We continue to count down the finest slabs of metal from the last year, as chosen by the devout scribes here at BW&BK;/BraveWords.com. As with previous years, each writer was asked to pick his top 20 albums of the year (no live records, compilations or covers etc...). We perform a little behind-the-scenes metal math and voila, we have our list! We'll be counting down the Top 30 all month - yup, one a day until we get to New Year's - yes, we're aware that December has 31 daze but we thought we'd let you hang until January 1st!

It's time for #20 - drum roll please...

#20 - NEVERMORE - The Obsidian Conspiracy (Century Media)

Somewhat mixed reaction to legendary Seattle prog-power metallers NEVERMORE to their latest album, The Obsidian Conspiracy (given its position on our list), which was recorded with renowned producer Peter Wichers (who previously worked with vocalist Warrel Dane on his solo debut Praises To The War Machine), with friend and collaborator Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY) once again handled mixing and mastering duties.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we toured for almost two solid years for This Godless Endeavor,” Dane told BraveWords.com of the extended wait for the follow-up to 2005's This Godless Endeavor. “It didn’t seem that long for us. Jeff (Loomis; guitar) wanted to do a solo record (Zero Order Phase), I wanted to do my rock record (Praises To The War Machine) and we got it out of our systems. It’s a cliché statement but it’s true.”
“Nobody’s going to tell me that it sucks,” Dane adds, “but it would actually be kind of awesome if somebody did because I would appreciate their honesty. It seems that everyone really likes it though, so you can’t really ask for more than that, I guess. We’ve got a lot of memorable choruses on this record than the last one. Again, we didn’t do that on purpose, it just kind of happened that way. I think that’s where people are drawing the similarities between this one and Politics from.”

In his review, BraveWords.com scribe Carl Begai wrote: An undeniably unique killing machine in the world of metal, Nevermore were on a collision course with themselves since the birth of The Politics Of Ecstasy back in 1996. Always a little bit heavier and touch more progressive with each album that followed, the band went over-the-top in 2006 with This Godless Endeavour, an album so overpowering in spots it was a chore trying to keep up with the wash of sound. That said, just how well The Obsidian Conspiracy fares depends on whether the diehards that claim heavier is always better can get past the fact the band has gone back to writing songs circa Dead Heart In A Dead World and the Politics record. Yes indeed, Nevermore have actually eased up on the group bludgeoning to allow their individual and collective performances shine rather than overwhelm people with the cold hard fact they do mayhem better than most chaos-buzzed black metal bands. The less-is-more approach on The Obsidian Conspiracy makes for sparse arrangements that allow the songs to breathe.

Read the entire review here.

Brave Picks Top 30 Of 2010

#30 - STONE SOUR: Audio Secrecy (Roadrunner)

#29 - APOCALYPTICA - 7th Symphony (Sony)

#28 - TWILIGHT: Monument To Time End (Southern Lord)

#27 - HAIL OF BULLETS - On Divine Winds (Metal Blade)

#26 - FORBIDDEN - Omega Wave (Nuclear Blast)

#25 - KROKUS - Hoodoo (Columbia)

#24 - AIRBOURNE - No Guts. No Glory. (Roadrunner)

#23 - SOILWORK - The Panic Broadcast (Nuclear Blast)

#22 - TRIPTYKON - Eparistera Daimones (Century Media)

#21 - DARKTHRONE - Circle The Wagons (Peaceville)

#20 - NEVERMORE - The Obsidian Conspiracy (Century Media)