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2006 Year End Lists

Top 10 ALBUMS of 2006 according to Jeff Maki (Live-Metal.net Webmaster)


1) IN FLAMES - Come Clarity



After the more accessible previous release, Soundtrack To Your Escape, Come Clarity had a much more agressive nature pleasing longtime fans. Highlights include "Take This Life," "Relflect the Storm," and the power ballad title track. The best of 2006 by a long-shot. The band followed with successful U.S. tours with Trivium, Lacuna Coil and Sounds of the Underground and the European leg of Unholy Alliance. In Flames: Probably the best band on Live-Metal.net.


2) NECROPHOBIC - Hrimthursum



Sweden's blackened death metal forefathers Necrophobic returned with Hrimthursum after a four-year absence. The album's title is taken from Norse mythology, meaning "The Frost Giants," and the sound of Hrimthursum is giant and majestic. This album, like the band name suggests is meant to be 60 minutes of pure evil.


3) BLEEDING THROUGH - The Truth



With The Truth Bleeding Through has come together all around with an intense, groove-laden, riiff-heavy record. The band has incorporated even more clean vocals and memorable choruses this time around. This is quite possibly the best "metalcore" release ever. The harsh vocal parts are delivered with a very Anselmo-like style and are intense as hell! Songs such as "Kill To Believe" and "For Love And Failing"' are instant metal anthems while the band even includes a ballad with "Line In The Sand." The Truth is an enormous step forward for Bleeding Through and should end up in everyone's top metal releases of 2006.


4) LAMB OF GOD - Sacrament



So what was all the worry about Lamb of God being on a major record label? If anything it inspired them to the point where the may have established themselves as the Pantera of the new millenium with anthems like "Redneck," "Again We Rise" and "More Time To Kill."


5) HATESPHERE - The Sickness Within



There's really nothing entirely original about Hatesphere's album here but it's just fucking brutal and catchy as hell. Take the Haunted's best parts, shredding guitars and hardcore/swedish metal style vocals and this is music to fuck shit up!


6) UNLEASHED - Midvinterblot



Pure fucking viking metal! Since the early '90s, Sweden's Unleashed has been laying waste with this style. 2006's Midvinterblot landed on America's shores aboard a Viking warship in route to conquer all in its path. Lead vocalist/bassist Johnny Hedlund leads his bandmates--Tomas Masgard (guitar), Fredrik Folkare (guitar) and Anders Shultz (drums)--into all-out war on false metal.


7) DEICIDE - The Stench of Redemption



The Stench of Redemption is Deicide's first album with its newly revamped lineup. After a falling out with vocalist Glen Benton in 2005, the Hoffman brothers were replaced with new guitarists Jack Owen (ex-Cannibal Corpse) and Ralph Santolla (ex-Death/Iced Earth). These two bring an entirely new dimension to the band with their skillful, memorable solos. Deicide's last few albums had become somewhat predictable. They must have realized this because The Stench of Redemption sounds like a band reborn. Although the lyrics, song names and imagery may still seem cliché, the serious vibe of this album makes it seem all too real. Deicide truly sounds like a band on a mission here. Satan should be pleased.


8) SAHG - Sahg I



Since being formed by members of Norwegian metal bands Gorgoroth, Manngard and Audrey Horne, a buzz has surrounded Sahg. On their debut album, Sahg I, which took an entire year to write and record, Sahg carries the torch first set ablaze by Black Sabbath and carried since by bands such as Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet and Fireball Ministry. This is the album that many metal bands wish they could write and release. It would be a travesty If it isn't heard by every metal fan out there.


9) TRIVIUM - The Crusade



The Crusade is a landmark album for Trivium. They set a high bar for themselves with Ascendancy and went in a different direction here. Some of the intensity and aggression may be gone, but there is greater emphasis on singing, musicianship and songwriting. Everyone will not take to the new sound, but Trivium has shown they are willing to take chances and not pin themselves into any specific sub-genre.


10) LACUNA COIL- Karmacode



Maybe this isn't the Lacuna Coil that we're entirely used to, with it's strong American influence on this album. But as long as Cristina Scabbia fronts this band it's hard to keep them out of the top 10. The music is similar to Korn at times but mixes in enough classic Lacuna Coil and European sound to create something special. Karmacode is a must have for music fans who want memorable, radio-friendly rock.

Honorable mentions:
ALL SHALL PERISH - The Price of Existence
BORN FROM PAIN - War
CHROME DIVISION - Doomsday Rock 'N Roll
DISSECTION - Reinkaos
GORGOROTH - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN - Music For the Recently Deceased
INSOMNIUM - Above the Weeping World
KATAKLYSM - In the Arms of Devastation