Seeing as it's that time of year in which everyone is compiling terrible lists of things they liked in the past 12 months, I've decided to write my own terrible list. I won't name these albums the best of 2012, because I can't be arsed to think hard enough about them to truly commit to that statement, so here, in no particular order, are eleven albums I quite liked in 2012.
Rush - Clockwork Angels
It's the new Rush. In the future it'll probably be seen as one of the top ten best Rush albums, which automatically makes it one of the best albums from this year. Or any other year for that matter.
Ram - Death
Proper heavy metal. Like old school Judas Priest, but Swedish. Other notable Swedish heavy metal bands that released quite good albums this year include Grand Magus and Steelwing, but their videos weren't as metal.
Astra - The Black Chord
70s style prog rock. You can listen to it ironically with your hipster friends, but deep down you'll be fucking loving it.
Accept - Stalingrad
Accept are now two albums into the best comeback ever, writing stuff that's on a par with or better than their 80s output. Anyone who thinks that Accept can't be good without original singer Udo Dirkschneider needs to give this a listen and prepare to be converted.
Ne Obliviscaris - Portals of I
This sounds somewhat like a black metal Opeth with good production and a violin. Fat teenage girls in corsets will likely froth at the gash whilst listening to this.
Dark Quarterer - XXV
This re-recording of their 1987 debut is the perfect marriage of prog and metal, and hopefully they'll soon get their well overdue success so I can shun them and tell people I liked them back when they were good.
Wintersun - Time I
It took 8 years in the making, but Wintersun's sophomore effort is finally here. It only has three actual songs on it, and, as a whole, is a quite disappointing album. I still quite like it though, so it's going on the list regardless.
Cauldron - Tomorrow's Gone
More heavy metal. I wish I had written the riff to Nitebreaker, then I could be in a heavy metal band that no one likes.
Atoma - Skylight
I quite like this one because it has some non-metal elements, which means that when I play it in front of my friends they are taken aback by my eclecticism.
Overkill - The Electric Age
Overkill are awesome. I haven't actually had the time to even listen to this album yet, but I'm pretty confident that it's good. Hey, I'm a busy guy, I'll get round to it. If it turns out to be a crock of shit though replace this entry with either the new Testament or Kreator albums, neither of which I have heard either. If those two also turn out to be shit then just despair for the thrash metal music scene.
Slash - Apocalyptic Love
If you don't like simple, good-time hard rock then you're a miserable twat who needs to lighten up.
