Yes, it's finally here! BravePicks 2011. Why so late? Cuz we're cutting to the chase. Normally we countdown throughout December, but this year we've filtered out the mediocre to give all the BraveWords.com faithful the cream of the crop - releases you may actually want to play more than once! So 'tis the season for BravePicks 2011 - The 12 Days Of Metal. We will be counting down until New Year's some of the finest slabs of metal this past year had to offer, voted by the devout scribes here at BraveWords.com! What does "slab" actually mean? We're talking studio albums. No compilations, rerecordings, live albums etc… Just pure metal, all killer no filler!

So let's rock … we've hit the Top Three!

2011 … The 12 Days Of Metal

3) MASTODON - The Hunter (Reprise)

MASTODON's continued rise to fame has been a remarkable feat, the Georgia-based four-piece embraced by fans and bands alike. The Hunter hit the US Top Ten in October and we even saw them perform on The Late Show With David Letterman week of release! Guitarist Bill Kelliher spoke with our very own Martin Popoff who remarked that The Hunter "is both super-smart about the history and future of metal yet at the same time pretty damn immediate and crammed with hooks. The Hunter is sure to keep going the band’s flow of accolades. So which quips of praise have hit the band hardest?

“Gee, I’m trying to think,” says Bill. “I’m on the spot with that one. I think when James Hetfield said something about passing the torch. I don’t even think we were on tour with them. I think we were just playing a show with them and they said, ‘We want to send this song out to Mastodon, who are holding the torch for metal,’ or something along those lines. And, ‘We’d like to pass them the torch,’ or something like that. I thought shit, that’s amazing. I never thought it in a million years, when I was 15 years old, that I thought that would be happening. And Jerry Cantrell said something one time before we had all actually met him at a festival in Ireland. It was in-between their set, and they said, ‘How about that Mastodon? Man, holy shit!’ (laughs). And just hearing like Dave Grohl… he’s a friend of ours, but he’s always been a big fan. And Geezer Butler said something on That Metal Show and Bill Ward, many times talked about us on his show. You know, they just keep coming, Mike Inez from ALICE IN CHAINS just sent me a text, and it’s like, ‘Man, way to go on the new record, dude – fuckin’ great.’ You know, it’s nice to hear people like that say nice thing about your band, I guess.”

Popoff asked: So will the band continue trying to make the greatest heavy metal album ever?

“Sure, sure, you’ve got outdo the last record (laughs). You can’t be putting the same records out. You’ve got to change it up a little bit. I think Mastodon is still on the way up. We’ve got a lot of stuff to offer. We don’t want to just put out a mediocre album, ever. That’s kind of like you gave up. We could never let ourselves do that. I’m glad, and when we’re writing, we don’t really think, ‘Oh, what are the fans going to think about this?’ It’s more like, ‘What are the other guys going to think about this riff I wrote?’ or this song, but then when it’s a week before your record comes out, like now, of course I’m dying to see what people are saying about our art (laughs).”

Read the entire interview here.

2011 … The 12 Days Of Metal

12) VALLENFYRE – A Fragile King (Century Media)

11) MEGADETH – Th1rt3en (Roadrunner)

10) MELIAH RAGE - Dead To The World (Metal On Metal)

9) WORLD UNDER BLOOD – Tactical (Nuclear Blast)

8) DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT - Deconstruction (InsideOut)

7) ICED EARTH - Dystopia (Century Media)

6) DEMONAZ - March Of The Norse (Nuclear Blast)

5) EXHUMED - All Guts, No Glory (Relapse)

4) OPETH – Heritage (Roadrunner)

3) MASTODON - The Hunter (Reprise)

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