Best Metal Albums of 2015

2015 was a great year in metal. Veteran rockers Slayer and Iron Maiden released new works, and new bands continued to expand and redefine what metal is and can be. I hear most of my new metal on the Sirius XM channel Liquid Metal, whose programmer Jose Mangin does a solid job mixing classic tracks with new artists. I wasn’t able to take it all in, but below are my top picks, with links for your listening pleasure. Let me know what music you liked this year in the comment section below. \m/

1. Lamb Of God’s “VII: Sturm Und Drang”: The undisputed statesmen of new American thrash metal add to their legacy with the first album after singer Randy Blythe’s imprisonment in a Czech prison.

Highlights: “512,” “Still Echoes,” “Embers” (featuring Deftones’ Chino Moreno on vocals)

2. Deafheaven’s “New Bermuda”: The hipster metal darlings live up to the hype built by 2013’s “Sunbather” with a more focused, more fierce, more beautiful collection of five songs that average nine minutes each. A transcendently heavy and gorgeous sound pervades.

Highlights: “Brought To The Water,” “Baby Blue”

3. High On Fire’s “Luminiferous”: Singer-guitarist Matt Pike is a living metal legend, and his three-piece band’s latest offering continues to define its own grungy, stoner-metal genre.

Highlights: “The Black Plot,” “Slave The Hive”

4. Faith No More’s “Sol Invictus”: A reunion album worth the wait, this might be the genre-bending band’s best album ever.

Highlights: “Superhero,” “Separation Anxiety”