Now that we have completed the BravePicks Of 2014 countdown - which Bloodbath triumphed (see the entire list here) - it is time now to shine the spotlight on the people that actually helped to build our mountain of metal! It was a massive task, as BraveWords was flooded with hundreds and hundreds of releases in 2014, showcasing the fact that the scene is as vibrant as ever! Each day, the BraveWords scribes will spout off their good, bad and ugly for 2014 and thoughts on the coming year! We’re talking individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY),  Top 5 Brave Embarrassments, Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2015? and Metal Predictions For 2015.

 

 

 

BravePicks 2014 - The Scribes Speak!

 

 

 

 

 

DAVID PERRI

 

 

Top 20 Of 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) BLOODBATH - Grand Morbid Funeral (Peaceville)

2) VAMPIRE - Vampire (Century Media)

3) NIGHTBRINGER - Ego Dominus Tuus (Season of Mist)

4) BEHEMOTH - The Satanist (Metal Blade)

5) ANAAL NATHRAKH - Desideratum (Metal Blade)

6) THE DAGGER - The Dagger (Century Media)

7) ORIGIN - Omnipresent (Nuclear Blast)

8) RAGE NUCLÉAIRE - Black Storm Of Violence (Season of Mist)

9) KRIEG - Transient (Candlelight)

10) MISERY INDEX - The Killing Gods (Season of Mist)

11) AT THE GATES - At War With Reality (Century Media)

12) SANCTUARY - The Year The Sun Died (Century Media)

13) DECAPITATED - Blood Mantra (Nuclear Blast)

14) NACHTMYSTIUM - The World We Left Behind (Century Media)

15) GOATWHORE - Constricting Rage Of The Merciless (Metal Blade)

16) INSOMNIUM - Shadows Of The Dying Sun (Century Media)

17) IMPALED NAZARENE - Vigorous And Liberating Death (Osmose)

18) CHELSEA GRIN - Ashes To Ashes (Artery)

19) NOTHING - Guilty Of Everything (Relapse)

20) KILLER BE KILLED - Killer Be Killed (Nuclear Blast)

 

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments

 

 

1) IN FLAMES – Siren Charms (Sony)

Dignity: not a word In Flames is familiar with.

 

2) ENTOMBED A.D. – Back To The Front (Century Media)

A sad, sad album that damages the legacy badly.

 

3) DRAGONFORCE – Maximum Overload (Universal)

That someone would pay money for this proves, yet again, that humanity isn't hardwired to make good decisions...

 

4) HAMMERFALL - (r)Evolution (Nuclear Blast)

...and speaking of bad decisions.

 

5) POWERMAN 5000 – Builders Of The Future (T-Boy)

Gonna party like it's 1999!

 

 

Top 3 Concerts

 

 

1) DEATH ANGEL - Metropolis - Montreal, QC

2) DARK TRANQUILLITY - Mavericks - Ottawa, ON

3) VENOM - Amnesia Rockfest - Montebello, QC

 

Thoughts On 2014

 

 

After the landmark year that was 2013, it was very much a given that 2014 would never live up to its predecessor. And while that ended up being the case, 2014 was still a snapped neck in its own right, as veteran bands unexpectedly wrote records that channelled the spirit, if the not the letter, of their most aggressive and beloved moments. BLOODBATH, BEHEMOTH, AT THE GATES and SANCTUARY all reaffirmed the original muse that made them so feared during their creative mountain peaks and, in so doing, created new alps on which to stand on. Other bands followed suit with the same type of ambition, as VAMPIRE's debut was the Stockholm Death mercenary that the underground has been waiting for since ENTOMBED's Clandestine, while NIGHTBRINGER, ANAAL NATHRAKH, ORIGIN, ABORTED and RAGE NUCLÉAIRE executed LPs that possess the inhumanity that EMPEROR so eloquently gave a name to: "With Strength I Burn". Meanwhile, The Dagger's authentically 1978 debut album reminded us that we still live in a post-GHOST world, and DECAPITATED proved, yet again, that it remains one of metal's most spectacularly underrated displays of power.

 

2014 also saw a second act to the elongated existential crisis that is DEAFHEAVEN's polarization of the black metal scene. The merits or faults of Deafheaven will not be debated here, but the band's effect on black metal's obsession with idealizing its (untrue?) claims of non-conformity and isolation will be fascinating to observe. Will black metal retreat back to its second wave roots and create even more formal rigid and codified structures to counteract the outsider that is Deafheaven in its space? Or will black metal explode into even more sub-sub-genres in an effort to shock and awe in ways that could concretize a fourth wave? None of us truly know. But there will continue to be fall out, that much is certain.

 

Metal Predictions For 2015

 

 

In a post-Deafheaven world, black metal closes ranks on itself to become even more rigid, linear and codified -- being "true" becomes as life-affirmingly important as it was in Oslo/Bergen '91.

 

What/Who Needs To Stop In 2015

 

 

KISS. If you can't even lip-sync that tired, tired song you've been performing for almost 40 years, it's time to cash out those 401(k)s and retire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BravePicks 2014 Top 30

 

 

1) BLOODBATH – Grand Morbid Funeral (Peaceville)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) ACCEPT – Blind Rage (Nuclear Blast)

3) JUDAS PRIEST - Redeemer Of Souls (Epic)

4) BEHEMOTH - The Satanist (Metal Blade)

5) EXODUS - Blood In, Blood Out (Nuclear Blast)

6) AT THE GATES – At War With Reality (Century Media)

7) MAYHEM - Esoteric Warfare (Season Of Mist)

8) TRIPTYKON - Melana Chasmata (Century Media)

9) CANNIBAL CORPSE – A Skeletal Domain (Metal Blade)

10) OVERKILL - White Devil Armory (Nuclear Blast/eOne)

11) ARCH ENEMY - War Eternal (Century Media)

12) 1349 - Massive Cauldron Of Chaos (Season Of Mist)

13) SANCTUARY - The Year The Sun Died (Century Media)

14) OBITUARY - Inked In Blood (Relapse)

15) GRAVE DIGGER – Return Of The Reaper (Napalm)

16) ACE FREHLEY - Space Invader (eOne)

17) MASTODON — Once More ’Round The Sun (Reprise)

18) EDGUY – Space Police: Defenders Of The Crown (Nuclear Blast)

19) THE DAGGER – The Dagger (Century Media)

20) PRIMORDIAL – Where Greater Men Have Fallen (Metal Blade)

21) UNISONIC - Light Of Dawn (earMusic)

22) PRIMAL FEAR – Delivering The Black (Frontiers)

23) DEVILMENT – The Great And Secret Show (Nuclear Blast)

24) MR. BIG - ...The Stories We Could Tell (Frontiers)

25) EYEHATEGOD – Eyehategod (Housecore)

26) STEEL PANTHER – All You Can Eat (Open E)

27) CALIFORNIA BREED – California Breed (Frontiers)

28) TESLA – Simplicity (Tesla Electric Co.)

29) PRONG – Ruining Lives (SPV/Steamhammer)

30) GAMMA RAY – Empire Of The Undead (EarMusic)