In the Metal Hammer end of year spectacular, we revealed that Mastodon’s Emperor Of Sand was crowned the best album of 2017 in our Top 100 list. It was a mammoth undertaking, and a decision that came from numerous Hammer writers submitting their own personal Top 20 album lists.
Here is a handful of those Top 20s from Hammer staff and freelancers. The music that we, as a collective, have been listening to while writing the hundreds of thousands of words you read every in the pages of Metal Hammer every year. It’s safe to say that 2017 has been mega for heavy music.
Merlin Alderslade (Editor)
1) Myrkur – Mareridt
2) Code Orange – Forever
3) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
4) While She Sleeps – You Are We
5) Power Trip – Nightmare Logic
6) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
7) The Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers
8) Creeper – Eternity, In My Arms
9) Perturbator – New Model
10) Pallbearer – Heartless
11) Sunlight’s Bane – The Blackest Volume
12) Employed To Serve – The Warmth Of A Dying Sun
13) AFI – AFI (The Blood Album)
14) Darkest Hour – Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
15) Dan Terminus – Automated Refrains
16) Abhorrent Decimation – The Pardoner
17) Malevolence – Self Supremacy 18) In Reverence – The Selected Breed
19) Blood Command – Cult Drugs
20) Trivium – The Sin And The Sentence
Eleanor Goodman (Deputy Editor)
1) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
2) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
3) Myrkur – Mareridt
4) Code Orange – Forever
5) While She Sleeps – You Are We
6) Northlane – Mesmer
7) Leprous – Malina
8) AFI – AFI (The Blood Album)
9) Trivium – The Sin And The Sentence
10) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
11) Sólstafir – Berdreyminn
12) Sikth – The Future In Whose Eyes?
13) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
14) Perturbator – New Model
15) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
16) Papa Roach – Crooked Teeth
17) Life Of Agony – A Place Where There’s No More Pain
18) Pallbearer – Heartless
19) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
20) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
Lewis Somerscales (Art Editor)
1) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
2) While She Sleeps – You Are We
3) Code Orange – Forever
4) Zeal & Ardor – The Devil Is Fine
5) Stone Sour – Hydrograd
6) Ho99o9 – United States Of Horror
7) Arch Enemy – Will To Power
8) Trivium – Sin And The Sentence
9) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
10) Prophets Of Rage – Prophets Of Rage
11) Cradle Of Filth – Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay
12) Body Count – Bloodlust
13) Sasquatch – Maneuvers
14) Paradise Lost – Medusa
15) Sikth – The Future In Whose Eyes
16) Perturbator – New Model
17) Employed To Serve – The Warmth Of A Dying Sun
18) Me & That Man – Songs Of Love & Death
19) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
20) Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black
Jonathan Selzer (Reviews and Subterranea Editor)
1) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
2) Amenra – Mass VI
3) Converge – The Dusk In Us
4) Nicole Sabouné – Miman
5) Royal Thunder – Wick
6) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
7) Myrkur – Mareridt
8) Sólstafir – Berdreyminn
9) Nibiru – Qaal Babalon 10) Harvestman – Music For Megaliths
11) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
12) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
13) Oxbow – Thin Black Duke
14) The Obsessed – Sacred
15) The Ruins Of Beverast – Exuvia
16) The Great Old Ones – EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacy
17) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
18) All Pigs Must Die – Hostage Animal
19) Enslaved – E
20) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
Luke Morton (Online Editor)
1) Converge – The Dusk In Us
2) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
3) Code Orange – Forever
4) While She Sleeps – You Are We
5) Myrkur – Mareridt
6) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
7) Employed To Serve – The Warmth Of A Dying Sun
8) Wear Your Wounds – Wear Your Wounds
9) Anathema – The Optimist 10) Full Of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstasy
11) Amenra – Mass VI
12) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
13) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
14) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
15) Stray From The Path – Only Death Is Real
16) Prophets Of Rage – Prophets Of Rage
17) All Pigs Must Die – Hostage Animal
18) Sólstafir – Berdreyminn
19) Here Lies Man – Here Lies Man
20) Comeback Kid – Outsider
Vanessa Thorpe (Production Editor)
1) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
2) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
3) Myrkur – Mareridt
4) Royal Thunder – Wick
5) Sólstafir – Berdreyminn
6) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
7) Ufomammut – 8
8) The Contortionist – Clairvoyant
9) Elder – Reflections Of A Floating World
10) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
11) Enslaved – E
12) Perturbator – New Model
13) Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
14) Horisont – About Time
15) Trivium – The Sin And The Sentence
16) Quicksand – Interiors
17) Leprous – Malina
18) Prophets Of Rage – Prophets Of Rage
19) The Bronx – V
20) No Sin Evades His Gaze – Endless Disconnect
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Dom Lawson (writer)
1) Integrity – Howling, For The Nightmare Shall Consume
2) Threshold – Legends Of The Shires
3) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
4) Enslaved – E
5) Disperse – Foreword
6) Battle Beast – Bringer Of Pain
7) Vuur – In This Moment We Are Free - Cities
8) Drug Honkey – Cloak Of Skies
9) The Lurking Fear – Out Of The Voiceless Grave
10) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
11) Danko Jones – Wild Cat
12) Akercocke – Renaissance In Extremis
13) Kreator – Gods Of Violence
14) Moonspell – 1755
15) Anathema – The Optimist
16) Vallenfyre – Fear Those Who Fear Him
17) Abhorrent Decimation – The Pardoner
18) Hellripper – Coagulating Darkness
19) Full Of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstasy
20) With The Dead – Love From With The Dead
Stephen Hill (writer)
1) Code Orange – Forever
2) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
3) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
4) Wear Your Wounds – WYW
5) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
6) Elder – Reflections Of A Floating World
7) Employed To Serve – The Warmth Of A Dying Sun
8) Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers
9) Creeper – Eternity, In Your Arms
10) Power Trip – Nightmare Logic
11) Blood Command – Cult Drugs
12) Full Of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstacy
13) AFI – AFI: The Blood Album
14) Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
15) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
16) Trivium – The Sin & The Sentence
17) While She Sleeps – You Are We
18) The King Is Blind – We Are The Parasite, We Are The Cancer
19) Body Count – Bloodlust
20) Vallenfyre – Fear Those Who Fear Him
Tom O’Boyle (writer)
1) Enslaved – E
2) Leprous – Malina
3) The Contortionist – Clairvoyant
4) Disperse – Foreword
5) Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
6) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
7) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
8) The Lurking Fear – Out Of The Voiceless Grave
9) The Botanist – Collective: The Shape Of He To Come
10) The Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers
11) Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine
12) Pallbearer – Heartless
13) Tetragrammacide – Primal Incinerators Of Moral Matrix
14) Myrkur – Mareridt
15) Grave Pleasures – Motherblood
16) Mork – Eremittens Dal
17) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
18) Akercocke – Renaissance In Extremis
19) Amenra – Mass VI
20) Dyscarnate – With All Their Might
Sophie Maughan (writer)
1) The Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers
2) Thy Art Is Murder – Dear Desolation
3) While She Sleeps – You Are We
4) Myrkur – Mareridt
5) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
6) Leprous – Malina
7) Converge – The Dusk In Us
8) The Contortionist – Clairvoyant
9) The Great Discord – The Rabbit Hole
10) The Haunted – Strength In Numbers
11) Martyr Defiled – Young Gods
12) Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
13) Entheos – Entheos
14) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
15) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
16) Dyscarnate – With All Their Might
17) Northlane – Mesmer
18) Loathe – The Cold Sun
19) No Sin Evades His Gaze – Endless Disconnect
20) Skies In Motion – Life Lessons
Malcolm Dome (writer)
1) Paradise Lost – Medusa
2) Arch Enemy – Will To Power
3) Enslaved – E
4) Accept – The Rise Of Chaos
5) Anathema – The Optimist
6) Deep Purple – Infinite
7) Iced Earth – Incorruptible
8) Kreator – Gods Of Violence
9) Primus – The Desaturating Seven
10) Prong – Zero Days
11) Sons Of Apollo – Psychotic Symphony
12) Alice Cooper – Paranormal
13) Panzer – Fatal Command
14) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
15) Annihilator – For The Demented
16) Psychedelic Witchcraft – Sound Of The Wind
17) Fozzy – Judas
18) Prophets Of Rage – Prophets Of Rage
19) Triggerfinger – Colossus
20) Voyager – Ghost Mile
Joe Daly (writer)
1) Paradise Lost – Medusa
2) Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven
3) Myrkur – Mareridt
4) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
5) The Black Dahlia Murder – Nightbringers
6) Ghost Bath – Starmourner
7) The Haunted – Strength In Numbers
8) Wormwood – Ghostlands - Wounds From A Bleeding Earth
9) Code Orange – Forever
10) Au Champ Des Morts – Dans La Joie
11) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
12) Violet Cold – Anomie
13) Darkest Hour – Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora
14) Nicole Sabouné – Miman
15) Body Count - Bloodlust
16) Act Of Defiance – Old Scars, New Wounds
17) The Bronx – V
18) Wolfheart – Tyhjyys
19) Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep
20) Sons Of Death Valley – Fathers Of The Free
Dannii Leivers (writer)
1) At The Drive In – In.ter.a.li.a
2) While She Sleeps – You Are We
3) Mastodon – Emperor Of Sand
4) Creeper – Eternity, In Your Arms
5) Blood Command – Cult Drugs
6) Marilyn Manson – Heaven Upside Down
7) Code Orange – Forever
8) Myrkur – Mareridt
9) Thy Art Is Murder – Dear Desolation
10) Loathe – The Cold Sun
11) Northlane – Mesmer
12) The Great Dischord – The Rabbit Hole
13) Battle Beast – Bringer Of Pain
14) Voyager – Ghost Mile
15) Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun
16) Ho99o9 – United States Of Horror
17) Body Count – Bloodlust
18) AFI – AFI (The Blood Album)
19) Ulver – The Assassination Of Julius Caesar
20) Wage War – Deadweight
You can read our full 2017 review in the latest issue of Metal Hammer – in stores now. Buy it directly here or become a TeamRock+ member to read it right now.
