And so at last we come to the final day of our Album of the Year Christmas Countdown. What a year it has been too! We have seen some absolutely brilliant releases from bands from all sorts of genres. Proving that Metal is most certainly not dead in 2015 and in fact a huge runner in the line of music itself. I shall be adding my personal Honourable Mentions list at the bottom for those albums that might have felt slightly left out! Either way we hope that you have enjoyed the list and will be seeing it through until next year. Thanks again to all of you amazing people for making The Metalist what it is, without you, dear readers we would be nothing. So from Chris and Tris thank you and Merry Christmas. Now let’s get back to Metal…

1. Jakub Zyteki – Wishful Lotus Proof
2. Agent Fresco – Destrier
3. Cain’s Offering – Stormcrow
4. Tesseract – Polaris
5. Unleash The Archers – Time Stands Still
6. Lamb of God – VII : Sturm Und Drang
7. Lindemann – Skills in Pills
8. The Black Dahlia Murder – Abysmal
9. Amorphis – Under The Red Cloud
10. Steven Wilson – Hand.Cannot.Erase
11. Saurom – Sueños
12. Napalm Death – Apex Predator
13. Blind Guardian – Beyond The Red Mirror
14. Between The Buried and Me – Coma Ecliptic
15. Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody – Prometheus
16. Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction
17. Symphony X – Underworld
18. Carach Angren – This Is No Fairytale
19. Nightwish – Endless Forms Most Beautiful
20. Nile – What Should Not Be Unearthed
21. Damnation Angels – The Valiant Fire
22. Tribulation – Children of The Night
23. Gloryhammer – Space 1992 : Rise of the Chaos Wizards

Cradle of Filth – Hammer of the Witches

With an ever changing line up Cradle of Filth have become a very different affair to how they started out twenty odd years ago. From the majesty of Midian to Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, members drifted in and out of the band. Marking their return this year, the band set upon working on their next full length record. With a renewed line up Hammer of The Witches was a band reborn, lifting the veil in July the band released one of their best album’s in their lengthy catalogue.

Having painstakingly dissected their back catalogue, Cradle of Filth took inspiration from their earlier work. Incorporating the twin guitar attack of Ashok and Richard Shaw melody once again was the band’s muse. Coupled with Dani Filth’s signature shrill howls make for a fantastic compromise. Creating lenghtier songs brought to mind a sense of the progressive, particularly stand out track “Deflowering The Maidenhead, Displeasuring The Goddess“. Single “Right Wing of the Garden Triptych” again stands out with solos taking center stage but the biggest improvement in our garden of melancholia is the focus on song writing. Creating eleven tracks that combine elements throughout Metal sub genres whilst retaining the signature Cradle of Filth imprint. Giving the band a new found joi de vivre the aggressive anguish of “Yours Immortally” set’s the album up perfectly.

A band that many no doubt thought were perhaps on the downwards slope returned and are in my opinion at the absolute top of their game. Birthing an album that will long be a benchmark for Symphonic Black Metal’s success. Hammer of the Witches is Cradle of Filth‘s defiant undead howl that no one else could pull off, truly breathtaking.

• Rivers of Nihil – Monarchy
• Trivium – Silence In The Snow
• Deafheaven – New Bermuda
• Enslaved – In Times
• Alkaloid – The Malkuth Grimoire
• Ghost – Meliora
• Myrkur – M
• Apophys – Prime Incursion
• Baroness – Purple
• Periphery – Juggernaut
• Psycroptic – S/T
• Black Breath – Slaves Beyond Death
• Hate Eternal – Infernus
• Clutch – Psychic Warfare
• Caligula’s Horse – Bloom
• Firespawn – Shadow Realms
• Scale the Summit – V
• Heart Of A Coward – Deliverance
• Intronaut – The Direction of Last Things
• Leprous – The Congregation
• Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
• Skinless – Only The Ruthless Remain
• Muse – Drones
• Sylosis – Dormant Heart
• Unleashed – Dawn of The Nine
• Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
• Riverside – Love, Fear And The Time Machine

 Fancy having a Black Magick Christmas then pick up the album here!