Before it had even started we knew that 2011 be a strong year for metal. With Sonisphere Festival announcing that Slipknot would be returning to Europe for the Paul Gray memorial shows, the Big Four playing together in the UK for the first time and bands that were in the studio recording new albums such as Trivium, Anthrax and Devildriver we could tell that 2011 was going to be a year of metal monstrosity.
Sylosis came out with a new album and new frontman after vocalist Jamie Graham left the band. Graham was replace by guitarist Josh Middleton who fit the bill perfectly.
Their album Edge Of The Earth was released early in the year and since then the band has risen to new heights, most notably playing on the main stage at Sonisphere festival this year.
Even when the album was released in March we said that it was in contention for the album of the year and still is well in the top ten releases of 2011.
Trivium returned to form with their crushing album In Waves. After much delay and problems with studios and labels the album was released in August.
The album is the first to feature new sticks man Nick Augusto whose entrance to the band has clearly revived them to their former glory.
The old adversaries Megadeth and Metallica both released new albums this year and Mustaine finally beat Hetfield and co on the sales front however they did have the burden of Lou Reed on their backs.
Of course you can’t talk about 2011 without mentioning the disaster that was Lou Reed and Metallica.
Painful to listen to worse to watch, Metallica call it the best thing
they’ve done but we think otherwise.
However Megadeth capitalized on this by releasing Th1rt3en, which also saw the return of former bassist David Ellefson.
Worship Music, the album that was then wasn’t and finally was again.
After going through two previous vocalist Anthrax settled on Joey Belladona to release worship music with and dear lord it as worth the wait. Worship Music was a stunning album which gripped you from start to finish and has Belladona sounding better than ever.
Hats of to Anthrax for releasing such an epic album.
As we all know The Blackening was hailed album of the decade by Metal Hammer so when we heard that Machine Head were to release a new album we couldn’t wait to hear it.
Unto The Locust certainly lives up to the hype albeit a bit more diverse than its predecessor.
Machine Head have well and truly stamped their mark on heavy metal history by releasing these two utterly mind blowing albums.
Other notable albums that were released this year were The Hunter – Mastodon, Sounds Of A Playground Fading – In Flames, Beast – Devildriver and A Dramatic Turn Of Events – Dream Theater.
As well as albums there have been many stonking events taking place in the past year.
As previously mentioned this years Sonisphere festival just blew its competition out of the water.
Slipknot returned on their Paul Gray memorial tour and the Big Four of thrash metal played together for the first time in the UK.
This was by far the live event of the year in the UK but abroad there was something even better.
In the first week of December Metallica took over the Fillmore theatre for three nights to celebrate being together or 30 years.
This was not just a gig this was a celebration of what Metallica is.
They were joined by guests such as Brian Tatler, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne, former bassist Jason Newstead, Bob Rock, and the original line up of Ron McGovney, Lloyd Grant and Dave Mustaine to name but a few.
Other events that were not to be missed were the Iron Maiden UK arena tour, Dream Theater’s headline performance at High Voltage the first ever UK headline appearance with Mike Mangini and finally to complete the year we had the Black Sabbath conference on 11/11/11.
In this press conference it was announced that Black Sabbath was going to reform for a world tour and a new album with the original line up.
As we can see 2011 has been a fantastic year for metal and we hope for much more in 2012.
Until then peace out: Charlie Day \m/(>_<)\m/
