LogFAQs > #942759123

I'm just gonna list every standout album I've enjoyed this year and bold ones I feel were special among the standouts and some thoughts about them. In no particular order. Also, I have added 2.3 days of music that came out this year to my library so that's an indication of how much I've listened to.

Allegaeon - Roundabout (Yes Cover) (Melodic Death Metal)
It's a single, It's a cover, but I don't care. Between this, Subdivisions, and Animate Allegaeon has really shown that they can knock out some fucking killer prog rock covers. Seriously this and Subdivisions are two of the best covers I've ever heard.

Black Painted Moon - Personae (Progressive Metal)
What if a traditional prog metal band had a female pop vocalist? Sounds bad doesn't it. Well listen to this album and it may change your mind. I was caught off guard a little but this album is pretty good, full of potential and the vocals fit right in. It's a debut and it's not the best, but it's solid and I'm really looking forward to what these guys (and gal) come out with next.

Brucifer - Caveat Emptor! (Wierd Synth Driven Prog Metal with Video Game Sounds)
One of the weirder albums I've listened to this year. It's excellent, just strange. With one of the greatest albums cover's I've ever seen. Seriously, this shit is fucking art.


Caligula's Horse - Rise Radiant (Progressive Metal)
A very good album but I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed after In Contact but In Contact is incredibly difficult to follow. Still a very good album though.

Cryptic Ruse - Unfertile (Microtonal Metal)
Man, this album is fantastic. I haven't really heard a lot of microtonal music before I listened to The Mercury Tree's album Spidermilk last year (Go listen to that album, and band. Absolutely one of my favorite bands of all time) It's haunting, it's alien, and it's absolutely incredible. Stand out song is Mouths Without Throats, which is about Pac-Man or something. Also wins the award of the strangest, yet catchiest hook ever (eat all the dots, eat all the dots, eat all the fucking dots)

Firelink - Firelink (Black Metal): Dark Souls themed Black Metal. Really good album. If you like Dark Souls and Black Metal, you have to give it a listen.

Kardashev - The Baring of Shadows (Deathgaze)
Kardashev absolutely blew me away with their last EP, The Almanac, so when they randomly released another EP, I absolutely jumped on it. And hoooo-llly fuck. This is an incredible band. They mix melodic shoegaze atmosphere with absolutely crushingly heavy deathcore with one of the most incredible vocalists I've ever listened to. Never heard someone go from extremely low, absolutely brutal growls straight to airy, ethereal clears, then to skypiercing shrieks quite like Mark Garret. Seriously watch this vocal playthrough of one of the best tracks off their previous EPs, this guy is incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ_-W10Wmss

LeatherFrank - Dark Forest (Psychedelic Stoner Rock)
I don't really know what to really say about this EP, other than it's fucking incredible, go listen to it. It's atmospheric, it's groovy, it's psychedelic, it's dark.

Lor - Edge of Eternity (Folky Power Metal)
Another great album. A few years ago Lor released their debut album, In Forgotten Sleep and it was great. Well a month or so ago Lor just randomly dropped their second album and it's just as good, if not better.

Mountaineer - Bloodletting (Doomgaze)
This is easily one of the best albums this year. There are gorgeous melodic guitar leads, there are crushing, fuzzy doomy riffs, and there is a whole shitload of atmosphere. This album has a massive sound and it's executed with aplomb here.

Protest the Hero - Palimpsest (Progressive Metal)
This is a really solid album. Protest the Hero is an interesting band, going from a combination of punk meets prog metal, and now this album has more in common with Dream Theater than anything punky. It's a really good album but it doesn't come close to Bloodmeat or Volition in my opinion.

Violet Cold - Noir Kid (Blackgaze)
Oops, while mixing some fantastic shoegaze and black metal someone dropped some trance in it! And it turned out incredible. Seriously, it works here. Damn, didn't realize until here, it's been a really good year for metalgaze so far.

Novena - The Eleventh Hour (Traditional and Heavy Progressive Metal)
If you haven't heard Gareth Mason (from Slice the Cake) do spoken word over music you absolutely have to listen to the last track here, Prison Walls. It gives me fucking chills. This is a huge album at 72 minutes and is filled to the brim with ideas. Haken's Ross Jennings is the primary vocalist and has a great performance as well. This is a really really good album, but seriously Gareth Mason is a fucking monster.
That's all for now. I have listened to a ton more bands and albums this year but so far, these were the standouts for me personally. I still have a huge backlog to get through though so we will see how it looks at the end of the year.

Other albums this year I enjoyed so far include:
Unreqvited - Mosaic (Atmospheric Black Metal)
Wardaemoniv - Acts of Repentance (Blackened Death Metal)
Xenobiotic - Mordrake (Technical Death Metal)
Together to the Stars - As We Wither (Blackgaze)
Thy Catafalque - Naiv (Avant-garde Black Metal)
Sweven - The Eternal Resonance (Psychedelic Death Metal)
Oberst - Paradise (Post-Hardcore)
Neptunian Maximalism - Eons (Heavy Jazz)
Knight of the Round - Seven (Final Fantasy VII Death Metal Covers)
Katatonia - City Burials (Melodic Doom Metal)
Holy Fawn - The Black Moon (Blackgaze)
The Conjuration - Gospel (Avant-garde Death Metal)
Ainsoph - Omega - V (Blackgaze)

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From the depths, the thing they called Worm King did rise.
Nirn itself did scream in the Mages' and Necromancers' war.