Your favourite albums of the year so far!

[Sacul]

So now the first half of the year has finished, how about we list our favourite releases so far? Here are mine:

Bigger

I personally think it's been a very strong year so far, and although most of the albums I hyped have already been released, I hope good stuff from new Massive Attack, and at least something decent from Blackfield and Alter Bridge.

[Crow]

i'm going to about double my 2016 releases collection when i place an importcds order but so far i guess it'd have to be oceans of slumber - winter and schammasch - triangle

that's only 2 tho. the slice the cake release has potential to be up there too though for sure

[Mosh]

David Bowie - Blackstar
Anderson Paak - Malibu
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Unmastered
Submotion Orchestra - Colour Theory
Headspace - All You Fear Is Gone
Sia - This Is Acting
Quilt - Plaza

I haven't figured out how to rate Affinity yet. I really enjoy it but it hasn't wowed me the way Haken's other albums did. Ulver is really strong but has a significant dip in the middle.

[Anguyen92]

At this point, here's what I have.  Heard 17 albums, so far.  Hoping to hear like 40 at the end of the year.

1. Black Stone Cherry - Kentucky
2. Tremonti - Dust
3. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
4. Sick Puppies - Fury
5. Volbeat - Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie

[The King in Crimson]

So far? Uhh...

1. Vektor - Terminal Redux
2. Voivod - Post Society

I could see Haken and Bowie probably making it on the list, but they still need more listens. Everything else has failed to sufficiently wow me to make it onto a favorites list.

[Evermind]

1. Fates Warning - Theories of Flight

Not gonna bother with the rest of the list yet, I'll rather do it at the end of the year. Besides, I still haven't checked new Haken, Redemption and iamthemorning.

[Zydar]

Top 5 so far:

Haken - Affinity
Fates Warning - Theories Of Flight
Big Big Train - Folklore
Frost - Falling Satellites
Megadeth - Dystopia


Edit: I forgot Megadeth, replaced Circus Maximus on my original list.

[RoeDent]

1. Frost* - Falling Satellites
2. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
3. Haken - Affinity
4. Steven Wilson - 4½
5. Airbag - Disconnected

[Kwyjibo]

Many more to come and many more to check out but those are great:

Anthrax - For All Kings
Avantasia - Ghostlights
Fates Warning - Theories Of Flight
Dream Theater - The Astonishing

[Bolsters]

I have far too many 2016 releases that I've only listened to once or twice thus far, I don't want to make any lists like this until I'm more familiar with everything.

[home]

So far:

1: Haken - Affinity (by faaar my favourite Haken album)
2: Bent Knee - Say So
3: Radiohead - A moon shaped Pool


Still got to check out Program Music II though

[Train of Naught]

1. Deftones - Gore
2. Slice The Cake - Odyssey To The West
3. Lemâitre - 1749
4. Katatonia - The Fall Of Hearts
5. Cult Of Luna - Mariner
6. Mandroid Echostar - Coral Throne
7. Novembre - URSA
8. Ihsahn - Arktis
9. Gramatik - Epigram
10. Avatar - Feathers & Flesh

Bonus: Protest The Hero - Pacific Myth (would be somewhere around #5 but it's partially a 2015 release and partially 2016 so idk if it would count)

Is there a website to do those album collages, Sacul? You've had those for your top 50 albums lists aswell I think and it's pretty cool

[Mladen]

Top 5 so far:

1. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
2. David Bowie - Blackstar
3. Blaze Bayley - Infinite entanglement
4. Radiohead - A Moon shaped pool
5. Weezer - The White album

[TAC]

3. Blaze Bayley - Infinite entanglement

Hmm.. Haven't heard this yet. Will check it out today.



So far for me:

1. Dream Theater-The Astonishing
2. Anthrax-For All Kings
3. Flotsam & Jetsam-s/t
4. Metal Church-XI
5. Fates Warning-Theories Of Flight

[Mladen]

3. Blaze Bayley - Infinite entanglement

Hmm.. Haven't heard this yet. Will check it out today.

Do yourself a favor. It's extremely consistent, no filler.

[TAC]

Got it already up on Spotify and will listen this morning!

[Elite]

Only gonna list those that have amazed me one way or another:

1. Ihsahn - Arktis.
2. Obsidian Kingdom - A Year With No Summer
3. Gojira - Magma
4. Kayo Dot - Plastic House at Base of Sky
5. Swans - The Glowing Man
6. Textures - Phenotype

At the end of the year this list might look differently.

[SubV]

Fates Warning - Theories Of Flight

[dtvoices94]

1. Dream Theater - The Astonishing
2. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By
3. The Allman Brothers Band - Live from A&R Studios (1971 Radio Concert)
4. Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
5. Death Angel - The Evil Divide
6. Anthrax - For All Kings
7. Redemption - The Art of Loss
8. Megadeth - Dystopia
9. Santana - IV
10. Various - George Fest: A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison

[Hanz Gruber]

#1 Megadeth - Dystopia
#2 Dream Theater - The Astonishing (It grew on me even though it is one of my least favorites of theirs)
#3 Fates Warning - Theory of Flight (Not as crazy about it as some but really solid - Will probably grow on me more...only listened once so far)

Bought some other decent album's like Last in Line and Zakk Wylde Book of Shadows 2 but they didn't blow me away

Looking forward to Anderson/Stolt (July 8th) and Testament- Brotherhood of the Snake (later this year)

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

No particular order

The Avalanches - Wildflower
Swans - The Glowing Man
Autechre - elseq 1-5
David Bowie - Blackstar
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
Deakin - Sleep Cycle
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit
Kendrick Lamar - Untitled Unmastered
James Blake - The Colour In Anything

[Nekov]

Just doing a top 3 so far

Haken - Affinity
Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack
Wintersleep - The Great Detachment


There are still some releases I'm eagerly awaiting for and that I'm expecting will change this top 3.

[Nick]

My top 3 is booked solid, after that I'm not sure yet.

Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
Haken - Affinity
Big Big Train - Folklore

[Sacul]

Is there a website to do those album collages, Sacul? You've had those for your top 50 albums lists aswell I think and it's pretty cool

I used to use topsters.net but seems that site is dead by now so I use neverendingchartrendering.org with the collage option. A bit ugly on its interface, but works pretty well.

[bosk1]

Too early to rank them, but I would likely put Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Redemption in the top 3.  To that, I would also add Megadeth, Lacuna Coil, and Flotsam & Jetsam.  REALLY strong offerings from all six bands.

[Train of Naught]

Is there a website to do those album collages, Sacul? You've had those for your top 50 albums lists aswell I think and it's pretty cool

I used to use topsters.net but seems that site is dead by now so I use neverendingchartrendering.org with the collage option. A bit ugly on its interface, but works pretty well.

Yeah I knew I used topsters.net before one time but it fails to load right now so I guess I'll use that second-hand topsters (hell, when you download your collage from that website the file is even called topsters2.png )

Turned my top 10 into a top 12 now, divided into 1-4, 5-8 and 9-12 tiers:

[Zantera]

I was gonna do a collage, Sacul-style, but kinda tired and free time is sparse this week due to work, so here goes a top10: (will probably post a bigger list later this week)

1. Swans - The Glowing Man
2. Kayo Dot - Plastic House on Base of Sky
3. Damien Jurado - Visions of us on the Land
4. Vektor - Terminal Redux
5. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
6. Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts
7. James Blake - The Colour in Anything
8. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner
9. Knifeworld - Bottled out of Eden
10. The Hotelier - Goodness

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

7. James Blake - The Colour in Anything

Don't know how I forgot to mention this.

[Mister Gold]

Fates Warning's Theories of Flight is an immediate standout in my book.

[kirksnosehair]

Came back to update my list. 


01 - Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
02 - Redemption - The Art of Loss
03 - Sunburst - Fragments of Creation
04 - Megadeth - Dystopia
05 - Avantasia - Ghostlights
06 - Metal Church - XI
07 - Haken - Affinity
08 - Dream Theater - The Astonishing
09 - Thunderstone - Apocalypse Again
10 - Mindmaze - Mask of Lies

[The Letter M]

Big Big Train - Folklore (and honorable mention, Stone & Steel, both the live BD and the hi-res audio rip)
Haken - Affinity
Frost* - Falling Satellites
Anderson/Stolt - Invention Of Knowledge

I'd put DT's latest album on here, but I haven't really spun it since, perhaps, March or April. I'd also put Tiles' Pretending 2 Run, but like DT, I haven't spun it in awhile. Maybe I burned myself out on 2-disc concept albums? Then again, I mixed in Steven Wilson's 4 1/2 with HCE (at least the four tracks from those sessions) and made a 2-disc version of HCE that I've spun quite a few times in the last few months...

Honorable mentions: The Fringe's self-titled debut (needs more spins), Eric Gillette's The Great Unknown, and The Jelly Jam's Profit. All good albums, but I haven't listened to them as much as the four up top. Those have all really grabbed me this year.

-Marc.

[twosuitsluke]

Favourites so far in no particular order:

Mandroid Echostar - Coral Throne (Hits a sweet spot between Coheed and Cambria/Avenged Sevenfold)

Megadeth - Dystopia (such a return to form  )

Dream Theater - The Astonishing (not all that but it's got some great parts, just a bit long)

Haken - Affinity (Climbing up my ranking of Haken albums, they're all so bloody good though!!)

The King Blues - Off With Their Heads (another great return to form, been too long since I've seen these guys live)

Vektor - Terminal Redux (yeah, pretty good. Gets better with each listen)

Oceans of Slumber - Winter (cracking album, those vocals  )

Odd Logic - Penny for Your Thoughts (newest addition, this album is a free download on their bandcamp page. Well worth it, really enjoying this a lot)

[425]

the slice the cake release has potential to be up there too though for sure

2. Slice The Cake - Odyssey To The West

So do I need to hear this cake album or what?



Oh and for me Haken is the only really noteworthy album to mention yet... too early to say on The Astonishing and I only have a couple other 2016 albums so far.

[Train of Naught]

Sure you do! I'd recommend following along with the story. The vocal delivery is like no other album I've ever heard, switching between poetic narrating and.. well.. deathcore vocals, I know I didn't like those at first, but they work very well and did grow on me very quickly.

Anyway the lyrics of the first song start on page 11 of the pdf file on their website. Chapter 1 of Act 1 of Odyssey To The West (the first ten pages are of Odyssey To The Gallows, the story preceeding this one, released on the same day, but OTTW is far superior IMO)

[The Curious Orange]

Big Big Train is probably my best album of the year so far, Tedeschi Trucks Band at number 2, Black Stone Cherry third.

I find it quite amazing that there's been a new Dream Theater album out this year and it doesn't even register on my mid-year list. I bored of it very quickly.