Newest offering from one of the best power/thrash bands in the world, Andy B. Franck continues to show why he is one of the best vocalists in metal.

One of the best straight up heavy metal albums I've heard in a long time. There are lots of specials guests on this one, most of them amazing singers, great ballads, some of the most memorable choruses, killer leads and solos, this CD has it all, if you like old school metal like Savatage or more modern power metal, check it out.

Hate Eternal have taken sound to the next level, to join the upper echelon of death metal, looking forward to hearing them live with Skeletonwitch and Soilent Green on their upcoming headlining tour.

Killer death/prog band from some of the guys in Agalloch, this is their first CD in eight years and features more avant-garde death metal, it's actually kind of mellow and very unique.

Don't know how good this will be given that I couldn't stand Come Clarity but really liked Soundtrack To Your Escape, but judging from their new single, it could be worth checking out, I'll definitely give it a couple of listens before I make my decision.

Melodic death metal album of the year without a doubt, James Malone never disappoints and now that he has a solid band behind him, Arsis will be unstoppable this year, catch them on tour with Shadows Fall and Kataklysm.

New Bloodbath and Opeth in the same year? That just isn't fair. Unfortunately this is only available through mp3 format, but it's definitely worth it. Bloodbath retains that old-school death metal feel, but still sounds fresh and even a little more technical than usual, I love it.

Sure to be the comeback thrash album of the year, you know Testament is going to deliver the goods now that Alex Skolnick is back, one of the most highly anticipated CDs of the year.

This is a no brainer if you're a fan of Nevermore or Sanctuary, Warrel Dane is simply one of the best voices in metal and even though it's not as heavy as Nevermore, it seems more emotional and personal, with Peter Wichers (ex-Soilwork) as the primary writer, you know it's good.

Ihsahn continues his post-Emperor career with another excellent solo effort. Slightly heavier than The Adversary, it's sure to please anyone that has an appreciation for both black, prog, and even traditional metal.

Belphegor continue with their Satanic dose of death/black metal from Austria with their latest opus, this is definitely one of the heaviest releases of the year, but surprisingly still melodic and catchy.

Whoa...from the previews on the net, this sounds like it's going to be an epic (almost 2 hours!)Judas Priest masterpiece and Rob sounds as good as ever, definitely one of the most highly anticipated albums of probably the decade.

Probably my favorite doom metal band from America, if you like anything resembling old My Dying Bride or Anathema or newer bands like Draconian and Swallow The Sun, then just add these guys to the list

One of the best thrash albums to come out this year, and definitely THE best debut album of the year, Exmortus plays blazing extreme technical thrash/death metal that will get you headbanging in no time, check out their entire debut album at heavyartillery.us for a taste of what's to come

You know what you're getting with Krisiun, some of the highest quality death metal, straight out of Brazil, they stay true to their formula and never disappoint

The next masterpiece from the kings of prog/death/thrash metal, Into Eternity finally has back to back albums with the same vocalist and Stu Block is certainly one of the best. The Incurable Tragedy is a loosely based concept album based around the devastation that cancer has caused the band within the last few years, catch them on tour with Iced Earth if you can, I wish I could

All That Remains continues to be one of the best metalcore bands out there, and although this album is a little short, with original material being less than 35 minutes, it's still got some great songs and ends on an interesting note with the cover song from Nevermore, Believe In Nothing, see them with Gojira and In Flames in the fall, yet another great lineup

This is probably my most highly anticipated album of the year, it will be a nearly impossible task for Gojira to top or even equal their last release, but I'm sure the guys are up to the challenge, looking forward to hearing some new stuff finally

Darkane's latest has yet to be released domestically for some reason, I'm sure we are in for some more unique, technical, melodic death metal when it's available stateside

Been looking forward to this for a while, I'm glad Hell Yeah is on the backburner (both for Mudvayne's and Nothingface's sake). There are some surprises on this album (solo's anyone?) which shows that Mudvayne are constantly growing, one of the few mainstream bands that delivers heavy and challenging music every time