Favorites of 2022 - tracker

[TAC]

I spend my Friday afternoons with a few new album tickers. I drop the needle on probably a half dozen albums. I'll sit and listen to the really good ones. I'll Save on Spotify the ones I like, but I'll everything on a text document. I give a * to the ones I Save.

There's like 220 albums on my overall list of things I've sampled. Doesn't mean I've listened front to back on all of them.
I generally keep an upper tier.
Then I'll break the rest out to groups...Modern, Classic Heavy Metal, Harsh, Instrumental, EP's...etc

I did good this year, because usually by the end of the summer, I've stopped adding albums that I check out. My Spotify Library does need a good purge though.

[twosuitsluke]

Yea I have my own system Tim, which isn't too dissimilar to yours. I counted to 200 new albums on last.fm and stopped, but there won't be many more that I missed. That's an average of 4 new albums a week, which I don't think is particularly crazy really,based on the sheer volume music that is released nowadays.

My Spotify playlists also need a good purge to be honest   

[ReaperKK]

I spend my Friday afternoons with a few new album tickers. I drop the needle on probably a half dozen albums. I'll sit and listen to the really good ones. I'll Save on Spotify the ones I like, but I'll everything on a text document. I give a * to the ones I Save.

There's like 220 albums on my overall list of things I've sampled. Doesn't mean I've listened front to back on all of them.
I generally keep an upper tier.
Then I'll break the rest out to groups...Modern, Classic Heavy Metal, Harsh, Instrumental, EP's...etc

I did good this year, because usually by the end of the summer, I've stopped adding albums that I check out. My Spotify Library does need a good purge though.

That's an interesting system Tim, I like it.

I have a master excel spreadsheet of every album I want to listen to, as I go reading the forums and other outlets I'll toss albums on the list. I'll typically listen to 1 or 2 albums front to back daily and rank them on RYM. Songs/albums I like get moved to Spotify. My Spotify playlists are organized by genre so I I can just pick a genre to listen to that day.

If I really love an album I'll buy the physical media of it, usually vinyl if it's available.

[twosuitsluke]

I spend my Friday afternoons with a few new album tickers. I drop the needle on probably a half dozen albums. I'll sit and listen to the really good ones. I'll Save on Spotify the ones I like, but I'll everything on a text document. I give a * to the ones I Save.

There's like 220 albums on my overall list of things I've sampled. Doesn't mean I've listened front to back on all of them.
I generally keep an upper tier.
Then I'll break the rest out to groups...Modern, Classic Heavy Metal, Harsh, Instrumental, EP's...etc

I did good this year, because usually by the end of the summer, I've stopped adding albums that I check out. My Spotify Library does need a good purge though.

That's an interesting system Tim, I like it.

I have a master excel spreadsheet of every album I want to listen to, as I go reading the forums and other outlets I'll toss albums on the list. I'll typically listen to 1 or 2 albums front to back daily and rank them on RYM. Songs/albums I like get moved to Spotify. My Spotify playlists are organized by genre so I I can just pick a genre to listen to that day.

If I really love an album I'll buy the physical media of it, usually vinyl if it's available.

I'm glad to part of a community where this is considered normal 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I think people would faint if they saw mine. 

[lonestar]

Ok, not a busy year for me, but my final top five....

5- Band-Maid - Unleash!
4- Marillion - An Hour Before Its Dark
3- Lalu - Paint the Sky
2- Nemophila - Seize the Fate
1- Allegaeon - Damnum

[cramx3]

I have a very hard time rating music unless I've heard it enough, like at least 5 times.  I don't have the desire to listen to 100+ albums honestly.  I need to check out Nemophila, but I may not get to it before the end of the year.  So this could be my final rankings:

Bad Omens - THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND
Seventh Wonder - The Testament
Avantasia - A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society
Ghost - Impera
Parkway Drive - Darker Still
Set It Off - Elsewhere
Stratovarius - Survive
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love
Alestorm - Seventh Rum of a Seventh Rum
Dirty Heads - Midnight Control
Blind Guardian - The God Machine
James Labrie - Beautiful Shade of Grey
Sabaton - The War to End All Wars
Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament)
Seven Kingdoms - Zenith
Slipknot - The End, So Far
Rammstein - Zeit
Charlie Griffiths - Tiktaalika
Devin Townsend - Lightwork
Porcupine Tree - Closer / Continuation
Wilderun - Epigone
A Day to Remember - You're Welcome
Scorpions - Rock Believer
Battle Beast - Circus of Doom
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Return of the Dream Canteen
Def Leppard - Diamond Star Halos
Skillet - Dominion

[jingle.boy]

I spend my Friday afternoons with a few new album tickers. I drop the needle on probably a half dozen albums. I'll sit and listen to the really good ones. I'll Save on Spotify the ones I like, but I'll everything on a text document. I give a * to the ones I Save.

There's like 220 albums on my overall list of things I've sampled. Doesn't mean I've listened front to back on all of them.
I generally keep an upper tier.
Then I'll break the rest out to groups...Modern, Classic Heavy Metal, Harsh, Instrumental, EP's...etc

I did good this year, because usually by the end of the summer, I've stopped adding albums that I check out. My Spotify Library does need a good purge though.

That's an interesting system Tim, I like it.

I have a master excel spreadsheet of every album I want to listen to, as I go reading the forums and other outlets I'll toss albums on the list. I'll typically listen to 1 or 2 albums front to back daily and rank them on RYM. Songs/albums I like get moved to Spotify. My Spotify playlists are organized by genre so I I can just pick a genre to listen to that day.

If I really love an album I'll buy the physical media of it, usually vinyl if it's available.

I'm glad to part of a community where this is considered normal 

My firm has a profile system that identified my primary trait with the 'catchphrase' "changing the world one spreadsheet at a time"

I have multiple spreadsheets to track my music experiences.

[TAC]

Top 10

AOTY. Bomber-Nocturnal Creatures
2. Megadeth-The Sick, The Dying, and The Dead
3. Lords Of The Trident-The Offering
4. Michael Monroe-I Live Too Fast To Die Young
5. An Abstract Illusion-Woe
6. Trial-Feed The Fire
7. Riverwood-Shadows And Flames
8. Queensryche-Digital Noise Alliance
9. Saxon-Carpe Diem
10. Ardarith-Home


11-20 (No order..)

Disillusion-Ayam
Entheogen-Transmogrify
Dawn Of Solace-Flames Of Perdition
Ereb Altor-Vargtimman
The Silent Wedding-Ego Path
Lost Domain-Merchant Of Emotions
Cleanbreak s/t
Zero Hour-Agenda 21
Hammerfall-Hammer Of Dawn
Jack Starr's Burning Star-Souls Of The Innocent


Honorable Mentions (No order)

Speres-Helios
Blind Guardian-The God Machine
The Mist From The Mountains-Monumental-The Temple Of Twilight
Tony Martin-Thorns
Spirit Adrift-20 Centuries Gone
Rumours-The Lower We Sink, The Less We Care
Autoneosis-Moon Of Foul Magics
In The Woods-Diversum
Clayshaper-Vampiric
The Palimpsest-Primary
The Halo Effect-Days Of The Lost
A Circus Of Fools-Broadcast from Gen.0
Eldprov-Rift
Voodoma-Hellbound
All The Fury-Layers
Fallujah-Empyreon
Korrosive-Toxic Apokalypse


EPs

1. Phantom Spell-Immortal's Requim
2. Dark Forest-Ridge And Furrow
3. Mourn The Light-Stare Into The Face Of Death

Instrumental

1. Stars Begin To Fall-s/t
2. Mindscape-Different Ways
3. My Consequence s/t


SOTY Michael Monroe-Everybody's Nobody
2. Megadeth-We'll Be Back
3. Bomber-Aurora
4. Ardarith-Enter The Void
5. Riverwood-Dying Light
6. Eldprov-Third Crow
7. An Abstract Illusion-Prosperity
8. Trial-Snare Of The Fowler
9. Disillusion-Abide The Storm
10. Lords Of The Tyrant-Acolyte


Disappointment Of The Year
Michael Schenker Group-Universal

[jingle.boy]

Late entry onto my list.... Landfall / Elevate.

Brazillion melodic rock... very 80s-like.  I mean, not like Night Flight Orchestra 80s-like, but still a nice 80s vibe.

[pfillion]

My top 20 favorite albums of the year

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Pretty solid list, especially for A.A. Williams and Remina. 

[wolfking]

Late entry onto my list.... Landfall / Elevate.

Brazillion melodic rock... very 80s-like.  I mean, not like Night Flight Orchestra 80s-like, but still a nice 80s vibe.

Well, this escalated quickly.

[jingle.boy]

Late entry onto my list.... Landfall / Elevate.

Brazillion melodic rock... very 80s-like.  I mean, not like Night Flight Orchestra 80s-like, but still a nice 80s vibe.

Well, this escalated quickly.

I guess for little, good quality, traditional melodic rock gets produced these days, I'm willing to latch on to some of it for a little diversity.  This one sounded pretty solid to me.  I mean, it's not like it'll be top-10, top-25 or even top-50 of the year, but I might come back to it a few times in my lifetime.

[pfillion]

Pretty solid list, especially for A.A. Williams and Remina.

Thanks

[wolfking]

Here's ten albums for my ten of the year.  Not sure or really care on the order but Woe is by far the best album of the year.

1. An Abstract Illusion - Woe

Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait
Amorphis - Halo
Saxon - Carpe Diem
The Ferrymen - One More River to Cross
Hammerfall - Hammer of Dawn
Evil Invaders - Shattering Reflection
Megadeth - The Sick, The Dying and the Dead
Machine Head - Of Kingdom and Crown
Stratovarius - Survive

Song of the year is An Abstract Illusion - In the Heavens Above, You Will Become A Monster.

The Threshold and Avantasia would possibly have a chance of cracking a top 10 but I've haven't been bothered giving them much time.

[jingle.boy]

The Threshold and Avantasia would possibly have a chance of cracking a top 10 but I've haven't been bothered giving them much time.

Hmmmm... I didn't even bother buying Moonflower Society.  I found it to be Avantasia by the numbers.  Nothing that stood out, and if I ever replay that again, I'll just be thinking to myself "why am I simply not listening to <insert any other Avantasia album here>?"

[Zantera]

Actually ended up with 150 albums/EPs i listened to this year which is quite a step up from 70 last year. Main reason was getting a job where I can listen to music 6-7 hours extra a day if I feel like it, so really been upping my game. I'll post the top25 here but I'll put the full list in a link below. Overall I would say it's been a great year for music!

1. Black Country New Road - Ants From Up There
2. Black Midi - Hellfire
3. Elephant Gym - Dreams
4. Umphrey's Mcgee - Asking For a Friend
5. Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
6. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava
7. Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
8. Carly Cosgrove - See You in Chemistry
9. Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
10. Deathcrash - Return
--
11. Wilderun - Epigone
12. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
13. Goose - Dripfield
14. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now
15. The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
16. Alvvays - Blue Rev
17. Gospel - The Loser
18. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
19. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
20. Asunojokei - Island
21. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
22. Lupe Fiasco - Drill Music in Zion
23. Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
24. Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
25. And So I Watch You From Afar - Jettison

Full list here: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Zantera/favorite-albums-of-2022/

[Sacul]

Great list Zantera, plenty of stuff there that I should check out. I've listened to very few new releases this year, I should prob fix that and make my list soon.

[Zantera]

Great list Zantera, plenty of stuff there that I should check out. I've listened to very few new releases this year, I should prob fix that and make my list soon.

You should! It's been a great year. There's albums I placed down in my 60s or 70s that I still liked a fair bit and will return to in the future. Sure the bottom half has some albums that didn't click with me but even closer to the bottom there's still albums that were closer to 'okay' than 'bad'.

[Nachtmerrie]

My Top 25 of albums that I've listened at least 4-5 times.

1. Avatarium - Death, Where Is Your Sting
2. Shape of Despair - Return to the Void
3. Animals as Leaders - Parrhesia
4. Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses
5. Cult of Luna - The Long Road North
6. Hundred Year Old Man - Sleep In Light   
7. Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait
8. Brutus - Unison Life
9. Gaerea - Mirage
10. Disillusion - Ayam
11. Celeste - Assassine(s)
12. Remina - Strata
13. Kardashev - Liminal Rite
14. Cobra the Impaler - Colossal Gods
15. Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
16. Lorna Shore - Pain Remains
17. Terzij de Horde - In One Of These, I Am Your Enemy
18. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
19. White Ward - False Light
20. Fallujah - Empyrean
21. Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation
22. Amorphis - Halo
23. Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
24. Russian Circles - Gnosis
25. Absent in Body - Plague God

Other albums I like but haven't heard enough yet include:
Astronoid
Ithaca
King Buffalo
An Abstract Illusion
Lost Domain
Devin Townsend
Oceans of Slumber
Hiroe
Zeal & Ardor
Wilderun
Silent Skies
Elder
A.A.Williams
Playgrounded
Mizmor & Thou

[wolfking]

The Threshold and Avantasia would possibly have a chance of cracking a top 10 but I've haven't been bothered giving them much time.

Hmmmm... I didn't even bother buying Moonflower Society.  I found it to be Avantasia by the numbers.  Nothing that stood out, and if I ever replay that again, I'll just be thinking to myself "why am I simply not listening to <insert any other Avantasia album here>?"

Honestly, with the lack of interest I've had this year, I'm just making up the numbers.  I thought it was decent, but I haven't returned to it so I guess there's the answer.

[Sacul]

Great list Zantera, plenty of stuff there that I should check out. I've listened to very few new releases this year, I should prob fix that and make my list soon.

You should! It's been a great year. There's albums I placed down in my 60s or 70s that I still liked a fair bit and will return to in the future. Sure the bottom half has some albums that didn't click with me but even closer to the bottom there's still albums that were closer to 'okay' than 'bad'.

Cool, I'll prob make a playlist with a song from each of the top 20 albums and check them out.

[The Letter M]

Here's what I've gotten so far this year:

Big Big Train - Welcome To The Planet
Star One - Revel In Time
D'Virgilio Morse & Jennings - Troika
The Flower Kings - By Royal Decree
Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through

Of those six, I'd say BBT and P-SA are my favorites so far, but the new Marillion is really good too. The one I have neglected so far has been the new Star One, which I've maybe listened to once or twice. I just haven't been in the mood for prog metal lately, but I'm sure I'll give it it's due later this year.

Looking forward, I cannot wait for new albums by Porcupine Tree, The Tangent, Muse, and Ryo Okumoto (whose previous solo album Coming Through, is a favorite of mine). 2022 is shaping up to be another good year of music from bands/artists I love!

-Marc.

Well, in the last three months since my first post in this thread, I've only gotten the new Tangent and PT albums, so not many new ones since then, but I'll go ahead and rank these 8.

Big Big Train - Welcome To The Planet
The Tangent - Songs From The Hard Shoulder
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through
Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
The Flower Kings - By Royal Decree
Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
D'Virgilio Morse & Jennings - Troika
Star One - Revel In Time

-Marc.

Well I haven't posted in here since mid-July, and the only new albums I've gotten since then have been Kaipa's Urskog, The Neal Morse Band's Morsefest 2021, Lonely Robot's A Model Life, Coheed And Cambria's Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind, The Aristocrat's With Primuz Chamber Orchestra, Ryo Okumoto's The Myth Of The Mostrophus, Tim Bowness' Butterfly Mind, Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More, James Labrie's Beautiful Shade Of Grey, Muse's Will Of The People, The Mars Volta's self-titled reunion album, David Longdon's Door One, Big Big Train's Summer Shall Not Fade, and most recently, the King Crimson At 50 BD/DVD/CD box set.

Of course, I'm not including any re-issues like the 40th Anniversary Box Set for Moving Pictures or the 12-disc IQ Archive Collection, or the recent Ayreon remix/remaster of the Universal Migrator albums. And while I've gotten those above albums, I'll admit I have probably only listened to a few of them once or tiwce (like JLB's album, or the new CAC). I'll rank the ones that I've really gotten into, though:

Big Big Train - Welcome To The Planet
David Longdon - Door One
Big Big Train - Summer Shall Not Fade
The Tangent - Songs From The Hard Shoulder
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through
Ryo Okumoto - The Myth Of The Mostrophus
Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
The Flower Kings - By Royal Decree
Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
D'Virgilio Morse & Jennings - Troika
Star One - Revel In Time
Lonely Robot - A Model Life
Muse - Will Of The People

For the rest, I definitely need more time to really think about how I feel about them, but the ones listed above I've given plenty of time to so I feel comfortable with their relative rankings and placements. I know it probably comes off as being a huge fanboy, but the music out of the BBT camp this year has been amazing, and features the last studio performances by David Longdon (that we know of), so they'll definitely be treasured albums for sure. The Tangent is always a top-album for me whenever they release new music, and Andy is hard at work on more music for 2023! Both P-SA and Ryo are filling in the void left by Spock's Beard, and the PT reunion was suitably well-received by me (even going so far as to order the big artbook version). The rest is fairly in the same order, but I threw in Lonely Robot and Muse at the bottom - with LR, it's definitely more of the same from the John Mitchell project (though that's not a BAD thing), and with Muse, while fairly enjoyable (with a couple standout tracks), its short length and otherwise middling song writing sits at the bottom of albums I've listened to this year.

I feel like I didn't get into as much music this year as years past, but maybe there just wasn't much coming out as many bands were either touring or just in the studio for an album NEXT year (looking at Riverside, Haken, Dream Theater and more), so 2023 should prove to be another exciting year for new music from the bands that I love.

-Marc.

[Elite]

9 John Scofield – John Scofield
A warm and inviting solo(?) jazz guitar album that features the masterful playing we’ve come to expect from Scofield, who fills incredible amounts of space despite each song only consisting of a few clean guitar tracks. The sound is not so much “sparse” as it is tasteful and delicate; one of the most pleasant albums I heard in all of 2022.

This one is great as well, yes

1 Elephant Gym – Dreams
Elephant Gym have, single-handedly, taken the genre of “math rock” and elevated it not only to the next level but several levels beyond that. Is this even “math rock” anymore? Is it jazz? Is it folk? Is it sample-based music? Throughout the course of the album, you hear all of those influence. You also will hear (I counted) at least 5 languages. I love the diversity of it all. They are  so unparalleled in their uniqueness, their approach, and their ability to inspire. And that is why “Dreams” is my favorite album of 2022.

And this sounds interesting enough for me to check out!

[lonestar]

Squeezing in a few, one I thought was a 2021 release, and one just got released this week but is fucking fire...
7- Lonesome_Blue- Second to None
6- Band-Maid - Unleash!
6- Bloodywood- Rajak
4- Marillion - An Hour Before Its Dark
3- Lalu - Paint the Sky
2- Nemophila - Seize the Fate
1- Allegaeon - Damnum

[KevShmev]

I don't listen to as much new stuff as I used to either, but my favorites based on what I have heard are:

Taylor Swift - Midnights
Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
Tears for Fears - The Tipping Point
Arcade Fire - WE
Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadows
The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention

Albums by longtime favorites I felt underwhelming:

Muse - Will of the People
The Flower Kings - By Royal Decree

Incomplete (still need to give them more time):

Devin Townsend - Lightwork
Ghost - Impera

[Bentower]

An enjoyable batch of 17+1 in no particular order:
 
Meshuggah - Immutable
Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
Voivod - Synchro Anarchy
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Changes
Earthless - Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
Elder - Innate Passage
Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion
Birth - Born
Clutch - Sunrise on Slaughter Beach
Revocation - Netherheaven
Conan - Evidence of Immortality
The Smile - A Light for Attracting Attention
Imperial Triumphant - Spirit of Ecstasy
Ott - Heads
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses
Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat
Michael Romeo - War of the Worlds Pt. 2
+
Primus - Conspiranoid EP

I also liked, but was somewhat disappointed by Björk's Fossora and Devin's Lightwork.

[ariich]

I'll need to wait until the year has actually ended to do my final list, as the new Vulfpeck album comes out on the 30th. I don't imagine it'll break my top 20 but who knows, and there's a good chance it'll make my honourable mentions.

[Sacul]

Actually ended up with 150 albums/EPs i listened to this year which is quite a step up from 70 last year. Main reason was getting a job where I can listen to music 6-7 hours extra a day if I feel like it, so really been upping my game. I'll post the top25 here but I'll put the full list in a link below. Overall I would say it's been a great year for music!

1. Black Country New Road - Ants From Up There
2. Black Midi - Hellfire
3. Elephant Gym - Dreams
4. Umphrey's Mcgee - Asking For a Friend
5. Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
6. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava
7. Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
8. Carly Cosgrove - See You in Chemistry
9. Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture
10. Deathcrash - Return
--
11. Wilderun - Epigone
12. Beach House - Once Twice Melody
13. Goose - Dripfield
14. And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - XI: Bleed Here Now
15. The Comet is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam
16. Alvvays - Blue Rev
17. Gospel - The Loser
18. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
19. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
20. Asunojokei - Island
21. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
22. Lupe Fiasco - Drill Music in Zion
23. Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality
24. Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
25. And So I Watch You From Afar - Jettison

Full list here: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Zantera/favorite-albums-of-2022/

So I went through the top 25 and checked out a song from each album. I don't know what's happening to me but I didn't love anything, only mildly liked the stuff I didn't already know  . I'll check out more stuff from this year then make a short list soon.

[Metro]

Favorites:
1. Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation
2. Coheed and Cambria - Vaxis Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind
3. Big Big Train - Welcome to the Planet
4. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum
5. Charlie Griffiths - Tiktaalika
6. Weezer - SZNZ (I’m counting this as one big project, fight me)
7. black midi - Hellfire
8. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava
9. Devin Townsend - Lightwork
10. Meshuggah - Immutable


Least Favorites:
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Laminated Denim
Two songs that go absolutely nowhere and take their sweet time doing it. Releasing 5 albums in one year is impressive, but they can't all be winners.

Muse - Will of the People
A band with nothing left to say has something to say, and it's nothing.

Ghost - Impera
The album that killed my interest in the band. Sounds like a parody. Awful.

Silversun Pickups - Physical Thrills
there's nothing thrilling about this release. ha. ha. ha.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I'll need to wait until the year has actually ended to do my final list, as the new Vulfpeck album comes out on the 30th.

I wish more people would take that approach in general.  It vexes me to see publications and influencers drop best of year lists in early November. 

[HOF]

I'll need to wait until the year has actually ended to do my final list, as the new Vulfpeck album comes out on the 30th.

I wish more people would take that approach in general.  It vexes me to see publications and influencers drop best of year lists in early November.

12/30 is really pushing it though if you want your album to get AOTY consideration!

Seriously, not sure why they didn’t push that one back a week or two. Things released near the holidays tend to get lost in the shuffle.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

...

So I went through the top 25 and checked out a song from each album.

"Quote from: Evermind on April 17, 2016, 03:11:10 PM

    “Zantera / Sacul music”"

Now I get it. 

I don't know what's happening to me but I didn't love anything, only mildly liked the stuff I didn't already know 

[devieira73]

I like to adopt the criteria of "12 best  albums of the year" just to be fair with the 12 months of the year. So they are, in alphabetical order:
Alter Bridge - Pawns And Kings (rock/metal)
Charlie Griffiths - Tiktaalika (prog metal)
Derek Sherinian - Vortex (instrumental)
Hibria - Me7amorphosis (metal)
Joe Satriani - The Elephants of Mars (instrumental)
Megadeth - The Sick The Dying And The Dead (metal)
Michael Romeo - War Of The Worlds Pt. 2 (prog metal)
Pattern-Seeking Animals - Only Passing Through (prog)
Porcupine Tree - Closure_Continuation (prog/prog metal)
Queensryche - Digital Noise Alliance (metal/prog metal)
Soilwork - Overgivenheten (metal)
Steve Vai - Inviolate (instrumental)

Also 12 albums that I liked almost as much as the above: A-Z, Coheed And Cambria - Vaxis II A Window Of The Waking Mind, Edu Ardanuy - Wild, Graham Bonnet Band - Day out in Nowhere, Jeff Scott Soto - Complicated, Kirk Hammett - Portals EP, Muse - Will Of The People, Primus - Conspiranoid EP, Ross Jennings - A Shadow of My Future Self, Ryo Okumoto - The Myth of the Mostrophus, Scorpions - Rock Believer and The Dead Daisies - Radiance.