DIARY OF THE WOLFMAN: Dec. 2010.

this wasn't the only turkey in 2010

DIARY OF THE WOLFMAN: Dec. 2010.
commentary by Mr. Wolf

THE MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES OF 2010 THAT WEREN'T

Twice a year readers of Metal publications get treated with the "best of" lists at around this time year and the "most anticipated" releases in January. I always get a kick out of comparing them to each other. Most of the time they do match simply because of the magazine's taste makers already have it in the bag for certain bands. My fun is looking at and comparing what these publications call "most anticipated" releases and the truth about them. What do ELECTRIC WIZARD, HIGH ON FIRE and WATAIN all have in common? They all had releases which were considered "most anticipated", which could be considered early predictions of greatness, but turned out to be lackluster in my not so humble opinion. It has nothing to do with taste either since I like the three bands mentioned. Of course those three bands all got magazine covers when their releases came out which is another reason for my laughter at the predictions. But just for the record here's a quick rundown on what SCUMFEAST METAL 666 thought of the so-called Most Anticipated Releases of 2010.

ANTHRAX - Worship Music (Megaforce) This never even came out besides they suck and only avid watchers of VH-1's That Metal Show give a rat's ass.

ATHEIST - Jupitor (Season of Mist) Who gives a shit.

ELECTRIC WIZARD - Black Masses (Rise Above) Over hyped to hipster standards and was average. How typical.

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - Option Paralysis (Season of Mist) Anyone who likes this band is a loser in the first place. We wouldn't review crap like this.

DARKTHRONE - Circle the Wagons (Peaceville) This was the same as their last two releases. Average.

DIMMU BORGIR - Abrahadabra (Nuclear Blast) The only people who anticipated this anticipated it sucking so they could write about it sucking. Guess what? It sucked.

ENSLAVED - Axioma Ethica Odini (Indie Recordings) These former Black Metallers could fart in the studio for an hour and some bozos would call it greatness. We Didn't.

ZOROASTER - Matador (E-1 Music) Sludge Metal is the new Indie Rock for Indie Rock Losers. This release was boring.

UNEARTHLY TRANCE - V (Relapse) Their split eps were better.

IRON MAIDEN - The Final Frontier (EMI) Hopefully it was their final release. PRIEST learned and are calling it a career, take the hint.

GENGHIS TRON - unknown (Relapse) This band sucks, who doesn't think so?

FEAR FACTORY - Mechanize (Candlelight) Groove Metal still sucks.

LUDICRA - The Tenant (Profound Lore) HOLY SHIT WE LIKED THIS ONE ALOT. THAT'S ONE!

NACHTMYSTIUM - Addicts (Century Media) HOLY SHIT WE LIKED THIS ONE ALOT. THAT'S TWO!

The SWORD - Warp Riders (Kemado) The only reason this was anticipated is so hipsters could write that The SWORD have lost their "hipster metal" tag. They didn't.

So you can see what we think here, only two out of fifteen made our cut. The fact still is that the most anticipated releases of the year are the ones by bands that surprise you.