Any time my year-end list starts with more than 20 candidates, it’s been a pretty metal year for me. That was the case for 2013 You May Also Like: Black Sabbath – ‘Black Sabbath’ (1970): On Second Thought Black Sabbath’s Often-Dismissed ‘Sabotage’ Is Far Better Than You Remembered

So, what will the Mike Portnoy-less Adrenaline Mob sound like? Well, pretty much like the version of the band with Portnoy, but perhaps even less interesting. You May Also Like: Neal Morse Band, “The Grand Experiment” (2015): One Track Mind

Death Angel stands as one of the most underrated acts from the second tier of the 1980s San Francisco Bay-area thrash movement. You May Also Like: Punky Meadows – Fallen Angel (2016) Archon Angel – ‘Fallen’ (2020) Dialectical Imagination – The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Wrath (2017)

On its fourth studio album, Powder Mill delivers a rough-around-the-edges, nasty, gnarly blend of Southern rock and country that will certainly remind fans of fellow Ozark rockers Black Oak Arkansas. You May Also Like: Hank Williams Jr. – It’s About Time (2016) Justin Townes Earle, “Looking for a Place toRead More

I spent a lot of quality time with Bloodgood in the late 1980s. It was around the time that Stryper rose to fame and Christian metal exploded as a subgenre on labels like Frontline Records. You May Also Like: Sweet and Lynch – Only to Rise (2015) Flotsam and Jetsam,Read More

Since the death of vocalist Ray Gillen and the end of Badlands, we haven’t heard much from Jake E. Lee. You May Also Like: Jake Hertzog – Well Lit Shadow (2016)

Ugly Kid Joe very likely doomed their career with the way they came on to the scene. First there was the name, a jab at second- or third-tier hair metal act Pretty Boy Floyd. You May Also Like: Flotsam and Jetsam, “Iron Maiden” from Flotsam and Jetsam (2016): One TrackRead More

I’ll make a confession at the top of this review that will invalidate my opinion in the eyes of many Nightwish fans, but I didn’t really like the band with Tarja Turunen. You May Also Like: Aerosmith – ‘1971: The Road Starts Hear’ (2022) Gloryhammer, “Fly Away” (2022): One TrackRead More

I’m not sure that this shouldn’t be a WTF Wednesday entry instead of a One Track Mind, but Alestorm has a long and sordid history of strange cover songs. You May Also Like: Alestorm – ‘No Grave But the Sea’ (2017)

I was a big fan of Soil’s breakthrough 2001 album Scars, with its infectious hit “Halo.” As much as I liked that record, though, the band seemed to fade quickly for me. You May Also Like: Walter Trout – Battle Scars (2015) The Outryders, “Over the Scars / Look atRead More