Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Top 10 Albums of 2010

Here's the listing of my favorite albums from 2010. Not necessarily the best or greatest but the ones that left the biggest impact on me and warranted the most repeated listens. Not ranked in numerical order, all rule pretty hard (IMO). I selected a few youtube clips of some of the less extreme stuff for all you normal people to (try and) enjoy. Feel free to take listen:

The Dillinger Escape Plan- Option Paralysis

















Dillinger's trademark math metal attack is more refined, while their avant-garde Mike Patton-isms shine even brighter. New drummer Billy Rhymer does not disappoint.


Nails- Unsilent Death


















Raw and dirty powerviolence tinged grindcore. Less than 15 mins long, but epic as fuck.

Starkweather- This Sheltering Night
















Mind-bending. Amazing musicianship coupled with the most insane vocal performance of the year. THIS is what it sounds like when those invisible insects start crawling under your skin.

Julie Christmas- The Bad Wife


















The singer for Made Out of Babies solo debut. At times it's heavy, beautiful and a tad bit creepy. Everything I've come to love about Julie. Here's her cover of a Dusty Springfield classic:


Withered- Dualitas

















A haunting slab of sludgy black metal. This album confirms it, Withered deserve to be much higher in the current pantheon of Georgia based metal bands.

Daughters- Daughters

















If Danzig hijacked a circus while on acid, it would sound like Daughter's self titled album.


Clinging To The Trees of a Forrest Fire- Songs of Ill Hope and Discontent

















Easily, the nastiest, most pissed off album of the year. Re-read the album's title (or the band's name for that matter) and take the first horrid image that comes to mind and multiply that 10x...but with blast beats and growls/shrieks over it.

Triptykon- Eparistera Daimones

















Tom G. Warrior strikes again! For those of you who liked (or remember) my Crunch Time: Celtic Frost post, you might fancy Tom's latest project's debut album. Dark, heavy and full of future Crunch Time riffs for sure.


Immolation- Majesty and Decay

















One of the most consistent/innovative death metal bands around, Immolation continue their streak of releasing astoundingly heavy yet thought provoking slabs of brutality. Really, where do they get these time signatures and melodies from?

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs

















I am rarely able to rank my favorite albums during these compilations but this record was the closest I've come to "ALBUM OF THE YEAR" in a while. If it weren't for the two filler songs toward the end, this would have been a flawless front to back album. Arcade Fire are huge so feel free to search the interwebz for the heaps of critical acclaim The Suburbs has received.

*Special Note*
There were a lot of great EPs released this year but two of them tied for my favorite:
Torche- Songs For Singles
&
Beneath the Massacre- Maree Noire
both of which I've already blogged about. Click the links for my previous posts about these awesome EPs.


21 comments:

  1. Do they still make album art in LP format?

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  2. "The Suburbs" is incredible!! Great list!!

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  3. I knew I was getting old when I didn't recognize any of the bands you just listed.

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  4. I dunno about any of these crazy metal bands, but I definitely love Arcade Fire!! Following =D

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  5. i still haven't gotten around arcade fire's latest album. i'm sure that nothing will top funeral.

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  6. the new immolation album is amazing

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  7. Saving this post for when I get my dsl back, and can listen on my real speakers

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  8. need to up my game havent even heard of one! listened to a couple on here and sounds excellent for workout music, thanks

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  9. I like the Arcade Fire, but the rest of the list isn't really my type of music.

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  10. i'm usually pretty critical of new music, but metal seems to be the one area that doesn't fail to disappoint. good picks, i hadn't heard typtikon

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  11. sorry to say this but i never heard of any of these bands. i will listen to them though. See if i like any.

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  12. I know only Immolation and DEP, but a good list anyway!

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  13. I've only heard about Arcade fire, I got to check the others too

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  14. hey mate, you got really like your taste in music :)

    following you!


    http://kind-of-informational.blogspot.com/
    feel free to check mine out some time

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  15. Thanx for the list. I'm going to check some of them out in the future.

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