Belle and SebastianThe obligatory end of the year journal with my favorite albums and all that.
Favorite albums of 2009
1. Isis - Wavering Radiant (my favorite so far)
2. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
3. maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
4. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
5. OM - God Is Good
6. Drudkh - Microcosmos
7. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Other albums I liked a lot
8. Emilie Simon - The Big Machine
9. dälek - Gutter Tactics
10. Kylesa - Static Tensions
11. 10-20 - 10-20
12. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
13. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
14. Alamaailman Vasarat - Huuro Kolkko
15. Epica - The Classical Conspiracy / Design Your Universe
16. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
17. Cobalt - Gin
18. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
19. Marilyn Roxie - New Limerent Object
20. SND - Atavism
21. Katharsis - Fourth Reich
22. Mountains - Etching
23. The Bronzed Chorus - I'm the Spring
24. Orthodox - Sentencia
25. Metric - Fantasies
26. Supersilent - 9
27. Indukti - Idmen
28. 椎名林檎 - 三文ゴシップ
29. Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió
30. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
31. Animals as Leaders - Animals as Leaders
32. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
and a few others, got tired of listing them.
Best musical discoveries this year
1. Negative Approach, my new favorite band.
2. Infest, my other new favorite band.
3. OM, a name that I've read many times and never paid attention to, now I regret I didn't listen to them before
4. Can
5. Cannibal Ox
6. Kamelot, decided to listen to them after many years of hearing how good they are, it's the only power metal band that I can listen to without being bored after five or six songs.
7. Леонид Фёдоров, another new favorite.
8. Belle and Sebastian
9. The Magnetic Fields
10. Einstürzende Neubauten
11. The Fall, another band I finally listened to, after a couple of years of many people recommending them to me.
Other releases that caught my attention..
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings, I think this is slightly better than Systematic Chaos, which means it's still bad, but I wasn't expecting anything from them so it was bit of a surprise. Still, I wish they went back to do demos before going in the studio, maybe get an outside producer, and please don't let Portnoy sing anymore.
Nightwish - Made in Hong Kong... this has to get the award for the most pointless release this year, a live album with only new songs and an audio quality that sounds like a badly recorded bootleg, the band's performance isn't very impressive either. Don't see why anyone would buy this.
Slayer - World Painted Blood, a bit of a surprise I suppose, this album is not very special, but it should've been much worse than it is, not only is not completely bad, but it also has some good songs (Psycopathy Red, Unit 731). Sure it's more of the same, but it'd be foolish to expect otherwise from Slayer.
Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars. I have mixed feelings about this one, this was my first non-Industrial Blut aus Nord album, I like it and I think it's very well done, but I still prefer their weird industrial/dark/creepy sounds from The Work Which Transforms God or Odinist.
Inferi - The End of an Era. This is a good album from a genre that I don't like very much, that's why I don't include it among my favorites, however I have to recommend this one to any melodic death metal fan.
Sonata Arctica - The Days of Gray. Didn't like it, I understand that they'd want to change or evolve their sound, (they don't seem to be taking many risks but whatever) I respect that, but this new "Prog" sound is boring, I think the world doesn't need more Power/Prog metal bands. So unless they go back to the cheesy/repetitive/Stratovarius-like sound of the first albums (which I doubt) I won't be listening to any new releases from them.
Ken Snyder - By Request Only. I'm both happy and sad that this album leaked, it's nice to finally be able to listen to it, but now it's lost some of the legendary status it had. However, the album is quite good and Modern Religion is great song.
Delain - April Rain, this was fun to listen to for a while, the music's good and Charlotte's voice is very nice, don't know when or if I'll listen to this again, but it is a good album, and better than the first one in my opinion.
The Agonist - Lullabies for the Dormant Mind. This was a big improvement from their previous album, it is a bit generic and I wouldn't call it good, but if they keep improving like this I imagine that by their fourth or fifth release they could become a very good band.
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You, silly, catchy pop music with nice hooks, don't know if I should like it, but I do.
Immortal - All Shall Fall. left me indifferent, it's not bad but I find it a bit lifeless, maybe it's my fault for expecting something else from them (as a rule I try to listen to an album without expectations of how should it sound), maybe it needs a couple more spins, but so far I don't like it much.
This year releases from Obscura, Hiroshima Will Burn, Trepalium, Black Sun Aeon, Hieronymus Bosch, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ignominious Incarceration, Centaurus-A and Ulcerate, they all sounded the same to me, I'm not the biggest death metal fan, but it's starting to sound very boring, just an opinion, I don't consider those albums bad and I liked Centaurus-A and Ulcerate's releases, but I'm losing interest in the genre.
That's it for this year, I think.... there are a couple of albums I didn't get the chance to listen to, but overall I think it was a good year.
Favorite albums of 2009
1. Isis - Wavering Radiant (my favorite so far)
2. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
3. maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
4. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
5. OM - God Is Good
6. Drudkh - Microcosmos
7. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Other albums I liked a lot
8. Emilie Simon - The Big Machine
9. dälek - Gutter Tactics
10. Kylesa - Static Tensions
11. 10-20 - 10-20
12. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
13. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
14. Alamaailman Vasarat - Huuro Kolkko
15. Epica - The Classical Conspiracy / Design Your Universe
16. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
17. Cobalt - Gin
18. Silversun Pickups - Swoon
19. Marilyn Roxie - New Limerent Object
20. SND - Atavism
21. Katharsis - Fourth Reich
22. Mountains - Etching
23. The Bronzed Chorus - I'm the Spring
24. Orthodox - Sentencia
25. Metric - Fantasies
26. Supersilent - 9
27. Indukti - Idmen
28. 椎名林檎 - 三文ゴシップ
29. Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió
30. Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
31. Animals as Leaders - Animals as Leaders
32. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
and a few others, got tired of listing them.
Best musical discoveries this year
1. Negative Approach, my new favorite band.
2. Infest, my other new favorite band.
3. OM, a name that I've read many times and never paid attention to, now I regret I didn't listen to them before
4. Can
5. Cannibal Ox
6. Kamelot, decided to listen to them after many years of hearing how good they are, it's the only power metal band that I can listen to without being bored after five or six songs.
7. Леонид Фёдоров, another new favorite.
8. Belle and Sebastian
9. The Magnetic Fields
10. Einstürzende Neubauten
11. The Fall, another band I finally listened to, after a couple of years of many people recommending them to me.
Other releases that caught my attention..
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings, I think this is slightly better than Systematic Chaos, which means it's still bad, but I wasn't expecting anything from them so it was bit of a surprise. Still, I wish they went back to do demos before going in the studio, maybe get an outside producer, and please don't let Portnoy sing anymore.
Nightwish - Made in Hong Kong... this has to get the award for the most pointless release this year, a live album with only new songs and an audio quality that sounds like a badly recorded bootleg, the band's performance isn't very impressive either. Don't see why anyone would buy this.
Slayer - World Painted Blood, a bit of a surprise I suppose, this album is not very special, but it should've been much worse than it is, not only is not completely bad, but it also has some good songs (Psycopathy Red, Unit 731). Sure it's more of the same, but it'd be foolish to expect otherwise from Slayer.
Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars. I have mixed feelings about this one, this was my first non-Industrial Blut aus Nord album, I like it and I think it's very well done, but I still prefer their weird industrial/dark/creepy sounds from The Work Which Transforms God or Odinist.
Inferi - The End of an Era. This is a good album from a genre that I don't like very much, that's why I don't include it among my favorites, however I have to recommend this one to any melodic death metal fan.
Sonata Arctica - The Days of Gray. Didn't like it, I understand that they'd want to change or evolve their sound, (they don't seem to be taking many risks but whatever) I respect that, but this new "Prog" sound is boring, I think the world doesn't need more Power/Prog metal bands. So unless they go back to the cheesy/repetitive/Stratovarius-like sound of the first albums (which I doubt) I won't be listening to any new releases from them.
Ken Snyder - By Request Only. I'm both happy and sad that this album leaked, it's nice to finally be able to listen to it, but now it's lost some of the legendary status it had. However, the album is quite good and Modern Religion is great song.
Delain - April Rain, this was fun to listen to for a while, the music's good and Charlotte's voice is very nice, don't know when or if I'll listen to this again, but it is a good album, and better than the first one in my opinion.
The Agonist - Lullabies for the Dormant Mind. This was a big improvement from their previous album, it is a bit generic and I wouldn't call it good, but if they keep improving like this I imagine that by their fourth or fifth release they could become a very good band.
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You, silly, catchy pop music with nice hooks, don't know if I should like it, but I do.
Immortal - All Shall Fall. left me indifferent, it's not bad but I find it a bit lifeless, maybe it's my fault for expecting something else from them (as a rule I try to listen to an album without expectations of how should it sound), maybe it needs a couple more spins, but so far I don't like it much.
This year releases from Obscura, Hiroshima Will Burn, Trepalium, Black Sun Aeon, Hieronymus Bosch, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Ignominious Incarceration, Centaurus-A and Ulcerate, they all sounded the same to me, I'm not the biggest death metal fan, but it's starting to sound very boring, just an opinion, I don't consider those albums bad and I liked Centaurus-A and Ulcerate's releases, but I'm losing interest in the genre.
That's it for this year, I think.... there are a couple of albums I didn't get the chance to listen to, but overall I think it was a good year.
