# 2010 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 2010.

## Bands disbanded

* Abscess
* Acheron
* The Autumn Offering
* Despised Icon
* Destroy the Runner
* Detente
* Dio
* Fear My Thoughts
* Fellsilent
* Finch
* Gwen Stacy
* Heaven & Hell
* Ignominious Incarceration
* Isis
* Luna Mortis
* Narnia
* The Number Twelve Looks Like You
* Red Harvest
* Revolution Renaissance
* Salt the Wound
* Theatre of Tragedy
* Wrench in the Works
* Xasthur
* Zyklon

## Bands reformed

* Abruptum
* Acheron
* Autopsy
* Battleaxe
* Coroner
* Empyrium
* Exhumed
* Godflesh
* Lord Belial
* Lock Up
* Morgoth
* Murderdolls
* Nightfall
* Quiet Riot
* Salt the Wound
* Sanctuary
* Soundgarden
* Tokyo Blade
* Voivod
* Wastefall

## Bands formed

* Æther Realm
* A Breach of Silence
* Deafheaven
* Esprit D'Air
* Sulphur Aeon

## Books

* Cult of Luna released a book explaining the full story behind their Eternal Kingdom album. The book is written in Swedish and translated into English, and the hardcover includes an audiobook.

## Events

* Slayer frontman/bassist Tom Araya to undergo back surgery.
* Emperor Magus Caligula, B-Force and Dominator all Quit Dark Funeral.
* Rush inducted into Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 2010.
* Mayhem Festival 2010 will tour through North America from July through August. The third annual tour will be co-headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie.
* Guitarist Jani Stefanovic quits Solution .45.
* Scorpions announce that they will retire after touring in support of final album Sting in the Tail.
* AC/DC headline Download Festival, marking their return to Donington for the first time in 19 years, since 1991's Monsters of Rock. Also Rage Against the Machine and Aerosmith to headline.
* In Flames founding member Jesper Strömblad quits the band after 17 years due to personal problems in February.
* Original Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson rejoins the band after departing in 2002.
* Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater joins Avenged Sevenfold after the death of The Rev, to record their fifth studio album Nightmare. The results of The Rev's toxicology reports were released in June 2010, which revealed the cause of death as an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
* Rammstein is banned from Belarus by the Council for Morality due to their "violence, masochism, homosexuality and other abnormalities".
* US death metal band The Famine's studio burnt down, along with their gear and recorded material for their upcoming 2010 release.
* Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski came to court over the Bible ripping incident in 2007, and was found not guilty on the basis that "The defendant's behaviour wasn’t recognised as a crime"
* Textures parts ways with their keyboardist Richard Rietdijk to pursue other musical interests.
* On April 14, Type O Negative front-man Peter Steele death at age 48.
* The Human Abstract replace former lead singer Nathan Ells with Travis Richter (The Color of Violence, ex-From First to Last) and founding guitarist A.J. Minette returns.
* Judas Priest won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance of "Dissident Aggressor."
* Debauchery frontman Thomas "The Bloodbeast" Gurrath was fired from his job as a philosophy trainee teacher at a high school in Stuttgart, Germany for being in a death metal band."
* Anthrax reunite with former singer Joey Belladonna after his previous departure in 2007.
* The first ever Sri Lankan metal documentary Arise - The Sri Lankan Metal Music Documentary was officially screened on 15 May 2010 at Alliance Française de Colombo, Sri Lanka.
* Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer at the age of 67 on May 16, 2010.
* Bay Area Metal legend Debbie Abono died of cancer at age 80, also on May 16, 2010.
* Ozzfest returns with bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Rob Halford and DevilDriver on the bill.
* Arsis re-joined by former bassist Noah Martin.
* Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the Ronnie James Dio Memorial Service at The Hall of Liberty in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
* On May 25, Slipknot bassist Paul Gray dies at age 38.
* Ratt were forced to cancel their European tour due to Stephen Pearcy to undergo emergency hernia surgery.
* On June 16, "The Big Four of Thrash Metal", Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica, played together for the first time at the Sonisphere Festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland.
* The second event of Heavy MTL will be held in Montreal July 24 and 25, with bands such as Slayer, Testament, Megadeth, Halford, Alice Cooper, and Avenged Sevenfold.
* Early Graves vocalist Makh Daniels died in an automobile accident on August 1, 2010. The Funeral Pyre guitarist Justin Garcia fell asleep behind the wheel, and was taken with guitarist Tyler Jensen to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
* Fear Factory members narrowly avoid bus fire. The cause of the fire was the rear-wheel catching fire, but luckily their trailer was left unscathed.
* Death of Desire vocalist Dawn Desirée was kidnapped by unknown members of a promotion agency, and guitarist Morbid was assaulted.
* Reunited Byzantine return without Tony Rohrbough, and introduce Brian Henderson as their new lead-guitarist.
* Behemoth frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski is hospitalized due to advanced stage leukemia. Behemoth subsequently cancels all remaining summer festivals, and their Russian, Baltic States, and US tour. Adam "Nergal" Darski underwent a bone marrow transplant surgery, and is currently recovering.
* Acid Reign announce they will be re-mastering and re-issuing their albums, by legendary producer Bill Metoyer who has worked with such bands as Slayer, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Corrosion of Conformity and Sacred Reich.
* X Japan are planning a North American tour after both Otakon and Lollapalooza, visiting Canada and the United States.
* After 25 years, Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater on September 8, 2010.
* Ari Nissilä, Toni Kansanoja, Kari Vähäkuopus, and Mikko Nevanlahti all leave Catamenia on October 4, 2010.
* 2000s supergroup Murderdolls re-form and release their 2nd and final studio album Women and children at last
* Sweet Savage founding guitarist Trevor Fleming died on October 2.
* Gotthard singer Steve Lee dies on October 5, 2010.
* The Autumn Offering parts ways with guitarist Tommy Church on November 1, 2010.
* Queensrÿche survive a bomb attack in Iraq while playing to the American troops.
* Armando Acosta, the ex-drummer of Saint Vitus died on November 25.
* King Diamond underwent a successful triple-bypass surgery on November 29.
* Avenged Sevenfold parts ways with former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy.

## Films

* MVD Visual and Sexy Intellectual will release a documentary DVD about Rage Against the Machine on February 23. The film is titled Revolution in the Head: Rage Against the Machine and the Art of Protest.
* Industrial metal act Ministry will release their film Fix: The Ministry Movie in 2010.
* Mathawaada Chithrapata will release the first Sri Lankan metal music documentary titled Arise – The Sri Lankan Metal Music Documentary showcasing the lives and the reasons behind the Sri Lankan metal music scene.
* Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth will release The Big 4 DVD Box Set on November 2, featuring footage of all the bands' live sets from the Big 4 tour.

## Albums released

All releases are studio albums unless otherwise noted. The most successful metal album released in 2010 was Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier, topping the charts in 28 countries. It was also No. 1 in Metal Hammer's list of '50 Greatest albums of 2010'.

### January

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 4 | Textures | Extracts 2004–2009 (compilation) |
| 5 | Marc Rizzo | Legionnaire |
| 14 | Aborted | Coronary Reconstruction |
| 15 | Dark Sanctuary | Dark Sanctuary |
| 15 | Demonic Resurrection | The Return to Darkness |
| 15 | Exodus | Shovel Headed Tour Machine: Live at Wacken & Other Assorted Atrocities (live DVD/CD) |
| 15 | Ace Frehley | Behind the Player (DVD) |
| 15 | Mnemic | Sons of the System |
| 18 | Abigor | Time Is The Sulphur in the Veins of the Saint |
| 18 | Shining | Blackjazz |
| 18 | Valkyrja | Contamination |
| 19 | Six Feet Under | Graveyard Classics 3 |
| 19 | Sigh | Scenes from Hell |
| 19 | Sons of Azrael | Scouting the Boneyard |
| 20 | Royal Hunt | X |
| 21 | Tokyo Blade | Live in Germany (DVD) |
| 22 | Dark Fortress | Ylem |
| 22 | Node | In the End Everything Is a Gag |
| 22 | Orden Ogan | Easton Hope |
| 24 | Primordial | All Empires Fall (DVD) |
| 25 | Deathbound | Non Compos Mentis |
| 25 | Dream Evil | In the Night |
| 25 | Ihsahn | After |
| 25 | In Mourning | Monolith |
| 25 | Myrath | Desert Call |
| 25 | Orphaned Land | The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR |
| 26 | Apocalyptica | MAG: S.V.E.R. (soundtrack) |
| 26 | Fozzy | Chasing the Grail |
| 26 | Greeley Estates | No Rain, No Rainbow |
| 26 | Living Sacrifice | The Infinite Order |
| 26 | Suicidal Tendencies | Live at the Olympic Auditorium (DVD) |
| 27 | Troll | Neo-Satanic Supremacy |
| 29 | Bruce Kulick | BK3 |
| 29 | Crematory | Infinity |
| 29 | Excalion | High Time |
| 29 | Freedom Call | Legend of the Shadowking |
| 29 | Gamma Ray | To the Metal! |
| 29 | Nydvind | Sworn to the Elders |
| 29 | Keel | Streets of Rock & Roll |
| 29 | Overkill | Ironbound |

### February

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Blaze Bayley | Promise and Terror |
| 2 | Charred Walls of the Damned | Charred Walls of the Damned |
| 2 | Nostradameus | Illusion's Parade |
| 2 | Rob Zombie | Hellbilly Deluxe 2 |
| 2 | Through the Eyes of the Dead | Skepsis |
| 5 | Arsis | Starve for the Devil |
| 5 | Meshuggah | Alive (live CD/DVD) |
| 5 | Necrodeath | Old Skull (cover album) |
| 5 | Rage | Strings to a Web |
| 6 | Buckethead | Shadows Between the Sky |
| 8 | Ov Hell | The Underworld Regime |
| 9 | Fear Factory | Mechanize |
| 9 | Icarus Witch | Draw Down the Moon |
| 9 | Killing Time | Three Steps Back |
| 9 | Look What I Did | Atlas Drugged |
| 15 | Sarah Jezebel Deva | A Sign of Sublime |
| 15 | Rotting Christ | Aealo |
| 15 | Six Magics | Behind the Sorrow |
| 16 | Carnifex | Hell Chose Me |
| 16 | Chelsea Grin | Desolation of Eden |
| 17 | Finntroll | Nifelvind |
| 19 | Eluveitie | Everything Remains (As It Never Was) |
| 19 | Fuck the Facts | Unnamed (EP) |
| 19 | Jon Oliva's Pain | Festival |
| 19 | Throes of Dawn | The Great Fleet of Echoes |
| 20 | Stam1na | Viimeinen Atlantis |
| 22 | Abscess | Dawn of Inhumanity |
| 22 | At the Gates | The Flames of the End (DVD set) |
| 22 | Borknagar | Universal |
| 23 | High on Fire | Snakes for the Divine |
| 23 | Mutiny Within | Mutiny Within |
| 24 | Dark Tranquillity | We Are the Void |
| 24 | Kalmah | 12 Gauge |
| 24 | Reflexion | Edge |
| 26 | Catamenia | Cavalcade |

### March

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Mortemia | Misere Mortem |
| 2 | Derdian | New Era Pt. 3 – The Apocalypse |
| 3 | Ludicra | The Tenant |
| 3 | Metsatöll | Äio |
| 5 | Soulgrind | The Tuoni Pathway |
| 8 | Burzum | Belus |
| 8 | White Wizzard | Over the Top |
| 9 | The Bled | Heat Fetish |
| 9 | Daughters | Daughters |
| 9 | Demon Hunter | The World Is a Thorn |
| 9 | Immolation | Majesty and Decay |
| 9 | Of Mice & Men | Of Mice & Men |
| 12 | Theatre of Tragedy | Addenda (EP) |
| 15 | Katatonia | The Longest Year (EP) |
| 15 | Killing Addiction | Fall of the Archetypes |
| 15 | Christopher Lee | Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross |
| 16 | Armored Saint | La Raza |
| 16 | Fireball Ministry | Fireball Ministry |
| 16 | Landmine Marathon | Sovereign Descent |
| 16 | Serj Tankian | Elect the Dead Symphony (live DVD/CD) |
| 19 | Sadist | Season in Silence |
| 19 | Scorpions | Sting in the Tail |
| 19 | Unleashed | As Yggdrasil Trembles |
| 22 | Enthroned | Pentagrammaton |
| 22 | Poisonblack | Of Rust and Bones |
| 22 | Ragnarok | Collectors of the King |
| 22 | Triptykon | Eparistera Daimones |
| 23 | Diabolic | Excisions of Exorcisms |
| 23 | The Dillinger Escape Plan | Option Paralysis |
| 23 | Down | Diary of a Mad Band: Europe in the Year of VI (live DVD/CD) |
| 24 | Svartsot | Mulmets Viser |
| 26 | Cathedral | The Guessing Game |
| 26 | Heidevolk | Uit oude Grond |
| 26 | Negură Bunget | Vîrstele Pamîntului |
| 26 | Wuthering Heights | Salt |
| 26 | Xasthur | Portal of Sorrow |
| 29 | Alcest | Écailles de Lune |
| 30 | Pantera | 1990–2000: A Decade of Dominance (compilation) |
| 30 | Rotten Sound | Napalm (EP) |
| 31 | Kiuas | Lustdriven |

### April

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 2 | The Foreshadowing | Oionos |
| 2 | The Vision Bleak | Set Sail to Mystery |
| 3 | Avantasia | Angel of Babylon |
| 3 | Avantasia | The Wicked Symphony |
| 3 | Salem | Playing God and Other Short Stories |
| 5 | DarkSun | Touching the Sun |
| 5 | October File | Our Souls To You |
| 5 | Primitive Graven Image | Celebrating Impending Chaos |
| 6 | Slash | Slash |
| 6 | Darkthrone | Circle the Wagons |
| 6 | Upon a Burning Body | The World Is Ours |
| 6 | Veil of Maya | |
| 9 | Solution .45 | For Aeons Past |
| 13 | Astral Doors | Requiem of Time |
| 13 | Bison B.C. | Dark Ages |
| 13 | Bleeding Through | Bleeding Through |
| 13 | Cancer Bats | Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones |
| 13 | Judgement Day | Peacocks/Pink Monsters |
| 13 | The Ocean | Heliocentric |
| 13 | War of Ages | Eternal |
| 13 | Lair of the Minotaur | Evil Power |
| 13 | Woe of Tyrants | Threnody |
| 13 | Wormrot | Abuse |
| 16 | Periphery | Periphery |
| 19 | Order of Ennead | An Examination of Being |
| 20 | Kayo Dot | Coyote |
| 20 | Engel | Threnody |
| 20 | Ratt | Infestation |
| 20 | Sevendust | Cold Day Memory |
| 20 | Sick of It All | Based on a True Story |
| 23 | Audiovision | Focus |
| 23 | Candlemass | Ashes to Ashes Live (live DVD) |
| 23 | Tarot | Gravity of Light |
| 26 | 1349 | Demonoir |
| 26 | Axel Rudi Pell | The Crest |
| 26 | Bullet for My Valentine | Fever |
| 26 | Kivimetsän Druidi | Betrayal, Justice, Revenge |
| 26 | Master | The Human Machine |
| 26 | Raintime | Psychromatic |
| 26 | Skyforger | Kurbads |
| 27 | Drowning Pool | Drowning Pool |
| 27 | Mouth of the Architect | The Violence Beneath (EP) |
| 27 | Twilight | Monument To Time End |
| 30 | Eisregen | Schlangensonne |
| 30 | Lacrimas Profundere | The Grandiose Nowhere |
| 30 | Rhapsody of Fire | The Frozen Tears of Angels |
| 30 | Saltatio Mortis | Manufactum II |

### May

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 4 | Deftones | Diamond Eyes |
| 4 | Dokken | Greatest Hits |
| 4 | Godsmack | The Oracle |
| 4 | Nonpoint | Miracle |
| 5 | Ufomammut | Eve |
| 6 | Defeated Sanity | Chapters of Repugnance |
| 7 | Exodus | Exhibit B: The Human Condition |
| 7 | Pro-Pain | Absolute Power |
| 8 | Violator | Annihilation Process (EP) |
| 10 | Keep of Kalessin | Reptilian |
| 10 | Madder Mortem | Where Dream and Day Collide (EP) |
| 11 | As I Lay Dying | The Powerless Rise |
| 11 | Beneath the Sky | In Loving Memory |
| 11 | Brain Drill | Quantum Catastrophe |
| 11 | Fuck the Facts | Disgorge Mexico: The DVD (DVD) |
| 11 | Howl | Full of Hell |
| 11 | Low Twelve | Splatter Pattern |
| 11 | Misery Index | Heirs to Thievery |
| 11 | Attila | Rage |
| 14 | Black Majesty | In Your Honor |
| 14 | Mael Mórdha | Manannán |
| 14 | Pretty Maids | Pandemonium |
| 15 | Kekal | 8 |
| 17 | Cynic | Re-Traced (EP) |
| 17 | Annihilator | Annihilator |
| 18 | Anew Revolution | iMerica |
| 18 | Fleshgod Apocalypse | Mafia (EP) |
| 18 | Iced Earth | Box of the Wicked (box set) |
| 18 | Silent Civilian | Ghost Stories |
| 18 | Widow Sunday | In These Rusted Veins |
| 19 | Loudness | King of Pain |
| 19 | Pain of Salvation | Road Salt One |
| 21 | Aeon | Path of Fire |
| 21 | Detente | Decline |
| 21 | Heaven Shall Burn | Invictus (Iconoclast III) |
| 21 | Masterplan | Time To Be King |
| 21 | Sabaton | Coat of Arms |
| 21 | Y&T | Facemelter |
| 24 | Dew-Scented | Invocation |
| 24 | Enforcer | Diamonds |
| 24 | Leng Tch'e | Hypomanic |
| 25 | Dir En Grey | Uroboros (DVD) |
| 25 | Krokus | Hoodoo |
| 25 | Rosetta | A Determinism of Morality |
| 25 | Soulfly | Omen |
| 25 | Starkweather | This Sheltering Night |
| 26 | Sotajumala | Kuolemanpalvelus |
| 28 | Disbelief | Heal |
| 28 | Enemy of the Sun | Caedium |
| 28 | Exilia | Naked |
| 28 | Magica | Dark Diary |
| 31 | Anathema | We're Here Because We're Here |
| 31 | Lyzanxia | Locust |
| 31 | Nevermore | The Obsidian Conspiracy |
| 31 | Slechtvalk | A Forlorn Throne |

### June

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Diskreet | Engage The Mechanicality |
| 1 | Stick to Your Guns | The Hope Division |
| 2 | Primal Fear | 16.6- All Over The World (live DVD) |
| 2 | Primal Fear | Live in the USA (live CD) |
| 4 | Five Star Prison Cell | Matriarch |
| 4 | Vanden Plas | The Seraphic Clockwork |
| 7 | Purified in Blood | Under Black Skies |
| 7 | Watain | Lawless Darkness |
| 8 | Attack Attack! | Attack Attack! |
| 8 | Circle of Dead Children | Psalm of the Grand Destroyer |
| 8 | Eyes Set to Kill | Broken Frames |
| 8 | The Funeral Pyre | Vultures at Dawn |
| 8 | The Haunted | Road Kill (CD/DVD) |
| 8 | Lamb of God | Hourglass: The Anthology (box set) |
| 8 | Kingdom of Sorrow | Behind the Blackest Tears |
| 8 | MyChildren MyBride | Lost Boy |
| 8 | Nachtmystium | Addicts: Black Meddle, Part II |
| 8 | Whitechapel | A New Era of Corruption |
| 8 | The Ghost Inside | Returners |
| 10 | Mekong Delta | Wanderer on the Edge of Time |
| 14 | Grave | Burial Ground |
| 14 | Setherial | Ekpyrosis |
| 15 | In Fear and Faith | Imperial |
| 15 | Ozzy Osbourne | Scream |
| 18 | Equilibrium | Rekreatur |
| 21 | Angelus Apatrida | Clockwork |
| 21 | Kerion | The Origins |
| 21 | Kvelertak | Kvelertak |
| 21 | Ramesses | Take The Curse |
| 21 | Witchery | Witchkrieg |
| 22 | Danzig | Deth Red Sabaoth |
| 22 | Early Graves | Goner |
| 22 | Yakuza | Of Seismic Consequence |
| 23 | Amorphis | Forging The Land of Thousand Lakes (DVD) |
| 23 | Charon | A-Sides, B-Sides & Suicides (Compilation) |
| 23 | Coldrain | Nothing Lasts Forever (EP) |
| 23 | Grand Magus | Hammer of the North |
| 26 | Stigmata | Psalms of Conscious Martyrdom |
| 28 | Sodom | Lords of Depravity II (DVD) |
| 28 | Severe Torture | Slaughtered |
| 29 | Haste the Day | Attack of the Wolf King |
| 29 | Knut | Wonder |
| 29 | Mastodon | Jonah Hex: Revenge Gets Ugly (EP) |
| 29 | Parkway Drive | Deep Blue |
| 30 | Edenbridge | Solitaire |

### July

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 2 | Contrive | The Internal Dialogue |
| 2 | Soilwork | The Panic Broadcast |
| 6 | Helstar | Rising from the Grave |
| 6 | The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza | Danza III: The Series of Unfortunate Events |
| 6 | Valkyrie | Man of Two Visions |
| 6 | A Plea for Purging | The Marriage of Heaven and Hell |
| 6 | Texas Hippie Coalition | Rollin' |
| 12 | Norma Jean | Meridional |
| 12 | Devil Sold His Soul | Blessed & Cursed |
| 12 | Winterfylleth | The Mercian Sphere |
| 13 | Canvas Solaris | Irradiance |
| 13 | Hell Within | God Grant Me Vengeance |
| 13 | Hellyeah | Stampede |
| 13 | In This Moment | A Star-Crossed Wasteland |
| 13 | Korn | Korn III – Remember Who You Are |
| 16 | Darkseed | Poison Awaits |
| 19 | The Eyes of a Traitor | Breathless |
| 20 | The Acacia Strain | Wormwood |
| 20 | Chimaira | Coming Alive (DVD/CD) |
| 20 | Early Man | Death Potion |
| 20 | Impending Doom | There Will Be Violence |
| 20 | Lillian Axe | Deep Red Shadows |
| 20 | Mose Giganticus | Gift Horse |
| 20 | Valdur | Raven God Amongst Us |
| 26 | 36 Crazyfists | Collisions and Castaways |
| 27 | Avenged Sevenfold | Nightmare |
| 27 | Decrepit Birth | Polarity |
| 27 | The Rotted | Anarchogram (EP) |
| 29 | Darkane | Layers of Live (DVD) |
| 30 | Blind Guardian | At the Edge of Time |

### August

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 3 | Paul Gilbert | Fuzz Universe |
| 3 | Dax Riggs | Say Goodnight To The World |
| 3 | All Out War | Into the Killing Fields |
| 5 | Wacken Open Air | Wacken Open Air 2009 (DVD) |
| 6 | Immortal | The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh (DVD) |
| 10 | The Binary Code | Priest (EP) |
| 10 | Bonded by Blood | Exiled to Earth |
| 10 | Black Label Society | Order of the Black |
| 10 | Crash | The Paragon of Animals |
| 16 | Iron Maiden | The Final Frontier |
| 17 | Knights of the Abyss | The Culling of Wolves |
| 17 | Miss May I | Monument |
| 18 | Satanic Warmaster | Nachzehrer |
| 20 | Kataklysm | Heaven's Venom |
| 20 | Toxik | Think Again (DVD) |
| 20 | Tarja Turunen | What Lies Beneath |
| 21 | SIC | Fighters They Bleed |
| 23 | Apocalyptica | 7th Symphony |
| 24 | The Devil Wears Prada | Zombie (EP) |
| 24 | Ion Dissonance | Cursed |
| 24 | Malevolent Creation | Invidious Dominion |
| 24 | Shadows Fall | Madness in Manila: Shadows Fall Live in the Philippines 2009 (DVD) |
| 24 | The Showdown | Blood in the Gears |
| 24 | The Sword | Warp Riders |
| 25 | Tristania | Rubicon |
| 25 | Sonic Syndicate | We Rule the Night |
| 27 | Liv Kristine | Skintight |
| 30 | Dagoba | Poseidon |
| 30 | Mar De Grises | Streams Inwards |
| 30 | Neurosis | Live at Roadburn 2007 (DVD) |
| 30 | Nightfall | Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants |
| 30 | Sahg | Sahg III |
| 30 | Spiritual Beggars | Return to Zero |
| 30 | Terror | Keepers of the Faith |
| 31 | 10 Years | Feeding the Wolves |
| 31 | The Autumn Offering | The Autumn Offering |
| 31 | Cephalic Carnage | Misled by Certainty |
| 31 | Disturbed | Asylum |
| 31 | Murderdolls | Women and Children Last |
| 31 | For Today | Breaker |
| 31 | The Word Alive | Deceiver |

### September

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Acid Drinkers | Fishdick Zwei – The Dick Is Rising Again (cover album) |
| 1 | Atrocity | After the Storm |
| 3 | Death Angel | Relentless Retribution |
| 3 | The Red Shore | The Avarice of Man |
| 7 | Helmet | Seeing Eye Dog |
| 7 | Megadeth | Rust in Peace Live (DVD) |
| 7 | Stone Sour | Audio Secrecy |
| 7 | Suicidal Tendencies | No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family |
| 9 | Marseille | Unfinished Business |
| 10 | Swashbuckle | Crime Always Pays... |
| 10 | Kamelot | Poetry for the Poisoned |
| 10 | Volbeat | Beyond Hell/Above Heaven |
| 13 | Autopsy | The Tomb Within (EP) |
| 13 | DragonForce | Twilight Dementia (live album) |
| 14 | The Absence | Enemy Unbound |
| 14 | Accept | Blood of the Nations |
| 14 | Beneath the Massacre | Marée Noire (EP) |
| 14 | Flotsam and Jetsam | The Cold |
| 14 | Lordi | Babez for Breakfast |
| 14 | Sully Erna | Avalon |
| 14 | System Divide | The Conscious Sedation |
| 17 | Elvenking | Red Silent Tides |
| 17 | Secret Sphere | Archetype |
| 17 | Therion | Sitra Ahra |
| 20 | Drudkh | Handful of Stars |
| 20 | Manticora | Safe |
| 20 | Metallica | Six Feet Down Under (EP) |
| 20 | Raunchy | A Discord Electric |
| 21 | Opeth | In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall (live DVD) |
| 21 | Serj Tankian | Imperfect Harmonies |
| 21 | Torche | Songs for Singles (EP) |
| 24 | Circle II Circle | Consequence of Power |
| 24 | Dimmu Borgir | Abrahadabra |
| 24 | Exciter | Death Machine |
| 24 | Revolution Renaissance | Trinity |
| 27 | Cataract | Killing The Eternal |
| 27 | The Crown | Doomsday King |
| 27 | Enslaved | Axioma Ethica Odini |
| 28 | Abigail Williams | In the Absence of Light |
| 28 | August Burns Red | Home (live DVD/CD) |
| 28 | Avian | The Path (EP) |
| 28 | Alice Cooper | Theatre of Death: Live At Hammersmith 2009 (DVD) |
| 28 | Halford | Halford IV: Made of Metal |
| 28 | James LaBrie | Static Impulse |
| 28 | Mushroomhead | Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children |
| 28 | October Tide | A Thin Shell |
| 28 | Powerglove | Saturday Morning Apocalypse |
| 28 | Slipknot | (sic)nesses (live DVD) |
| 28 | Unearthly Trance | V |
| 29 | Angra | Aqua |
| 29 | Iron Fire | Metalmorphosized |
| 30 | Place of Skulls | As A Dog Returns |

### October

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Grave Digger | The Clans Will Rise Again |
| 1 | Melechesh | The Epigenesis |
| 4 | Bring Me the Horizon | There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret. |
| 5 | Joe Satriani | Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards |
| 10 | Mortiis | Perfectly Defect |
| 12 | All That Remains | For We Are Many |
| 12 | Dakrya | Crime Scene |
| 12 | Intronaut | Valley of Smoke |
| 12 | Madball | Empire |
| 12 | Motionless in White | Creatures |
| 12 | Negligence | Coordinates of Confusion |
| 15 | All Ends | A Road To Depression |
| 15 | Magic Kingdom | Symphony of War |
| 15 | Mirror of Deception | A Smouldering Fire |
| 15 | Rhapsody of Fire | The Cold Embrace of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony |
| 15 | Symphorce | Unrestricted |
| 17 | Crionics | N.O.I.R. (EP) |
| 18 | The Meads of Asphodel | The Murder of Jesus The Jew |
| 18 | Ghost | Opus Eponymous |
| 20 | Amberian Dawn | End of Eden |
| 20 | Arckanum | Sviga Læ |
| 22 | Cradle of Filth | Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa |
| 22 | Forbidden | Omega Wave |
| 22 | Neaera | Forging the Eclipse |
| 22 | Virgin Steele | The Black Light Bacchanalia |
| 25 | Helheim | Åsgards Fall (EP) |
| 25 | Tank | War Machine |
| 25 | Triptykon | Shatter (EP) |
| 26 | Agathocles | This is Not a Threat, It's a Promise |
| 26 | Dååth | Dååth |
| 26 | Firewind | Days of Defiance |
| 26 | Ill Niño | Dead New World |
| 26 | Krieg | The Isolationist |
| 26 | Kylesa | Spiral Shadow |
| 26 | Monster Magnet | Mastermind |
| 26 | Sacred Oath | World on Fire |
| 26 | Slough Feg | The Animal Spirits |
| 26 | Star One | Victims of the Modern Age |
| 26 | Withered | Dualitas |
| 26 | Diskreet | Engage the Mechanicality |
| 27 | Verjnuarmu | Lohuton |
| 29 | Heljareyga | Heljareyga |
| 29 | The Sorrow | The Sorrow |
| 29 | War from a Harlots Mouth | MMX |
| 29 | Angband | Visions of the Seeker |
| 30 | Shape of Despair | Written in My Scars (EP) |
| 31 | Helloween | 7 Sinners |

### November

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 1 | Ross the Boss | Hailstorm |
| 2 | Anal Cunt | Wearing Out Our Welcome |
| 2 | Escape the Fate | Escape the Fate |
| 3 | Machinae Supremacy | A View from the End of the World |
| 5 | Allen/Lande | The Showdown |
| 5 | Forgotten Tales | We Shall See the Light |
| 8 | Aborym | Psychogrotesque |
| 8 | Atheist | Jupiter |
| 8 | Deathspell Omega | Paracletus |
| 8 | Therapy? | We're Here to the End |
| 9 | Am I Blood | Existence of Trauma |
| 9 | Behemoth | Evangelia Heretika (DVD) |
| 9 | First Blood | Silence Is Betrayal |
| 9 | Gwar | Bloody Pit of Horror |
| 9 | Oceano | Contagion |
| 9 | Place of Skulls | As a Dog Returns |
| 9 | Sargeist | Let the Devil In |
| 9 | Underoath | Ø (Disambiguation) |
| 9 | Vreid | Vreid Goddamnit (DVD) |
| 15 | Hate | Erebos |
| 15 | Solefald | Norrøn Livskunst |
| 19 | Astral Doors | Testament of Rock – The Best of Astral Doors |
| 19 | The Ocean | Anthropocentric |
| 19 | Samael | Antigod (EP) |
| 20 | Impaled Nazarene | Road to the Octagon |
| 22 | Sodom | In War and Pieces |
| 23 | After the Burial | In Dreams |
| 23 | Agalloch | Marrow of the Spirit |
| 23 | The Chariot | Long Live |
| 23 | God Dethroned | Under the Sign of the Iron Cross |
| 23 | Yngwie Malmsteen | Relentless |
| 23 | Phobia | Unrelenting (EP) |
| 24 | Dark Moor | Ancestral Romance |
| 24 | Dark the Suns | Sleepwalking in a Nightmare |
| 24 | Teräsbetoni | Maailma Tarvitsee Sankareita |
| 26 | Metallica | Live at Grimey's (live EP) |
| 30 | Chapter 14 | Like Trees in November (EP) |

### December

| Day | Artist | Album |
| 3 | Seventh Wonder | The Great Escape |
| 3 | Theatres des Vampires | Moonlight Waltz |
| 7 | Death | Live in Japan (DVD) |
| 7 | Flyleaf | Remember to Live (EP) |
| 14 | Motörhead | The Wörld Is Yours |
| 14 | The Damned Things | Ironiclast |
| 14 | Sea of Treachery | Wonderland |
| 17 | Ektomorf | Redemption |
| 17 | Sinister | Legacy of Ashes |
| 17 | Tankard | Vol(l)ume 14 |
| 31 | Helrunar | Sól |