2017 Metal & Hard Rock Albums

UFO's first covers album, released by Cleopatra Records on 29 September 2017, honours twelve favourites from the Yardbirds and the Doors to ZZ Top.

Great White's thirteenth studio album, released on 2 June 2017, reunited the band with Michael Wagener, producer of its first EP and debut album.

The Darkness's fifth album, released in October 2017: the first on which Rufus Tiger Taylor, son of Queen's Roger Taylor, drums throughout.

Overkill's eighteenth album, released in February 2017: the first mixed by Andy Sneap, with a cover painted by Travis Smith.

Paradise Lost's fifteenth album, released by Nuclear Blast on 1 September 2017: slower and heavier with doom than anything before it, as Gregor Mackintosh promised.

DragonForce's seventh album, from May 2017, and their longest studio record, closing its run with the eleven-minute "The Edge of the World".

Sepultura's fourteenth studio album, from January 2017, produced by Jens Bogren and built on the robotisation of society.

Cradle of Filth's twelfth studio album, from September 2017, built on the Victorian fascination with death.

The Haunted's ninth album, released on 25 August 2017: ten tracks running 38:00.

Outrage's twelfth album, out on 11 October 2017 and mixed by Peter Tagtgren of Pain and Hypocrisy. It came in the band's thirtieth anniversary year.

Kreator's fourteenth album, from January 2017, and the first to enter the German chart at number one in thirty-two years.

The third album by Arkansas's Pallbearer, from March 2017, bringing progressive rock structure into doom.

Queens of the Stone Age's seventh album, from August 2017: produced by Mark Ronson and number one in Britain.

The third Bell Witch album, from October 2017: one eighty-three-minute song, in memory of their late drummer.

Greta Van Fleet's eight-song double EP of 10 November 2017: the four songs of that April's debut EP, Black Smoke Rising, joined by four new recordings, namely the originals "Edge of Darkness" and "Talk on the Street" and covers of Sam Cooke and Fairport Convention. It won Best Rock Album at the 61st Grammy Awards, and its first Japanese edition, an SHM-CD, came out in August 2024.

The debut album, released by Inner Wound Recordings on 27 October 2017. These are the first eleven songs of the band guitarist Edwin Premberg and vocalist Emma Bensing started, with Jacob Hansen producing. Rubicon Music released the Japanese edition on 20 December with a piano version added for twelve.

The eleventh L.A. Guns studio album, and the first Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns made together again. King Records' Metal Frontier imprint issued the Japanese edition on 4 October 2017 as KICP-1858 with a Japan-only bonus track; that same month the band returned to Japan for Loud Park 17.

Pride of Lions' fifth studio album, from 2017. Marquee issued the Japanese edition on 25 January 2017 as MICP-11331 — the first of the band's records to be released in Japan by Marquee rather than King Records.

Engraved is Anthem's sixteenth studio album, released on 21 June 2017. It is the second record made by the line-up that brought back Yukio Morikawa and added Isamu Tamaru, and it followed the thirtieth-anniversary tour that marked three decades since their 1985 debut.

A double A-side single pairing "Daydreaming" and "Choose me" with "Play"; both title songs received official music videos.

The 2017 debut mini-album, cut with a Finnish engineering team and pressed as a strictly limited 3,000-copy run.

Produced by Mat Sinner with Dennis Ward, and carrying guest appearances from Gus G, Ricky Warwick and Pete Lincoln.

The seventh studio album, built around themes of illness and time. Its opening track "Sultan's Curse" won Best Metal Performance at the 60th Grammy Awards, and the album was nominated for Best Rock Album.

A four-track EP led by the advance single "IGNITE," cut during the band's touring years abroad.

A five-track mini-album that compresses Fuki’s commanding vocals and the Gacharic Spin players’ virtuosity into a heavier, sharper modern loud-rock attack.

A key album that clarifies BAND-MAID’s hard-rock direction while connecting musicianship with catchy songwriting.

The Rise of Chaos delivers Accept’s steel-hard riffs and large choruses with present-day weight.

Unlimited Diffusion expands Aldious’ ornate twin guitars, speed and clear vocal character into a more colorful melodic-metal setting.

Madness retains All That Remains’ metalcore edge while reaching toward wider melody and a more modern-rock texture.

For the Demented centers Annihilator on thrash-metal sharpness while layering Jeff Waters’ intricate guitar work and uneasy melody around it.

Will to Power keeps Arch Enemy’s melodic-death-metal attack intact while widening the contrast between harsh force, vocal melody and arrangement.

Retrolution presents Axxis’ positive melodic hard rock in an especially colorful production.

Berserker is Beast in Black’s explosive debut, fusing power-metal velocity, flashy synthesizer color and eighties-style pop melody in one sweep.

Ruff Justice tightens the flash of eighties glam and sleaze metal into a modern frame.

Infinite finds Deep Purple drawing on blues, hard rock and improvisational chemistry with both calmness and fire.

Six delivers the pleasures of traditional heavy metal in a direct burst of thick riffs and large choruses.

Monumentum packs Eclipse’s modern hard-rock precision and melodic-rock-sized hooks into a very concentrated form.

The Great Momentum layers Edenbridge’s symphonic grandeur over the forward force of firm guitar riffs.

Walk the Earth crystallizes the mix Europe have developed since their reunion: the weight of seventies hard rock and a distinctly Scandinavian sense of melody.

Synthesis reimagines Evanescence’s earlier songs through orchestra and electronic texture, while also adding new material.

Immortals shapes mythic storytelling into Firewind’s fast power metal and dramatic melody.

Ultimate Sacrifice concentrates Galneryus’ fast guitar, flowing keyboards and expansive vocals into high-tension power metal in which drama and melody, not technicality, stay at the centre.

Silver carries Gotthard’s warm melody, blues-tinted guitar and approachable hard-rock instinct with calm confidence.

Into the Great Unknown expands H.E.A.T’s big-chorus melodic rock through a broader soundstage and modern production detail.

United by HAREM SCAREM: track list, Spotify player, music videos and English liner notes on METAL BOOST.

Reforged – Riding on Fire revisits familiar material through the voice, production weight and arrangement sense of its recording period.

Retribution places Jeff Scott Soto’s soulful vocal power in a heavier, more modern rock setting.

Architecture of a God weaves progressive development and classically colored guitar into Labyrinth’s power-metal drive.

One More Light shifts Linkin Park away from guitar-heavy aggression toward electronic pop and R&B-leaning rhythm.

Awakening from Abyss introduces Lovebites with a remarkably complete union of speed, precise twin guitars, soaring vocals and large melodic payoff.

Wall of Sound places Marty Friedman’s individual melodic sense and emotion-speaking guitar tone at the front of an instrumental record.

PumpKings revisits familiar material through the voice, production weight and arrangement sense of its recording period.

Defying Gravity brings Mr. Big’s virtuosity and singable melody together with striking ease.

Feed the Machine pushes Nickelback’s thicker guitars and heavier rhythms to the front, showing a more aggressive side of the band.

Don't Let Up presents Night Ranger’s melodic hard-rock character with freshness rather than nostalgia.

Phoenix refines Nocturnal Rites’ Scandinavian melodic-metal strengths through hard riffs, clear vocal lines and thick, uplifting choruses.

Headstrong naturally joins Pink Cream 69’s polished melodic-hard-rock side with a more weighty guitar push.

Road Rage puts Quiet Riot’s familiar strengths in the foreground: direct riffs, bouncing beats and choruses built to be sung back.

Seasons of the Black places Rage’s power-metal speed and thrash sharpness inside a darker tonal world.

Light in the Dark beautifully links Revolution Saints’ AOR smoothness with a firm hard-rock core.

Lower the Bar sees Steel Panther recreating the language of eighties glam metal through exaggeration and humor.

Hydrograd mixes punk urgency, big hard-rock riffs and metal weight into songs that are rough-edged but immediately catchy.

The self-titled Striker record joins the band’s speed-metal sharpness with approachable hard-rock hooks in a very concentrated form.

Nightbringers packs The Black Dahlia Murder’s melodic-death-metal velocity and horror-like unease into a very dense form.

Tokyo Motor Fist is a debut that joins the bright instincts of melodic rock with a slightly rougher hard-rock push.

The Sin and the Sentence integrates Trivium’s thrash sharpness, metalcore aggression and melodic chorus work at a high level of tension.

Louder Harder Faster brings Warrant’s instinct for catchy hard rock into a thicker guitar sound and a more forceful rhythmic frame.