Fartuma's Decade: The Top 25 Albums
As someone who has been an active poster on Sputnik for most of the decade, a lot of the credit for this list goes to you guys. It's been a treat to be a part of this site, and through the ups and downs of my life I've always found something on here to help me out. Thank you so much and here's for an even better decade! |
| 25 |  | Parquet Courts
Wide Awake
To start things off, Parquet Courts is a band that deserves credit as one of the most consistent punk rock bands of the decade. But they would save the best one for last as Wide Awake is where they truly unleash their potential. Quirky, energetic with a great sense of pacing, and most importantly incredibly entertaining. |
| 24 |  | Vi Som Alskade Varandra Sa Mycket
Den sorgligaste musiken i varlden
Vi som älskade varandra så mycket entered my life when I was struggling a lot mentally. And obviously, when in that state something claims to be ”saddest music in the world”, you know it’s going to catch me. And you know what, it might really be what it claims. |
| 23 |  | Oathbreaker
Eros|Anteros
Anyone around here that knows my taste in music shouldn’t be surprised to see Oathbreaker’s sophomore effort on this list. This is where they venture into a more atmospheric sound, as opposed to the full on Converge-esque pummeling of their debut and they do it with perfection. |
| 22 |  | Circle Takes the Square
Decompositions: Volume Number One
Always thought Circle Takes the Square only made that one album? They didn’t, and their sophomore one is just criminally overlooked. Sort of rightfully regarding what that other album of theirs is, but Decompositions: Volume Number One is terrific as well. It’s much more restrained, more professional-sounding than their unique debut but it’s also magnificently executed. |
| 21 |  | Jakob
Sines
I fell in love with Jakob’s Sines on the day it came out. It takes a more laid back approach than their previous ones while still retaining Jakob’s identity and you know Jakob can do no wrong. Perfect winter time album. |
| 20 |  | Birds in Row
You, Me, and the Violence
I decided to only include one album by each band on this list and while I easily could’ve gone with We Already Lost the World, I decided to go with the one I’m more familiar with and with which I’ve spent much more time during this decade. You, Me & the Violence is incredibly cathartic and heavy, and fades into darkness at the end of it. |
| 19 |  | Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas
Mariner
Like I said, I only wanted to include one album by each artist but oh well. Cult of Luna is too great of a band for that. Mariner is an album absolutely made for Julie Christmas to sign, and it is by far her best performance on any project she’s been a part of. An ethereal masterpiece and one of the best works in terms of production I’ve heard all decade. |
| 18 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Whenever, If Ever
On the lighter side of things, TWIABP’s Whenever If Ever is the perfect spring time album. There’s so much warmth to be found on it that it really has found its place in my heart. Just stunning atmosphere. |
| 17 |  | Ulcerate
Shrines of Paralysis
…and back to the heavier side of my musical taste. Ulcerate is one of the most fascinating death metal bands to come into the scene in the last fifteen years or so. Their punishing, dissonant sound and technical prowess are something to behold, and Shrines of Paralysis is them at their best. |
| 16 |  | Suffocate For Fuck Sake
In My Blood
Suffocate for Fuck Sake’s debut (the name of which I won’t type out here) was always going to be impossible to replicate, but In My Blood does its best to do so. There’s much less emphasis on the light spoken word parts this time around, and more on the pummeling hardcore sound. Nasty shit. |
| 15 |  | Daughters
You Won't Get What You Want
Daughters’ breakout album You Won’t Get What You Want took me some time to truly appreciate but it’s quite easy to see why it has found so much acclaim. It’s cold, stripped and violent yet rather easily approachable and proves the potential the band always had to come on the forefront of the current noise rock scene. |
| 14 |  | State Faults
Resonate/Desperate
State Faults is one of those bands I just can’t overlook when making this list. They have their own brand of melodic hardcore with some vicious screeching vocals and Resonate/Desperate is where they succeed on literally every song. Definitely one of the albums I’ve spent the most time with during this decade. |
| 13 |  | Agalloch
Marrow of the Spirit
Marrow of the Spirit is my favourite Agalloch album. There, I said it. It is their darkest effort, and one I feel they needed to make after their trademark folk metal sound had grown a little stale in my mind. The black metal blasting we’ve really never heard from them before perfectly compliments the atmospheric work they’re known for. |
| 12 |  | Kayo Dot
Hubardo
Oh Hubardo, the double disc epic that made Kayo Dot relevant again. A lot of Toby Driver’s fans, including me, had awaited them to return to their metal roots. Far too long, should I say. Luckily, Hubardo meets all the expectations anyone could’ve hoped for. |
| 11 |  | Swans
The Seer
Another massive epic that brought a legendary band back to relevance, the Seer is a gigantic effort that messes with the listener and tests your patience. It’s an album that doesn’t ask for permissions, it just invades you. |
| 10 |  | Gang of Youths
Go Farther in Lightness
Go Farther in Lightness is one of those albums that really came out of nowhere into my life two years ago and it has stayed fresh ever since. Another massive album to make this list, it is a beautiful journey through life’s roughness but it has its sense of survival in it. |
| 9 |  | The Chariot
One Wing
It’s a shame One Wing would be the last thing the Chariot ever put out but at least they went out with a bang. It’s ridiculous how much they pack into just half an hour, more than most bands pack into their whole career. Oh and Josh Scogin is a beast. |
| 8 |  | Deafheaven
Sunbather
You knew it was coming.
I’m dying.
Is it blissful?
It’s like a mort.
I want to mort. |
| 7 |  | Giles Corey
Giles Corey
Giles Corey, the side project of Have a Nice Life’s mastermind Dan Barrett, is a work of of a man who was on the verge of killing himself. And it shows. Veiled in a relatively light folk setting, it shows Barrett stripped, wounded and vulnerable in a way you can just feel the whole nothingness that was his life at the time. |
| 6 |  | Pianos Become the Teeth
The Lack Long After
Yep, another emotive, sad and cathartic album to be added on this list. I really can’t help it, I’m a sucker for it. And no one really did it in a more touching way than Pianos Become the Teeth on their sophomore album. |
| 5 |  | Cult of Luna
A Dawn to Fear
And here it is, the second Cult of Luna album on this list. Obviously, having come out just a few months ago, it is still fresh and new so the hype is still on but it simply just shows why Cult of Luna is one of the best bands out there right now. Dark, epic, repetitive yet absolutely captivating through every second of its runtime. |
| 4 |  | The Menzingers
On the Impossible Past
Go ahead and read my review for this. Should explain all that is needed. This album holds just that much importance to me. |
| 3 |  | Amenra
Mass VI
Oh dear. Amenra is known as one of the heaviest bands in the current post-metal scene but the sixth addition to their collection of ”masses” is like diving head first into the black hole. Just wow. |
| 2 |  | The National
High Violet
How could I leave out the National? They have become one of the defining indie rock bands of the decade and rightfully so. High Violet was released at the beginning of it, when they were arguably at the top of their game. Elegant, yet down-to-earth and even dirty at times, High Violet is slightly more atmospheric than its predecessors and delivered in perfection. And obviously it still has its fair share of those awesome Matt Berninger one liners. |
| 1 |  | Titus Andronicus
The Monitor
This is it, chief. The album of the decade. The Monitor is absolutely more bombastic than it has any right to be, I mean it’s still a punk rock album at its roots, but they just make it all work. It contains an epic after epic, in the themes of the civil war, while Patrick Stickles croons and screams with his out-of-tune voice. It is crazy and I love it. More than any other album I’ve heard this decade. And no one will ever be able to replicate this. |
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