Whilst there has been a plethora of fantastic metal that has come out this year, there sadly must be one choice for my personal album of the year. Metal in 2014 came in all shapes and sizes, forms and genres, new and old and the decision to pick one album of 2014 has been and incredibly hard one to make. Alas I have chosen after much pondering as to what will be my album of the year. *drum roll*
Equilibrium – Erdentempel
So why has Equilibrium’s epic effort ‘Erdentempel‘ topped the pile when there has been so many brilliant releases this year? The core reason behind it is that I have a vast love of different types of metal, and ‘Erdentempel‘ is one of those albums that takes elements from a broad spectrum of genres and creates a perfect blend. Equilibrium’s core metal elements include that of folk metal, power metal, symphonic metal, death metal and black metal and somehow throughout the years Equilibrium have seamlessly been able to thread the pieces together where many other bands have failed to do so.
Equilibrium have produced some fantastic albums in their career, but ‘Erdentempel’ is their finest effort to date with each track flowing into the next flawlessly, and each track having a memorable chant-along hook that peaks interest from start to end. The death-vocal range of frontman Robert ‘Robse’ Dahn is vastly demonstrated, the symphonies are blaring thanks to the keyboard work of songwriter RenĂ© Berthiaume and the drums are flying courtesy of Tuval ‘Hati’ Rafaeli. The music on the album range’s from emotional, to brutal, to goofy, but just highlights something on the album for everyone and is something I respect to the highest degree in metal songwriting. Even if an album like this doesn’t fit your playlist, it deserves praise for the musicianship that provided such an epic album and will no doubt be remembered.
And that’s my album of the year…here’s to an epic and very metal 2015!