#11: Converge, All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)
#10: The Dillinger Escape Plan, One of Us Is the Killer (2013)
#9: Rivers of Nihil, Where Owls Know My Name (2013)
#8: Deafheaven, Sunbather (2013)
#7: Baroness, Yellow & Green (2012)
#6: Power Trip, Nightmare Logic (2016)
#5: Ghost, Opus Eponymous (2010)
#4: Deftones, Diamond Eyes (2010)
#3: Behemoth, The Satanist (2014)
#2: Carcass, Surgical Steel (2013)
#1: Gojira, Magma (2016)
Discuss!
Gojira is number one! SWEET!!!
Yeah it's great to see a band like Gojira being so well respected & they unquestionably deserve an inclusion but is "Magma" really the album you'd pick? And for number one?? "L'enfant sauvage" is much stronger in my opinion & a worthy inclusion.
Yeah, I also think "L'enfant Sauvage" is stronger and a better definition of that band's sound, and it should've been somewhere in the top 10, with "Magma" close to #25. But MS already made the list, so it is what it is... Personally my #1 favorite metal album of the 2010s is "In Waves" by Trivium.
There are some strange picks that seem like pandering for clicks but at least the list is extremely varied.
Rivers of Nihil seems to have a typo with the year, I wonder if they mean Where Owls Know My Name from 2018 or The Conscious Seed Of Light from 2013. Either or, they seem to be placed a BIT too high considering we're talking about an entire decade here. I loved Where Owls Know My Name, but it's definitely fallen off the more I listened to it. Power Trip being at #6 is an awesome inclusion, that album is fantastic.
Carcass' "Surgical Steel" isn't a bad record but it's quality has been overstated to an incredible level. The fact that it's at #2 tells us that it's been a real struggle to find worthy records. And don't even get me started on Metallica's "Hardwired...To Self Destruct". That overblown & over-indulgent snooze-fest has no business being anywhere near a best-of list unless it only includes Metallica's post-"Black Album" material.
And it would appear from this list that black metal didn't exist in the 2010's. Someone should tell Deathspell Omega because they're probably wondering why "Paracletus" isn't somewhere around the top of this list & they'd be right.
That's what I call a hipster list. It ticks all the popularity boxes. Carcass, Metallica and At the Gates are (in my opinion) either way too high or not deserving of a place at all. Those bands' best years were decades ago.
Plus any best of list for the decade that doesn't include a Deathspell Omega album or The Ruins of Beverast's Exuvia makes me sad.
#10. Judas Priest - Firepower (2018)
#9. Scar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity) (2014)
#8. Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone (2012)
#7 Ihsahn - After (2010)
#6 Tribulation - Children of the Night (2015)
#5 Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know my Name (2018)
#4 Hellripper - Coagulating Darkness (2017)
#3 Helloween - Straight out of Hell (2013)
#2 Vektor - Outer Isolation (2011)
#1 Equilibrium - Rekreator (2010)
----------------------------
Really quick list that I know I'm forgetting a bunch from the decade. Personally only agree with Rivers of Nihil and Judas Priest on the list. Firepower was great, but if I think more about it I may end up kicking it off the top 10, but probably still stay in top 25 for me.
Here's my own top 10 best metal albums of the decade, including a few of the albums from the MS list:
#10: Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation) (2010)
#9: Mastodon - The Hunter (2011)
#8: The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer (2013)
#7: At the Gates - At War with Reality (2014)
#6: Meshuggah - Koloss (2012)
#5: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax (both albums) (2011/2012)
#4: Amaranthe - Amaranthe (2011)
#3: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I (2012)
#2: Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage (2012)
#1: Trivium - In Waves (2011)
I'm surprised that I own six of these. Usually these lists are far more eclectic, and I am far too set in my ways and admittedly these days favour the extended catalogues of older bands rather than newer acts. Honestly I've never been any good at making lists like this.
It is pleasing to see Colored Sands get so much mention on these various lists that are floating around the internet at present. I am too lazy to pick 10 albums but hands down would have that Gorguts record as my number one. For all the experimentation on it the record still plays as being a death metal record at the very core of it. Super talented musicians create boundary defying outputs but should always remember their roots and that is exactly what happens on this record.
Agreed that the list needs some black metal input most definitely. Surprised that Judas Priest appears so consistently. I mean it is a great record but it ain't no Painkiller.
I agree with you there Vinny. "Colored Sands" had a big impact on me too & I prefer it to their more highly celebrated "Obscura" album to be honest. I'm not sure it was my overall favourite of the decade but it was certainly up there.
Speaking of Metal Sucks, don't say that about my favorite music genre!
What most non-metalheads fail to realise is that true metalheads couldn't give a rat's ass what they think!
I've just realised I've not posted a list on this topic yet, so here goes:
#25. Melechesh - The Epigenesis
#24. Monolord - Vænir
#23. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
#22. Černá - Restoring Life
#21. Enslaved - RIITIIR
#20. The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia
#19. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
#18. Psicosfera - Beta
#17. Tchornobog - Tchornobog
#16. Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence
#15. Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
#14. Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark
#13. Kauan - Sorni Nai
#12. Saor - Aura
#11. Windhand - Soma
#10. Yith - Immemorial
#9. Inter Arma - Sulphur English
#8. Grand Magus - Hammer of the North
#7. Winterfylleth - The Mercian Sphere
#6. Venenum - Trance of Death
#5. SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods
#4. Monolithe - Monolithe III
#3. Panopticon - Kentucky
#2. Hell - Hell III
#1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä
Boy, that was tough - there's so many more I wanted to include.
Looks like none of mine match the original list. Guess I'm just not hip enough!
Interesting. One thing that needs to be taken into consideration when looking at lists like this from big name publications like MetalSucks is that many of their choices are determined by a mainstream consensus. That is to say that the albums that are reviewed by a lot of people are given special prominence; there is no room for nuance. Case in point, there is no reason as to why Metallica's Hardwired should be anywhere near a list of the albums of the decade other than name recognition. These are the decades most popular metal albums and while I do enjoy a fair number of them, I also understand that The Ocean, Cult of Luna, Deafheaven are here because of their gross popularity throughout the decade. And many other mainstream lists are going to look very similar.
My personal top ten would probably look something like:
10. Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage TIE: Wilderun - Veil of Imagination/Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
9. Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear
8. Ishahn - After
7. Insomnium - Winters Gate
6. Threshold - Legend of the Shires
5. Ayreon - The Theory of Everything
4. Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale
3. Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
2. Saor - Guardians
1. Fen - Winter
EDIT: I've honestly thought about this list a lot lately nine months removed from the 2010s and while my list still holds up, I did make a slight change at the number 10 position. I think the tie at the bottom makes this list far more enjoyable. If I had to have a tiebreaker, I guess AiC would just miss the cut.
In no order, I'd bash out the following list of 25:
Mizmor - Cairn 2019
Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods 2018
Deathspell Omega - Drought 2012
Behemoth - The Satanist 2014
Portal - Vexovoid 2013
Hooded Menace - Never Cross the Dead 2010
Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme 2012
Autopsy - Macabre Eternal 2011
Disma - Towards the Megalith 2011
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog 2018
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life 2012
Gorguts - Colored Sands 2013
Gorguts - Pleiade's Dust 2016
Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis 2016
Deftones - Koi no Yokan 2012
Condor - Unstoppable Power 2017
Akhlys - The Dreaming I 2015
Inquisition - Bloodsher Across The Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith 2016
Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper 2017
Author & Punisher - Ursus Americanus 2012
Grand Magus - Hammer of the North 2010
Electric Wizard - Black Masses 2010
Bolzer - Aura 2013
Aosoth - The Inside Scriptures 2017
Cultes Des Ghoules - Henbane 2013