50 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2017

It is entirely apropos for Pennsylvania’s metallic degenerates Code Orange to enter this list directly after the legends Converge, as their third album, Forever, was expertly produced by Converge founder/shredder Kurt Ballou.

This comes as no surprise, since Code Orange fit Converge’s mission statement down to a tee: that being to shove discordant, hardcore-inspired metal unapologetically right into your ugly face. Thus, Ballou’s presence is one of many things that makes Forever not only Code Orange’s greatest achievement to date (outside of that video of Patrick Star wee-wooing the main riff of “My World”), but also an album destined to revitalise the modern metalcore/hardcore landscape.

Arguably the best aspect of Forever, though, is its vocals, with four of the five Code Orange kids lending their pipes to the album. The diversity that this opens up is truly spellbinding, letting the title track’s growls, courtesy of drummer Jami Morgan, counteract the grunge-like cleans of guitarist Reba Meyers on “Bleeding in the Blur”.

The guitars of Meyers and her co-shredder Dominic Landolina are similarly dynamic, ranging from rhythmic, rock n’ roll chords to yelping screeches.

It comes as no surprise, then, that Forever has seen Code Orange enter arguably the greatest phase of their career: the quintet have skyrocketed in popularity and are even beginning to transcend the mainstream.

And with this young group only three albums in to what is bound to be a magnificent their career, I am undoubtedly fully invested in seeing how these punky prodigies will continue to evolve in the future.