BravePicks 2015

All the votes are in and the compiling is done after days and countless hours of digging through all the piles of molten metal from 2015! So who will be #1? You’ll find out as we count down to the BravePick Of 2015 throughout December! And once again our devout scribes put their collective metal minds together to build the ultimate lists including individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments, Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2016? and Metal Predictions For 2016. All will be showcased come the New Year!

Tis the season to commence the good, bad and ugly of 2015! Let’s rock!

28) KATAKLYSM – Of Ghosts And Gods (Nuclear Blast)

BraveWords scribe Jason Deaville said it best when raved in his review: Like the ten plagues of Egypt summoned forth by Yahweh – the god of the Israelites – against the Pharaoh of Egypt, each and every slab of destructive metal might on the new Kataklysm album, Of Ghosts And Gods, is a reminder that these long-running Canadian musical extremists are to be worshipped and feared. Taken as one cohesive package of melodious pestilence, Kataklysm manages to turn rivers to blood while devouring a dying sun with hordes of disease-ridden locusts. With crimson gore flowing across the land, Maurizio Iacono and crew march forward into battle in a never-ending assault at staking their claim to the throne of melodic-yet-brutalizing death metal.

In an unprecedented event in extreme metal, Kataklysm released ten music videos in the ten days leading up to the release of their new album, Of Ghosts And Gods, released in late July! Check them all out here.

Guitarist J- F Dagenais tracked drums, guitars and bass for Of Ghosts And Gods, while vocals were recorded by producer Mark Lewis (Whitechapel, DevilDriver, Cannibal Corpse). The entire process was mixed and mastered in the UK by legendary producer Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Testament, Exodus, Amon Amarth). The album artwork was done by up and coming dark and macabre artist Art by Surtsey. The new Kataklysm cover art echoes a sinister artwork depicting the reality of humanity’s beautifully disturbing existence and its impending death through the Mortal and the Everlasting, the background shows an ancient Incantation written in Aramaic.

About the album, the band stated: “It has all the elements that make Kataklysm the force that it is with unrelenting power, melodic hooks, extreme passages and the head stomping grooves Kataklysm is well known for, plus it jumps into new territory in the true nature of the band’s adventurous exploits to push the limit. The end result will be our fans head banging with their horns in the air and shouting the hymns – and that’s our satisfaction right there.”

BravePicks 2015 Top 30

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28) KATAKLYSM – Of Ghosts And Gods (Nuclear Blast)
29) EUROPE – War Of Kings (UDR)
30) MY DYING BRIDE – Feel The Misery (Peaceville)