2017 Top 10 Albums Of The Year | Dan Hallam

10) Darkest Hour – Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora

Returning to the front of the pack with a career best record. Darkest Hour’s ninth studio record is a vicious, kick to the balls of a record. Combing the best elements of all their previous fan favorites with a newfound ferocity.

FFO: At The Gates, Power Trip

9) Coltsblood – Ascending into Shimmering Darkness

Quite possibly the heaviest doom band on the planet. Ascending into Shimmering Darkness is the soundtrack of the human psyche’s worst thoughts. Proper horrible music.

FFO: Primitive Man, Grief, Bell Witch

8) Full of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstasy

Trumpeting Ecstasy sees Full of Hell taking their brutal mix of death metal, grindcore, power violence and harsh noise to newfound levels of suffering. Definitely not a easy listen, but one of the most extreme and rewarding.

FFO: Nails, Merzbow, Napalm Death

7) Corrupt Moral Alter – Eunoia

Liverpuddlian grind-violence of the most extreme order. Fourteen tracks of relentless blast-beats and riffs that could flay the skin right off your face.

FFO: Napalm Death, Trap Them, Pig Destroyer

6) Nihility – Imprisoned Eternal

Debut record from Southampton’s hardest. Showcasing the best crossover of metallic hardcore with 80’s death metal. Headbang your life away whilst avoiding getting spin kicked in the face.

FFO: Bolt Thrower, Kickback, Suffocation

5) Perturbator – New Model

Sidestepping away from the confines of the Synthwave palace the parisian producer has crafted himself. Perturbator brings forth a darker, moodier, heavier sounding record, showing there’s more to life than being an 80’s film throwback.

FFO: John Carpenter, Akira, Carpenter Brut

4) Glassjaw – Material Control

A surprise last minute addition. Fiftteen years down the line and Glassjaw drop one of the heaviest post-hardcore records since Worship and Tribute. Jaw dropping stuff.

FFO: Deftones, At The Drive In, Thursday

3) Converge – The Dusk in Us

Showcasing that they’re incapable of producing a record of less than near perfection. While The Dusk in Us sees Converge producing their most accessible work to date, they’ve also produced a record of such magnitude, it even gives Jane Doe a run for its money.

FFO: Neurosis, Cave In

2) The Black Dahlia Murder - Nightbringers

Going from strength to strength, The Black Dahlia Murder have taken al the best things about themselves and sharpened them to knifepoint precision. A career & genre defining best.

FFO: Carcass, At the Gates

1)Dawn Ray’d – The Unlawful Assembly

Raw, uncompromising, politicised black metal from the north. Hands down one of the best black metal records since Deafheaven’s Sunbather took the world by storm, only this is more important.

FFO: Wolves in the Throne Room, Smashing fascists.

Honorable Mentions: Code Orange - Forever

Wolves in the Throne Room – Thrice wolven

Integrity – Howling… For the Nightmare Shall Continue

Incendiary – Thousand Mile Stare

Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar

Heaven in Her Arms – White Halo

Artificial Brain – Infrared Horizon

Power Trip – Nightmare Logic

Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun

Cloud Rat/Moloch – Split

Eighteen Visions – XVIII

Dying Fetus – Wrong One to Fuck With

Nine Inch Nails – Add Violence

END – From the Unforgiving Arms of God

Pallbearer - Heartless