What will 2010 bring? New albums I'm looking forward to: Part 1

So, this year is already off to a storming start with quality releases by Finntroll, Bifröst, Blaze Bayley, Fear Factory, Ihsahn, Heidevolk, Metsatöll, Mustasch, Rotting Christ, Sigh, and many, many others.

This promising trend certainly looks to continue as the year wears on, with new albums still to come by the likes of Deftones, Sonic Syndicate, Cold, Spineshank, and the mighty Iron Maiden. This could certainly be a vintage year for rock/metal music, and it is certainly one that I am very much looking forward to.

The Maiden album alone should be the highlight of the year, especially when you consider the upward creative trajectory that the band has been on in the last decade....constantly evolving and adapting their style, not to fit in with or to pander to the mainstream, but to the ever-changing vision of Mr. Steve Harris. It could, however, be a bit of a bitter pill, as the band have stated for a number of years now that album number 15 would be their last, as well as comments alluding to the fact that they can’t go on forever, and that they are getting older. We will have to wait and see, but personally, I really doubt that Steve would want to give up while the band are scaling such creative heights or finally receiving some long overdue mainstream recognition and acceptance. He is just too driven as a musician and too stubborn to admit that he is done. Even if this does prove to be their swansong as far as recorded output is concerned, then we can still look forward to a few more years of touring, as they still have a lot of extravagant plans afoot as part of the ongoing theme of the re-imagining of classic tours from the band’s history.

Another album that I am excited about is the new Deftones release “Diamond Eyes”. After the slightly disappointing “Saturday Night Wrist”, this album has a lot of expectations riding on it, and I don’t have any doubt that Deftones can deliver. I expect that it will more of their brooding, introspective and often beautiful post-rock (not nu-metal by the way). From the two songs I have heard so far, this is already sounding like a masterpiece, although it is a bit early for predictions at this point. I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

As I mentioned earlier, we also have new albums by two recently reunited bands in Cold and Spineshank. To be honest, I will be approaching both of these with a little trepidation as both could realistically go either way creatively. Cold, in particular, had adopted a horrible Creed-lite sound on their last album, so I am really hoping that they will be looking to their first three albums or indeed, elsewhere for inspiration this time around. As for Spineshank, they had also taken a worrying swing in the wrong direction on their last album, but the (very) rough demo they posted online over a year ago now, was certainly very promising and displayed a much heavier sound than previous albums. I await both of these with much interest.

I am also very much looking forward to hearing the new album by Sonic Syndicate (their first with Nathan on vocals) in May. I have to be honest (sorry Nathan), but I wasn’t really impressed with the single “Burn This City”, as it was just that little bit too commercial. I have no issue with sing-a-long choruses or clean vocals, but this was just a step too far for me. I have high hopes for the album though, and am especially interested to hear what Nathan is going to bring to the table as far as the sound of the band is concerned. His vocals are far superior to the previous vocalist, and I know what he is capable of from his days with The Hollow Earth Theory. For that reason, and the fact that I love their previous album, “Love And Other Disasters”, I have no doubt that this will be their strongest album to date. Let’s look at the facts. They have a new (better) singer, so they will already feel the need to step up and to prove what they can do to a (no doubt) expectant and maybe even dubious fanbase, and Nuclear Blast also seem to be throwing their full weight behind the band. If they have faith in them, I think we can all rest easy knowing that this will be a great album. Roll on May.