Ah 2015, some great albums have come out this year. Here I will be listing my favorite albums that were released this year. Excuse my fantano albums I allowed in here. Let’s get right to it big boys.
I tried doing the recommended album things like cartrox did, but the stupid spoilers keep showing even though they aren’t open, rip.
First let’s start off with three honorable mentions:
HM 1
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Killing Joke - Pylon
All I have to say about this album is that it is pretty much primal sounding metal. This album has a lot of repetitive riffs over minimal drum beats, and strange post-punk-like vocals. Not my favorite album, but it does have some really good heavy tracks in here.
Recommended Tracks: Dawn of the Hive, I Am the Virus[/details]
HM 2
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Periphery - Juggernaut Alpha and Omega
I really like Periphery’s djent sound with catchy vocals and melodies. This album is really a double disc, but it is separated for purchase as individual albums. Alpha is a softer and catchier album, emphasizing more clean vocals, and Omega is a darker and heavier album (djentier) with much more harsh vocals and a couple long prog songs. In my opinion, Omega is definitely the better album, but definitely check out both.
Recommended Tracks: A Black Minute, Omega [/details]
HM 3
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The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness
This is an album I didn’t really expect to like, but it really is a nice, poppy-RnB album. Of course, this album will always be compared to MJ, and it really shows from the great vocals and grooves of this album.
Recommended Tracks: Tell Your Friends, Can’t Feel my Face
Now let’s get to the top ten!
10.
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TesseracT - Polaris: This is one of the best “djent” albums I have heard this year. The vocals are incredibly melodic, and the riffs are djently-low tuned(hahahahahahahh). It isn’t too much different than their previous stuff, but it is still very good. Definitely check out if you like progressive metal with good melodies.
9.
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Baroness - Purple: This is the first time I heard a full album of theirs. I have heard pieces of Yello and Green before, but not the whole thing because it didn’t interest me that much. This album on the other hand, greatly blends catchy melodies, along with huge heavy sludgy, but not too dissonant riffs.
8.
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Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss: Some really dark, haunting, noisy, and doomy rock tunes on this album. This is the first time I have heard her music, and I liked it on my first listen. I really like her vocals and they fit very well with this noisy-folky album.
7.
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Deafheaven - New Bermuda: If you’ve heard this band’s last album, Sunbather, this is kind of like that, except the loud parts are much more abrasive and show more influence of thrash and black metal, and the softer parts show an even greater influence of post-rock. Definitely check out if you want a good loud but also beautiful metal album.
6.
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Mutemath - Vitals: This is a nice synth pop album from the really experimental rock band Mutemath. They have never really made an album that is the same, and this is definitely much different from their previous three. Chcek out if you want some great synth sounds and good modern synthpop music with great vocals.
5.
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Alustrium - A Tunnel to Eden: This is a really awesome technical death metal album. Really focusing on heaviness, technicality, and progginess. The three-track-long suite at the end is a great finisher to the album.
4.
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Death Grips - The Powers that B: A frickin noisy ass album is what this is. I remember being blown away by the pure loudness of the title track to this double album. The first part of this album “Niggas on the Moon” is a much more experimental album, while the second part “Jenny Death” is much more straightforward, loud, and in-your-face kind of music. Check this album out if you want your eardrums blown out.
3.
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Our Oceans - Our Oceans: An absolutely beautiful atmospheric rock album. I really liked this album the first time I heard it. Each song swells with layered and ambient instrumentation with great vocals and great mellow musicianship.
2.
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Kamasi Washington - The Epic: Another great album. This is pretty much jazz from space. I love how it can go from smooth sounding jazz, to really noisy and chaotic, almost free jazz. If the length seems like it’s too much for you, listen to disc at a time, or just one song at a time, because a large amount of the songs are over 8 minutes long.
1.
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Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly: This album is just too good. The message on this album is great and the music perfectly flows with each story told on the album. It really needs to be heard to fully understand. If you have not heard this album, you are really missing out on what may be a modern classic.
And now I will recommend a couple classic albums to check out:
CA 1:
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DJ Shadow - Endtroducing: This albums is pretty much a work of art made from other works of art. DJ shadow, using a very minimal amount of equipment, creates a whole new world of music with other pieces of music. It doesn’t really have a hip-hop sound, yet it is produced like a sampled hip-hop album. Changing the original emotions of the songs to something different, making completely new pieces of art, it is really amazing.
CA 2:
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Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden: This is a fantastic album that shows the early workings of a genre that would be labeled as “post-rock”. While at first it doesn’t sound too much like a post-rock album, you can definitely hear the influence from early first wave post-rock bands such as Bark Psychosis and Sigur Ros. This is an album that was so ahead of its time, being released in 1988, and it doesn’t sound dated that much at all. A beautiful album showing the great works of art that can come from improvisation.
I recommend you listen to some of these albums if you haven’t heard them before and they interest you.
What are your favorite albums of the year? List them below!