2014's albums of the year (for you)

[Shadow298]

Surprised this wasn't done earlier.
Was going to make this thread the other week but got to lazy.

Anyway, what are your albums of 2014?
What are ones that disappointed you?

Make your lists here!

 

[Shadow298]

Favourite albums:

Soen - Tellurian
Chuck D (from Public Enemy) - The Black In Man
Pallbearer - Foundations Of Burden
Devin Townsend - Z2 (Ziltoid 2: Sky blue & Dark Matter)
Sanctury - The Year The Sun Died
Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend
Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish keyboardist) - The Life and Times of Scrooge
Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls
Skindred - Kill the Power

Disappointments:

The Tea Party - The Ocean At The End

 

[Southy]

I always struggle to remember albums that came out by the end of the year, but here is a semi recent list of things I remember

Mastodon - Whatever it was called... Can't remember the title, but it was longwinded, the album, whilr good, for some reason never really stuck with me, and because of that, while I wouldn't use a word like 'disappointed', I did, for whatever reason feel let down by it.

Job for a Cowboy -Sun Eater. Wow, just wow, the band has grown so much with their sound, I quite like this album, can be 'proggy' in bits, but that in no way takes away from the ferocity.

Machine Head - Bloodstone and Diamonds. This one is still a grower, and packed full of over long filler, the lads could of kept 5 or 6 off this and still had a killer fucking album.

Eyehategod - S/T. Pretty sure this was this year, being clean hasn't taken away from the manic sound of this band, just great stuff IMO.

Madball - Hardcore Lives. It is a Madball album, and I am a big fan of the whole NYHC sound/scene. Not a let down if you think you like HxC

Sick Of It All - Last Act of Defiance. See above, and the fact that these lads are still killing it like this is proof that they deserve their spot on top of the pile.

Obituary - Inked In Blood. It is the best they have put out in years I think, well worth the purchase, It's Florida Death Metal, you know what you are going to get here, so stop bitching and get on it.

Entombed A.D. - Whatever it was called... Can't remember the name of this album either, but it is like the blurb above, except it is the 'Gothernburg' sound *grown*

And lastly, Killer Be Killed - S/T. I dunno what I was expecting to hear before and when this came out, but it turned out to be something that I liked, I can't nail down what I like about it, but it is bloody great all the same.

I am sure there is actually more, but don't you think I have written enough already?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Mine is probably Killer Be Killed. Refreshing metal that doesn't lean too heavily in any one direction. Picked it up with zero expectation and loved it.

John Butler Trios latest is pretty great.

At first I was disappointed by the new Emigrate album, but i listened to it a couple of days ago and really dug it.

Mastodon didn't top their last two, but still put out a great record.

The Tea Party did disappoint a bit, but i think it's a very interesting release. More like what the band could have sounded like in a parallel universe.

Enjoying the new Marilyn Manson album, which is technically a 2015 release. Stronger than Born Villain which I found disappointing.

Robert Plant's album is pretty different but i really like it. Kinda modern and hipsterish, but good!

 

[phlogiston]

I had a whole big list type out, then I hit the wrong button and it went away, and I can't be bothered typing it out again.

In summary, there were a few things I liked, more that were OK but disappointed because the earlier stuff was stronger, and really the only two that changed my world were:

Mastodon - Never got into them before, but Once More 'Round the Sun has opened me up on them
Arch Enemy - Made me start questioning my dislike of Death Metal. Didn't cure it, but I've identified certain elements that I quite like

Met expectations:

Devin Townsend - Z2. The man can do no wrong
AC/DC - Granted, expectations weren't high, but it's solid.


Biggest disappointments were:

Unisonic - Light of Dawn. My expectations were too high based on the first album
In This Moment - Black Widow. Was expecting great things, but again, was just servicable. The last two albums were better.

Honorable Mention:

Slash - A really good G'N'R album.

Everything else was just - whatever. I might update if I think of any others.

 

[phlogiston]

Oh! Vanishing Point - Distant is the Sun. This is one that I was really looking forward and didn't disappoint. In fact, possibly even album of the year for me. Not sure how I forgot it.

 

[Southy]

Lagwagon - Hang, well worth the price of admission great album by a good band

Also the new Arch Enemy which I forgot came out, I loved it, I thought the last couple were a bit ho hum, but the newie grabbed my attention pretty well.

The Haunted new one is good too, never been a big fan of Marco Aro as a vocalist for some reason, but he kills it on the new album

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Been meaning to check out new The Haunted.

I tried In This Moment Black Widow based on strong reviews and quite liked it, though I've never heard their other material.

 

[Winmar]

Only bought a handful of albums, such as:

At the Gates - At War With Reality
Steel Panther - All You Can Eat
Slash - whatever the album is called

So they'll have to be in top few by default. I've listed to the At the Gates a lot; it's excellent.

Then on Spotify I've been really impressed by Marty Friedman's album.

 

[Southy]

Off! - Wasted Years. Because it is frickin' good. There was alot that came out in 2014 and I still can't remember everything I listened too by a long shot.

New Napalm Death at the end of this month, so now its time to look forward right?

 

[Shadow298]

I gave the new At The Gates a spin & just sounds like shitty metalcore to me.

but, then again, I was never a fan of them.

 

[Spiff]

My album of 2014 is one of these:

Lagwagon - Hang. I only listened to this band because I was researching Soundwave bands and was blown away by this album. Never heard of them before.

Rise Against - The Black Market. Never really listened to them until someone told me to, so I gave this one a go and loved it.

I really like the new Slash album but it needs to have five or six songs taken out to make it great.

 

[Southy]

Everything Lagwagon is good Spiffo, I highly recommend going through the back catalogue. As for Rise Against I am more of a fan of the earlier stuff, and always find myself going back to their Siren Song of the Counter Culture album, they lost a tiny bit of the hardcore edge that has all but gone now, but I feel the mix was best on this album