| Converge Jane Doe | 5.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV | 4.0 |
| Thrice Live At The House Of Blues | 3.5 |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 4.0 |
| Cursive Domestica | 4.5 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II | 4.5 |
| Thrice Vheissu | 4.5 |
| For me, there haven't been many albums quite like Thrice's Vheissu. Meaning, the sheer power of the songs, the instrumentation, the lyrical content, the love of music projected by the band behind the songs haven't blown me away as this album has. "The Earth Will Shake" is behemoth, crushing and showing no mercy. The angular intro attack of "Image of the Invisible" is given a foil in the catchy yet lovely chorus of "Of Dust and Nations." Sure, there are a few missteps, namely "Music Box," but I'm willing to forgive that in the wake of such beasts that surround it. Unforgettable, this is. |
| DRACULACORE sp�l nation | 3.0 |
| Queens of the Stone Age Era Vulgaris | 3.0 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 4.0 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 3.5 |
| Glassjaw Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Neon Bible | 3.0 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 3.0 |
| Cursive The Ugly Organ | 4.5 |
| When I imagine a death waltz, few distinct songs come to mind. This entire album does. It bends, blends, shines, crashes, and rips apart with simply ease. The sound, bolstered by the creative use of cello and Tim Kasher's unique vocals and wordplay, weave the tale of the "Ugly Organist." Using this character, Cursive lament on the subjects of hope and humanity. The finale is a beautiful cementing of these themes. The music teaches us to look up when we're knocked down...that the worst is over... |
| Timbaland Timbaland Presents Shock Value | 2.5 |
| ISIS Sawblade | 2.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Year Zero | 4.5 |
| From the get-go, Year Zero is a noisy ride. There are instances where static mimics Trent Reznor's vocals, which are on top form. The line is blurred between guitar and synth in a beautiful fury. An underlying concept, a dystopian future of fifteen years from now, is told lyrically from different viewpoints, providing many facets to this story, and even more wonderful is how the music conforms to each persona. |
| Saviour Machine Legend Part I | 4.0 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.5 |
| Chroma Key Graveyard Mountain Home | 3.5 |
| Infectious Grooves Groove Family Cyco | 3.0 |
| Sly and The Family Stone Fresh | 4.0 |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Miss Machine | 4.5 |
| Duke Ellington and John Coltrane Duke Ellington and John Coltrane | 4.0 |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| A Perfect Circle Mer de Noms | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta Amputechture | 4.5 |
| ISIS In the Absence of Truth | 5.0 |
| I couldn't quite believe my ears when I heard my favorite band's follow-up to my all-time favorite album. I sat in disbelief as a group of five out-did perfection in my every definition. They rewrote the definition of epic using tribal drumming, spacey guitar, and soaring rhythms in the process. To me, this album is Perfection, Evolved. |
| Explosions in the Sky The Rescue | 4.5 |
| John 5 Songs For Sanity | 4.0 |
| Al Di Meola Elegant Gypsy | 4.5 |
| Omar Rodriguez-Lopez A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Vol. 1 | 4.0 |
| ISIS Panopticon | 5.0 |
| An album that can change your perspective of music, human emotion, scale, grandeur, your life even, must be held dear to oneself. That, in a cinch, is Panopticon for me. I could listen to this album for years on end and never tire of it. The songs roll, explode, plod, scream, and wail in the span of seconds and repeat the process all over again. It is a wonder that strings (of the vocal and guitar/bass variety) and drums, coupled with synthesizers, could make one feel this way. You have an album like that, surely. Can you really explain it either? |
| Marcus Miller Tales | 4.0 |
| Sunn O))) White1 | 1.5 |
| Sage Francis A Healthy Distrust | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah I | 4.5 |
| Sigur Ros ( ) | 5.0 |
| De Facto Megaton Shotblast | 4.0 |
| Burzum Hlidskjalf | 1.0 |
| Good Charlotte The Chronicles of Life and Death | 1.5 |
| Norma Jean Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child | 1.5 |
| System of a Down Hypnotize | 1.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire | 2.0 |
| Sonic Youth Washing Machine | 2.0 |
| I don't get it. I really, really don't get it. Sure, some of the songs are cool, and I can really enjoy some of the tracks on this album...but what the hell? I feel it just seems to be repeating itself over and over again. Not to mention, the noise at the end of "The Diamond Sea" goes on longer than it legally should have been allowed. I hear that Sonic Youth is pretty influential and original, but with this album I don't see it at all. |
| Trivium Ascendancy | 2.0 |
| Sunn O))) White2 | 2.0 |
| Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory | 2.5 |
| Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment | 2.5 |
| Lightning Bolt Hypermagic Mountain | 2.5 |
| High School Musical High School Musical | 2.5 |
| 1905 Voice | 2.5 |
| A Perfect Circle Thirteenth Step | 3.0 |
| Tool Undertow | 3.0 |
| Tool Opiate | 3.0 |
| Meshuggah Destroy Erase Improve | 3.0 |
| Radiohead Pablo Honey | 3.0 |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles | 3.0 |
| Steve Vai Passion and Warfare | 3.0 |
| ISIS The Red Sea | 3.0 |
| Joe Satriani Crystal Planet | 3.0 |
| Death Human | 3.0 |
| Cannibal Corpse Kill | 3.0 |
| 3 Inches of Blood Battlecry Under a Winter Sun | 3.0 |
| T.I. King | 3.0 |
| Sunn O))) Flight of the Behemoth | 3.0 |
| Red Sparowes Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red... | 3.0 |
| AFI Sing the Sorrow | 3.5 |
| Megadeth Rust in Peace | 3.5 |
| ISIS Oceanic | 3.5 |
| Being my favorite band, Isis can never do wrong. To be honest, this album just didn't.....click. I mean, it's amazing, "The Beginning and The End," and "False Light" are moving, numbing, and captivating. I just can't seem to see how people can regard this album with the likes of Panopticon or In the Absence of Truth. Well, time will tell.... |
| Radiohead Kid A | 3.5 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 3.5 |
| Tool Salival | 3.5 |
| Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine | 3.5 |
| The Mars Volta Tremulant | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia | 3.5 |
| Glassjaw Worship and Tribute | 3.5 |
| Converge You Fail Me | 3.5 |
| Explosions in the Sky How Strange, Innocence | 3.5 |
| Death The Sound of Perseverance | 3.5 |
| Pain of Salvation The Perfect Element, Part 1 | 3.5 |
| Shpongle Tales of the Inexpressible | 3.5 |
| Callisto True Nature Unfolds | 3.5 |
| Callisto are a superb band with peak musicianship, and this should be noted as such. However, they really aren't doing anything new within the genre of post-rock or post-metal. Guttural vocals, crushing guitar, emotive soundscapes, as well as some truly beautiful passages, such as "Storm" are to behold. It might not be ground-breaking or timeless, but it's never to be scoffed at. |
| Tool 10,000 Days | 3.5 |
| Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere | 3.5 |
| Remembering Never Women and Children Die First | 3.5 |
| ISIS SGNL>05 | 3.5 |
| Converge No Heroes | 3.5 |
| Burton Wagner A Sentinel's Eyes | 3.5 |
| Tool Lateralus | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 4.0 |
| An oddity for me, The Bends was an album that I just instantly liked. I couldn't help it. Every minute is swarmed with an aura of excellence, the musicianship is both crisp and crazy, Thom's voice is phenomenal, and the songwriting is just incredible. The opener and closer encapsulate a sound that has been carefully crafted into a monster. "Black Star" is haunting and powerful. A beauty, "High and Dry" is soothing and mellow. This is an album that can't go wrong, no matter how hard you try. |
| The Clash London Calling | 4.0 |
| Deftones Around the Fur | 4.0 |
| Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun | 4.0 |
| Cryptopsy None So Vile | 4.0 |
| This album made me want to take a shower after listening to it...it was that, well, vile. Every minute just crushes and filthies the spirit. Tracks like "Slit Your Guts" and "Orgiastic Disembowelment" are just intense, with eye-gouging musicianship, as well as vocals that surely aren't legal. Whatever happens, don't take that shower until this album is over. |
| Funkadelic One Nation Under a Groove | 4.0 |
| Mr. Bungle California | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Mezmerize | 4.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails With Teeth | 4.0 |
| Pain of Salvation Be | 4.0 |
| Meshuggah Chaosphere | 4.0 |
| Minus the Bear Menos El Oso | 4.0 |
| Pig Destroyer Prowler in the Yard | 4.0 |
| The Dresden Dolls Yes, Virginia... | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Blood Mountain | 4.0 |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain | 4.0 |
| Deftones Saturday Night Wrist | 4.0 |
| This album could have been a classic, it really could have. There is some fat to trim away, in the form of "Rapture" and "Mein," and just cut that inane, pointless monologue out of "Pink Cellphone," and you've got yourself one solid track. The positive column yields perhaps the best opening and closing tracks of any album of this past year, as well as the superb musicianship that is expected out of this group. As well, the instrumental track "U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, A, B, Select, Start," is nothing short of amazing. All around, a sure top-ten inclusion for 2006, and an album that musn't be ignored. |
| Explosions in the Sky All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| Tool Ænima | 4.5 |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here | 4.5 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| At the Drive-In Vaya | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 4.5 |
| At the Drive-In El Gran Orgo | 4.5 |
| Pelican The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon... | 4.5 |
| Jaga Jazzist What We Must | 4.5 |
| Sigur Ros Takk... | 4.5 |
| ISIS Clearing the Eye (DVD) | 4.5 |
