Entry posted by Queen of Liars
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Before I do my top albums list, I thought I'd give a quick mention to some albums that didn't quite make it, but still deserve to be recognised:
Kveikur by Sigur Rós - A beautiful post-rock album with hints of dream-pop and a rather dark and foreboding atmosphere which makes for a pretty interesting listen.
Sunbather by Deafheaven - A fantastic cross between shoegaze and black metal that pulls you in and doesn't let go until the album ends.
Seesaw by Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - The second collaboration by these two, and between Hart's soulful voice and Bonamassa's fantastic guitar playing, it makes for a great blues rock album.
Pain Is Beauty by Chelsea Wolfe - A fitting title for this dark and atmospheric journey through quite a mixture of genres.
Quartoze Pièces de Menace by Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones - A very interesting combination of dark jazz and drone. It is beautifully composed, but carries with it a sense of foreboding doom.
Colored Sands by Gorguts - A fantastic technical death metal record that is crushingly heavy, but maintaining a powerful atmosphere. The instrumentation is wonderfully complex and sounds absolutely colossal.
Echogenetic by Front Line Assembly - When this album was announced it seemed that a lot of fans were getting hyped over the band choosing to not use guitars on it, which seems like a strange thing to get hyped over to me. Besides, I actually thought that the sparing use of guitars greatly contributed to Artificial Soldier and Improvised Electronic Device being the best FLA albums since Implode. But coming back to Echogenetic, yes, the band ditched the guitars in favour of looking a bit into dubstep. They're not the first industrial act to do so, but I'd say that they pulled it off rather well. However, I do think that the album starts to feel like the band are trying to repeat their older stuff a bit, and it's definitely weaker than the previous two records (three if you count the AirMech soundtrack). Despite that, it's still a very solid and extremely enjoyable album by one of the greatest industrial bands.
Old Mornings Dawn by Summoning - A fantastic atmospheric black metal album, thematically and lyrically inspired by Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Do I need to say more?
One of Us Is the Killer by The Dillinger Escape Plan - A great chaotic and abrasive mathcore album. Perhaps a bit more accessible than the band's other work, this record is still a behemoth that beats you down without mercy. As usual, some excellent playing and vocals are to be found here.
Marriage of Metals by Daniel Menche - One of two albums released by Menche this year, Marriage of Metals experiments with drone music by fusing it with Gamelan gong instruments, which results in a very atmospheric and mesmerising experience.
IV by earthtone9 - earthtone9 return with their first album in 13 years, and they pick up right where they left off with arc'tan'gent. The band's unique blend of progressive metal, alternative metal and post-hardcore provides for a fantastic album with very tight playing and some great riffs.
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