Top Ten - 2001

Five lesser-known bands made the top ten, along with solid efforts by veteran bands. And 49 album reviews without a single rating above 90 (unless you round up) may look like a down year in music, but that's misleading as many bands ended up in the 80 - 85 range. (For anyone who looked at this list previously, you may notice a change. I recently got a chance to listen to and review Anthem CDs, and as you can see, I liked Seven Hills a lot.)

2001 Top Ten:
89.83 -- Anthem - Seven Hills
89.71 -- Magnitude 9 - Reality in Focus
87.92 -- Wayne - Metal Church
87.77 -- Gamma Ray - No World Order
87.62 -- W.A.S.P. - Unholy Terror
87.25 -- Iced Earth - Horror Show
86.64 -- Labyrinth - Sons of Thunder
86.62 -- Racer X - Superheroes
86.47 -- Silver Mountain - Breakin' Chains
86.09 -- Threshold - Hypothetical

Other 2001 releases:
85.54 -- Annihilator - Carnival Diablos
85.13 -- Savatage - Poets and Madmen
84.63 -- Blue Öyster Cult - Curse of the Hidden Mirror
84.27 -- Mahogany Rush - Eye of the Storm
84.24 -- Aria - Chimera
84.11 -- Saxon - Killing Ground
83.85 -- Dogface - Unleashed
83.81 -- Edguy - Mandrake
83.20 -- Brainstorm - Metus Mortis
83.01 -- Falconer - Falconer
82.77 -- Cydonia - Cydonia
82.73 -- Wizard - Head of the Deceiver
82.54 -- Lost Horizon - Awakening the World
82.38 -- Helloïse - Fata Morgana
81.80 -- Kamelot - Karma
81.76 -- Megadeth - The World Needs A Hero
81.22 -- Silent Force - Infatuator
80.77 -- Angra - Rebirth
80.24 -- Iron Savior - Dark Assault
80.13 -- Primal Fear - Nuclear Fire
78.41 -- Heavenly - Sign of the Winner
78.17 -- Balance of Power - Perfect Balance
77.65 -- Rage - Welcome to the Other Side
77.32 -- Nostradameus - The Prophet of Evil
77.11 -- Sonata Arctica - Silence
77.10 -- Michael Schenker Group - Be Aware of Scorpions
76.89 -- Arachnes - Parallel Worlds
76.69 -- Goat Horn - Voyage to Nowhere
76.28 -- Ozzy Osbourne - Down to Earth
76.26 -- Avantasia - The Metal Opera
75.68 -- Alice Cooper - Dragontown
75.53 -- Blackmore's Night - Fires at Midnight
70.44 -- Anvil - Plenty of Power
69.76 -- Manilla Road - Atlantis Rising
68.88 -- Judas Priest - Demolition
67.77 -- Aerosmith - Just Push Play
67.26 -- Beto Vázquez Infinity - Infinity
65.82 -- Demon - Spaced Out Monkey
52.33 -- Bow Wow - Another Place