A peek at EW’s top 10 albums of the year highlights a vaguely disturbing trend: In 2012, most of the best music of the year was pretty mellow.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing; relatively low-key albums by the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean handily proved that un-blustery does not equal boring.
That being said, 2012 was a particularly remarkable year for metal. Perhaps because they currently have no place on the pop landscape at the moment, heavy musicians made a concerted effort to push personal boundaries on their new releases.
In some cases, that meant exploring the limit of how much noise the human ear can endure; for others it was a bold step toward something resembling pop music. It’s that second step that made it such a weird, wonderful year. READ FULL STORY »
