Top 20 Albums of 2010

Yes, it's that time again. The end of the year is upon us, which means it's time to roll out what albums made this year amazing for me. However, there are some people that have pointed out something about my past year-end lists, so let me make a quick disclaimer before I start this shindig:

I listen to a LOT of music. I have a 160 GB iPod that is maxed out with music, and I intend to get another one in the future and max it out as well. My music is my life. That said, I did not get to every album that was released this year in the rock and metal world. In fact, I didn't get to nearly as many as I wanted. I will listen to the albums I missed in the future though. At that time, if I determine that one of those albums is good enough, I will adjust my rankings to accommodate it. Thus, this list may change in the future. If you are not okay with that, I am sorry, but they are my rankings, not yours. I do my best to remain consistent, but that isn't always possible. Unlike last year, when my choices were extremely clear-cut for me, I spent hours agonizing over this list, trying to find a way to order it and decide which albums meant the most to me. It's been reordered and reconsidered more times than I can remember, and as I said, the chance exists that it will be redone again in the future. About the only thing I can promise is that my top three will always stay the same. For everything beyond that, I'm standing by the order that I have listed here for the foreseeable future.

Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to the list itself. As I just stated, I listened to significantly less music this year than I did last year. There are multiple things that factored into that, most of them having to do with the fact that I actually write about the music I listen to now instead of just listening. Either way, if you remember last year's top 200 list and were hoping for something similar, I must unfortunately (unfortunate for me, at least) announce that I will not be reaching that milestone. Hell, I have a long way to go before I get to even half of that. However, to make up for that fact and my lack of reviews for several weeks, I will give you an extended best-of list for this year.

No New & Noteworthy this week

It's early Sunday morning, and I've been going nonstop for the past three days. I have had little to no time to write this week, and as such, I'm calling off New & Noteworthy this week. There's only five new releases, and the tours that were announced aren't very significant. Therefore, if you want to read New & Noteworthy this week, head on over to Metal Insider on Tuesday to read my thoughts on the new releases.

There is one piece of news I would like to discuss, though. According to a recent report, I.C.S. Vortex has rejoined Borknagar as the band's new bassist. He will also be functioning as their lead singer for at least their upcoming tour, if not longer, as lead vocalist Vintersorg will be unable to join the band due to "private commitments". I am really happy to see this news, and I hope that Borknagar comes to the states with Vortex as part of the lineup. He is an amazing singer and a very capable bassist. Some of Borknagar's best work was during the period that he was the band's full-time bassist and lead singer. Let's hope for a continued period of Vortex in Borknagar!

Album Review: "Universal" by Borknagar

If Borknagar isn't already known as "the thinking man's black metal band," then they should be, because there is no other black metal band out today that has their level of progression and creativity. In fact, Borknagar truly fit better with the progressive metal scene, often rivaling Opeth and Dream Theater with their forward-thinking arrangements and daring sound. Their aggressive tone and black metal roots are what separate them from their more mainstream counterparts, but fans of either band will enjoy most of Borknagar's work. Since bringing in vocalist Vintersorg on 2001's Empiricism, Borknagar has gotten bigger and more ambitious with their sound. The effort has paid off, helping Borknagar to separate themselves from the rest of the black metal scene and establish an identity set completely apart from their peers. Universal, the latest album from the Norwegian sextet, is a grand epic that pushes Borknagar even higher above other bands in their scene.