The Year to Come in Heavy Metal: 2014

Since this is the last post until 2014, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the year to come in heavy metal. There are plenty of exciting events, album releases and tours coming up next year that have already been announced. Plus, I have a few predictions of my own as to what will happen to certain bands next year. Take a look!

Album Releases

There are quite a few exciting albums that should be coming out next year. First, let’s talk about some of the big ones. Metallica, Slayer and Slipknot are the three big bands that are working on highly anticipated albums.

The next Slayer album will be the first one without Jeff Hanneman, but chances are we will hear some of the material he wrote before his death on the new record. It will also be the first Slayer record with Paul Bostaph back on drums and will more than likely feature guitar playing from Gary Holt. Holt’s presence on the record is particularly exciting, and hopefully he can make some substantial contributions to the album. 

The next Slipknot record will be the first without Paul Gray, and is rumored to be a mix between Iowa and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Interestingly, Jim Root is taking some time off touring with Stone Sour to focus on writing for Slipknot’s upcoming release. Plus, Joey Jordison and Shawn Crahan have both been hyping up many of the tunes they have written. Slipknot hasn’t put out an album since 2008, so hopefully their gestating ideas can all combine to form a masterful new album.

Metallica has been teasing fans with the idea of a new album for a while now, and the band's new one should be pretty cool. My guess is that they will put out an album similar to The Black Album. However, who knows what the band will do to follow Death Magnetic. Metallica has been known to surprise its fans in unsettling ways, but hopefully the band’s next record won’t be too disappointing. 

Beyond Slayer, Slipknot and Metallica, there are a lot of other exciting albums coming out this year. Confirmed releases early in the year are set for Iced Earth, Adrenaline Mob, Alcest, Transatlantic, Behemoth, Within Temptation, Cynic, Triptykon and Overkill. Behemoth’s new record is particularly anticipated, as it will be the band’s first album since Nergal recovered from cancer. 

Bands such as Machine Head, Cannibal Corpse, Anthrax, Judas Priest, Arch Enemy, The Haunted, HammerFall, In Flames, Black Label Society, Exodus, Sanctuary and Fear Factory have also been confirmed to be working on albums. The records from these bands probably won’t be released early in the year, but should happen at some point in 2014.

Tours

Not that many major tours have been announced yet for 2014. Of course, The Rockstar Mayhem Festival and Summer Slaughter will return with surely stellar line-ups in the summer. Early in the year, the big talk is going to revolve around the recently announced Decibel Magazine Tour featuring Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder, Gorguts and Noisem. All four of those bands had highly talked about releases in 2013, and they all put on great live shows. This is going to be one of the most talked about tours of 2014, so don’t miss it!

Predictions

I have limited myself to five predictions for the upcoming year. I wonder if they will come true.

1        Slayer will announce Gary Holt as a permanent guitarist. I mean, who else could they possibly get to replace Hanneman? I think Exodus will find a way to co-exist, but I don’t think Exodus will be able to put out an album in 2014. I hope I’m wrong about this, though, because I’d much rather have Holt focus solely on Exodus. 

2        System of a Down is going to announce a new record, and might even put one out in 2014. Serj Tankian is running out of excuses to stop the band from recording. I think 2014 is going to be the year for the return of System. Let’s hope I’m right!

3        Iron Maiden is going to put out a new record. It has been almost four years since the last one, and even though the band is in no rush to put out more music, I think it’s going to happen. I expect a late release for the record if it happens at all.

4       Disturbed announces its return. Device didn’t do well, and Fight or Flight did even worse. I have to hope that the members of Disturbed will have enough common sense to reform the band. 

5        Black Sabbath won’t exist by the end of 2014. I would be surprised if the band made it through the year. Iommi is still recovering from cancer and Ozzy seems ready to go back to his solo career. I hope this prediction is incorrect, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t correct.

Metal Reunions That Should Be On Your Radar

There are some really cool heavy metal reunions going on right now, and I thought this week would be a great time to discuss some of them. These are the top five heavy metal reunions that you should be paying attention to:

1       Emperor 
Emperor is one of the most important black metal bands of all time. Formed in 1991, these guys defined symphonic black metal, and helped pioneer black metal in Norway. They were very much a part of the church burning movement in Norway in the 1990s, with a few of the band’s seminal members being a arrested and sent to jail for various crimes, including murder.

Emperor has recently reformed in order to commemorate the release of its classic debut album, In the Nightside Eclipse. The band will be performing the album in its entirety at several festival shows. Though the band leader, Ihsahn, seems to be more focused on his highly successful solo career, there is still a chance the band might continue to release new material. Even if they don’t, these shows will go down as a part of heavy metal history, and may possibly be the last chance for metalheads to witness Emperor’s glory.

2      The Haunted
Everyone is always raving about how important At the Gates was, but the other baby of the Bjorler brothers has always been a powerful force in heavy metal as well. The Haunted formed in 1996 after the demise of At the Gates, and the band put out several thrash metal albums that were very successful throughout Europe, though the band always maintained a small following in the US as well. The band's lineup has shifted constantly throughout the years, but Anders Bjorler, Jonas Bjorler and Patrik Jensen have appeared on all of the band’s records…until now.

In 2012, Anders left the group following the departures of the band’s vocalist and drummer. Jonas and Jensen remained committed to the band’s future even though fans couldn’t see one with the band having already lost so many members all within the same year. This year, after a period of inactivity, Jensen announced the band’s return with a new guitarist, alongside Adrian Erlandson, who founded the band and was the drummer on the band’s debut album, and Marco Aro, who was the band’s most acclaimed vocalist and played on their second and third records. With such a great new lineup, and with the departure of Anders, who may have been behind the disaster that was Unseen, the band’s future looks brighter than it has in a long, long time.

3        Sanctuary
No one expected Sanctuary to reform. Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard were so preoccupied with Nevermore, and received such acclaim with the band, that no one ever demanded a Sanctuary reunion. But now that Nevermore is gone, Sanctuary’s reunion has grown ever more exciting.

Sanctuary formed in 1985 and disbanded in 1992, only to reunite 18 years later in 2010. Sanctuary put out two legendary heavy metal records during its career that combined thrash metal and power metal. The band is currently working on its third record that will serve as the comeback. With Nevermore gone, fans are dying to hear what Dane and his crew have up their sleeves. The new album should be out sometime in late 2013 or early 2014.

4       Dog Fashion Disco
Majorly influenced by Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle, Dog Fashion Disco appeared on the scene in 1995 and quickly established a cult following (including yours truly). The band put out six albums during its initial run--the first three were released independently, and the last three were released on major labels. The group never quite got as popular as it should have, despite the band’s unique style of music, which was a form of avant-garde metal that involved combining heavy metal with psychedelic rock, jazz, lounge music and circus music. Dog Fashion Disco broke up in 2007, with band members going on to form obscure groups such as Polkadot Cadaver, Knives Out!, El Creepo and Celebrity Sex Scandal.

After reuniting in its hometown to do some reunion shows for a few consecutive years, the band officially announced that it were back together for good only a couple of weeks ago. The band plans to release irs comeback record, Sweet Nothings, in the spring of 2014. Back in the day, Dog Fashion Disco was known for one song, which featured Serj Tankian, and for touring with some of metal’s most successful contemporary acts. Now that the group is back together, hopefully it can gain even a bigger fanbase, for the band's unusual style of music certainly deserves to be heard. 

5       System of a Down
Everyone knows System of a Down. The band released very famous metal songs including “Chop Suey!,” “Toxicity,” “B.Y.O.B.” and “Lonely Day,” and was nominated for several Grammy awards (and they even won one) during their initial run. The band reunited in 2011 to the excitement of many fans. So why am I bringing them up now?

The band has not released an album since its reunion and fans are getting anxious. This year most of the band members have shown their excitement to put out new music as well, but they are being held up by vocalist Serj Tankian. Tankian has had a successful solo career, and after releasing two albums this year, one can only hope that System has big plans for 2014. The world needs System of a Down, and hopefully they will blow us all away with album number six!