Metal Awards

Goat's Top 15 albums of 2016

  1. Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä
  2. Inquisition - Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith
  3. Ihsahn - Arktis.
  4. Khemmis - Hunted
  5. Cult of Luna / Julie Christmas - Mariner
  6. Insomnium - Winter's Gate
  7. Deftones - Gore
  8. Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep of Reason
  9. Anthrax - For All Kings
  10. Mithras - On Strange Loops
  11. Baptism - V: The Devil's Fire
  12. In Mourning - Afterglow
  13. Vader - The Empire
  14. Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct
  15. Inverloch - Distance | Collapsed
Goat's Top 5 surprises of 2016

  1. Almanac - Tsar
    Superb power metal from the expert hand of Victor Smolski. Not a surprise, when you think about it, but it did hit out of the blue.
  2. Black Fucking Cancer - Black Fucking Cancer
    A band with a bad name, Black Fucking Cancer brought the fucking noise. Tremendous debut.
Goat's Disappointment(s) of 2016

  1. Be'lakor - Vessels
    Didn't strike me as near as good as the band's previous outings.
  2. Dark Tranquillity - Atoma
    A real shame, perhaps I've just not listened to it enough times? But this just struck me as a boring, played-safe album.
  3. Grand Magus - Sword Songs
    Speaking of boring and playing it safe... The fire that Grand Magus once burned with seems almost entirely gone.
  4. Opeth - Sorceress
    I loved Pale Communion, but this is a real step down in songwriting quality. Bitterly disappointed in Mikael and the lads.
  5. Wretch - Wretch
    Far duller than I expect from the men behind The Gates of Slumber.