2011 Albums

Postulate

Postulate

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Jul 17, 2008
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Mid-year, so I thought it would be a good time to start discussing. How are we liking the year so far? Here's the stuff I've heard (trying to keep it prog-related):

King Crimson - A Scarcity of Miracles
Great album overall, but the sax is a bit smooth jazzy and the vocals are very unconvincing at points, IMO. I enjoy the more ambient and experimental moments, and Levin/Harrison are great as expected.

Van der Graaf Generator - A Grounding in Numbers
Solid release. The band is alive and well.

Pendragon - Passion
Thought this was absolute crap when I first heard it, but it's grown on me. Amazing vocal harmonies, some very captivating guitar work, and hard-edged without being ridiculous (There's a nu metal riff in the first track and it's actually good).

Wobbler - Rites at Dawn
Meh. Pretty boring retro-prog. Pretty sick of this sort of stuff, but it's not terrible.

Symphony X - Iconoclast
I've made my opinion clear, but I'd rather the thread not be about it. :D

Yes - Fly from Here
Haven't heard it yet, since I don't think it's been released in North America. Honestly I don't think it will be any good, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Comedy of Errors - Disobey
Incredible - a miracle out of nowhere. A classic neo-prog album in 2011, who would have thought? I won't say any more, just listen to it! Easily my favorite album so far this year, and a huge surprise.
 
Released:

Alestorm - Back Through Time
Great album! Catchy as always, atmospheric as always, funny, with some awesome musical surprises and a seriously awesome song (despite the black metal vocals part!) in Death Throes of the Terrorsquid. Favourite song of 2011 so far.

Devin Townsend - Deconstruction
I'm not into extreme metal (I love Devin Townsend, but just can't listen to Strapping Young Lad) so this is not my favourite record by Devin. However, extreme metal was never before this awesome. Too heavy for my liking in some places, but surprisingly mellow and fun in others. Originality and variety make this album bearable for me. And even though the heavier parts are not my genre, I have to admit that its just very masterfully crafted.

Devin Townsend - Ghost
This album is SO beautiful and peaceful. It feels like an early morning stroll in a colourful, dew covered landscape. Feather, Blackberry, Texada and a few others are really awesome tracks, catchy as well. However, it's not an album I listen to in its entirety very often. The actual songs are mixed with ambient tracks; they are nice and perfect for background music (while studying and that kind of stuff), but not inviting. Fantastic album for what it is.

Symphony X - Iconoclast
Not why I fell in love with Symphony X, a bit repetitive and some horrible lyrics, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Good stuff.

asfgfa - Beef
Alestorm-vocalist's just-for-fun side project. Funny as hell, and some tunes are actually really great. I hope he recycles some ideas for a more serious project like Alestorm, with proper instruments and production and stuff.


Upcoming:

Devin Townsend - Ghost 2
What I've heard so far sounds good. Watch You is my favourite Devin song of 2011 and maybe my favourite since Ziltoid! Really awesome. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album!

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
On the Back of Angels didnt't sound too interesting.

Threshold - ???

Delain - ???

Adrenaline Mob - ???

Russell Allen - ??? (???)

Arjen Lucassen - ??? (2011 or 2012?)

Edguy - Age of the Joker
Probably shit.
 
I didn't know Yes released a new album. Will check it out and come back to it soon.

Proggish stuff:

Symphony X - Iconoclast
Better than Paradise Lost, but lacks variation. If it just had a couple of Lady of the Snows or Accolades in there, it would have been so much better.

Caligula's Horse - Moments from ephemeral city
Like the first two Mechanical Poet albums, I seem to be the only one in the world who likes this album.

Devin Townsend - Desonstruction
Probably his most chaotic non-SYL album and I'm not a huge fan of that. There are however many parts of songs that are just fantastic.

Devin Townsend - Ghost
I love it. Huge fan of mellow Townsend. Ki is better though. Looking forward to Ghost 2!


Other:
Septicflesh - The Great Mass
Imagine if Dimmu Borgir were good. This is basically it.

Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
Best melodeath in a long time.

Heavenwood - Abyss Masterpiece
"Goth" sound, which I'm usually not a fan of. However this albums is great anyway, which is what most people say about it I think.

Amorphis - The Beginning Of Times
I went back and listened to Skyforger, and Skyforger is indeed a better album. This is however still a great album.

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Boring. The one before this was much better.

Serenity - Death & Legacy
Cheesy as fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Good if you're in the mood for it.

Vreid - V
The opposite of Death & Legacy. Balls on the anvil-metal. Great stuff, loved em ever since I saw them live at Wacken.

Still haven't heard:
Falkenbach - Tiurida
New Yes
and some more.
 
Phanto said:
I didn't know Yes released a new album. Will check it out and come back to it soon.

Proggish stuff:

Symphony X - Iconoclast
Better than Paradise Lost, but lacks variation. If it just had a couple of Lady of the Snows or Accolades in there, it would have been so much better.

Caligula's Horse - Moments from ephemeral city
Like the first two Mechanical Poet albums, I seem to be the only one in the world who likes this album.

Devin Townsend - Desonstruction
Probably his most chaotic non-SYL album and I'm not a huge fan of that. There are however many parts of songs that are just fantastic.

Devin Townsend - Ghost
I love it. Huge fan of mellow Townsend. Ki is better though. Looking forward to Ghost 2!


Other:
Septicflesh - The Great Mass
Imagine if Dimmu Borgir were good. This is basically it.

Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows
Best melodeath in a long time.

Heavenwood - Abyss Masterpiece
"Goth" sound, which I'm usually not a fan of. However this albums is great anyway, which is what most people say about it I think.

Amorphis - The Beginning Of Times
I went back and listened to Skyforger, and Skyforger is indeed a better album. This is however still a great album.

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Boring. The one before this was much better.

Serenity - Death & Legacy
Cheesy as fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Good if you're in the mood for it.

Vreid - V
The opposite of Death & Legacy. Balls on the anvil-metal. Great stuff, loved em ever since I saw them live at Wacken.

Still haven't heard:
Falkenbach - Tiurida
New Yes
and some more.
Click to expand...

I wish Age of Nemesis and Spheric Universe would put something else out; they and Adagio as well.
 
Postulate said:
Mid-year, so I thought it would be a good time to start discussing. How are we liking the year so far? Here's the stuff I've heard (trying to keep it prog-related):

King Crimson - A Scarcity of Miracles
Great album overall, but the sax is a bit smooth jazzy and the vocals are very unconvincing at points, IMO. I enjoy the more ambient and experimental moments, and Levin/Harrison are great as expected.

Van der Graaf Generator - A Grounding in Numbers
Solid release. The band is alive and well.

Pendragon - Passion
Thought this was absolute crap when I first heard it, but it's grown on me. Amazing vocal harmonies, some very captivating guitar work, and hard-edged without being ridiculous (There's a nu metal riff in the first track and it's actually good).

Wobbler - Rites at Dawn
Meh. Pretty boring retro-prog. Pretty sick of this sort of stuff, but it's not terrible.

Symphony X - Iconoclast
I've made my opinion clear, but I'd rather the thread not be about it. :D

Yes - Fly from Here
Haven't heard it yet, since I don't think it's been released in North America. Honestly I don't think it will be any good, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Comedy of Errors - Disobey
Incredible - a miracle out of nowhere. A classic neo-prog album in 2011, who would have thought? I won't say any more, just listen to it! Easily my favorite album so far this year, and a huge surprise.
Click to expand...

Have you heard Ceraphic Clockwork by Vanden Plas?
 
Devin albums: I like Deconstruction, I really like Ghost. Especially "Watch You" from Ghost 2 sounds fantastic as well as Liampie pointed out.

Iconoclast: Good metal album

Primordial - Redemption At The Puritan's Hand - A very good epic-feeling metal album

Ulver - Wars of The Roses - Another good Ulver release. Doesn't grab as easily as some of the earlier stuff, but good stuff.

Cynthesis - DeEvolution - This is a pretty good prog "metal" release. I say "metal", cause for the most part it's not very heavy instrumentally. Nice atmosphere although there's some technical stuff too, really good vocals, nice bass things going on etc. There are faults too, but this is probably something for the prog fans here to enjoy. Apparently has members of a prog metal band called Zero hour, which I am not familiar with.

Heather Findlay - Phoenix Suite - Good rocking debut EP of the ex-MA vocalist, fantastic vocals as is to be expected.

That's pretty much all the good stuff I can think of right now. I'm afraid I haven't had time to listen to much of this year's albums.
 
Symphony X- Iconoclast: As someone already said, better than Paradise Lost; however, not quite the SyX I fell in love with.

Amon Amarth- Surtur Rising: Solid album. Hard to determine whether I like it or Twilight of the Thunder God better.

Cynthesis- DeEvolution: Lyrically/conceptually this was the album that Zero Hour was making until Erik Rosvold left. I was really excited about the concept back then; thus, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed in it. It is a shame that Jasun and Troy are too nice to oust Salinas from ZH to have Erik back because this would have been much better as a ZH album as it was originally intended to be. Because they had to make this side project group in order to have Erik back they ended up having to go a bit of a different route musically to differentiate it from ZH. This lead to it being a more atmospheric style of music, which is nice if I am in the mood for it; however, its not the way I originally visioned DeEvolution to be like.

Amorphis- The Beginning of Times: Despite hearing about how some Amorphis fans are a bit disappointed in it, I like it quite a bit. Atmospheric, catchy, and with just the right amount of harsher moments. Keep in mind my opinion about this album is probably akin to someone's opinion of Iconoclast who has only been listening to them since PL. Besides this new album, the only other Amorphis album I own is their previous album Skyforger.

Scar Symmetry- The Unseen Empire: Good solid album that doesn't really throw anything surprising out into the field. I would say its more similar to their first couple of albums rather than their last, which was a bit more technical.

Suidakra- Book of Dowth: I never really listened to this band before despite hearing about them back when they were on the first Pagan Fest tour. This album is excellent and has a good bit of variety to keep things from getting to mundane (unlike a certain album I don't think I need to name...). Unlike a folk metal band such as Eluveitie (whom I personally love), they don't feel the need to have to constantly throw in folk instruments to sound like folk metal. I don't know too much about their other albums, but in this one there is barely any folk instruments to be heard; however, just the way the guitars sound during some of the choruses and such you get this folk vibe still. It is kind of hard to explain really. Anyway, I seriously recommend this to anyone who likes folk metal but has not heard this band yet.

Pagan's Mind- Heavenly Ecstasy: Their debut album on SPV/Steamhammer (so I was actually able to buy this at a store!). This seems to be a very long album, especially if you add the two bonus tracks at the end; thus, I have not been able to really take the time to sit down and devote the time to delve into it. From what I have heard and can remember well enough it seems quite solid; however, I don't think I will end up liking it as much as their last album, God's Equation.


I can't think of anything else right now but I may be forgetting something. There are a few things out or coming out this year that I am looking forward to.

new Opeth
new Sun Caged (out now)
new Pain of Salvation
new Rhapsody (of Fire)
new Fair to Midland
new X-Japan
 
Have you heard Ceraphic Clockwork by Vanden Plas?
Click to expand...

I did, but it was only once and I wasn't really concentrating on it. So I can't really remember much about it. I believe it was released last year, though.

Also looking forward to Arch/Matheos and Subsignal.
 
LittleTortillaBoy said:
Nobody mentioned Wolverine - Communication Lost... Great album!
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I heard that album a couple of weeks ago. I thought that the Cynthesis album was better though so I kinda forgot about it. Not a bad one anyway, I'll probably check it out again one of these day.
 
Wander said:
Oh yeah, I heard that album a couple of weeks ago. I thought that the Cynthesis album was better though so I kinda forgot about it. Not a bad one anyway, I'll probably check it out again one of these day.
Click to expand...

I like didn't think much of either of those two discs...

Here are a few I came up with now....

Beardfish - Mammoth
Dasputnik - Cyclokosmia
Therhythmisodd - Raw Material
And you will know us by the Trail of Dead - The Tao of the Dead
 
I can now add Leprous to my list!

new album due out in August 2011.

LEPROUS, the Norwegian progressive/avantgarde metal band that recently signed a worldwide deal with InsideOutMusic can proudly reveal that it has chosen surrealistic American artist Jeff Jordan to create the artwork for their upcoming album, "Bilateral".

More details and album artwork can be found at:

http://www.leprous.net/news.html

Looks awesome! Super excited!
 
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