It's about that time ladies and gentlemen... Let me be the first to lend my opinion to the masses... Let's pass out some awards...

Album of the Year:
Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side


Best Album Hardly Anyone Has Heard:
Insomnium - Above the Weeping World


Worst Album of the Year (tough one, how about these):
It Dies Today - Sirens
Ligeia - Your Ghost is a Gift
Mastadon - Blood Mountain
Trivium - The Crusade


Most Overrated Album(s) of the Year: (where do I begin?)
Trivium - The Crusade
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black
Into Eternity - The Scattering of Ashes
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
Mastadon - Blood Mountain
(Did I offend everyone with at least one of those???)


The "Where the fuck did that come from" Award - given to a band I already knew that completely blew my mind with a 2006 release:
Noumena - Anatomy of Life


The "It's about time you lived up to your potential" Award:
Disarmonia Mundi - Mindtricks


The "What the fuck happened to your potential" Award:
The Haunted - Dead Eye


Disappointment of the Year: (tie)
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black
The Haunted - Dead Eye


The "Wow, you really started believing your own hype" Award:
None other than, Trivium - The Crusade


The "Shut the hell up and just play music" Award:
Peter Dolving, The Haunted


The Consistency Award - given to artists that consistently make solid albums, eligible only if they've released an album this year:
Kataklysm - In the Arms of Devastation
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
In Flames - Come Clarity


Comeback Award: (tie)
Deicide - Stench of Redemption (thought they were done once the Hoffman Bros. left)
Celtic Frost - Monotheist (yes, they're still alive and still kicking ass)


The "Headbang" Award:
Kataklysm - In the Arms of Devastation


The "Holy Shit I Hope They Aren't Going Commercial" Award:
(As usual) In Flames - Come Clarity


No segway here: The "Oh shit, I hope they don't destroy my favorite band of all-time" Award:
Ferret Music (In Flames)


Speaking of labels, the "Label of the Year" Award (best releases): (tie)
Metal Blade Records
Candlelight Records


The "Wow, this kinda makes me want to kill myself" Award:
Draconian - This Burning Halo


The "Wow, this kinda makes me want to kill you" Award: (tie)
Cannibal Corpse - Kill
Deicide - The Stench of Redemption


The "It got worse the more I listened to it" Award:
Lamb of God - Sacrament (ouch, I felt that one)


The "It got better the more I listened to it" Award: (tie)
Lacuna Coil - Karmacode
In Flames - Come Clarity


The "Almost but not quite" Award: (tie)
Satyricon - Now, Diabolical
Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies


The "Time to hang it up" Award:
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death


The "Time to Strictly Tour" Award (this hurts more than you can imagine):
Slayer - Christ Illusion



Now the tops of each genre that I care about:

Top five Melodic Death Albums:
Insomnium - Above the Weeping World
Noumena - Anatomy of Life
In Flames - Come Clarity
Disarmonia Mundi - Mindtricks
Raunchy - Death Pop Romance


Top five Brutal Death Albums:
Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side (too heavy for melodic death and had to go somewhere)
Kataklysm - In the Arms of Devastation
Vader - Impressions of Blood
Deicide - The Stench of Redemption
Cannibal Corpse - Kill


Top five Gothic/Extreme Albums:
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
My Dying Bride - Line of Deathless Kings
Leaves Eyes' - Legend Land
Daylight Dies - Dismantling Devotion
Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain


Top five Metalcore Albums:
All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals
Unearth - III: In the Eyes of Fire
Neaera - Let The Tempest Come
The Autumn Offering - Embrace the Gutter
Machinemade God - The Infinity Complex


Best Deathcore Album: All Shall Perish - The Price of Existence

Best Album I Can Hardly Classify: (tie)
Burst - Origo
Cradle of Filth - Thornography


Best Concert of the Year: (tie) Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Gojira, et al. - Harpo's, Detroit or The Ozzfest Off-date show with Hatebreed, Unearth, All That Remains, et. al. - Bogart's, Cincinnati, OH

Best Example of a shitty metal city: Cincinnati - 6/6/06 with Vader, Kataklysm, The Absence, Graveworm, Destruction, et al. and hardly anyone showed up

Best Example of a great metal city: Detroit (Children of Bodom show) edging Columbus (In Flames, Lamb of God shows) just barely


That'll be it guys, hope you had a great 2006 and I can't wait 'til 2007... Hopefully post my full "Top Twenty" list soon... And if you don't hear from me 'til afterward, get drunk on New Year's Eve... Oh yeah, and stay brutal,

Cuchulainn