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Best Metal Albums
 I had a tough time narrowing down my list to just 10, so there are a couple more than that on the list. It seemed for a while this year that Behemoth's The Apostasy was going to coast easily into my top spot for the year...that was until I got Black Cobra's Feather and Stone, which obliterated it's way to the top to do battle with Behemoth. If that wasn't enough, mid-November brought forth the latest Primordial release, To the Nameless Dead, which quickly jumped into the fray with Black Cobra and Behemoth. Let's not leave out the brilliant Minch 7" Collection that came out this year as well. Anyway, here is my list. It was too close to call either of the top choices better than the other, so it's a dead heat at the top...
1. Behemoth - The Apostasy
1. Black Cobra - Feather and Stone
1. Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
2. Minch - 7" Collection
3. Watain - Sword to the Dark
4. Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
5. Entombed - Serpent Saints - The Ten Amendments
6.
ætherius - All That I Need to Survive
7. Novembers Doom - The Novella Reservoir
8. The Fall of Every Season - From Below
9. Afgrund -
Svarta Dagar
10. The Ocean - Precambrian
Best Live Shows
In no particular order, these are the metal shows I most enjoyed this year.
 Sam Black Church at the Roxy
Black Cobra/The Sword at the Middle East
Amon Amarth at the Palladium
Watain/Nachtmystium/Angel Corpse at the Middle East
Behemoth at the Palladium
Insomnium/Swallow the Sun at Mark's Showplace
Frozen at numerous locations
Best Horror Film
Planet Terror
A perfect mix of gore, comedy, and outright silliness. What more do you need in a movie. Too bad it was attached (at least in theaters) to what I would consider one of the worst movies of the year, Death Proof. Sure, the chase scene at the end was great, buy you had to suffer through an infinite amount of pointless blabbering to get to it. Thankfully they split these up for the DVD releases so I could just get the one I wanted.
When I wasn’t getting sauced with the assclowns or ingesting large quantities of barbiturates while masturbating, I was enjoying the following gems in 2007…ON WEED…
METAL
I’m old and I like music made by guys my own age…
 Behemoth – Apostasy
In a word, FUCK!
Entombed – Serpent Saints
Best comeback since Celtic Frost’s Monotheist
Trouble – Simple Mind Condition
Another comeback. This pig groooooooves…buy it!
Destruction – Thrash Anthems
Yeah, they blew us off for an interview, but they kicked ass live.
Dethklok – The Dethalbum
Soz Iz like to laughz, soz what…
HORROR
 Jeez, what a worthless year for Horror. Only one goodie comes to mind actually…
28 Weeks Later
This sequel took the coolness of the first-half of 28 Days Later and cranked it up!
TELEVISION
Dexter
The strength of this brilliantly written show’s first season actually got me to order Showtime for Season 2. Witty and sadistic. I look forward to Sunday nights just as much as those Desperate Housewives nutjobs do.
Best of 2007
 1. Metalocalypse Season One (DVD)
2. Dethalbum Deluxe Edition; Dethklok (CD)
3. Clutch, Five Horse Johnson, and Dub Trio; March 9, 2007 @ The Middle East (gig)
4. Greatest Hits Vol. II; Graveyard BBQ (CD)
5. From Beale Street to Oblivion; Clutch (CD)
6. The End of the World; Genuflect (CD)
7. Red Harvest; Bloodsimple (CD)
8. Guitar Hero III; Legends of Rock (video game)
9. Jackass; The Game (video game)
10. Tenacious D; The Pick of Destiny (DVD)
Top 10 Best Movies:
 10. Halloween
9. Wrong Turn 2: Dead End
8. Fido
7. Hostel II
6. Hatchet
5. Black Sheep
4. 1408
3. Ils
2. The Mist
1. Vacancy
Bottom 10:
 10. The Hitcher
9. Bug
8. 30 Days of Night
7. 28 Weeks Later
6. Saw IV
5. Return to House on Haunted Hill
4. The Messengers
3. Resident Evil: Extinction
2. Blood & Chocolate
1. Bloodlines
Top 10 Metal release of 2007
 1. Down - Down III: Over the Under - Simply put, the best swamp-Sabbath boogie metal you're likely to hear. It’s loaded with contagious riffs, Bonham-esque drums, and lots of stomp and swagger.
2. Prong - "Power of the Damager - A sort of return to form for Tommy Victor as he charts the new Prong line-up through a mix of older Prong-style thrash and metal, with the production values and arrangements of later-era Prong—Tommy’s finest since 1994’s Cleansing.
3. Jesu - Conqueror - Lush, huge, and beautiful metal for shoegazers…can it work? Yes, it works…very well.
4. Ministry - The Last Sucker – Uncle Al and company going out in a blaze of glory…the third, and final, installment in Jorgensen’s “Anti-Bush” trilogy, Sucker picks up where “Rio Grande Blood” left off…brutal, unrelenting classic Ministry…this is one hell of a great going away party.
5. Weed Eater - God Luck and Good Speed – the biggest, badest, most massive slab of doom metal of the year. What fun.
6. Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks– It’s amazing this was recorded by a duo, and it’s no wonder why the Melvins added these guys to their last line-up. Waterworks is heavy and pummeling, but very melodic…one of the most interesting releases of the year.
7. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris – Ok, technically not a metal release, but QOTSA continuously push the envelope and develop their sound. Vulgaris is a quirky and heavy, but not in an overwhelming way. Experimentation and melody….coupled with Josh Homme’s knack for writing the excellent hook…it’s all in here.
8. Baroness - The Red Album– Expansive, heavy arrangements, coupled with ferocious playing. This record almost has a “prog” rock feel to it…almost.
9. Torche - In Return EP – Really, this is just more of the great stuff we’ve come to expect from Tourche…at times, massive downtuned riffs, but played with a pop sensibility and energy. 
10. Rush - Snakes and Arrows - This one’s not metal, I know it, but there was no CD in 2007 that was in my CD player more than this, the latest from Rush. What’s amazing is how this band gets better with age. Snakes and Arrows is probably their best work over the past 15 years and ranks among such greats as Moving Pictures (yeah, I said it).
Here are the 10 albums I enjoyed most last year...
1. Dew-Scented - Incinerate
2. Machine Head - The Blackening
3. Coldworker - The Contaminated Void
4. Raw Radar War - ==
5. Gorefest - Rise To Ruin
6. Common Yet Forbidden - The Struggle
7. Cephalic Carnage - Xenosapien
8. Malevolent Creation - Doomsday X
9. Monstrosity - Spiritual Apocalypse
10. The Red Chord - Prey For Eyes
Movies
Best:
 1. No Country for Old Men
2. Hatchet
3. This is England
4. Hot Fuzz
5. the Host
Worst:
1. Hostel 2
2. Halloween
3. Spiderman 3
4. Pirates of the Caribbean 3
5. Factory Girl
Music
Best:
 1. Poison the Well - Versions
2. Pelican - City of Echoes
3. Bad Brains - Build a Nation
4. The Brides - Sofa City Sweetheart
5. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Concerts
 1. Isis - 10-year anniversary (the Middle East 11/3 & 11/4)
2. Sam Black Church - reunion (the Roxy 9/22)
3. Diamanda Galas - (NYC 1/21)
4. Poison the Well - (Providence, RI 4/12)
5. Damnation A.D. - (Boston 7/4)
Top albums of 2007 (in no order)
 Gorefest- Rise to Ruin
These guys have returned in full force. I haven’t heard a thrashy death metal release like this in years. From the vitriolic opener “Revolt,” this album frantically pushes towards its end. Albums of this supreme intensity are few and far between.
Slough Feg- Hardworlder
Slough Feg might be metal’s most consistent band. The criminally unknown quartet just hasn’t released a mediocre album. At this point in their career, they are flying the flag for traditional metal in the face of everything –core.
Lizzy Borden- Appointment with Death
I know. I know. It’s beyond corny and reeks of everything irritating and lame about the eighties. However, I don’t care. Lizzy’s powerhouse vocal melodies soar whilst being backed by some great old-school power metal riffs.
Megadeth- United Abominations
I can see the hate mail (and the scoffing of my fellow scallywagz) now. But, I truly believe this is Megadeth’s best album since 1993’s Countdown to Extinction. Some of these songs, like “Sleepwalker,” “Washington is Next!,” and “Gears of War” are both poignant and catchy. This band should not be left for dead, as the new lineup has revitalized them. There are clearly many new ideas flowing in the creativity department.
Nile- Ithyphallic
No band (no, not even Behemoth) is pumping out quality Death Metal releases like Nile is. The twisting, Egyptian themed riffs are fluent through the entire album. The band forges new paths as well, as they take the brutality up a notch.
Top Concerts
The Sword/Valient Thorr/Black Cobra- The Middle East
 Considering that The Sword is one of the most promising new bands in the last five years, I was highly anticipating this show, not to mention they were being supported by the evil Kyuss: Black Cobra. After Black Cobra’s fantastic performance, the North Carolinans Valient Thorr took to the stage. I have never been so impressed with a live band I was entirely unfamiliar with. With an old-school hard rock edge, coupled with nearly unrivaled stage presence, the crowd went wild for these guys. After their show, the only question was whether or not The Sword could top Valient Thorr. Simply put, they could. Not only did they flawlessly belt out songs from their excellent debut Age of Winters, their new songs sounded just as good.
Megadeth/Heaven and Hell- Tsongas Arena
Dave Mustaine must be on cloud nine. His band is stronger than they’ve been in over a decade right now. Last July, when they arrived to play at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, their newfound strength was more than evident. With a great set list that included more than half of Rust in Peace (including a perfectly executed version of “Hangar 18”), they pumped up everyone in the crowd. Later on came the Black Sabbath incarnation known as Heaven and Hell. For those of you living under a rock, that’s Dio-era Sabbath under a new name. They didn’t rival the greatness of Megadeth’s show, but they certainly put on a great show. Opening with “E5150,” right down to closing with “Neon Knights,” Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice (and his killer drum solo!) put on a spectacle that harkened back to metal’s glory days.
Dark Tranquillity- The Palladium
Last April, Dark Tranquillity rocked the Palladium. Despite mediocre opening bands like Into Eternity and Scar Symmetry and the preposterous choice to have The Haunted headline, Dark Tranquillity came out and flat out delivered. Michael Stanne spent most of the concert jumping into the crowd and grabbing fans. 
Necrophagist at the Summer Slaughter Tour – The Palladium
Anyone who still hasn’t seen Necrophagist live needs to do so the next time they come to town. Their brand of ultra-technical, progressive Death Metal is mesmerizing on stage.
Nile – Mark’s Showplace
As much as I despise Mark’s Showplace for their despotic security, Nile absolutely obliterated any worries about that. Karl Sanders and company blasted through their history for two hours of unadulterated musical violence. The fans were left annihilated with damaged hearing.
2007 became the year I became fully interested in metal again. Lots of exciting new releases (Electric Wizard, Trouble, Behemoth), new discoveries (Black Cobra, Winters, Gojira) and insane live shows (Black Cobra, Behemoth). So I look at 2008 as the year I stay focused with a renewed interest in all that is heavy!
Music
Black Cobra - Feather and Stone
Behemoth - The Apostasy
Winters - Black Clouds In Twin Galaxies
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Trouble - Simple Mind Condition
Rosetta - Wake/LIFT
Orange Goblin - Healing Through Fire
King Diamond - Give Me Your Soul...Please
High On Fire - Death is the Communion
Gojira - From Mars To Sirius
Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today
Dethklok — The Dethalbum
Destruct-a-thon - Es Muerto (2001-2004)
Concerts
The Sword, Black Cobra -
The Middle East 12-8-07
Behemoth, Gojira -
The Palladium 11-16-07
Sam Black Church -
The Roxy 9-18-07
LOCOFEST
Heaven and Hell, Alice Cooper, etc. -
Tweeter Center 9-9-07
Katatonia, Scar Symmetry, Swallow The Sun, Insomnium -
Mark's Showplace
Slayer -
DCU Center 8-4-07
Doomriders, Clouds, Bloodhorse -
Ralph's Diner 5-25-07
Movies
 28 Weeks Later
Planet Terror
Sweeney Todd
Pan's Labrynth
Stardust
Once
Beers
Dogfish Midas Touch
Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout
Omegang Chocolate Indulgence
Movies
(Best)
Hatchet
28 Weeks Later
The Mist
1408
Fido
Behind the Mask
The Host
(Worst)
Blood Monkey
Halloween
Music:
(Best)
Dethalbum – Dethklok
Black Rain – Ozzy
Witchcult Today – Electric Wizard
Ire Works – Dillinger Escape Plan
Cortical Techonics – Canvas Solaris
Framing Armageddon: Something Wicked Pt. 1-Iced Earth
In Requiem – Paradise Lost
(honorable mention)
Humanity Hour 1 – Scorpions
Mastercutor – UDO
(Worst) (aka - What the hell is up with the horrible cover albums?)
Real to Reel – Tesla
Poison’d – Poison
Take Cover – Queensryche
And just generally shitty:
Dark Passion Play - Nightwish
Rapid Eye Movment – Riverside
Flyleaf – Flyleaf
After Forever- After Forever
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