FEATURING MEMBERS OF INTRONAUT, DARKEST HOUR, THE RED CHORD, KYLESA, GORGOROTH, CORMORANT, RETURN TO EARTH, KRIEG, LAZARUS A.D., HAIL OF BULLETS, AND BLOODHORSE

For 2010, we decided to do something special as part of our regular end-of-year festivities here at MetalSucks — namely, ask musicians from across the vast spectrum of the metalsphere (or, in a few cases, the almost-metalsphere) what their favorite albums of the year were. Death metallers, thrash metallers, black metallers, stoners, grinders, and djenters alike graciously contributed lists to MS, and we’ll be running them in groups of ten to eleven musicians at a time twice a day for the rest of the week.

After the jump, check out the fifth group… we hope you enjoy seeing what some of metal’s heaviest hitters were into this year as much as we have!

(And please note that these are musicians and that they, um, have a lot on their minds. So some of ‘em named albums that actually came out last year. Please don’t freak out.)

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Last week Eyal asked you what you were all listening to, and as of this writing, three of you said Hail of Bullets. Now, this is one of these bands that I know some people LOVE — they’ll e-mail us about how great they are, or I’ll read rave reviews on another website/publication, or whatever.

And I don’t think Hail of Bullets are bad or anything… but I don’t see what the big deal is. I know that Martin van Drunen used to be Pestilence, and that’s great, but this band ain’t no Pestilence.

Here’s the band’s latest video, for the song “Operation Z.” Check it out and tell me what I’m missing.

Hail of Bullets’ latest, On Divine Winds, is out now on Metal Blade.

-AR

Writing on the new and improved Invisible Oranges, Cosmo Lee asserts that “You may know [Ed Warby] as the drummer for Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, and Gorefest.” Well, I don’t. Okay, Cosmo? I’m not a fan of any of those bands. I mean, Ayreon are okay if you’re really drunk and have nothing to do for fourteen straight hours, but otherwise, ppppffffttt. So stop being such a bully all the time, okay? Jeez.

ANYWAY, Cosmo was writing about Ed Warby because he’s the mastermind behind The 11th Hour, whose 2009 release, The Burden of Grief, is apparently “about a man about to die from a lung disease.” What a simple and brilliant idea for a metal concept album. Not everything has to be about life and death on such an epic scale; life and death are pretty epic on their own. Especially if it’s your death you’re facing down. Kinda makes you wish more bands would shut up about vikings and Satan already and get a little more down-to-earth when considering the plight of modern man.

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Our bro-bros at Metal Injection just debuted “Warsaw Rising,” the new video from Hail of Bullets. Check it out:

Warsaw Rising is Hail of Bullets’ new EP, and it’s only avail as a digital release in the U.S. – but Metal Injection are giving away two ultra-rare physical copies. Enter that awesome contest here.

-AR

Last week’s Funny Photo Caption Contest (pictured, right) was another rousing laugh with a shitload of funny entries. Of five total winners, one grand-prize winner will receive a signed CD of The Human Abstract’s new record Midheaven (which hits stores August 19th) as well as a Human Abstract T-shirt, and four will get a regular ol’ Human Abstract CD. Here are the four runners-up:

• Pease Hode: “As you can see, Winds of Plague shows get crazy!”
• Follow4Now: “From the exclusive web only release “SNL skits done metal: My dick in a cold, dark black metal box by Justin Timberlake.”
• James: “Stop! Hellhammer time.”
• BKudler: “The next logical progression in Nu-Metal: Death Pop and Locking.”

And the grand prize goes to…

• Hegster: “…and the crowd gazed upon Lars Ulrich as he tried to devour the dollar symbol they’d cleverly placed around his neck as he bounded and twirled in his new pants made from the broken dreams of hundreds of gen x metal heads, blissfully unaware that he could use his hands for anything other than air-drumming to Trivium’s “The Crusade”.”

ZING! This week’s winner will receive 3 CDs; Nachtmystium’s Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1; Terror’s The Damned, The Shamed, and Hail of Bullets’ …Of Frost and War. Just come up with a funny caption to the below photo, and they’re all yours.