What Was the Last Album You Listened to?

[Blastcage]

Shinedown's new album, Threat to Survival. I highly recommend it! It's a solid album and they experimented a bit with this one. If you're a Shinedown fan, you'll most likely love it. If you're new to Shinedown, it's worth a listen.

[Queen of Liars]

The Battle of Being by Outside the Coma.

 

It's the new band from Mikee Goodman (known for SikTh and Primal Rock Rebellion), and it might actually be my album of the year. Though it will definitely take a few more listens to actually understand what this album is. The band are clearly not on speaking terms with musical convention, and thus the album is quite unlike anything else. I guess SikTh would be the closest point of comparison, but it's on a whole different level of experimental and insane. I absolutely love it.

 

[Bambi]

Human Delusion by Walking Corpse Syndrome. Not as good as I was hoping it'd be, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

 

[Queen of Liars]

IX - Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends by Shining. This being the Swedish black metal band, not the Norwegian avant-garde metal/jazz fusion band of the same name whom I mentioned earlier, and who also have an album coming out this year.

 

The general reception of the album seems to have been a bit lukewarm, but I liked it quite a lot. It's a very atmospheric album, with some really nice instrumentation. A lot of it isn't even black metal, which I suspect may be part of the reason for the muted reception. There's some progressive metal here and there, but in particular I noticed quite a lot of dark folk undertones. The third track especially really reminded me of Ulver's Kveldssanger, which is definitely a good thing.

It's quite nice the way it completely abandons the sinister black metal of the previous track, goes through this lovely mix of dark folk and prog metal, and then transitions back into the black metal on the next track. And then it kinda does the same thing again with the fifth track. When looking at the album's songs individually, it almost feels like the third and fifth songs came from a completely different album, but when listening to the whole thing, it flows very well and doesn't feel jarring at all. I really love how they managed to achieve this feeling of cohesion with it.

 

Anyway, I'll spare the black metal and link that great third track:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWYIJCu5FT0

[Bambi]

Demanufacture by Fear Factory. Fantstic album.

 

[Queen of Liars]

Archivist by Archivist. An excellent blackgaze album, very much in the style of Deafheaven's Sunbather, but with more than enough of its own flavour. Very atmospheric, with some great instrumentation, and interesting lyrical themes, it being a concept album about space.

 

It's free on their Bandcamp. Go get it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS1xCUXpOMU

[Laughing Man]

started my week-long relisten of seven of Katatonia's albums with 1998's Discouraged Ones last night.

 

it's their third album, and their first foray into a more melodic doom/gothic metal style (or "depressive rock", as they aptly term it) after dropping the harsh vocals and black/death metal elements from their sound. it's incredibly basic compared to their more recent material (not a hint of the prog influence present on their past couple albums to be found) but also works to be, in my opinion, their most relentlessly bleak and depressing album to date. if the albums after it could be characterized as "melancholic", Discouraged Ones is probably best described as "downright suicidal".

 

it's an album where the imperfections actually enhance the music more than detract from it. the overly-simplistic and repetitive drumming lends to the atmosphere of doom and hopelessness that the album projects, while Jonas's unrefined, occasionally off-key vocals come across with more of a sense of raw emotion and desperation than simply being amateurish.

 

I'd also venture to say that of all their albums, it has the most overt influence from old-school gothic rock and post-punk. the tendency to emphasize steady, repetitive drumbeats is a hallmark of bands such as Joy Division, while Jonas's vocals at times sound reminiscent of The Cure's Robert Smith.

 

overall, even though it's not one of their most mature or creative albums, it's definitely one of my favorites and holds a special place in their discography.

 

I'll link to "Saw You Drown", which is probably the most well-known song from the album and a good indication of its style and atmosphere:

 

Edited October 12, 2015 by Scythey

[Queen of Liars]

Fantasy Empire by Lightning Bolt. Some pretty bloody great noise rock/math rock, filled with excellent instrumentation. I really love the feeling the production gives it, with this layer of noise and muted vocals over top of the band just rocking out with great riffs and drumming.

 

Edited October 13, 2015 by Emilie Autumn

[Bambi]

The Impossibility of Reason by Chimaira. One of my favorite albums of all time, and the beginning of a brilliant three-album streak.

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by Bambi

[Queen of Liars]

Finally got around to Ordeal by Skepticism. It's the first album from these funeral doom metal legends since 2008, and it does not disappoint. It's an excellent album of slow-paced heaviness, beauty and melancholy. It's quite a long album, but it doesn't drag and contains some fantastic compositions. It's a very nice album to just get lost in with a cup of tea for 80 minutes.

Interestingly enough, they chose to record it in front of a live audience instead of in a studio, which does give it a bit of a unique feeling.

 

[Nescent]

Just finished Anomaly: The Collection by Liquid Stranger featuring various vocalists.

[Bambi]

Got around to listening to The Book of Souls. Really good album, one of my favorites this year.

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by Bambi

[Queen of Liars]

Been listening to a lot of International Blackjazz Society by Shining (the Norwegian one this time).

 

Love it. Definitely a contender for album of the year. It's not nearly as good as Blackjazz, but I might actually prefer it over their previous one, One One One.

IBS is actually kind of a mid-point between those two albums. It's not as avant-garde and crazy as Blackjazz, but it's also less straightforward than One One One. I would still prefer the full on experimental insanity of the former, but this is a nice balance. There's some pretty catchy songs like The Last Stand, but they're still heavy and have some more eccentric parts, and then there's songs like my favourite one from this, House of Warship, which is just a complete mess in the best possible way. It's an instrumental track, built around the frontman Jørgen Munkeby going crazy on the saxophone. Any time Jørgen Munkeby goes crazy on the saxophone is a good time, and there's plenty of it to be had on this album.

 

[Nescent]

Nigel Good's "Space Cadet."

[Bambi]

Listened to Mechanize by Fear Factory yet again. If they've got any more albums left in them, I hope at least one can be this good.

 

[Grungemeister]

I was listening to R Plus Seven by Oneohtrix Point Never last night.

[Nescent]

Cryogenic Encounters by Liquid Stranger, a calming album with a lot of personal memories.

[Blastcage]

Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album. Specifically the song "Critical Acclaim". One of my favorites by them.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Kill the Flaw- Sevendust.

 

My vote for album of the year goes to either that one or Underworld by Symphony X. Both are just very strong releases.

[Laughing Man]

Kill the Flaw- Sevendust.

 

My vote for album of the year goes to either that one or Underworld by Symphony X. Both are just very strong releases.

 

really killer album right there. not one of my contenders for AotY but definitely a really good release.

 

 

 

last album I listened to was Lateralus by Tool. have kind of mixed feelings on Tool overall (due in no small part to their obnoxious fanbase) but this and Ænima are both really good albums when you're in the right mood for them.

[Queen of Liars]

The Dreaming I by Akhlys. A very dark and heavy black metal album, which will likely end up among my favourites of the year.

 

The cover art is strikingly similar to Behemoth's The Satanist, and that's not where I would end that comparison. Musically it's fairly different for the most part, but both albums carry this real sense of grandeur and dark atmosphere through these huge sounding compositions, and it's pretty obvious that Akhlys took at least some cues from Behemoth. I don't think this is as good as The Satanist, but it's still an excellent album, and it mostly does its own thing anyway.

 

Edited November 7, 2015 by Emilie Autumn

[Laughing Man]

Maladroit by Weezer.

 

definitely their most underrated and overlooked album, and also a different one for them. it continues on with the slicker production and more generic/impersonal lyrical style of The Green Album, but in a way it's to that album what Pinkerton was to The Blue Album - looser, louder, and a bit more rough around the edges. in fact, although the songwriting isn't as strong, I'd say it's even slightly harder-edged than Pinkerton was. the band's alt-rock/power-pop style is still present at the core but most of the songs have heavier riffs that border on hard rock or alternative metal.

 

the album still has problems, mostly in the lyrical department, and while it doesn't reach the heights of their masterpiece first two albums, it's a marked improvement over The Green Album and probably the last consistently good album they would release until Everything Will Be Alright in the End twelve years later. unfortunately, it didn't sell very well and to this day is an album that a lot of people tend to forget even exists. most Weezer fans, however, seem to agree that it's a diamond in the rough that deserves way more credit than it's ever gotten. it's personally my fourth-favorite album in their discography and, in my opinion, one of their best.

 

I'll link "Take Control", which is a perfect example of the album's rougher style and one of the "heaviest" (by Weezer standards) songs the band has ever recorded:

 

Edited November 7, 2015 by Scythey

[Blastcage]

Avengers Assemble...song: I'm Alive, by Shinedown.

[Queen of Liars]

Verisäkeet by Moonsorrow. Long overdue, considering Kivenkantaja is one of my favourite albums, but somehow only ever ended up going through one other of the band's albums for whatever reason. Oh well, I'm doing it now.

 

Pretty much as expected, Verisäkeet is almost as amazing as Kivenkantaja. Stunningly beautiful folk/viking/black metal delivered through incredible compositions and atmosphere. Fantastic riffs, well implemented folk instrumentation, long and winding song structures, beautiful melodies, crushing heaviness... Not much else to ask for.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc2xMaWcJn4

[Laughing Man]

re-listened to Abandon All Life by Nails. I've heard it probably a hundred times now, since it's not exactly a difficult album to sit through, time-wise - 10 tracks, 17 minutes of pure unrelenting powerviolence brutality. to this day it's still one of the most crushingly heavy albums I've ever heard - that is, when it's not just tearing you limb from limb at 250 BPM.

 

I'm not going to bother linking a song, because chances are nobody here who hasn't heard it already will be interested, and on the off chance anybody actually is, they might as well just go look it up themselves and give the whole thing a listen. it's 17 minutes.

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Silence in the Snow by Trivium.

 

As an album, it's solid! But individual songs just don't have the same value as their older stuff to my ears (save for Blind Leading the Blind and Pull Me From the Void).

[Queen of Liars]

Dark Space III I by Darkspace, which was my album of the year for 2014. Still feel the same way.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiK3b3Gzm10

[Sybre]

Last full album? That would be Three Days Grace's Human. Good stuff, but it'd be ten times better with Adam Gontier. He makes anything sound better.

[Kopekemaster]

Just re-listened to Circle Takes the Square's As the Roots Undo for the first time in a while. aaaaugh so good (though it brings back a mix of good and bad memories)

[Queen of Liars]

Bú-Tik by Chthonic. Great album, although it's not on the level of Takasago Army, and falls just short of Seediq Bale as well. Which makes it my third favourite Chthonic album.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqaq5rWkrgc

[Bambi]

Blood In, Blood Out by Exodus. Pretty good album, will probably be picking it up soon.

 

[Xinlo]

Songs From The North: Parts I, II And III by Swallow The Sun. Still on part III because this album's over 2 and a half hours long. super good though

[Queen of Liars]

Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim. An excellent album.

 

[Bambi]

The Gathering by Testament. Fantastic album, will definitely be picking it up soon.

 

[Laughing Man]

Jar by Superheaven (formerly Daylight). been looking for some decent modern grunge (throwback or revival or whatever) type stuff and their name kept coming up. pretty solid stuff, definitely captures the 90s grunge sound well, especially stuff like Stone Temple Pilots.

 

slightly ticked though because I found out afterward that it had been available as a free download up until recently and I missed it.

 

 

follow up: listened to their second album, Ours Is Chrome, the other day.

 

not as strong as their first album but still good. songwriting was a little less focused and the songs were generally slower-paced and occasionally dragged a bit, but otherwise it wasn't too much of a radical departure. they still sound like a 90s grunge band that traveled through time to 2015, and that's pretty much enough to keep me listening.

 

[Queen of Liars]

Fiction by Dark Tranquillity. Really fun and catchy melodeath album.

 

[Evergrey: Toa of Music]

Pyromania- Def Leppard. It's an alright album, but Photograph and Stagefright are some amazing songs!

[Queen of Liars]

The new Paradise Lost live album, Symphony for the Lost. A great album, with the orchestra half being especially interesting.

 

[Nescent]

"Anomaly: The Collection" by Liquid Stranger.

 

One of my favorites.

[Laughing Man]

Are You Kidding Me? No. by Destrage, an Italian avant-garde/technical/progressive metal(core) band. I've given it a couple listens now. it needs more than one to really sink in, and even then, I'm still not sure what I just heard.

 

I liked it though. one of the most wild, ADD albums I've heard in a long time - basically what you'd get if you tossed Sikth, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Strapping Young Lad, Protest the Hero, and Enter Shikari in a blender and then hooked that blender up to a nuclear power generator and put it on warp drive. or something.

 

my only complaint was the vocals. there were some really good deeper growls on a handful of tracks, but in general the vocals are more of a manic screechy wail that gets kind of grating after a while. there's also some clean singing of a Keith Buckley-esque variety, although occasionally it also sounds strangely Chester Bennington-ish which doesn't mesh well. overall it's not bad though.

 

hit-or-miss vocals aside, it's definitely an enjoyable album, even as someone who often finds overly technical, chaotic music to be rather off-putting. there's just enough catchiness and sheer headbanging heavy riffage to balance out the more self-indulgent noodling and head-spinning chaos of it all.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Scythey