Top ten discs of 2014

[Yonfon]

It's 2015! How about we list our top 10 albums of 2014?
I enjoy reading this thread every year, so lets see them!


Here is my list:

1. Animals - Bend Sinister
2. Pink Lemonade - Closure in Moscow
3. V - Voyager
4. Cooking with Pagans - Freak Kitchen
5. Distant Satellites - Anathema
6. Gemini, Her Majesty - RX Bandits
7. Restoration - Haken
8. What Kind of Creature Am I? - Toehider
9. Orvam - Need
10. Space Police - Edguy (Had to put this on here because of the creative ideas this album gave me.)


The gap between my top three and everything else was big. Still can't get over how bummed I was at Dark Matters.

 

[zekeyou]

1. While Heaven Wept-- Suspended at Aphelion
2. Agalloch-- The Serpent and the Sphere
3. Anathema-- Distant Satellites
4. Sólstafir-- Ótta
5. Fu Manchu-- GIGANTOID
6. Primordial-- Where Greater Men Have Fallen
7. Judas Priest-- Redeemer of Souls
8 . Accept-- Blind Rage
9. Mostly Autumn-- Dressed in Voices
10. High Spirits-- You Are Here
11. Portrait-- Crossroads
12. Overkill-- White Devil Armory
13. Sanctuary-- The Year the Sun Died
14. Dawnbringer-- Night of the Hammer
15. Need-- Orvam: A Song for Home

 

[Mardoch]

This year was an awesome year. Taking my top 20 down to 15 was somewhat easy, taking the 15 down to 10 was very difficult.

1. Skyharbor - Guiding Lights
Dan Thompkins, all cleans, all amazing. Keshav Dhar, so much amazing and fluid riffing. Anup Sastry...a drummer so incredibly enjoyable he's on my list twice. It was a hard fought battle for number one, but the abject musicality in this disc, the overall atmosphere, the fluidity of the music...just awesome. I sure hope this crew comes near me stateside because SHUTUP AND TAKE MY MONEY!


2. Monuments - The Amanuensis
What does progression sound like? It sounds like The Amanuensis when compared to Gnosis. If it weren't for the incredibly distinct sound that John Browne brings you probably wouldn't even know the two discs were the same band. Chris Barretto is the voice, and nutsy writer (also sax master), they needed to really be amazing. This disc is full of heavy as hell, complex as all get out, and otherwise just totally enjoyable songs. Also, boy do they bring it live. Super nice guys as well (very cuddly! the lot of them are huggers).


3. Voyager - V
It's Voyager. With a load of extra heavy. There's basically nothing not to love about this disc.


4. The Contortionist - Language
A band that went from "completely disinterested" to "holy shit!" with but a change of singer. I liked their music before, but the vocals just killed it for me. This disc, though, is beautiful. And heavy, very heavy.


5. Hemina - Nebulae
A second dose of quirky Ozzies in my top 10. This album is a captivating ride through more than a handful of styles, all of which are well executed. I just keep coming back for tunes like Lust and Hope.


6. Destiny Potato - LUN
Aleksandra. Djelmas. A lot of people say that her voice is very poppy, which I can see, but then she screams and it's WOOOHOOO for me. David Maxim Micic is also never a disappointing axeman. If there were an album on which "djent" could be called approachable it would be this one. Tons of complexity, but also just plain musical. Even my 2 year old daughter has asked me to repeat Blue Sun on occassion.


7. Intervals - A Voice Within
Intervals adds a vocalist and shoots way up in the rankings of bands I love. I always adored their style, especially on a tune like Mata Hari, but instrumental acts get old somewhat quickly (hence the exceptional Animals as Leaders missing from my top 10). They brought it hard live. Small venue (The Varsity in BR), not packed, no apparent drop in energy...one of my highlight shows of the year (up there with Monuments at the Howling Wolf in NO). I'm pretty sad about Mike's departure, his voice fit their music very nicely.


8. Anubis Gate - Horizons
Just a lovely disc. If you get it, you get it. If not, listen to more freakin Anubis Gate! Perfect vocal delivery, super smooth writing, and it has Hear My Call on it, which might be my favorite AG tune now. I'm super pumped that they're coming to Atlanta in '15.


9. Snarky Puppy - We Like it Here
A non-metal disc! Funky jazzy fusiony whateverness. An instrumental crew that hits the top 10. If you like rockin funky jazz then I can't recommend them highly enough. It's really hard to recommend one tune from this disc, but What About Me? is most likely the most rockin' tune (the guitar solo kills me every time) on the disc so I'm tossing that in. If that floats your boat immediately look up Lingus, because there's a Transdimensional Space Goat level keyboard solo in it.


10. Soilwork - Beyond the Infinite
An EP! And an imported one at that. If you pay attention to me at all (it doesn't hurt my feelings if you don't) then it's no secret that I'm a Soilwork fanboy. This EP is a handful of tunes that didn't fit the already adventurous mold of The Living Infinite, which is saying something. Given how great some of the tunes on this disc are...I just can't wait to see what they put out next. If you recall that pair of videos for In Flames' Trigger and Soilwork's Rejection Role...it's now incredibly clear who won that fight.



Honorable Mention: Behemoth - The Satanist
Because holy shit. I'm not a black metal fan, but this album...what a towering piece of of metal. Through and through probably the most intense and purposeful disc I've ever heard.

In summary...this is me listening to my top discs from '14:

 

[zedowns]

This year was an awesome year. Taking my top 20 down to 15 was somewhat easy, taking the 15 down to 10 was very difficult.

Have you heard the new Distorted Harmony? It seems like something you'd be really into.

1. Need - Orvam: A Song for Home
2. Distorted Harmony - Chain Reaction
3. Voyager - V
4. Seven Impale - City of the Sun
5. While Heaven Wept - Suspended at Aphelion
6. Closure in Moscow - Pink Lemonade
7. Hemina - Nebulae
8. Anathema - Distant Satellites
9. Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World
10. IQ - The Road of Bones

 

[Mardoch]

Yessir. It made it to the top 20, but got shuffled off on the way to 10. Certainly not for its lack of quality.

 

[jem777az]

I don't know why my list came out at 32, but I guess I just couldn't leave anything off as they are all really good discs.

32. Voyager - V - the one thing I can say about Voyager is that they definitely have their own unique sound. Yes they have bits and pieces of various genres but they make it their own.



31. Whitechapel - Our Endless War - I've always liked this band, but they really brought it on this one. It's a more djenty 3 guitar attack and I dig it. Brutal stuff, the vocals may be a turn off for some.



30. Monuments - The Amanuensis - I liked the last album a lot so I was excited when I heard about this. New singer? No problem.



29. The Haunted - Exit Wounds - nice return to form with Marco Aro back on vox and the addition of Ola Englund has brought back some sick riffage.



28. Sanctuary - The Year The Sun Died - as others have said, I don't feel like this is a Sanctuary album, but a Nevermore album. And that's not a bad thing IMO.



27. Behemoth - The Satanist - their most complete album to date. You can hear the emotion from Nergal from having battled his health issues. This would have been higher except that it came out earlier in the year and I kind of forgot about it.



26. Amaranthe - Massive Addictive - my favorite of the 3 albums, it combines all the catchy pop elements that I love with heavier guitar riffs. There is more electronic elements on this one too, which I enjoy.



25. Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia - Keith Merrow & Jeff Loomis? FUCK YES! Two riff masters and they do not disappoint. Can't wait for more from these two.



24. Threshold - For The Journey - I have to admit I only have 2 or 3 albums from these guys and I am not familiar at all with the Mac era. But I really liked this album, great prog always makes me smile.



23. Delain - The Human Contradiction - much better than We Are The Others which was a little off track IMO. Heavier and more guitar oriented too.



22. Xandria - Sacrificum - new singer, no problem! Not quite as good as Neverworld's End, but still way better than anything Nightwish has put out in quite some time.



21. Red Circuit - Haze Of Nemesis - I had forgotten that a few of these songs were played at PP way before the album had come out. Their best to date by a mile, and the PPUSA DVD is worth the price alone.



20. Ghost Brigade - IV - One With The Storm - this is killer stuff for a rainy, gray day. Melancholy, heavy, but somehow beautiful.



19. Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter - I'll admit that I didn't have very high expectations for this. Not that I'm not a Slipknot fan, but considering all the turmoil the band had faced the past few years I didn't think they could deliver. They did. It sounds like a cross between the brutality of Iowa with the more melodic songs from the last album.



18. At The Gates - At War With Reality - a great return to form, not quite a Carcass Surgical Steel return, but damn close. So glad to hear music from these guys after what seems like forever.



17. Septicflesh - Titan - I love all the mystical themes in their music, it's so dark and evil. But it has great grooves too, if the breakdown in the clip below doesn't make you headbang then nothing will.



16. Cullooden - Silent Scream - I haven't heard a lot talked about this band on the forum which I found really surprising considering this is right up most PP fans alley. Circus Maximus'y, Dreamscape'y kind of prog that I love.



15. Devilment - The Great And Secret Show - first let me say that I am a big Cradle Of Filth fan, but I really didn't have any expectations for Dani's other band. This was a big surprise. Very different musically and most shockingly vocally than Cradle. I prefer Dani's singing on this actually.



14. Scar Symmetry - The Singularity (Phase I - Neohumanity) - their finest work since Christian left. Still just a shade behind the masterpieces Holographic Universe and Pitch Black Progress. Lars has really come along as a clean vocalist. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.



13. Insomnium - Shadows Of The Dying Sun - best Melo-death album this year. These guys have totally stepped up their game.



12. Collibus - The False Awakening - another band I'm surprised hasn't been talked about a lot on the forum. Brian May digs these guys too. Dream Theater heavy influences, but with killer female vox.



11. Within Temptation - Hydra - these guys can do no wrong IMO. They just keep getting better with each album IMO. The collaborations were a concern at first, but they work. Amazing live band too. I hope by some miracle they come to PPUSA.



10. Need - Orvam : A Song For Home - never had heard of them before Glenn posted about them. Thanks! Not much else to say that hasn't already been said.



9. Daydream XI - The Grand Disguise - another band I got by Glenn's recommendation. Killer heavy prog, which by all accounts is my favorite genre.



8. Dark Fortress - Venereal Dawn - I loved Ylem and had kind of forgotten about them as it had been so long since the last album. This is their most progressive album, moments of Opeth, black metal, death metal, doom. Check it out!



7. Psycrence - A Frail Deception - bought this solely based of the description on Laser's Edge website. There always seems to be several albums each year that I do that with and wind up loving. This is one of them. Great unsung progressive metal from the Greeks.



6. Epica - The Quantum Enigma - this what Epica sounds like when they hit on all cylinders. Heavy as fuck, but so melodic. Their best IMO.



5. Edge Of Haze - Illumine - found this out from a forum post. A little Fear Factory, some Sybreed, but I hear quite a bit of Voyager in here too. Great stuff!



4. Arch Enemy - War Eternal - I'll admit I was shocked when Angela stepped down and totally bummed as AE is one of my favorite all time bands. But Alyssa brought a new fire to the band that was sorely needed IMO. Amott killed it with the riffs on this one!



3. Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds - I was so disappointed with Locust that I nearly gave up on MH. Considering they are one of my favorite bands that's saying a lot. But they delivered with this in a way that makes me remember why I love them so much. I hear a lot of The More Things Change as far as the guitar riffs and I love it!



2. Evergrey - Hymns For The Broken - this is the Evergrey I remember! Not that they were ever bad, but they lost their focus for a while and I wasn't sure Tom would ever get it back.



1. Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral - nothing groundbreaking, nothing new, just pure fucking dirty, raw, evil death metal as only Bloodbath can deliver. The new vocalist doesn't make me miss Akerfeldt one bit. I could listen to this all day.