There are a lot of dumb New Years resolutions being forgotten already, but if one of yours is to thrash as hard as humanly possible in 2014, you might be in luck. Stop headbanging for a second and check out Reverb’s 10 most anticipated rock, punk and metal albums of 2014.
10. Mogwai, “Rave Tapes”
Release date: Jan. 21.
Mogwai is known for their complex instrumentals and the upcoming “Rave Tapes” will be their eighth studio album. This will be a follow up to “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will,” which garnered mostly positive feedback. If you like dark melodies and spacey overtones in your alternative music, this is an album to grab in early 2014.
Listen to the single “Remurdered” below.
https://soundcloud.com/subpop/mogwai-remurdered
9. Enter Shikari, TBA
Release date: TBA.
The British post-hardcore band Enter Shikari has been touring extensively as of late. In the process the group has been receiving recognition in the States for its unique mixture of musical styles ranging from metalcore to dubstep. The band is pretty well respected in the UK already so itap time for America to catch up and, with a new album on the horizon, 2014 seems as good a year as any to do so.
Watch the third and latest single released in October, 2013 above.
8. Fucked Up, TBA
Release date: TBA.
Fucked Up has left a very serious impression on the hardcore punk music community with their somewhat indie-sounding guitar work played underneath the psychotic screaming of Damian Abraham. Now they’re working on a follow up to their 2011 album, “David Comes to Life,” which got amazing reviews. Hopefully they don’t f*** it up. (I’ll see myself out.)
Since 2006, the band has been releasing tribute tracks to each of the Zodiac animals to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Watch them pay tribute to 2014’s creature with “Year of the Dragon” above.
7. Tool
Release date: early 2014.
Why does it feel like we’re always waiting so long for a new Tool album? Thatap because we actually are — the last album, “10,000 Days” was put out in 2006. Luckily,, the bandmembers are predicting an early 2014 release. There are few bands that can create such a devout following as Tool has and any one of those diehard fans would do hanus things for a new LP.
It doesn’t ease the pain, but you can listen to the “Bohemian Rhapsody” cover off frontman Maynard Keenan’s side project Puscifer’s 2013 EP “Donkey Punch the Night” below.
6. Mastodon, TBA
Release date: TBA.
with Mastodon guitarist Bill Killiher, producer Nick Raskulinecz has been encouraging the band to work on new material by saying things like, “Come on, you’re Mastodon… you’re one of the biggest bands in metal… smash that hammer down and write some heavy s***.” Their last album, “The Hunter,” was really an amazing release, so there’s a lot to live up to.
Mastodon has turned up in a few strange places in other media like in the intro to the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” and briefly in 2013’s “Monsters University.”
5. Bruce Springsteen, “High Hopes”
Release date: Jan. 14.
After a leak of the album by Amazon, many fans have inadvertently already heard the 18th studio album by “The Boss,” but if you haven’t yet this is definitely a must-have for 2014. The album is a collection of covers, unreleased material and songs done in a new way from previous releases and performances. But Rage Against the Machine guitar guru Tom Morello is lending his talents to the release, so hopefully that will keep it feeling fresh.
Watch the music video for the single, “High Hopes.”
4. Foo Fighters, TBA
Release date: TBA.
The Foo Fighters may not be the ground-breaking, genre-defining band that Dave Grohl’s previous band was, but they certainly know how to make a successful album — and how to hype a new one apparently. , “We’re doing something that nobody knows about. … We’re doing it in a way that no one’s done before…”
3. Against Me!, “Transgender Dysphoria Blues”
Release date: Jan. 21.
The concept album, not surprisingly, deals with a transgendered prostitute and the issues that go along with such things. This will be the first full album released after frontman Thomas Gabel came out as a transgendered woman and renamed herself Laura Grace in 2012. Masculinity is a fairly prominent theme in punk rock, so it will be interesting to see how the band tackles the confusion of sexual identity and what, if any, effect it will have on the music.
You can listen to the acoustic singles below.
2. No Doubt, TBA
Release date: TBA.
The generally positive reception of the 2012 release of “Push and Shove” showed that the world still desires the ska punk stylings of No Doubt. And this is despite the many signs of modernization, with dancier tracks like its first single “Settle Down.” In February of 2013, Their official website stated the band was working on new music, despite being the band being on hiatus again, so we’re pretty hopeful on this one.
1. Blink 182, TBA
Release date: late spring/early summer.
The Blink boys have been putting out solid mainstream pop-punk albums since the ‘90s. Whether itap their endearing refusal to grow up or their uber-catchy riffs and lyrics, we’re always excited to see where their antics will take them. Their latest release was the highly underrated “Dogs Eating Dogs” EP in December, 2012, and if itap any indication of things to come, 2014 might belong to Blink.
Listen to “Boxing Day” from “Dogs Eating Dogs” below.
Follow our news and updates on , our relationship status on and our search history on . Or send us a telegram.
James Garcia is a community reporter at the Loveland Reporter-Herald and a new blogger at Reverb. Follow him on Twitter @JamesGarciaRH.
