Vote For Your Favorite Album of 2009!

[DTJeff]

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've posted here, so first off I wanna say hey.
My internet radio show, When Prog and Power Unite is holding our second-annual Album of the Year poll on our website. My cohost and I pick a bunch of our personal favorites from the year, and ask everyone to participate in voting for their favorite. The winning album will receive a special featuring on our year-end broadcast on Monday, December 28th!

As usual, I'm many of you have favorite albums that did not make our list. The list is more or less just 5 favorites from both my cohost and I, so naturally there is tons of great, notable stuff left off. I'd appreciate people refraining from overly negative comments about not including albums. Just please pick your favorite of those we have chosen. Your support and participation is appreciated!!!

The poll is located here:
http://www.wpapu.com

 

[Matt Crooks]

On that list, Redemption, though I've only heard a few of them.

For me the top three are Redemption, While Heaven Wept and Indukti. All albums are great, and they change order for me daily.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Not a single one of these would be my favorite album of the year, which is "Black Gives Way To Blue," but "Digital Ghosts" is my favorite of the batch so I voted for that one!

 

[zedowns]

Voted Riverside, though nothing comes close to The Dear Hunter - "Act III: Life And Death".

 

[nomisofsiman]

Not a single one of these would be my favorite album of the year, which is "Black Gives Way To Blue," but "Digital Ghosts" is my favorite of the batch so I voted for that one!

Well, AIC is not gonna be on any prog/power metal site, so you shouldn't have been expecting that one there.

My favorite isn't there and surprised (Porcupine Tree?) but Riverside's album is pretty high up there on my list. I think this poll (no offense to the creator/s, it's just inevitable) is eventually going to be either Dream Theater or Redemption as that's what I think the audience is geared towards. That's no bashing towards either one btw as I like them both.

Dream Theater in fact is in my top 5 bands period, but I just found the new one having some of their best songs ever along with a bad one, "Wither" and an okay one " Rite of Passage", and I can't call any album classic or an album of the year contender if it's inconsistent.

I have the Translantic but haven't had the chance to listen to it yet. I want to be in the right mood and listen to that first disc without any interruption. haha.

 

[DTJeff]

There's no question whatsoever that this is going to come down to Dream Theater vs. Redemption. A lot of that has to do with the fact that (especially on the more power metal side of things), a lot of the bigger names put out mediocre albums this year. Most of the albums I found to be quality weren't exactly the names that are gonna bring a lot of votes on fanship. We thought about purposely altering our choices to make for a better competition, but it was really intended to just be 5 favorites of mine (Bloodbound, lord, Jaded Heart, Machines of Grace, Savage Circus), 5 favorites of my cohost, and 1 huge favorite we both share (Redemption) - so that's what it is. For 2008 the poll wound up being a showdown between Ayreon and Avantasia, appropriately enough.

 

[TribunalRecords]

that was interesting vote, i was expecting to be able to cast a vote but not really have to select an album from an already decided list.

the dream theater record is pretty awful (other than bonus CD of covers), honestly. call me what you will, but that record is a joke for album of the year. i could list 5 albums not even on that list that are better. please note, "When Dream & Day Unite" is in my top five albums of all time. so i am a Theater fan and not just saying it to bash them, but because people don't bash them we allow them to get caught in the creative rut that have been in for years. i mean when you "borrow" the riffs and vocal patterns of a famous Metallica song, what does that say about one of the most talented bands in the world? the phrase "running out of gas," comes to mind. sorry for rant, back to topic.

another interesting note is how a BRAND NEW record by Savage Circus could already be up for voting. i haven't even landed my copy on CD yet, as i am sure most haven't nor have they had time to digest it enough to say it's the best of the year.

 

[Stingray11214]

You are basically making our choices for us, so why bother? If I had a choice, the only CD that I have not been willing to stop listening to (and driving my wife nuts constantly playing it) is Sonata's Days of Grays. Just an incredible prog-crossover.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

The Dear Hunter - "Act III: Life And Death".

Is this any good? You seem to have great taste on this board (even though I didn't like that new Riverside CD compared to their first 3 albums) so I may have to grab it.

 

[DTJeff]

You are basically making our choices for us, so why bother? If I had a choice, the only CD that I have not been willing to stop listening to (and driving my wife nuts constantly playing it) is Sonata's Days of Grays. Just an incredible prog-crossover.

This is exactly what I asked people to refrain from doing. I get it, nothing we picked was one of your favorites. So don't vote, and you don't have to say anything. But it's our radio show, thus it stands to reason that the choices are generally our favorite albums.
I feel it should be noted that I wanted this poll to have twice as many options. I felt that this was far too restrictive, but my cohost wanted to keep it to a dozen choices.

 

[KingsGene]

While I would've automatically voted for Riverside being a fanboy of them, I instead voted for Redemption as I believe it is definitely the better overall record.

 

[edgeofthorns]

Jeff, out of your list I chose, Lord - Set In Stone. Actually, I think I'm the only one.

~Brian~

 

[General Zod]

But it's our radio show, thus it stands to reason that the choices are generally our favorite albums.

Than why don't you and your co-host simply publish a list of your favorite CDs of 2009*? To ask the public to pick their favorite album of 2009 and give them only ten choices, would likely mislead anyone who sees the poll results after it's completed.

This poll reminds me of the question Steven Colbert always asks his liberal guests; George Bush... great President or greatest President ever?

Zod

* I was under the impression years had 12 months.

 

[edgeofthorns]

The poll is located here:
http://www.wpapu.com

Jeff, maybe you should've just asked our crowd to vote for their favorite out of your show's top ten picks. That would've saved alot of headache for you responding to all of the Monday morning quarterbacking.

~Brian~

 

[DTJeff]

Jeff, maybe you should've just asked our crowd to vote for their favorite out of your show's top ten picks. That would've saved alot of headache for you responding to all of the Monday morning quarterbacking.

~Brian~

The thought had crossed my mind of titling this thread "Vote For Your Favorite Album of These Dozen Favorites from 2009!", but I didn't think people would really get this butthurt about it.
Again, I want to say that I wanted this poll to contain twice as many options as it does, but my cohost insisted on just keeping it to this few, so I understand that it is pretty restrictive.

 

[Burnout]

None of my favorite albums were there, so I ran with Riverside.

My favorites for the year:
Portal - Swarth
Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
Ulcerate - Everything is Fire
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Mastodon - Crack the Skye

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Than why don't you and your co-host simply publish a list of your favorite CDs of 2009*? To ask the public to pick their favorite album of 2009 and give them only ten choices, would likely mislead anyone who sees the poll results after it's completed.

This poll reminds me of the question Steven Colbert always asks his liberal guests; George Bush... great President or greatest President ever?

Zod

* I was under the impression years had 12 months.

To be fair, metal labels don't usually release albums in December. The reason for this is because simply nobody buys music during this time of year. Metal records cannot compete with holiday pop albums. That's why the vast majority of upcoming albums are now slated for an early 2010 release at the earliest.

Otherwise, amazing post. I lol'd hard.

 

[General Zod]

To be fair, metal labels don't usually release albums in December. The reason for this is because simply nobody buys music during this time of year. Metal records cannot compete with holiday pop albums. That's why the vast majority of upcoming albums are now slated for an early 2010 release at the earliest.

I had no idea this was the case. Interesting.

Zod

 

[SavaVIDude]

Was JOP's "Global Warning" this year?? If not, I'm digging the new Megadeth a lot!! Even though I still can't stand MegaDave's voice!!

Chris

 

[end]

Voted Riverside, though I definitely would have picked Katatonia's "Night is the New Day" if it were on there.