Northlane - Mesmer (Progressive Metalcore) This album dropped out of nowhere this year and it's one of the best. Beautiful vocals, passionate screams and fantastic riffage.
Shadow Of Intent - Primordial (Symphonic Deathcore) Shadow Of Intent - Reclaimer (Symphonic Deathcore)
The White Stripes - Elephant Genre: Alternative Rock; Garage Rock; Blues Rock; Punk Blues Great record overall. I love the instrumentation throughout the whole album, but the vocals could have been better and Meg White could have more singing parts. I found out they're no longer making music as a band, but that's a shame considering how good this album is.
Bring Me the Horizon - That's the Spirit Genre: Alternative rock Purity Ring - another eternity Genre: Electropop
Julie Byrne - Not Even Happiness Genre: Contemporary Folk Really liked her voice, the overall consistency of the album, the way she welcomed different sounds like the harmonica as well as the nature vibe in some songs with the sound of the waves. Very soothing, dark and beautiful at the same time. Never as dark as Chelsea Wolfe, but her voice embraces the listener and gets the listener going very well all the way through the album. Not too big of a replay value, unfortunately, but it's a record that almost never becomes boring. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights Genre: Folk; Singer-Songwriter This album is almost perfect. Her voice is one of the best among the folk and neofolk artists I've heard. I really enjoy the way she incorporates the piano into her music, which, combined with her amazing voice and the great strings arrangements all throughout, make this album one of the best 2017 albums, both instrumentally and vocally. I can't pick any flaw in this, but this is without looking at the lyrical content. There are highlights like the intro, the lead single, the songs Turn Out The Lights and Hurt Less, but even the deep cuts are very good. Alvvays - Antisocialites Genre: Indie Pop; Dream Pop One of the best albums of 2017, glad I gave it a listen. It's very colorful and has a great energy, having a great instrumentation all throughout with some sticky melodies. The vocals are very good as well because her voice sounds good despite not being too diverse. The flaws of this album are mostly related to slight errors in some songs in which either the vocals or the instruments are too loud in the whole mix, making it hard to focus on the song as a whole without paying more attention to the what is louder. Highlights are Dreams Tonite, Plimsoll Punks, Your Type, Not My Baby and Saved By A Waif. Wolf Alice - Visions Of A Life Genre: Alternative Rock; Noise Rock Not a brilliant record, but has some pretty good songs. I liked the vocals for the most part, but most of the lyrics were not that good. The rock vibe works well with her voice, but they could have worked better on the choruses to give the songs a bigger impact and probably sing the same way every time since when she tries to do different things she falls short. Some songs still stood out to me, like Yuk Foo for its energy, Beautifully Unconventional, Formidable Cool, Sadboy and St Purple and Green. The length of the album didn't help either. The best part of the album is the overall instrumentation, but it's not one to come back to many times. Feist - Pleasure Genre: Indie Pop; Folk; Baroque Pop She is very versatile in her singing, finding different ways to make the song stand out. The instrumentation is very varied in terms of the sounds she uses and the different paces during the same song. She can start a song in a more rock vibe, go to folk and and back to rock in the same song. The lyrics are good as well, dealing with themes like loneliness, secrets, shame, tenderness, rejection. The way she plays the guitar is quite good as well and the songs flow well, even though they could flow even better. The highlights are the quirky lead single Pleasure, I Wish I Didn't Miss You, Get Not High, Get Not Low, Lost Dreams, Any Party and Century.
Hi guys! I wanted to stop in and see what everyone has been listening to. I haven't been very caught up lately, I've never been as caught up as I was was when I was active haha. So! These are my albums of the day(s of the year): Circa Survive- The Amulet Pvris- All We know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell Shadow of Intent- Reclaimer Mastodon- Emperor of Sand Warbringer-Woe to the Vanquished Linkin Park- One More Light Royal Thunder- Wisk Goatwhore- Vengeful Ascension Aborted- Bathos Enslaved- E Bell Witch- Mirror Reaper Just stuff from this year. I'm still working on listening to other stuff from this year, but a couple albums and bands took over my Playlist.
Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare Genre: Indie Rock; Alternative Rock; Post-Punk Revival; Garage Rock Revival I really like this album. Good lyrics, awesome melodies that arevery crafty and catchy at the same time. Vocally really good as well. The only nitpick is the fact that this record is not as catchy as their latest AM. The garage rock vibe reminds me of The White Stripes, but Arctic Monkeys take it to the next level with a catchier sound, better production and better melodies than Jack White's band did. Another thing that helps this album's cause is the short duration. The highlights are Brianstorm, Fluorescent Adolescent, Old Yellow Bricks, Balaclava, Do Me A Favour and 505 I am curious for the upcoming Arctic Monkeys album, but I still have to listen to Whatever People Say I AM, That's What I'm Not at least, I'm thinking of skipping Humbug and Suck It and See. Radiohead - In Raibows Genre: Alternative Rock; Art Rock; Experimental Rock; Art Pop More of the same, except that this album sounds more quirky for the most part. The instrumentation is once again the clear standout because of the way Thom Yorke sings which hardly ever allows the listener to get the lyrics at first listen and, as a consequence of that, it becomes harder to connect to their songs other than just enjoying the way the instruments sound. In terms of instrumentation I think this album falls short to Kid A, Ok Computer and A Moon Shaped Pool while also dragging and getting and bit boring at times. For me the standout tracks are 15 Step, Faust Arp, Jigsaw Falling Into Place and Videotape.
Reclaimer is seriously one hell of an album! One of my favourites from last year, too. Ben Duerr (the vocalist) is a beast, not to forget their guitarist Chris Wiseman. He's also in the band Currents and his riffing simply rules. Wintersun - Wintersun 2.0 (Melodic Death Metal) Wintersun - Time 1.5 (Melodic Death Metal) Wintersun - The Forest Seasons (Melodic Death Metal)
Queens Of The Stone Age - Like Clockwork Genre: Alternative Rock; Hard Rock; Desert Rock; Stoner Rock; Art Rock I really appreciated how well written the lyrics are, being ironic and real at the same time because most of them speak of how Josh Homme felt after being in comatose after having gone through a surgery to his knee, how hard it was for him to get back to how he was before that near death experience (which he couldn't fully achieve) as he states he was dead and was given a second chance, although it feels like some pieces of what he was were lost. The lyrics are the most interesting part since the vocals always seem a bit lost in the sound, which makes it harder to connect to the music by the voice and some melodies and riffs fail to get stuck in my head. It's the same feeling I had when I listened to Villains. but Villains had a more pleasing sound from what I recall. No song shines more than the others, but none is horrible either, Fairweather Friendsand I Appear Missing seem the best, but not by far. Still, that undermines the replay factor. Overall an ok album, can't give it more than a 6/10. Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle Genre: Folk The lyrics are the strongest part of this album, exploring anxiety, pain, her relationship with God and religion, loneliness and addiction. I was impressed by how layered the lyrics were, most of the times with two possible interpretations. She explores her pain in a more despondent way in this record, but it ends up needing something more sonically, since it's mostly guitar and vocals with very little pianos, even though she combines these elements quite well, but even her vocals sound too shadowy and lost in the background most of the time. The standouts are Something, Rejoice and Everybody Does becaue while she keeps exploring her pain, anguish, loneliness and religion, she manages to make her voice shine. I also found this album very emotional and comforting, just like the sophomore album, but I feel like the sophomore did that while sounding more vibrant in most songs and with catchier melodies and lyrics as well as showing a glimpse of hope in her quite dark music that she didn't show on this debut album.
Circa Survive - On Letting Go (Rock/Post-Hardcore) Circa Survive - Violent Waves (Rock/Post-Hardcore) Fantastic band! I've only gotten into them recently, but they're already overtaking my playlists! Anthony's voice is so mesmerising. Felt kinda down the last few days and this helps me cope with it a little bit.
Wafia - VIII (EP) Genre: Indie pop / electropop EDEN - vertigo Genre: indie / alternative pop Of Mice & Men - Defy Genre: Metalcore / post-hardcore
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory EP Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Linkin Park - Meteora Linkin Park - One More Light Joji - Chloe Burbank Joji - In Tongues
Invent Animate - Everchanger (Progressive Metalcore) Invent Animate - Stillworld (Progressive Metalcore) One of my favourite bands atm. Reminds me of old Northlane.
Taylor Swift - Fearless Genre: Country Pop This album is much better than what I had thought at first listen. Not much of sing-along potential like in Soeak Now, 1989, Red or Reputation, but a lot of instrumental quality, variety and some true storytelling with lyrics which seem more genuine. Instrumentally not as good as Speak Now, 1989 or Red, but a great country pop album with some great drumming, melodies and even guitar solos. Vocally still not on point, though when considering how well her voice sounds in 1989 and the latest album. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold Genre: Indie Folk; Country Folk; Americana This is the best album I've heard from this Swedish duo with the vocal interplay sounding much better than on the previous effort The Lion's Roar, the melodies are much more consistent while the overall sound is a clear step up from that album with the strings sounding much better and the vocals are really crisp, the songs feel much more connected to each other and even if it's not that well built lyrically, it still has some pretty relatable lines. The replay factor is also higher on this record, but it could have been higher if it was catchier. Highlights are My Silver Lining, Master Pretender, Stay Gold, Cedar Lane, Fleeting One, Heaven Knows and the slow piano ballad A Long Time Ago.