Jump to content
  • entries
    131
  • comments
    178
  • views
    100,642

My Top 15 Albums of 2014, Part 1


Queen of Liars

547 views

15 - Once More 'Round the Sun by Mastodon

 

MastodonOMRtS_zps86298be4.jpg

 

A huge improvement over 2011's The Hunter, this album is a really fun trip through Mastodon's signature blend of progressive and stoner metal.

 

 

14 - Our Time Will Come by KMFDM

 

KMFDMOTWC_zps52f60181.jpg

 

Celebrating their 30th anniversary, KMFDM release a pretty big improvement over their last two rather average albums.

Fitting for the occasion, this album contains pretty much everything you would expect to see from KMFDM. There's the tongue in cheek satire and self-parody, and there's the songs dealing with more serious political issues, all delivered via both their signature fast paced industrial rock/metal that you can't help but nod your head along to, and slower, more personal tracks.

KMFDM are clearly showing that 30 years later, they have no intention to stop. A lot of the songwriting is as good as ever, with great use of electronics and instrumentation. Lyrically, there's lots of references to songs from previous albums, some deliberately silly songs like Genau - the lyrics to which are composed almost entirely of random German words which have found their way into English usage (schadenfreude, zeitgeist, blitzkrieg, etc) - but there's also serious songs with really well crafted lyrics and imagery such as Blood vs. Money.

It doesn't do anything new or groundbreaking, but given the occasion, it doesn't have to. This is just a really fun album to mark 30 years of the ultra heavy beat. While not reaching the heights of their 90's classics, it's right behind Blitz and Hau Ruck as one of their best post-reunion albums.

 

 

13 - Where Greater Men Have Fallen - Primordial

 

PrimordialWGMHF_zpsdbb927ce.jpg

 

A crushing and grandiose piece of folk metal, with influences from doom and black metal.

This album sounds absolutely colossal, with beautiful melodies and soaring vocals over heavy and tight instrumentation.

 

 

12 - Splinters by Vallenfyre

 

VallenfyreSplinters_zps5ec06597.jpg

 

This one's just relentlessly crushing, without the grandiose.

It's the second album from this death metal supergroup, formed back in 2010 by Paradise Lost's lead guitarist Greg Mackintosh to help him deal with his father's death. With such origins, the album is unsurprisingly dark and crushingly heavy, suffocating you with its bleak atmosphere.

Greg is one my favourite guitarists, and here he continues to display as to why. The songwriting on this thing is just fantastic. Vallenfyre know when to play at break-neck speeds and when to be methodically slow, all the while delivering excellent music.

 

 

11 - Ghouleh by Starofash

 

StarofashGhouleh_zps38527a35.jpg

 

A project recorded by Ihriel over the course of 2013, with one song written for each month, this is a great neoclassical darkwave/art pop journey.

Very varied and atmospheric, this is a fantastic album which is pretty hard for me to describe.

Listen to it on her official BandCamp

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...