At the beginning of the month I put a call out to all you fellow Beardians, giving you the opportunity to tell me what your favourite albums were this year. I figured that kind of year-end interaction would be better than me coming up with some arbitrary best-of list. Well, I’m not sure if that was too much work for you or if it’s the fact that no one actually reads this blog (that’s highly possible, but I’ll continue on as if at least a few of you are reading), but I got zero response. So…now you’re stuck with a list!

While I did enjoy a great many releases this year (this list concerns mainly full-lengths, not EPs or singles even though I listened to some damn fine ones this year), there were some that affected me more than the rest, and we’ll get to those in a minute. First though, specific thanks go out to Roadsaw, Dixie Witch, Lo-Pan, Trap Them, Biters, Mariachi El Bronx, Toxic Holocaust, Karma To Burn, Hazzard’s Cure, Premonition 13, Black Spiders, Mastodon, Saviours, Spiders, Darlings of Chelsea, Helms Alee, Blood Ceremony, Danava, Monster Truck, C’mon, Barn Burner, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, The Heavy Eyes, Opeth, Elder, and Omega Massif for releasing some top notch, beard-approved albums this year. All mighty stellar indeed.

But there were 14 albums in particular this past year that blasted my beard all to sweet holy hell, and while I’m not gonna rank ‘em, I do think they deserve some extra attention, and you’d be best served to go and seek them out immediately if you haven’t already. So here they are, in alphabetical order…

Black Cobra – Invernal: Eight cuts of unrelenting rotten roll much braver, louder, and nastier than any Black Cobra album that’s come before… (review here)

Elks – Destined for the Sun: This year’s ‘Holy-fuck-these-guys-are-my-new-favourite-band!’ band… (review here)

Gentleman’s Pistols – At Her Majesty’s Pleasure: You don’t so much as listen to it as you do walk into its dark and musty den and stare at all the trophy riffs mounted on the wall like 10 point bucks… (review here)

Glitter Wizard – Solar Hits: Their cosmic psych-punk is gonna hit you like one thousand crotch lasers to the face… (review here)

Graveyard – Hisingen Blues: Rarefied fuzzdom, a kind of electric catnip that makes bell-bottomed leaf hounds go bat-shit… (review here)

Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus – Bloom: An incredibly soulful jam that focuses the majority of its attention on delivering its hazy, swirling melodies in a clear and present manner… (review here)

The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh: The indie Rhode Island band instills a breathless yearning into their music that rivals any other kind of emotional response you will get from any other kind of music… (review here)

Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive: Full of so many eyelined hits it’ll make your head spin… (review here)

Midnight – Satanic Royalty: Black metal thrash so absurdly good you’ll be reawakening neck muscles that have been retired since the early 80s… (review here)

Orchid – Capricorn: Witchy-riffed psych-blues that, had it been recorded in 1969, would be the subject of the first chapter of all tomes concerning the history of heavy metal… (review here)

The Shrine – Bless Off Demo: Just one run through Bless Off‘s neurotic, thrashy, fuzzy, riff-packed punk-doom hybrid and beer will taste better, partying will last longer, denim will fit snugger, and your conquests — sexual or otherwise — will be mightier… (review here)

Skraeckoedlan - Äppelträdet: Äppelträdet (The Apple Tree) stands deep-rooted and thick-trunked, its branches offering  the sweet taste of mammoth melody, and each song you pick is bigger and juicer than the next… (review here)

Turbowolf – Turbowolf: A sweat bomb of ultra-hip, greasy electricity… (review here)

Untimely Demise – City of Steel: Dynamite piece of soul fucking metal… (review here)

So that’s it…another good year, huh? Sadly, I would’ve like to have reviewed Nordic Nomadic’s Worldwide Skyline and some other stuff, but I didn’t. Can’t word ‘em all, I guess.

Oh, and one more thing…I feel like I should pick a beard of the year. So, the winner is…my pal James. James won the Beard of the Month back in February, and has kept his hairy trophy on display since, and now he looks like Guy Fawkes. You might say, ‘Oh, you’re only giving it to him because you know him,’ and you may be right, but you cannot argue against that beard, can you? Occupy facial hair, motherfuckers!

Ok, enjoy the holidaze, friends. There’s plenty slated for review once we resume activity in 2012, including Orange Goblin, Christian Mistress, Dwellers, Black Pyramid, King Giant, Rising, The Saint James Society, High on Fire, Earth, and much more! Maybe even an exclusive sneak peek at the new Sex Slaves album! See you in the New Year.

I want to up the beard quotient around here and I figure the best way to do this is to start profiling a Beard of the Month.

Throwing a wrench into the works right off the hop, I’m giving the inaugural BOM honours to a sportsman, Brett Keisel of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, I don’t care about the Steelers, but I care about this dude’s beard. It’s straight up viking highlighted by a turn-of-the century weightlifter mustache. Amazing!

Truth be told, it really reminds me of my own beard, so well done, Mr. Keisel!

You know, I think we should do a runner-up as well, so congratulations to Roadsaw vocalist Craig Riggs for his golden face mane. It pleases me.

Roadsaw
Roadsaw
Small Stone

I owe a lot to my many years spent as a revolutionary in Sleazegrinder’s army, including my love for all things rock n’ roll in Boston. Early into this millennium I developed an unchecked focus on such bands as Cocked n’ Loaded, Cracktorch, Rock City Crimewave, Milligram, Coke Dealer, and The Humanoids. If only my town had a scene like that, man. And that’s saying nothing of Wild Zero, Noble Rot, and the legendary (in my mind, anyway) Kari Nations. But the king daddy of ‘em all was — and is — Roadsaw (a nod to their off-shoots, Antler and Quitter, as well), the one band who preceded and survived all others. Led by the godfather’s of Boston rock, Ian Ross (guitar), Tim Catz (bass), and Craig Riggs (vocals), Roadsaw have been hammering out Southern-dipped fuzz n’ roll songs for about 18 years now, publishing consistently punishing albums that seem to get a tad slicker and sleazier every time out, to the point now where Roadsaw just can’t help but exude a rock star God confidence larger than the sun. The proof on Roadsaw, their sixth full-length release, is Riggs’ vocal harmonies, which elevate thick-riffed songs like “Dead and Buried,” “Thinking of Me,” “Motel Shoot Out,” and “Song X” into searing arena hits, and any one of Ross’ petulant solos, which attack like a lust-hungry fiend, feverishly and often. Stoner rock rarely contains this kind of excitement, my friends. The band can still play quick and deadly, too, as evidenced by the mean n’ tasty rawk of “Weight in Gold,” “The Getaway” and “Too Much is Not Enough,” and what would a Roadsaw album be without its quintessential ballad, “Electric Heaven,” which stays plugged in but meanders about in a psych-haze of doom-like opulence before delivering the catchiest chorus on the entire album. No doubt about it; the bar has been set…and it’s really fucking high.

Listen to “Dead And Buried” from Roadsaw!