A lot of great shows and festivals took place around New York over the course of 2015, from big festivals to small club shows and everything in between. The team at NYS Music loves live music. You can always catch us out and about at live music happenings. Here are what we considered the best concerts of 2015, sorted by region of the state.
Best Show in Western New York: Aqueous Halloween When Aqueous announced they were going to pay tribute to “Dark Side of Oz,” the legendary mashup of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and the cinematic classic The Wizard of Oz, their fans were pumped. However, this was a multi-night run, and it wouldn’t be fun without a theme for the first night. Back to the Future was chosen, and the band covered many of the hits off the soundtrack.
Best Show in Central New York: moe. at Saranac Brewery and K-Rockathon 20 Two anniversaries were celebrated in Central New York, and they brought the crowds and rave reviews. New York’s favorite jamband, moe., celebrated their 25 years in Utica at the FX Matt Brewery, home to Saranac beer. The multi-day celebration had a festival vibe with multiple bands performing each day. New York’s biggest rock radio station, K-Rock, celebrated their 20th annual K-Rockathon with headliners Breaking Benjamin and Shinedown.
Best Show in the Capital District:Dead & Company at Times Union Center 2015 was a big year for the music of the Grateful Dead. The much anticipated Fare Thee Well shows in Santa Clara, California and Chicago celebrated the 50th anniversary of the originators of the jam scene. Following the shows, billed as the last shows the remaining four members would play together, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann announced they would go on tour as Dead & Company with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. They kicked off their fall tour at Albany’s Times Union Center.
Best Show in the North Country:The Waterhole’s final show with EMEFE The Waterhole, a mainstay in Saranac Lake, shut its doors after over 20 years of providing live music to the residents of the North Country. The venue will be missed by many. EMEFE played on the last night, dedicating the song “Good Future” to the Waterhole staff.
Best Show in the Mid-Hudson:Twiddle at the Rock n Roll Resort The Rock n Roll Resort festival is always a favorite. It takes the best parts of a music festival and brings them to a chic resort hotel. Rising stars from Vermont, Twiddle, took the resort by storm with their headlining set.
Twiddle – Rock N Roll Resort
Best Show in the Finger Lakes:Phish’s Magnaball A lot can be written about Phish’s 10th festival. A lot has already been written about it. Tens of thousands of Phish fans returned to Watkins Glen International, the fabled NASCAR track that was home to 1973’s Summer Jam. Not one fan that attended Magnaball had negative comments. That should say it all.
Best Show in the Southern Tier:Rob Zombie at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena Rob Zombie brought in the Halloween season with his nightmarish heavy metal show. Fans arrived dressed in costume for the show that was opened by Zombie’s drummer, DJ Ginger Fish. Chris Besaw had the opportunity to sit down and speak with guitarist John 5 before the show about his inspiration and favorite horror films.
Best Show in New York City It’s difficult to pick just one or two shows in a city that has several amazing shows on a nightly basis. Here are some of what we thought were the best shows in New York City in 2015.
Best Show on Long Island: Biohazard, Sworn Enemy and Zire’s War at Revolution Music Hall In a night of hardcore music that rocked Revolution Music Hall, Biohazard and Sworn Enemy co-headlined what was practically a homecoming for them. Life of Agony’s guitarist Joey Zampella started a new band, Zire’s War, that kicked things off.
The past year has been a great year for music. In addition to the great albums released by New York artists, there have been some excellent albums released around the world. The NYS Music team picked their favorite albums of 2015. This is just a sampling of those albums.
Courtney Barnett released her critically acclaimed debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit back in March. The 27 year old Australian singer/songwriter has received nothing but praise. Will Hermes, reviewing it for NPR, says:
Barnett’s facility for wordplay and compressed narrative has more in common with great rappers than pop songwriters, and her debut is the best rock record I’ve heard this year. She’s a poet of panic attacks and short attention spans and the kind of heartbreak that always seems to be following right in your blind spot.
In his five-star review for The Guardian, Everett True writes “listening to most – if not all – of Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is a richly rewarding experience, one that increases with each listen.” Rolling Stone’s Jon Dolan gave the album 4.5 stars and said “wherever Barnett ends up, we’re going to want to go with her.”
Holly Bowling has been getting the attention of Phish fans around the nation with her solo piano covers of their repertoire, the most well-know of which being the “Tahoe Tweezer.” The release of her crowd-funded album, Distillation of a Dream, was much anticipated. Bringing a fresh look at the music of Phish, it’s no wonder everyone who gave it a listen fell instantly in love. The first disc of the double album offers her interpretation of studio tracks, while the second disc covers live jams as performed by Phish. Bowling “does justice to the variety of songs she chose for the album.” Reviewing the album, I wrote:
Overall, Distillation of a Dream is a solid, creative tribute to Phish. The album reflects the difference between studio Phish as heard on disc one, and live Phish as heard on disc two. Bowling’s musicality, experience and talent are in full display on this album. The creativity and effort put into the re-creation of these Phish songs and jams make for a fun and interesting listen.
This past weekend metal-heads from all over ventured to Montréal for the three-day festival known as Heavy Montréal. From Friday, August 7 through August 9, fans filled up Parc Jean-Drapeau and were ready to see their favorite bands. The weekend consisted of a large variety of metal sub-genres and it seemed to sit well with everyone.
With 4 stages hosting bands all day it was impossible to catch every band playing over the weekend. It seems fans had a game-plan going into the festival each day with a list of bands and their set times. Some fans though, decided to rail camp all day to catch the headlining act of that night from the front row. Luckily all three days had perfect weather so people could get away with that and not die from the heat some festivals get. Friday had a handful of bands that drew some awesome crowds. During the early afternoon, Venom Inc. and Arch Enemy had giant crowds at the Scène HEAVY Stage. Venom Inc. was the replacement for Mastodon who dropped off the lineup just a few weeks before. For being a late addition to the festival, they sure did look and sound prepared and the crowd was loving it.
The next band to take the Scène HEAVY Stage was Arch Enemy that day. With their new singer Alissa White-Gluz and new guitar player Jeff Loomis, Arch Enemy took the title for best band on that stage for the day. Having Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis in the same band makes for some serious guitar shredding. Alissa connected with the crowd throughout the set because she’s originally from Montréal and spoke mostly all French to the crowd. After Arch Enemy finished their set, Extreme started their set on the Scène Molson Canadian Stage. This band definitely appealed more to the older fans in the crowd but was respected by all. Extreme is led by singer Gary Cherone, who many know as the guy who was “that other singer” for Van Halen. On guitar for Extreme was none other than Nuno Bettencourt. For those who pay close attention to rock news, Nuno was just at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood as a special guest for Steel Panther who played the final show there before they demolish it.
Within Temptation
Before Extreme was able to finish their set, many fans started the walk over to the Scène de la Forêt Stage for Nothing More. Easily one of the most anticipated bands of the weekend, Nothing More gave everything they had. Opening with “Mr. MTV”, Nothing More gave Montréal a performance that left fans eager for more. Not many bands can put on a performance like Nothing More did in just 30 short minutes. The band closed their set with, “This Is The Time (Ballast)” and “Salem (Burn The Witch)”. During their short time, Nothing More still setup their bass rig and the band all unloaded on it making crazy beats. At the end of the performance the entire band took to their personal drums to hammer away in the woods. After the performance was over, the band came off stage and greeted all the fans that stuck around to talk to them at the rail. The crowd showed incredible support for Nothing More and from the looks of it, they could have played on one of the main stages.
Dokken
The last two bands that were caught on Friday were Meshuggah and Korn. Meshuggah who is a Swedish extreme metal band, seemed to fit in with the vibe of the weekend very well. The people of Montréal and surrounding areas seem to love the “heavy” and “extreme” metal that this festival brought in. While not every single person in the crowd was waiting to see Meshuggah, there were still a sea of fans screaming their name and banging their heads with singer Jens Kidman. Last up on Friday night was Korn, which was the band everyone there was waiting to see. Shortly after 9 P.M., the sea of people tightened up and everyone pushed closer to the stage. The set started with that very familiar cymbal intro which lead to a big “Are You Ready?!” from Jonathan Davis. Starting with “Blind”, then moving through the rest of their debut album Korn, the band had the crowd going wild. Fans may have seen Korn 10 times already, but this set was very special and has only been done numerous times since the band announced they would be playing Korn in its entirety for its 20th anniversary. After finishing the album with “Daddy”, easily the most emotional song ever written by Jonathan Davis, Korn played a 3-song encore. The three songs were, “Falling Away With Me”, “Here To Stay”, and “Freak On A Leash”. Heavy Montréal couldn’t have picked a better band to set the mood for the next two days of the festival.
Slipknot
On Saturday, the music once again started at 1 P.M. sharp. Some of the bands to open up the day were Slaves On Dope, Deafheaven, The Brains, Mass Murder Messiah and Rock From The Crypt. The crowd for the first few hours of the day seemed to scatter from stage to stage until they were ready to camp for a certain band. Starting at 3 P.M. is when the crowd seemed to shift mainly toward the 2 main stages. Lita Ford took the Scène HEAVY Stage at 3 P.M. and she absolutely rocked for her age. Some people may have scratched their heads when seeing her on the lineup for this festival, but she surely didn’t disappoint the least bit. After her set Abbath took the stage to keep the crowd right there in the main area.
Lamb Of God
Although Abbath sounded pretty great, many of the fans stayed right in front of the Scène HEAVY Stage. The reason why many fans stayed put was because Gojira was next up on that stage. These metal giants from France had a huge fan base in French-speaking Montréal. The mosh pits during Gojira were unlike anything seen the previous day and a half. Following fan favorites Gojira, Testament was ready to keep the crowd moshing. Fans must have known Testament was going to come out all business just by seeing their cryptic looking backdrop, one of the most bad-ass ones of the weekend. Their set consisted of a mix of songs spanned across 5 albums but mostly from The New Order which was their 2nd album. That being said, old-school Testament fans had a smile on their face. Unfortunately for Testament, their bass player and drummer couldn’t make the show so Tilen Hudrap from Vicious Rumors took over bass duties and Alex Bent from Battlecross took over on drums. Even with the fill-ins, Testament sounded great and casual fans probably didn’t notice any difference at all.
Bullet For My Valentine
After Testament, the attention shifted over to the Scène de l’Apocalypse Stage for The Devin Townsend Project. This band is led by Canadian born Devin Townsend who was the head of Strapping Young Lad from 1994-2007. Now Devin focuses on his solo project and it’s just as heavy. Taking the stage Devin told the crowd to get ready for the nerdiest show of the weekend, due to the fact he wears headphones on stage now. The DTP was one of the best performances of the entire weekend. Devin did a fine job mixing crowd interaction, humor and straight up metal during the set. Right after watching the entire Devin Townsend Project set, fans shifted to the Scène de la Forêt Stage to catch a bit of Battlecross. This band just seemed to fit on this stage perfectly with the look they had.
Testament
Unfortunately due to other acts, time with Battlecross was cut short. Die-hard fans definitely stayed the entire half hour, but many shifted to the main stages for Iggy Pop and Faith No More. Iggy Pop put on one hell of a show for his age. Although he may not be “heavy metal”, this 68-year-old was most likely an influence for half the bands playing over the weekend. This punk-rock legend definitely had the respect from the crowd and other artists who came out to see him perform. Last up on Saturday was Faith No More. These legends who just got back together in the recent years have been headlining major festivals all over the world and Heavy Montréal was next on their list. The band opened with “Motherfucker” off their album Sol Invictus, which came out this year. Faith No More dug into this new album six times throughout the night. It only took the band 5 songs to play their biggest hit “Epic”. The crowd definitely knew Faith No More would be playing “Epic” and hearing the whole crowd sing, “You want it all but you can’t have it” was simply amazing. After “Epic”, the band eventually played other hits such as “Midlife Crisis” and “Easy”. To end the set before the encore, the band picked their song “Superhero” which was also on Sol Invictus. The set was ended with “Digging The Grave”, “This Guy’s In Love With You” and “Just a Man”. Faith No More certainly didn’t have a metal atmosphere going for their stage setup; dressing in all white, having an all white stage decorated in only flowers. Although it was different from what the rest of the day had musically, Faith No More still drew a very large crowd that kept the energy going throughout the late hours of the night.
Lita Ford
The final day of Heavy Montréal seemed to have the best lineup judging by the increase in people right from the get-go. Chris Jericho opened the day with his band Fozzy. This guy earned a lot of respect from other guys in the music community and that showed when Corey Taylor from Slipknot and Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God came out and watched his band side stage. Next up for the day was Motionless In White, who seemed to have a huge number of fans there.
Devin Townsend Project
After Motionless In White, was 90s band Coal Chamber which is led by front-man Dez Fafara. For those who don’t know, Dez is also the singer from DevilDriver. After being split for nearly 7 years, Coal Chamber just recently got back together and released their new album Rivals on May 19th. Dez and the rest of Coal Chamber got the crowd moving while security had the fire hose out cooling them down after moshing. The next two bands up on the main stages were a blast from the past, Warrant and Dokken. Warrant has been out on the road with singer Robert Mason after the death of Jani Lane their original lead singer. With Robert in the band, Warrant still plays all the classics and sounds like them took a time machine from the 80s to 2015. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Dokken. With Don Dokken and drummer Mick Brown being the only original members still in the band, they had a lot to live up to. That being said, the band itself sounded great but the vocals just aren’t there anymore. After almost singing for nearly 40-years, Don Dokken at the age of 62 just can’t hit the notes he could in the past. Although the set wasn’t an absolute disaster, the power wasn’t there in Don’s voice. In some instances it did sound like the notes could be hit, but there was no power behind them. Most of the energy from their set came from drummer “Wild” Mick Brown, who introduced Dokken to the crowd.
Faith No More
After Dokken, Andrew W.K. came on the other main stage as the singer for Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg. This was a very cool pairing and Andrew W.K. seemed to have that energy to keep the rest of the band behind him going. After a 45 minute set, things shifted back to the Scène Molson Canadian Stage for Asking Alexandria. These guys from England just filled their singer vacancy after the departure of Danny Worsnop with singer Denis Stoff from the Ukraine. With an identical voice to Danny, Denis is the perfect fill in for this band. His youth and energy brought life back into Asking Alexandria, which seemed to die out during Mayhem Tour last summer. AA just finished up their summer on Warped Tour where Denis got to show the US crowds that he could fill the big shoes that Danny left empty. The crowd at Heavy Montréal was filled with fans of Asking Alexandria to the point where Denis didn’t even have to sing any of the screaming parts of their last song “The Final Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)”. Hearing the entire crowd yell, “Oh My God” during the intro of the song easily proved that Montréal has Asking Alexandria fans.
Venom Inc.
Next up was Within Temptation on the Scène HEAVY stage. This Dutch symphonic metal band was stellar. Sharon den Adel the lead singer of the band was an absolute delight to watch. Within Temptation was a complete different breed of what the rest of the festival had over the weekend, but they showed they had what it takes. There’s no wonder why this band sells out all their shows over in Europe. The 11-song set they played seemed to not be enough for festival attendees.
Korn
The last bands to close out Heavy Montréal were absolute monsters. Those three were the ones from the Summer’s Last Stand Tour: Bullet For My Valentine, Lamb of God and Slipknot. Before and after Bullet’s setlist, two great bands got stuck with bad set times over at the Scène de la Forêt stage: Upon A Burning Body and Wilson. Unfortunately not many people wanted to lose their spots at the main stages to go see them.
The good news for Bullet For My Valentine fans was that they got to play a bit longer than they have been on their tour with Slipknot. In the previews for the festival, fans knew they could expect songs like “Your Betrayal” and “Scream Aim Fire”, but Bullet added a few more in the set for Montréal. Fans got to hear songs like “Alone”, “The Last Fight”, and “4 Words (To Choke Upon)”. It was obvious that Bullet was itching to play a longer set for quite some time, as they had even more energy to spare.
Nothing More
Lamb of God also got to play a little longer on Sunday with a 12-song set. Unfortunately for those looking to hear new material off VII: Sturm und Drang, LOG only played “512” and “Still Echoes”. Even though the set wasn’t heavy on new material, Randy and the rest of Lamb of God put on a brutal show that surely left fans bruised and sweaty.
There’s no better way to end a 3-day heavy metal festival then with Slipknot. When there’s 9 guys on stage wearing masks and playing loud music with flames going up everywhere, that’s how to end a weekend. Corey Taylor is one hell of a leader on stage. Corey has the ability to control the crowd with ease. The highlight of Slipknot’s setlist was easily during “Spit It Out”. There’s a huge difference watching Corey control an amphitheater and a sea of people in an open field. Every single person at Parc Jean-Drapeau was down on their knees waiting for Corey to give them the command “jump the fuck up”. When that command came, the entire crowd at once lifted into the air and went absolutely insane. When that song was over, there was no time to rest because Slipknot went right into “Custer” which was off their latest album .5 The Gray Chapter. With time running out on the weekend, the band ended with a 3-song encore featuring “(sic)”, “People=Shit” and “Surfacing”.
Heavy Montréal proved to be a huge success this year going for a full three days of music. With a perfect variety of bands, a perfect venue and a large variety of food and drinks, Evenko set up one killer festival. Anyone who likes to attend festivals such as Rock on The Range, Carolina Rebellion, etc., try to attend Heavy Montréal at least once.
*Be sure to check here periodically for next year’s Heavy Montréal festival info*
Faith No More has released what is not only comeback of the year, this album so far, is album of the year, speaking of, Sol Invictus makes the first time Faith No More released anything since 1997’s Album Of The Year. Also, this is the first time the band released an album via Reclamation Recordings. What makes this band so fascinating to so many fans of metal is their unpredictability, and the fact they have never released the same album twice. This album is no exception.
Sol Invictus (which means Latin for Unconquered Sun) starts off with the title track. It begins with a beautiful keyboard track from Roddy Bottum over Mike Bordin’s precision drumming. Once you hear that crazy voice of Mike Patton …BOOM! You know that it’s a Faith No More record. The album immediately goes into “Superhero” which may be my favorite song because it’s a fun, groovy, and heavy track with very catchy keyboards blended so nicely into the overall track. Then the satire track “Sunny Side Up” lightens the mood of that album.
“Separation Anxiety” goes polar opposite of the previous track and it begins with a killer bass and drum rhythm that leads to a gloomy and dark atmospheric tone that makes this track a real stand out. Sol Invictus wouldn’t be a Faith No More album without some kind of unpredictable and strange track that makes you scratch you head a little bit and make you think “WTF?” and that track would be the fifth song on the album “Cone Of Shame” because I don’t know what the fuck this track is. The album goes into another strange track but this time you get a really get an awesome range of Patton’s vocals on “Rise Of The Fall” and guitarist Jon Hudson really shines on “Black Friday.”
Going into the tail end of the album, the hilarious but awesome track “Motherfucker” will be playing over and over in your head for days to come. Patton delivers another grand vocal performance on “Matador” before the album ends with “From The Dead” which is an appropriate ending because its upbeat song. Overall, Faith No More delivered a grand and deep album that takes you on an unpredicatable and enjoyable ride. Bassist Billy Gould wrote most of the music on this album as well as produced this masterpiece. With lots of touring ahead, we can only hope that this is just the beginning for the revamped Faith No More. I highly recommend this purchase. You can buy SolInvictushere.
Key Tracks: “Superhero,” “Separation Anxiety,” “Motherfucker,” “From The Dead”
Faith No More has embarked on one of the biggest tours of 2015 and for the first leg of the tour, they played two show’s at New York City’s Webster Hall last week, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ticket and managed to take a trip down and catch the first show on May 13. The Webster Hall is one of Manhattan’s most premiere night clubs, and a very intimate setting to catch a metal show. It was a real blessing to have attended this show. But things started off with the most unexpected, a punk band from Mexico called Le Butcherettes.
San Francisco – October 28, 2014
You couldn’t ask for a more bizarre, yet appropriate band to open for Faith No More. Le Butcherettes is exactly what rock and roll is missing. And that is the “I don’t give a fuck” attitude packaged with the unexpected. It all starts with frontwoman Teri Gender Bender who is an absolute fiend. I would describe her as the female Mike Patton with a touch of Wendy O’ Williams to her. Not only vocally, she possesses a wide range, she’s playing the keyboard and guitar, but most importantly her performance was so wicked, dirty, and out of this world. Everyone in the audience was in awe from this band. I almost forgot I was at a Faith No More show before their set ended.
When Faith No More took the stage, it was the most surreal and beautiful thing to behold. They had everything in white on stage, and before they started, the stage hands and roadies covered everything in flowers. It almost looked like a wedding.
The same day, Faith No More performed on Jimmy Fallon. They started off with a new song “Mother Fucker” which lit everyone up with excitement. As for me, I haven’t felt such a surreal feeling of witnessing a band play since the first time I saw Soundgarden reunite at Chicago’s Lollapalooza back in 2010. The entire band has such a unique chemistry. Frontman Mike Patton’s outlandish and comical presence is something to behold, and vocally, whether if he’s singing his ass off, rapping, or doing super sonic screams, he proves to this day he’s one of the very best in the business.
The one who anchors the band is keyboardist Roddy Buttom. He has an intimidating presence, but he’s also comical. It’s very rare in a band when the keyboardist is the one that takes charge. I also really liked bassist Billy Gould’s performance, he’s definitely an underrated bass player.
Five songs in, Faith No More performed their well-known hit “Epic” along with another new song “Sunny Side Up”. The real highlight of the set was hearing “Surprise! You’re Dead!” and “Midlife Crisis” back to back. Faith No More did a phenomenal job playing songs off their Mike Patton-era catalog and material off their new album Sol Invictus.
Later in the set we heard “Easy” and “King For A Day” before closing with “Ashes To Ashes” and their new single “Superhero”. But of course the crowd was graced with a three song encore and a one song second encore thus giving New York City 19 songs total.
Overall, an unforgettable night for sure. Faith No More is back with a vengeance and will be returning to New York City at Madison Square Garden on August 5. So if you missed the two shows at Webster Hall, you still have a chance to see them in August, and I highly recommend that you do because you won’t regret it. 2015 is the year of Faith No More.
In an unexpected – and completely appropriate move – Faith No More have released new track “Superhero” from their upcoming album (May 19) Sol Invictus via Marvel.com.
18 years have passed since the last FNM release Album of the Year and fans have been foaming at the mouth for more ever since. The latest track features the typical grunge meets metal meets groove style of earlier FNM and the apropos repeated lyric: “Leader of men, will you be one of them?.” Check it out below! (h/t marvel.com)
Finally! After years and years – fans waiting for the San Francisco CA hard rock band to put out some new material can finally rest happy knowing Sol Invictus is coming May 19.
This will be the 7th release for Faith No More since their inception way back in 1981. The band has released a few singles in advance on YouTube – check them out below. While Upstate will miss out on any local dates – those that “care a lot” can make a road trip to Toronto May 9 or hit NYC May 13-14 for a weekend FNM experience.
With a month already into 2015, one of things to get excited about is upcoming album released we are expecting or hope to see the light of day. We expect big things from 2015 as far as heavy music, so without further ado, here are the top ten most anticipated metal/hard rock releases.
10. Biohazard
Brooklyn, NY hardcore metal outfit Biohazard is still as vital as ever, even with Evan Seinfeld out of the fold since 2012, which makes their yet to be titled tenth album, targeted for a 2015 release via Nuclear Blast USA, even more intriguing. This album would mark the first time with the lineup of Billy Graziadei, Bobby Hambel, Danny Schuler, and now Scott Roberts completing the lineup in place of Seinfeld. It will be interesting to see what this new line up of Biohazard brings to the table.
9. Tremonti
Back in 2012, Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti launched his solo project Tremonti with the debut album All I Was which was arguably one of the best albums of 2012. Now hard at work with the second album, Wolfgang Van Halen is officially a member of the band and playing bass for Tremonti.. Any lover of shred should be salivating at the thought of Mark Tremonti and Wolfgang Van Halen in the same band. This album will be solid.
8. Mastodon
What makes this release fascinating is Mastodon is always willing to take risks and making every album sound different which is why everyone should be excited for another Mastodon album.
7. Deftones
The last two albums from Deftones, Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan, are easily some of their best work to date, so high expectations are set for this yet to be titled album slated for a fall 2015 release. Also hope that someday their scrapped album Eros sees the light of day as well.
6. Lamb Of God
After all the things Randy Blythe and the rest of Lamb Of God went through with the trail and incarceration in Prague, you know that the band is coming back with a vengeance with this upcoming album. Blythe wrote a lot of music about his time in Prague, which is going to add such a compelling element to what will be the band’s eighth album. This makes Lamb of God one of the top ten most anticipated hard rock and metal releases of 2015
5. Coal Chamber
Set for an April release via Napalm Records, Coal Chamber’s comeback album is definitely the most interesting. After a much publicized split in 2002, it seemed highly unlikely Coal Chamber would ever get back together. Then a decade goes by, Coal Chamber reunited for select shows in Europe and Australia which led to a successful US tour in 2013 which ultimately set recording process for this album in motion. It’s amazing how frontman Dez Fafara has kept busy in the spotlight with DevilDriver, he still managed to bring Coal Chamber back in the spotlight. And to top it off, Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen is having a guest appearance on this album. It will be interesting to see how Coal Chamber will evolve its sound for 2015.
4. Anthrax
Anthrax set the world on fire back in 2011 with their comeback album Worship Music which saw the return of CNY’s Joey Belladonna back in the fold. Now after successful album sales, several laps around the world, the band has been hard at work with the next album which will be released sometime this year. If it’s even half as good as Worship Music was, this album can be and will be the best album of 2015. Expect nothing from great things from Anthrax.
3. Black Sabbath
This will be the last Black Sabbath album. Lots of bands always say “This is our last album/tour” but this time coming from Black Sabbath, who are all pushing 70, I would certainly say it’s a safe bet they mean it. Their comeback album 13, which saw Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler on an album together for the first time since 1978’s Never Say Die, was the most successful metal album of 2013. Iommi has been battling cancer but yet still touring with Sabbath, is still a riff machine and has solidified himself as one of the best guitarist that ever lived, said wants to bid farewell one last time with Sabbath with an album and farewell tour to follow. It would be nice to see the return of Bill Ward but that’s unlikely that will happen.
2. Faith No More
Already announced for a May release, Faith No More has made their long awaited return with their first album since 1997’s Album Of The Year and a US tour to kick off this spring including a headlining slot at Heavy Montreal, with more shows to be announced. 2015 is looking the year of Faith No More and fans around the world now wait in anticipation.
1. Tool*
I put an asterisk on this because this is the only album on this list where the band hasn’t made an official announcement. But I believe that 2015 is the year the new Tool album sees the light of day. The band has been quoted stating that there IS an album in the works and they have been recording. So we all ask….what the fuck is the hold up? The world needs another Tool album. It has been close to a decade since 10,000 Days and enough is enough.
So that rounds off the list of the top ten most anticipated hard rock and metal releases of 2015. What metal or hard rock album on this list are you excited about? What upcoming album do you think should be included on this list? Sound off in the comments below.
The next band to take the Scène HEAVY Stage was Arch Enemy that day. With their new singer Alissa White-Gluz and new guitar player Jeff Loomis, Arch Enemy took the title for best band on that stage for the day. Having Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis in the same band makes for some serious guitar shredding. Alissa connected with the crowd throughout the set because she’s originally from Montréal and spoke mostly all French to the crowd. After Arch Enemy finished their set, Extreme started their set on the Scène Molson Canadian Stage. This band definitely appealed more to the older fans in the crowd but was respected by all. Extreme is led by singer Gary Cherone, who many know as the guy who was “that other singer” for 
