In case you’re not as terminally online as me and didn’t get the memo, social media is currently awash with people sharing selfies, videos and memories from 2016. Or, to put it another way: ten years ago.
Yep, your eyes do not deceive you: Donald Trump’s first presidential win, the Brexit vote and the loss of David Bowie and Prince all happened a decade ago. But don’t fall into an existential void! Loads of good stuff happened in 2016 too, including the release of a ton of brilliant metal albums that have aged like fine wine.
With that in mind, here are some of the very best metal records from that year. What did I miss? Let me know in the comments.
Gojira – Magma
They might just be modern metal’s most reliable and celebrated band, and for many, it was in 2016 that Gojira reached peak form with the majestic Magma, written in the aftermath of the loss of Joe and Mario Duplantier’s mother and all the more moving for it. Layering their juddering death metal assault with extra lashings of melody and sonic heft, tracks like the anthemic Silvera and devastating centrepiece The Cell became instant classics, mixing existential pondering with raw emotional rage.
![Gojira - The Cell [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/J13GI4Xik1o/maxresdefault.jpg)
Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Upon release, All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us instantly marked itself as a special and deeply personal record. Following the shocking death of chief songwriter Tom Searle just a few months later, however, it took on a whole new level of poignancy. The band revealed that Tom had been privately battling skin cancer, and it was the guitarist grappling with his own mortality that gave birth to tracks like Gone With The Wind and Memento Mori. As emotional and desolating an album as heavy music has ever produced, ten years later, All Our Gods… has lost none of its impact.
Deftones – Gore
They don’t seem to make bad records, but it took a little while for Gore to find its way into the hearts of many Deftones fans. The most experimental album of their post-White Pony output, it flirted with everything from Pink Floyd space-prog to proto-alt rock and sparse, lo-fi surfing. The result was a challenging but, if you were in for the ride, deeply rewarding listen. Even in the aftermath of two, banger-filled follow-ups in 2020’s Ohms and last year’s Private Music, Gore has matured into nothing less than a stunning work of art from one of metal’s very best.
Oathbreaker – Rheia
It seems impossibly unfair that we’ve had to suffer almost a decade of inactivity from one of Belgium’s best ever music exports, particularly as they took their extended hiatus straight off of the back of one of the best heavy albums of its era. Flawlessly merging black metal, shoegaze and post-hardcore to relentlessly thrilling effect, Oathbreaker’s third album felt like both the climax of a musical journey and a statement of things to come. We didn’t get the latter (yet, at least – they’ve finally reunited and will play Roadburn in April), but what a way to sign off.
Nails – You Will Never Be One Of Us
Let’s be honest: between cancelled tours, rumoured hiatuses, an eight-year gap between albums and a smidge of controversy here and there, the career trajectory of Nails has been a bit of a mess. Luckily, when push came to shove, they always delivered on record – and never more so than this scabrous, savage piece of powerviolence perfection that quite rightly bullied its way up many a critic’s end-of-year list. Ten tracks, 22 minutes (and that’s including an eight-minute album-closer), You Will Never Be One Of Us still sounds as ruthless and peerless as it did ten years back.
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
They may have reunited with OG frontman Dimitri Minakakis a few years later for a series of special anniversary shows, but for all intents and purposes, Dissociation was the final statement from a band that had done so much to define challenging and fearless music across the landscapes of hardcore, metalcore and mathcore alike. As edgy, diverse and surprising as you’d expect from Dillinger, Dissociation wasn’t just a fitting farewell, but further proof that you can build an entire career with zero compromise and still sign off heads and shoulders above your peers.
Every Time I Die – Low Teens
For a band with so few misses across an incredibly consistent career, to say that Low Teens might just be Every Time I Die’s best work is no small praise. But it’s justified: from the instantaneous, Southern-fried chug of Religion Of Speed and swaying melodrama of Map Change to a surprisingly well-executed Brendan Urie cameo on It Remembers, this was ETID reminding everyone of why they’re one of modern metalcore’s most influential bands while flexing some new muscles to keep us all guessing.
