Now that I'm an old man I find I have less and less time to check out new bands. Luckily this year though a lot of bands I've been a fan of for a long time put out new albums. Of my top 10 there's only one band on this list that I had never owned an album from before. Try to guess which one it is. Let's make a game out of it.

The Top 10

10. Unsane - "Wreck"
It’s a safe bet that if you like one Unsane album you’re going to like them all. So good news for me. I liked Unsane’s other albums.

9. Cannibal Corpse - "Torture"
The best thing I can say about “Torture” is it’s the first Cannibal Corpse album I can actually sit down and listen to from start to finish. I’m assuming this means long-time fans think this album blows or something, but I like to pretend they made this one just for me.

8. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - "Danza IIII: The Alpha - The Omega"
This biggest shock to me about this album was how serious it is. At least I think it’s serious. I still don’t understand any of the words being screamed but I know the song titles are a lot more series than the first few albums.

7. Narrows - "Painted"
Getting to hear Dave Verellen lose his shit again makes me happier than I care to admit right now. This album is probably the closest thing we’ll ever see to a Botch reunion and for right now that’s ok. Seriously though, a Botch reunion would be awesome.

6. Baroness - "Yellow & Green"
I went through every emotion when I heard this double album, but eventually settled at really liking it. It’s a pretty big leap from their previous albums and even when I got to that last song on the second disc I was still waiting for John Baizley to bust out with some yelling. It doesn’t come through, and after some real soul searching I’ve decided I’m ok with that.

5. Gorjira - "L'Enfant Sauvage"
Every Gorjira album seems to grow on me over time. Their first one took over a year so there’s a solid chance “L'Enfant Sauvage” would've ended up higher on my list if it had some out back in January. All in all though, another solid effort from Gorjira and they always make me feel smart because they’re French and like the environment and stuff. I think that’s what they’re talking about in most of these songs.

4. Every Time I Die - "Ex Lives"
I was a giant fan of ETID’s 2003 album “Hot Damn!” Everything after that kind of went downhill though, the low point being 2009’s “New Junk Aesthetic” for me. But “Ex-Lives” jumps back to what I always liked about these guys. Tons of energy and a solid amount of screaming. Screaming is always good.

3. Torche - "Harmonicraft"
I had kinda forgotten about these guys after their first album, despite their other albums always getting solid reviews, but when they hit the road with Converge I decided to give them another go and was hooked. The same way Red Fang’s “Murder the Mountains” got into my head last year “Harmonicraft” is one song after another that drilled into my brain. In a good way I mean.

2. Converge - "All We Love We Leave Behind"
Converge can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes. I don’t really know what else to say.

1. Pig Destroyer - "Book Burner"
These guys keep getting better and better despite that fact that I am pretty afraid of them. I can’t think of any other band that makes me feel like they want to punch me in the face. That being said, this one falls somewhere in between “Prowler in the Yard” and “Terrifyer” on the sludgy-meter (a meter I just invented) and that’s a pretty great place to be.

Albums from 2011 I can’t stop listening to

Red Fang - "Murder the Mountains"
I didn’t discover this album until this year and I hate myself for it. Probably would have been my number 1 if I didn’t have my head up my ass.

The Black Dahlia Murder - "Ritual"
I can’t get enough of these guys. I want to party with them.