With 2005 coming to a close and 2006 on the verge of beginning, I figure this would be an excellent time for lists on the best of 2005, what they thought of the year, and what they're looking forward to (or expecting of) 2006.
My Favorites of 2005:
1.) Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2.) Gjallarhorn - Nordheim
3.) Klabautamann - Der Ort
4.) Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
5.) Sephiroth - Draconian Poetry
6.) Lumsk - Troll
7.) Kataxu - Hunger of Elements
8.) Falkenbach - Heralding - The Fireblade
9.) Craft - **** the Universe
10.) Taake - ...Doedskvad
11.) Leviathan- A Silhouette In Splinters
12.) Drudkh - The Swan Road
I haven't heard much on 2006, but I know Katatonia's having a new cd (The Great Cold Distance) and Agalloch's final release, Ashes Against the Grain , will be making an appearance as well.
I'll post my actual thoughts on 2005 later, I'm sure. Overall it was an excellent year for Folk-influenced Metal and Dark Ambient music.
This thread will remain stuck until the end of January of 2006 since people like making an excess of these threads.
Favourites of 2005:
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavour
Falkenbach - Heralding - The Fireblade
Ulver - Blood Inside
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy
Strapping Young Lad - Alien
Looking forward to in 2006:
Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain
Devin Townsend - Synchestra
Machinae Supremacy - Redeemer
New untitled Mercenary album
New untitled Wintersun album
Gigantour live CD
I've barely scratched the surface of the 2005 releases. What I do know, however, is that...
James LaBrie's Elements of Persuasion was a great album to start the year - or to start my 2005 purchases anyway. Nothing too flashy, and a bit samey, but I enjoyed it a lot and it stayed in my CD player for a month.
An Absence of Empathy by Frameshift is a great album. I'm beginning to really, really like Henning Pauly's stuff.
Dream Theater's Octavarium made me gasm. Forget 2005, this is my favourite album ever. Masterpiece.
Deadwing by Porcupine Tree was released this year, and is now the only Porcupine Tree album I've heard. And, though I don't have the rest of their stuff to compare it against, I can say that it definitely provides an interesting starting point.
Arcturus's Sideshow Symphonies was neat, but I find it extremely difficult to tell the songs apart. Maybe it's one of those albums I just have to 'get'. It's a solid effort, though, and it works well as background music. I love the vocalist, too.
In the way of 2005 releases that I intend to buy but haven't yet, Rush's R30 DVD is pretty high up on my list, though I'm slightly disappointed at the track listing. No sign of YYZ, The Trees, La Villa Strangiato, A Farewell To Kings... I'm sure it'll still be worthwhile, though.
Also, I'm interested in buying the first of Charlie Dominici's O3 albums.
2006 releases:
Scheduled Dream Theater live DVD (April-May time)
Scheduled Blind Guardian CD (April-May time)
2005 had a lots of promise, but unfortunately Queens of the Stone Age and the White Stripes could only manage mediocre releases. There was the typical boring sludge of the Foo Fighters, Coldplay and U2 as well (bands that I consider do have *potential* to make quality music, but unfortunately usually come up short). The only release of 2005 that I really got into was 'Frances the Mute' by the Mars Volta and even that wasn't that great.
The year could have been a lot better but the new Radiohead and Tool albums were both delayed into 2006 (at least, I'm assuming with the Tool album, they're pretty bad at conveying information concerning releases). I also haven't heard the new Franz Ferdinand, Oasis or Broken Social Scene albums, but to be honest I'm not expecting much from the first two.
I guess one positive thing about 2005 was a lot of Australian music selling well and getting on the radio. It's always nice to have a healthy music industry.
Wobbler - Hinterland was one of the most amazing releases in some decades IMO.
2005 releases:
Leaves' Eyes ~ Vinland Saga; One of my new favourite bands. This album is great, although I've just recently listened to it, I love it.
Xandria ~ India: Great album, although nothing to get extremely crazy over. It has a whole load of great songs, although they aren't as memorable as I'd like them to be. Overall, decent album I listen to all the time.
Porcupine Tree ~ Deadwing; Ever since I first heard this band, I've enjoyed them, and this album is no different, although I need to listen to it a bit more. Great band, anyhow.
I don't really remember precisely what was released this year, but:
10. Wolfmother - Wolfmother - Yeah, couldn't not throw this in cos it's good, though I'm getting bloody sick of hearing about it.
9. Beck - Guero - Sounds like a return to form to me, good to see he's not all sad now.
8. Decoder Ring - Fractions - Probably the best thing released from this country this year, Wolfmother's cool but they're still just basically a Zeppelin cover band that doesn't actually do covers.
7. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (10th anniversary re-release) - Yeah it's a re-release, but it's still ****ing brilliant.
6. Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree - Still amazes me how much emotion and energy he can wrest from just an accoustic guitar and some background instrumentation.
5. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die - I take back what I said about Decoder Ring, this was the best Australian release of the year. An octet on triple espresso with a list of instruments as long as your arm, just pure bliss.
4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Yes, I'm a sucker for things that're obviously influenced by Talking Heads, and the fact that they sound like a really cool/uncool fusion of both the Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel makes it even better.
3. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs - The man's a revelation, everyone should love him.
2. the Arcade Fire - Funeral - I think this was released in '05, at least in Australia. Maybe just the LP. Anyway. It's brilliant. Powerful and moving, which is difficult, if you're not a metal dork.
1. The Decemberists - Picaresque - We need more storytelling bands. The Bagman's Gambit sends chills down my spine every time I listen to it. Album of the year, for me.
And, two albums I'm sure I'd love but haven't heard:
The Panics - Sleeps Like a Curse
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Well, not too much happened this year. The new System of a Down disc isn't bad, I'd say. The Gorrilaz new album "Demon Days" was pretty cool too. Mostly just that song Feel Good Inc, but the rest of it wasn't bad by any stretch.
I've seriously only heard of like 3 bands mentioned by others...
EDIT - Excepting TSC's post. I've heard of all of those.
Just out of curiosity, to those of you who have said bands and artists that aren't exactly mainstream, do you like any mainstream music? Like, are there any Metallica songs that you like? Or maybe some newer good stuff like... Well, there's not much mainstream current good stuff. Thrice is pretty good. Some of that stuff by The Used is cool. Sum 41 isn't too bad either. Do you guys strictly like bands that most people haven't heard of? I mean, do you like any bands that I might actually hear on the radio?
EDIT 2 - BTW, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm genuinely curious.
Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes, Peter Gabriel... I'm good for much of the stuff that was mainstream in the 70s when prog rock got its name out there. More recently, RHCP have a lot of catchy stuff, as do - going back again - the Beatles. I've heard songs here and there to which I've asked "ooh, who was that" and been told it was a mainstream band moderately frequently. The Mars Volta and Muse come to mind. That said, the stuff I enjoy most is definitely deep seated in what would be called "obscure" by most (with the exception, of course, of Rush, who I like a lot and most people will have at least heard of them).
Um. In no particular order (...okay, alphabetical):
Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies
I prefer The Sham Mirrors and Garm's vocals, but this is still really good.
Arsis - A Diamond For Disease
Without a doubt my favourite EP. Better than Arch Enemy's Doomsday Machine album and about half the length. :P
Dark Tranquillity - Character
Ridiculously heavy and better than Damage Done.
Dream Theater - Octavarium
I've started to like this more and more overall, especially the title track. Thematically, very deep too.
Epica - Consign To Oblivion
Good gothic metal.
John Petrucci - Suspended Animation
Great instrumental album. Not quite as energetic as I expected it to be, but still good.
Kamelot - The Black Halo
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Paradise Lost - Paradise Lost
Peccatum - The Moribund People (another good EP)
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Ascendancy - Trivium
Okay, I obviously couldn't be bothered commenting on the rest. The bold ones are my favourites/nominations for best album.
For 2006, very eagerly awaiting Operation: Mindcrime II.
Demon Hunter- The Triptych- Excellent Album. Their Best one yet.
Underoath- They're Only Chasing Saftey- Loved it.
12 Stones- Potter's Child
Bullet in a Bible- Green Day- It was okay. I only like their old music, so I'm glad over half the CD was old stuff.
Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls
Iron Maiden - Death on the Road
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Kamelot - The Black Halo
2005:
"Ghost Reveries" by Opeth
"An Absence of Empathy" by Frameshift
"Elements of Persuasion" by James LaBrie
"Octavarium" by Dream Theater
"Rosenrot" by Rammstein
2006:
"Synchestra" by Devin Townsend
"Surface To Stage" by Threshold
Got another new release the other day from 2005 and it surpassed Hinterland in terms of awesomeness.
Machine And The Synergetic Nuts - Leap Second Neutral
Instrumental Japanese fusion music. Basically imagine Soft Machine and Ian Carr's Nucleus.
"The main thing that sets these guys apart is the intense and aggressive energy level...like a runaway train approaching that sharp curve, you just know it's going to go over the edge, but somehow it stays on track"-Expose. This features combined monster grooves and head-crunching heaviness. You wll hear traces of fusion bands like mid-period Soft Machine/Canterbury fusion, early Passport, Nucleus, Mushroom, The Mothers Of Invention, all filtered through Japanese over-driven rock ala Happy Family or Tatsuya Yoshida's Koenjihyakkei or Keorekyojinn; they tear into these jazz/rock grooves with a great ferocity..."
New nomination for album of the year:
Stream of Passion - Embrace The Storm
I only just got this, but so far it's fantastic. Marcela Bovio's vocals are excellent (...well, I don't know of any bad female metal vocalists), and Arjen Lucassen's songwriting fits perfectly. I like this a lot (and Nightwish, and To-Mera) because gothic/female-oriented metal generally focuses too much on the vocals, whereas this has great instrumentation too.
[quote=Trigger]2005:
"Ghost Reveries" by Opeth
"An Absence of Empathy" by Frameshift
"Elements of Persuasion" by James LaBrie
"Octavarium" by Dream Theater
"Rosenrot" by Rammstein
Also add "Real Illusions: Reflections" by Steve Vai to that list.
i heard that slayer and metallicrap(metallica) were realesing another album for 2006. i dont no anything about them i just read it in a mag
Alright, Draconian's Arcane Rain Fell takes my number one spot. The emotion on this record is simply amazing, unique and genuine. If you enjoy Doom, the subject of Lucifer's fall from heaven, and concept albums; check this out. It's great. I honestly hate promoting stuff like this because it cheapens it to such a horrible degree, but this is a 'best of' thing.
Now I am also looking forward to:
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime II
Mercenary - First Breath Re-recording (along with the new album)
Machinae Supremacy - Redeemer
Machinae Supremacy - Sidology Episode 2 (out on monday <3)
Hoping for:
New Ulver album
New Ayreon album
New Arcturus album
Desparately hoping for:
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element Part II :(
Favorites:
Octavarium by Dream Theater
Ghost Reveries by Opeth
Takk... by Sigur R
2005:
1) Taake - Hordaland Doedskvad
2) Sigh - Gallows Gallery
3) Opeth - Ghost Reveries
4) Kamelot - The Black Halo
5) Ulver - Blood Inside
6) Vinterriket - Der Letzte Winter - Der Ewigkeit Entgegen
7) Krieg - Sono Lo Scherno
8) Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
9) Craft - **** the Universe
10) Falkenbach - Heralding - The Fireblade
2006:
Not sure yet. I'll edit this later.
[quote]"Octavarium" by Dream Theater was my favorite song of 2005. That song is truly amazing; best I've ever experienced from Dream Theater and I've experienced plenty. 20 + minutes of epically, emotionally, euphoniously charged music that stirs me every time. I easily have the attention span for a track such as this. I don't even feel like skipping over the Floydian intro. It gives me the opportunity to prepare myself for what's to come. This song is rad through the Floydian intro into the beginning acoustic work to the last haunting piano note.From what I hear most people just skip through the first four minutes of continuum. I love it all though, best song I've ever heard. It's great to just turn it up, close your eyes, and sit back and listen for 24 minutes. The intro to The Root Of All Evil at the end was an excellent touch, fits perfectly with the octave thing, and it makes me listen to the album all over again. Beautiful album, one of the best I've ever heard. Aside from the fact that the music rocks, the way the concept works and all the little touches just pull it together to take it up to the masterpiece level imo.
[quote]Therion ... will/should be coming out with new material.There's a multi-DVD live release scheduled for March, I'm hoping I'll be able to pick it up when I see them live. I don't know about a new album, though Chris Johnsson has said that whenever a new album -does- come out it'll form a trilogy with Sirius B and Lemuria.
Dexter: Theatre of Tragedy's Storm has been leaked. It's more metal-based than recent efforts, and Nell is a hot singer :cool:
[quote]There's a multi-DVD live release scheduled for March, I'm hoping I'll be able to pick it up when I see them live. I don't know about a new album, though Chris Johnsson has said that whenever a new album -does- come out it'll form a trilogy with Sirius B and Lemuria.
"Therion will be starting pre-production for the new album next week."
From Megatherion.com, dated 12th January.
Whoa, I should check back on the site more often.