Well, since I posted this for a new thread and didn't know this existed so I could post my thought here..
1. VOLA - Applause Of A Distand Crowd
Ghost, title track and Alien Shivers are so good and catchy songs and the album overall is great balance of heavy and melodic pop stuff so I choose this album to be my number one. A year ago I didn't even knew this band existed! The mix is really good and the flow overall is just perfect.
2. Haken - Vector
I think Haken is nowadays my favorite band and expectations were really high on Vector since The Mountain and Affinity were just perfect 10/10 albums. Vector has it's elements and it's good but songs like Host and A Cell Divides are not that good. Puzzle Box and Nil By Mouth are fortunately really strong tracks and Veil is good, not as good as like Crystallized or Architect but good. It just feels a bit too short and I have feeling that not all the songs are flowing quite well for each other.
3. Amorphis - Queen of Time
Oh, our great Amorphis from Finland did wonderful job with Queen of Time! Tracks like The Bee, Amongst Stars and The Golden Elk are good examples when you are just pissing honey and listening those strong riffs. Toni's voice is gold. All of the tracks weren't as good as those mentioned so it's just my third album of the year.
4. Michael Romeo - War of the Worlds - Pt. 1
This album was really surprise for me. I found out the single Black a week before the release and didn't even know Romeo is working on album! Tjis was pleasant surprise and it has many great really Symphony X style tunes. Favorite tracks are Fear the Unknown, F*cking Robots and Differences. Believe is also good song but it feels a bit out of place in the album.
5. Skyharbor - Sunshine Dust
This was another surprise for me. Many songs are really strong and catchy. Favorite tracks are Dim, Out of Time and Sunshine Dust. I'm not really familiar with Skyharbor but need to check their other releases too definitely!
6. Between the Buried and Me - Automata II
If just this album has more songs (Automata I was not that good IMO) it could have been higher on the list. I like when Tommy is not growling all the way. Voice of Trespass is so fun song! All the others are good too.
7. TesseracT - Sonder
Sonder was a bit disappointment for Tesseract standards. It has a new a lot better version of Smile (one of my favorite tracks of the year) and few other great tracks but then a few not so strong tracks.
8. Distorted Harmony - A Way Out
Chain Reaction was really good album so my hopes were high again. There are a few really great tunes (Downfall, Awaken, For Ester) but the overall album wasn't as good as CR. The vocalist has bettered his voice and I think DH could hit with really good album but I think they need to compose stronger, a bit more straightforward melodies.
9. Seventh Wonder - Tiara
I'm not sure if I like SW or if it's a bit too much at the same time. Tiara has reallr great elements but at the same time there's a ton of unnecessary parts. Dream Machines, The Everones and Tiara's Song are on my playlist constantly so I think this is a good album. On one day this album could be on the top 5 but as today it just haven't clicked me overall.
10.Good Tiger - We Will All Be Gone
Good drumming and the album has good tunes overall but I don't like the voice of the vocalist. That's too bad since they really have potential to shine!