Top 25 Metal Albums of 2015 - Jay

Wow, pretty great year...up until Lemmy died. Amorphis and Cattle Decapitation released utterly addictive albums, the Vanden Plas release might be their best yet (Goddammit, more people need to listen to them), and Bell Witch dropped a nuclear bomb on the doom crowd, setting a new bar for that whole sub-genre. I saw King Diamond live, shamefully for the first time, but the hands-down best show I witnessed was the aforementioned Bell Witch...who oozed through a flawless set at Oakland Metro Operahouse. I made some cool discoveries in Chapel of Disease, Cretus, and Slugdge, and even Slayer released a good record. My only list regret is that I couldn't quite fit the Children of Bodom album in there somewhere - I think it's really solid; oh well, call it an honorable mention. 

As ever, my list is all opinion with no facts, but a couple weeks after putting it together I still feel good about my choice of order. Good fucking year. - Jay

#25
Elder
Lore


#24
Tribulation
The Children of the Night


#23
Nile
What Should Not Be Unearthed


     
#22
Slayer
Repentless


#21
Immortal Bird
Empress/Abscess


#20
Ereb Altor
Nattramn


     
#19
Myrkur
M


#18
High On Fire
Luminiferous


#17
Alkaloid
The Malkuth Grimoire


     
#16
Monster Magnet
Cobras and Fire


#15
Mutoid Man
Bleeder


#14
Tau Cross
Tau Cross


     
#13
Vattnet Viskar
Settler


#12
Chapel of Disease
The Mysterious Ways of Repetitive Art


#11
Swallow the Sun
Songs from the North 1,2,3


     
#10
Sulphur Aeon
Gateway to the Antisphere


#9
Cretus
Dux Mea Lux


#8
Enslaved
In Times


     
#7
Arcturus
Arcturian


#6
Slugdge
Dim and Slimeridden Kingdoms


#5
Ahab
The Boats of the Glen Carrig


     
#4
Cattle Decapitation
The Anthropocene Extinction


#3
Vanden Plas
Chronicles of the Immortals 2


#2
Amorphis
Under the Red Cloud


     
#1
Bell Witch
Four Phantoms


HONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Act of Defiance - Birth and the Burial
  • Children of Bodom - I Worship Chaos
  • Draconian - Sovran
  • Horrendous - Anareta
  • Intronaut - The Direction of Last Things
  • Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower