Well this is my top ten list of my favorite albums of 2015.
10. Imber Luminous – Veiled
This EP for some reason really spoke to me. I felt a tug at my heart when Déhà strummed his slow melodious progressions throughout both songs. This is music I would listen will writing, doing homework or needing to do some thinking. I know it’s some simple stuff, musically, but I enjoy the emotion he put in it and the meaning behind the growls and screams.
9. Månegarm – Månegarm
Honestly, this album took me a while to learn to appreciate. I wasn’t necessarily fond of the acoustic tracks at first, I thought the album would be full of amazing blackened metal tracks like Odin Owns Ye All and Blodorn. I learned to like the almost twangy, folky aesthetic used in this release. I must also give it to Erik, the vocalist; he’s one of the few vocalists who has outstanding black metal growls with good dynamics and range along with a decent singing voice.
8. Diphenylchloroarsine – The 6 Level Purge
I dabble in some slam, but it’s hard to be impressed by it. This release has everything I like in slam; they somehow got the equation right for me. I love the slow, sludgy sound of the guitars. The lyrics were hard to make out, but at least there are even lyrics! Haha! I’m a big fan of Cytotoxin, so I like the toxic-related theme throughout the album as well as the clips and samples dispersed throughout the songs.
7. Gloryhammer – Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards
With the epic storyline, artwork, thematic elements, I would call this the epitome of sci-fi-themed metal. Yes, I find this better than Rings of Saturn and other aliencore bands may be out there. The thought put into the storyline and lyrics is more than probably 95% of metal bands put. I did find the music somewhat lacking compared to their previous album. The songs weren’t as catchy or memorable.
6. Funeral Oppression – The Prisoners of Life
This is the album I will listen to when I feel lonely or any other slightly emo/not-macho-man feelings. There have been many DSBM and ABM albums released this year, but this one takes the cake, with its good vocals, good riffs, audible bass, good mixing, and decent drum programming (I wish they could have hired a drummer though).
5. Meet Me in Montauk – Where the Grass Meets the Pavement
Yes, I can go between slam, dsbm, and emo like nothing. This was the only album I bought thrice this year: 1 tape and 2 vinyls. I really enjoyed jamming to their music this year, and seeing them perform live while I belt their lyrics. I’ve been struggling finding other new emo bands release stuff as good as MMIM.
4. Urðun – Horror & Gore
Listening to this demo makes me want to start my own death metal band. I am enthralled by the whole 80’s-90’s demotape feel to their material. Their music show just how amazing death was back then when we weren’t so focused on brutality and we cared about writing actual songs with choruses and lots of cool thrashy riffs.
3. Jorn Lande/Trond Holter – Dracula: Swing of Death
This album took by totally by surprise. I stumbled upon their single Walking on Water and couldn’t stop praising it. The song is very catchy, memorable, and just plain remarkable. I thought that the album would just be filled with filler-tracks because this track is so outstanding, but after I listened to the album all the way through I realized that Walking on Water wasn’t even their best track on the album. I enjoy almost every single song on the album and can’t name a favorite, it’s that good! It’s been awhile since a good heavy metal band released something both energizing and emotional.
2. Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror
As I said about Gloryhammer having more thought put into the overall theme and story of an album than 90% of metal bands, well, Blind Guardian is in that 5%. Blind Guardian put so much into this release: good melodies, good solos, fascinating storyline, and good songwriting. This album is over an hour long and I have listened to it all the way through over fifty times!
1. Gruesome – Savage Land
Of course this album is number one! Nothing could have possibly topped this album. I don’t understand why more people haven’t been saying so, because this album has it all. Hell, Gruesome is even a supergroup! These guys just love late 80’s death metal so much that they wrote an album inspired by everything great about it. This is Urdun times ten. The riffing is intense, the drummer is definitely not a tapper when it comes to the non-triggered kicks, the vocals are amazing and remind me of Death and Gorguts, the songwriting is better than anything modern bands are writing. I have about 70% of the lyrics already memorized which I can’t say about most death metal albums. This band even gets into some odd time signatures and switch timing often, like Spiritual Healing by Death. The bassist is audible too and gets the spotlight every now and then. This album gets a 100% review from me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, except for it not being released 25 years earlier with all the other classics.
1. Gruesome – Savage Land
2. Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror
3. Jorn Lande/Trond Holter – Dracula: Swing of Death
4. Urdun – Horror & Gore
5. Meet Me in Montauk – Where the Grass Meets the Pavement
6. Funeral Oppression – The Prisoners of Life
7. Gloryhammer – Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards
8. Diphenylchloroarsine – The 6 Level Purge
9. Manegarm – Manegarm
10. Imber Luminous – Veiled
