Do you want to know what to expect from the realm of heavy metal for 2011? In no particular order, here’s some albums you should definitely keep your eye out for:
Unnamed Testament album
Expected date: summer
After a nine-year hiatus, thrash legends Testament gripped the metal universe by its proverbial balls with 2008’s Formation of Damnation. Needles to say, expectations are high after that monster of an album. Lead vocalist Chuck Billy describes the new album as “a culmination of The Gathering and The Formation of Damnation, but we're definitely not going to forget who we are or our roots.” Sounds good to me.
Unnamed Symphony X album.
Expected date: summer
This is my personal “most-anticipated album of 2011” and it should be yours too. Ever since Russell Allen joined the band way back in 1994, these Jersey prog masters have been on a tear of historic proportions, unleashing one spectacular album after another on the metal universe. The bar was set ridiculously high following their 2002 album The Odyssey, but somehow they surpassed that album with 2007’s Paradise Lost. Now the bar is so high you’ll need binoculars to even find it. Can they surpass it yet again? We shall see.
Wintersun Time
Expected date: unknown.
Their 2004 self-titled debut has already reached near-legendary status in the metal underground─particularly among guitarists─thanks to virtuoso Jari Mäenpää’s mind-boggling arrangements and playing. It will be hard to live up to the expectations for their sophomore release, and to compound matters this album has been in the works for over four years and the release date has been repeatedly pushed back for the last three years. As such, there’s no way to know if 2011 will ever see this album. But we can hope.
Unnamed Anthrax album
Expected date: unknown.
Scott Ian claims this album is all but done, so it can’t be long before we get a solid release date. My best guess would be late spring/early summer. Anthrax have more or less become irrelevant to the metal community the last few years (or should I say decades?), but they recently reunited with seminal vocalist Joey Belladonna, and he will participate in the new album. That alone makes this worth waiting for.
Unnamed Arch Enemy album
Expected date: summer.
I have a sneaking feeling that this is going to be an absolutely killer album. Call it my metal intuition. Arch Enemy have always been very solid; the Amott brothers are geniuses of metal music. But together they’ve yet to concoct something totally and completely unforgettable. They have the talent to do so and I think they finally will. As such, I’m including it here to remind people to keep an eye out for it.
Unnamed Metallica and Megadeth albums
Expected dates: unknown
I list these two together because they are both in the same boat as far as this list is concerned. Both have talked about writing they’ve done for a new album, but neither has entered the studio, nor do they have any plans to do so in the immediate future. As such, it seems unlikely they will come out with albums before 2012. Why include them then? Because, even if it’s unlikely to happen, the possibility of either Metallica or Megadeth releasing new music is always an important and heavily anticipated event in heavy metal.
Unnamed Nightwish album
Expected date: fall
These increasingly popular Finnish musicians are currently in the studio working on their follow up to 2007’s Dark Passion Play. However, based on interviews with band members, it sounds like this project is a massive undertaking, as it involves all the usual Nightwish elements (symphonic orchestration, long and complex songs), as well as new elements (including apparently a full-time bagpipe player). Considering the apparent scope of this project, don’t expect it until late this year or possibly not even until next year.
Unnamed Revocation album
Expected date: summer
The 2009 Relapse debut album by this young trio from Boston gained so much critical praise that it had to be included here. If you’ve not heard of Revocation, they play a death/thrash blend that includes catchy (but heavy) choruses and some rather unique jazz-influenced sections of guitar playing. Keep an eye out for this album and check out Existence is Futile if you haven’t already.
Amon Amarth Surtur Rising
Unnamed Testament album
Expected date: summer
After a nine-year hiatus, thrash legends Testament gripped the metal universe by its proverbial balls with 2008’s Formation of Damnation. Needles to say, expectations are high after that monster of an album. Lead vocalist Chuck Billy describes the new album as “a culmination of The Gathering and The Formation of Damnation, but we're definitely not going to forget who we are or our roots.” Sounds good to me.
Unnamed Symphony X album.
Expected date: summer
This is my personal “most-anticipated album of 2011” and it should be yours too. Ever since Russell Allen joined the band way back in 1994, these Jersey prog masters have been on a tear of historic proportions, unleashing one spectacular album after another on the metal universe. The bar was set ridiculously high following their 2002 album The Odyssey, but somehow they surpassed that album with 2007’s Paradise Lost. Now the bar is so high you’ll need binoculars to even find it. Can they surpass it yet again? We shall see.
Wintersun Time
Expected date: unknown.
Their 2004 self-titled debut has already reached near-legendary status in the metal underground─particularly among guitarists─thanks to virtuoso Jari Mäenpää’s mind-boggling arrangements and playing. It will be hard to live up to the expectations for their sophomore release, and to compound matters this album has been in the works for over four years and the release date has been repeatedly pushed back for the last three years. As such, there’s no way to know if 2011 will ever see this album. But we can hope.
Unnamed Anthrax album
Expected date: unknown.
Scott Ian claims this album is all but done, so it can’t be long before we get a solid release date. My best guess would be late spring/early summer. Anthrax have more or less become irrelevant to the metal community the last few years (or should I say decades?), but they recently reunited with seminal vocalist Joey Belladonna, and he will participate in the new album. That alone makes this worth waiting for.
Unnamed Arch Enemy album
Expected date: summer.
I have a sneaking feeling that this is going to be an absolutely killer album. Call it my metal intuition. Arch Enemy have always been very solid; the Amott brothers are geniuses of metal music. But together they’ve yet to concoct something totally and completely unforgettable. They have the talent to do so and I think they finally will. As such, I’m including it here to remind people to keep an eye out for it.
Unnamed Metallica and Megadeth albums
Expected dates: unknown
I list these two together because they are both in the same boat as far as this list is concerned. Both have talked about writing they’ve done for a new album, but neither has entered the studio, nor do they have any plans to do so in the immediate future. As such, it seems unlikely they will come out with albums before 2012. Why include them then? Because, even if it’s unlikely to happen, the possibility of either Metallica or Megadeth releasing new music is always an important and heavily anticipated event in heavy metal.
Unnamed Nightwish album
Expected date: fall
These increasingly popular Finnish musicians are currently in the studio working on their follow up to 2007’s Dark Passion Play. However, based on interviews with band members, it sounds like this project is a massive undertaking, as it involves all the usual Nightwish elements (symphonic orchestration, long and complex songs), as well as new elements (including apparently a full-time bagpipe player). Considering the apparent scope of this project, don’t expect it until late this year or possibly not even until next year.
Unnamed Revocation album
Expected date: summer
The 2009 Relapse debut album by this young trio from Boston gained so much critical praise that it had to be included here. If you’ve not heard of Revocation, they play a death/thrash blend that includes catchy (but heavy) choruses and some rather unique jazz-influenced sections of guitar playing. Keep an eye out for this album and check out Existence is Futile if you haven’t already.
Amon Amarth Surtur Rising
As of the start of the year, this is probably the most anticipated metal album of 2011, mostly because it’s the first major one with a set release date and album title. But also because the masters of Swedish viking metal have been absolutely unstoppable lately. Their last two albums in particular have been easily among the best albums of the last fifteen years. The challenge for them will be in finding a way to evolve their sound without changing the core of it.
Symphony X should put out a sufficiently epic album. Paradise Lost blew me away - it'll be interesting to see what they pull out next.
ReplyDeleteMegadeth's latest albums have been pretty solid. A few lame songs, but good overall. Nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary, but solid additions to one's music library.
I'd say Metallica is the most anticipated, especially after Death Magnetic. It wasn't quite what they put out in the glory days of the 80s, but it was a solid step in the right direction and the songs definitely grow on you. I'll be interesting to see if they keep up the trend or go back to what they've been putting out in the 90s and 00s.
It'll also be interesting to see what Mastodon put out next. Crack the Skye is a hard act to follow!
I agree with you 100%, Eddie. I forgot about Mastodon, but I really liked Crack the Skye, even though I've never liked any of their stuff before. If they can improve on CtS, it will definitely be a contender for album of the year.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I'd add is that I feel it is extremely unlikely Metallica will release an album this year. But if they do, it's automatically a big deal just because it's Metallica.
Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful comment. Keep it metal my brotha!