DTF's Favourite Albums of the Year (1/2)

[Luoto]

I think I listened to that Foscor album and found it rreeeeeaallly generic but I might have it confused with something else

You and your generic...

They're not really original but make up for it with good songs, obviously.

[Crow]

It's hard to catch my interest when you're doing the same thing as everyone else and don't do it especially well

[Evermind]

It's hard to catch my interest when you're doing the same thing as everyone else and don't do it especially well

This kinda applies to your current roulette.

[Crow]

Do you mean the songs I keep getting sent or the roulette itself? 

[Sacul]

 

[Lowdz]

It's been a decent year so far. Not too many future classics but plenty of enjoyable albums.

The best so far

MindMaze - Resolve

Dirty White Boyz- s/t

Pyramaze - Contingent

Andy James - Exodus

Labyrinth- Architecture of a God

Secret sphere - the Nature of Time

Warrant - Harder Louder Faster

Bonfire - Byte The Bullet

The Ferrymen - s/t

Snakecharmer- Second Skin

Crazy Lixx - Rough Justice

Decent first impressions, need more plays

John - Life on Death Road

Vain

Anthriel

Wolfpakk

Styx

Mark Slaughter

Inglorious

Ayreon

[jingle.boy]

Paul... spin that Jorn some more.  I liked it better than Ferrymen.

[wolfking]

Paul... spin that Jorn some more.  I liked it better than Ferrymen.

Yeah, he should listen to the Jorn, as he's only listened to the John album called the same thing.

I managed to get a copy of the Jorn and it's in the car now.  3 songs in and pretty damn good.  Can't get a copy instore of the Ferrymen so will have to listen online for now.

Anticipated-

Tesseract and Steven Wilson

I should add these to my list as well. I actually really like Pariah, but haven't checked out the other 2 songs yet I believe. Also also also, new NeO is finished (recording), and will be out this year, woohoo

Not much has really grabbed me so far this year to worth noting but so far;

Have you checked out the new Persefone album? Really seems like your kind of thing to me.

I should also add Ayreon - The Source and Pain of Salvation to the 'like but haven't given enough spins for final judgment' list.

I'd also like to nominate a best song of the year but it's incredibly hard to pick. Each day it could change, probably between Artificial Language's "Fortune Teller", Persefone's Aathma suite, Mastodon's "Roots Remain" or "Jaguar God" and Ayreon's "The Day That the World Breaks Down".

Mate, you're right, I loved Spiritual Migration and have spun a few tracks from this but haven't spent too much time really getting into it, which I should.  From what I heard it just didn't seem anywhere near as good as SM, but definitely a band that needs repeated listens.

[lonestar]

The diversity here at DTF continues to astound me (not in a bad way).  For those that haven't found the year to be very good so far, you're just not listening hard enough.  There's SOOOOOOO much awesome stuff out there.  I've tried out 53 albums already this year, and that's forcing myself NOT to listen to too many new releases.

It's more a matter of time man, work and all y'know....

[TAC]

The diversity here at DTF continues to astound me (not in a bad way).  For those that haven't found the year to be very good so far, you're just not listening hard enough.  There's SOOOOOOO much awesome stuff out there.  I've tried out 53 albums already this year, and that's forcing myself NOT to listen to too many new releases.

It's more a matter of time man, work and all y'know....

Exactly. Plus, I can only listen to so much stuff that I'm unfamiliar with for so long.

[wolfking]

The diversity here at DTF continues to astound me (not in a bad way).  For those that haven't found the year to be very good so far, you're just not listening hard enough.  There's SOOOOOOO much awesome stuff out there.  I've tried out 53 albums already this year, and that's forcing myself NOT to listen to too many new releases.

It's more a matter of time man, work and all y'know....

Exactly. Plus, I can only listen to so much stuff that I'm unfamiliar with for so long.

All of this.  Plus, I just couldn't be fucking bothered most of the time.  Losing faith in a lot of new music as time goes by. Even shit I do like that's new has a hard time sticking long term.  So much stuff I already own that's better and I find myself happier going back and revisiting or rediscovering what I already have.

[jingle.boy]

The diversity here at DTF continues to astound me (not in a bad way).  For those that haven't found the year to be very good so far, you're just not listening hard enough.  There's SOOOOOOO much awesome stuff out there.  I've tried out 53 albums already this year, and that's forcing myself NOT to listen to too many new releases.

It's more a matter of time man, work and all y'know....

Pfft.... 99 Problems, work ain't one of them.   

[King Postwhore]

Looks like a slap fight to me you girls.

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Totally with you on Observer. I just discovered Aritifial Language about a week ago and I haven't stopped listening. Turn Off the Pictures is one of my favorite songs of the year.

Other Favorites:
Aathma - Persefone
Emporer of Sand - Mastodon
In the Passing Light of Day - PoS
S/T - Arcadea
We The People - Adrenaline Mob

I'm still feeling out The Optimist, Lykia by Soen, and the new Blackfield.

Super dissapointed by the new Eidola. That album bored me to death.

However, Looking forward to:
Caligula's Horse
The Contortionist
Leprous
Possibly new Native Construct, Reign of Kindo, Karnivool, SYSTEM OF A DOWN? Please dear lord

[Elite]

Nice to see a lot of people disappointed by The Optimist

How is this a positive thing, what the hell?

[Evermind]

Nice to see a lot of people disappointed by The Optimist

How is this a positive thing, what the hell?

I suppose it's more like reassuring "nice to see I'm not the only one who disliked the album, I was worried the problem is on my end" as opposed to gleeful "nice to see that new Anathema album finally sucked, been waiting for that for so long, these shit musicians were too successful for the kind of music they were doing".

[Crow]

Why would that be the case though?

I mean, Distant Satellites was already pretty bland 

[BlobVanDam]

Decent first impressions, need more plays

John - Life on Death Road

Inglorious

Both of these have grown on me since first impressions, especially Inglorious. At first I thought it had a few ok songs, but now I love it, my favourite of the year so far. Jorn I haven't given as many spins yet, but there's a lot of good stuff on there. The Crazy Lixx album I found a little disappointing, but there are a couple of good tracks on there. The Warrant album has some songs that are still in heavy rotation for me, but it's mostly the first half of the album that grabbed my attention.

[Luoto]

Forgot Enslaved from my initial anticipated albums list

[Train of Naught]

I was also thinking of listing my favourite concerts of the year but it's impossible for me. There were just too many to pick from, the first to come to mind though is Soen, one of the most 'epic' feeling concerts I've been to, and their stage presence matches the music perfectly.

Totally with you on Observer. I just discovered Aritifial Language about a week ago and I haven't stopped listening. Turn Off the Pictures is one of my favorite songs of the year.

It's up there for sure, my current favourite is Fortune Teller though. The Native Construct influence is really heavy on Turn Off the Pictures so that might be the fan favourite among the reddit progmetal community.

S/T - Arcadea

Still have to check this out! Sounded really promising from what I've heard so far, but also really mood-dependent for me personally.

[RoeDent]

Of course, now I can add a second Big Big Train album to my wishlist. Also, I'm interested in getting the Rikard Sjoblom's Gungfly album at some point.

[Dave_Manchester]

1. Anathema - The Optimist
2. Mike Oldfield - Return to Ommadawn
3. Roger Waters - Is This The Life We Really Want?
4. William Basinski - A Shadow In Time
5. Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie - Buckingham/McVie
6. Adrenaline Mob - We The People

Anticipated:

Tori Amos - Native Invader (September 8th)
Steven Wilson - To The Bone (August 18th)
Cradle of Filth - Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay (September 22nd)
Noel Gallagher - (so far untitled) (November 9th)

[cramx3]

Wow, I can't even slightly contribute to this thread.  Had to take a look at the release date list to confirm, but I haven't bought a single new album this year.  And the next few months don't look promising either.  For my interests, this is a pretty boring looking year.

Yea this is essentially me.  The bands I mostly follow haven't released anything new and I've spent most of the "new music listening" on albums previously released (2016 was a really strong year for bands I like, so I was still listening to new music from last year). 

The diversity here at DTF continues to astound me (not in a bad way).  For those that haven't found the year to be very good so far, you're just not listening hard enough.  There's SOOOOOOO much awesome stuff out there.  I've tried out 53 albums already this year, and that's forcing myself NOT to listen to too many new releases.

I definitely think this is true, but I just haven't gotten around to checking out some of these bands I'm not familiar with.  And honestly, I may not get around to it in the near future.

I am very much excited however for the new 311 album release this week.  I should also check out the new Deep Purple as I plan on seeing them this summer.  The new Incubus album is mostly a dud to my ears so it wouldn't make my list if I had a list to make.

[lordxizor]

List Edited July 28th


1) Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
2) Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface
3) At the Drive-In - In.ter a.li.a
4) The Family Crest - Prelude to War
5) Greta Van Fleet - Black Smoke Rising
6) Radical Face - SunnMoonnEclippse

[twosuitsluke]

Ok time to weigh in.

Favourite albums of the year so far (in no particular order):

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Odd Logic - Effigy
The King Blues - The Gospel Truth
Pain of Salvation - In the Passing Light of Day
Pallbearer - Heartless
Adrift for Days - A Sleepless Grey

Albums still to check out:

Anathema - The Optimist
Arcadea - Arcadea
Artificial Language - The Observer
Authority Zero - Broadcasting to the Nations
Ayreon - The Source
Bent Knee - Land Animal
Danzig - Black Laden Crown
David Maxim Micic - Who Bit the Moon
DragonForce - Reaching Into Infinity
Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavours - Anhedonia
Eidola - To Speak, To Listen
Elder - Reflections of a Floating World
Kepler Ten - Delta-V
Me and That Man - Songs of Love and Death
Nova Collective - The Further Side
Persefone - Aathma
Progenie Terrestre Pura - oltreLuna
Rancid - Trouble Maker
Rise Against - Wolves
Set and Setting - Reflectionless
SikTh - The Future in Whose Eyes?
Soen - Lykaia
Solstafir - Berdreyminn
Steel Panther - Lower the Bar
Ulver - The Assissination of Julius Ceasar
Vangough - Warpaint

Anticipated:

Caligula's Horse - In Contact
The Haunted - Strength in Numbers
The Hirsch Effekt - Eskapist
Leprous - Malina
Paradise Lost - Medusa
Steven Wilson - To the Bone
VUUR

I think that's everything but I'll update if I remember any more...

[cramx3]

Yea I definitely want to check out Rancid's new album.  Got a ticket to see them this summer and it's been years since I've spun any album of theirs. 

Also, anticipating VUUR's debut as well. 

[twosuitsluke]

Yea I definitely want to check out Rancid's new album.  Got a ticket to see them this summer and it's been years since I've spun any album of theirs. 

Also, anticipating VUUR's debut as well. 

 

Yea, I listened to the single by VUUR and was pleasantly surprised. Love Rancid, their last album wasn't anything more than solid but they have a great back catalogue with some of my all time favourite punk albums.

[Anguyen92]

Let's see here.

1. Zac Brown Band's Welcome Home
2. Big Wreck's Grace Street
3. Ayreon's The Source
4. Seether's Poison the Parish
5. Nickelback's Feed the Machine (it's surprisingly good to me.)

I will also give a shout to Rise Against's Wolves and Ed Sheeran's ÷.

So far so good, but not really as tremendously great as the highs of last year's albums I've heard.

[jingle.boy]

Buckle up for safety.

The "A" list (ie, instantly purchase worthy) - roughly in order of release
Firewind / Immortals
Xandria / Theater of Dimensions
Stamina / System of Power
Arthemis / Blood|Fury|Domination
(4) Ayreon / The Source - usual Arjen ... which is right up my alley.
Vandroya / Beyond The Human Mind
(5) Pyramaze / Contingent
(1) Mindmaze / Resolve - Top 5 for certain.
The Ferrymen / s/t
(2) Jorn / Life on Death Road - screw the haters... this is great.
Secret Sphere / The Nature of Time
Dream Evil / Six
(3) Nightflight Orchestra / Amber Galactic - totally impressed with this.
Anthriel / Transcendence - very good after a few listens, but a step down from the debut

The B+ list (bought some; might buy some; lots of replay value)
Need / Hegaiamas:A Song for Freedom
Shattered Skies / Auxilium // Vol I - just a short EP
Bare Infinity / The Butterfly Raiser
Striker / Striker (EP)
Signum Regis / Decennium Primum
Damnations Day / A World Awakens
Eclipse / Momentum - would be an "A" if it was a bit longer (just a 42 minute shorty)
SineHeresY / Domino - ditto... only 40 minutes
Labyrinth / Architecture of God - this could graduate to the A list.
Wolfpakk / Wolves Reign
Lonely Robot / The Big Dream
Helker / Firesoul
Harem Scarem / United
Cryonic Temple / Into the Glorious Battle
Mark Slaughter / Halfway There
Echotime / Side
Soulspell / Act IV - The Second Big Bang
Styx / The Mission

One and done - some were decent enough; some were tripe
Age of Reflection / In The Heat of the Night
Outsiders / Year One
Aldaria / Land of Light
Night Ranger / Don't Let Up
Odd Logic / Effigy
Cellador / Off The Grid
Adrenaline Rush / Soul Survivor
Big Big Train / Grimspound
Mystic Prophecy / Vengeance
Until Rain / Inure
Warrant / Louder, Harder, Faster
Last Union / Most Beautiful Day - JLB sounds good on this, but it's mostly unmemorable
Mostly Autumn / Sight of Day - no Heather Findlay = suckage
Cydemind / Erosion
The Mute Gods / Tardigrades Will Inherit the Earth

[Luoto]

Train, should I just update my first post as my top 5 entry for the sake of clarity? I think I have two lists in this thread now.

[cramx3]

I think I just heard my first new release of the year that I am absolutely loving:

311 - Mosaic

UPDATE:

311 - Mosaic
AFI - The Blood Album
Rancid - Trouble Maker

[Train of Naught]

Train, should I just update my first post as my top 5 entry for the sake of clarity? I think I have two lists in this thread now.

Yeah, for clarity sake I'd prefer that. If people make multiple lists I will likely take the last one since that will probably be the most recent ranking. If done otherwise, it would be nice to have a sentence stating that it is in fact the official list.

Also, for lists that do not have a clear ranking, I will take the top 5 entries from that list, so if they are in a random order and you do have a clear preference for certain albums on your list, I suggest you rearrange the list so that your top pick will get the maximum amount of points. That is, if you care at all about the final rankings I will be doing. And obviously, taking cramx3's entry in the comment above me here, only the 311 album will be taken into account (unless more will be added later) and will get full points as if it is the #1 album on a list of 5 albums. One more thing: Since it is a 1/2 year thread, I will only be looking at albums released up until and including tomorrow, since everything after that is the second half of the year. I have no clue if anything interesting will be released tomorrow but since I'm still providing plenty of time to edit the lists there is definitely time for people to still check out new albums and add them. Just please make sure your data is clear/easy enough for me to compile.

Hope this clarifies everything, if not le'me know
I think for me personally, Igorrr has taken the #8 spot and Elder is knocked out of the top 10, though it's still a great album. Top 5 remains the same for now but the Persefone album may replace the Vangough album sooner or later.

[Luoto]

Ok, I updated my first post in the thread. Cønstantine went to the top.

[home]

When will you do the ranking? I think Lorde - Melodrama might potentially enter my top-5

[Luoto]

When will you do the ranking?

Late July maybe, according to the OP