Obligatory Best of 2016 List
Tried not to have an artist appear more than once |
| 100 |  | john darr
john darr
gay |
| 99 |  | Alaskalana
Pathos EP
[Jiggly P Diddy] 3.5
Great job Jiggly can’t wait for your hiatus to end :) |
| 98 |  | Ab-Soul
Do What Thou Wilt.
[Hardcore hip hop] 3.6
It’s great and all but it’s way too goddam long like every other modern hip hop album |
| 97 |  | Lambchop
FLOTUS
[Country with autotune] 3.6
Idk maybe it’ll grow on me more but for now I’ll stick to 22, A Million. Still really great tho |
| 96 |  | Gucci Mane
Everybody Looking
[Trap] 3.6
As a friend had once put it “I am convinced that rappers get 10x better after being incarcerated” |
| 95 |  | Darkthrone
Arctic Thunder
[Doomy Black Metal/A lil crust punk too] 3.6
My expectations for this were too high when I first heard Tundra Leach. Maybe I still haven’t moved passed the disappointment idk, it’s still a fantastic return to form tho |
| 94 |  | Injury Reserve
Floss
[OH SHIT!!!] 3.7
I appreciate the short length but nothing stands out as much as the singles |
| 93 |  | Ringworm
Snake Church
[Metalcore/Hardcore punk] 3.7
Truly the sound of just not giving a shit \m/ |
| 92 |  | Swans
The Glowing Man
[Swans] 3.75
Weakest post-break up Swans album but still really good |
| 91 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Skeleton Tree
[Ambient/death rock] 3.75
I mean it’s good and all but it just doesn’t hit me to the extent that it does for so many other people |
| 90 |  | Yves Tumor
Serpent Music
[Sound Collage/Industrial, etc there’s a lot of stuff going on in this] 3.75
RIP my review for this. Writer’s block has been such a bitch |
| 89 |  | Sleigh Bells
Jessica Rabbit
[Loud noisy electro pop] 3.8
I understand the disillusionment listeners have towards this because the band kinda hasn’t released anything of quality since Treats (let alone anything as good as it) but I think this is a really solid album. |
| 88 |  | Post Malone
Stoney
[White girl turn up music] 3.8
Fite me it’s fuckin great album |
| 87 |  | clipping.
Splendor and Misery
[Industrial hip hop] 3.8 |
| 86 |  | Goropsy
Drawing Pictures in the Dark because I Miss You
[Oltnabrick] 3.8
Can’t wait for more dude! |
| 85 |  | ScHoolboy Q
Blank Face LP
[“Oooh this that gangsta shit”] 3.8
Pretty good but way too long |
| 84 |  | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Dissociation
[RIP] 3.8
It’s really good but I still find it hard to fully appreciate the band’s sound. Even though it’s not necessarily my cup of tea I can’t deny the serious effort that went into this. |
| 83 |  | Agoraphobic Nosebleed
Arc
[Punky Sludge Metal] 3.8 |
| 82 |  | Watsky
x Infinity
[Hip hop] 3.8
Pretty good, got into this from a friend |
| 81 |  | Miles Davis / Robert Glasper
Everything's Beautiful
[Jazzy rap whatever] 3.8
Man writer’s block is just a bitch. Jamie still did an awesome job with the review tho lol |
| 80 |  | BADBADNOTGOOD
IV
[Jazz] 3.9
Ah memories of walking around my neighborhood in the summer looking for pokemon good times |
| 79 |  | Uyama Hiroto
Freeform Jazz
[Instrumental Jazz Rap] 3.9
Get on this if you haven’t |
| 78 |  | Ka
Honor Killed The Samurai
[Jazz Rap] 3.9
Shit goes hard foreal |
| 77 |  | Swain
The Long Dark Blue
[Modern grunge done right] 3.9
What a breath of fresh air. Grungy guitars over huge hooks, the release is just irresistable. Get on this if you haven’t already |
| 76 |  | Chevelle
The North Corridor
[Alt metal] 3.9
Honestly, this probably wouldn’t even be as good as it is without that stellar production job |
| 75 |  | Destroyer 666
Wildfire
[Blackened Thrash] 3.9 |
| 74 |  | Death Scenes
女性死体集 VHS
[HNW] 4
Thanks Sach |
| 73 |  | Nails
You Will Never Be One of Us
[Grind] 4
-Torts |
| 72 |  | The Jezabels
Synthia
[Indie Pop] 4 |
| 71 |  | Bitchin' Bajas and Bonnie 'Prince
Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties
[Doofcore] 4 |
| 70 |  | Satanic Abortion
Terribly Traumatic Tale
[Black Metal/Industrial, etc] 4
Thanks Sach |
| 69 |  | Bladee and Thaiboy Digital
AvP
[Cloudy Trap Rap] 4
I feel like I would have gotten more out of this if it was a full-length collab. They play to each others’ strengths well enough but I feel like so much more could have been done |
| 68 |  | Kid Cudi
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’
[Cudi’s back and better than ever] 4
The only Cudi albums I return to these days are Man on the Moon and A Kid Named Cudi. With Man on the Moon being my favorite Cudi album, I put this new one on par as that album. I guess it really depends on how much you tolerate his vocals but I just really enjoy this for what it is. While I would have prefered it if it was shorter, the long length really doesn’t bother me all too much which makes it all the more impressive. |
| 67 |  | Dance Gavin Dance
Mothership
[Not very sure how to describe this] 4
I feel like this rating could either go up or down depending on how I feel about the rest of their discog when I get to them. |
| 66 |  | Sturgill Simpson
A Sailor's Guide To Earth
[Country] 4
One step closer to enjoying country that much more |
| 65 |  | John Zorn
Madrigals (For Six Female Voices)
4
Literally every Zorn album this year goes right here. Solid year for the man |
| 64 |  | Meshuggah
The Violent Sleep of Reason
[MeCHUGgah] 4
m/ |
| 63 |  | Controlled Bleeding
Distress Signals II
[PE] 4
Thanks for making my ears bleed again boys |
| 62 |  | Count to Altek
Simulating Contact Against Thraxus
[I still have no idea what the hell to make of this] 4
You seriously just did a splendid job producing this AnimalsAsSummit. Anyone familiar with The Locust and Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s early shit should check this out |
| 61 |  | Alex Newton
The Great Baobab
[Sevengill] 4
Still loving the sweetness of the whole album, can’t wait for more! |
| 60 |  | Blood Incantation
Starspawn
[Filty Tech Death] 4.1
While it’s short, the sheer length of the songs make it rather exhausting to listen to |
| 59 |  | Krallice
Prelapsarian
[Blackened Death Metal/Avant-Garde Metal] 4.1 |
| 58 |  | The Gerogerigegege
Moenai Hai
[Noise rock/Musique Concrete] 4.1
Well this was a pleasant surprise |
| 57 |  | Frank Ocean
Blonde
[Gay] 4.2
It’s no Channel Orange but it’s still pretty damn good |
| 56 |  | Infant Annihilator
The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch
[Brutal Tech Deathcore] 4.2
Blah blah blah hate all you want this shit still fuckin goes hard |
| 55 |  | Gorguts
Pleiades' Dust
[Avant Tech Death] 4.2
Rating for this may either go up or down depending on how much I dig the rest of their discog |
| 54 |  | Gojira
Magma
[Metal] 4.2
The first Gojira album that I fully enjoy. Here’s to hoping the rest of the discog will click like this one did |
| 53 |  | The Stargazer's Assistant
Remoteness Of Light
[Drone/Ambient] 4.2
Thanks a ton Underflow, I could see this growing even more |
| 52 |  | Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels 3
[Hardcore hip hop] 4.3
Best RTJ |
| 51 |  | The Veils
Total Depravity
[Indie whatever] 4.3
I’ll just keep listening to this till it’s a solid 5 |
| 50 |  | Skaphe
Skáphe²
[Atmospheric BM] 4.3 |
| 49 |  | Crying
Beyond The Fleeting Gales
[Goodness] 4.3
That poppy goodness of this album seems to really lend itself to Sleigh Bells’ Treats. Adult contemporary vocal melodies on top of power twee poppy music with heavy distortion that just never fails to make me smile. |
| 48 |  | YG
Still Brazy
[Best Boast Bip Bop] 4.3
Short and sweet and does not needlessly repeat topics to fill up the album with more songs just because like so many hip hop albums today. |
| 47 |  | Bloodmist
Sheen
[Dark Ambient] 4.4 |
| 46 |  | Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids
We Be All Africans
[Afrobeat] 4.4
Thanks SandwhichBubble |
| 45 |  | Cobalt
Slow Forever
[Sludgy Black Metal] 4.4
Goddam |
| 44 |  | Old Gray
Slow Burn
[Skramz] 4.4
Still think it’s pretty damn good tbh |
| 43 |  | Avenged Sevenfold
The Stage
[Wow] 4.4
A7x’s A Thousand Suns. Some will say it’s not only their best album but in general just a fantastic effort (like me) and others will say it’s pretentious, sucks, etc. It’s def a step up from that abomination Hail to the King |
| 42 |  | Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation
Mirage
[Trippy prog rock] 4.4
Thanks Sintbro |
| 41 |  | Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
[Radiohead] 4.4
Really grew on me. Just really beautiful |
| 40 |  | Royce da 5'9
Tabernacle: Trust The Shooter
[Hip hop] 4.4
Much better than the full length he dropped tbh. This is straight fire |
| 39 |  | Moonsorrow
Jumalten Aika
[Pagan Black Metal] 4.4
Not as pagany as their other stuff but still m/ |
| 38 |  | Saul Williams
MartyrLoserKing
[Poetic industrial hip hop] 4.4
I think it’s very sad this went completely under the radar this year. Still hope to review this some time |
| 37 |  | The 1975
I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
[Indie Pop] 4.5 |
| 36 |  | The Beatles
Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Remixed & Remastered)
[Beatlemania] 4.5
What can I say, I’m a complete Beatles nut |
| 35 |  | Car Seat Headrest
Teens of Denial
[Indie stuff] 4.5
… |
| 34 |  | Denzel Curry
Imperial
[GOOK] 4.5
*Inserts lyrics of Ultimate here* |
| 33 |  | A Tribe Called Quest
We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
[That authentic 90s jazz rap] 4.5
My fav ATCQ album ye |
| 32 |  | Wormrot
Voices
[Grindcore/Everything else punk related] 4.5
This is an album that just really went under the radar this year. Nails and others stole the show while this other awesome piece of grind just largely went unnoticed. Not only is this better than any Nails album, but imo it’s the best Wormrot but I don’t even know if this is a controversial opinion or not because I’ve hardly seen what the majority opinion is on this being a Wormrot album rather than a solid piece of grind |
| 31 |  | Thank You Scientist
Stranger Heads Prevail
[Prog rock/Jazz fusion] 4.5
Take the very worst of The Mars Volta, then splice with horns and generic emo 'pained diva' vocals. What do you get? Bad science. |
| 30 |  | Kendrick Lamar
untitled unmastered.
[jazzy hip hop] 4.5
K Dot when you gonna do that collab with J Cole |
| 29 |  | Mayhem
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive
[Pure Fucking Black Metal] 4.5
I highly recommend this to anyone trying to get into black metal or found the original album lacking in some ways. The clean production backed by the tight as hell performance by everyone makes for an experience that does the original album justice. Really glad this exists as well because while I love Mayhem’s live albums, I could only stand the awful production for so long. |
| 28 |  | Childish Gambino
"Awaken, My Love!"
[Wtf] 4.5
Um… wow |
| 27 |  | King Crimson
Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind
[King Crimson] 4.6
In the long run, what really keeps the score from being higher is the lackluster performance of the “classics” on the third disc; this can seen best with Red where the placement of the guitars between the two stereo channels become pretty much annoying especially when the guitars will start the phrase of that iconic riff but abruptly end before finishing it leaving a single guitar to complete the riff. The guitars could have just been layered on top of each other to cover that annoyance up but whatever and the whole 3 drummers thing just doesn’t sit too well with me. Anyway it’s still an awesome live album with those first two discs |
| 26 |  | Chier
Bliss
[HN] 4.6
What prevents me from giving this a higher score is how ridiculously long it is but with more listens I could see it not becoming a huge problem anymore. I kinda see this as the Disintegration Loops of harsh noise, really a beauty to behold. |
| 25 |  | Howls of Ebb
Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows
[Avant Garde Metal/Blackened Death Metal] 4.6
Brutal shit right here lemme tell ya |
| 24 |  | Preoccupations
Preoccupations
[Gothy post punk] 4.6
Yet again Viet Cong hit it out of the park with this new one. Still can’t decide between the two which is better |
| 23 |  | Montana of 300
Fire in the Church
[Hip hop] 4.6
Shit right here is fuckin FIRE |
| 22 |  | Bladee
Eversince
[Depressive Suicidal Cloud R&B] 4.7
Let me just say this. While I said my Vulnerability EP was mostly influenced by Sach’s non-hip hop recs, there was one album I listened to quite often that conveniently slipped my mind once the recording was over: Bladee’s Eversince. Two songs that were scrapped and forever deleted at this time involved a musique concrete track which had prominent samples of my parents fighting and a motif involving my mother screaming “FUCK YOU” at me and the other was a shitty acoustic and vocal cover of the first chorus of Who Goes There. Doesn’t have the same effect on me as it used to but it still brings me to a dark place |
| 21 |  | The Body and Full Of Hell
One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache
*Tied with The Body- No One Deserves Happiness
[PE/Powerviolence, etc] 4.7
This really grew on me. Still can’t decide if this or The Body’s album this year is better |
| 20 |  | Regina Spektor
Remember Us To Life
[Bae] 4.7
Fuck yeah |
| 19 |  | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
[Experimental hip hop with post punky stuff thrown in] 4.75
This is really right there between a 4.5 and a 5. Anyway, yeah this is really something else and I really applaud Danny for breaking expectations the way he did with this album |
| 18 |  | Sensory Deprivation
SNSRY DPRVTN
[Unwound worship] 4.75
Yeah you still belong on this list BMDrummer dude |
| 17 |  | Sachiko M and Eddie Prevost
17.2.14
[Thanks Sach] 4.8
Just listen to it |
| 16 |  | Tape Loop Orchestra
Go Straight Towards the Light of All That You Love
[Tape Music] 4.8
I really don’t know why I love this album so much but it’s just so beautiful |
| 15 |  | James Blake
The Colour in Anything
[Electronic R&B] 4.8
Could have been shorter but still just really beautiful |
| 14 |  | Alcest
Kodama
[Black metally shoegaze, no not quite Blackgaze but def more shoegaze than bm] 4.8
The boring piece of shit that is Shelter made me wary about this one. Wow did the man shatter my already low expectations. |
| 13 |  | Hail Spirit Noir
Mayhem In Blue
[Avant-Garde Metal] 4.8
So basically if Mr. Bungle did a trippy surf rock album with Mike Patton doing black metal vocals and Richard Wright filling in as the keyboardist. Gotcha |
| 12 |  | The Poisoned Glass
10 Swords
[Br00tal drone] 4.8
Yes there's 10 swords on the album cover |
| 11 |  | Bon Iver
22, A Million
[Glitchy folk and whatnot] 4.8
This guy REALLY hit this out of the ball park. I kinda wish this was much longer but I feel Justin’s got something much bigger to come. |
| 10 |  | Death Grips
Bottomless Pit
[Death Grips] 4.8
Have a Sad Cum bb |
| 9 |  | Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas
Mariner
[Sludgy Post Metal] 4.8
Fuck this is so good |
| 8 |  | Ulver
ATGCLVLSSCAP
[Post rock, etc] 4.8
One of Ulver’s best tbh |
| 7 |  | David Bowie
Blackstar
[Jazzy shit/death rock] 4.8
Everything I ever hoped for ever since I first heard Aladdin Sane. What a fukin way to go out |
| 6 |  | Fire! Orchestra
Ritual
*Tied with Fire! - She Sleeps, She Sleeps*
[Jazz] 4.9
Fuck these guys are just so consistent |
| 5 |  | Jeff Rosenstock
Worry.
[Punky goodness] 4.9
I feel like such an asshole for not checking this out before the lists were submitted for the best of 2016 user stuff. |
| 4 |  | Moby
These Systems Are Failing
[Synth Punk/Power pop] 4.9
Ever since Dan rec’d this album to me, there hasn’t been a day since where I haven’t listened to this album at least once. Purchasing that awesome deluxe edition CD basically soundtracked my 30+ minute drives to school and back home for the latter part of my first semester of my last year in high school. And, honestly, I don’t know why the hell I love this album as much as I do. It’s just the most joy and fun I’ve ever had with an album in such a long time. The points I would subtract for the fact that 99% of the album is clipped to shit is made up for by the 3 fantastic bonus tracks I got with the CD |
| 3 |  | Vektor
Terminal Redux
[Blackened Tech Thrash] 4.9
RIP |
| 2 |  | Boris With Merzbow
現象 -Gensho-
[Phenomenal] 4.9
Each respective disc is give or take a 4.5 but when they’re together it really just creates a whole nother experience. I could write more but making this list has greatly fatigued me |
| 1 |  | Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile: Deviations 1
[Amazingness] 5
I was really worried going into this because I really wanted Trent’s vocals to remain on this. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I still found it just as engaging as the original album. It really takes a genius to make a 2+ hour album and make it just as interesting with and without vox. Idk how to go on without fanboying all over it. |
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