This album does not manifest anything new but does not cease to prove why DARK FUNERAL are one of the most prominent black metal bands still without straying from that shady, left hand path, marching onwards towards destruction and darkness. Based on the fact that this is one of the most popular and long-standing bands in the Swedish scene of black metal scene, it certainly is a safe bet album to listen to, as comforting in the old-school way and old-school is good – tastes like quality wine in the winter and is deservingly one of the top 20 of 2016.

OATHBREAKER‘s third album alters the very labels of music. Hardcore, black, shoegaze, avant-garde, melodic; all combined beautifully to deliver a great album full of emotion and ferocity with impressive guitar work and vocalist Caro Tanghe takes on multiple narrative roles and motifs. The progress that these Belgium guys made since ‘’Eros Anteros’’ is simply amazing. Each track has so strong influence upon you generating various feelings from grief to aggression and vice versa through the whole album. Personal favorites: “Second Son of R.” and “Needles in Your Skin”.

AENAON made Greece proud again with their exceptional album. Almost 10 years active in the black metal scene and they still find ways to impress their fans. A unique combination of true black with a variety of different music genres like blues and jazz proving that the band cannot rest and go with the trite. On the contrary, they are always trying to find ways to take black into a whole new level, creating a new path, rather than following an existing one. With their latest album Hypnosophy, they have imprinted their unique sound on the scene for good and they definitely deserve to be in our top 20.

But how many of us can really stay loyal to the pack? With this PLANET OF ZEUS album, probably everyone can. Another excellent album from the Greek Southern rock/Stoner band PLANET OF ZEUS. The production really stands off while everything sounds natural, bright and clear. Babis’ vocals are for the first time so clean and melodic. This is something new for the fans and it was a really bold step that paid off. These vocals come out so naturally without the effort of trying hard or pushing the limits and this is the best of it. The album literally gets under your skin and gives you the impression that the band is really into the new direction they have set. “Loyal to the pack” is something more rock and less heavy, more sensitive but still aggressive and most importantly it is a POZ album that attracts anyone’s attention.

There are very few bands out there that can guarantee you high quality music on every record they release. CULT OF LUNA are definetly one of them. You just know the outcome is gonna be at least above the average! “Mariner” marks the seventh studio album of the Swedes which, actually, is a collaboration with the American vocalist JULIE CHRISTMAS. According to the concept of the album, “Mariner” focuses on space exploration, a journey into the unknown and believe me, you really get this vibe during the listening! The song-writing is exceptional once again with monstrous riffs followed by robust drum and bass rhythms, while the synths and keyboards give a little color to this monochromatic canvas. However, what really blew me away was Julie’s performance which is really marvelous! Sometimes angelic, sometimes poignant, her vocals fit so perfectly that will take your breath away. “Mariner” is overall an awesome post-metal record, offspring of a brilliant collaboration.

Finland’s finest melodic death metal band, INSOMNIUM, in their seventh release to date, offered us an epic forty-minute track. “Winter’s Gate” has it all, black metal blast beats, atmospheric parts featuring keyboards, melodic clean vocals, brutal screams and of course the enchanting dual guitar melodies that are the band’s trademark. The conceptual lyrics about a team of Vikings searching for a fabled island while facing the harsh winter made the album even more interesting. Although the feelings that emerge from listening to this album are dark and gloomy, its music flows so well that makes it impossible not to hear it from start to finish. INSOMNIUM at peak form!

When it comes to progressive death metal, there’s always an instant connection to the term with the one and only Chuck Schuldiner. Since he passed away back in 2001, no-one expected death metal to be that progressive, but as it is obvious his reputation and mostly his spiritual influence, took on some bands and the genre goes on, to even more glorious days at our times. For 2016 one of the top prog/death metal releases was “Akroasis” by the Germans OBSCURA. With new elements entering their sound, that really pushed their reputation to a higher level. Outstanding musicality, song structures and melodies, from their own outer-space. Maybe, the only band that deserves the title  “Chuck’s children”.

The reunited IN THE WOODS had a surprise for us all. Without an extraordinary promotion, without the attention a new band enjoys, IN THE WOODS managed to slip into the best of’ list of 2016, with “Pure“. Magnificent, emotional and totally doom, “Pure” offers tracks that travel through time, like portals which blend together the music scene as the band has left it when disbanded, with our music scene. For the doom metal fans, as well as for the clique of classics, this record is all they need for to fuel their heavy-metal engines, at least for the past year.

DJuggernaut sextet PERIPHERY, dropped this year their best album to date entitled “Periphery III: Select Difficulty”. Upon listening to the album, someone can easily point out the top-notch musicianship level of each individual and the overall diligence in composition of the aforementioned opus. This result could fail any expectation if it wasn’t for their additional knowledge, and especially Nolly’s touch, in sound engineering. Exquisite outcome that can be easily juxtaposed to and be chosen amongst any progressive rival of this year, such as Transcendence (Devin Townsend Project album) and Jason Richardson’s solo album. I am pretty sure you shall need no more reasons to get a hold of this gem.

KORN’s new album “The Serenity Of Suffering” sounds like a natural evolution from the old school albums; strong songwriting and a significant increase in aggression. The “Serenity of Suffering” is easily KORN’s most diverse release featuring melody, aggression, new and old sound in equal measures wrapped into one of the best releases of the band’s newer records. The most powerful takeaway? We can still enjoy the true nu metal from the pioneers of the genre! Love them or hate them.

While this album was taking shape in the recording studio the band’s guitarist Stephen Carpenter had second thoughts about the direction that the songs were going to and if he should continue playing music with DEFTONES. Thankfully he stuck around and “Gore” was released in 2016. This record received acclaim by fans and critics and it earned their highest sales since ‘Saturday Night Wrist’ (2006). Songs like “Hearts/Wires” and “Phantom Bride” (the latter featuring guest guitar work from ALICE IN CHAINS’ Jerry Cantrell) although they were more mellow than their music’s usual alternative metal style, they managed to become concert favorites and maybe someday will be considered classics!

ROTTING CHRIST is one of the best Greek bands concerning dark and satanic sounds. Known for what they do best they couldn’t but produce an excellent album that contains heavy sounds and demonic poetry together with a tremendous artwork. “Rituals” was nothing less than the expected and to be completely honest, these guys will never stop being one of my biggest crushes among the blackest and darkest bands I follow. Big ups for ROTTING CHRIST’s latest work!

In thrash metal, there are some bands that represent its bright present and even brighter future. One of them is (without a shadow of a doubt) VEKTOR. And this is proven through their new masterpiece: “Terminal Redux“. The masterful blend of the teachings of CORONER, VOIVOD and DESTRUCTION with black metal riffage as well as tons of melody that show their range of musical influences (on “Collapse” we even get to hear clean female vocals, bringing Pink Floyd to mind), is the first important element to VEKTOR‘s unique character. And most importantly: they know how to create memorable songs, not just demonstrations of technical proficiency, despite being an highly technical band. And that’s the perfect balance any band of that technical caliber is jealous of. Just press play, and let them take you on a tech-thrash journey to another galaxy. SCI-FI OR DIE!

DARK TRANQUILLITY and their new album “Atoma” that has been released this late November could not deserve anything less than a place in the top 20 list of the best albums on 2016. Although they’ve get many controversial reviews, this one brings them again to the top. Sweden’s finest ambassadors, now that IN FLAMES became a bit too mellow for metal fans. Melody and aggression combined with great mastery from a band that has been cruel criticized in the past. After some lifeless releases, “Atoma” is here to stay. You just have to give this album a few spins and you will be not disappointed.

FATES WARNING is a great band. Perhaps the greatest from the US progressive metal genre, if we realize how much bad music, DREAM THEATER and QUEENSRYCHE have released the last 15 years. None could believe that with their 12th album, would achieve to became the leading force of wide-thinking metal, mixing elements from their whole career and sound more adventurous than ever. Moreover they wrote one of their best songs ever (The Light and Shade of Things) and finally they got rid of the “underrated” reputation, they always had. The sure is that “Theories of Flight” album will teach careful listeners to fly.

Thrash metal, as a genre, has been reviving the past decade. TESTAMENT, since their formation, are of those bands that never abandoned the genre. The expanded their sound with even more brutal elements (death metal), but never left their musical roots. Being forged with fire, this band has been consistent to everything they’ve released so far, having of course, some top moments and some non-top ones, every now and then. This year’s release “The Brotherhood of the Snake” has been one of their top ones and can easily stand together with some of their top albums of their entire carrier, so far. Powerful, dynamic, melodic, brutal, fast, incredible. This year has been a great year for old school Thrash metal, and TESTAMENT made a record to place them back on top of their own game. Preciously unique!

Making music nowadays that stands out from the pile is at least difficult. Making a musical journey that flows of inspiration, OCEANS OF SLUMBER have the right to be proud of that. Cammies’ Gilbert vocals give a bluesy touch bridging death and doom metal with a more prog profile. All these plus the amazing work that has been done musically consisted on “Winter” become one of the best albums for 2016.

Norwegian black metal master IHSAHN can be easily characterized as the unstoppable machine. Since EMPEROR got into the closet and appeared only on certain circumstances, their master mind has been busy releasing incredible albums under his own name. With each album being even more interesting than every previous one! IHSAHN, creates without music boundaries, that’s why his own music is really unstoppable and his inspiration flame even stronger. As it seems a composer of his level can merge black metal feeling with 80s pop and death metal with hard rock riffs, while no apparent bass being present in the mix! “Arktis” is a certified release diamond for the year 2016 and no-one can defy that! “Arktis” is unique and you can explore the vast North Pole with its music!

“Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” is not reinventing the steel neither can stand next to the classic records of the band. So what made this album to the best releases of the year? It’s the whole atmosphere it breathes out. The fact that after so many years, METALLICA feel good with themselves. They fought and won their inner demons, their abuses, their complex. The songs are spontaneously written from the heart and that makes you feel that they really enjoyed it. They didn’t write a record because they had to. This time they did it for themselves. James Hetfield’s voice is in great shape, something that really impressed me, while I bet that, in many moments, you will find yourself headbanging and air-guitaring as the record flows. All of this wrapped up in a super-solid production. If you are a fan of the band you simply can’t resist. It’s the first time I feel so excited with a new METALLICA album released in my years and that’s enough itself.

Peak of the list, a place well deserved from the French metal pioneers GOJIRA. Their latest release, “Magma“, is more of a statement. GOJIRA are now mature enough to see beyond “From Mars to Sirius” and ‘The Way of the Flesh”. “Magma” reflects self-esteem and a strong desire to create its own philosophical movement. Ambient at moments and as aggressive as it was needed, “Magma” showed GOJIRA’s true potential, who after a rather weak record, returned back to re-write their legacy. It is promised to liberate the spirit, in the extraordinary way that only bands like GOJIRA tend to accomplish it.