2015 has sucked in almost every way for me and for a lot of people that I know, too. You could say it was full of Trials and Tribulation (that’ll be funny AFTER you see the top of my list). Fortunately, we were gifted a litany of top-shelf metal albums to get us through it without losing our minds. The following are the top 20 metal records that I subjected my children to while driving them all over L.A. I have to admit that there was so much great stuff this year that I sort of cheated here by including a very extensive “honorable mentions” category for all of the other albums that might have made the list had the year ended when they came out. All of them are excellent efforts that I know I’ll be listening to for years to come.

Check out the list and let me know what you think in the comments below because if I know metalheads (and believe me, I do) you’ll all have some very strong opinions about your own likes and dislikes. The best thing about other people’s year-end “best of” list is that I always discover a few absolute gems that got past me during the year. Last year, you, the readers, even turned me on to Ne Obliviscaris and Solstafir, two amazing bands that I was unfamiliar with and whose albums should have been on my list. It is my hope that no matter what your opinion of my personal list is, that it will inspire you to check out some artists or records that you haven’t yet discovered. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your new favorite metal band contained herein.

Have a wonderful holiday season and rest up, because 2016 promises to be another pummeling year in extreme music. And be sure to stay tuned here at GoD because you know we’ll be doing our very best to keep you informed about all of it.

This is my recap of the events of Sunday, October 25th 2015, the final day of Slipknot‘s massive Knotfest music festival. You can check out my coverage of the previous day right here.

When I left off last, my 12-year-old son Jesse and I were exhausted, but still reeling from having just experienced a long day of killer metal in the California desert. We had witnessed a ton of great bands and the day had culminated in the awesomeness that is Judas Priest live. We had barely 12 hours to recover and recharge for the second and final day.

To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t looking as forward to this day due to the fact that there weren’t really that many bands that I had not seen previously or had any real desire to see for the first time.

Hot on the heels of their stellar main stage performance at Knotfest in San Bernardino, CA, last night, this week’s edition of Massive Metal Monday is dedicated to metal stalwarts Clutch. I’ll be telling you more about Clutch’s performance and the entire Knotfest festival in the days to come. But, in the meantime, check out the band’s latest single. From their phenomenal eleventh album, Psychic Warfare, which was released earlier this year, this is “X-Ray Visions.”

At the conclusion of last year’s edition of Knotfest, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor promised the crowd that the weekend-long metal festival would be returning to San Bernadino, CA again this year. Well, it seems Taylor is a man of his word because it has been announced that the massive and eclectic production will, in fact, once again invade the grounds of the San Manuel Amphitheater and Glen Helen Regional Park October 23rd-25th.

Friday, October 23rd will once again have a small show exclusively for those purchasing 3-day camping passes. The lineup for this night has yet to be announced. However, the Saturday and Sunday lineups have been mostly announced and they do not disappoint! Details here below.