1. The Chariot - One Wing
The Chariot represent a raw, organic side to metalcore that, at this point, has pretty much been completely forgotten - living on in the forms of Every Time I Die and Dillinger Escape Plan. Yet unlike either band, The Chariot have always maintained a mostly underground following, never quite achieving the (relatively) mainstream fame of their compatriots - even though frontman Josh Scogin was featured on the last Bring Me the Horizon record. But for better or for worse, the band released their "weirdest" album yet in the form of August's One Wing. The record continues the band's penchant for an abrasive music lacking in both melody and order, but kicks the disorder up a notch - the breakdown on 'Not' reminds me of Option Paralysis era Dillinger, mixing in Scogin's signature uncleans with cleans and a few seconds of spoken word. Then, followup song 'Your' begins with an organ (yes, an organ) and a lullably-esque melody. It's a highly arresting transition that's only temporary - the band returns to its former heaviness within thirty seconds. That being said, it's the fact that this chaos persists for the entire album that makes One Wing so unique. Every song is distinct if only because of how often the instrumentals switch up - and it's awesome every step of the way. 2. Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud
I'm going to be very forward here: I love Devin Townsend. Not just because he fronted Strapping Young Lad, the band that got me into modern metal in the first place, but because the man consistently toes the line between the absurd and the interesting, keeping me on my feet with every new release. His fifteenth studio album Epicloud is no exception - beginning with what sounds like a Southern church choir on 'Effervescent!', the album, which Townsend himself described as having a more 'commercial' sound, simultaneously conjures up images of 80s hair and a heavier, rougher metal. This is prog that hasn't forgotten its roots - and while it's difficult to call the sound of 'Liberation' progressive, there's a certain charm Townsend brings to all of his songs that makes them so goddamn fun. 3. As I Lay Dying - Awakened
As I Lay Dying are a thriving vestige of what metalcore used to be. In a time before chugs and breakdowns, before scenegirls ruled the world by throwing money at worthless bands, metalcore truly was the amalgamation of metal brutality and hardcore fury. As I Lay Dying's masterful fusion of the genres is once again apparent in their September release of Awakened. To be honest, this album took a while to grow on me - I couldn't quite get into the band's new style, which I continuously thought was a step down from 2010's The Powerless Rise, one of the albums that got me into metalcore in the first place. Nevertheless, multiple listens later, it became apparent to me that Awakened isn't Powerless - it's something even more impressive. From the opening scream on 'Cauterize' to the tight segue of 'My Own Home', Awakened is an audible tour de force that shows the band's continuing evolution - and the fact that As I Lay Dying continue to be one of the cornerstones of modern metalcore.4. The Acacia Strain - Death is the Only Mortal
Continuing Massachusetts' penchant for blistering, merciless hardcore, the Acacia Strain returned as kings of deathcore in October this year with Death is the Only Mortal. Maximizing the simplicity and sheer fury that they'd begun to experiment with on earlier albums, this record represents the band's first foray at displaying their misanthropy not with mindless violence, but with a philosophical look into why they're so pissed off. 'Victims of the Cave' laments the pointlessness of human existence ('There is no end/there is only pretend') by referencing Plato's Allegory of the Cave with a bone-crunching rhythm to complement, while 'Time and Death and God' is Vincent Bennett's attempt at ranting about the 'falseness of reality' - complete with an eerie, two-minute clean break. There's a lot of good ideas on this record - the lack of breakdowns and doom-influences are particularly delicious, and lyrically, this is the best Strain album yet. Check it out, this one is well worth your money. 5. Texas in July - Texas in July
Genre evolutions are an interesting thing to watch. Obviously things change - there's a reason hardcore today sounds like Lionheart and not like Suicidal Tendencies or Earth Crisis. Bands integrate the sound of their influences with their own ideas - that is the natural progression of things. However, what makes Pennsylvania's Texas in July so unique is the fact that they're so directly influenced by August Burns Red - that a band as young as ABR can already be spawning a mini genre of imitators. But this is already happening - Asking Alexandria have already created a new generation of shitty metalcore in the form of Capture the Crown - and is a great indication of music's eternal evolution. Texas in July's self-titled album was released during a triple-feature day in October, with the Acacia Strain's Death is the Only Mortal and August Burns Red's holiday album Sleddin' Hill (see below), so it was perhaps destined to be sidelined. That being said, considering the complete mediocrity of their previous release One Reality, the self-titled album is a comeback of epic proportions - a return to a form of ABR-esque metalcore that, while derivative, is nevertheless distinct from the mighty Lancaster quintet. Instrumentals aren't quite as chaotic as ABR, but this album overall is a catchy, fun little metalcore romp with some interesting guest stars (David Stephens of We Came as Romans and Matt Greiner from ABR, to name a few). It's definitely an improvement, but there's still a ways to go.6. August Burns Red - Sleddin' Hill: A Holiday Album
It's no secret that August Burns Red loves Christmas. Every year for a while now, they've been releasing holiday singles - their cover of 'Carol of the Bells', one of their first, went on to mainstream fame as a heavy Christmas song. This year, the band decided to go the extra mile and release a holiday album. While it's instrumental (you won't be hearing Jake Luhrs bellowing 'FROSTY THE SNOWMAN!'), Sleddin' Hill nevertheless manages to encapsulate the frenetic energy of an ABR show with a silly little twinge of classic Christmas songs - it's a fun ride from start to finish that I waited to listen to until December so that the mood could be perfect. The album also features some original compositions - and it's in here, particularly in 'Flurries', that the band's post-rock influences shine through. Like all ABR releases, this is a solid A+ work that will most certainly tide us over until they release their new album next year. 7. Three Days Grace - Transit of Venus
To be completely honest, I didn't know this band was still around after Life Starts Now. I was a Three Days Grace fan through and through in high school, but pretty much dropped them after I discovered Avenged Sevenfold and entered into metal. In any case, the Canadian rock outfit released an album called Transit of Venus to commemorate the astronomical event earlier this year. Transit of Venus is definitely an evolution for the better - the cringe-worthy days of 'Never too Late' and other TDG songs are without a doubt over. While, instrumentally, the band is still incredibly simplistic, there's a definite pull towards the more experimental side of things. It doesn't completely succeed - parts of it sound like 30 Seconds to Mars in a not so good way, but TDG still revolves around the vocals of Adam Gontier, which are as solid as ever. Transit of Venus is a great album to blast when you're drunk at 2am and don't care who hears, but otherwise you might want to keep your headphones in - the lyrics are definitely an improvement, but are far from the best. 8. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - Danza IIII : The Alpha/The Omega
Bittersweet news came this fall from the extreme metal outfit The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - the insane duo would be parting ways to pursue different projects, as Josh Travis decided to fully commit to Glass Cloud. However, as a parting gift, the band left us one last ode to chaos in the form of Danza IIII (yes, IIII, not IV). To be completely honest, The Alpha/The Omega is as much of going out with a bang as anything I've ever seen - no punches are pulled, no quarter is given. Josh Travis' mastery of the 8-string and Jessie Freeland's dynamic range are unleashed to their full potential to give an album that, while more ordered than previous Danza albums, is still one of the most goddamn heavy things I've ever heard. In particular, the title track 'The Alpha/The Omega' features guest vocals from Phil Bozeman and Alex Erian - the former of which drops some of the most insane pig squeals I've ever seen. There's an almost symphonic quality to most of the songs on this album - and if the reverberating guitars and plethora of squealies don't get your heart racing, you might very well be dead.9. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
10. Various Artists - Punk Goes Pop 5
While Fearless Records might be infamous for being a slightly more unknown form of Rise Records, they're also infamous for putting out their collection of metalcore-covered pop songs every year. This year was no exception - bands from Memphis May Fire to Breathe Carolina are featured this time around, and while most of the covers fall flat, a few are actually quite interesting. Surprisingly enough, has-beens Mayday Parade put out the record's strongest suite - a cover of 'Somebody That I Used To Know' (originally by Gotye). Considering how much I hated the original, the band's surprisingly original take on the song is anything but weak. But the cover that deserves perhaps the most attention is the Word Alive's cover of Kanye's 'Mercy'. Again, I hate Kanye as much as the next metalhead, but damned if the Word Alive didn't go hard as hell on this cover. 11. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deftones, at this point, are one of those bands in metal everyone knows and loves seemingly despite the fact that their time should have come a long time ago. The band's style, which incorporates a healthy amount of nu-metal elements, should have by all means faded into obscurity with the rest of the movement. Yet, without a doubt, the band persists, even thrives. Koi No Yokan marks the band's second album without bassist Chi Cheng, who continues to recover from a terrible car accident in 2008. Even without Cheng, Koi No Yokan, serves up a healthy dash of variety in the form of fifty-minutes of original metal. Airy, yet intense 'Romantic Dreams' had me nodding my head the first time listening through. Deftones, for me, has always been killer ambient music, and the trend continues with this record.12. Parkway Drive - Atlas
Parkway Drive are one of those big-name bands I could never quite get into. Every fan of metalcore out there seems to have a soft spot for these Australians, but try as I might I just couldn't make myself listen to much of what they'd done. Granted, I can appreciate the fact that their previous work is good, good stuff - 'Carrion' is one of the most perfect metalcore songs I can think of, but PWD remained off my ideal listening material for years. Then along came an album called Atlas - a record that, at first, seemed to be an environmental album - perhaps a throwback to the vegan hardcore of the 90s? Probably not - but that rapidly evolved into a form of PWD I could very easily get behind. Atlas, without a doubt, is the band's most incredible release so far - every breakdown is more intense, every riff is tighter, every clean break more emotional. From the mosh call of 'Swing, swing, motherfucker!' on the aptly titled 'Swing' to the introductory track 'Sparks'' melancholic melody, Atlas pulls no punches. I've been listening to this album for weeks, and can't quite get it out of my head. 13. Motionless in White - Infamous
And now a late return to some Warped silliness. Pennsylvania corpse paint aficionados Motionless in White were one of the tour's headliners this past summer - a fact that probably fueled frontman Chris Motionless' ego to unfoundedly silly levels as he proceeded to compare himself to Jesus and release tank tops with his face on them. In any case, the band released an incredibly hyped up record in late November (pushed back from October probably to prevent competition with the Acacia Strain and Parkway Drive) entitled Infamous. In a word, this record is Marilyn Manson 2.0, but with even more preachiness and cheese (and this is Marilyn Manson we're comparing ourselves to). 'Hatefuck' (which is a hilarious title, by the way) is the band's take on 'SAINT', and cameos by Vampires Everywhere's vocalist on 'A-M-E-R-I-C-A' certainly don't help the image. That being said, Infamous has its moments - the introductory track 'Black Damask (The Fog)' continues the band's penchant for simultaneously piercingly personal and angry lyrics, but overall this record takes the band in a direction that is probably not going to help it. 14. Woe, Is Me - Genesi[s]
For those unfamiliar with the drama surrounding the next two bands on this list, I refer you to a post I made about a month ago. TL;DR Rise is trying to get as much money out of this 'rivalry' as possible by constantly pitting both bands against each other and making both new releases as inflammatory against the other as possible.
15. Issues - Black Diamonds EP
Fuck this band. Hip-hop and metal do not mix. Stop trying.
While I hate to leave on that note, Issues was one of the last releases of the year. From Idiot in Remission to you, have a great holiday season - stay warm, stay safe, stay metal.
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