1. Evergrey – Hymns For The Broken

evergrey - hymns for the broken cover

And down to number one! On the last day of the year, we make an end to this nonsense top 10 of 2014. With this amazing album.
Ever since I heard ‘The Inner Circle’ my soul was sold to this Swedish band, but with the latest releases, my heart has wept with sadness.
I truly believed that they couldn’t make good albums any longer.

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2. Slash – World On Fire

slash - world on fire cover

After failing with multiple solo experiments, Slash, the famous Guns ‘N Roses guitarist, has released his third solo album.
At first we were surprised with the self-titled album on which multiple vocalists, like Lemmy from Mötorhead and Ozzy Osbourne.

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3. Need – Orvam (A Song For Home)

Need-Orvam-A-Song-for-Home Cover

This is a very interesting entry, mostly because a lot of you will not know the band. Need is a Greek band that fell onto my doorstep last summer to be reviewed for the Lords Of Metal e-zine. After having released two pretty bad albums, they return with ‘Orvam (A Song For Home)’ and it is one big succes.

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4. Machine Head – Bloodstone And Diamonds

Machine Head bloodstone cover

For Machine Head front-man Robb Flynn a breakup is very, very bad news. Being together a long time, like Machine Head, it is terrible to lose a close friend and band mate. But if there is an argument, or things get out so terribly out of hand as it was with Machine Head, it’s inevitable.

And that’s exactly what happened, resulting into a breakup with bass player and co-founder Adam Duce. For the fans this is great news, because an angry Flynn writes the meanest songs.

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5. Blues Pills- Blues Pills

bluespills cover

It’s amazing how easy it sometimes seems to be. A woman decides to form a new band, with a bit of a hippy, retro sound. Then she recruits a couple of metal musicians that agree to give in to the sound, to make a lovely prog-rock album, with it’s roots deep into the psychedelic. And that’s exactly Blues Pills.

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6. Amplifier – Mystoria

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After the first three albums Amplifier wanted to record Mystoria, but they had a terrible lack of funds. Therefore they recorded their previous album, Echo Street, hoping that it would sell good and they would be able to record the original project.

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7. Alestorm – Sunset On The Golden Age

alestorm-sunset-on-the-golden-age

Who would have thought that, after ‘Captain Morgan’s Revenge’, these Scottish pirates would release their fourth album already?
Well, fact is they did and it is freaking awesome!

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8. Sabaton – Heroes

Sabaton - Heroes Cover art

After their 2012 release of ‘Carolus Rex’ the Swedes of Sabaton shifted their focus back to the more global history. The Swedish history of king Carolus was very interesting, but ‘Heroes’ covers more of the smaller, unknown stories in, for example, World War II.

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9: Alternative 4 – The Obscurants

The obscurants cover image

After the brilliant 2011 release of ‘The Brink’, Alternative 4 returned this year with the follow-up called ‘The Obscurants.
The band formed by Duncan Patterson, known from Antimatter, Ion and, most of all, Anathema.

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10: Within Temptation – Hydra

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Releases from the beginning of the year always seem to slip away at the end. “Is this really a 2014 release?”, is a question that I ask myself way to much. Also, as a Dutchman, it is inevitable that there is a Dutch release in my list. It is listed on the last place, but the fact that it’s good enough to be in the list, says enough.

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