And now for the hardest piece to write every year. As usual, I had lots to choose form and only 20 spaces to fill. Still, this is my opinion as it stands at time of writing…
20. Marianas Trench – Phantoms
Phantoms sees Marianas Trench taking what they have learned, and using that knowledge to explore a darker side of themselves. The theme? Being haunted by spirits of former lovers. The resulting album is arguably their most accessible piece of work to date, yet also holds a sinister quality, not typically seen within the bounds of so-called pop-rock.
19. Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind
On their sixth studio outing, Slipknots fiery anger is brought to the forefront. Sizzling yet nuanced, the piece is easily among their as-yet works. Whatsmore, the album takes risks, making for a kaleidoscopic yet harrowing experience. . ‘I haven’t felt like this in years’ Taylor admits at one point on the album. To fans who have stuck by the band for through thick and thin, the answer is a solemn yet determined: ‘we know’.
18. PUP – Morbid Stuff
Taking a comical look at depression can be a risk as well, but when done right, it can emphasise the maddening, absurd or even miserable aspects. Morbid Stuff achieves this excellently, taking the listener through the strange and outlandish aspects of feeling unimportant, and striving to entertain a positive message. True, it’s nihilistic, yet instead of dragging you to hell, it will simply make you gaze straight into its jaws, while unashamedly singing ‘I’ve been having some pretty dark thoughts, I don’t like them a lot’.
17. Artificial Language – Now We Sleep
Now We Sleep is embroiled in elusiveness and mystery. The timed discrepancies in songwriting behave towards the listener’s expectations, the same way you’d expect a fox to behave to a rabbit – with cunning and savageness. An artificial or constructed language is one which is consciously devised. Many people have termed music as a type of language, and while that’s a debate for another time, if true, it would be a language Artificial Language are fluent in. Poignantly, in conveying meaning and emotion the music here excels, in detailed and precise fashion
16. The Wildhearts – Renaissance Men
For the Wildhearts first album in ten years, this is an excellent record, bursting with vivacity. Perhaps the only thing which saddens me is how overlooked this band have always been and will continue to be. Still, to a small yet dedicated following, there is no band as beguiling and robust. I for one can say I’m proud to be a fan. Whatever lies ahead for them, I’m sure it will be remarkable. Arriba!
15. Moron Police – A Boat On The Sea
One thing I was not expecting was an epic album with influences from Jazz, prog and Disney Soundtracks. I mean that in just about the greatest way as well. Much like the exuberant art, the whole experience bursts with life and colour. Exaggerated though strangely contemplative, the album is packed with anti-war anthems – a long shot from their early ridiculousness. All these elements combined make for a record which ticks every box in my book
14. Saor – Forgotten Paths
Not often can you call albums so aggressive, beautiful. Still, with the furrows of melody which spill from every second of Forgotten Paths you forget the genre and become transported to stunning rolling landscapes, and natural magnificence. The detail which Saor pour into each visceral moment, requires you to occasionally take pause to contemplate everything you are hearing. Taken on the surface, you could describe the project as Black Folk Metal. Delve beneath the depths though, and you witness a world of influences, both musical and natural, with a primitive nature as a vessel to carry strong emotions.
13. Holding Absence – Holding Absence
Perhaps one of the greatest alt rock albums of the year, Holding Absence pack so much energy and vigour into their debut that you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d been around for years and knew the tricks of their trade of by heart. In doing so, the album embraces darkness and becomes truly relatable as a consequence. As well as being a record which will appeal to long-time fans of the alternative genre, it also has the potential to transcend those boundaries.
12. No Man – Love You To Bits
Here’s an oddity for me, a trip-hop, disco, synth album, on a year-end list. In describing the record, Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson have called it “The least progressive thing we’ve ever done in terms of the music but the most progressive thing we’ve ever done in terms of capturing the spirit of what that music did’. He’s not wrong in that analysis. The throbbing beats, changeable melodic phrases and elusive dances which compose Love You to Bits, embody the revolutionary nature of early dance acts, while still being a unique creation by a modern act.
11. Leprous – Pitfalls
With their venture into more electronic, minimalist, experimental waters, Leprous have created one of their most unique albums yet. The entire experience is carried by contrast, quiet becomes fierce, mumbles become wales, a lone violin becomes a dramatic string section. Perhaps the most glaring of those contrasts though comes in your – or at least my – experience of the album, in which even the moments I initially drew away from, slowly yet surely enticed me, until I was fully under the albums aura.
10. Tool – Fear Inoculum
Can Fear Inoculum live up to expectations? The answer to that question has to be ‘No’. Considering all the hype across those thirteen years, of course expectations are not met. Can Fear Inoculum stand on its own as a great record? Absolutely! Everything here sounds like Tool, yet the album differentiates itself through the hypnotic, cerebral and entrancing elements which don’t so much as present you with a glorious painting to marvel over as they do give you a puzzle to take time with and piece together. Do not expect to be enraptured on first listen. Here’s a piece which rewards for your patience.
9. La Dispute – Panorama
Severely direct and relatable, Panorama is not an easy record to listen to, purely for the reason that we have all been in a situation where we have felt alienated from another’s anguish. If you love someone and they hurt themselves, or you care for someone and they hurt you, that emotional weight can be paralyzing, even if it appears pale in comparison with the actual pain of your loved one. To hear that feeling captured so precisely, in musical form, serves as a deeply emotional yet tumultuous experience.
8. The National – I Am Easy To Find
Scouring the National’s discography in recent weeks has been a journey, especially in seeing the way that they have evolved from outsiders to outsiders reinventing rock and pop music. The gatekeepers of arts would reserve the term immersive for paid experiences which charge you at the door, for short term exhilaration. Still, in making music which flutters and flurries through your senses like a butterfly caught inside a dream, and making an accompanying film, the Ohio innovators have created a piece which not only immerses yet submerses you in beauty.
7. Chelsea Wolfe – Birth Of Violence
Chelsea Joy Wolfe makes mercurial textures of moroseness. I can’t say much beyond once more remarking on the delicate way Chelsea Wolfe knits pain into a mesmeric sort of beauty. You often hear the adage that depressing music can often be the most uplifting or moving. Birth of Violence performs that balancing act with absolute precision, despite being another great reinvention, in a career imbued with exquisite sadness
6. Opeth – In Cauda Venenum
I don’t care how much Mikhail decides to growl or how closely he works with Steven Wilson, Opeth to me will always be one of the finest, skilled and brilliant acts in modern music. In Cauda Venenum rejoices in being dramatic and taking on a surreal, hypnotic quality, which continues to prove their penchant for evolution, even today. Rarely do you see an alum which simultaneously rivals and matches past triumphs, yet ‘the sting in the tail’ defies even the expectations these musicians set for themselves.
5. Baroness – Gold And Grey
Cascading influences from folk to experimental, debates will continue to rage about whether or not Gold and Grey truly earns the mantle of greatest Baroness album – though no one can deny its uniqueness in the acts already quite mottled catalogue. The songwriting is powerful, the playing immense and while some may have gripes over the production – to me the choice solidifies the idea of this being a truly magnificent piece in modern music
4. Cellar Darling – The Spell
Tell me, dear reader, do you believe in sorcery? How about after hearing The Spell? Capturing in vivid, enchanting, and mystical detail, the ritualistic concepts they experiment with, you feel a subtle hypnosis overtaking you as you listen. Many of the sounds are reminiscent of Celtic folk or indeed early metal, yet the fervour with which they combine those concepts proves truly enthralling, even though all the melodies, all the up’s and downs, all the mysterious lyricism, it always proves a journey worth taking.
3. Thank You Scientist – Terraformer
There are many variations on progressive rock. However, a gross oversimplification would be that there are two types: The prog which is accessible and influenced by easier to broach music, and the prog which is difficult, and inspired by Jazz or Classical. Plenty of acts don’t fit into that analogy and plenty have brought those influences together in the past. However, by committing to the idea so wholeheartedly, Thank You, Scientist, have established themselves as one of the finest acts in the modern prog movement.
2. Nick Cave – Ghosteen
Beautifully sad, yet brilliantly thoughtful, Ghosteen is a gorgeous reflection on tragedy that speaks to the enduring genius of Cave so many years into his career, while making us reflect on our own relationship with grief and loss. Lyrics rise and fall like crests of waves, while instrumentation retains a sparse yet incredibly expressive feel. Even in his finest moments our frontman has never sounded so honest, poetic and graceful.
1. Devin Townsend – Empath
Enthralling, multifarious and brilliant, Empath combines Devin’s influences with precision and mastery. The cleverness with which our crazy frontman commands ideas from extreme metal, to pop, to musical theatre, to animal noises is truly a sound to behold. Moreso, the message of finding empathy in a world of cruelty and division, proves poignant and strongly carried. As well as being my album of the year, this may also be Townsend’s crowning achievement! ‘There’s a sign on the borderlands, it says shine like a galaxy and woe to those who fear this!’
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