​Some of the big events that happened this year include the Back To The Beginning concert, where the original four members of Black Sabbath got together for the last time for a final performance, along with performances from an array of the biggest bands of all time, like Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice In Chains, Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Tool and many others.  It also truly turned out to be Ozzy's farewell to the world before he sadly passed just two weeks after the show.  Soundgarden were also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.  Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee also announced that they would be going back out on tour in 2026 to celebrate Rush's music and Neil Peart's legacy, with Anika Nilles performing drums on the tour.  People should not mistake this as the new Rush because it's merely a celebration and not a brand new lineup that will continue to make new records.

As per usual, let's take a moment to pay homage to all the talents, both musical and non-musical, that we unfortunately lost this year.  It goes without saying that a couple of the most notable losses this year were undoubtedly Ozzy and Ace Frehley, but other notable losses include John Sykes, Coburn Pharr, Les Binks, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Brian Montana, David Lynch, Marianne Faithful, Rick Derringer, Val Kilmer, George Foreman, Michelle Trachtenberg, Gene Hackman, Pope Francis, Ted Kotcheff, Joan Plowright, Graham Greene, Brent Hinds, Julian McMahon, Rob and Michele Reiner and Sam Rivers just to name a few.

This year, much like 2023, didn't feature a whole lot of music that grabbed and shook me at my core and made me feel was worthy of being on my Top 10.  As a result, I'm putting together a Top 8 for this year.  Here's to hoping that 2026 will feature many more records that will shake me much like in years past.

08.  WARBRINGER - Wrath & Ruin

Released:  March 14, 2025
Label:  Napalm Records

Continuing the streak of quality albums, Warbringer have once again delivered all the goods and then some on their seventh album Wrath & Ruin.  With Mark Lewis handling the controls for this release, Warbringer have delivered on what is their best produced album to date with a much sharper and punchier production.  Known for touching on historic events within their lyrics, we see Warbringer include some modern relevance, like the vision we all share with John Kevill on the world being a perfect place, but knowing that it's not possible, which can be heard on "A Better World".  However, there's also burners like "The Sword & The Cross" (best track on the record), "Neuromancer", "Through A Glass, Darkly", and "The Last Of My Kind", all of which feature Warbringer at their finest to date.

​I personally could only pick less than 10 albums that stood out to me from that year, like Metallica's 72 Seasons, Overkill's Scorched, The Raven Age's Blood Omen, Eclipse's Megalomanium, Evile's The Unknown, Cannibal Corpse's Chaos Horrific and Dieth's To Hell & Back, but that's about it, honestly.  Normally, if I can pick 10 or more releases that stuck out, then it's worthy to make a list.

However, while we're here, let's reflect on a few standout events from 2023 that we missed.  Some key moments include Marty Friedman performing with Megadeth in Japan and at Wacken Open Air for the first time in 23 years, the tornado that affected the Morbid Angel concert in Illinois, Dream Theater announced the return of Mike Portnoy after 13 years, Slipknot parted ways with Jay Weinberg and brought in Eloy Casagrande, and Kiss concluded their career after 50 years with two nights at Madison Square Garden.

Now, while we're still on the subject of 2023, let's take a moment to pay tribute to all the great musical and non-musical talents we lost last year, with the notable losses being Gordon Lightfoot, Tina Turner, Lisa Marie Presley, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Buffet, Tony Bennett, Sinead O' Connor, Sebastian Marino, Jim Durkin, David Crosby, Josua Madsen, Wayne Swinny, Andy Rourke, Wayne Shorter, Kirk Arrington, Bernie Marsden, Robbie Robertson, Steve Riley and Charlie Dominici just to name a few, while some of the non-musical losses of 2023 include Matthew Perry, Sir Michael Gambon, Bob Barker and Jerry Springer.  R.I.P. to all the talents we lost in 2023.

Coming back to the present moment in 2024, as far as some of the big music stories of 2024 go, some standout moments (both good and bad) include the reformation of Slayer for some festival appearances, which is more respectable for a reunion rather than becoming a touring entity again.  There was also Sepultura announcing their farewell tour, Gojira's historic performance at the summer Olympics, Linkin Park coming back from inactivity with a new album, singer and tour, the Jane's Addiction on-stage meltdown, which caused the band to end their tour abruptly and enter an indefinite hiatus, the drama with As I Lay Dying surrounding the whole band leaving and making it quite obvious that the problem was Tim Lambesis (no surprise), the Three Days Grace reunion with Adam Gontier, while Matt Walst remains in place, making the band a quintet, and of course Nicko McBrain retiring from touring with Iron Maiden after 42 years.

Let's now take a moment to pay tribute to those talents that we lost this year.  2024 saw the unfortunate losses of James Kottak, Jerry Abbott (Dimebag and Vinnie's dad), C.J Snare, Robin George, Jon Wysocki, Peter Collins, Toby Keith, Jack Russell, Paul Di'Anno, Dave Allison, Bob Bryar, Liam Payne, Quincy Jones and Zakir Hussain, just to name a few.  Some of the non-musical talents that we lost this year include Bernard Hill, Carl Weathers, Richard Simmons, Morgan Spurlock, Shannen Doherty, Dame Maggie Smith and James Earl Jones just to name a few.  R.I.P. to all the great talents we lost in 2024.

Anyways, here is my first top 10 list since 2022.  Once again, these are just MY personal picks, so no need to get all huffy if you don't see your favourite album on here.  I hope you enjoy going over my 10 picks of 2024!

Restrictions disappeared by early spring, and boy, were we thrilled.  It was amazing to see shows and all mass gatherings return, and to feel that weight of a ton of bricks being lifted off our shoulders.  First off, as we always do, let's look back at some of the key moments that stood out during the year.  First off, as we always do, let's do some reflection with some of the key moments that stood out this year.

As far as the notable stories that happened this year go, probably the biggest story was Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown teaming up with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante for a bunch of Pantera tribute shows.  However, I guess for publcity purposes and ticket sales, it was announced that it would be under the Pantera name, which definitely got a lot of mixed reactions.  The way I see it is that it's a tribute and not a full-blown reunion as most people and media are making it out to be.  It's obviously not going to be same without the Abbott brothers.  The guys have said that it's a tribute tour, and that's how it should be.  Plus, the fact that they got the blessing from the Abbott estate pretty much says everything.  If Phil, Rex, Charlie and Zakk started doing this without their permission, we would've been hearing about a lawsuit by now.  It should be treated as a tribute, because that's what it really is at the end of the day.

Another big moment was earlier in the year when Testament announced the return of Dave Lombardo to the drum throne after they amicably parted ways with Gene Hoglan.  The announcement got all us Testament fans incredibly excited, as there's no need to describe how loved Lombardo is by everybody.  Mick Mars also announced his retirement from touring due to his ongoing battle with ankylosing spondylitis, which means that after years of performing live with the original lineup, Motley Crue will be reverting back to performing live with 3 original members for the first time since the early 2000s, with John 5 taking Mick's place.

The other notable moment was after 25 years of eligibility, Judas Priest were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but instead of being inducted as Performers like they should've been, they were inducted for Musical Excellence.  The other thing that made this a notable moment was that it was the first time since 2009 that they performed with K.K. Downing, and Les Binks also performed with the band.  Either way, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is still a joke.

Now, as we also always do before we kick off the festivities, let's take a moment to remember all the fallen heroes that we lost this year, both in and out of music.  Some of the most notable musical losses include Meat Loaf, Taylor Hawkins and Olivia Newton-John, but there was also Jon Zazula (Jonny Z), Alan White, Fredrik Johansson, Trevor Strnad, Alec John Such, Andy Fletcher, Steve Grimmett, Gord Kirchin, Dan McCafferty, and Christine McVie, just to name a few.  Some of the biggest non-musical losses include Howard Hesseman, Nichelle Nichols, Gilbert Gottfried, Ivan Reitman, Bob Saget, Estelle Harris, Robbie Coltrane, David Warner and Ray Liotta just to name a few.  R.I.P to all the great talents we lost this year.

While we're still on the subject of losses from this year, I also want to give a mention to a loss that us in the local Toronto scene experienced, which is Walter Froebrich.  Pretty much everyone in the local Toronto scene knew Walter as a frequent face at shows.  I personally didn't know him well enough to call him a friend, and I don't really have any stories about him to share, but we knew each other more as acquaintances.  Either way, my condolences go out to everyone who knew him, and may he rest in peace.

Now normally, when it comes to picking our Top 10 albums for each year, it's normally really difficult due to the high volume of great albums that came out during the year, but this year seemed a little bit easier at least for me, because there were obviously lots of great albums, but there weren't really enough to the point where I was struggling to pick 10 as well as a few honourable mentions.  Either way, I hope you enjoy my selection down below.

That concludes my picks for 2022.  It has been a really great year, and we're already looking forward to what 2023 has in store.  Looks like it's going to be another jam packed year.  Happy Holidays everyone!  Horns up!

In this list, we will be taking you through all the debut albums where the bands got it right the first time.  Of course, it's all subjective because some people may think a certain album is awesome, while others think the opposite.  However, like always with us, we create our lists based on tallies between us, but this time, the albums we chose were based on tallies, but also the impact they made.  There's debut albums where a lot of bands got it right, and some that didn't quite hit the mark the first time around.  Here we go!

List compiled by:
Alex Stojanovic / Derek Solomos / Tom Oake / Alex Irwin / Chris Cioffi

Now, we know what you're all thinking.  "Where.....the fuck.......is......APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION?????!!!!!"  Okay, listen.  This whole list was based off of tallies between five of us.  Appetite For Destruction was only given one vote, but as an honourable mention in one of our individual lists.  There is of course no denying the magnitude of the impact made by that record alone, but if an album only got an honouable mention on an individual list, it's not enough to catapult it to the main list.  If an album gets two or more votes, the chances are greater.

By the way, this is not a definitive list, because there's no such thing as a "definitive list" for anything.  It's all subjective, so no need to cry just because an album you love didn't make our list.  Make your own list and share it with us, because we'd love to hear from all of you as well.

That being said, thank you very much to everyone for taking the time to check out our list of our favourite debut albums.  Stay tuned for the list of our favourite sophomore albums coming next.

​LIST COMPILED BY:
Alex Stojanovic  /  Derek Solomos  /  Alex Irwin  /  Thomas Oake  /  David Catanus

That concludes our ultimate list for the Top 10 Best Albums Of 2012 that are celebrating a decade of existence this year.  We thank you very much for reading.  Share your stories of 2012 and your favourite albums of that year in the comments down below.  Stay tuned because we got more lists in the works, and we plan on making this a yearly thing, where we post an ultimate list of the 10 best albums celebrating 10 years of existence.  Thank you again!

Obviously, there have been a few ups and downs, and unfortunately we hit another bump in the road at this very moment.  However, in comparison to 2020, things seem to be slightly different and a lot more forward looking, which is a lot better than what we had before.

Just like every year, there were a handful of events and stories to be told, both good and bad.  Some of them include: 

1. Iced Earth guitarist and primary songwriter Jon Schaffer being arrested and having assault and weapon charges pressed against him after his participation in the US Capitol Invasion early in the year, leaving an uncertain future for the band.

2. Exodus drummer Tom Hunting and his battle with stomach cancer in which he successfully beat 

3. Megadeth bassist David Ellefson getting caught cheating on video and being dismissed by Dave Mustaine shortly after that scandal escalated, followed by Ellefson joining a new band The Lucid later on.  Even though I think that what he did was despicable and vile, I feel bad for him at the same time because he had his privacy invaded.  Regardless, I’ll always respect him as a musician.

Also, let’s take the time to acknowledge the fallen heroes that we lost this year.  Some of them include Joey Jordison, Dusty Hill, Marsha Zazula, Tawny Kitaen, Mike Howe and Charlie Watts just to name a few.  A couple of the biggest non musical deaths that happened this year was Larry King.

Having said that, let’s get down to some of this years releases, as 2021, just like 2020, had a lot of good albums that were released.  I really had a tough time choosing the ones I liked the most, so here’s my top 10 albums of 2021 along with some honorable mentions!  Enjoy!​