1. Black Sabbath reunite
The rumors had been swirling for a while, but it seemed like every time things were looking good for a reunion of the original lineup of the original metal band, someone came in to dash the hopes of pretty much every headbanger on the planet. And then it happened: a press conference hosted by Henry Rollins and featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, announcing not only a world tour together in 2012 but also that they have been working on a new album together! Never say die, indeed.

2. The West Memphis Three are freed
In the 18 years since the West Memphis Three—three men who, as metalhead teenagers, were convicted for the allegedly Satanic-ritual murder of three young children—were first arrested, their case has galvanized heavy-music fans the world over. Everyone from the aforementioned Henry Rollins and Metallica to Pearl Jam and Marilyn Manson—who spoke at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards on their behalf—had gotten behind their cause, but as appeal after appeal was denied despite mounting evidence of their innocence, that cause did not appear very hopeful. Then, this August, the seemingly impossible happened when the WM3 were finally released from prison. Justice, long overdue.

3. Judas Priest play on American Idol, embark on farewell tour
If a Sabbath reunion and WM3 release seemed unlikely going into 2011, then Judas Priest performing on TV’s most popular show and pop music’s biggest forum seemed like just about the closest thing to a sign of the apocalypse that we could imagine. Well, then maybe the end is, in fact, nigh in 2012, because Priest did take the Idol stage this year, rocking with finalist James Durbin in front of the some 30 million viewers who tuned in to see the season finale. Sadly, we know that the end is nigh for Priest themselves, who played the first leg of their farewell tour this year. But at least Rob Halford & Co. are going out with a bang.

4. Dave Mustaine plays Metallica songs onstage with Metallica
The double takes continued this year when Dave Mustaine took the stage with Metallica earlier this month to play five ‘Tallica classics as part of that band’s 30th anniversary. Dave jamming on Diamond Head along with all the other members of the Big 4 was one thing. This, a whole other level of jaw-dropping. Can’t we all just get along? Why, yes, we can.

5. Metallica records album with Lou Reed
If Metallica’s series of 30th-anniversary shows this December was one of the most badass things these tried-and-true metal badasses have ever done, then their collaborative album, Lulu, with art-rock kingpin Lou Reed ranks up there among the most head-scratchingly bizarre moves they’ve ever made. “I am the table.” And we are dumbfounded.

6. Slipknot play first shows since Paul Gray’s death
After the passing of founding bass player and major songwriter Paul Gray in 2010, it was unclear whether Slipknot would pack up the masks and jumpsuits and call it a day or if they would forge ahead. This summer the band–who were the subject of a Revolver special issue this year–returned to the stage and did it in triumphant fashion, paying respect to their fallen bandmate and to their own origins, while looking ahead to the future. Which includes highly anticipated shows in the U.S. next year.

7. Phil Anselmo performs Pantera songs onstage for first time in a decade
His surprise appearance at this September’s Metal Masters Clinic 2 was a heavily guarded secret (which the Revolver staff may have been privy to, if not behind), but when Phil Anselmo stomped onto the stage and banged through absolutely rip-roaring renditions of Pantera’s “A New Level” and “Fucking Hostile” backed by Kerry King, Scott Ian, David Ellefson, Frank Bello, Mike Portnoy, and Charlie Benante, it resounded around the metal world. And only made us mourn more deeply the senseless death of Dimebag Darrell and the fact that a Pantera reunion is utterly impossible. If you weren’t there in September, kick yourself. Now.

8. Evanescence release first album in five years, debut at No. 1
One of the best-selling hard-rock acts of the last decade, Evanescence had all but fallen off the map when they returned with this year’s self-titled album and the relevance of their gothy nu-metal-infused sound was very much in question. Consider that question definitively answered as the record debuted at No. 1 on the charts and the group hit the road to overwhelmingly sold-out shows–not to mention the fact that frontwoman Amy Lee was voted by Revolver readers to be the single Hottest Chick in Hard Rock. Amazing accomplishments all, for a band that clearly had been very much been missed.

9. Anthrax release first album in eight years
It has been a tumultuous decade for the thrash legends, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and while their trials and tribulations did nearly take the band down, Anthrax endured and reasserted their place among metal’s best with the critically acclaimed Worship Music, not to mention their ass-kicking sets at this year’s Big 4 shows.

10. Avenged Sevenfold dominate the Revolver Golden Gods awards
Absolutely proving their supremacy among their generation of hard-rock and metal bands, and completing their inspiring rise-from-the-ashes story since the death of founding drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, Avenged Sevenfold claimed the 2011 Revolver Golden Gods as their own. They all but swept the fan-voted awards, including the biggest trophy of the night, for Album of the Year, and crushed with their closing set, which featured guest turns by GN’R's Duff McKagan and Pantera’s Vinnie Paul. All hail the heirs apparent.

11. Disturbed go on indefinite hiatus
They are the only rock band to have four consecutive records debut at No. 1, other than Metallica and Dave Matthews Band, so when Disturbed announced, while headlining this summer’s Mayhem Fest, that they would be going on “indefinite hiatus,” fans were understandably shocked. But then, what better time to go out then when you’re on top? Only time will tell if the bandmates are just taking a break or if they’ve broken up—but there’s no arguing that these guys have earned a little rest.

12. Metal goes dubstep
It was this year’s biggest trend in heavy music—the fusion of metal and the electronic-music style known as dubstep—and while, like any trend, it led to some less than stellar music, it also led to our controversial pick for 2011 Album of the Year, Korn’s The Path of Totality. We at Revolver hate it when we see heavy music getting stagnant and conservative—music needs to evolve and cross-pollinate to stay vital—so we’re excited that everyone from Five Finger Death Punch to Asking Alexandria to Periphery are experimenting with dubstep and exploring alternative definitions of “heavy.” And it’s cool knowing that the style’s biggest producer, Skrillex, is a friend of hard rock and metal, having gotten his start fronting screamo band From First to Last and, this year, collaborated on the new Korn record. Let’s see where this new hybrid takes us in 2012.

13. System of a Down play first shows together in five years
In late 2010, System of a Down, one of the last decade’s most unique and innovative metal bands, announced that they would be reuniting to play shows after a five-year hiatus. When the first of those performances finally came to pass, in Canada this May, SOAD proved that they had not missed a beat. Welcome back. And make a new record. You know you want to.

14. Atreyu go on indefinite hiatus
In the 12 years since their formation, SoCal’s Atreyu have morphed from metalcore pioneers to a more straight-up hard-rock outfit, and they’ve graced the cover of Revolver more than a few times along the way. So when, this year, the bandmates broke the news that they would be putting the band on ice, it was a bummer, no question. The consolation is that the members are not exactly sitting on their hand since the decision: Frontman Alex Varkatsaz has a new band in the works with Bleeding Through’s Brendan Schieppati, called I Am War; drummer-vocalist Brandon Saller now fronts Hell or Highwater; and guitarist Travis Miguel has new project Fake Figures.

15. Ministry re-form
Ministry’s breakup never seemed particularly set in stone. After all, their “final” album, 2007′s The Last Sucker, was followed by not one record of covers and remixes but two—not to mention a 2009 live album. Still, it was hard for any fan of the seminal industrial-metal band not to be excited when main man Al Jourgensen announced in August that the group would not only be touring in 2012 but releasing a new, original studio album, fittingly called Relapse. Lead single, “99 Percenters,” hits iTunes on December 23.

16. Life of Agony frontman Keith Caputo transitioning gender to female
It might just be the biggest “WTF” revelation in a year full of “WTF” moments: the news that Life of Agony vocalist Keith Caputo was becoming a woman, Mina. As with Priest’s catalog after Halford came out of the closet, now we hear LOA’s songs just a little differently.

..And finally, Revolver releases 100th issue.
Is it 2011′s biggest story? No. But it might be for us here at Revolver. We’ve been told repeatedly over the years that rock is dead, metal is dead, the music industry is dead, print media are dead. So to make it to 100 issues—100 real, tangible, bathroom-ready printed issues—feels like a real accomplishment. And maybe even more importantly, it feels like a big, fat middle-finger to all the disbelievers, doubters, and haters who didn’t think we would make it. Fuck you. And thank you to all our readers who have stuck with us, whether for all 100 issues, or only for this year’s six. You rule. Happy holidays.

UPDATE: Find out the winners here.

10. Opeth, “The Devil’s Orchard”
The Swedish prog lords have long been regarded as true artists within their field, and in the gorgeous clip, they have the imagery to match their music.

09. Falling in Reverse, “I’m Not a Vampire”
Frontman Ronnie Radke’s struggles with addiction are well documented; here, he shows a winning willingness to laugh at himself, turning his issues with drugs into a hilarious spoof of Celebrity Rehab.

08. Suicide Silence, “You Only Live Once”
What do you get when your band rocks out right in the “range” part of a shooting range? Bloody awesomeness.

07. Asking Alexandria, “To the Stage”
These Brit metalcore maniacs live up to their party-hard image with this debauched, Trainspotting-esque clip, which ends with a twisted surprise cliff-hanger of a climax that suggests that maybe they understand that following in the footsteps of the Crüe ain’t all fun and games, after all.

06. Foo Fighters, “White Limo”
When your limo driver is motherfucking Lemmy Kilmister, you know you’re in for a bumpy ride–and in the best way possible.

05. Behemoth, “Lucifer”
As if overcoming leukemia weren’t epic enough, Behemoth main man Nergal then led his band to make this irresistibly lurid and disturbing video for the 8-minute closer to 2009 album, Evangelion. Warning: NSFW.

04. Mastodon, “Deathbound”
In this video, for a previously unreleased track from the Crack the Skye sessions, the Atlantan prog-metal mad men spoof Mister Roger’s Neighborhood to horns-throwing results. It doesn’t hurt, too, that the song is one of their heaviest in years.

03. Puscifer, “Man Overboard”
Tool’s music video are legendary, of course, and with this clip from his side band Puscifer, frontman Maynard James Keenan delivered surreal visuals worthy of his main outfit.

02. Rammstein, “Mein Land”
When not setting themselves on fire onstage, Rammstein consistently deliver some of the best music videos around, whether baring their bratwurst or not, and they did not disappoint this year with this brilliantly ridiculous retro surfing clip. Who said Germans don’t have a sense of humor?

01. Skrillex, “First of the Year (Equinox)”
Sure, haters will argue that–new Korn album aside–dubstep ain’t “rock,” but there’s no denying that this song’s glitchy breakdowns are heavy as all hell. Or that this video itself is metal as fuck. No wonder Beavis and Butt Head gave it a view–to add to its 23 million on YouTube. In the words of Beavis, “Whoa, that’s cool.”

Vote for your favorite video on this list in our poll here.

Sorry, the 72 hours of the stream are up.

REVOLVER How does it feel to have The Path of Totality named Revolver‘s Album of the Year?
JONATHAN DAVIS I’ve got chills right now. Man, that’s fucking awesome. Thank you. You have an open mind. The album is getting people to have an open mind and just accept that this is the future–accept the change. And once they do that, after we do our shows, ’cause we play a full set–we split our set up into three different sets, then we do a full set of the new record, we do five songs of the new stuff–and during that time they’re kind of like, What’s going on? But by the end of it, the last song, the whole place is going crazy. I’ve gotta take it to the people and they’ve gotta see it with their own eyes, or hear the record, and then they’re gonna be like, What the fuck?!

Are you surprised to receive this honor for an electronic album?
Yeah. It is fucking crazy, but it’s still rock. I executive produced it—that’s what they called it—and my whole job was to keep the integrity of both sides of the music intact and finding that balance. It’s still a Korn record–you can’t deny it’s a Korn record–but there’s those subtle, and sometimes there’s a lot of the dubstep influence, and drum and bass. It’s not that we were going for a dubstep record, there’s all styles of electronic music on this. There’s dubstep, drum and bass, electro, it’s all kinds of different kinds of music. My job was to fit the pieces in and arrange them into song form and then figure out how the fuck I was gonna sing over them and all that stuff. It’s a rock record, but it’s got electronic influences.

How did the process work of making the album, between you, the band, and the producers?
The only two people we didn’t work with in the room was Noisia and Feed Me, ’cause they were in Europe. Basically what went down is we’d get in a room together and the producers would just lay down a skeleton of beats and some wobbles, here and there. And then it’d go to Munky , Munk would do some guitar stuff on it and then it’d go back to them and their producers. We’re working in digital and in analog at the same time. We had, like, a crazy, mad-scientist thing going on. So we were kind of filing back and forth doing all this stuff. It was really…that’s how you collaborate, like you do with any band. But their instrument’s a computer.

You know, what’s so exciting about it is we didn’t know what the fuck we were doing. It felt good because we were just making music that we loved, open-hearted, not giving a fuck about what anybody thought. We just wanted to do something different and change rock again.

Is that why you wanted to make an electronic-infused album?
And it was my passion for electronic music. I know metal fans, or metal purists, aren’t into that so they call it “gay techno,” but there’s really heavy bass, it’s really heavily heavy-metal influenced. And it’s just, again, close-minded, and for me, because I’ve been out DJing, keeping up on all this stuff for a couple of years, I was excited to see DJs play their music, because it just takes so much talent to do that shit. People think it’s, Oh, you plug your computer in, you play some notes. It’s not–you have to have a vast knowledge of synthesis because all these sounds that these guys make are made out of thin air. It’s not like, you know, with a guitar, you plug it and , there you go, you can fuck with your tone a little bit, but you know what you’re gonna get. With their shit, they make shit out of thin air, and it’s difficult.

Do you see this electronic direction continuing on future Korn records?
I mean, I think it will continue in the future, I don’t see how it can’t. I don’t know, it’s like when we did Korn, the self-titled, we had [futureusgalleryRoland TR] 808s, we kept 808s–that was the hip-hop element. At that time hip-hop was coming up and was underground and doing all that. So I think there’ll still be some electronic elements in the music, but I don’t know what we’re gonna do next, I haven’t even thought of it yet, since I got done with this record. I’m sure I’ll think of something. At least in the electronic world, everything is evolving so fast and there’s so many subgenres coming out, it’s why I love it so much. People are so fucking creative and it influences me in different ways.

How difficult was this record to make?
This was the hardest Korn record we ever did–at least for me and the production aspects of it. And I think for Munk, too, just wrapping his head around what we were doing, and Fieldy and then Ray being a sport because we couldn’t use real drums–we did use real drums on some of the songs, but we had to take his kick and snare off because it didn’t meld right with the electronic kicks and snares.

And my hats off to him, ’cause, like, most drummers would be like, “Fuck you, I’m playing on this,” or like, you know, everybody would have attitudes. But everybody in the band was like, “I don’t care if this isn’t up here or if my bass is rolled off there because I just wanna do what’s best for the project.”

How have the new songs been received by crowds so far?
It’s really been awesome. It’s exactly like the crowds when we first came out, back in ’94. People don’t know what to do–they know that they like it, but they don’t wanna show that they like it because the hardcore metalheads, you know, they’re such purists. But I see ‘em in the crowd, like, shaking their head looking around, like, Should I be doing this? I like it, but I know I’m not suppose to like it. Shit, then there’s those fans who wild the fuck out, and then we’ve been getting some electronic fans, too, and they’re just going crazy. So it’s funny, man. I’ve been getting devil horns thrown up at me and heart signs.

Is it almost fun to try and win over the diehard metal fans?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, that’s why I’m probably hurting so bad. I knew there was gonna be bullshit, I knew there was gonna be haters, there’s haters in everything, there was haters back in—like, I say this is the new Follow the Leader album—there was haters back then. But you can’t deny it, and you can’t deny what’s going on in the electronic world, it’s happening and I’m a huge fan of it, I love it. I love going to those shows, they’re fun, it’s exciting. I think rock’s gotten so stale. Just because labels are just wanting to churn out, you know, same formula, bands sound all the same, and they don’t know any other way. Then it’s been in the Korn fashion to always experiment and push the envelope and I think we’ve finally nailed it.

How did you first get together with Skrillex for the album’s lead single, “Get Up!”?
First of all, I didn’t know Skrillex was Sonny to begin with. I mean, I listened to his previous EPs he did when he was starting to go kind of dubstep-y and electro, but I heard his EP before it came out, I was really blown away by it. And then I realized it was Sonny and then I just called him. Because back in the day, back at Revolver you had up-and-coming bands interview their heros, and yeah, Sonny picked me to interview when he was in From First to Last. And I knew him from that. And so I just called him–I got his number and I called him. And he freaked the fuck out. He’s like, “Whoa, what’s up, man?” I go, “Bro, we got this idea. We wanna know if you wanna work with us, like, on mixing, you know, dubstep and electro elements with what we do.” And he was all, “Fuck, yeah!” So he came out and we did three songs together.

The last [futureusgalleryproducer we worked with] was Feed Me. And I really love Feed Me–he was a guy named Spor back in the day, and he was a drum-and-bass guy. Now he goes by Feed Me. He’s, like, the most musical, ’cause he mixes all kind of genres in his music, so, like, electro, drum and bass, and dubstep all in one. And that’s when we did “Bleeding Out.” And that blew me away, ’cause I heard this song and it was the first time I wanted to put bagpipes on a Korn record in a long time, where I wasn’t forced. So I think I did the first ever bagpipe solo on a dubstep song!

What was the original intention when you first got together with Skrillex? Did you always have an album in mind or were you just testing the waters?
No, just was testing the waters if this would work. It started out as my idea, but I knew it would work. And once we got the three done with Skrillex and we were working with the other dubstep producers, I’m like, “Fuck an EP. What’s five more songs? Let’s make a full-length out of this.” ‘Cause we were having so much fun, it felt like we were doing something special, something completely different. And it reinvigorated the band, creatively. Now we’re all sitting in a room together just talking about how great this record is and, you know, rock had become so stale and we were chasing our tails trying to find something to change it again. And then we finally stumbled upon something that I think would do that. And we’re just beside ourselves. ‘Cause this isn’t suppose to happen–we’re an old-ass band, we’re coming up on our 20th anniversary, dude, that’s not supposed to happen.

Your last record, Korn III: Remember Who You Are, was a return to your roots, and now with this album you’ve really branched out. Is there a connection between the two?
Well, that album was an experiment, too. And I love the record, but it was hell to make–I needed a lot of hell and torture to be in, and I feel the album’s forced. And I feel a lot of kids picked up on that, because it was forced. It was tormenting me and torturing me and taking me backwards, because I was over it. Fucking 38, 39 at the time and, like, I’m over this shit, but, oh, the world needs to feel this. And I’m like, Ah, God…so it felt really forced. But I think we needed to take two steps back to go four steps forward, you know? We needed to go and do that record to get to this point, where we’re like, We’re experimenting and we’re doing some future shit. Fuck this going-back shit, we already did that. So it pushed us forward.

You’ve said that the title of the record refers to everything having to be in perfect alignment, as with seeing an eclipse, and that’s what happened with this record.
Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly why I love the title because I asked Munk to come up with some titles, make a list of titles, and then he was reading about some eclipse shit and that term came up, “path of totality.” And I went, “What’s this mean?” I looked it up on Google and it’s, like, the path you must take to see a full eclipse. You have to be in the right place at the right time to see a full eclipse of the sun. And I go, “Dude, that’s perfect,” because everything had to fall at the right place at the right time, with the right skill, with the right people to make this happen. And the eclipse, to me, was the rebirth of this band.

Do you remember what your reaction was hearing the finished album for the first time?
I cried, dude. I did. I mean, this is like my baby. And, like, thank God I had people believe in me, thank God the band believed in me, and thank God the band embraced it and stepped up and did way beyond, you know, what they’d done before. Just everything, and all the hard work. And when I finally got the master and I got to hear it all the way through, I just cried. I was like, Oh my God, it worked. Because it could be totally set up for disaster. If we didn’t do it just right it would be fucking horrible.

There’s a song on the record called “Illuminati.” Do you share a lot of those ideas?
I saw this movie called Zeitgeist, and that started me out with the whole, you know, conspiracy theory shit, and I just got into it. And the whole Illuminati thing, I really believe’s going on.

It could be all fucking fake, and so what, but it intrigues me. Things I look around at, like this, the Department of Homeland Security–you know who did that first? Adolf Hitler, he created the Gestapo. And that was a secret police to secure the borders of Germany and protect the people. And those guys have all the power in the world, they can just take you out, stick you in a room, stick their hand up their ass, you have no rights. And that’s some of the shit we’ve given up.

You actually have some historical family connections, right?
I do. My son, ’cause he’s really into it, too, my 16-year-old son—I do ancestry.com as a hobby—well, he went through all my records and original Illuminati family was Davies and they came out of Wales and, I don’t know, it was like the 14, 1500s. Well, he found the Davies that came over to America, his name was Griffith Griffin Davies, and when they moved, the Davies was dropped and it became Davis in America. And he did all this research and shit and got all these records–my kid’s a really smart kid when he wants to be–and he showed me, he’s like “Look, Dad, we’re related to the Illuminati.” And I was like, “Oh my God.” It just freaked me out.

What’s your pick for Album of the Year?
Hyro Da Hero. That was really fucking good. So I’ll pick that one–Hyro Da Hero . That was really fucking good. It’s just so real and I love the way Hyro raps. It kind of reminds me of Rage Against the Machine, but different, with a band and the music. And it’s real, and this kid loves doing what he’s doing , ’cause I saw him in concert. And it’s real, it’s not made up.

“Warp,” The Bloody Beetroots featuring Steve Aoki
“That’s an electro track, it’s just fucking amazing. It’s, like, Steve screaming in it, it’s kind of hardcore, but it just moves the crowd. When I drop that song, anytime I’m DJing, the crowd goes crazy. It’s a perfect example of really cool fucking electro music.”

“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” Skrillex
“I love it, because it’s a mixture of so many different genres of music. It’s fucking dubstep, its electro, it’s everything. I love how he just mixes a bunch of genres together. And when I first heard that song, it blew me away, cause of the big bass, the talking basses, and all this shit. But then it’s got all–what do you call it?–there was, like, melodies and shit going over the top, he’d pitch his voice up and it’s interesting things that he did. I love it.”

“Trouble in the West,” Koan Sound
“It’s some kids, I think they’re from Europe, and they do this kind of dubstep that it’s kind of like southern-rock funk shit. It’s crazy. ‘Trouble in the west,’ I love that song. And it’s not really dubstep-y, it’s drum and bassy, but it feels like southern rock and funk. It’s these two 18-year-old kids. Really fucking cool shit.”

“X Rated,” Excision featuring Messinian
“I love that song, it’s fucking heavy. It’s metal, dude. Those guys invented heavy-metal dubstep, hands down. Dubstep, originally, it got named dub because of the dub influences,. It was more regage. And then these kids start taking it and fucking it up. And Excision, and Downlink, and Datsik met on a dubstep forum. They were three kids that were just taking shit and  just making it heavy, the bass was heavy and it was aggressive. And Excision said, ‘You guys come to my house and let’s do this shit.’ And he started Rottun Recordings and basically he’s the No. 1 dubstep DJ in North America for that style of dubstep. And the sounds and the production are ridiculous. And that shit, I call ‘heavy-metal dubstep.’”

“The Dark Crystal,” Sluggo and Nerd Rage
“I love that movie. ‘Feel the power of the dark crystal!’ And then it just goes all fucking crazy.”

You can check out the full tour details below the video for The Path of Totality‘s first single, “Get Up.”

11/03 Boston, MA, House of Blues
11/04 New York, NY, Roseland Ballroom
11/05 Philadelphia, PA, Tower Theater
11/06 Huntington, NY, Paramount theater
11/09 Miami, FL, Fillmore Miami Beach
11/10 Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live
11/11 Tampa, FL, Green Iguana Stadium
11/12 Duluth, GA, Wild Bill’s
11/16 Tulsa, OK, Brady Theater
11/18 San Antonio, TX, Sunken Garden Amphitheater
11/19 Houston, TX, Verizon Wireless Theater
11/20 Dallas, TX, The Palladium