2010 Year in Review

Last years post focused on the releases I listened to. This year I will be expanding it to events and happenings with the blog.So let's start with the bad stuff first. 2010 may go down in history much like 1980 or 1970 did. Illnesses and deaths seem to almost overshadow everything else. Here are the two people we lost that meant the most to me this year.



Peter Steele's passing came out of nowhere. The big man died of heart failure leaving behind a horde of goth metal fans shocked and saddened that one of the most original and cool frontmen left us.



This was probably the most devastating death for many people. Across many generations Ronnie's passing was felt. What made it worse is that there was hope and encouraging news that he was getting better then a couple of weeks later he was gone thanks to stomach cancer. This was also a wake up call that no one is getting any younger and that mortality is inevitable.

Our condolences also go out to the families of Paul Gray and Jimmy Sullivan of Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold.Illnesses continued to effect other people. Here is a get well soon to Phil Kennemore of Y&T and Nergal of Behemoth as they both fight different forms of cancer.

After the jump is the music of 2010 and a recap of That Devil Music as a blog.Again this is bands I listened to or thought I might want to listen to. If I missed someone it either wasn't worth my attention or I forgot about it.

Accept: Blood of Nations pleasantly proved me wrong on how good it was going to be.Wolf and Stefan found a vocalist in Mark Tornillo that could put a different spin on the Accept legacy but still be Accept. Great album.

Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit was released very late in the year but continues the Oregon boys fantastic efforts to confuse Americans in thinking they're from Europe with their brand of blackened ambient metal.

Amorphis: Magic & Mayhem is the extremely rare redo of previous work with a newer singer that actually works. These guys actually made me like older songs I previously didn't care about.

The Absence: Florida's melodeath band is better then some of the melodeath groups coming out of Europe.Enemy Unbound continued that observation.

Barren Earth:A supergroup of sorts from Finland is what a supergroup should be.Talented musicians that can work well together and make brutal melodic death metal. Curse of the Red River is a great album.

Black Label Society: Zakk Wylde's latest wasn't bad but contained too many songs as usual and too many ballads. Still a nice return for someone who had blood clots in both legs, had to quit drinking, and was replaced out of Ozzy before he was told.

Blind Guardian: After numerous tries at liking this band, I don't. But the latest, At the Edge of Time might have been one of the best in their long catalog.

Circle II Circle: I think Zak Stevens is starting to run out of steam post Savatage. The latest album,Consequence of Power, was mostly forgettable which is too bad because they have yet to get recognized much as it is. One of the disappointments this year.

Demonic Resurrection: India's most famous metal band thanks to a documentary about metal around the world released another album that gave nods to other symphonic blackened metal bands like Dimmu Borgir. Good stuff considering the region they're from.Check out The Return To Darkness.

Dimmu Borgir: Speaking of, Abrahadabra was actually surprisingly entertaining considering the turmoil over the past couple of years. The Narnia outfits are still stupid but yes, I liked this album probably more then In Sorte Diaboli.

Disturbed: Asylum was one big copy of everything they have done for the past 6 years. This band is officially boring and I'm done with them.

Exodus: Exhibit B: The Human Condition came out and it wasn't bad. I'm still on the fence with Rob Dukes as a vocalist.But at least there has been some consistency for a few years at the frontman spot for these veterans.

Godsmack: The Oracle was released and I gave enough of a fuck to write this. Still have not listened to it.

Iron Maiden: The long awaited followup to A Matter of Life and Death was one of the years biggest disappointments for me. The Final Frontier with the exception of the last track had songs that were too long in the fact that they were boring. Bruce's voice is starting to show the wear of age and tons of touring which made it painful to listen to at times.

James Labrie: Solo album that delved into the heavier aspects with an annoying harsh vocals. that aside James actually sang parts on here better then Dream Theater.Speaking of, the prog metal world got knocked on its butt by the departure of Mike Portnoy who still can't believe these guys said "See Ya" when he wanted to hiatus the band.

Jon Oliva's Pain: Festival continues the downward spiral of this band post Savatage. I might have to let any more releases of this just slip by as much as I hate to say it. This album did nothing for me.

Kamelot: Poison for the Poetry dropped and the first listen left me disappointed. After multiple listens I like it well enough but still not one of my favorites. Roy Khan mysteriously dropped off the tour due to a 'illness' which these days is devastating to a band. Still no word from him if his 'burnout' situation is resolved but they're touring Europe next year so fuck you, U.S.A. is the message that I got.

Krokus: Had a new album out, I heard it's good but never bothered to find out. There's only so much living in the 80's I can take.

Limp Bizkit: See Krokus and replace the 80's with 2000. The new one is flopping. I guess the douches of the world have moved on to metalcore and ICP and don't feel like going back.

Lordi: Babez for Breakfast was released. I did not care. After 3 albums I'm done with this band and their sound. I can only tolerate Mr. Lordi's raspy rock n' roll croaking so much.

Mortemia: Not satisfied with just having Sirenia, Mortem put together a solo project of sorts with choir, fantastic riffs and no chick singing just growls. The Misre Mortem album is awesome and I almost wish he would make this his primary gig.

Nevermore: After 5 long years The Obsidian Conspiracy was released and sadly this did not capitalize on the metal resurgence in the States. It was lacking any real punch on any of the songs and even flirted with mainstream at times. I like it but not close to being one of my favorites, therefore a disappointment. And that is painful to even write as Nevermore is easily one of my favorite bands of recent years.

Overkill: Ironbound on the other hand was a fantastic release. For those that haven't liked them since Horrorscope get your ass out and buy this cd. After years of playing a form of groove metal they went back to the thrash with this release and it was good.

Ozzy: Scream was more of a whimper and continues the tradition since No More Tears of being mediocre dreck with the same themes Ozzy always has. War sucks, save the environment, and I'm getting older and changing.Gus G. did not save this.

Powerglove: More people need to be aware of this band. Saturday Morning Apocalypse delves into cartoons instead of video games but is still a good nostalgic look back on childhood with shredding solos.

Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe 2. One of those cases where the sequel is not better or as good as the original.It's still a fun listen if you're not tired of Zombie by now.

Sabaton: Coat of Arms is a continuation of the sound Sabaton has had for years now. But they have enough riffs and hooks to still make war history interesting. They will be touring the States for the first time next year with Accept. I might have to go to that show.

Solution .45: Christian Alvestam finally picked one of his many side projects to release a cd from. For Aeons Past is a good album that does nothing to make me forget he was in Scar Symmetry.Many of the songs sound like something from SS. If you liked SS with him then get this.

Star One: Arjen Lucassen is back with yet another project. This is the heaviest of them all but still retains the same synth sounds from a dozen years ago.It's not bad for what is which is progressive power metal dealing with space themes.

Therion: Sitra Ahra. Don't know what it means? Don't worry about it.This could easily be the worst cd they have ever made. So avoid it. Avoid it like Therion is avoiding the States. This gets the nod of biggest disappointment of the year from me.

Witchery:Witchkrieg is the latest album from another supergroup involving members of Opeth and others. New singer but same thrashy music that flirts with melodeath. I became a fan of them this year thanks to this album.

That Devil Music made a decent growth spurt in 2010. As promised a few interviews were done with Powerglove and Blackguard being the proud moments. We also delved into the podcast realm. I say we because my longtime friend, Draeden, became my contributor as well. We disagree with alot of things but still manage to be friends and it was nice to have more content on the page. In fact some of his articles yielded the most views we've ever had. That Devil Music also popped up on some other blogrolls such as The Number of the Blog ,Heavy Blog is Heavy , and Hook In Mouth.And some good friends were made because of these associations.That Devil Music tied into Facebook and Last.FM and briefly Myspace. Myspace thought that Blogspot bloggers were spam monsters and blocked us out.
So with all of those things our readership jump by about 75 percent therefore a good year.
This year was not a good year for me for concerts,however. Money issues, illness, and lack of people wanting to go led me to only making two shows all year. Iron Maiden and Nevermore.But both were great shows and hopefully I can turn it around next year.

So there is the recap of 2010 in relation to the blog and the music I listened to this year. I hope you enjoyed it this year and look for a post next month on some of the plans and goals I have in store for That Devil Music in 2011.