Another 7 Great Metal Records Of 2016

Some of you might have read my top-10 list of the best metal records of 2016, which I posted shortly before last year's end. In that article I mentioned how I haven't really dug too deep into the music released in 2016. Well, I certainly have done a lot of diggin' through last year's releases this year (so far) instead, and guess what - I did find some more great records!

So what I did with my top-10 list was that I chose an actual top-10, but I also mentioned quite a bunch of other records and why they didn't end up within the ten best. Because they were already mentioned (somewhere in the article) I won't include them again. Instead I will simply bunch together another seven great metal records, albeit in no particular order this time, all released in 2016.

I also feel like I could alter my top-10 of 2016 a bit, but I don't really want to or have the energy for it. Just enjoy an additional seven recommendations down below.

• Tarot - Reflections

Actually kind of more like 70's hard rock, but I'll let it pass as metal (it's got its heavier moments). I definitely feel this like some bastard child between Uriah Heep and Manilla Road, but also with sweet soundscapes/atmospheres reminiscent to that of Deep Purple and Rainbow. A great one!

• Inquisition - Bloodshed Across The Empyrean Altar Beyond The Celestial Zenith

Black metal wasn't actually my biggest craving in 2016. I'm the kind of music listener who delves into more of one particular style at the time and stay in there until I get bored for the time being. I simply didn't get any larger cravings for black metal last year. This one, however, did eventually show up on my radar and I gave it a try. It's my first listen to this particular band I enjoyed it a lot.

• Deströyer 666 - Wildfire

I've been aware of this band for a long time and had heard some stuff a bunch of years ago, but I never was an active listener or fan of theirs. This one sounds great, however, as it reminds me of some darker thrash bands as well as bands such as modern-day Watain. Some really great tunes and overall a solid album.

• Spell - For None And All

Probably my favorite one on this list, and definitely one that would've ended up in my top-10 of 2016 if I had heard this one earlier. Late is better than never though. This stuff is really good. Think of a hard rock-ish heavy metal sound around 1980 (actually anytime between like 1978-'82), like Rush meets Ozzy solo or something along those lines. These guys also recorded the album with analogue equipment, which I think resulted in a great outcome. Fuck Pro-Tools and "Drumkit from hell".

• Trap Them - Crown Feral

A so-called "Entombed-core" album with relatively short and straight-to-the-point tracks filled with rage and heavy-ass guitars. This shit will totally rip you a new one!

• Gatecreeper - Sonoran Deprevation

More "Entombed-core" but compared to Trap Them this is somewhat more true to the death metal aesthetics, in my opinion. Lots of heavy double bass assault on this one. If you like metal sounding like a sledgehammer swingin' at your head, this will satisfy your needs.

• Grey Wolf - Glorious Death

Some old school-style (true) heavy metal. Nothing extra ordinary but does a great job at what it's supposed to be. Definitely better than most modern run-of-the-mill wannabe:s playing old school heavy metal.

Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 is over!

The season 4 cast: Tara, Jax, Piney, Clay, Gemma, Juice, Chibs, Tig, Opie, and Bobby.

*Contains spoilers*

So now season five of Sons of Anarchy is over. What can I say? It's what it is - a show that a love, but that made me somewhat tired of the constant shit that happens in it (I'm usually not really a big fan of drama, but I love bikes and the biker culture). I loved the first two seasons of the show and in the third one I thought things were becoming kinda annoying, the whole thing with Abel being kidnapped and all. Season four didn't really get me going again as I sorta felt too much shit was still happening to the gang. After I watched the season 5-premiere though, I felt the "fire" in me that is the love for this show. It really showed something I didn't feel I had seen for a while, and it stayed at that pretty much the whole season through. There were some moments in the middle of the season, especially with the nomads and the home-invasion attacks, that dragged out a little much, but otherwise I think it was the best season since season two.

While season five did not end as bad as I thought it would - I thought Tig and Juice both were gonna die, and Clay would go to Belfast. Lucky me it didn't end that way, but the shit with Tara going to jail and Bobby leaving his VP-seat are still bad. Now I can only wait for season six to see what happens next. After Opie's tragic but strong death scene, I don't wanna see more of the main cast go, apart from Clay that is. I'd also like to see new faces as I feel the club is getting so small without Opie, Piney, Kozik, Miles and the others who've died.

Grand Theft Auto V !!!

Sons of Anarchy is back!

I'm a pretty big fan of Sons of Anarchy. I love motorcycles, the chopper style and not the sports bike kind. I love Rockstar Games' "The Lost and Damned" installment in the Grand Theft Auto-series. Nothing to say really other than it's a very suitable show for me. I totally loved season one and two, but with season three I unfortunately kinda felt the quality of the show decreased. This continued with season four, though I don't know which of s.3 and 4 I liked the least. I'm also not completely sure why I didn't like these seasons as much, but a friend and myself both agreed about these seasons not being as good. With season three I ultimately got pretty tired of the whole Abel thing, that they lost him over and over again, as well as only shit after shit happening to Samcro. In season four it definitely was that way too much shit just kept coming to them, over and over again.

So where am I going with all this? Well, I watched the season five premiere. A while back I saw some behind-the-scenes footage for season five, and they really made it sounding promising. I got some hope back that season five might be more like the first two seasons, which I'd definitely like to see now. So now, after watching the s.5 premiere, I was really surprised! I think it's gotta be the best episode since sometime in season two, for sure! It was such a great episode, that my hope really got pumped up for the rest of season five. Now the only thing that can tell how it all will end up, is time, and I definitely feel like I can spend more time finding out. I've read rumors, or fact, I don't know actually, that SoA is planned for a total of seven seasons. After s. 3 and 4 I kind of wanted it to just end with season five, but if this season shows to be like the first two, or hopefully even better, I'd really like to see the show continue for more seasons.

R.I.P. Raintime

The Italian metal band Raintime has disbanded as of May 27th (2012). I got this news yesterday and I was both sad and disappointed that this had happened. Raintime, one of my personal favorite (and one of few) modern metal bands I actually really enjoy listening to, is now no more. I was introduced to the band with their now last album "Psychromatic" (released in 2010) and instantly fell in love with it. I know that most Raintime fans seem to favor the "Flies & Lies" (2007) album, but I just can't deny the fact that "Psychromatic" was the one that hooked me, and I had never even heard of these guys. However, I do enjoy the "Flies & Lies" album as well as their debut "Tales From Sadness" (2005), though their last album was musically the most evolved and interesting one, and very finest work of theirs to me. I really listened a lot to the album for the first half year it was out, then I kinda moved on to other albums and revisited it once in a while.

This really wasn't great news at all, since I was looking forward to a new album. I heard though that three of the members would form a new project that is yet to be announced. Let's wait and see and time will tell what it'll be, I guess. But for now, I'm listening to this now defunct, fantastic band and I wanna share it with you all. I personally recommend "Psychromatic" for fans of more power, progressive, melodic and somewhat experimental metal, while the other two albums would fit well with fans of a more straight melodeath sound. All their albums are great anyways.

Some of my favorite tracks I recommend: Fire Ants, Shift, Fake Idols, Beaten Roads, One Day, Walk-On Actor, Flies & Lies, The Black Well, Beat It (Michael Jackson cover, great one too!!), Matrioska, Faithland, The Experiment, Chains Of Sadness, Using The Light Forever

R.I.P. Raintime. I will forever hold-on to my copy of the amazing "Psychromatic" album.