Happy New Years…ok its 38 days late but I’m in a joyous mood at the moment! After all the snow, cold and not attending a single show in January we were treated to a Heavy Metal evening on Saturday night. So praise the Metal-Gods that System Divide, Holy Grail, 3 Inches of Blood and Eluveitie stopped in at Le National to help us combat the restlessness of cabin fever. The evening began with the melodic Death Metal stylings of System Divide featuring the husband and wife vocals of Sven de Caluwe (former Aborted vocalist) and Miri Milman (former Distorted vocalist).

Due to the broad spectrum of styles, the following list is presented in no specific order. Clenched Fist – Just Like Roaches First Blood – Silence is Betrayal Norma Jean - Meridional Heaven Shall Burn - Invictus Born Low - Reincarnage All Out War – Into The Killing Fields Comeback Kid – Symptoms + Cures This Is Hell – Weight Of The World Starkweather –This Sheltering Night Abandon All Ships - Geeving Malevolent Creation – Invidious Dominion Diabolic – Excisions of Exorcisms All Pigs Must Die – s/t Kataklysm – Heaven’s Venom Bitter End – Guilty as Charged Ghost Inside -Returners Terror – Keepers of The Faith Lowtalker – People Worry About Everything Misery Index –Heirs to Thievery Dew-Scented - Invocation

For me this year flew by and with it came a ton of releases. It seems the older I get the more bands there are and it becomes ever more impossible to keep up with it all. I can never narrow a favorite list to only 10 picks, this one includes 25 and I had to take a few off to keep it that way. There is a good mix of my musical preferrences of bands and artists that flooded my airwaves all year long. Many of the picks listed here are albums I reviewed on Hardtimes as well as some not so heavy records as my taste in music includes hillbilly/old country/roots music. 1. All Out War “Into the Killing Fields” 2. All Pigs Must Die “S/T” 3. Alpha & Omega “Life Swallower” 4. Arson Anthem “Insecurity Noteriety” 5. Bitter End “Guilty As Charged”