Retro Albums of the Year 2010's: 2020

[HOF]

2014: This is actually a fairly diverse and interesting year in my collection.

1. Rocket Moth - Mesolow
2. Fernando Perdomo - Warm
3. Tim Bowness - Abandoned Dancehall Dreams
4. Flying Colors - Second Nature
5. Winger - Better Days Comin'
6. Neal Morse - Songs from November
7. Steve Rothery - The Ghosts of Pripyat
8. Enchant - The Great Divide
9. Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
10. Taylor Swift - 1989

A random song from that year that I love but didn't care enough for the rest of the album to buy the album is a song called Seasons by Future Islands. Forever grateful to the guy who introduced it to me via this performance on Letterman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK4lD3Uf8_o

[WardySI]

1. EVERGREY Hymns For The Broken

2. THRESHOLD For The Journey

3. VANISHING POINT Distant Is The Sun

4. KXM KXM

5. ALLEN LANDE The Great Divide


Billy Idol
Triosphere
Sanctuary
Harmony
Skintrade
The Scantilla Project
Foo Fighters
Iced Earth
Slash
Wicked Sensation
Lynch Mob
The Angels

[425]

Let me catch up on 2013 and do 2014.

2012 was my first year as a serious music listener (I know that makes me young); 2013 was my first year consciously thinking about an album of the year, so it's interesting to look back on it.

2013:
1. Haken - The Mountain
2. Lorde - Pure Heroine
3. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
4. Coheed and Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
5. Avantasia - The Mystery of Time
6. Dream Theater - Dream Theater
7. Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep
8. Tesseract - Altered State
9. Ayreon - The Theory of Everything

In 2013, I chose The Raven That Refused to Sing as my AOTY. I still think that is a monumental album, but my own tastes have shifted away from Wilson's brand of melancholic music, to the point where the only ones of his albums that I feel any real desire to listen to are that one and Deadwing.

I had The Mountain in second place that year, but with the perspective of time, it's definitely my favorite album from that year now and has been for at least the past 5 years or so.

Lorde's debut album is one that I discovered in around 2015 and fell very much in love with. It would join The Mountain on any list of the most important albums in my life.

DT12 is interesting here. I don't think it's a bad album; in fact, I think it's a good one. But most of the songs there just don't excite me (The Bigger Picture is a huge exception). It was my #3 in 2013, but the Lorde, Coheed and Avantasia albums all had periods where they were played huge roles in my music listening during the 2015-2017 period in a way that DT12—except, again, The Bigger Picture—never really did.


2014:
1. Coldplay - Ghost Stories
2. Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
3. Taylor Swift - 1989
4. Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken
5. Anathema - Distant Satellites
6. Markéta Irglová - Muna
7. IQ - The Road of Bones
8. Epica - The Quantum Enigma
9. Tuomas Holopainen - Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge
10. Amaranthe - Massive Addictive
11. Haken - Restoration
12. Opeth - Pale Communion
13. Thank You Scientist - Maps of Non-Existant Places
14. Flying Colors - Second Nature

This is a really deep year. The first six albums are all really memorable for me. Ghost Stories is one of my favorite albums of all time, with Midnight being one of my favorite songs of all time. So different from almost all the music I listen to, but it just has an atmosphere and an emotion that connected with me really well in 2014 and still connects with me really well now. Similar story with the Markéta Irglová album. Very different from what I usually listen to, but I heard a song in roulette and got really attached to the whole thing. Haven't gone back to it in years or ever really sought out her other music, but it was one I really enjoyed.

Evergrey is a band I only got into this year (after several attempts over the years) and Hymns for the Broken connected well with me during a difficult emotional time. With time, it might break into the top 3, but I've admired Kaleidscope and 1989 as superb albums for a long enough time that it will take a little longer to pass either.

Restoration and Pale Communion are releases I return to occasionally, and think of as at least solid, but both feel like disappointments as follow-ups to albums that are possibly my favorites from each band (The Mountain and Heritage.

TYS and FC are bands that never really connected with me outside of a few songs (many of which are on these albums for both bands). But I could do to give both of them another chance (especially TYS).

[nick_z]

2014

There isn't much of a ranking at the top, in that there's a bunch of very good albums, but maybe no clear standout as in other years. As usual, * for albums purchased later.

Top 15

Evergrey – Hymns for the Broken
Audrey Horne – Pure Heavy
Nightingale – Retribution *
Rival Sons – The Great Western Valkyrie
The Pretty Reckless – Going to Hell
Darkest Era – Severance *
Kenn Nardi – Dancing with the Past *
Mastodon – Once More ‘Round the Sun
Opeth – Pale Communion *
Taylor Swift – 1989 *
Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter
The Contortionist – Language
Within Temptation – Hydra
Anathema – Distant Satellites

The Honorable Mentions:

21 Octayne – Into the Open *
Tori Amos – Unrepentant Geraldines
Animals as Leaders – Joy of Motion *
At the Gates  - At War With Reality
Avatar – Hail the Apocalypse *
Black Stone Cherry – Magic Mountain
Crobot – Something Supernatural
Demon Hunter - Extremist
Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No *
Dreamgrave – Presentiment *
Exodus – Blood In Blood Out
Flying Colors – Second Nature *
Gazpacho – Demon *
Godsmack – 1000hp
Grand Magus – Triumph and Power
Billy Idol – Kings & Queens of the Underground
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun *
KXM – KXM
Kyng – Burn the Serum
Linkin Park – the Hunting Party
Little Big Town – Pain Killer *
Ingrid Michaelson – Lights Out
Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel *
Nothing More – Nothing More
Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden *
The Pineapple Thief – Magnolia *
Prong – Ruining Lives
Royal Blood – Royal Blood
Shaman’s Harvest – Smokin’ Hearts & Broken Guns
Shores of Null – Quiescence *
Slash (Feat. Myles Kennedy) – World on Fire *
Voices – London *
Work of Art – Framework

[jingle.boy]

2014 is the year that I actually started tracking a ranking of albums.  So, of the albums that I bought in 2014, here's how I initially ranked 'em:

Vanden Plas - Chronicles Of The Immortals - Netherworld
Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken
Flying Colors - Second Nature
Transatlantic - Kaleidescope
Anubis - Hitchhiking To Byzantium
Flaming Row - Mirage - A Portrayal of Figures
Psycrence - A Frail Deception
Mindmaze - Back from the Edge
Thoughts Factory - Lost
Ten - Albion
Triosphere - In The Heart of the Matter
Amadeus Awad's Eon - Book of Gates
Threshold - For the Journey
Primal Fear - Delivering the Black
Red Circuit - Haze of Nemesis
Accept - Blind Rage
House of Lords - Precious Metal
Wicked Sensation - Adrenaline Rush
Vanishing Point - Distant is the Sun
Inner - Poems
Neonfly - Superlative Strangers
Harem Scarem - 13
U2 - Songs of Innocence
IQ - Road of Bones
Enchant - The Great Divide

Some would not age well and I'd rate them much lower (Psycrence, Ten) and others I would now rate much higher (IQ)

Others not mentioned yet:
Abime - Poems (courtesy of DTFs very own DarkLordLalinc)
Aeon Zen - Ephemera
Age of Artemis - The Waking Hour
Arion - The Last of Us
Black Fate - Between Visions & Lies
Cell15 - Chapter One
Daydream XI - The Grand Disguise
Dynazty - Renatus
Hemina - Nebulae
Lords of Black - s/t
Mystery - Tales from the Netherlands
Noveria - Risen
Project Arcadia - Time of Changes
The Ralph - Delimiter (EP)
Shaft of Steel - s/t (EP)
Silent Call - Truth's Redemption
Teramaze - Esoteric Symbolism
Vanish - Come to Wither
Wasaya - Garden Of Doubts (EP)
Winger - Better Days Comin

2014 was also the year Spotify became licensed in Canada, so here's what I save there:
Althia - To the Edge of Time
Amaranthe - Massive Addiction
Ancient Bards - A New Dawn Ending
Axel Rudi Pell - Into the Storm
Disforia - Age of Ether
Edguy - Space Police
Hell in the Club - Devil On My Shoulder
Intervals - A Voice Within
Kirk - Masquerade
Knight Area - Hyperdrive
Majestic - Epsilon 1 & 2
Nightingale - Retribution
Revolution Saints - s/t
Shear - Katharsis
Sweet & Lynch - Only to Rise
Within Temptation - Hydra
Xandria - Sacrificium

Yeah, I'm a music whore.  2014-2018 were the years I went a little overboard.

[ReaperKK]

I think this is the first year where I couldn't remember anything from the top of head that came out and I really enjoyed. Lets see how it pans out.

2014:

1. Black Map - ...And We Explode - 4.5/5
2. KOAN Sound - Dynasty EP - 4/5
3. Bassnectar - Noise Vs. Beauty - 3.5/5
4. Trevor Hall - Chapter Of The Forest - 3/5 - Starts off really strong but gets weaker as the album goes on
5. Darshan Ambient - Songs From The Deep Field - 3/5
6. The Flashbulb - Nothing is Real - 2/5
7. Opeth - Pale Communion - 2/5
8. Pink Floyd - The Endless River - 2/5
9. He Is Legend - Heavy Fruit - 1.5/5
10. Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways - 1.5/5

Pretty thin list.

[MirrorMask]

Hell in the Club - Devil On My Shoulder

Never thought I'd see them mentioned around here! they're a band, not really a side project, but the singer's main gig is with Elvenking, you should check them out if you don't know them!

[jingle.boy]

Hell in the Club - Devil On My Shoulder

Never thought I'd see them mentioned around here! they're a band, not really a side project, but the singer's main gig is with Elvenking, you should check them out if you don't know them!

I think I may have checked out Elvenking sometime in the past, but clearly don't have a specific recollection of it.  Recommend me an album, and I'll give it a spin

[MirrorMask]

Hell in the Club - Devil On My Shoulder

Never thought I'd see them mentioned around here! they're a band, not really a side project, but the singer's main gig is with Elvenking, you should check them out if you don't know them!

I think I may have checked out Elvenking sometime in the past, but clearly don't have a specific recollection of it.  Recommend me an album, and I'll give it a spin

Well, how about the album that wins my 2014!

1. ELVENKING - The Pagan Manifesto

2014 was a bit poor for me, so the list is quite short:

2. Edguy   - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown
3. Gamma Ray   - Empire of the Undead
4. Judas Priest   - Redeemer of Souls[
5. Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon
6. Grave Digger - Return of the Reaper
7. Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

[LithoJazzoSphere]

2014:

This was a very vivid year for countless non-musical reasons, but pretty average musically.  For some reason it's more metal/rock/electronic-centric than some of the others.  This is the year my taste starting skewing towards doom and more atmospheric music more heavily, though I don't know if it's quite as obvious from the selections for the year. 

Tier 1:

Francesca Battistelli - If We're Honest
Destiny Potato - LUN
Kingfisher Sky - Arms of Morpheus
Lethian Dreams - Red Silence Lodge
Lights - Little Machines deluxe version - normally I don't note SE versions, but the bonus tracks on this one are so strong it's necessary
Marissa Nadler - July
Nickel Creek - A Dotted Line
Nightingale - Retribution
Opeth - Pale Communion
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Skyharbor - Guiding Lights
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata

Tier 2:

Alcest - Shelter
Anathema - Distant Satellites
Animals As Leaders - The Joy of Motion
Banks - Goddess
The Birthday Massacre - Superstition
Nili Brosh - A Matter of Perception
Delain - The Human Contradiction
Elysion - Someplace Better
Mega Drive - 198XAD
The Midnight - Days of Thunder
NeraNature - Disorders
One Machine - The Distortion of Lies and the Overdriven Truth
PVRIS - White Noise
Revocation - Deathless
Emma Ruth Rundle - Some Heavy Ocean
Sanctuary - The Year the Sun Died
Triosphere - The Heart of the Matter

Tier 3:

Aesthetic Perfection - 'Til Death
Amaranthe - Massive Addictive
Anubis Gate - Horizons
Behemoth - The Satanist
Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral
Conquering Dystopia - s/t
The Contortionist - Language
Dance With the Dead - Into the Abyss EP
Dead Astronauts - Constellations
Engel - Raven Kings
Marty Friedman - Inferno
Haerts - s/t
Lenore S. Fingers - Inner Tales
Levin Brothers - s/t
Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds
Mo - No Mythologies To Follow
Novembers Doom - Bled White
Scar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity)
Seabound - Speak in Storms
Sevendust - Time Travelers & Bonfires
St0rk - Broken Pieces
Stream of Passion - A War of Our Own
We Are The Catalyst - Monuments

Tier 4:

And One - Trilogie
AntropomorphiA - Rites ov Perversion
Arch Enemy - War Eternal
At The Gates - At War With Reality
Sithu Aye - Pulse
Babymetal - s/t
Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
Bloodshot Dawn - Demons
Dead Congregation - Promulgation of the Fall
Doom:VS - Earthless
Epica - The Quantum Enigma
Evergrey - Hymns For the Broken
Brooke Fraser - Brutal Romantic
Gus G. - I Am the Fire
The Great Old Ones - Tekeli-li
Helevorn - Compassion Forlorn
Horrendous - Ecdysis
Hour of Penance - Regicide
Illdisposed - With the Lost Souls On Our Side
Iris - Radiant
Eric Johnson/Mike Stern - Eclectic
Nick Johnston - Atomic Mind
Kaipa - Sattyg
Thomas Koner/Jana Winderen - Cloitre
Kowai - Dissonance
Liv Kristine - Vervain
KXM - s/t
Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo
Lesoir - Luctor et emergo
Ne Oblivicaris - Citadel
Ogre - 195
Piano - Salvage Architecture
Polyphia - Muse
Ravenscry - The Attraction of Opposites
Ribspreader - Meathymns
Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here
Soen - Tellurian
Solvent - New Ways
Svavelvinter - Nidingsverk
The Tea Party - The Ocean at the End
Threshold - For the Journey
Vallenfyre - Splinters
Velvet Acid Christ - Subconscious Landscapes
VHS Glitch - Evil Technology
Dave Weckl - Convergence
Widek - Outside the Universe
Xerath - III

[SoundscapeMN]

The Midnight - Days of Thunder

I'm in the process of checking this band out per seeing their name a few times earlier this year. I've only fully heard "Horror Show" the EP from 2020.

I know a lot of people love their debut album "Endless Summer" from 2016, but this EP is also popular. I actually have it wishlisted on rym. I worry their style, like a lot of the synthpop music, can get a little samey. But I can't really say that about that 1 EP I have heard.

How does Days of Thunder compare to their other stuff?

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The Horror Show EP is actually more of the anomalous one for them, it dabbles more in darksynth/horror synth than their normal sound.  For the most part they are at the more mellow, sunnier side of synthwave, though there's quite often that hint of melancholic nostalgia.  Days of Thunder is most notable for "Los Angeles", which is a song I've listened to easily over 100 times, probably my favorite song of theirs.  Overall that EP and the rest of their material is generally pretty close to Endless Summer, though they do experiment a bit from track to track, so they don't feel particularly samey to me, though if you don't regularly listen to much synthwave I could see some of it running together.  Tyler Lyle's voice on the more vocal-driven tracks always gives them character that some of the instrumental acts occasionally lack.  Real saxophone, which pops up from time to time, also helps a lot.  The Nocturnal EP is probably the closest thing they'd done to Horror Show, it lives up to its name, with more minor-key focus. 

[nick_z]

Love, LOVE Endless Summer...I've discovered The Midnight (and, in general, synthwave and its offshoots) more recently, and they are one of my favorites among the more vocal-oriented artists/bands in the genre. The Days of Thunder and Nocturnal EPs are fantastic too. Agreed that Nocturnal has a little more of that minor key, uhm, nocturnal feel 

Kids and Monsters haven't quite hit me as hard, but I haven't spent as much time with them.

Overall, plenty to enjoy!

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Kids hasn't connected with me, Monsters is a bit uneven, but it has some really killer tracks.  "Deep Blue" is incredible, for example. 

[ariich]

1. Anathema - Distant Satellites
2. Insomnium - Shadows of the Dying Sun
3. Rx Bandits - Gemini, Her Majesty
4. Destiny Potato - LUN
5. Mors Principium Est - Dawn of the 5th Era
6. Sleeping at Last - Atlas: Year One
7. Markéta Irglová - Muna
8. Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I?
9. Haken - Restoration EP
10. Cloud Cult - Unplug (live acoustic)
11. Destrage - Are You Kidding Me? No.
12. Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here
13. Submotion Orchestra - Alium
14. Bent Knee - Shiny Eyed Babies
15. Kishi Bashi - Lighght
16. Kiasmos - Kiasmos
17. Bend Sinister - Animals
18. Intervals - A Voice Within
19. Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
20. Within Temptation - Hydra
21. Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen
22. Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End
23. Devin Townsend Project - Z²
24. Ghost Brigade - IV - One With the Storm
25. Nightingale - Retribution

Also great:
Abel Ganz - Abel Ganz
Acke Hallgren - Fragile
Alkinoos Ioannidis - Μικρή βαλίτσα
alt-J - This Is All Yours
Amplifier - Mystoria
Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together
Alex Banks - Illuminate
Arkona - Yav
Bear Ghost - Your Parents Are Only Marginally Disappointed in Your Musical Taste!
Broken Bells - After the Disco
Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool
Chiodos - Devil
Closure in Moscow - Pink Lemonade
Casey Crescenzo - Amour & Attrition
Daydream XI - The Grand Disguise
Dirty Loops - Loopified
Dog Fashion Disco - Sweet Nothings
Dreamgrave - Presentiment
Dream the Electric Sleep - Heretics
Eluveitie - Origins
Equilibrium - Erdentempel
Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken
Fjokra - Thoughtsteps EP
Flying Colors - Second Nature
Gabriel Kahane - The Ambassador
He Is Legend - Heavy Fruit
Hemina - Nebulae
Hiromi - Alive
The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There
Inter Arma - The Cavern
The Intersphere - Relations in the Unseen
John Wesley - Disconnect
Kaipa - Sattyg
KOAN Sound - Dynasty EP
la YnE - La Grande Illusion
Landon Tewers - Dead Kid EP
Like Thieves - Autumn's Twilight
Linkin Park - The Hunting Party
Manchester Orchestra - Cope
Manchester Orchestra - Hope
Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Moron Police - Defenders of the Small Yard
North Atlantic Oscillation - The Third Day
Opeth - Pale Communion
Pain of Salvation - Falling Home
Periphery - Clear EP
Philip Lassiter - Philthy
Philip Lassiter - DreamZzz
Rishloo - Living as Ghosts With Buildings as Teeth
Sabaton - Heroes
Shylmagoghnar - Emergence
Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Synaesthesia (now Kyros) - Synaesthesia
Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
Tycho - Awake
Vanishing Point - Distant Is the Sun
Voyager - V
Whispered - Shogunate Macabre

[425]

Alright, I want to start working my way through the years I missed. I jumped in at 2011, so I'll just start working backwards, maybe two years at a time.

Here's 2010. Not a ton of albums from this year in my collection, actually, but the top two are both among my all-time favorites.

2010:
1. Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
2. Haken - Aquarius
3. Seventh Wonder - The Great Escape
4. Taylor Swift -  Speak Now
5. Avantasia - The Wicked Symphony
6. Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time
7. Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here
8. Susanne Sundfør - The Brothel
9. Avantasia - Angel of Babylon
10. Coheed and Cambria - Year of the Black Rainbow


And here's 2009. An even smaller year than 2010, and definitely not as strong, but still a few albums I like a lot.

2009:
1. Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
2. Amorphis - Skyforger
3. Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
4. Epica - Design Your Universe
5. Redemption - Snowfall on Judgment Day
6. IQ - Frequency
7. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
8. The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death

[LithoJazzoSphere]

2007:

Sooo much stuff this year.  Gonna have to bring out the 5th tier again.  I have no idea how I did it, but I seemed to listen to more music each day this year than there were hours in a day.  Whenever I think about this year I go, "oh yeah, I remember binging on this style, this artist", and it seemed like there were dozens and dozens of those binges.  The top tier is stacked, some of my favorite albums ever.  Tier 2 is really strong as well, in other years a few of them might have been tier 1. 

Tier 1:

All Ends - Wasting Life EP
Amorphis - Silent Waters
Autumn - My New Time
Sara Bareilles - Little Voice
The Birthday Massacre - Walking With Strangers
Vanessa Carlton - Heroes & Thieves
Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
De/Vision - Noob
Deadlock - Wolves
Fair To Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True
Hiromi's Sonicbloom - Time Control
Kingfisher Sky - Hallway of Dreams
Machine Head - The Blackening
Katharine McPhee - s/t
mind.in.a.box - Crossroads
Nightingale - White Darkness
Nightrage - A New Disease Is Born
Sybreed - Antares
Ulver - Shadows of the Sun
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh - Contrasts II Opera Jazz

Tier 2:

Aeon - Rise To Dominate
After Forever - s/t
Agua de Annique - Air
Alter Bridge - Blackbird
Anubis Gate - Andromeda Unchained
Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant
Assemblage 23 - Meta
Before The Dawn - Deadlight
Behemoth - The Apostasy
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Strength & Loyalty
D Creation - Pace Helvetia EP
Edge of Dawn - Enjoy the Fall
Editors - An End Has a Start
Engel - Absolute Design
Sara Gazarek - Return To You
Samantha James - Rise
Katatonia - July EP - basically just for "Unfurl", but that track is amazing
KMFDM - Tohuvabohu
Aynsley Lister - Upside Down
Minus The Bear - Planet of Ice
Nemesea - In Control
Passenger - Wicked Man's Rest
Planet X - Quantum
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Raintime - Flies & Lies
Satariel - Chifra EP
Sevendust - Alpha
Soilwork - Sworn To a Great Divide
Virgin Black - Requiem: Mezzo forte
Within Temptation - The Heart of Everything

Tier 3:

The Absence - Riders of the Plague
Beneath The Buried And Me - Colors
Black Sun Empire - Endangered Species
The Bloodening - Convergence of the Three Suns
Keyshia Cole - Just Like You
Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, maledicti, in igneum aeternum
Delight - Breaking Ground
Demiurg - Breath of the Demiurg
Divine Heresy - Bleed the Fifth
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Epica - The Divine Conspiracy
Evile - Enter the Grave
Evoken - A Caress of the Void
Liquid Divine - Black Box
Charlotte Martin - Reproductions
Megadeth - United Abominations
Necessary Response - Blood Spills Not Far From the Wound
Nerve - Prohibited Beats
Nile - Ithyphallic
Nocturnal Rites - The 8th Sin
Novembers Doom - The Novella Resevoir
Octavia Sperati - Grace Submerged
Samael - Solar Soul
Scariot - Momentum Shift
Klaus Schulze - Kontinuum
Shatter Messiah - God Burns Like Flesh
Snarky Puppy - The World Is Getting Smaller
Swallow The Sun - Hope
Tacere - Beautiful Darkness
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Alexander Vynograd - s/t
Yakuza - Transmutations

Tier 4:

Aeon Spoke - s/t
Russell Allen/Jorn Lande - The Revenge
Anberlin - Cities
BarlowGirl - How Can We Be Silent
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Bjork - Volta
Blinded Colony - Bedtime Prayers
Blotted Science - The Machinations of Dementia
Born of Osiris - The New Reign
Counter-World Experience - Leaving Lotus
Darkest Hour - Deliver Us
Deathevokation - The Chalice of Ages
Demonical - Servants of the Unlight
Detonation - Emission Phase
Dimension Zero - He Who Shall Not Bleed
Donati/Fierabraci/Gambale - Made in Australia
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
For Selena and Sin - Overdosed On You
The Foreshadowing - Days of Nothing
Gorefest - Rise To Ruin
Grendel - Harsh Generation
Tord Gustavsen Trio - Being There
Iced Earth - Overture of the Wicked EP
Illogicist - The Insight Eye
Insect Warfare - World Extermination
Manticora - The Black Circus: Part 2: Disclosure
Mountain Home - s/t
Naildown - Dreamcrusher
Porcupine Tree - Nil Reccuring
Redemption - The Origins of Ruin
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
Sear Bliss - The Arcane Odyssey
Stuck Mojo - Southern Born Killers
Tiesto - Elements of Life
VNV Nation - Judgment
Watain - Sworn To the Dark

Tier 5:

Atrium Carceri - Ptahil
Emilie Autumn - Laced/Unlaced
Crimson Tears - The Dark Awakening
Lars Danielsson/Leszek Mozdzer - Pasodoble
The Donnas - Bitchin'
Chris Duarte - Blue Velocity
Erasure - Light at the End of the World
Farmakon - Robin
Fear My Thoughts - Vulcanus
Dave Gahan - Hourglass
High On Fire - Death Is This Communion
Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon (Something Wicked Part 1)
Imperia - Queen of Light
Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious
Anna Maria Jopek - ID
Stacey Kent - Breakfast on the Morning Tram
Bismillah Khan - Shaadi Ki Shehnaiyan
Krypteria - Bloodangel's Cry
Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water
Meshell Ndegeocello - The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams
Nox - Ixaxaar
Port-Royal - Afraid To Dance
Primordial - To the Nameless Dead
Joshua Redman - Back East
Arturo Sandoval - Rumba Palace
Scale the Summit - Monument
ShamRain - Goodbye to All That
Souldrainer - My Dividing Line
Venetian Snares - My Downfall
Winds - Prominence and Demise

[SoundscapeMN]

2015

2015 was and still now seems like a big year/one of my favorite years in recent memory for music and albums. I say that largely from memory and when I think of music and albums from the 2010's right now, many of the records in my top 10 come to mind.

Face Yourself and Remove Your Sandals from Small Leaks Sink Ships remains the last perfect/5-star album for me, and I recently revisited it again and it still holds up. And Kaddisfly's Horses Galloping on Sailboats was a massive deal to me and many others to finally come out, that I will never forget how surreal it felt to finally get to hear it. And for the most part, it lived up to my hopes.

Everything Everything, Vennart, Timbre, Mew and The Dear Hunter also all had records I listened to a ton back in 2015 and still do listen to often now.

But the rest of my list is spotty at best, so in now looking at 2015, it seems quite TOP HEAVY a year at this point.

1. Small Leaks Sink Ships - Face Yourself, and Remove Your Sandals
2. Kaddisfly - Horses Galloping on Sailboats
3. Vennart - The Demon Joke
4. The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
5. Everything Everything - Get to Heaven
6. Mew - + -
7. Timbre - Sun & Moon
8. Subterranean Masquerade - The Great Bazaar
9. Foals - What Went Down
10. Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
11. The Pneumatic Transit - Concerto for Double Moon
12. Falling Up - Falling Up
13. Gatherer - Heavy Hail
14. Hotel of the Laughing Tree - New World Sundown
15. Native Construct - Quiet World
16. Eldren - Welcome to Deathville
17. Miracles of Modern Science - Mean Dreams
18. Archive - Restriction
19. Nordic Giants - A Séance of Dark Delusions
20. Mother Falcon - Good Luck Have Fun
21. Mutemath - Vitals
22. Tigran Hamasyan - Mockroot
23. Punch Brothers The Phosphorescent Blues
24. Thurisaz - The Pulse of Mourning
25. Words for Penga - Prose
26. The Velvet Teen - All Is Illusory
27. The Barnum Meserve   The Barnum Meserve

AM and Shawn Lee - Outlines
Author - Of Brighter Days
Battles - La Di Da Di
Beardfish - 4626 Comfortzone
Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic
Caravan of Thieves - Kiss Kiss
Coheed and Cambria - The Color Before the Sun
Daniel Johns - Talk
Dan Mangan and Blacksmiths - Club Meds
Danny Cavanagh - Memory and Meaning
Dave Kerzner - New World
David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock
Dead Letter Circus - Aethesis
Demians - Mercury
Eidola - Degeneraterra
Faith No More - Sol Invictus
False - Untitled
God is an Astronaut - Helios / Erebus
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Hardcore Crayons - Zozzled
Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon
Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
Josh Rouse - The Embers of Time
Kamasi Washington - The Epic
LA Priest - Inji
Lost Lander - Medallion
Mercies - Blue Against Green
Metal Allegiance - Metal Allegiance
Motopony - Welcome You
Muse - Drones
Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel
Other Lives - Rituals
Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space
Refused - Freedom
Ringo Sheena - Hiidzurutokoro
Riverside - Love, Fear and the Time Machine
Scale the Summit - V
Signal-to-Noise - I Won't Let the World Become a Prison
SOAK - Before We Forgot How to Dream
Steve Hackett - Wolflight
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell
Susanne Sundf0r - Ten Love Songs
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Motorcade Amnesiacs
TesseracT - Polaris
The Basics - The Age of Entitlement
The Bird and the Bee - Recreational Love
The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
The Helio Sequence - The Helio Sequence
The Night Flight Orchestra - Skyline Whispers
The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak
Thomas Giles - Modern Noise
Tuxedo - Tuxedo
Umphrey's McGee - The London Session
Vola - Inmazes

EPs
1. SikTh - Opacities
2. Warpaint - No Way Out / I'll Start Believing
3. East of the Wall / Cryptodira - Split 7"
4. Falling Up - House Full of Caverns
5. Madam Officer - Madam Officer
6. The Barnum Meserve - The Clements Session

Concerts
2.20/15 Zoso: Led Zeppelin Tribute - Mill City Nights Minneapolis, MN
3/29/15 Stevie Wonder - Target Center Minneapolis, MN
5/5/15 XTC Tribute: Senses Working Overtime - The Icehouse Minneapolis, MN
5/12/15 Rush - XCel Energy Center St.Paul, MN
6/5/15 Josh Rouse/Walter Martin - The Fine Line Music Cafe Minneapolis, MN
6/7/15 Steven Wilson - The Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN
7/6/15 The Family Crest/The Lonely Wild - The 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN
7/24/15 This Will Destroy You/The Velvet Teen - The Varsity Theater Minneapolis,MN
8/26/15 Brice Plays Drums/The Mercury Tree/The Bob Pat Band - The Nomad World Pub Minneapolis, MN
9/13/15 The Dear Hunter/Chon - The Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
9/18/15 Micky Dolenz - St Croix Casino Turtle Lake, WI
9/22/15 Miracles of Modern Science at Honey Minneapolis, MN
10/5/15 Mew/The Dodos - The Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
11/2/15 The Bird and the Bee/Alex Lilly - The Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN
11/23/15 Between the Buried and Me/Enslaved/Intronaut/Native Construct - The Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN
11/30/15 Charlie Engen Recital/McNally Smith College Auditorium St.Paul, MN

[KevShmev]

2015:

01 Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase
02 Neal Morse - The Grand Experiment
03 Muse - Drones
04 David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock
05 Ghost - Meliora
06 Spock's Beard - The Oblivion Particle
07 Death Cab for Cutie - Kintsugi
08 Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
09 Unreal City - Il Paese del Tramonto
10 The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World

[nick_z]

2015

Ghost was the clear winner for me this year...such a great album, with fantastic songwriting. As for the second spot - I discovered Royal Thunder more recently, but this is a beautiful record. And Hand.Cannot.Erase might be my favorite Steven Wilson solo record. I'd say pretty solid year.

* as usual for albums purchased later

The Top 15:

Ghost – Meliora
Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors *
Steven Wilson – Hand.Cannot.Erase
Clutch – Psychic Warfare
Amorphis – Under the Red Cloud *
Von Hertzen Brothers – New Day Rising *
Symphony X – Underworld
Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
Sorcerer – In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross *
Enslaved – In Times
Teramaze – Her Halo *
Vhol – Deeper Than the Sky *
Moonspell – Extinct
Draconian – Sovran
Enshine – Singularity *

The Honorable Mentions:

21 Octayne – 2.0 *
Adele – 25
Angra – Secret Garden *
Armored Saint – Win Hands Down
Art of Anarchy – Art of Anarchy *
Avatarium – The Girl With the Raven Mask *
Baroness – Purple
Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror
Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher’s Daughter
Byzantine – To Release Is To Resolve *
Caligula’s Horse – Bloom *
Cradle of Filth – Hammer of the Witches
Dead Letter Circus – Aesthesis
The Deer Hunter – Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
Disturbed – Immortalized
Faith No More – Sol Invictus
Farmikos – Farmikos *
Florence + the Machine – How Big , How Blue, How Beautiful
Ghost Ship Octavius – Ghost Ship Octavius
Halestorm – Into the Wild Life
Helloween – My God-Given Right
High on Fire – Luminiferous
Horrendous – Anareta *
Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
Katatonia – Sanctitude *
Khemmis – Absolution *
Kingcrow – Eidos
Lamb of God – VII: Sturm und Drang
Leprous - Congregation
Nightwish – Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Parkway Drive – Ire
Pyramaze – Disciples of the Sun *
Queensryche – Condition Human
Red Sun Rising – Polyester Zeal
Shinedown – Threat to Survival
Slayer – Repentless *
Soilwork – The Ride Majestic
Chris Stapleton – Traveller
Subsignal – The Beacons of Somewhere Sometime
A Swarm of the Sun – The Rifts *
Sylosis – Dormant Heart *
Tesseract – Polaris
Rob Thomas – The Great Unknown
Toto – XIV
Tribulation – The Children of the Night *
Trivium – Silence in the Snow *
We Are Harlot – We Are Harlot *
While She Sleeps – Brainwashed *
The Winery Dogs – Hot Streak
Year of the Goat – The Unspeakable *

[LithoJazzoSphere]

2015:

I'm observing an interesting irony here.  This is right in the middle of my period of not caring about new releases and exploring almost solely at my own pace.  But it's clear I've heard way more modern releases than I even realized (part of it is following a few modern movements like synthwave/darksynth, instrumental prog/djent rock/metal, and darker folky singer/songwriters).  So I'm not necessarily hearing many of these right when they come out, but I usually got around to a lot of them months/a year or two later anyway.  Of course, I was much less plugged into music discussion communities in this period (a lot more musical gear forums, mainly), so I wasn't really talking about this music with anyone else, and that's a joy I've redisovered in the past couple years. 

I'm starting to also include more EPs here, because I was starting to pay more attention to them, which is something I historically didn't do other than select favorite artists.  Doing four tiers is starting to work out better now.  Tier 1 are favorites, tier 2 are flawed favorites, tier 4 are either albums I liked but haven't spent enough time with to justify ranking them higher, or occasionally that I still enjoyed but not on the level of earlier favorites.  Tier 3 releases are piquant enough to stand out from tier 4, but aren't at the level of quality or time spent with tier 2.  Often the difference between tier 3 and 4 is that I can recall a specific song or more from tier 3.  Ideally tier 4 should be broken out into at least another tier (probably tier 3 too), but it's just too hard, since most of them aren't albums I've heard more than a couple times yet.  This makes ranking them challenging, yet they did stand out from dozens of other albums I cut, so I hate to leave them off and I'm erring on the side of inclusion at this point. 

Tier 1:

Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
Batushka - Litourgiya
Vanessa Carlton - Blue Pool EP
Draconian - Sovran
Disasterpeace - It Follows score
Earthside - A Dream In Static
Entrails - Obliteration
Katharine McPhee - Hysteria
David Maxim Micic - ECO EP
Sulphur Aeon - Gateway To the Antisphere
TesseracT - Polaris
VOLA - Inmazes
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss

Tier 2:

Apocryphos/Kammarheit/Atrium Carceri - Onyx
Artrosis - Odi et Amo
Bjork - Vulnicura
Vanessa Carlton - Liberman
Grimes - Art Angels
Halestorm - Into the Wild Life
Kate Boy - One
mind.in.a.box - Memories
Of Monsters & Men - Beneath the Skin
Plini - The End of Everything EP
Purity Ring - Another Eternity
Puscifer - Money Shot
Say Lou Lou - Lucid Dreaming
Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
Solution .45 - Nightmares in the Waking State: Part I
Swallow The Sun - Songs From the North I, II, III
Tremonti - Cauterize

Tier 3:

Above The Earth - Every Moment
Adele - 25
Atrium Carceri - The Old City: Leviathan score
Disarmonia Mundi - Cold Inferno
Drab Majesty - Careless
Fear Factory - Genexus
The Gentle Storm - The Diary
Ghost Ship Octavius - s/t
GosT - Behemoth
Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous
Intervals - The Shape of Colour
ISON - Cosmic Drone
Marriages - Salome
Myrkur - M
Nero - Between II Worlds
Nightrage - The Puritan
Nonexist - Throne of Scars
Purtenance - ...To Spread the Flame of the Ancients
Rivers of Nihil - Monarchy
Thayer Sarrano - Shaky
Sevendust - Kill the Flaw
Silversun Pickups - Better Nature
Susanne Sundfor - Ten Love Songs
Symphony X - Underworld
VHS Glitch - Land With No Future and Halloween Strangers
Voices From the Fuselage - Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds
We Lost The Sea - Departure Songs
Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase
The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak

Tier 4:

Act of Defiance - Birth and the Burial
Anderson Ponty Band - Better Late Than Never
Angel Dust Dealers - Euthanasia Broadcast Network
Apocryphos - The Prisoners Cinema
Aristocrats - Tres Caballeros
Atrium Carceri - Metropolis
Sithu Aye - Senpai EP
Sara Bareilles - What's Inside: Songs From Waitress
Bastard Grave - What Lies Beyond
Blood Incantation - Interdimensional Extinction
Breaking Benjamin - Dark Before Dawn
Cain's Offering - Stormcrow
John Carpenter - Lost Themes
Carpenter Brut - Trilogy
Celldweller - End of An Empire
Chastain - We Bleed Metal
CHON - Grow
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
Alessandro Cortini - Forse 3
Cryo Chamber - Azathoth
Dynatron - Aeternus
Eleine - s/t
Feared - Synder
The Fine Constant - Woven in Light
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress'
Grave - Out of Respect For the Dead
Hilary Hahn - Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4 Violin Concertos
Hate - Crusade: Zero
Helslave - An Endless Path
Holly Herndon - Platform
Hocico - Ofensor
Hooded Menace - Darkness Drips Forth
Kammarheit - The Nest
Lik - Mass Funeral Evocation
Mass Burial - Soul's Necrosis
Messer Chups - The Incredible Crocotiger
MG - s/t
David Maxim Micic - EGO
Millencolin - True Brew
Morbid Saint - Destruction System
Nightstop - Return To Synth City
Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Raison d'Etre/Troum - De aeris in sublunaria influxu
Regarde les hommes tomber - Exile
Sabled Sun - Signals VI
Snarky Puppy/Het Metropole Orkest - Sylva
Street Cleaner - Shutdown
Dan Terminus - The Wrath of Code
Tribulation - The Children of the Night
Turboslash - EP I
Unleashed - Dawn of the Nine
Valborg - Romantik
Visigoth - The Revenant King
Paul Wardingham - The Human Affliction
Yen Pox - Between the Horizon and the Abyss
Jakub Zytecki - Wishful Lotus Proof

[HOF]

2015:

1. Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Motorcade Amnesiacs
2. The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak
3. Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space
4. The Basics - The Age of Entitlement
5. Anthonie Tonnon - Successor
6. Big Big Train - Wassail (EP)
7. Spock's Beard - The Oblivion Particle
8. Collective Soul - See What You Started by Continuing
9. Lynda Manwaring - The Springbird
10. Ludovico Einaudi - Elements

[ariich]

Of course, I was much less plugged into music discussion communities in this period (a lot more musical gear forums, mainly), so I wasn't really talking about this music with anyone else, and that's a joy I've redisovered in the past couple years. 

[WardySI]

Some good choices above and yet more I seem to have missed and need to explore gotta love these threads...

2015

1/ PARADISE LOST The Plague Within

2/ AMORPHIS Under A Red Cloud

3/ CIRCLE II CIRCLE Reign Of Darkness

4/ IRON MAIDEN Book Of Souls

5/ JON STEVENS Woman


WASP Golgotha
QUEENSRYCHE Condition Human
HOUSE OF LORDS Indestructible
ARMOURED SAINT Win Hands Down
PYRAMAZE Disciples Of The Sun
SWEET & LYNCH Only To Rise
UGLY KID JOE Uglier Than They Used To Be
NIGHTWISH Endless Forms Most Beautiful
EUROPE War Of Kings
SYMPHONY X Underworld
SAXON Battering Ram
SEVENDUST Kill The Flaw

[ariich]

1. The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
2. Enshine - Singularity
3. Caravan Palace - <I°_°I>
4. Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
5. Wilderun - Sleep at the Edge of the Earth
6. Caligula's Horse - Bloom
7. Maribou State - Portraits
8. Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
9. Leprous - The Congregation
10. Periphery - Juggernaut
11. Novallo - Novallo II EP
12. Gavin Harrison - Cheating the Polygraph
13. Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic
14. Kauan - Sorni Nai
15. Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
16. Arcane Roots - Heaven & Earth EP
17. Chaos Divine - Colliding Skies
18. Plini - The End of Everything EP
19. Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
20. Clarence Clarity - No Now
21. Gabrielle Aplin - Light Up the Dark
22. Von Hertzen Brothers - New Day Rising
23. Frank Turner - Positive Songs for Negative People
24. Tigran Hamasyan - Mockroot
25. Gunship - Gunship

Also great:
Agent Fresco - Destrier
Arcane - Known/Learned
Arcturus - Arcturian
Arkentype - Disorientated
Baroness - Purple
Barren Earth - On Lonely Towers
Beyond the Black - Songs of Love and Death
Borealis - Purgatory
Bring Me the Horizon - That's the Spirit
The Chronicles Project - When Darkness Falls
Dance Gavin Dance - Instant Gratification
Diablo - Silvër Horizon
Dog Fashion Disco - Ad Nauseam
Earthside - A Dream in Static
Eidola - Degeneraterra
Ensiferum - One Man Army
Enslaved - In Times
Ereb Altor - Nattramn
Everything Everything - Get to Heaven
Falling Up - Falling Up
Federation of the Disco Pimp - Inamorata
Firefly Burning - Skeleton Hill
Ghost - Meliora
Halestorm - Into the Wild Life
Infected Mushroom - Friends on Mushrooms
Infected Mushroom - Converting Vegetarians II
Intronaut - The Direction of Last Things
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
Kamelot - Haven
Kardashev - Peripety
Karnataka - Secrets of Angels
Lauri Porra - Flyover
Lucy Rose - Work It Out
Marah in the Mainsail - Thaumatrope
Matthew Good - Chaotic Neutral
Mumford & Sons - Wilder Mind
Muse - Drones
Mutoid Man - Bleeder
Native Construct - Quiet World
The Neal Morse Band - The Grand Experiment
One I Cinema - One I Cinema
The Ongoing Concept - Handmade
Ott - Fairchildren
The Plot in You - Happiness in Self Destruction
Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space
Pyramaze - Disciples of the Sun
Shattered Skies - The World We Used to Know
SikTh - Opacities EP
Snarky Puppy & Het Metropole Orkest - Sylva
Solefald - World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud
Solution .45 - Nightmares in the Waking State: Part I
Spock's Beard - The Oblivion Particle
Suotana - Frostrealm
Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs
A Swarm of the Sun - The Rifts
TesseracT - Polaris
Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr
Tremonti - Cauterize
Voices From the Fuselage - Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds
VOLA - Inmazes
While She Sleeps - Brainwashed

[MirrorMask]

My 2015:

1. IRON MAIDEN - The Book of Souls

The masters are back and there's nothing left for anyone else.

2. The Gentle Storm - The Diary

An album I absolutely and dearly loved and obsessed over it. Masterpiece.

3. Kamelot - Haven

By far, my favorite Tommy album.


And then, rounding it up with some good albums (first) and some letdowns (last)...

4. Nightwish – Endless Forms Most Beautiful
5. Ghost - Meliora
6. Powerwolf - Blessed & Possessed
7. Avatarium – The Girl With the Raven Mask
8. Symphony X – Underworld
9. Halestorm – Into the Wild Life
10. Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror

11. Helloween – My God-Given Right
12. Virgin Steele - Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation

[jingle.boy]

My A-list albums (ranked)... most were purchased, a few (*) were just Spotify saves.  Some of these would move up or down if I was to re-rank them now.

Vanden Plas - Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld II
Symphony X - Underworld
Teramaze - Her Halo
Magnus Karlson's FreeFall II - FreeFall II
Kamelot - Haven
Lande/Holter - Dracula:Swing of Death
Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Universe Effects - In The Haze That Surrounds us
Queensryche - Condition Human
Borealis - Purgatory
Trivium - Silence in the Snow*
Serious Black - As Daylight Breaks
Level 10 - Chapter 1
Amadeus Awad - Death is Just a Feeling
The Poodles - Devil in the Details
Pyramaze - Disciples of the Sun
Stratovarius - Eternal*
Kiske/Somerville - City of Heroes*
Angra - The Secret Garden
Forgotten Suns - When Worlds Collide
W.A.S.P. -Golgotha
Phantasma - The Deviant Hearts
Cain's Offering - Stormcrow*
The Paralydium Project - The Paralydium Project (EP)
Shattered Skies - The World We Used to Know
Pantommind - Searching for Eternity*

Not yet mentioned:
Damnation Angels - The Valiant Fire
Eclipse - Armageddonize
Europe - War of Kings
Impellitteri - Venom
Magic Pie - King For A Day
Manimal - Trapped in the Shadows
Mystery - Delusion Rain
RavenBlack Project - Breaking Through The Mist
Rox Diamond - Rox Diamond
Royal Hunt - Devil's Dozen
Sebastien - Dark Chambers of déjà vu
Stormzone - Seven Sins
The Chronicles Project - When Darkness Falls
The Gentle Storm - The Diary
The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak
Voices From the Fuselage - Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds
Waken Eyes - Exodus
Wolfpakk - Rise of the Animal

[nick_z]

5. Wilderun - Sleep at the Edge of the Earth

This is excellent and one of my favorites of the year too - I didn't list it because I still technically don't "own" it. I wanted to get the CD but a couple of years ago (when I discovered them) it didn't seem that easy to find. I'll have to check back on that.

[SoundscapeMN]

2016

2016 was a pretty good year, with some long awaited albums/debut albums and discovering some artists new to me like Esperanza Spalding and Bent Knee. The Cloud Cult album The Seeker was my #1 for most of the year, however Theories of Flight and my Fates Warning fanboy nature ended up finishing on top regardless. Now 5 years later, I'm not sure if I would rate The Seeker even quite that high given how much less I've listened to it since. However, it's still among my favorite Cloud Cult albums.

Long Distance Calling, Warpaint, The Monkees, Marillion, The Dear Hunter are among the bands I think of for 2016. And that long awaited track "Alea" from Disillusion might be my favorite song from 2016.

I didn't attend as many concerts in 2016 now looking at it per I spent the large majority of the year saving/preparing for my wedding which I will never forget missing some concerts for it (The Dear Hunter played my hometown literally a couple of days before it).

1. Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
2. Cloud Cult - The Seeker
3. The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional
4. Marillion - F.E.A.R.
5. Long Distance Calling - Trips
6. Textures - Phenotype
7. Bent Knee - Say So
8. Esparanza Spalding - Emily's D + Evolution
9. Local Natives - Sunlit Youth
10. Meniscus - Refractions
11. Vektor - Terminal Redux
12. Anakdota - Overloading
13. The Woods Brothers - The Woods Brothers
14. Warpaint - Heads Up
15. The Monkees - Good Times!
16. Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
17. Ideology - Ideology
18. Brooke Waggoner - Sweven
19. Rachel Flowers - Listen
20. Dream the Electric Sleep - Beneath the Dark Wide Sky
21. British Theatre - Mastery
22. nosound - Scintilla
23. iamthemorning - Lighthouse
24. The Mercury Tree - Permutations
25. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
26. Rare Futures - The is Your Brain on Love
27. Painted in Exile - The Ordeal
28. Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha
29. Mayer Hawthorne - Man About Town
30. Archive - The False Foundation
31. Umphrey's McGee - Zonkey
32. Gracepoint- Echoes
33. Hands of Despair - Bereft
34. Kyle Morton - What Will Destroy You?
35. David Bowie - Blackstar
36. The Chap - The Show Must Go
37. Emanuel and the Fear- Primitive Smile
38. Field Music - Commontime
39. Jeff Buckley - You and I

EPs
1. Disillusion - Alea
2. Watchtower - Concepts of Math: Book One
3. Protest the Hero - Pacific Myth
4. Revere - Man of Atom
5. Steven Wilson - 4 1/2
6. Josh Benash - The Body Light
7. Genders - Phone Home
8. Wolf Parade - EP 4

Others
Anderson / Stolt - Invention of Knowledge
An Endless Sporadic - Magic Machine
Astronoid- Air
Biffy Clyro - Ellipsis
Black Mountain - IV
Bloc Party- Hymns
Cloud Caverns - Holy Gloom
Crippled Black Phoenix - Bronze
Deerhoof - The Magic
Dream Theater - The Astonishing
Eight Bells - Landless
Fitz and the Tantrums - Fitz and the Tantrums
Gloria Morti - Kuebiko
Gojira - Magma
Ihsahn - Arktis.
Is Tropical - Black Anything
Jeff Lynne's ELO - Alone in the Universe
Jennylee - Right On!
John Wesley - A Way You'll Never Be
Kansas - The Prelude Implicit
Klimt 1918 - Sentimentale / Jugend
Lawrence - Breakfast
Memoryhouse - Soft Hate
O'Brother - Endless Light
Obscura - Akróasis
Oddland - Origin
Opeth - Sorceress
Orphaned Land and Amaseffer - Kna'an
Owel - Dear Me
Radical Face - The Family Tree: Branches
Skeleton Staff - Kurfürstendammned
The Besnard Lakes - A Coliseum Complex Museum
The Jelly Jam - Profit
The Most Serene Republic - Mediac
The Mute Gods - Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me
Ulver - ATGCLVLSSCAPVAST - Stripped
Unlocking the Truth - Chaos
White Denim - Stiff


Concerts
2/11/16 Godspeed You Black Emperor/Xylouris White - First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
2/26/16 Voivod/Vektor/Eight Bells at the Amsterdam Bar and Grille St.Paul, MN
3/12/16 Cloud Cult at the State Theater Minneapolis, MN
4/3/16 Mutemath/Paper Route at First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
4/5/16 The Joy Formidable/Everything Everything at First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
5/10/16 Anderson/Ponty at the Ames Center in Burnsville, MN
6/2/16 Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists St. Louis Park, MN
7/23/16 Duran Duran/Nile Rodgers at the XCel Energy Center St.Paul, MN
8/5/16 Bubblemath/Faun Fables/Paul Fonfara at the Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
8/22/16 Periphery/SikTh at The Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN
8/25/16 King's X/OvrFwrd/Meridian Incident at The Fine Line Minneapolis, MN
10/24/16 Mayer Hawthorne at the Skyway Theater Minneapolis, MN
10/28/16 Marillion/John Wesley at the Vic Theatre Chicago, IL

[LithoJazzoSphere]

2016:

Things are starting to thin out ever so slightly, though there's still a lot.  Not following new releases at the time and only half a decade passing means there hasn't been quite as much accumulation as especially the 00s, which were my heaviest exploration years and favorites for music in general.  There's good music here for sure, but this definitely is one of the weakest years I've done so far.  '17-'19 should be fascinating to see if they have the same trajectory before things pick back up in '20. 

Tier 1:

Alcest - Kodama
Daughter - Not To Disappear
Delain - Moonbathers
Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts
The Midnight - Endless Summer
Nightmare - Dead Sun
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Plini - Handmade Cities
Tremonti - Dust
Volkor X - This Means War
Witherscape - The Northern Sanctuary
Chelsea Wolfe - Hypnos/Flame EP - a 2-song EP in tier 1?  Yes, it's that good. 

Tier 2:

40 Watt Sun - Wider Than the Sky
Animals As Leaders - The Madness of Many
Circle of Dust - Machines Of Our Disgrace
Dark Tranquillity - Atoma
Darkher - Realms
Dead Astronauts - Arms of Night
Deftones - Gore
FM-84 - Atlas
Sara Gazarek/Josh Nelson - Dream in the Blue
Mick Gordon - DOOM score
Sierra Hull - Weighted Mind
Sarah Jarosz - Undercurrent
KANGA - s/t
Letters From the Fire - Worth the Pain
Liquid Divine - Get Off My Planet
Long Night - Sorrow Returns
Meshiaak - Alliance of Thieves
Agnes Obel - Citizen of Glass
Opeth - Sorceress
The Pineapple Thief - Your Wilderness
Scandroid - s/t
Soilwork - Death Resonance
Solution .45 - Nightmares in the Waking State: Part II
Sunburst - Fragments of Creation
Swans - The Glowing Man
Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake
Devin Townsend - Transcendence
Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale
VHS Glitch - Demoniac
We Are The Catalyst - Elevation

Tier 3:

Alter Bridge - The Last Hero
Sithu Aye - Set Course For Andromeda
Lisa Batiashvili - Violin Concertos
Dead Astronauts - Strange Ways EP
Aleksandra Djelmash - Crossroads
The Foreshadowing - Seven Heads Ten Horns
Gatecreeper - Sonoran Depravation
Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust
GosT - Non Paradisi
Beth Hart - Fire on the Floor
Heavenwood - The Tarot of the Bohemians
Krypts - Remnants of Expansion
Megadeth - Dystopia
Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct
Mourning Sun - Ultimo Exhalario
Nemesea - Uprise
Nightstop - Streetwalker
Obscura - Akroasis
October Tide - Winged Waltz
Oracles - Miserycorde
Temple Nightside - The Hecatomb
Vektor - Terminal Redux
Wytch Hazel - Prelude

Tier 4:

Ablaze My Sorrow - Black
Amaranthe - Maximalism
Apocryphos - Stone Speak
Assemblage 23 - Endure
Banks - The Altar
Blood Incantation - Starspawn
Covenant - The Burning Dark
Cryo Chamber - Nyarlathotep
Dance With the Dead - The Shape
Dayshell - Nexus
Deadlock - Hybris
Kyle Dixon/Michael Stein - Stranger Things: Volume One
Dogs of Peace - Heel
Epica - The Holographic Principle
Esben and the Witch - Older Terrors
First Fragment - Dasein
GosT - Non Paradisi (Secret Arcana)
Nick Johnston - Remarkably Human
Lacuna Coil - Delirium
Lustmord - Dark Matter
Myrath - Legacy
Marissa Nadler - Strangers
Noisia - Outer Edges
Ogre - Calico Noir
Owane - Dunno
Polyphia - Renaissance
Ana Popovic - Trilogy
Rein - s/t
Revel In Flesh - Emissary of All Plagues
Ribspreader - Suicide Gate - A Bridge To Death
Emma Ruth Rundle - Marked For Death
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Ears
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith/Suzanne Ciani - FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy
Snarky Puppy - Family Dinner: Volume Two and Culcha Vulcha
S U R V I V E - RR7349
Venetian Snares - Traditional Synthesizer Music
Paul Wardingham - Spiritual Machines
Wormed - Krighsu
Youth Code - Commitment To Complications

[KevShmev]

2016. 

01 Neal Morse Band - The Similitude of a Dream
02 Dream Theater - The Astonishing
03 Haken - Affinity
04 Devin Townsend - Transcendence
05 Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
06 David Bowie - Blackstar
07 Southern Empire - Southern Empire
08 Eric Gillette - The Great Unknown
09 Opeth - Sorceress
10 The Pineapple Thief - Your Wilderness

[HOF]

2016 was a really strong year.

1. Big Big Train - Folklore
2. Marillion - F.E.A.R.
3. The Fringe - The Fringe
4. Haken - Affinity
5. Field Music - Commontime
6. CF Kip Winger - Conversations With Nijinksy
7. Starless - Starless
8. Eric Johnson - EJ
9. The Clientele - A Sense of Falling: Strange Geometry Outtakes
10. The Neal Morse Band - The Similitude of a Dream 

[WardySI]

2016

1. FATES WARNING Theories Of Flight

2. SUPERHEIST Ghosts Of The Social Dead

3. METALLICA Hard Wired...

4. THE CULT Hidden City

5. NORDIC UNION Nordic Union

REDEMPTION Long Night's Journey...
MEGADETH Dystopia
KHEMMIS The Hunted
CANDLEBOX (Kev Martin) Disappearing in Airports
EVERGREY The Storm Within
DEVILSKIN Be Like The River
ANTHRAX For All Kings
PRETTY MAIDS Kingmaker

ETA just realised forgot Nordic Union debut!!!

[ariich]

2016 was a great year for metal, and some other amazing stuff as well.

1. The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With the Devil in Confessional
2. Insomnium - Winter's Gate
3. Haken - Affinity
4. Dissona - Paleopneumatic
5. Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere
6. Borknagar - Winter Thrice
7. Moonsorrow - Jumalten aika
8. 65daysofstatic - No Man's Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe
9. Thank You Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail
10. Ihsahn - Arktis.
11. Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
12. Hypno5e - Shores of the Abstract Line
13. An Abstract Illusion - Illuminate the Path
14. Vektor - Terminal Redux
15. Bear Ghost - Blasterpiece
16. Big Big Train - Folklore
17. Frost* - Falling Satellites
18. DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall
19. Oddarrang - Agartha
20. Periphery - Periphery III: Select Difficulty
21. Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West
22. Submotion Orchestra - Colour Theory
23. Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence
24. Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts
25. NOFX - First Ditch Effort

Also great:
Aephanemer - Memento mori
Alter Bridge - The Last Hero
Amendfoil - Empyrean & Ophidian
Amon Amarth - Jomsviking
Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Astronoid - Air
Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
Beyond the Black - Lost in Forever
Biffy Clyro - Ellipsis
Black Peaks - Statues
BT - _
Burden of Life - In Cycles
Cloud Cult - The Seeker
Countless Skies - New Dawn
Dance Gavin Dance - Mothership
Dark Tranquillity - Atoma
Daughter - Not to Disappear
Dream Theater - The Astonishing
Dream the Electric Sleep - Beneath the Dark Wide Sky
Equilibrium - Armageddon
Ereb Altor - Blot - Ilt - Taut
The Fall of Troy - OK
Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack
Ghost - Popestar EP
Glass Animals - How to Be a Human Being
Gojira - Magma
Headspace - All That You Fear Is Gone
Hemina - Venus
Hiromi - Spark
The Hotelier - Goodness
Illyria - Illyria
In Flames - Battles
In Mourning - Afterglow
Karmakanic - Dot
Khonsu - The Xun Protectorate
Kings of Leon - Walls
Kishi Bashi - Sonderlust
Kyros - Vox Humana
Little Tybee - Little Tybee
Long Distance Calling - Trips
The Longest Johns - Written in Salt
Mare Cognitum - Luminiferous Aether
Max Cooper - Emergence
Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct
Monica Heldal - The One in the Sun
Myrath - Legacy
Netherbird - The Grander Voyage
Oceans of Slumber - Winter
Olaf Stuut - Run
Omnium Gatherum - Grey Heavens
öOoOoOoOoOo - Samen
Opeth - Sorceress
ORBS - Past Life Regression
Owel - Dear Me
Papadosio - Pattern Integrities
Pellek - A Marvelous Method of Reclusion
Plini - Handmade Cities
Protest the Hero - Pacific Myth
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - High Visceral {Part 1}
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Poo
Regina Spektor - Remember Us to Life
Shadecrown - Agonia
Sleep Token - One
Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha
Soilwork - Death Resonance
Solution .45 - Nightmares in the Waking State: Part II
Southern Empire - Southern Empire
Sunburst - Fragments of Creation
Thy Catafalque - Meta
Tremonti - Dust
Twelve Foot Ninja - Outlier
Tycho - Epoch
Unreqvited - Disquiet
Vaults - Caught in Still Life
Weezer - Weezer [White Album]
Whispered - Metsutan: Songs of the Void
Witherscape - The Northern Sanctuary

[jingle.boy]

huh... didn't know PelleK released an (original no less) album in '16.  Gotta check that out.

My top 20 ranking (at the time ... some would rate lower now; some higher)
Now or Never - II
Sunburst - Fragments of Creation
Lords of Black - II
Hemina - Venus
Cloudscape - Voice of Reason
Almanac - Tsar
Utopia - Mood Changes
Innerwish - s/t
Avantasia - Ghostlights
Primal Fear - Rulebreaker
Mob Rules - Tales From Beyond
Fates Warning - Theories of Flight
Pretty Maids - Kingmaker
Heaven Below - Good Morning Apocalypse
Dynazty - Titanic Mass
Myrath - Legacy
DGM - The Passage
Theocracy - Ghost Ship
Poverty's No Crime - Spiral of Fear
Virtual Symmetry - Message From Eternity

Not mentioned yet:
Alter Bridge - The Last Hero
Agonizer - Visions of the Blind
Assignment - Closing the Circle
Axel Rudi Pell - Game of Sins
Circus Maximus - Havoc
Corona Skies - Fragments of Reality
Crystal Palace - Dawn of Eternity
Dec Burke - Book of Secrets
Derdian - Revolution Era
Enbound - The Blackened Heart
Eternity's End - The Fire Within
Evership - Evership
Fatal Destiny - Palindromia
First Signal - One Step Over The Line
Hardline - Human Nature
Herman Frank - The Devil Rides Out
Iron Mask - Diabolica
Jaded Heart - Guilty by Design
King Company - One For The Road
Maverick - Big Red
Monument - Hair of the Dog
Nemesea - Uprise
Nordic Union - Nordic Union
Noveria - Forsaken
Nth Ascension - In Fine Initium
Ocean's of Time - Trust
Pain - Coming Home
Rage of Angels - The Devil's New Tricks
Rik Emmett RES9 - RES9
Section A - Wall of Silence
Serenity - Codex Atlantica
Serious Black - Mirrorworld
Sirenia - Dim Days of Dolor
Striker - Stand in the Fire
Tangerine Circus - The Conspiracy Chronicles
Thunderstone - Apocalypse Again
Universal Mind Project - The Jaguar Priest
Withem - The Unforgiving Road