2010 was a year of highs and lows for heavy metal music. In May, the world of metal lost one of its best-loved sons, Ronnie James Dio, who died aged 67 after a battle with cancer. Only days later Slipknot bassist Paul Gray also died, marking a sad period for music as a whole. The show went on, however, and 2010 also saw the release of several well-received albums by high-profile bands.
Iron Maiden Reach 'The Final Frontier'
Probably the most high-profile release of the year was Iron Maiden's 15th album, 'The Final Frontier'. The album follows very much in the progression the band have been following since the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith in 2000. This means longer, more detailed songs - but always retaining that classic Iron Maiden charm.
There is little similarity to the band's best-known songs like "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills" to be found here, with first single "El Dorado" perhaps being the closest in style to these classics - all galloping riffs and duelling solos, albeit stretched across 7 minutes.
The most memorable moments on the album occur on the longer, more epic tracks, however, like "The Talisman" and eleven-minute ballad (featuring hefty guitar shred) "When the Wild Wind Blows", when Bruce Dickinson is allowed to stretch his vocals and almost the entire band has time for a solo. This is a very mature release from Maiden, which underlines their continuing relevance and importance to modern heavy metal.
Big Name Releases of 2010
Maiden were easily the biggest band to release an album in 2010, but a few other big hitters also brought out new material. Fear Factory's seventh album 'Mechanize' saw founding members Dino Cazares and Burton C Bell reunited for the first time since 2002, with former Strapping Young Lad drummer Gene Hoglan also making his debut. The album harks back to the band's 90s heyday when Cazares was a regular member, all hard, industrial aggression, which is effective enough but becomes somewhat repetitive towards the end of the album.
Swedish melodic death metal legends Soilwork released their eighth album, 'The Panic Broadcast'. Founding member Peter Wichers returned on guitar and in the production booth for the first time since 2005' 'Stabbing the Drama', and the band seem to have adapted their style slightly to suit his technical guitar style. It's blended to great success with the more melodic approach favoured on previous release 'Sworn to a Great Divide', and while Sven Karlsson's keyboards are given a little less leeway it comes out as a tighter, heavier and more aggressive package overall.
2010 also saw Italian power metallers Rhapsody of Fire bring out their eighth album, 'The Frozen Tears of Angels', their first release since 2006. The album is a great return to the forefront of heavy music for the band, and a timely reminder of what they can do at their best. Every feature of the band's bombastic, symphonic style that fans have come to expect are present; Christoper Lee's spoken-word intros, Luca Turilli's epic guitar solos, and Fabio Lione's soaring vocals.
New Jersey mathcore nutcases The Dillinger Escape Plan provided one of the year's standout albums in 'Option Paralysis'. In spite of the title, Dillinger refuse to stand still, with their music always as progressive as it is aggressive. Standout track "Widower" underlines what the band and in particular vocalist Greg Puciato can do at their best, catapulting back and forth through a diverse range of styles, equally comfortable in a frenetic, acerbic hardcore breakdown as with a jazz-piano interlude. Bizarre, exhilarating stuff from the very cutting edge of experimental music.
Grand Magus - Hammer of the North
Grand Magus lived up to their exceedingly high standards with the release of fifth album 'Hammer of the North'. Magus play a concentrated, extremely pure style of metal - no frills, no messing about, just heavily distorted guitar, bass, drums and high-pitched vocals.
From the title track right across the album's ten songs, Magus craft a selection of deliciously heavy, groovy riffs, complemented perfectly by wailing, air-guitar inducing solos. A classic in every sense, and a serious contender for best album of the year.
Special mention must be given to a couple of more 'underground' releases from less well-known bands. Return to Earth impressed on their major-label debut 'Automata', mastering a number of different genres with ease. German progressive collective The Ocean released a double-album, 'Heliocentric' and 'Anthopocentric', the former of which in particular was a work of stunning depth and ambition. And The Unravelling also released an impressive debut album, '13 Arcane Hymns', combining the alternative style of Tool with the adventurousness of the Dillinger Escape Plan.
Blind Guardian's Best Album Yet
Perhaps the album of the year came courtesy of German power-metal legends Blind Guardian, who broke new ground with their ninth album, 'At the Edge of Time'. Opening track "Sacred Worlds" employs perhaps the best use of an orchestral arrangement in the history of metal, and while it is a little disappointing that only closing song "Wheel of Time" takes the same orchestral approach, this is still far and away Guardian's best album yet.
Songs like "Tanelorn (Into the Void)" and "A Voice in the Dark" harness the raw power and energy the band always create live, but had struggled to convey on some previous releases. Even without the ambition and scope of the outstanding orchestral tracks, this would still be a standout Guardian album - as it is, it takes them to a whole new level.
Philip Sim - Philip Sim is a trainee journalist based in Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from the University of Dundee in 2009 with an honours degree ...
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