Mat's Top 10 Metal Albums of 2010

10) Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR

Orphaned Land had release their previous album in 2004 and it was considered one the best metal albums of that year. So the expectations were really high for this one. Over the top the single they had released was excellent but my excitement was put down when I first got my hands on this album.  It has some good passages but overall it’s just a alright album, nothing exceptional. Maybe I had too much expectation over this one… It deceived me a little bit but it still made my top ten. If only by a small margin…

9) Neuromist – Move of Thought 

Can anyone name me a metal band from Moldova? Well you have one right here. Neuromist is a technical death metal band a la Necrophagist and Obscura. If you’re a fan of this type of music, go right ahead listen to this band, it will kick your ass. This is their first release, it has some flaws but they are in a good direction to make something really great in the future. This is a band I’ll follow closely in the upcoming years.

8) Orchid’s Curse – Voices: The Tales of Broken Men

This is the kind of album you would think "wtf?!". Why is this album on the list and who’s this band? Well Orchid’s Curse is a Canadian Progressive Hardcore (yes I know, hardcore) band who knows how to make interesting music. They bring hardcore to a certain level we are not used to and small bands like that makes me love music. It might not be a band for everyone, but at least give it a try, you shouldn’t be disappointed.

7) Eluveitie – Everything Remains as it Never Was

Eluveitie has been one of my favourite band since I discovered them a few years ago. I was a little bit deceived with their previous release, but it was original. This time they come back with a more conservative (well conservative for Eluveitie, not for a metal band). And this is the biggest flaw on this album, it looks like a copy of Slania. The songs are very good, but it feels like something you have already heard! This is the only reason why this album is not farther on the list.

6) Alcest – Écailles de Lune

A black metal/shoegaze album on a top 10 release? What is it doing there? Well the French metallers from Alcest have release a strong CD this past year. Like most of the people listening to more conservative stuff like death metal this might sound a little bit off the track but they made a great album mixing strong vocals with cleaner parts. The mix of both genres is pretty awesome and is worth listening. My favourite song on this album is the ballad they putted at the end of the CD, you can feel the emotions when Neige is singing… This song is really worth a listen (the album too, it’s very good).

5) Kataklysm – Heaven’s Venom

These guys have been producing good release for a lot of years and they were really busy with their other side project Ex Deo. I was skeptical to hear this cd because their previous release was... not that good. This one lives up to the expectations, as it looks more like their older release like Serenity in Fire. The production is always good, but it lack a little bit of originality. It’s good death metal, played by an excellent group, but it’s just it lacks something to be in my top three…

4) Les Discrets – Septembre et ses Dernières Pensées

I discovered this band while I was searching for some information about Alcest. This band shares some common members with the aforementioned. This is not the kind of album you would be thinking of seeing on my list, there’s no screaming or harsh vocals, the music is sort of slow-paced… but damn they make it sound great. It feels refreshing to hear this kind of music, it makes a change of what I’m used to. For anyone who’s up for something more relax, this is what you need.

3) Byfrost – Black Earth

This is one of my biggest discoveries this year. I stumbled on this album while searching on the internet and I was a little bit sceptical because I’m not a really big fan of black metal. This is the first release of this band and I’m already eager to see their second release. There is nothing really original in their music, but they make it so well that this album should be given a listen by all black metal fans.

2) Canvas Solaris – Irradiance

I got this cd by accident, I ordered their older release, The Atomized Dream, and I got this one. I was pretty surprised that they had a new release, since you don’t hear a lot from this band. This album is amazing. It’s pretty hard to make an instrumental band and make interesting music after five CDs. If you guys want to listen to an interesting music, pretty different from what we are used to, this is what you’re looking for.

1) Agalloch – Marrow of the Spirit

This is my favourite album of 2010, I know some people will still say that their previous albums were better but I find it very good to listen. It was worth waiting for all this time for Agalloch newest album. It became my top album of 2010 after the first listen; I just fell in love with this album. It has a something that I can’t put my finger on, but it makes this album so great.

Check out:

SparksFury's List

JDeathScript's List

and let us know what album(s) you think should be crowned the best of 2010. Cheers!