2012 is going to be a good year. Even if it brings with it the end of the world. How can we know? Because some of the biggest, badass-est bands in hard rock and heavy metal are set to drop new bombs over the following 360 days. Read on to see just what we mean–and get psyched. Let us know which album you are looking forward to the most in our poll right here.
Aerosmith
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Between frontman Steven Tyler’s day job on American Idol and his onstage shoving matches with his Toxic Twin, guitarist Joe Perry, last year, if someone had asked us whether the biggest-selling American rock band of all time was about to get back in the saddle again and record a new album, we probably would have answered, “Dream on.” But by all accounts Aerosmith are going to drop their 15th studio record later this year—according to Tyler last September, maybe even as soon as “March—hopefully.”
Alice in Chains
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
With 2009′s Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice in Chains pretty much pulled off the impossible: Create a completely authentic new album 14 years after their previous, self-titled record and seven years after the death of iconic lead singer Layne Staley. As such, Black Gives Way to Blue was named Album of the Year by the Revolver staff and later was voted on by the fans to win the same honors at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Needless to say, we’re very excited to see what they do for a follow-up, which we know they’re working on, and which we’re hoping will be ready for release this year.
As I Lay Dying
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Last year these metalcore stalwarts celebrated 10 years together, releasing the anniversary EP Decas, which featured covers of Judas Priest . If those are the influences these guys are carrying into their second decade, album No. 6 should be a doozy.
Black Sabbath
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Over three decades since they released their last album, the original lineup of Black Sabbath—vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward—announced late last year that they are working on an LP of new songs with producer Rick Rubin (Metallica, Slipknot). When the news broke, a mini-riot of jubilation broke out in the Revolver office, such that we had to name this the Story of the Year. Since then, it was announced that Iommi is battling lymphoma but is forging ahead with the writing process nonetheless. Iron Man, indeed.
Gojira
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
It’s no secret that we love environmentally minded prog-death outfit Gojira over here at Revolver. We’ve been championing the French “green metal” crushers ever since we heard the behemoth opening track of their 2005 opus, From Mars to Sirius. Their first record on new label Roadrunner, Album No. 5 should hit like a force of nature.
Halestorm
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Led by one of our favorite rocker babes—and advice columnists, for that matter—singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale, this Pennsylvania-bred breakout band promise a more personal album for their follow-up to their smash 2009 self-titled debut. But don’t expect them to get all sappy on us. There should still be more than enough of the band’s now signature raucous attitude and righteous riffs for any headbanger to get off. And if Hale ever assembles the all-girl supergroup featuring Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi, Sick Puppies bassist Emma Anzai, and Skillet keyboardist Korey Cooper and drummer Jen Ledger that she has said could be in the works, our heads might just literally explode.
Hellyeah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
After two albums that saw the hard-partying supergroup—featuring Pantera’s Vinnie Paul, Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, and Nothingface’s Tom Maxwell—dabbling in southern rock, blues, and even country music, the band is making what Paul calls “a balls-out metal record” for their third offering. “It was fun and enlightening thing to open up and cover these other styles of music,” Paul says. “But when we finished this last tour, we said, ‘All right, with this next record, let’s just go fucking balls out and see what happens.’ It’s very heavy. It’s very abrasive. I think it’s maybe going to be what people envisioned this band being like from the start.”
High on Fire
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Since the release of their last album, 2010′s Snakes for the Divine, stoner-thrash titans High on Fire have survived not one but two earthquakes—the February 22, 2010 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the quake and resulting tsunami in Japan on March 11. Whether this influenced the sure-to-be cataclysmic sound on their forthcoming record is unclear, but the band, led by Sleep guitarist Matt Pike, do promise a new album that is “direct, eye-opening, and powerfully supernatural.”
Judas Priest
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The Metal Gods may have announced their departure from the stage, which they commemorated with 2011′s triumphant Epitaph Tour, but the members of Judas Priest swear we haven’t heard the last of them. With the addition of new guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing when he retired last year and made his debut with the band supporting James Durbin on American Idol, the band is currently working on a reported 12 to 14 new songs that they hope to release in 2012.
Killswitch Engage
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In mid-December, Killswitch Engage guitarist Mike D’Antonio posted on his Facebook page that the metalcore band was convening around Christmastime to write a new record. He added, “Even Howard is coming,” referring to frontman Howard Jones, who had missed some of the group’s 2010 shows, supposedly due to back pain. Then, on January 5, the band announced Jones had left the band citing personal reasons as the cause. Their statement said, “He has left big shoes to fill, so we certainly have our work cut out for us to find the next singer of Killswitch, something we plan on making priority #1 going forward.” So we’re still holding onto our hopes that there will be a new Killswitch record in 2012.
Kiss
TITLE: Monster
RELEASE DATE: TBA
For the second release on the makeup-slathered hard-rock legends’ own Kiss Records, vocalist-bassist-Demon Gene Simmons promises a “meat and potatoes” kind of record, a Kiss record you can depend on. Next year will be the group’s 40th anniversary, and with Monster, they want to prove they can still rock and roll all night and party every day in style. Also, be on the lookout this year for an official book about the band that will be four feet tall!
Lacuna Coil
TITLE: Dark Adrenaline
RELEASE DATE: January 24
Frontwoman Cristina Scabbia promised a heavier new direction with the sixth album from her Italian goth-metal outfit, and judging from lead single, “Trip the Darkness,” she wasn’t kidding. Lacuna Coil hit the U.S. in support with this winter’s Gigantour, alongside Megadeth, Motörhead, and Volbeat.
Meshuggah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: March 27
In 2011, a strange, barely pronounceable onomatopoeia, “djent,” became the hot new buzzword in underground metal, a catch-all term to describe a breed of young bands who, essentially, share one major characteristic: They sound like Meshuggah. Having inspired a whole nerdy little subgenre, the Swedish tech-death overlords return in 2012 to show Generation Djent just how it’s done, and we’re guessing that they not only pick up where they left off with 2008′s obZen, but that they take their existing sound and destroy, erase, and improve it.
Metallica
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
On the heels of a triumphant run headlining the Big Four festivals in 2011 as well as an experimental album with Lou Reed, the metal giants are working on the follow-up to 2008′s Revolver Album of the Year, Death Magnetic. From what guitarist Kirk Hammett has said about the record, it will be like “a heavier ‘Black Album.’”
Ministry
TITLE: Relapse
RELEASE DATE: March 30
Ministry’s breakup never seemed particularly set in stone. After all, their “final” album, 2007′s The Last Sucker, was followed by not one record of covers and remixes but two—not to mention a 2009 live album. Still, it was hard for any fan of the seminal industrial-metal band not to be excited when main man Al Jourgensen announced in August that the group would not only be touring in 2012 but releasing a new, original studio album, fittingly called Relapse. Politically charged lead single “99 Percenters,” which hit iTunes on just before Christmas, bodes nicely.
Rush
TITLE: Clockwork Angels
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In the time since Canada’s best progressive hard-rock power trio released their last disc, 2007′s Snakes and Arrows, they’ve celebrated their 40th anniversary and seen their story told in the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage. For their 19th(!) LP, they’ve worked with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Evanescence, Alice in Chains) and written songs—two titles of which have been released, “Caravan” and “BU2B”—which guitarist Alex Lifeson describes as “very dynamic.”
Shinedown
TITLE: Amaryllis
RELEASE DATE: March 27
The last album from these southern hard rockers, 2008′s platinum-selling The Sounds of Madness, made history with each of its six singles hitting No. 1 in the radio airplay ratings. The lead single, “Bully,” from this follow-up should keep that streak going. Of the other tracks, frontman Brent Smith promises a mix of “bone-crushing” numbers like “Adrenaline” and more contemplative ballads such as “Through the Ghost,” a song about the strains of constantly being on the road and away from home.
Slash
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Feeling reinvigorated after touring with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy in support of his self-titled solo album—a disc that featured different singers ranging from Ozzy to Fergie singing songs—Velvet Revolver and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash set to work on an LP that features just Kennedy and his impressive range. Considering the guitarist was still recording the disc in December, around the time Guns N’ Roses’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced, we can only imagine the adrenaline that will be surging through the album.
Soundgarden
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
One of the heaviest bands to emerge from Seattle’s grunge scene, Soundgarden came together again in 2010 to tour. Now, 16 years after releasing their last record, Down on the Upside, the band—whose frontman, Chris Cornell, played with Audioslave and put out solo albums, and whose drummer, Matt Cameron, joined Pearl Jam in their years away from Soundgarden—are working on an album Cornell has described as the band’s next logical step, musically.
Testament
TITLE: The Dark Roots of the Earth
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Although thrash titans Testament never really broke up, their 2008 album The Formation of Damnation—their first with a mostly original lineup, including guitarist Alex Skolnick, since the early ’90s—seemed like a triumphant comeback record. In recent months, the band has been working with producer Andy Sneap on the follow-up, The Dark Roots of the Earth, which Skolnick has said will have more variety than previous albums and his fellow guitarist Eric Peterson has called darker than usual. We just hope they practice what they preach.
Tool
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The rumor mill had Tool’s fifth album coming out last year. Clearly that did not come to pass. And while frontman Maynard James Keenan has been seemingly preoccupied reuniting with A Perfect Circle, and squashing grapes, the prog-metal act U.S. tour this winter proves that there is, indeed, movement in Camp Tool. So we’re holding out hope that they will finally put out a new album this year—and until they do, we’re prepared to be teased, tortured, and titillated by more rumors and misinformation, much of it doubtlessly spread by Tool themselves.
Van Halen
TITLE: A Different Kind of Truth
RELEASE DATE: February 7
Realigned with their original frontman, David Lee Roth, in 2006, hard-rock gargantuans Van Halen played a number of successful reunion shows in the years since. Now the group—which also features guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his brother, Alex, on drums, and his son, Wolfgang, on bass—is putting out their first new album in 14 years and their first with Roth in almost three decades. Judging from “She’s the Woman,” a song they rejiggered from their 1977 demo sessions that they played at an intimate New York City show earlier this month , it sounds like they haven’t missed a step…or a high kick.
Eddie Van Halen Rocks the stage at an early 2012 gig opening up with "You really got me" and the new "Shes The Woman". David Lee Roth busts out the acoustic guitar for the rendition of "Ice Cream Man" kept the crowd rockin all nite.....expect great things from these guys this year very impressive! I gotta hand it to these Rock Giants, STILL aint nothin like VAN HALEN!
Aerosmith
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Between frontman Steven Tyler’s day job on American Idol and his onstage shoving matches with his Toxic Twin, guitarist Joe Perry, last year, if someone had asked us whether the biggest-selling American rock band of all time was about to get back in the saddle again and record a new album, we probably would have answered, “Dream on.” But by all accounts Aerosmith are going to drop their 15th studio record later this year—according to Tyler last September, maybe even as soon as “March—hopefully.”
Alice in Chains
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
With 2009′s Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice in Chains pretty much pulled off the impossible: Create a completely authentic new album 14 years after their previous, self-titled record and seven years after the death of iconic lead singer Layne Staley. As such, Black Gives Way to Blue was named Album of the Year by the Revolver staff and later was voted on by the fans to win the same honors at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods. Needless to say, we’re very excited to see what they do for a follow-up, which we know they’re working on, and which we’re hoping will be ready for release this year.
As I Lay Dying
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Last year these metalcore stalwarts celebrated 10 years together, releasing the anniversary EP Decas, which featured covers of Judas Priest . If those are the influences these guys are carrying into their second decade, album No. 6 should be a doozy.
Black Sabbath
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Fall
Over three decades since they released their last album, the original lineup of Black Sabbath—vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward—announced late last year that they are working on an LP of new songs with producer Rick Rubin (Metallica, Slipknot). When the news broke, a mini-riot of jubilation broke out in the Revolver office, such that we had to name this the Story of the Year. Since then, it was announced that Iommi is battling lymphoma but is forging ahead with the writing process nonetheless. Iron Man, indeed.
Gojira
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
It’s no secret that we love environmentally minded prog-death outfit Gojira over here at Revolver. We’ve been championing the French “green metal” crushers ever since we heard the behemoth opening track of their 2005 opus, From Mars to Sirius. Their first record on new label Roadrunner, Album No. 5 should hit like a force of nature.
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Led by one of our favorite rocker babes—and advice columnists, for that matter—singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale, this Pennsylvania-bred breakout band promise a more personal album for their follow-up to their smash 2009 self-titled debut. But don’t expect them to get all sappy on us. There should still be more than enough of the band’s now signature raucous attitude and righteous riffs for any headbanger to get off. And if Hale ever assembles the all-girl supergroup featuring Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi, Sick Puppies bassist Emma Anzai, and Skillet keyboardist Korey Cooper and drummer Jen Ledger that she has said could be in the works, our heads might just literally explode.
Hellyeah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
After two albums that saw the hard-partying supergroup—featuring Pantera’s Vinnie Paul, Mudvayne’s Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett, and Nothingface’s Tom Maxwell—dabbling in southern rock, blues, and even country music, the band is making what Paul calls “a balls-out metal record” for their third offering. “It was fun and enlightening thing to open up and cover these other styles of music,” Paul says. “But when we finished this last tour, we said, ‘All right, with this next record, let’s just go fucking balls out and see what happens.’ It’s very heavy. It’s very abrasive. I think it’s maybe going to be what people envisioned this band being like from the start.”
High on Fire
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: Spring
Since the release of their last album, 2010′s Snakes for the Divine, stoner-thrash titans High on Fire have survived not one but two earthquakes—the February 22, 2010 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the quake and resulting tsunami in Japan on March 11. Whether this influenced the sure-to-be cataclysmic sound on their forthcoming record is unclear, but the band, led by Sleep guitarist Matt Pike, do promise a new album that is “direct, eye-opening, and powerfully supernatural.”
Judas Priest
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The Metal Gods may have announced their departure from the stage, which they commemorated with 2011′s triumphant Epitaph Tour, but the members of Judas Priest swear we haven’t heard the last of them. With the addition of new guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced K.K. Downing when he retired last year and made his debut with the band supporting James Durbin on American Idol, the band is currently working on a reported 12 to 14 new songs that they hope to release in 2012.
Killswitch Engage
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In mid-December, Killswitch Engage guitarist Mike D’Antonio posted on his Facebook page that the metalcore band was convening around Christmastime to write a new record. He added, “Even Howard is coming,” referring to frontman Howard Jones, who had missed some of the group’s 2010 shows, supposedly due to back pain. Then, on January 5, the band announced Jones had left the band citing personal reasons as the cause. Their statement said, “He has left big shoes to fill, so we certainly have our work cut out for us to find the next singer of Killswitch, something we plan on making priority #1 going forward.” So we’re still holding onto our hopes that there will be a new Killswitch record in 2012.
Kiss
TITLE: Monster
RELEASE DATE: TBA
For the second release on the makeup-slathered hard-rock legends’ own Kiss Records, vocalist-bassist-Demon Gene Simmons promises a “meat and potatoes” kind of record, a Kiss record you can depend on. Next year will be the group’s 40th anniversary, and with Monster, they want to prove they can still rock and roll all night and party every day in style. Also, be on the lookout this year for an official book about the band that will be four feet tall!
Lacuna Coil
TITLE: Dark Adrenaline
RELEASE DATE: January 24
Frontwoman Cristina Scabbia promised a heavier new direction with the sixth album from her Italian goth-metal outfit, and judging from lead single, “Trip the Darkness,” she wasn’t kidding. Lacuna Coil hit the U.S. in support with this winter’s Gigantour, alongside Megadeth, Motörhead, and Volbeat.
Meshuggah
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: March 27
In 2011, a strange, barely pronounceable onomatopoeia, “djent,” became the hot new buzzword in underground metal, a catch-all term to describe a breed of young bands who, essentially, share one major characteristic: They sound like Meshuggah. Having inspired a whole nerdy little subgenre, the Swedish tech-death overlords return in 2012 to show Generation Djent just how it’s done, and we’re guessing that they not only pick up where they left off with 2008′s obZen, but that they take their existing sound and destroy, erase, and improve it.
Metallica
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
On the heels of a triumphant run headlining the Big Four festivals in 2011 as well as an experimental album with Lou Reed, the metal giants are working on the follow-up to 2008′s Revolver Album of the Year, Death Magnetic. From what guitarist Kirk Hammett has said about the record, it will be like “a heavier ‘Black Album.’”
Ministry
TITLE: Relapse
RELEASE DATE: March 30
Ministry’s breakup never seemed particularly set in stone. After all, their “final” album, 2007′s The Last Sucker, was followed by not one record of covers and remixes but two—not to mention a 2009 live album. Still, it was hard for any fan of the seminal industrial-metal band not to be excited when main man Al Jourgensen announced in August that the group would not only be touring in 2012 but releasing a new, original studio album, fittingly called Relapse. Politically charged lead single “99 Percenters,” which hit iTunes on just before Christmas, bodes nicely.
Rush
TITLE: Clockwork Angels
RELEASE DATE: TBA
In the time since Canada’s best progressive hard-rock power trio released their last disc, 2007′s Snakes and Arrows, they’ve celebrated their 40th anniversary and seen their story told in the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage. For their 19th(!) LP, they’ve worked with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Evanescence, Alice in Chains) and written songs—two titles of which have been released, “Caravan” and “BU2B”—which guitarist Alex Lifeson describes as “very dynamic.”
Shinedown
TITLE: Amaryllis
RELEASE DATE: March 27
The last album from these southern hard rockers, 2008′s platinum-selling The Sounds of Madness, made history with each of its six singles hitting No. 1 in the radio airplay ratings. The lead single, “Bully,” from this follow-up should keep that streak going. Of the other tracks, frontman Brent Smith promises a mix of “bone-crushing” numbers like “Adrenaline” and more contemplative ballads such as “Through the Ghost,” a song about the strains of constantly being on the road and away from home.
Slash
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Feeling reinvigorated after touring with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy in support of his self-titled solo album—a disc that featured different singers ranging from Ozzy to Fergie singing songs—Velvet Revolver and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash set to work on an LP that features just Kennedy and his impressive range. Considering the guitarist was still recording the disc in December, around the time Guns N’ Roses’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was announced, we can only imagine the adrenaline that will be surging through the album.
Soundgarden
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
One of the heaviest bands to emerge from Seattle’s grunge scene, Soundgarden came together again in 2010 to tour. Now, 16 years after releasing their last record, Down on the Upside, the band—whose frontman, Chris Cornell, played with Audioslave and put out solo albums, and whose drummer, Matt Cameron, joined Pearl Jam in their years away from Soundgarden—are working on an album Cornell has described as the band’s next logical step, musically.
Testament
TITLE: The Dark Roots of the Earth
RELEASE DATE: TBA
Although thrash titans Testament never really broke up, their 2008 album The Formation of Damnation—their first with a mostly original lineup, including guitarist Alex Skolnick, since the early ’90s—seemed like a triumphant comeback record. In recent months, the band has been working with producer Andy Sneap on the follow-up, The Dark Roots of the Earth, which Skolnick has said will have more variety than previous albums and his fellow guitarist Eric Peterson has called darker than usual. We just hope they practice what they preach.
Tool
TITLE: TBA
RELEASE DATE: TBA
The rumor mill had Tool’s fifth album coming out last year. Clearly that did not come to pass. And while frontman Maynard James Keenan has been seemingly preoccupied reuniting with A Perfect Circle, and squashing grapes, the prog-metal act U.S. tour this winter proves that there is, indeed, movement in Camp Tool. So we’re holding out hope that they will finally put out a new album this year—and until they do, we’re prepared to be teased, tortured, and titillated by more rumors and misinformation, much of it doubtlessly spread by Tool themselves.
TITLE: A Different Kind of Truth
RELEASE DATE: February 7
Realigned with their original frontman, David Lee Roth, in 2006, hard-rock gargantuans Van Halen played a number of successful reunion shows in the years since. Now the group—which also features guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his brother, Alex, on drums, and his son, Wolfgang, on bass—is putting out their first new album in 14 years and their first with Roth in almost three decades. Judging from “She’s the Woman,” a song they rejiggered from their 1977 demo sessions that they played at an intimate New York City show earlier this month , it sounds like they haven’t missed a step…or a high kick.
