Punk is fraught with black humor and irony; hardcore focuses on imparting power. With stress and anxiety as the status quo for artists and other marginalized demographics in a Bay Area that's increasingly unhospitable to all but the wealthy, local punk's satirical sneer has been sharpened and hardcore's rage intensified. It's impossible to divorce music from sociopolitical conditions, and, to say the least, the bands on this list are aggravated and nervous. Shorter formats are essential to these genres, and we ran a list of the year's best local punk and hardcore EPs a few months ago, but this list compiles five of the year's best full-length albums from local acts.
It was a big year for metal in the Bay Area, the year one band caught the attention of pretty much everyone, including the advertising team at Apple. That breakthrough album made our list, of course, but so did a number of other excellent local metal releases you may not have heard. Here's our roundup of the 10 best heavy local records of the year.
