Fast Eddie Clarke – It Ain’t Over Till it’s Over (Chequered Flag Records). 1993 solo release that Eddie sent to me shortly after I conducted the interview. Pretty nice of him, eh? It’s a solid rock album too. Lemmy sings on one track in case you were wondering.

Avenger – Joy of Anger / Feast of Despair (Deathgasm). Great Czech band. Underappreciated and under recognized. Start paying attention.

Overkill – The Electric Age (eOne). Righteous as always and a worthy follow-up to the brilliant Ironbound.

Overkill – Feel the Fire (Megaforce). Well yeah, it’s a classic and I just saw Overkill. What did you expect?

Overkill – Bloodletting (SPV). How come nobody every talks about this one? I love the hell of out of it and “Thunderhead” is a great, great song!

Necrophobic – Spawned by Evil (Hammerheart). Old stuff, cover stuff…raw stuff, good stuff.

Black Breath – Sentenced to Life (Southern Lord). Goddamn, when these guys hit it really fucking hurts! And all they do is hit. You do the math.

Iron Man – Black Night (Shadow Kingdom). The Night is Black. So is the Sabbath.

American Dog – Poison Smile (Colonial Canine). Easily one of the best, no-bullshit, kick-ass, beer-swilling, riff-dealing, good-goddamn-time American hard rock bands out there and the new album is further proof!

Superchrist – Holy Shit (Hells Headbangers). Superchrist does no wrong; never have and never will. This may be the best one yet. I bought the CD/vinyl combo for $20; HHR always serves it up right.

Coffins – March of Despair (Hammerheart). Five-song EP, including a sick cover of Death’s “Corpsegrinder,” from Japan’s Coffins. Expect more of the doom/death muck, just a pinch better produced and with vocals only marginally more intelligible, and more commanding. This is a very good thing.

High on Fire – De Vermis Mysterus (eOne). You gotta hand it to ‘em. High on Fire never skimps on BALLS!

Sleepy Hollow – Skull 13 (Pure Steel). Good ‘ole U.S. Heavy Metal forged in the fires of Accept, Metal Church and Judas Priest. One of my favorites of the style thus far in 2012.

Marilyn Manson – Born Villain (Cooking Vinyl). Always far more talented and musically relevant than they’re given credit for, on Born Villain Marilyn Manson still sounds pretty damn solid and comes with a hard punch.

Overkill – Horrorscope (Atlantic). “Blood money!”

Judas Priest – Ram it Down (Columbia). I seem to recall some dismissing this album as somehow not up to snuff with I can’t quite agree, even if it is not one of their very best. “Come and Get,” “Heavy Metal,” “Hard as Iron,” and yes, the cover of “Johnny B. Goode” are all white hot and metal as fuck. And yes, “Blood Red Skies” is great too….jeez, give it a rest!

Accept – Stalingrad (Nuclear Blast). Great follow up to Blood of the Nations; not a better one, but certainly on par with it.

Kaos – Validated in Blood (Malevolence Records). Long time Bay Area thrashers that have been doing it DIY for some time now. I finally got around to listening to them after realizing I’d been ignoring their past albums for no reason whatsoever. Quality thrash metal and worthy of your attention. Check ‘em out www.kaosamongus.com

Venrez – Sell the Lie (Monarch Music Group). Solid modern hard rock band with influences both old and new. Not too shabby. Includes dudes that played with Juliette Lewis and The Licks, Life, Sex, and Death, and Marky Ramone.

God Forbid – Equilibrium (Victory). First album on Victory after all those years and the first one without the Dallas Coyle. Always had a soft spot for these guys and felt their creativity was too often overlooked. Good songwriters and hard workers too. A good album that sort of harkens back to earlier material without abandoning the progressive leanings of the last release. I like it.

Unsane – Wreck (Alternative Tentacles). Noisy lot, aren’t they?

Abnormality – Contaminating the Hive Mind (Sevared). This one caught me by surprise. Damn good traditional USDM with just the right amount of technicality and groove – well written, well produced, louder than bombs, and heavier than a really heavy thing.

Pyrexia – Age of the Wicked (Unique Leader). Love this kind of stuff! USDM that’s mean as hell!

Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny (Gull). “Victim of Changes,” “Genocide, “Tyrant,” “Ripper,” some ace cuts on here, even though I find “Epitaph” to be totally out of place. The tune always seems to disorient me when I’m listening to the album. Oh and I prefer the version of “Genocide” on Unleashed in the East.

Mecca – Undeniable (Frontiers) – Way too 80s, way too positive, and way too catchy for you. Not for me though; well, when just the right mood strikes anyway. Otherwise, bring on the negativity and violence! See Pyrexia entry.

Judas Priest – Stained Class (Columbia). An album ahead of its time in terms of pure heavy metal firepower. In my opinion, Stained Class is the album on which Judas Priest really found its footing. Sin after Sin had its moments, but this one smoked from start to finish.

Judas Priest – Angel of Retribution (Epic). Yep, still making my way through that 17-disc box set. It’s been a few years since I’d spun this one and I must say it’s making a much better impression on me than it did originally, but that could due do to any number of factors, not the least of which include periods of mental instability and unexplainable synaptic misfires.

Aborted – Global Flatline (Century Media). This one was on a previous list. I like it better than Cannibal Corpse’s Torture and I like Cannibal Corpse’s Torture, although I sometimes wonder about some of these reviews calling it one of the best albums they’ve ever recorded.

Mpire of Evil – Hell to the Holy (Scarlet). This one was on a previous list too, mainly because the folks at Scarlet Records were kind enough to send me a retail copy. Man cannot live on MP3s alone. Boys can; men cannot. Just kidding…sort of.

Wolfbane – Wolfbane (Shadow Kingdom). Three tunes recorded in 1981, three recorded in 1982, and released in 2012 on Shadow Kingdom Records. Any guesses as to musical style?

Manilla Road – Gates of Fire (Battlecry). Released in 2005. Epic, man…epic.

Abominant – Warblast (Deathgasm). Yep, still rockin’ that Kentucky Death Metal.

Stonehaven – Concerning Old-Strife and Man-Banes(HPGD). Can’t get enough lately. The live show kills! This is USBM that means business; serious business.

Taake – Multiple YouTube plays one fine morning. That is all.

Dark Angel – Leave Scars (Under One Flag). It’s not just thrash metal; it’s brutal thrash metal! And Gene Hoglan’s drumming sounds like a continuous series of the loudest thunder booms and cracks you’ve ever heard.

Primal Fear – Unbreakable (Frontiers). Straight forward heavy metal; pretty good, but that’s about it. It really grew on me and in the final analysis I liked it; just not as much as some earlier releases.

Judas Priest – Turbo (Columbia). Ah yes, the much maligned album from ’86. I’m ok with it, but that probably has as much to do with it coming out during my, ahem, coming of age and seeing JP live on the 1986 tour in support of the album (Krokus opened).

Now get out there and support the underground, kids! Buy a goddamned CD or a shirt, attend a show, and stop stealing music from the bands and labels that barely make enough money to get by as it is. Well, not you, but those other Pirate Assholes of the Assholiest.