2013年 12月 20日 金曜日 15:28

Now as you can tell, I listen to a lot of music. I have a very diverse music taste which makes it really hard for me to just pick 10 or 15 albums of the year. So I've decided to do 50 albums. It took a bit of work to put together this list but I finally have it, so here we go.

50. Asking Alexandria - From Death To Destiny

http://gyazo.com/88e2972bfee2596079fc6a8cd6929b5b.png

I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this, but I like Asking Alexandria. I've liked Asking Alexandria since their debut album, but to an extent. Some of their stuff seemed a bit too corny for me. Luckily, they really changed their path musically with their new album From Death To Destiny. The vocals are deeper, the riffs are chuggier, and to me those are the few things that the first two albums were lacking. They finally made up for it with this album. It could have been better, but overall it's not bad. I really enjoyed it.

49. Dead Letter Circus - The Catalyst Fire

http://gyazo.com/b003732de4505cfeaf012c20d19e006e.png

For those of you who aren't familiar with Dead Letter Circus, they're an alternative prog band that sounds a bit like Karnivool. I like this band a lot and normally they would be a lot lower on my list but something about this album kind of put me off. It's definitely enjoyable enough to add to this list though.

48. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven

http://gyazo.com/03e525f6ac35386d29df9852e9a638e8.png

It's hard for me to really get into ambient electronic music but this album takes the cake for my favorite of that genre. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did when I first listened to it. The samples can get kind of annoying at times but overall this was a great album that was very unique.

47. Korn - The Paradigm Shift

http://gyazo.com/d039d6054b8118ae3e2538a24db1d38d.png

Unpopular opinion time: Never Never was my favorite song from this album. Another unpopular opinion: I don't really understand what's so special about Korn and why they're one of the most well known nu-metal bands. But this was another album that surprised me with how much I liked it. It's no Follow The Leader or Issues, but at least they're not following the path of Linkin Park.

46. Deaf Havana - Old Souls

http://gyazo.com/2e21a2b7da39f668a67c85160f7f7e60.png

I've never liked Deaf Havana until this album was recommended to me by a friend. These guys were somehow able to change their style from post-hardcore to Bruce Springsteen, which isn't a bad thing at all. Old Souls was full of catchy classic rock sounding songs and I think it's safe to say I'll be listening to this album more in the future.

45. Children Of Bodom - Halo Of Blood

http://gyazo.com/289f4213da68ca3f21ed3750e6745518.png

Children Of Bodom is a great band and Halo Of Blood was a good album, but I was honestly expecting something more old school. At least they improved from Relentless Reckless Forever, right?

44. Karnivool - Asymmetry

http://gyazo.com/21c3634aca62c143805f39d993927ec5.png

Themata and Sound Awake were masterpieces but Asymmetry was just good in my opinion. I heard this album was a grower though so I might need to give it a couple more listens before comparing it to Karnivool's other two albums.

43. Deafheaven - Sunbather

http://gyazo.com/fa6488752690376f5317a539c97d353d.png

Apparently this was supposed to be the most amazing album in the world, then a few weeks after it came out everyone suddenly hated it. To me this album was a bit of a drag and sometimes the growls didn't fit the music. The instrumental fillers are what I really liked about this album though. Another thing I liked was the unique idea to mix low quality "kvlt" growls with high quality post-rock instrumentals. I don't like when black metal sounds like it was recorded by a toaster, but when it sounds like it was recorded by a high quality toaster that's when I'll listen to it.

42. Alice In Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

http://gyazo.com/3414666dc9d03914cf08fadd09257efe.png

I quite liked this album but, of course, nothing compares to the classics. There were a few standouts that I really liked and some songs sounded pretty similar which is something that I can only appreciate for certain bands. Luckily, Alice In Chains are one of those bands.

41. The Ruins Of Beverast - Blood Vaults

http://gyazo.com/c5e2e2c725bc3181993938ecbcfbb15f.png

If you were waiting for me to post some black metal that's not Sunbather, you're probably glad to see The Ruins Of Beverast on this list. I've never been that into black metal but there are a select few black metal bands that I really like. These guys are one of them. The funeral doom influences in this album are what made me like this more than their other albums though. Very slow, very heavy, and very powerful. I'd recommend you give this a listen if you're a fan of black or doom metal in general.

40. Queens Of The Stone Age - …Like Clockwork

http://gyazo.com/187e65e318c0f3e01fb42c43334c1ec7.png

This album was unsurprisingly great. Songs like The Vampyre Of Time And Memory, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Smooth Sailing and …Like Clockwork really made this album enjoyable to listen to. My favorite Queens Of The Stone Age album so far.

39. Amon Amarth - Deceiver Of The Gods

http://gyazo.com/33e41ecd7db66459bb7163774293fc12.png

All of Amon Amarth's songs sound the same. In a good way. This album was great. The only thing I really had a problem with was the guest vocals in the song Hel. Amon Amarth with any type of clean vocals in it just sounds odd to me, so it really has nothing to do with the fact that the guest vocalist is from Candlemass.

38. Letlive. - The Blackest Beautiful

http://gyazo.com/6f068187d3f618c9de386a6369bc93f2.png

Letlive: The only band that can use a style of vocals that I can't stand and make me love it. Jason Butler is somehow able to pull off the generic post-hardcore clean vocals while making it sound good. Also some songs in here were huge reminders of Coheed And Cambria and Rage Against The Machine, two bands that I highly appreciate.

37. Kanye West - Yeezus

http://gyazo.com/0cd768d5860855238e3e784a52b9f9f0.png

So do you know how I was just saying that Jason Butler can somehow pull off post-hardcore vocals and sound good? Well Kanye West can pull off my number one musical pet peeve, autotune… and still make it sound annoying. Good thing this isn't 808s & Heartbreak, right? Now the reason why Yeezus is lower on the list than bands like Amon Amarth and Children Of Bodom is because of the industrial sounding beats. Very bassy, very electronic, that's my favorite style of hip hop. Now the only thing that prevented this from being even lower on the list were songs like Blood On The Leaves. My number one rule for autotune is "If you're going to use autotune and you're not T-Pain then why are you singing in the first place?" Sadly Kanye uses autotune whenever he sings and that's the main thing preventing him from being one of my all time favorite rappers. Another reason is his ego, but don't even get me started on that.

36. Jake Bugg - Shangri La

http://gyazo.com/97d71d818256e15bc5eb9098df6ac6e9.png

This was another album that I never planned on listening to until a friend recommended it to me. So it turns out Jake Bugg isn't another one of those hundreds of guys that goes on The X Factor and tries to be the next Justin Bieber like I thought he was… it turns out Jake Bugg is trying to be the next Bob Dylan, and he's pretty successful at it. The production quality of his songs really brings me back to the days when both of my parents were still fetuses and when Bob Dylan started making music. I honestly couldn't stand the first few songs in the album due to it sounding too lo-fi and having more of a country sound, but once Messed Up Kids started something clicked and I started to really like the feel of his music. If you want to hear what Bob Dylan and Oasis mixed with Andrew Jackson Jihad sounds like, give this kid a try.

35. Anneke Van Giersbergen - Drive

http://gyazo.com/f4f4b2a10f7c5c6f8cec3f8f4c6c47a9.png

Before you ask, Devin Townsend did get me to listen to this album. Anneke's vocals in Addicted and Epicloud were amazing so I thought why not give her solo stuff a try? This album was very catchy and alternative sounding, so if you were expecting it to sound like The Gathering then you might be slightly disappointed. But I really like catchy songs so I was more glad than disappointed after hearing Drive start off with one of my favorites from the album, We Live On. Another song that really caught my attention was Mental Jungle.

34. Revocation - Revocation

http://gyazo.com/ad7ed2c46910c30f830e311ee597c10f.png

Now, back to metal. Revocation is a great mix of thrash metal and tech death that also manages to use a banjo in one of their songs. I saw these guys earlier this year at the Summer Slaughter tour and managed to get myself a copy of their new album due to how impressed I was with their performance. I was also impressed when I first heard the album. Invidious and The Hive were songs from their self titled that really stood out to me.

33. Tech N9ne - Something Else

http://gyazo.com/e5078988f02b401232a9b449d0db5b46.png

There were some amazing standouts, but other than that Something Else was just alright. There were also a lot of great artists featured in this album that I didn't expect at all. For example, members of The Doors and Serj Tankian. The songs from this album that I really enjoyed were Straight Out The Gate, Strange 2013, My Haiku-Burn The World, So Dope (They Wanna) and Fortune Force Field. Most of the other songs I couldn't really find anything special in, and the rest were skits.

32. Hopsin - Knock Madness

http://gyazo.com/0781e658237b138df537bec33d2f7767.png

Hopsin is back and it turns out the people that thought he was going to sell out were wrong. This album got me hooked right from the start with The Fiends Are Knocking, and I really enjoyed the rest of the album. There was a nice old school feel in songs such as Nollie Tre Flip, Gimmie That Money and Still Got Love For You that made this album a bit more unique, then there were songs like Hip Hop Sinister and Rip Your Heart Out where Hopsin absolutely killed it. What's My Purpose was my favorite from the album, it really makes you think. But there's one negative thing about this album that puts it all the way at number 32 in the list, and it's something that's in every Hopsin album. Corny choruses. Hopsin has an amazing flow, he has some of the best verses in hip hop altogether, but the choruses still need some work.

31. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

http://gyazo.com/ee3874cb55c3fe6ddde2269789bcf142.png

This album was just as good as I expected it to be. Maybe even slightly better. Some songs were a bit samey, but Sirens really stood out to me and actually turns out to be one of my all time favorite Pearl Jam songs. But still, as I said before, nothing compares to the classics… except for Sirens.

30. Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

http://gyazo.com/5e6bb2f478f41084c39fa885dbe56784.png

Skeletonwitch did it again, and this time with a more hardcore style. I really wanted Serpents Unleashed to have more of a Beyond The Permafrost sound before I heard it but then I found out that it was being produced by Kurt Ballou from Converge. This just made me think "Forget it, I want them to go hardcore now" and that's exactly what they did. This is definitely tied for Skeletonwitch's best album along with Beyond The Permafrost and even though Converge is one of my all time favorite bands, I'm glad Kurt Ballou didn't pull a David Draiman and make every song sound exactly like Converge.

29. Phuture Doom - Phuture Doom

http://gyazo.com/0ff92c58d6dfc81b2ef7b677056d0d2b.png

Now this is what I call good dubstep. Mainly because it's black metal mixed with dubstep. Normally one would think that those two genres mixed wouldn't sound so great, but after hearing it for myself I've realized that these guys are geniuses. Now all these guys need to do is pull a Bassnectar and remix Agalloch. The intro to this album seemed a little too long but once Burn The Knowledge starts, you're in for one awesome experience. Paradise Lost is my favorite song from the album though.

28. Rosetta - The Anaesthete

http://gyazo.com/f0f696abe7166c024962c8ceb1c4b474.png

This album was amazing. Not my favorite by Rosetta, but still happened to be very enjoyable. It's definitely the Rosetta album that gives me the most chills though. The song Hodoku / Compassion is my favorite from the album, but that song is more post-rock sounding than post-metal. If you're new to Rosetta and want to hear a song from this album with growls I'd recommend Ryu / Tradition.

27. Black Sabbath - 13

http://gyazo.com/98ef6bc458f0ab5681a54abb10798c0d.png

This album exceeded my expectations by a lot. After first hearing the song God Is Dead? I thought this album would be nothing special, but songs like Zeitgeist and Age Of Reason quickly changed my mind. Sure, Zeitgeist is like another version of Planet Caravan but that's what makes it so good. Also I'd just like to point out the fact that Tony Iommi can still play the guitar like crazy. That solo in Age Of Reason is one of my all time favorite Black Sabbath solos.

26. Carcass - Surgical Steel

http://gyazo.com/f30798baefaed02463ab064c87e89d94.png

My favorite Carcass album so far. No doubt about it. Now I know a large amount of old Carcass fans don't like this album due to the fact that it's not goregrind, but Carcass hasn't been goregrind since the early 90's. Seeing that Carcass hasn't made an album in over 10 years, I'm quite glad Surgical Steel turned out the way it did.

25. Crossfaith - Apocalyze

http://gyazo.com/a1e179a3c4905d5869a19ffcfde096b0.png

I have no idea how Crossfaith managed to make it so low on my list, but they did. I've heard their past albums and wasn't impressed, then I saw them open for Enter Shikari and wasn't very impressed. The only song I really liked by them was their cover of The Prodigy's song Omen. But they've really outdone their past albums with Apocalyze. Mixing electronic music with metalcore is a real hit and miss for me, and I guess for the past Crossfaith albums it was a miss while for Apocalyze it was a major hit.

24. Bruce Soord & Jonas Renkse - Wisdom Of Crowds

http://gyazo.com/315a4944f6d9f203cec3fb5a47d9e880.png

Bruce Soord (a member of The Pineapple Thief) and Jonas Renkse (the lead singer of Katatonia) have teamed up and made one of the best prog albums of the year. I had no idea what to expect when I first heard about the album but then the song Frozen North was released as a single and I absolutely loved it. The beginning of the song was good, but when the electronic parts started I was amazed. It was like a mixture of Muse and Porcupine Tree. Now I know where Jonas got the inspiration to remake Dead End Kings, and most likely where he got inspiration for the song The Act Of Darkening. Also if you weren't aware, Jonas Renkse is my favorite lead vocalist right under Mikael Akerfeldt from the band Opeth, so this album was a really big deal for me.

23. Gorguts - Colored Sands

http://gyazo.com/1b4372d0e69544eb67b54e4a9ae267d7.png

This is pretty much a requirement if you're going to make a list for top albums of the year. Definitely my favorite tech death album of the year. I'm glad Gorguts changed their style after Obscura, because I honestly have no idea why that album got so much praise. Please don't hate me.

22. Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory And Injury

http://gyazo.com/b203ad20ad0ca816021358ea399c8259.png

I'm pretty disappointed in Altar Of Plagues. Mainly because of the fact that they broke up right after releasing an amazing album like this. I'm normally not into this type of black metal but the industrial sounds make it interesting and more of my type of music. Mills is what got me hooked. It's just a long intro, but it's a long epic intro that leads right into awesomeness. My favorite songs from this album were A Body Shrouded and Burnt Year. Now there's one thing I have to add before I move onto the next album… if you liked Sunbather then you need to listen to this.

21. The Black Dahlia Murder - Everblack

http://gyazo.com/b5701bffce673bdf6c752f501099a647.png

This was a great album, but not the best by The Black Dahlia Murder. In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me and Raped In Hatred By Vines Of Thorn are definitely amazing standouts though. Those are my two favorites from the album. Also you can't go wrong with a bit of Phantom Limb Masturbation.

20. Death Grips - Government Plates

http://gyazo.com/31e224f186baf4a359869774ab73bdcb.png

If this were any other Death Grips album this would've definitely been in the top ten, but this album lacked MC Ride verses. Now I know this is supposed to have some deep pseudo-intellectual meaning like MC Ride is dead or something (that's probably why there was a suicide note when Death Grips didn't show up to Lollapalooza) but I mainly listen to Death Grips for the hardcore industrial beats and the verses. I'm also aware that Death Grips don't make music for their fans (that's probably why they didn't show up to Lollapalooza) so I doubt they'd go back to how they were before, unless MC Ride comes back as a zombie or something. Anyway, this album had a brilliant intro. You Might Think He Loves You For Your Money But I Know What He Really Loves Your For It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (Bob Dylan reference FTW) is one hell of a banger. I also really liked Birds, Big House and Anne Bonny, mainly because those songs had more MC Ride in them.

19. Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu

http://gyazo.com/408abecfd207e6177cb0212c5c6aacd7.png

Oranssi Pazuzu is a very underrated psychedelic and electronic black metal band. The electronic stuff in this album isn't your normal everyday electronic black metal, it really reminded me of the techno sounds from Enter Shikari's album Take To The Skies. I didn't even know you could properly mix psychedelic music, nintendocore and black metal together until I heard these guys and it mixed together really well. This album is also pretty ambient at times too. Some songs may be pretty long but Valonielu is definitely worth the listen.

18. After The Burial - Wolves Within

http://gyazo.com/4a2125f3cfd4b2821e7f8989e6b5988c.png

I've never been a big After The Burial fan. The only song by them I really liked before I heard Wolves Within was their Pi song, and that was just a short instrumental. Now I have a slight problem with the quality of the songs, I prefer cleaner production when it comes to djenty deathcore, but it's not bad enough to really effect the amount of times I'll be listening to this album in the future. My favorite songs from this album were Paperweight (dat chorus) and Neo Soul (dat intro).

17. CHVRCHES - The Bones Of What You Believe

http://gyazo.com/6214d6a8aaeb3b51648dbb69e7e7b9b5.png

CHVRCHES are simply amazing. Synthpop is really a hit or miss for me, but Lauren Mayberry's vocals make CHVRCHES so much more unique than just normal synthpop. Another thing I really like is how catchy and pop sounding they are for a band that hasn't sold out. Even though they were some of the most popular on the album, my favorite songs from it were The Mother We Share, Recover and Lungs.

16. Kvelertak - Meir

http://gyazo.com/39ae7e349c2b3b4efe6b78a5f23e9fef.png

I didn't like Meir as much as Kvelertak's debut, but it's still a very good album. This one has more of an uplifting vibe while the self titled album sounded more angry and I guess it really depends on my mood to choose which album to listen to. Bruane Brenn was the hit song of this album but I thought that song was just okay, my favorite songs from Meir were Kvelertak, Åpenbaring, Månelyst and Spring Fra Livet. If you've never heard of Kvelertak and you like hardcore punk, give them a listen.

15. Born Of Osiris - Tomorrow We Die ∆live

http://gyazo.com/2b58d8a42f62ee1b058074b763480788.png

This is the best Born Of Osiris album yet and I have no idea why it got so much hate when it came out. M∆chine may sound like pretty generic deathcore, but songs like Illusionist and Venge∆nce had some very unique elements to it and some really great guitar work. If you're a "true metalhead" I'd recommend you try out those two songs before disregarding this album completely. Also Divergency is another really great song from this album that deserves a mention.

14. Reflections - Exi(s)t

http://gyazo.com/ed2e00743198344e9c7286cf8e45589c.png

Reflections are one of the most underrated djent bands out there today and this album really surprised me by how good it was. The heaviness is insane, the guitars are all over the place, and the drumming is crazy. Seeing Reflections live must be one hell of an experience. Exist, Bridges and Candle were my favorites from the album.

13. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels

http://gyazo.com/0eba206475edd5d86c5103109baa19ad.png

El-P and Killer Mike are both some of my favorite rappers, so an album with them together is like a dream come true. This probably one of the hardest hitting rap albums I've heard all year. It's full of amazing beats, awesome flow and it's badass from start to finish. Banana Clipper, 36" Chain, DDFH, Get It and A Christmas Fucking Miracle are the real standouts of the album, which is exactly half of the album.

12. Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen

http://gyazo.com/f84f4bb12b0ededb481b6a9617330353.png

Just in case you didn't know, Ihsahn used to be in the black metal band Emperor. Now he's doing solo stuff which I actually like more than Emperor, most likely because it's more proggy. Das Seelenbrechen had lots of great songs, but the most memorable one for me has to be NaCl. Another great song from this album was M, it sounded a lot like a Pink Floyd song.

11. Ghost - Infestissumam

http://gyazo.com/027e9cafdbab55f119f2f98c358b3296.png

Ghost is the catchiest Satanic band ever. By that I mean this is probably what Blue Öyster Cult would sound like if their music was Satanic. Ghost's music sounds like it was pulled straight out of the 70's. Infestissumam is actually tied with Ghost's debut for which album I like more, both of them are so good but in different ways. Their debut is a lot darker while Infestissumam is a lot more poppy. My favorite song from Infestissumam was Year Zero but some other memorable songs were Per Aspera Ad Inferi, Jigolo Har Megiddo, Secular Haze and Monstrance Clock.

10. Lorde - Pure Heroine

http://gyazo.com/a6e3db1eb55bdd93c78cf108dbd0cd63.png

I've been hearing Lorde's name all year by literally everyone I knew, so after a while I finally gave in. I'm really glad that I gave Pure Heroine a listen altogether instead of just the song Royals, because I bet I would've heard Royals and thought "This is overrated" and never would've listened to her again. I still think Royals is overrated, but Lorde's other songs definitely aren't. Songs like Tennis Court, Buzzcut Season, Team and even Bravado (although it's not from Pure Heroine) are all amazing but because of the fact that Royals is so popular she's still considered a one hit wonder by most people. I feel like she'll be around for a while though. Most of the lyrics in Pure Heroine are really great too, and I thought it was impossible for a song with good lyrics to make it to the radio. Lorde may be too famous for her own good, but I highly doubt she'll end up selling out, mostly due to her lyrics.

9. TesseracT - Altered State

http://gyazo.com/24ee93cf351cb57cd46c56e2a5acc9b3.png

Altered State is pretty much the perfect djent album. Yeah, the vocals can throw you off a little at first but it's very accessible and easy to get used to. I didn't really them at first but now I think Ashe's vocals fit the music and atmosphere perfectly. I like Ashe a lot more than TesseracT's previous vocalist too. My favorite songs from Altered State would have to be Nocturne, Calabi-Yau and Singularity.

8. Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth

http://gyazo.com/3a665c3e377d2964de44edc9059cc85e.png

This album was simply amazing. Even though I liked Agony more than Labyrinth, I think Fleshgod's production got so much better with this album. The drumming doesn't sound like one big cluster of bass drums anymore. The symphonic production also improved a lot. It sounds like something straight out of an opera rather than regular tech death with operatic harmonies in the background. My favorite songs from this album would have to be Elegy and Minotaur (The Wrath Of Poseidon), the two singles from Labyrinth.

7. The Ocean - Pelagial

http://gyazo.com/4ef2434269b5062c3d0ef45907b68268.png

There will never be another band like The Ocean, these guys are one of a kind. They probably have the most well produced concept albums, Precambrian and Pelagial being their two best ones. For those of you who have never heard of The Ocean, they're a mixture of progressive metal, sludge, post-metal and hardcore and they blend those genres perfectly. One second they'll sound like Mastodon, then they'll switch to a riff that sounds like Gojira, and by the end of the song you'll think you're listening to Tool. This is probably The Ocean's catchiest album yet, mainly due to the clean vocals which I think are amazing. They're one hell of a live act too, I saw them at Summer Slaughter with Revocation and they blew me away. The lighting fits the music perfectly and lead singer is very interactive with the crowd. I'd love to see them again some day.

6. Coheed And Cambria - The Afterman: Descension

http://gyazo.com/6b3af8c9f23d13957b5e3c44389f8a3e.png

This is my favorite Coheed And Cambria album with In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 coming in second. Some of Coheed's catchiest songs are in this album such as Sentry The Defiant, The Hard Sell and Dark Side Of Me. Sentry The Defiant is my favorite from the album, everything about that song is perfect. The Hard Sell is pretty reminiscent of Disturbed for some reason and Dark Side Of Me is a huge reminder of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Another memorable song from this album is Gravity's Union.

5. Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal

http://gyazo.com/5374533283ff01d86cb7089093331c3f.png

This is Bring Me The Horizon's best album by far. Their change in sound was quite a surprise to me, and after hearing Shadow Moses back when it was first released I was really interested to see how this album would turn out. After Antivist was released I was a bit disappointed because it seemed like another generic post-hardcore song to me, but luckily that turned out to be the only song in the album that I didn't really like. My favorites from Sempiternal have to be Hospital For Souls and Can You Feel My Heart. Hospital For Souls was the song that really stuck with me though, I think Bring Me The Horizon have really outdone themselves with that song. The rest of the album was full of catchy enjoyable songs, and some of the choruses were huge reminders of Linkin Park. The bonus songs were also great, Deathbeds is definitely up there with Hospital For Souls.

4. Danny Brown - Old

http://gyazo.com/12e38e5f47c78b5205a0daf46a9dfa3e.png

Old was both my favorite Danny Brown album and my favorite hip hop album of the year. This album had two sides to it. Side A was serious and more about Danny Brown's struggles throughout his life while Side B was full of songs about partying. I normally hate songs about partying, but Danny Brown is able to pull it off really well. I'm going to focus on Side A first though. There were a variety of great songs on both sides of the album, but 25 Bucks and Torture managed to be my two favorites from the album. Having Purity Ring in 25 Bucks was a great idea and was an awesome bonus to an already amazing song. Every song on Side A had great lyrics too, so if you're more into underground or old school hip hop you might want to give Side A a listen. Now on to Side B. Kush Coma and Way Up Here were my two favorites from Side B and I somehow actually liked A$AP Rocky's verse in the song Kush Coma. Normally I can't stand him. The beat for Way Up Here was very bassy and was a huge reminder of Death Grips. Hopefully more of Danny's songs will sound like that in the future. Dubstep is another song from Side B that deserves a mention. The fact that Rustie produced the beat for Dubstep made me like the song even more. I'd also like to give the song ODB (yes, it's a reference to Ol' Dirty Bastard) a mention. This song wasn't in the album due to a copyright problem with the samples in the song, but this would have been my favorite song from the album if it was in it. The beat is insane and Danny's flow somehow fits the beat perfectly. Overall this album shows both the serious and party sides of Danny Brown and was probably the most diverse hip hop album I've heard.

3. Protest The Hero - Volition

http://gyazo.com/25f4031878b3885c5cc62453552ec028.png

All I have to say after listening to this album is… wow. The production, the noodly guitars and even Chris Adler's drumming blew me away. I never really liked Protest The Hero and I just checked this album out on a whim, but I'm very glad I did. The first three songs were pretty good, but when Without Prejudice started that's when I realized how awesome this album is. Just the first ten seconds were good enough to really capture my attention. Then Yellow Teeth started and I was even more impressed. Those were the two songs that stuck with me when I first listened to Volition, but after more and more listens my favorite songs from the album became Skies and Plato's Tripartite, the two catchiest ones. This was one of the most impressive albums of the year but it's definitely not for everybody. The high pitched vocals may be hard for some to get into and the songs are so fast paced with guitars that are all over the place that some people might think these guys are only about guitar wanking, but if you're a fan of stuff like Between The Buried And Me, Architects, Dragonforce or really any type of mathcore, metalcore, power metal or even post-hardcore I'm sure you'll also like Protest The Hero.

2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

http://gyazo.com/de1e4770c98199e0ca3ab536e81266db.png

Speaking of music that's all over the place, The Dillinger Escape Plan's new album was my second favorite album of the year. This was actually the first album I've listened to from The Dillinger Escape Plan and still manages to be my favorite by them. At first listen Prancer seemed way too crazy for my taste, but When I Lost My Bet kept me listening. Then after hearing the song One Of Us Is The Killer I started to really like this album. I used to only listen to the catchier Mike Patton sounding songs from this album such as One Of Us Is The Killer, Nothing's Funny and Paranoia Shields but their mathcore songs slowly started to grow on me. Crossburner is my favorite song from the album though, if you're a fan of The Dillinger Escape Plan's older stuff then you'll know that the greatness of that song matches the greatness of Sunshine The Werewolf. Overall this was a great mathcore album and I enjoyed it a lot.

1. Cult Of Luna - Vertikal

http://gyazo.com/703f2d3c1defe15eb08b4348b8e14495.png

Everything about this album is perfect. From songwriting to production to instrumentals to growls. And I'm not surprised by it at all because Cult Of Luna is a band that focuses on perfection. Even their live performances are perfect, especially the lighting and atmosphere. Now, onto the actual album. I: The Weapon blew me away after the first listen and still continues to blow me away every time I hear it. That one is definitely my favorite from the album. The way it just goes right into the song without any warning always surprises me. In Awe Of is my second favorite song from the album and Mute Departure is my third. Cult Of Luna can really pull off a Toolish style of clean vocals in Mute Departure, and the buildups in that song are amazing. Now the main thing I liked about this album was the industrial feel. This album was very bassy, electronic and even came pretty close to dubstep at some parts. It was as if two of Chino Moreno's side project bands (††† and Palms) got together and made the instrumentals. Some of the instrumentals also reminded me of stuff like Kraftwerk. There were a lot of different musical elements incorporated in this album too. Sludge, doom, prog and drone (especially in Vicarious Redemption) were the main ones. They also had a wide variety of instruments such as maracas, a triangle, bells, keyboard and even Skrillex's favorite instrument, a Mac. If you like post-metal or post-rock and you've never heard Cult Of Luna, you really need to give this album a listen. Actually I'd recommend anyone who can sit through a 10 minute song this album because this band can really grow on the type of people that least expect it. Who knew that an album that came out in January would end up being the album of the year for me?