2015 has been an interesting year. Of course, year-end reviews always say crap like that… I won’t say it was specifically good or bad, as personally, I’ve withheld my desire to strangle a lot of people in 2015. However, there were also some pretty awesome things that happened in 2015.
Mostly Fallout 4.
Kidding.
But seriously.
One thing I typically do with some friends at the end of the year is come up with a TOP 10 albums of the year. It’s funny, when certain albums come out during the year and it’s a badass album, I immediately know it’s going into the top 10.
There is a TL;DR at the bottom if, for some reason, you don’t want to read these absolutely perfect and intoxicating combinations of the alphabet I have prepared for you. You monster.
Without further ado, my list, and why each release is placed where it is, of THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN!
1. My number one album of 2015 is actually a dual EP release from David Maxim Micic. The “Ego” and “Eco” EPs were something that I was looking forward to for a little while and they absolutely blew me away. It is impossible to listen to only one song from either EP, I have to listen to both of them when I hear one song pop up on shuffle. Incredible albums and there could be no other number one.
Links: Facebook // Bandcamp // iTunes
2. Number two was released by a band I’ve become friends with because I’ve given them so much shit over how long it took for the release of their album. I had been waiting on it since around 2012… Finally in 2015 it was unleashed! I am referring to Era Untold’s “MAINTAINING THE FICTION”! Brutal, technical, thick, open. So sick.
3. The Bronze Medal was a difficult choice… HOWEVER… It had to be in the top 3… Periphery’s dual album release “Juggernaut: Alpha” and “Juggernaut: Omega”. I still honestly cannot decide which I like more. Just as with David Maxim Micic’s EPs, I really have to listen to these in the entirety of both albums. Though, I usually shuffle the songs between these.
Links: Facebook // Twitter // iTunes
4. In fourth, is a very short EP. Short, but phenomenal. I got caught up with Plini a while back and ended up ordering his 3 EP Box set that was released and would do it again. He released “The End of Everything” early 2015 and though it is only 3 tracks, they are damn near perfect. One of my favorite musicians.
Links: Facebook // Bandcamp // Merch
5. Fünf! I feel like after the first three, I can’t really say that the others are in any particular order. But…. In fifth… I placed Between the Buried and Me’s “Coma Ecliptic”. Because. That’s why. Listen to it. You’ll know.
Links: Official Website // Facebook // Twitter // Merch
6. Holding sixth place, a little bit of a different artist sits. Celldweller, if you’re not familiar, is industrial, with lots of electronic influences as well as some metal. He had been releasing EPs in chapters. Time, Love, Dreams, and Death. The full collection was released late 2015 and is known as “End of an Empire”. It is quite different in what it is made of, but damn is it great. Great for getting some adrenaline going. Check it out if you’re looking for something a bit different.
Links: Facebook // Official Website // Merch
7. Seventh goes to a band that has been around for a while. This album I can listen to in its entirety over and over. Not the heaviest, or most technical, or brutal. It’s just pure rock. It is “Psychic Warfare” from Clutch. Fantastic album. I always kinda liked clutch, but wasn’t a HUGE fan, but after listening to this album I was addicted. If you need something blasting while your pedal is smashed to the floor and you’re slamming through gears; crank this up.
Links: Facebook // Official Website // Merch
8. Atop the eighth pillar, I chose to place TesseracT’s “Polaris”. I’ve been a big fan since I heard the “Concealing Fate” EP. With the return of Daniel Tompkins on this album, I was super pumped to receive it. “Polaris” has a certain openness about it that just seems to put me at peace and make me one with the universe.
Links: Facebook // Twitter // iTunes // Merch
9. Standing in ninth, with members from bands like Spawn of Possession, Obscura, and Aborted; Alkaloid is a minefield of badassery. “The Malkuth Grimoire” is a journey through existence and space that will blow you away. This is yet another album from this year that I really have to listen to in full if I catch a song whilst shuffling mah tunes.
Links: Facebook // Official Website // Merch // Bandcamp
10. With the tenth finisher, we have a short album, but it is an awesome one. Quality over quantity, I say. I have always been interested in the skies. Interested in what goes on in the far reaches of the universe. When music makes me feel like I am floating through the void, or flying through it at ludicrous speed, I am immediately hooked. Omega District nailed it with “The Deconstruction of a Universe”. Aside from the spatial feeling, it is beautiful and devastating musically. Requires a full album listen in a sitting.
Well, there it is: The ten albums for the year that, if stuck in an abandoned space station on the outskirts of the galaxy, I’d choose to play until I drifted into the void. At least until I made contact with beings to send me back into my home cluster. Not before I blow their minds with my favorite albums of the year though.
I promised a TL;DR…
1. David Maxim Micic – EGO & ECO
2. Era Untold – Maintaining the Fiction
3. Periphery – Juggernaut: Alpha & Juggernaut: Omega
4. Plini – The End of Everything
5. Between the Buried and Me – Coma Eclpitic
6. Celldweller – End of an Empire
7. Clutch – Psychic Warfare
8. TesseracT – Polaris
9. Alkaloid – The Malkuth Grimoire
10. Omega District – The Deconstruction of a Universe
Dig it.
-Logan
