Awhile back I saw a great post on Problogger, asking readers to submit lists of the blogs in their niche to watch out for in 2010. Although I was too busy being awesome to get mine in on time, I’m posting it anyway, for those of you who might like a little more metal in your daily interweb perusing:

1. Positively Bleak by E. Bleak

Emily Bleak is a self-proclaimed proud pretentious metalhead, obsessive horror junkie and hobbyist blasphemer, among other titles. Her blog focuses on heavy metal lifestyle topics, like Getting the GWAR Off and On Dressing for the Frozen Wastelands. Also, she’s awesome. 

2. Reign in Blonde by Julia and Elise

Winners of the unofficial “most kickass blog name of all time” competition. Reign in Blonde is written by two tall, blonde chicks who bring the metal. They went to an Ashlee Simpson show together and yelled “Slayeeerrr!” over the heads of a bunch of nine year olds – they’re those kind of girls. They write awesome content and think Gabe Garcia is hot, which makes them alright by me.

3. Baroque, Bleak, Brutal by Eric

An epic name for an epic blog. Baroque Bleak Brutal seeks to explore and pay homage to all of the complexity, barrenness, and savagery of metal. I don’t usually read album reviews, because I find them quite boring and subjective, but I read theirs. Check out their As the Palaces Burned features.

4. Metalographer by Danielle

Part of the essence of being metal is taking pictures of quote “epic shit” unquote. A recent discovery, Danielle photographs scenes, objects, spaces, places, animals and people she considers aptly “metal”. She’s bloody grymm. And she’s obsessed with Alice in Wonderland …

5. NO CLEAN SINGING by Islander, Alexis and IntoTheDarkness

No Clean Singing exists on the premise that 1) all popular music sucks, 2) metal doesn’t suck, unless it’s metal with clean singing, in which case it probably does suck, 3) Some metal with clean singing doesn’t suck, but that’s an exception to the rule and 4) Some metal with no clean singing also sucks, but that’s also an exception to the rule. They then proceed to do a steller job of backing up these statements with writing and plenty of pictures of long-haired dudes staring contemptuously at the camera.

I have discovered SO MANY epic new bands through them. These guys deserve major horns for supporting Steff Metal, but aside from that, they’re a great source of really in-depth metal discussion and growly grymness.

6. Rakk and Ruin by Rakk and Ruin

A blog of grymm and epic fashion pictures. Everything is way too expensive and designer for me, but it’s an excellent source of inspiration. You can also get some epic (and incredibly budget-conscious) jewelry at the Rakk and Ruin shop.

7. Metal From Finland by Tero and others

Most of my favorite metal at the moment comes from Finland, so I love a blog that keeps my up-to-date on the Finnish metal happenings, and that’s exactly what MFF does. You will see regular HIM updates, which are irksome, but trust me – most of their content is grand. And they have Perkele t-shirts!

8. The Palpable Obscure by Ana

I’ve been reading Ana’s blog for ages, centuries even, back when it was called Kvlt Fashion. She was the first blogger to ever inspire me to post daily outfit photos. A tall leggy blonde with impeccable style and a love of Wolves of the Throne Room, Ana’s always posting inspirational fashion shoots from around the globe.

9. Metal as Fuck by Leticia and various contributors

Called by some “the world’s most obliterating metal zine” metal as fuck is the moonchild of Leticia Supple, and includes some great pieces from Kay of Enter the Goatlady. They employ contributors from all over the world, for real global coverage of everything – and I do mean everything – metal. It is one of the BEST metal zines in the world, period. The quality of the writing blows most magazines out of the water. Read their interviews. Right Now.  

10. Cosmic Hearse by Aesop

Ever since I started reading Cosmic Hearse, I’ve been drowning in underground metal and Japanese crazy. Not a day goes by CDH doesn’t walk past my office, stop, turn around and cry “what the fuck are you listening to?” For that reason alone, you should check out this blog. Cosmic Hearse shares hard-to-find and special recordings from various metal and underground projects. The recordings span the genres – it’s not all tr00 kvlt kreig grymm nekro eeevil black metal here. Aesop places each album contextually within metal and underground music as a whole – sometimes they are rare EPs from popular bands, sometimes scratchy recordings of barely musical noise. And Cosmic Hearse takes nothing away from the artist – all these tracks are legitimately found.

and secret number 11.

Steff Metal by Steff (that’s me!)

Why should you read it? Well, you tell me :)

What are you reading this year?

Horns up! \m/
Steff