Another '09 List
Tired of waiting to make this so here it is my 2009 list! If i stumble across something else I'll just edit it on here but I think this is pretty legit. Enjoy. |
| 1 |  | The Mars Volta
Octahedron
My favorite of the year and the bigges surprise. I love the spacey and more laid back vibe of this. Cedric's voice is as good as it's ever been here and the songs aren't overly long or hard to sit through. |
| 2 |  | Manchester Orchestra
Mean Everything to Nothing
I absolutely love this. There's just so much passion and energy in it. I'm not even sure what genre I'd put this under but it's great either way. I've Got Friends may be my favorite song of the year. |
| 3 |  | Mono
Hymn to the Immortal Wind
One of the best post-rock albums I've ever heard. Truely breathtaking. |
| 4 |  | Silversun Pickups
Swoon
Great album that has a bit of a darker vibe on it than Carnavas. These fuzzed out alt-rockers delivered once again. The Royal We is their best song ever in my opinion. |
| 5 |  | Fun.
Aim and Ignite
Another big suprise for me. I really didn't want to like this but it's just too darn enjoyable. Excellent and catchy pop music that'll keep you hooked. |
| 6 |  | HORSE the Band
Desperate Living
Easily their strongest effort to date. Still has it's goofy moments but overall seems a more serious effort (beside the album cover). More nintendo-y parts ftw. |
| 7 |  | Thrice
Beggars
Though this is 7 I was still a little underwhelmed with this though it's still a very strong effort. It seems though they had a thousand ideas but never truely explored any of em. Still amazing and Dusin's voice is godly. |
| 8 |  | Strung Out
Agents of the Underground
Punk done right, not one bad song on here. Better than Exile in Oblivion in my book. |
| 9 |  | Megadeth
Endgame
Their best album since Rust in Peace. There's just no letting up from Mr. Mustaine. |
| 10 |  | Rx Bandits
Mandala
Almost remind me of a more chilled out version of the Mars Volta, Mandala is the first album I've heard from em and I can gurantee it won't be the last. |
| 11 |  | Baroness
Blue Record
Excellent sludgy/progressive/whatever you wanna call it metal, the comparisons to Mastodon seem pretty justified but I actually think I enjoy this more. |
| 12 |  | John Frusciante
The Empyrean
My first album from the Chili's guitarist, this is a pretty epic album. Shows off his diversity well as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. |
| 13 |  | Brand New
Daisy
Much like Beggars, Daisy seemed kind of like a let down for me. I guess after a few years between albums I was expecting a little more but this is still an excellent effort. |
| 14 |  | Panopticon
Collapse
Favorite black metal of the year. Comes from Kentucky of all places too. I love the fusion of westernish acoustic parts with the ferocious black metal parts. |
| 15 |  | Maudlin of the Well
Part the Second
Beautiful album that's not up to par with their other stuff, but really there aren't too many albums that are. |
| 16 |  | Converge
Axe to Fall
I guess I don't have as big a boner as everybody else over this, but it's still pretty damn good. Dark Horse is insane, unfortunately none of the other songs live up to it. |
| 17 |  | Wodensthrone
Loss
Excellent atmospheric black metal that makes great use of the keyboards. Will probably give this more spins as it gets closer to winter. |
| 18 |  | Porcupine Tree
The Incident
Dissapointment #3 on this list. I was stoked when I heard of the plans for a 50+ minute song but this dragged pretty bad in some spots. Time Flies however is excellent. Second disc seems pointless to me. |
| 19 |  | Dinosaur Jr.
Farm
Mascis is a beast on the guitar and that's what you get a lot of here. They sound just as good as they did 15-20 years ago. One of my favorite albums to cruise around to. |
| 20 |  | Municipal Waste
Massive Aggressive
Fun thrash that kicks you in the nuts and doesn't ever really let up. |
| 21 |  | August Burns Red
Constellations
Not a huge fan of metalcore but this was still pretty good. I suppose if all metalcore sounded like this I wouldn't dislike it so much. |
| 22 |  | Pretty Lights
Taking Up Your Precious Time
Trip-hop with killer beats. Fun album all around and great to put on for parties. |
| 23 |  | Bon Iver
Blood Bank
Blood Bank (the song) is my favorite song by Bon Iver but the rest on this ep are not up to the standard set by Emma. Blood Bank the song gets this up so high pretty much by itself. |
| 24 |  | Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
It took me months to finally enjoy this. It probably took on a whole new level for me when I listened to it stoned and thought it was the greatest thing ever. This is still in the process of growing on me though. |
| 25 |  | If These Trees Could Talk
Above the Earth, Below the Sky
Solid guitar based post rock not unsimilar to Explosions in the Sky. The best part of this album is that it usually gets to the point without 10 minute build ups. Gets a little old after a while though. |
| 26 |  | Chevelle
Sci-Fi Crimes
One of my favorite mainstream rock bands, this is a very solid effort that unfortunately grew off me pretty quick. But this is a shining light in the dark and dreary world of hard rock radio. |
| 27 |  | Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Xenophanes
Omar being Omar. Still pretty spazzy and crazy but not as out there as some of his other stuff. Overall an enjoyable album that any Volta fan will like. |
| 28 |  | Buckethead
A Real Diamond in the Rough
The 1,000th release from Buckethead, this doesn't seem to cover any new ground but still showcases his insane abilities well. |
| 29 |  | The Antlers
Hospice
Really pretty sounding but unfortunately it drug on way too long for me and I got bored of it pretty quick. |
| 30 |  | Cave In
Planets of Old
A strong EP. The first and last songs are incredible but the middle two aren't too great. Hoping for a full length release at some point soon. |
| 31 |  | Emery
...In Shallow Seas We Sail
Pretty good post-hardcore album that kind of grew off my over the last few months. Nothing really wrong with it, I just probably over played it too much when it first came out. |
| 32 |  | Thursday
Common Existence
See 31 deion. |
| 33 |  | You Slut!
Critical Meat
Interesting instrumental album that I don't know how to classify. I really can't think of anyone that sounds similar to em. Kind of a math rock sort of vibe I guess? Really good except it's only 25 minutes long so it flies by way too quick. |
| 34 |  | Isis
Wavering Radiant
A good album that I unfortunately have to force myself to listen to. I think I'm falling out of love with post-metal in general. |
| 35 |  | The Fall of Troy
In the Unlikely Event
A MAJOR dissapointment for me. After Phantom I was expecting great things but this didn't deliver. The first half of the album is solid, but the last half drags horribly. |
| 36 |  | Gallows
Grey Britain
Pretty solid punk band that I checked out for the sole reason that I saw a youtube video of them bashing brokencyde at the warped tour. |
| 37 |  | Japandroids
Post-Nothing
Pretty bland garage rock that just doesn't really appeal to me. I think I would rather listen to the Black Keys instead. |
| 38 |  | Kiss
Sonic Boom
My childhood heroes came out with their first album in 11 years and it's not half bad. It's cheesy as hell but it's still pretty god damn fun. |
| 39 |  | Dance Gavin Dance
Happiness
Nothing really noteworthy about this. Seems like a pretty predictable post-hardcore/emo album that my girlfriend really loves. |
| 40 |  | Pelican
Ephemeral EP
See Isis deion. |
| 41 |  | Jesu
Infinity
One long ass song that's really boring. There are some good moments but you have to work you're way through too much meandering bull shit to get to it. |
| 42 |  | Regina Spektor
Far
I've never tried listenin to anythin remotely close to this sound wise. I can't say it's for me but I don't think it's terrible or anything. |
| 43 |  | Sunn O)))
Monoliths and Dimensions
Low droning sounds for 20 minutes just doesn't really appeal to me. There are some good moments but it's not something I really like. |
| 44 | | Ace Frehley
Anomaly
Oh my piece of shit. Every song is laughably bad except Fracture Quantum which is a pretty solid instrumental track. It's painful to sit through at times and even Ace's solos can't save him here. |
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