10. SMASHING PUMPKINS ‘CYR‘
Listening to this album made me rethink my stance on ‘Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream’. Music fans should be rewarded for their loyalty, not punished. This album possibly has a few moments that felt inspired and passionate. The rest of this album felt redundant and stale. Billy Corgan is only doing this SMASHING PUMPKINS album because he lost so much money in wrestling and needs his accountant to post a positive. This album is a lazy emotionless pool of fake.
9. BODY COUNT ‘Carnivore’
When I heard the “Ace of Spades” cover I was in. The issue I have with BODY COUNT is that when they are on fire, they make some great music. The debut and ‘Manslaughter’ immediately come to mind. When they are less inspired they can do decent albums. ‘Born Dead’ and ‘Violent Demise’ are proof of that. Albums that have some songs that connect and others that just feel so lackluster. When they have zero inspiration and are bored. Well, that is where albums like ‘Murder for Hire’ and ‘Carnivore’ fit in. When I listened to ‘Carnivore’, I was so letdown. The cover song could be in my top 20 songs of this year easily. After “Ace of Spades”, there is nothing left worth talking about. This album is so forgettable. This was a huge letdown.
8. ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS ‘Apocrypha’
We can call this album, Burton’s mid-life crisis. ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS is a band that could be really special if they were not trying so hard to appeal to the masses. This album feels forced and generic. The passion Burton claims to have put into this album is both fake and stale. After all that Burton has been through in the last few years, I was expecting anger and resentment. I feel that emotion with this musical direction could have been the follow up to ‘Plastic Planet’ with GZR. Instead this sounds like a watered down fake goth TOOL meets CEHVELLE hybrid that will be forgotten as soon as the first song starts.
7. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH ‘F8’
I figured it out. When you listen to a song or two by FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, they seem decent. When you try to play the whole album you start to see that they cannot carry an entire album. They have a few songs that I think are good, but I cannot think of one album they have that I can say anything positive about. Ivan Moody seems like that grown man who has to prove on each track that he is such a badass. I feel to teens and the Hot Topic crowd this is the bomb. To music fans, it gets so random and boring after awhile. This album took me three weeks to get through. I could only listen to a song at a time every few days. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH have great musicians who support such a mediocre singer.
6. OZZY OSBOURNE ‘Ordinary Man’
Over 50 years in the music industry. When people talk about the music of OZZY OSBOURNE, chances are that they have a stopping point. Some will say, ‘No More Tears’ and maybe others will mention ‘Ozzmosis’. Albums like ‘Ordinary Man’ hurt his legacy and make fans angry. What do Ozzy fans want in 2020? They want tours. They want to expose their kids, grandkids and others to the music they grew up on. They cannot play this album and say, “ This is a Hall of Fame musician”. OZZY OSBOURNE should tell Sharon that the well is dry and do a farewell tour in 2021.
5. LAMB OF GOD ‘Lamb of God’
I can remember when Kerrang magazine deemed VISION OF DISORDER and LAMB OF GOD as the second coming of PANTERA. That is what drew my attention to both bands. I will admit that I am a huge VISION OF DISORDER fan. They are no second coming of PANTERA, they are the first coming of VISION OF DISORDER. I have tried over the years to embrace LAMB OF GOD. Randy Blythe is a good singer. I get why this band is so loved. I am a fan of their early albums. The new album to me, is just paint by numbers. I guess if you live or die by this band, this album is your bible. If you are a fan of music and get bored easily hearing the same tired shit, this album will be more of a desperate labor of love to finish.
4. ARMORED SAINT ‘Punching the Sky’
This one is tough. This is one album that I wanted to love. I have been a fan of ARMORED SAINT since the early 80’s. I feel this band can be seen as two parts. The best work they did was before John Bush left for ANTHRAX. ‘Symbol of Salvation’ should be in every metal head’s collection. When he came back to the Saint, I am not sure if his heart was in it or not. ‘Punching the Sky’ just seems so frozen without any feeling or passion. This feels like the farewell record a band would give a label before they quit and owe the label a last record. This is one of the biggest letdowns for me in the last decade… EASILY! I was expecting this album, after all the hype John Bush gave, to really explode. ‘Punching the Sky’ feels so generic and boring that true ARMORED SAINT fans may even rethink being a fan of the band.
3. SIX FEET UNDER ‘Nightmares of the Decomposed’
I will go on record. I have defended Chris Barnes and his last few albums that critics have shit all over. To me SIX FEET UNDER are a great band. At times, some of their decisions are controversial, but I feel that good intentions are there. For me ‘Nightmares of the Decomposed’ is a knife in the chest of all the die hard SIX FEET UNDER fans out there. I feel that after this miss, his fanbase may see the iceberg coming and jump off the ship.
2. WOMBRIPPER ‘Macabre Melodies‘
I liked ‘Morbid Aberrations’. I thought From the ‘Depths of Flesh’ was good. For WOMBRIPPER, I felt that ‘Macabre Melodies’ was a step backwards for a very talented band. This album was such a task to get through for me. At times, I had to replay songs because I forgot if I heard them. I know WOMBRIPPER has a very passionate underground fan base. (I will find out even more if they get wind of this review!) I know someone will say what about this album or that album. This list is based on albums I have personally listened to. Trust me, bands like THEORY OF A DEADMAN or NICKELBACK could make my list every year just based on what I think, but I do not listen to their music so I cannot judge their current music.
1. PSYCHOSEXUAL ‘Torch the Faith’
This album should have never seen the light of day! Jeremy Spencer should be ashamed of himself. This album is not even music. It is pure shit. The man wants to shock people so badly. Why not fucking show you have talent. You are a stupid piece of shit who should be embarrassed. This album glorifies topics such as rape and burning churches. I can understand a band like HELL ON EARTH who did this same thing two decades ago. The problem is HELL ON EARTH had talent to back up the shock. PSYCHOSEXUAL is just stale and boring. It is like that guy in the grocery store who decides to take off his mask and cough in front of kids. This album should be thrown in a garbage can and the band can jump in with it. This is the worst album of not only 2020, but could be all time as well!