Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Top 10 Bands of the 21st Century

This is the DEFINITIVE list of the top 10 bands of the 21st century.



CRITERIA:


- The band's official debut album must've come out on or after January 1, 2000.

- The list is any genre although it pretty much ended up being all metal.

- That's it.



10. PARKWAY DRIVE, is a band who's 2005 debut crushed the metalcore scene and since then have released 3 albums that have all been different but have all been great with last years outing, Atlas, solidifying their spot on this list. DEBUT: 2005's Killing With a Smile.



9. REVOCATION, some may argue that they're too low on the list, some may argue that they haven't been around long enough to prove themselves. The truth is they released their debut in 2008 and have since released 3 albums and 1 EP which is an extremely good output. Each album has been better than the one before and in 20 years we may look back at Revocation in the 2010'S as we look at Pantera in the 90's. DEBUT: 2008's Empire of the Obscene.



8. THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, Unhallowed debuted this now beloved death/black metal bands sound which was perfected on 2007's Nocturnal. Now 6 albums deep, Dahlia has proven over and over again that they are modern death metal and one of the biggest bands doing it today. DEBUT: 2003's Unhallowed.



7. WHITECHAPEL, while Dahlia are the masters of modern death metal, Whitechapel are without a doubt the masters of deathcore. Making brutality somehow catchy is no easy feat as few other bands in the overpopulated genre have done it but none of have done it nearly as well as Whitechapel. 4 albums in, with a 5th on the way, the band is heading the deathcore movement with no competition. DEBUT: 2007's The Somatic Defilement.



6. AVENGED SEVENFOLD, broke onto the scene back in 2001 and released their 6th album earlier this week. They may be one of the lighter and commercial bands on the list but albums like Waking the Fallen, City of Evil and Nightmare make the band a can't miss band of the century. DEBUT: 2001's Sounding the Seventh Trumpet.



5. SENSES FAIL, the odd man out on this list, they came out back in '03 and have been dominating the depressing/emo/metalcore world ever since, with the monster album Still Searching, the band has been on an incline ever since with the bands latest release, Renacer, leading right now in my "Album of the Year" list. DEBUT: 2004's Let it Enfold You



4. KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, barely making the cut with their debut being released in 2000 the band has seen 2 singers, 1 on their first 2 and most recent and the other(pictured) on the 3 in between. They saw a huge rise in popularity with 2006's As Daylight Dies and with the exit of Howard Jones and the reentry of Jesse Leach the band released Disarm the Descent earlier this year that brought the band back to their heavier than hell roots. DEBUT: 2000's Killswitch Engage.



3. TRIVIUM, releasing their debut in 2003, I didn't discover the band until 2007, 2 years after their breakthrough album, Ascendancy. The band perfected their sound on Shogun and In Waves and are now looking to release their 6th album later this year. DEBUT: 2003's Ember to Inferno.



2. MASTODON, the band transformed themselves from their sludgy 2002 debut, Remission into their 4th album, the prog masterpiece that is Crack the Skye. The band sounds like 2 different bands while still sounding like Mastodon, something most bands can't do. 2011's The Hunter was yet another departure for the band, leaning away from the concept album and into more single song structure. Mid-2013 the band is one of the biggest in modern metal and it's clear to see why, each of their albums have brilliance laced within them and they would be the number 1 if it weren't for the behemoth of a band that took the spot. DEBUT: 2002's Remission.



1. LAMB OF GOD, this is where the criteria comes into play, yes they had an album out in 1999 but it was under the name Burn the Priest. OFFICIALLY the band released their debut, New American Gospel in 2000. The band's breakthrough was in 2004 with Ashes of the Wake and even more so in 2006 with Sacrament. Somehow the band kept improving and released their (in my opinion) masterpiece in 2009 with Wrath. Off of those 3 albums they would make this list, but their debut, 2002's As the Palaces Burn and 2012's Resolution catapult the band into being my number 1 pick for the top band of the 21st century. They have earned the label of "Pure American Metal". DEBUT: 2000's New American Gospel.



HONORABLE MENTIONS: Rise Against, A Day to Remember, Sum 41, Silverstein, Bullet for My Valentine(pre-Temper Temper, Every Time I Die and The Sword.
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