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 Ten!

2011 … The 12 Days Of Metal

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

DEMONAZ (real name Harald Nævdal), the once-guitarist and chief lyricist for the Norwegian black metal legends IMMORTAL, released his first solo album, March Of The Norse, this past spring.

In his review, Mark Gromen fills us in on the project:

Demonaz is joined by ENSLAVED guitarist Ice Dale (here, unlike the I project, minus Abbath), also handling bass, plus original Immortal drummer, Armagedda. I repeat, Abbath is (somewhat surprisingly) not involved with Demonaz, the band, in any way shape or form! Uncanny vocal resemblance though. Must be all those cigarettes, liquor and smoke-filled Bergen club dates. Dynamics is the name of the game here, from the opening (and recurrent) acoustic guitar ‘Northern Hymn’ to spoken word passages, At The Heart Of Winter and the I debut are easy reference points, albeit more grandiose/epic and less rollicking than the latter. Hammerheart-era BATHORY is also a calling card, for those that are cognizant of such comparisons. Plenty of fire, mountains and ice in the lyrical mix too.

Read more here.

Demonaz himself calls it, Norse Metal! "I hate trends and all kinds of hypes. I am Demonaz and I do what I want!" says the headstrong Norwegian.

BravePicks 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)

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