(Andy Synn’s annual week-long look-back at the year in metal comes to an end today with his “Personal Top 10“, and if you’re puzzled about how this list compares to yesterday’s Top 10 list, read on.)

Well, now that we’ve got all the serious, semi-professional stuff out of the way, I can relax a little bit and focus on the ten albums that have made the biggest mark, or had the biggest impact, on my listening habits over the last twelve months.

This time around it appears my tastes have been largely dominated by Death Metal, with surprisingly little Black Metal sneaking its way into my favourite releases of the year. There’s also quite a bit of melody, particularly towards the top half of my list.

But overall I’d say that the key factor uniting pretty much all my selections here is… riffs. Big, ballsy, heavy as hell riffs, bang-your-head-until-it-bleeds riffs, brimming with red-hot hooks and electrifying power.

I decided not to include any “Honourable Mentions” this time around, mainly because there were just too many names (Satyricon, Hideous Divinity, Fell Ruin, Blaze of Perdition, to name but a few) to choose from and, instead, elected to focus solely on the ten records that have left the deepest and most lasting impression on my eardrums this year. Continue reading »

(In the penultimate installment of his annual year-end series, Andy Synn today provides his list of the Critical Top 10 of 2017.)

Now although I say this every single year, I want to make something very clear straight away – the following list is in no way meant to be comprehensive or definitive, as it’s basically impossible for any one person to cover everything and to provide a perfectly accurate, utterly objective, list of the best albums released in any given year.

Instead, my selections for the “Critical Top Ten” (as opposed to my forthcoming “Personal Top Ten”) are meant simply to provide a representative sample of the fantastic wealth and variety of musical delights which the last twelve months have delivered, comprising a mix of big names, new faces, and cult favourites culled from across the metallic spectrum.

And though the process of whittling things down to a mere ten entries means that heaps of future classics were inevitably left on the cutting room floor (sorry Archspire fans), I’ve honestly tried my very best to be as clinical and objective as possible – checking and re-checking my own reactions and motivations, canvassing commentary and opinion on my choices from trusted sources, etc – and so I hope that what you’re about to read provides a clear and (relatively) accurate snapshot of what I truly consider to be the best and brightest (or, possibly, the bleakest and murkiest) albums of 2017. Continue reading »

(This is the third installment in Andy Synn’s annual series reflecting on the year in metal, and in this one you’ll find his personal list of the year’s “Good” albums.)

Like most things, the year’s releases can generally be graded on a standard Bell Curve, with the majority of them occupying that vast central space we call “Good”.

Some of these albums are, of course, very good indeed, and there are more than a few entries here which could legitimately be argued to belong on my “Great” list… however, where there was any question or doubt I made the decision to err on the side of caution, and include them here instead.

Of course you’re also free to argue that some of the albums on the lower end of the scale might potentially have been included in yesterday’s “Disappointing” column (just as you might contend that some of those entries from yesterday deserved to be here instead) but, in general, I’ve found that even the lesser entries found here tended to be solidly enjoyable enough that I couldn’t honestly rate them as a disappointment.

But, as I said at the beginning of my EPs list last week – even though they’re separated out into three categories, my “Great”, “Good”, and “Disappointing” lists aren’t really ranked in the same way as most End of Year lists tend to be (which is why I get away with producing so many of them each year). They’re intended more as an extensive round-up of the wide variety of material which I’ve encountered over the last twelve months, so that you, our readers, can potentially discover something which you might otherwise have missed.

And, in service to that, at the very bottom of this column you’ll find an alphabetical list linking you, wherever possible, to each artist/album’s Bandcamp page. I hope that helps. Continue reading »

(“Conniption” is too weak a word, “kryptonite” is more in the ballpark [especially in the case of an album I reviewed here]. Every year Andy Synn breaches our general etiquette with this list, but after umpteen years, it’s too late to stop him.)

Every year I separate the albums I’ve heard into three separate categories – The Great, The Good, and The Disappointing – and every year Islander has a minor conniption when forced to confront all the caustic criticism and general lack of positivity going on in my Disappointing list.

It’s basically his kryptonite, so if you wanted to attack him while he’s in a weakened state… now would be the time.

That being said, I hope neither he, nor you, feel like I’m being prejudiced or unfair with what you’re about to read. Continue reading »