Music

My Top Albums of 2016

Steven Indzeoski

• 7 min read

Sadly a whole year has gone by and I never got around to writing another blog post. It's about time to write another list of my favourite albums. This year I decided there's no need to stick to top ten and just list all of my favourites, which ended up being my top thirteen.

The Top 13

13. Trap Them - Crown Feral

Crown Feral

Genre: Grindcore

Based In: Boston, Massachusetts, USA / Seattle, Washington, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Kindred Spirit
  2. Hellionaires
  3. Prodigala
  4. Luster Pendulums
  5. Malengines Here, Where They Should Be
  6. Speak Nigh
  7. Twitching in the Auras
  8. Revival Spines
  9. Stray of the Tongue
  10. Phantom Air

I've heard great things about Trap Them but never listened to them before this year. They're another great band that I regret not listening to sooner, with a strong energetic album to start out my list.

12. Helms Alee - Stillicide

Stillicide

Genre: Sludge Metal

Based In: Seattle, Washington, USA

Track Listing:

  1. More Weight
  2. Untoxicated
  3. Tit to Toe
  4. Meats and Milks
  5. Stillicide
  6. Galloping Mind Fuk
  7. Creeping Your Company
  8. Dream Long
  9. Bullygoat
  10. Andromenous
  11. Worth Your Wild

This is a band I just found out about this year when I saw they were opening for Russian Circles on a tour. I checked them out and I enjoyed them. I've been finding more and more lately that I'm loving music with female vocalists, heavy or otherwise.

11. Thomas Giles - Velcro Kid

Velcro Kid

Genre: Electronica

Based In: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Immersion Highway
  2. Eris
  3. Devotion (feat. Jake Troth)
  4. Future of the Year
  5. Gazer (feat. Devin Townsend)
  6. Strangers in a Paranoid Mind
  7. Acid Test
  8. Slow Gold Becoming
  9. Velcro Kid
  10. Immersion Highway (Instrumental)
  11. Eris (Instrumental)
  12. Devotion (Instrumental)
  13. Future of the Year (Instrumental)
  14. Gazer (Instrumental)
  15. Strangers in a Paranoid Mind (Instrumental)
  16. Acid Test (Instrumental)
  17. Slow Gold Becoming (Instrumental)
  18. Velcro Kid (Instrumental)

For those who don't know who Thomas Giles is, he's the vocalist of Between the Buried and Me, which are definitely one of my favourite bands at this point. He really knows how to write music; this album is great. A lot less "dark" then most of the electronic music I like, but the songs are very catchy without being repetitive pop garbage.

10. Opeth - Sorceress

Sorceress

Genre: Progressive Rock

Based In: Stockholm, Sweden

Track Listing:

  1. Persephone
  2. Sorceress
  3. The Wilde Flowers
  4. Will O the Wisp
  5. Chrysalis
  6. Sorceress 2
  7. The Seventh Sojourn
  8. Strange Brew
  9. A Fleeting Glance
  10. Era
  11. Persephone (Slight Return)

One part of me deeply misses when Opeth played metal music, but the rest of me is happy that they continue to evolve their sound and stay true to themselves. I think when a band does what they want to do they'll put out way better music, plus I can't stand when a band puts out the same album over and over. This album continues Opeth's journey into awesome prog rock. I love the prog rock sound with the tuned-down guitars.

9. The Fall of Troy - OK

OK

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Based In: Mukilteo, Washington, USA

Track Listing:

  1. 401k
  2. Inside Out
  3. Savior
  4. A Single Word
  5. Side By Side
  6. Suck-o-matic
  7. An Ode to the Masochists
  8. Auto Repeater
  9. Love Sick
  10. Your Loss

The Fall of Troy have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Even when I was younger and only listened to really really heavy music to be as "metal" as possible I still loved these guys. The complexity of their riffs and song structure are great, and the songs are super catchy. When I heard they were reuniting and putting out a free album I was pumped. They didn't disappoint.

8. Oathbreaker - Rheia

Rheia

Genre: Black Metal

Based In: Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium

Track Listing:

  1. 10:56
  2. Second Son of R.
  3. Being Able to Feel Nothing
  4. Stay Here / Accroche-Moi
  5. Needles in Your Skin
  6. Immortals
  7. I'm Sorry, This is
  8. Where I Live
  9. Where I Leave
  10. Begeerte

If last year's list was any indication, I've been falling in love with black metal bands with female vocalists that switch between screaming and singing. Oathbreaker's vocalist Caro has amazing range and her singing is haunting yet melodic, and pairs wonderfully with the heavy music.

7. Nails - You Will Never Be One of Us

You Will Never Be One of Us

Genre: Grindcore

Based In: Oxnard, California, USA

Track Listing:

  1. You Will Never Be One of Us
  2. Friend to All
  3. Made to Make You Fail
  4. Life Is a Death Sentence
  5. Violence Is Forever
  6. Savage Intolerance
  7. In Pain
  8. Parasite
  9. Into Quietus
  10. They Come Crawling Back

Nails is another band I'd never heard of before this year. It's for reasons like this that I'm thankful I follow Chris Pikula (@meddlingmage) on Twitter. Not only is he a great Magic player and super nice guy, he also has amazing taste in music and loves a lot of the same bands I do. When he was going on about how great the new Nails album was, I had to check it out. Chris Pikula wasn't kidding, this album is awesome. It has incredible energy and is probably the heaviest album on my list this year. I'd highly recommend it to any fan of heavy music.

6. The Black Queen - Fever Daydream

Fever Daydream

Genre: Electronic, Synthpop

Based In: Los Angeles, California, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Now, When I'm This
  2. Ice to Never
  3. The End Where We Start
  4. Secret Scream
  5. Maybe We Should/Non-Consent
  6. Distanced
  7. Strange Quark
  8. That Death Cannot Touch
  9. Taman Shud
  10. Apocalypse Morning

Greg Puciato (of The Dillinger Escape Plan fame) is probably one of my favourite vocalists of all time. When I heard he was starting an electronic group I wasn't sure how to feel, since when metal musicians make electronic albums they are very hit and miss. This album is amazing! The songs are super catchy and get stuck in my head for days at a time. I would recommend this album to anyone who enjoys electronic music.

5. Neurosis - Fires Within Fires

Fires Within Fires

Genre: Post-Metal, Sludge Metal

Based In: Oakland, California, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Bending Light
  2. A Shadow Memory
  3. Fire Is the End Lesson
  4. Broken Ground
  5. Reach

I've been really into Neurosis ever since I first heard Given to the Rising almost ten years ago. They're the masters of creating complex soundscapes that make me completely zone out and just get completely immersed in the music. I wasn't super into their last album (Honor Found in Decay) but this one really struck a chord with me.

4. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Arc

Arc

Genre: Sludge Metal, Doom Metal

Based In: Springfield, Massachusetts

Track Listing:

  1. Not a Daughter
  2. Deathbed
  3. Gnaw

A departure from ANb's usual grindcore sound, this album is the first in a four-part series, each representing a band member's individual style and tastes. This album is representative of vocalist Katherine "Kat" Katz. Her vocal style goes really well with grindcore, but it also goes really well with sludge/doom. If you've never heard her previous band Salome I would highly recommend checking them out. This album is really good I wouldn't mind at all if ANb made more music like this.

3. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation

Dissociation

Genre: Mathcore

Based In: Morris Plains, New Jersey, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Limerent Death
  2. Symptom of Terminal Illness
  3. Wanting Not So Much to as To
  4. Fugue
  5. Low Feels Blvd
  6. Surrogate
  7. Honeysuckle
  8. Manufacturing Discontent
  9. Apologies Not Included
  10. Nothing to Forget
  11. Dissociation

Greg Puciato's second appearance on this list. Not only is he one of my all-time favourite vocalists, DEP is one of my favourite bands of all time. Some of the things I look for in music is that it's unique, and that it's complex or interesting. You don't get much more unique or complex than DEP. They've never put out a bad album, I've loved them all. As happy as I am that they've put out another great album, I'm also sad because this will be their last album. Good-bye Dillinger.

2. Russian Circles - Guidance

Guidance

Genre: Instrumental, Post-Metal, Rock

Based In: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Asa
  2. Vorel
  3. Mota
  4. Afrika
  5. Overboard
  6. Calla
  7. Lisboa

Similar to listening to Neurosis, I find that when I listen to Russian Circles I tend to just "get lost" in their music. They write great riffs, and I love how the songs just keep building and building on top of themselves. Russian Circles was also my favourite live performance I've ever seen; I hope they come back to Saskatoon soon. Their songs are very complex with many layers, but despite being a three-piece they still pull it off live, using looper pedals, which I find super cool. Bassist Brian Cook also joined another band this year...

1. Sumac - What One Becomes

What One Becomes

Genre: Post-Metal, Sludge Metal

Based In: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada / Vashon, Washington, USA

Track Listing:

  1. Image of Control
  2. Rigid Man
  3. Clutch of Oblivion
  4. Blackout
  5. Will to Reach

As I said in last year's list, I think it's impossible for Aaron Turner to make bad music. What he's doing with Sumac and Old Man Gloom I just love way more than anything else being made right now. The addition of Russian Circles' Brian Cook on bass adds an additional style to the mix as well, and some songs have bass parts that sound very Russian Circles-ish. Overall, I still think I prefer The Deal to this album, but it's still great and I would highly recommend it.