Albums of the year so far?

3. House of Balloons--The Weeknd

Endlessly brooding, the album feels like a bottomless pit of a dark night of all the world's vices. It's an album you don't want to listen to with anyone else in the room. It's also as inventive as any R & B album in many years, and it interestingly gave way to a creative surge in my own writing.

1. Within Temptation - The Unforgiven

2. Stream of Passion - Darker Days

3. Pain - You Only Live Twice

Well, definitely NOT FUCKING KING OF LIMBS.

Revocation - Chaos of Forms

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events

 Most memorable ones for me so far must be 
Protest the hero - scurrilous 
Scar symmetry - The Unseen Empire  
the above mentioned Symphony X album 
 
Was also really impressed with the nex Xerath, Pagan's mind, Tesseract and scale the summit!
 
 
And looking forward to the new redemption and Mastodon.
 
@AhmadMetallic said:

@SMTDante89 said:

I really enjoyed Symphony X's new album Iconoclast. With new Anthrax and Dream Theater albums hitting this week (on my Birthday, no less) I think I'll have two more strong contenders for my album of the year.

Opeth in 2 days, too.

Devin Townsend-Deconstruction(I have to admit i wasn't really able to get into Ghost)

Times of Grace- The Hymn of a Broken Man

All Shall Perish- This is Where it Ends

really looking forward Machine Head's latest and to a lesser extent Mastodon's not really sure how it's going to turn out

Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 is amazing. Bon Iver is pretty good as well. The King is Dead by The Decemberists is also good.

I'm also extremely fond of The King of Limbs by Radiohead.

Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
Thrice - Major/Minor
The Dangerous Summer- War Paint
Thursday - No Devolución
The Horrible Crowes - Elsie 
Alkaline Trio - Damnesia 
Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room - Hurricane Season 
Bayside - Killing Time 
Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel 

The new VNV Nation album is out next week, right?
Not heard anything from it, but It's my pick. Those guys can do no wrong!

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Timing: @Th3_James: It's not out yet though o.O Amazon says they're dispatching it on the 19th!

Well it got leaked and I can't wait that long. I pre-ordered the Vinyl from Amazon, but who knows how long that will take to get here. Either way, I don't feel bad about pirating it pre release. I am still getting it, just when it releases.

Thursday - No Devolucion

The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

dredg - Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy

Rise Against - Endgame

@Th3_James said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Timing: @Th3_James: It's not out yet though o.O Amazon says they're dispatching it on the 19th!

Well it got leaked and I can't wait that long. I pre-ordered the Vinyl from Amazon, but who knows how long that will take to get here. Either way, I don't feel bad about pirating it pre release. I am still getting it, just when it releases.

Oh I see.. I used to be quite the active fileshare user but then i got a job and no longer frequent those fileshare websites.. Being able to just buy shit feels really good! Anyway my point is that I haven't been frequenting those websites so I didn't know.

So what's your verdict? Opeth is my all time favorite band, their greatest albums IMO are Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse and Ghost Reveries because of their long bitter extremely emotional and sorrowful songs with deep meaningful words and themes and of course, most importantly, amazing progressive distorted guitar pieces. However i fully welcome and love their "clean" albums, and Still Life (their grooviest jazz-ish album). Watershed also is great to me because it fused harsh distorted Opeth with clean dreamy Opeth seamlessly..

When i listened to The Devil's Orchard i was weirded out at first, but thought that i love and believe in Akerfeldt so much that i'm sure whatever he decides to do and write, he'll give us musical genius. I have faith in Heritage and think that I'm going to enjoy it, regardless of the lack of progressive metal in it. I have enough metal Opeth to last me a decade!

as a metal listener , so far this is the best album of the year for metal community  
 
The Great Mass 
 
and this is my favorite song from this godsend album 
 
  

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Th3_James said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Timing: @Th3_James: It's not out yet though o.O Amazon says they're dispatching it on the 19th!

Well it got leaked and I can't wait that long. I pre-ordered the Vinyl from Amazon, but who knows how long that will take to get here. Either way, I don't feel bad about pirating it pre release. I am still getting it, just when it releases.

Oh I see.. I used to be quite the active fileshare user but then i got a job and no longer frequent those fileshare websites.. Being able to just buy shit feels really good! Anyway my point is that I haven't been frequenting those websites so I didn't know.

So what's your verdict? Opeth is my all time favorite band, their greatest albums IMO are Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse and Ghost Reveries because of their long bitter extremely emotional and sorrowful songs with deep meaningful words and themes and of course, most importantly, amazing progressive distorted guitar pieces. However i fully welcome and love their "clean" albums, and Still Life (their grooviest jazz-ish album). Watershed also is great to me because it fused harsh distorted Opeth with clean dreamy Opeth seamlessly..

When i listened to The Devil's Orchard i was weirded out at first, but thought that i love and believe in Akerfeldt so much that i'm sure whatever he decides to do and write, he'll give us musical genius. I have faith in Heritage and think that I'm going to enjoy it, regardless of the lack of progressive metal in it. I have enough metal Opeth to last me a decade!

Heritage is streaming in NPR Music in it's entirety. Just listened to it and I'm digging it quite a bit. It very much sounds like Opeth, but proggier and without the metal. I need to listen to it some more to really let it sink in, though.

@BulletproofMonk said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Th3_James said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Timing: @Th3_James: It's not out yet though o.O Amazon says they're dispatching it on the 19th!

Well it got leaked and I can't wait that long. I pre-ordered the Vinyl from Amazon, but who knows how long that will take to get here. Either way, I don't feel bad about pirating it pre release. I am still getting it, just when it releases.

Oh I see.. I used to be quite the active fileshare user but then i got a job and no longer frequent those fileshare websites.. Being able to just buy shit feels really good! Anyway my point is that I haven't been frequenting those websites so I didn't know.

So what's your verdict? Opeth is my all time favorite band, their greatest albums IMO are Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse and Ghost Reveries because of their long bitter extremely emotional and sorrowful songs with deep meaningful words and themes and of course, most importantly, amazing progressive distorted guitar pieces. However i fully welcome and love their "clean" albums, and Still Life (their grooviest jazz-ish album). Watershed also is great to me because it fused harsh distorted Opeth with clean dreamy Opeth seamlessly..

When i listened to The Devil's Orchard i was weirded out at first, but thought that i love and believe in Akerfeldt so much that i'm sure whatever he decides to do and write, he'll give us musical genius. I have faith in Heritage and think that I'm going to enjoy it, regardless of the lack of progressive metal in it. I have enough metal Opeth to last me a decade!

Heritage is streaming in NPR Music in it's entirety. Just listened to it and I'm digging it quite a bit. It very much sounds like Opeth, but proggier and without the metal. I need to listen to it some more to really let it sink in, though.

Well my copy is gonna take ages to get here so i guess i'll grab the torrent for now

@AhmadMetallic: Really can't wait for Heritage, definitely gunna be the album of the year for me :P Before that I only really got Trivium - In Waves. Also waiting on Infected Mushroom's new album. 
 

@SMTDante89 said: 

I really enjoyed Symphony X's new album Iconoclast. With new Anthrax and Dream Theater albums hitting this week (on my Birthday, no less) I think I'll have two more strong contenders for my album of the year.

Dream Theater without Portnoy is no Dream Theater to me.

@Chavtheworld said: 

@AhmadMetallic: Really can't wait for Heritage, definitely gunna be the album of the year for me :P Before that I only really got Trivium - In Waves. Also waiting on Infected Mushroom's new album. 
 

@SMTDante89 said: 

I really enjoyed Symphony X's new album Iconoclast. With new Anthrax and Dream Theater albums hitting this week (on my Birthday, no less) I think I'll have two more strong contenders for my album of the year.

Dream Theater without Portnoy is no Dream Theater to me.

That DT album is the same thing we've heard a thousand times. Proggy masturbatory (with a little more direct approach) rock with James Labrie's vagina voice. 

 The Opeth album on the other hand... wow... Just wow... It is just amazing. A real masterpiece. People who don't like that album don't know SHIT about music. It's not metal anymore but damn my soul if it isn't a good album.

Yo dudes.. the new Dream Theater album is amazing! Better than the last few imo.

Fuck Portnoy.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Portnoy was Dream Theater

No, he wasn't. He was a part of Dream Theater.

@BulletproofMonk said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

Portnoy was Dream Theater

No, he wasn't. He was a part of Dream Theater.

Exactly, a new drummer has freshened it up quite a bit! There's still kick-ass Petrucci solo's, amazing Rudess melodies, heavy LaBrie vocals and chill Myung beats. Also Mangini is so awesome.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Th3_James said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Timing: @Th3_James: It's not out yet though o.O Amazon says they're dispatching it on the 19th!

Well it got leaked and I can't wait that long. I pre-ordered the Vinyl from Amazon, but who knows how long that will take to get here. Either way, I don't feel bad about pirating it pre release. I am still getting it, just when it releases.

Oh I see.. I used to be quite the active fileshare user but then i got a job and no longer frequent those fileshare websites.. Being able to just buy shit feels really good! Anyway my point is that I haven't been frequenting those websites so I didn't know.

So what's your verdict? Opeth is my all time favorite band, their greatest albums IMO are Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse and Ghost Reveries because of their long bitter extremely emotional and sorrowful songs with deep meaningful words and themes and of course, most importantly, amazing progressive distorted guitar pieces. However i fully welcome and love their "clean" albums, and Still Life (their grooviest jazz-ish album). Watershed also is great to me because it fused harsh distorted Opeth with clean dreamy Opeth seamlessly..

When i listened to The Devil's Orchard i was weirded out at first, but thought that i love and believe in Akerfeldt so much that i'm sure whatever he decides to do and write, he'll give us musical genius. I have faith in Heritage and think that I'm going to enjoy it, regardless of the lack of progressive metal in it. I have enough metal Opeth to last me a decade!

I also work full time, I just made a point of checking the usual places periodically because I really couldn't wait to hear what Heritage was. I listen to Opeth quite a bit, some days I just decide to listen to their discography start to finish... Takes a hell of a long time, but I enjoy every second of it. Other days I will just get really into a certain Opeth album or song and have it looped for several hours; Black Rose Immortal, Still Life, Ghost Reveries, ect.

Opeth is my favorite band. I love all their albums, and I really like Heritage.... just not to the same degree as their other releases. That said, it's still a great piece of music and it grew on me around the 7th listen.

It's certainly different.....It's no damnation. I can't articulate what I feel about this album fully because I have to leave and I am just quickly typing this out.

So, listen to it, than PM me. I want to hear your thoughts on it.

Top five for me are...

1. The Horrors, Skying
2. Fair To Midland, Arrows and Anchors
3. Radiohead, The King of Limbs
4. The Antlers, Burst Apart
5. Grifta, Lost Tapes

@BulletproofMonk said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

Portnoy was Dream Theater

No, he wasn't. He was a part of Dream Theater.

Exactly, a new drummer has freshened it up quite a bit! There's still kick-ass Petrucci solo's, amazing Rudess melodies, heavy LaBrie vocals and chill Myung beats. Also Mangini is so awesome.

@Deusx said:

 The Opeth album on the other hand... wow... Just wow... It is just amazing. A real masterpiece. People who don't like that album don't know SHIT about music. It's not metal anymore but damn my soul if it isn't a good album.

Don't say that. "Heritage is not a metal album" = yay, "It's not metal anymore" = nay. Metal will return, I will not live in a world where Opeth no longer releases progressive metal (however i fully endorse experimental non-metal albums such as Heritage)

@Deusx said: 

@Chavtheworld said: 

@AhmadMetallic: Really can't wait for Heritage, definitely gunna be the album of the year for me :P Before that I only really got Trivium - In Waves. Also waiting on Infected Mushroom's new album. 
 

@SMTDante89 said: 

I really enjoyed Symphony X's new album Iconoclast. With new Anthrax and Dream Theater albums hitting this week (on my Birthday, no less) I think I'll have two more strong contenders for my album of the year.

Dream Theater without Portnoy is no Dream Theater to me.

That DT album is the same thing we've heard a thousand times. Proggy masturbatory (with a little more direct approach) rock with James Labrie's vagina voice. 

I find that hard to believe. Portnoy was Dream Theater, he is the progression and the lyrics, the feels and the amazing guitars and tasty drumming up the ass, I doubt the new album (WHICH FOR SOME ODD REASON I HAVEN'T LISTENED TO YET) sounds the same as the previous albums. 
  

@Deusx said:

 The Opeth album on the other hand... wow... Just wow... It is just amazing. A real masterpiece. People who don't like that album don't know SHIT about music. It's not metal anymore but damn my soul if it isn't a good album.

Don't say that. "Heritage is not a metal album" = yay, "It's not metal anymore" = nay. Metal will return, I will not live in a world where Opeth no longer releases progressive metal (however i fully endorse experimental non-metal albums such as Heritage)

Born This Way

My personal top albums for the year thusfar are, in no particular order:

• Build A Rocket Boys! (Elbow)
• Peace City West (Steve Cradock)
• Psycho Jukebox (Jon Fratelli)
• Perfect Darkness (Fink)

I'm also really psyched for Kasabian's fourth album, Velociraptor!, which releases on Friday.

@Axxol said:

@DrPockets000 said:

3. House of Balloons--The Weeknd

Endlessly brooding, the album feels like a bottomless pit of a dark night of all the world's vices. It's an album you don't want to listen to with anyone else in the room. It's also as inventive as any R & B album in many years, and it interestingly gave way to a creative surge in my own writing.

What did you think about his album Thursday? I thought House of Balloons was better, but their both good.

I agree, House of Balloons was a little better. It was darker.

I'm no music aficionado, but I really am enjoying Hella's new album, Tripper. It came out at the end of August.

The Antler's 'Burst Apart' really sticks out as a winner for me, but SBTRKT's debut is up there too. As well as St Vincent's 'Strange Mercy'. I'll list my top thirty or so in no order: 
 
Destroyer - Kaputt
SBTRKT - SBTRKT  
The Antlers - Burst Apart
John Maus -  We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves
Bon Iver - Bon Iver  
How to Dress Well - Love Remains
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Metronomy - The English Riviera
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic 
Battles - Gloss Drop
Beirut - The Rip Tide
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Panda Bear  - Tomboy
Dananananaykroyd - There is a Way
Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for my Halo
Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Alex Turner - Submarine EP
tUnE-yArDs - W H O K I L L
Fucked Up  - David Comes to Life
Gill Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're New Here
Active Child - You Are All I See
WU LYF  - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
James Blake - James Blake
Times New Viking - Dancer Equired!
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
St Vincent - Strange Mercy 

And I'll predict now that Los Campesinos!'s new album is bound to be a favourite for me come November.

James Blake- James Blake, and Toro y Moi's EP, "Freaking Out".

Mastodon's The Hunter & Machine Head's Unto The Locust will be my picks of the year based on the newly released tracks from both and their track record.

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction / Ghost

Edguy - Age of the Joker

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Demonaz - March of the Norse

Can't really remember many more, but it's been a pretty great year so far.

Wasting light was probably my favorite

i don't think i bought any music this year. the only albums were bought last year.

I honestly haven't fallen in love with any new albums this year... I gave Bon Iver, Tune Yards, Beirut and Panda Bear's albums a fair chance; I liked them all (I even consider Tune-Yards a new favorite act of mine), but I didn't really love any of them.

I was especially disappointed with The Ripe Tide, since I really loved Zach Condon's earlier work. I really liked it, but there's just not as much meat on its bones as something like The Flying Club Cup.

I would have to say that my album of the year so far would be The Haunted's Unseen. Which is odd because it is way more mellow than their earlier material.. Really impressed with Dolving's vocals. The lyrics still sound like The Haunted, even with these ridicouls catchy songs.

Had to get a sneak peak of Opeth album as well, but still too early to give my verdict. Not turned off by the prog stuff for sure. Also got introduced to Beardfish with comparisons on this new Opeth album. But also too early to say anything about that.

Couple other of my old favourite bands released a new album this year as well. Amon Amarth and Amorphis. Surture Rising is decent enough, really falling on the melodic death metal variant of AC/DC nowadays. Amorphis on the other hand was dissapointing. Really don't care for the clean vocal/piano combo.

Been listening to St Vincent's Strange Mercy, and I have to say, what a brilliant album, definitely her best.

@HisDudeness said:

Been listening to St Vincent's Strange Mercy, and I have to say, what a brilliant album, definitely her best.

100% agree, was really thrown aback by it. Completely missed everything about her in between album semi reinvention and it is absolutely stunning to listen to.

God I love this year.

I can't think of any names of any albums, apart from Rise Against's Endgame. If Rammstein get their next album out this year then the award for my album of the year will undoubtedly go to one of the two.

Endgame by Rise Against is my favorite of the year so far. It's kind of hard not to pick that album after seeing them play the songs live.

so far i'v really liked...

Thursdays- No Devolution

Fucked Up- David Comes To Life

Glassjaw- Colouring Book EP

And So I Watch You From Afar- Gangs

Tyler, The Creator- Goblin

Trap Them- Darker Handcraft

Frank Turner- England Take My Bones

TRC- Brightlights

Maybeshewill- I Was There For A Moment, Then I Was Gone

Talons- Hollow Realm

iv only heard 2 tracks from it so far, but i can tell im going to fucking love Distraction Pieces by Scroobious Pip, i think thats due out next week, fuck yeah!

The Bastion Soundtrack

Been listening to St Vincent's Strange Mercy, and I have to say, what a brilliant album, definitely her best.

Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing

Great video for 'Love The Way You Walk Away' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UK2nIsflQA

subpop's stream of the whole album http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmoZ8CaftWk

Bon Iver

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

I just got the new Anthrax and Alice Cooper albums but haven't listened to them yet.

So far for me it's Michael Monroe's album Sensory Overdrive. The album rocks from beginning till the end(of coarse the song with Lucinda Williams is somewhat out of place) other than that it ROCKS! I can't get into the new InFlames album. The remastered DEATH albums are awesome. The new Bobaflex album is actually pretty good.

So far for me it's Michael Monroe's Sensory Overdrive!

Waiting for the new Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, Megadeth 13, the strange collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, Mastadon, and a new VAIN album!

@BlastProcessing said:

420 posts every1 take a RIP!