We've been counting 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!

So now we've reached the much-anticipated TOP TEN! Drum roll please...

#8 - IHSAHN - After (Candlelight)

EMPEROR vocalist/guitarist IHSAHN stormed back in 2010 with his brand new opus, After, released way back in January and the scribes at it up!

Recorded during the first half of 2009, After completes the musician’s planned trilogy of initial recordings. The album showcases the Norwegian icon with drummer Asgeir Mickelson (SPIRAL ARCHITECT), bassist Lars K. Norberg (Spiral Architect), and saxophonist Jorgen Munkeby (SHINING).

"This is my first album written with eight-string guitars as basis which has been both challenging and inspiring,” he comments when discussing the creative process. “I also decided early on that I wanted to mix this album with Jens Bogren (OPETH, KATATONIA) and recorded the album with that in mind. Asgeir and Lars have again delivered superb performances. I've always wanted to implement the saxophone in my music; Jorgen’s contributions truly added a silver lining to the album."

Again working at his own Symphonique Studio, with additional work at Toproom Studio (co-engineered by Borge Finstad), After was meticulously laid out over an eight month period. The intensity of the project has more than paid off with early listenings already proclaiming it to be the most poignant creations of his solo efforts. “I have felt more confident and more at ease with the material,” relays Ihsahn. “In letting the songs themselves lead the way I just followed the natural impulses."

In his BraveWords.com review Dom Lawson wrote: Compelled to forever uphold the astonishing, formidable standards that he set as the chief creative driving force in Emperor, Ihsahn has approached his solo career to date with laudable dignity and bravery, producing two startling and surprisingly diverse albums that have added a huge amount of layers and shades to the Norwegian’s established inventory of ideas while skilfully maintaining a close spiritual and physical connection to the epic black metal realm that he did so much to sustain and drag incrementally forward over the years. But even within that strident exploration of new territory, Ihsahn has played things comparatively straight and safe until now, preferring to evolve anew, at his own pace and within certain known musical boundaries. After, the endgame in a frequently audacious opening trilogy of solo albums, is the sound of shackles being flung from the battlements, as every last semblance of responsibility to honour black metal tradition is proudly and arrogantly jettisoned in favour of a truly progressive and acutely subversive reinvention and re-imagining of all that has gone before.

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)

#19 - FOZZY - Chasing The Grail (Riot)

#18 - EXODUS - Exhibit B: The Human Condition (Nuclear Blast)

#17 - MISERY INDEX - Heirs To Thievery (Relapse)

#16 - ARMORED SAINT - La Raza (Metal Blade)

#15 - BLIND GUARDIAN - At The Edge Of Time (Nuclear Blast)

#14 - GAMMA RAY - To The Metal (earMusic)

#13 - MURDERDOLLS - Women And Children Last (Roadrunner)

#12 - RATT - Infestation (Loud & Proud/Roadrunner)

#11 - BLACK LABEL SOCIETY - Order Of The Black (E1)

#10 - KYLESA - Spiral Shadow (Season Of Mist)

#9 - FEAR FACTORY - Mechanize (Candlelight)

#8 - IHSAHN - After (Candlelight)