Here's five with a little random elaborating:
1. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
I was always a casual Deftones fan, but this album just made me appreciate them so much more. What makes this album special for them is their ventures into more 'pretty' songwriting, while still retaining an undeniable heaviness. Adding to that, you can clearly hear they were going for an album, with every song complimenting the previous one in awesome ways. It flows. This is the kind of album where I have my go-to favorites, but without any song being less good than another song.
2. Gojira - l'Enfant Sauvage
One of the best metal bands on earth doing what they do so well, but even better. It's totally in line with my idea of 'heaviness'. Listening to the entire album front to back isn't really interesting for me, but for the pleasure I have had from certain tracks this year, makes it a top pick nonetheless.
3. Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
It's good, especially 'Drag Ropes', the title track and 'Ljudet Innan'. I don't care so much about the other tracks, but I'm extremely thankful for these beautiful songs. I used 'Ljudet Innan' as background music when my girlfriend's sister got married in the city hall.
4. Meshuggah - Koloss
It's Meshuggah, the grooves are there and they're at exactly the right tempo. I don't really understand the inclusion of 'The Demon's Name is Surveillance'. I don't like it by any stretch of the imagination. The rest is golden IMO and this time they also got the production right. Love the warm sound even though the mastering is even hotter than ObZen's.
5. Burial - Kindred
It seems the more into his career, the more his musical identity is revealed. Burial keeps up with the trend of making every release better than the previous one, and even though this is an EP in running time, it feels more like a three suite mini album. I'm in love with the mood Burial's music brings me in.
Honorable mentions:
Baroness - Yellow & Green
Very ambitious, but there's a lot of weak singing on it. There's also a lot of good singing on it. There's some great songs but also some not-so-great ones. But overall I appreciate the band taking risks with their sound and songwriting. They've created new musical possibilities but the execution is where it sometimes falls flat. Plentry of room to grow. Though 'Eula' is epic as hell and one of my favorite songs of the year.
Muse - The 2nd Law
To me it sounds like Muse don't care about being authentic or serious on this album. It's all just good fun and it sounds fantastic (the production really shines when you listen to it on headphones). 'Animals' and 'Save Me' add some well needed 'real' emotion to the album. All in all I still have to say this might be my least favorite Muse album yet.
Disappointment of the year:
Devin Townsend - Epicloud
I don't know man. I'm a huge Devin fan, and I feel really blessed to have met him in person once. I basically adore everything he creates, but I just can't get into this record. Sounds to me he really likes the cheesy pop nowadays. 'Addicted' had that too, but at least that record sounds awesome. The production on this one sounds lifeless to me. I don't know, maybe I'll like it one day. Flame shield on?
Topic: Top 5 Albums of 2012 (Read 4772 times)
