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!

GREG PRATT

Top 20 Of 2014

1) VALLENFYRE - Splinters (Century Media)

2) INCANTATION - Dirges of Elysium (Listenable)

3) GRIDLINK - Longhena (Handshake Inc.)

4) TRIPTYKON - Melana Chasmata (Century Media)

5) EYEHATEGOD - Eyehategod (Housecore)

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

7) CANNIBAL CORPSE - A Skeletal Domain (Metal Blade)

8) BLACKFINGER - Blackfinger (The Church Within)

9) VADER - Tibi et Igni (Nuclear Blast)

10) DIRE OMEN - Wresting the Revelation of Futility (Dark Descent)

11) AUTOPSY - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (Peaceville)

12) THE SKULL - For Those Which Are Asleep (Tee Pee Records)

13) TRAP THEM - Blissfucker (Prosthetic)

14) PYRRHON - The Mother Of Virtues (Relapse)

15) OBITUARY - Inked In Blood (Relapse)

16) ORIGIN - Omnipresent (Nuclear Blast)

17) SINISTER - The Post-Apocalyptic Servant (Massacre)

18) THE DRIP - A Presentation Of Gruesome Politics (Relapse)

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

20) COLUMNS - Please Explode (Relapse)

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments

1) CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - IX (Candlelight)

One of my favourite bands ever; Deliverance is an absolute, complete classic. But this version of the band sounds confused and are trying to be all eras of COC at once. Messy, confusing, not fun at all.

2) BLACK TONGUE - Born Hanged/Falsifer (Redux) (Century Media)

Do you remember where you where the day deathcore died? Black Tongue are frustratingly talented to be playing music this boring.

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

Sure, it's a fine album. And... yawn... after a few listens, it's shelved next to 1,000 albums that sound... just like... yawn...

4) DARKEST HOUR - Darkest Hour (Sumerian)

Should this be above or below At The Gates? This is very confusing! Darkest Hour are a skilled bunch, and do what they do wonderfully. But I dunno, this one just didn't feel good.

5) AUSTRIAN DEATH MACHINE - Triple Brutal (Artery Recordings)

Yeah... no.

Top 3 Concerts

1) CARCASS - Commodore, Vancouver, BC

2) ZZ TOP - Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre - Victoria, BC

3) STRUNG OUT - The Mint - Los Angeles, CA

Thoughts On 2014

There was no greater shock to me this year than when I put on Vallenfyre's second album and the production sound just absolutely floored me. Finally, a band gets it. That album sums up so much that is good about death metal and doom metal, and does it with a ragged, raw production that says so much. Absolutely incredible. Pulling in a solid number two is Incantation, who impress me more and more as the years go on, the band's sludgey death making a whole lot of sense to me these days. I'm not sad that Gridlink broke up: this final album is good enough to last me years. Triptykon's soul-crushing doom is Warriorian metal at its finest, Eyehategod deliver exactly 100 percent what I wanted them to, and Misery Index throw a bit of a curve ball in by releasing their most DM work yet. Cannibal Corpse are Cannibal Corpse, Blackfinger and The Skull both come damn near to Trouble's mind-bending Def American work, and Dire Omen are a bunch of Canadians who just barely snuck on the list with a late-year album release, and it kills, delivering the kind of smothering, doom-y death metal of the kind that I personally think is some of the most exciting in the underground these days. Vader, I hear people say it didn't really grab them right away but Vader always grabs me right away. The rest of the top 20 is rounded out by killer death, crazed hardcore/grind, and tech-death done right (Origin's new one is tech-death done right because it's, deceptively, barely tech-death at all; Pyrrhon's dense DM attack is like the smooth antidote to Dire Omen's drastic gutter urges). Oh, man... that was a damn good year in metal, raw and ugly winning out over slick and processed, which was exactly my hope and prediction 12 months ago.

Metal Predictions For 2015

At The Gates quickly following up a return to form that was way too much of a return to form; time to bend minds again, guys. Anyone remember The Great Deceiver? That band's output was more expectation-bending that the all-too-familiar At War With Reality. Napalm Death getting the year started with an amazing album and continuing their shocking late-career resurgence, showing the young grinders how it's done. Slayer... what are Slayer going to do? Release one of those hey-this-is-great-but-two-days-from-now-I'll-forget-the-name-of-the-damn-album 'deth-style new-millenium platters? Maybe a confounding late-era-Metallica-style if-this-is-a-return-to-form-why-doesn't-it-feel-like-it "rager"? Nope, and nope. They'll release another Slayer album, many will complain about it, and I'll be banging my head with a smile on my face.

What/Who Needs To Stop In 2015

Classic metal bands airing out their feuds in public via internet battles. That ain't making no one look good, and it always threatens to make a band's legacy just a bit less special.

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)