Now that we have completed the BravePicks Of 2015 countdown - which Slayer ruled supreme (see the entire list here) - it is time now to shine the spotlight on the people that actually built our mountain of metal! It is a massive task, as BraveWords gets flooded with hundreds and hundreds of releases, showcasing the fact that the scene is as vibrant as ever! Each day, the BraveWords scribes will chat about the good, bad and ugly for 2015 and thoughts on this year! So check out our individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY),  Top 5 Brave Embarrassments, Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2016? and Metal Predictions For 2016.

BravePicks 2015

David Perri

1) TRIBULATION - The Children Of The Night (Century Media)
2) MELECHESH - Enki (Nuclear Blast)
3) GRAVE - Out Of Respect For The Dead (Century Media)
4) CRYPTOPSY - The Book Of Suffering - Tome 1 (Defen Society 3000)
5) NAPALM DEATH - Apex Predator - Easy Meat (Century Media)
6) VREID - Solverv (Indie Recordings)
7) MAIEUTISTE - Maieutiste (Les Acteurs De L'Ombre)
8) MOONSPELL - Extinct (Napalm)
9) VENOM - From The Very Depths (Spinefarm)
10) PARADISE LOST - The Plague Within (Century Media)
11) SLAYER - Repentless (Nuclear Blast)
12) ENSLAVED - In Times (Nuclear Blast)
13) ENSIFERUM - One Man Army (Metal Blade)
14) KAMPFAR - Profan (Indie Recordings)
15) GRUESOME - Savage Land (Relapse)
16) NILE - What Should Not Be Unearthed (Nuclear Blast)
17) HIGH TENSION - Bully (New Damage)
18) ARBITRATOR - Indoctrination Of Sacrilege (Arbitrator)
19) SOLIUM FATALIS - The Undying Season (Galy)
20) DENNER/SHERMANN - Satan's Tomb (Metal Blade)  

Top 5 Brave Embarrassments


 

1) LITURGY - The Ark Work (Thrill Jockey)
Can't be a good thing when the first comparison that comes to mind is St. Anger.

2) FAITH NO MORE - Sol Invictus (Reclamation!/Ipecac)
Overrated band puts out heavily hyped reunion album. What could possibly go wrong?

3) TRIVIUM - Silence In The Snow (Roadrunner)
Remember when people used to call this band "the next Metallica"? Trivium's now the next Stone Sour.

4) ARCTURUS - Arcturian (Prophecy)
I can't be the only one who thinks this band sounds like circus music.

5) FEAR FACTORY - Genexus (Nuclear Blast)
Not a bad record, but will Fear Factory ever leave its very obvious comfort zone?

Top 3 Concerts

1) ENSIFERUM - Mavericks, Ottawa
2) NEGURA BUNGET - Mavericks, Ottawa
3) DARK TRANQUILLITY - Mavericks, Ottawa

What/Who Needs To Stop In 2016

Nu-metal revival. You read that right: Nu-metal revival is actually happening, and it needs to stop right now. Especially when you've got Fred Durst (remember him?) saying absolutely ridiculous things like, "the subtleties of Limp Bizkit, the satire... it’s almost like it got overlooked. We put it in almost everything. We just didn’t make it that obvious." Uh, sure, whatever you say, Fred.

Thoughts On 2015

The death of Lemmy, metal's undisputed leader, was a tragic event that came late in the year, but its reverberations will nonetheless be felt for potentially a generation to come. Along with Ronnie James Dio's deeply saddening death five years ago, Lemmy's final hand of cards has forced the metal world to look at its mortality directly. With the genre now in or around its sixth decade, the demise of metal's forefathers/elder statesmen is inevitable. But it's a shame, and it's causing some real reflection on this genre's roots and its future. Though metal's splintering into its various sub-genres (and sub-sub-genres) has no doubt been a positive thing that's led to so many of the vital records that make up metal’s current landscape, it's also inadvertently created an imposing lack. When the honest brokers that unite your fractured genre under a common cause are Motörhead, Venom and Slayer, there's a vacuum that's created: when the next generation of metal listeners witness the inevitable creation of even more variations of this genre, who will unite their warring factions in the way Lemmy, Cronos and Tom Araya do now? The days of larger-than-life forefathers keeping the quarreling children in line might soon be over. What will this mean for metal, in its future totality?

Metal Predictions For 2016

In a post-Lemmy world, bands go back and re-discover (or, for the younger pups, discover) Motörhead's dirt, grime and attitude. Ridiculously good new albums are the result.

BraveWords scribes speak!

Kim Baarda
Nick Balazs
Alitzia Tyminski
Greg Pratt