In past years I’ve reached out to artists and listeners and compiled a list of top albums and tracks of the year. This year however I was extremely busy with the birth of my second son, and did not have the time to do so. Hell I’m typing this up at 4:28AM local time, I’ve currently got my hands pretty, pretty, pretty full. With that said, I have spent the past few weeks listening to as may releases as I could, reviewing albums I had listed to already, and touching on ones I had wanted to get to, but hadn’t until now. Out of those albums, I was able to put together what I feel are the top twenty albums to have come out in 2012. In the past I’ve done a countdown episode of the podcast, but this year I’m going to leverage something Spotify now allows us to do, and that’s add a playlist to a website without needing to access or sign up for their service. As a result, you’ll also find a play list I compiled that highlights all of the best hard rock, metal, or just plain heavy music to be released this year. Again, this is strictly my opinion, feel free to add your comments below, and add your own top albums of the year list to the comments section as well.

1. Van Halen – A Different Kind Of Truth
2. Deftones – Koi No Yokan
3. Overkill – The Electric Age
4. Angelus Apatrida – The Call
5. Lamb Of God – Resolution
6. Kill Devil Hill – S/T
7. Kiss – Monster
8. Prong – Carved Into Stone
9. Fear Factory – The Industrialist
10. Ihsahn – Eremita
11. Soundgarden – King Animal
12. Accept – Stalingrad
13. Mnemic – Mnemisis
14. Hell’s Fire – A.M.M.O.
15. Gypsyhawk – Revelry And Resilience
16. Testament – Dark Roots Of Earth
17. The Cult – Choice Of Weapon
18. Stone Sour – House Of Gold & Bones
19. Marilyn Manson – Born Villain
20. Shadows Fall – Fire From The Sky

Here is a short list of 40 some odd tracks:

You can listen to the full list of (a few hundred tracks) by copying and pasting this link (https://open.spotify.com/user/vmr907/playlist/6jB4r5WD7w7YgxhEG0eiRy) it will open the playlist in Spotify.

Enjoy

– Victor