Well, here we are at the start of a fresh new year. And while New Years is usually a time for bright-eyed, wishful optimism and wistful reminiscence, the global political and social climates have the world at unease. Yet despite a near blastbeat-pace of bummers and deaths, 2016 gave us another year of stellar extreme music.

Teethofthedivine soldiered on in 2016 as well, with some new faces on the team (though our distaste for digital promos hasn’t changed a bit). We also experienced a growth spurt on social media, so if you’re not following us yet, why the hell not? ‘Cause while other sites seem content to feed you with celebrity blogs, lists of ‘top 10 albums from 1993 which which had llamas on the cover’ or so-called humor pieces, TOTD just did what we do best: reviews, reviews, and reviews. One review every week day for the whole year. That’s 300+ reviews, folks.

We hope to add more interviews, features, and contests in 2017, and we do it all for you guys – our loyal readers, sharers, likers, and listeners. So keep on keeping it real in 2017, as it might be the last year the earth continues to spin. We’ll do our part to make sure metal stays as relevant in 2017 as it has been in the decades before.

So with much ado, here are the hand-picked releases that the TOTD staff enjoyed in 2016. Given the thousands of releases that assaulted our collective senses last year, hopefully we’ll introduce you to a few new favorites. And as always, stay tuned for our Fillings and Cavities feature, where we’ll shovel even more death, destruction, blackened weirdness, and melodic wonders into your willing ears.

It happens every year. In the mad shuffle to painstakingly put our year-end lists together, stuff gets missed. Whether they were sent to us after the fact, slipped through the cracks, or were simply overlooked, a number of killer releases found themselves in year-end limbo. A few of our staff compiled a list of the praise-worthy releases that missed the cut for our year-end 2015 feature, which means you should still consider them to be some of last year’s best.

Last year Erik Thomas reviewed a band from Nashville Tennessee called Inferi who released an album called The Path of Apotheosis.  To me that was one of the better melodic death releases of last year and kind of came out of nowhere. Zoom forward to present day Mariestad Sweden and Implode.  Implode was formed in […]

Another year. Another year of great metal, comebacks, surprises, letdowns, and everything in between. For Teethofthedivine, it was a transitional year as staff turnover was balanced by amazing output that resulted in new content virtually every day of the year. Former Internal Bleeding vocalist Frank Rini joined our ranks, and a number of fresh-faced, bright-eyed writers entered the fray, allured by free metal and a chance to have their voices heard. A few of the regular, grizzled denizens remained.

However, it was business as usual getting both old and new staff to get their year-end lists submitted. It took weeks of Liam Neeson-like emails and gravelly-voiced threats (“I have particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for writers like you. Get me your list and I’ll think nothing of it. But if you don’t get your list submitted, I will find you and I will send you an everso slightly peeved Facebook message”) to get the lists all submitted in time.

So without further ado, here are the Staff Picks for 2014. Please feel free to share, comment and add your own list.  Here’s to 2015!

It seems like every year is the better than the last and 2013 was no exception. From anticipated reunions like Gorguts and Carcass to the rise of so-called hipster metal in mainstream circles thanks to bands like Deafheaven, to grizzled veterans like Suffocation, every aspect and sub-genre of metal was firing on all cylinders. As usual, the TOTD staff had to be beaten into getting their lists submitted in time, and luckily, the many new staff members understood the imminent threat of physical violence.

This year we have even included a few ‘celebrity’ lists from some of the people responsible for making and releasing 2013’s great material, so be sure to check out the last page to see what folks like Kevin Quiron of Deicide voted as his favorite albums of 2013. As usual, thank you to all of YOU, the readers of this intimate little site, and stay tuned for more great metal in 2014.

Without further ado, we give you the 2013 Teethofthedivine.com staff picks:

At the end of every calendar year, metal journalists spend months trying to put together the dreaded year end list. It’s a long, stressful and ever-evolving process that keeps us up at night as we order and reorder albums several times, fret over stuff we have too high on the list or stuff that got bumped off the bottom. We try to make the lists as extensive and inclusive as possible, but inevitably, stuff gets missed. Maybe an album was too obscure, got overlooked in the crowd, we didn’t hear it until too late, or simply never made it into our inbox. So some of the staff here decided to give you guys a late Christmas present and let you know about some releases that you need to hear in case you also missed it or like us, simply overlooked it or it just didn’t get coverage here. These are the mulligans that, in hindsight, deserve your attention and probably would have made our staff’s year-end lists if we weren’t so lazy and rushed by a tireless dictator. So rise, brush, floss and repeat as we drill you with our cavities and fillings from 2012:

UPDATE-CONGRATULATIONS TO PALLBEARER, WHO BY A SERIES OF COMPLEX FORMULAS AND CALCULATIONS WON THE TOTD STAFF ALBUM OF THE YEAR WITH ‘SORROW AND EXTINCTION’. ANAAL NATHRAKH’S ‘VANITAS’ TOOK SECOND PLACE, WITH DYING FETUS TAKING THIRD WITH ‘REIGN SUPREME’.

. Another year, another winter spent threatening physical violence upon the staff here to get their year-end picks in. Now that the dust has settled, here are the results – the definitive list of critical picks of 2012’s best and worst releases. It’s all here: top albums, top EPs, top songs, biggest letdowns and the woulda shoulda coulda’s, as hand-picked by the TOTD staff. Feel free to comment, critique and tell us your own favorites for 2012. Thanks to all you guys for reading our little site in 2012 and here’s to another epic year of metal in 2013. Salut!

Evolution in metal is an interesting beast, and one that has three distinct paths for bands who decide to travel down its twisty road. Evolve too far and you risk alienating your fan base, and in extreme cases become a virtual laughingstock (Morbid Angel, Machine Head,  Cryptopsy – you all should know exactly which albums […]

New record due out late 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records AUSTRIA – Supreme death/black metal commando, Belphegor, will enter Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Fla. next month to begin work on its new, yet-to-be-titled album with producer, Erik Rutan. The band’s impending 10th studio release is due out late 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records.   Commented vocalist, […]

Well, another year. Another late year rush to get staff picks together, which is a lot like herding cats. Another year of rotating staff members. Another year of departed metal icons. But despite of all that, another year of seemingly endless awesome metal. Its seems like each year is always better than the last with a mix of old acts returning, newcomers bringing the thunder and of course the perennials and old reliables. Sit back and feast your eyes on this years cream of the crop according to the staff here at Teethofthedivine.com. And of course feel free discuss, dissect and discredit, but more importantly tell us your picks, good and bad of 2011.

It’s that time of the year again, when it’s time to take a look back at the previous year and figure out what the end score was. And as it is with things over here at Teeth of the Divine, this thing is legen-waitforit-dary…but none the less open to debate. So take part in the fun and post your top 2010 lists too! Without further a due, 12 pages of all things 2010 (and more or less, metal). Enjoy!

As I’ve lamented a few times this year, it really sucked that Burst broke up. They released two of my favorite releases of the 2000s, post-metal or otherwise, and I was really looking forward to a follow-up to Lazarus Bird. Ah well, they say the best way to get over a break-up is to go […]

After going through 2006 and 2004, we’ve arrived back in time to the year 2005. Chronology has no place in time travel… and we need to fix our De Lorean. Anyway, not only did 2005 saw Youtube come alive, certain bands achieved massive and well deserved breakthroughs as well. Primordial finally saw limelight with The Gathering Wilderness and Nevermore was up on everyone’s lips with This Godless Endeavor. Most importantly. what were YOUR favorites from 2005?

There comes a time when one has to dig through old stuff. While trying to preserve history by adding old Digital Metal reviews to our current archives, we stumbled upon a long since forgotten Top of the Year list, compiled by our staff, and it’s all the way from the year 2000 and 6. Oh my, oh my! Now, today, with hindsight by your side: what are your favorites from 2006?

Sweden’s In Mourning made a grand entrance into the melodic death/doom arena with their 2008 debut Shrouded Divine. Their even blend of earthy, rumbling doom and agile progressive death drew a lot of comparisons to Finnish heavyweights like Rapture, Swallow the Sun and Insomnium, but they most resembled a more straightforward, less adventurous version of […]

You know its a stellar year for metal when all the the staff asked if they could submit more than ten favorite albums this year, and then snuck in numerous other top albums by way of honorable mentions, new discoveries and such. Still, you cant argue with 2009s wide array of quality albums. The year was dominated by technical death metal, and littered with unsigned gems and unexpected surprises. I mean, when was the last time a year see releases by the likes of Mastodon, Isis, Behemoth, Napalm Death, Nile and Suffocation and they only get cursory mentions?

Thanks to everyone who all who made the site what it is and thanks to all the readers who make it what it will be. Here is to another great year of metal in 2010.

Where available, reviews have been linked so you can read our highly specialized, professional, humble and opinionated reviews of these albums.

As usual feel free to ridicule, mock our picks, add your owns lists and ensure that the old fashioned saying about opinions holds true…

There’s a recent thread on the boards decrying the shitty scenester music that kids today are listening to, including the infamous BrokeNCYDE (which Erik Thomas just wiped his ass with a few weeks ago). Now, I’ve ignored the vast majority of all this stuff for the past ten years, going back to when pop punk […]

Everyone loves lists right? Well, rather than the usual blog where some internet hack, wanna be journalist tries to come up with a list of 10 metal related things or rants about retarded people and tries to make it funny, we here at Teethofthedivine.com thought we would try something different.

Why not put together a list complied from the people actually responsible for bringing the music to us? We scoured our email address books, Myspace pages and little black books for various Metal luminaries including band members, record label staff, media and PR staff, producers and the guy that mops the stage after concerts to get their 5 favorite albums of all time.

Here is the highly collaborative, incredibly comprehensive, exhaustive and informative end result (as usual, feel free to comment, add your own list or simply sell us viagra):

(Thanks to those folks that supplied their lists and the teethofthedivine staff that harassed them)

When I was supposed to get this promo, the actual disc was lost in the mail. All I received was the jewel case liner, which opens up to a larger poster version of the cover art. I promptly hung it on my wall (having no idea what they sound like, but I thought it looked […]

In a year that saw vast amounts of turmoil for many of us here at teethofthedivine as we made a transition from the previous site, one thing kept us going-the huge amount of great metal that was released. So here it is-the first annual teethofthedivine year end list! Feel free to comment and post your own year end picks, hurl insults at us or sell us Viagra!

The Danish grind sensation A KID HEREAFTER IN THE GRINDING LIGHT will release their sparkling debut album in Europe in February 2009 and are performing at this year’s Danish Metal Awards in Copenhagen on the 15th of November.  The A KID HEREAFTER band-in-the-band…IN THE GRINDING LIGHT is characterized by its playfulness and extremely competent and […]

Every now and then a record comes along that is truly hard to describe to anyone, this is one such album. It is in fact not so much an album as an endurance test. This is something you listen to when you want to drive yourself over the edge in a bad way. I do […]

The staff of Teeth of the Divine is like staff at any other place, except we think we’re cool. Rather than know it for a fact. Below are the foul beings who are responsible for most of what you see on the site. The Main Men Erik T, Mikko K. Senior Staff Frank Rini, Steve […]

So here it is. Arguably the most anticipated death metal albums of the year from one of the genre’s most respected and revered acts-and if you could tell from the cover art and album title, it’s a true return to form. Personally I found Frozen In Time to be a tired plodding release that reeked […]

“Dear Profound Lore Records, Please submit $1256.56 to my bank account for the purchase of new speakers and stereo system as well as several visits to the ear doctor due to playing the new album from Georgia’s The Angelic Process. You see, after hardly being able to hear the opening strands of Weighing Souls With […]