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.