Sab's lazy 2015 list
[RATINGS HERE ARE GENERALLY MORE GENEROUS THAN WHAT I GIVE NOW] I've been very lazy with descriptions but I didn't really realize what it meant to fill all the spots before I actually tried to. Pretty sweet year, I listened to between 100 and 110 albums but I'll trim the fat for this list, adding only the albums where I have something to say or albums that I simply want to showcase. There would be no use in including the most albums possible when one could simply sort the ratings by date in the profile page, I guess.
Albums 86~82 are rated 2;
albums 81~77 are rated 2.5;
albums 76~52 are rated 3;
albums 51~22 are rated 3.5;
albums 21~7 are rated 4;
albums 6~1 are rated 4.5 |
| 87 |  | Saxon
Battering Ram
Heavy metal - Sweet, I forgot one album. Adding it in the back of the list, album is rock solid. 3.5/5 |
| 86 |  | Virgin Steele
Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation
Heavy metal / power metal - The review is pretty spot on.
[albums are rated 2.0 starting here] |
| 85 |  | Helloween
My God-Given Right
Power metal - I can't understand the praise the album received. I could type more but I'll quote part of the chorus from "Stay Crazy": "we wanna stay crazy, as fresh as a daisy, we wanna stay easy and don't stop believing life's a show". |
| 84 |  | Scorpions
Return to Forever
Hard rock / AOR |
| 83 |  | One OK Rock
35xxxv
Alternative rock / pop punk - Had the occasion to see this guys live because I a friend of mine is a fan. After the show, where I had some legit fun, the band soon dropped this new album. Neither me nor my friend liked it. At this point, the band lost its edge and apparently sold itself. |
| 82 |  | Stormwitch
Season of the Witch
Heavy metal - I'm not very familiar with the band, but I enjoyed Walpurgis Night. Sadly, this album is a far cry. Vocals especially can be very annoying. |
| 81 |  | Operation: Mindcrime
The Key
Hard rock / alternative rock
[albums are rated 2.5 starting here] |
| 80 |  | Civil War
Gods And Generals
Power metal / heavy metal - Sabaton members create a Sabaton clone. Catchy choruses but nothing much after that. |
| 79 |  | Slayer
Repentless
Thrash metal - Some enjoyable tracks and riffs but as a whole nothing really shines, except for maybe a couple of highlights and those ugly solos. |
| 78 |  | Mami Kawada
Parablepsia
Pop / electronic - Bummer. I really like her brand of j-pop which is at times electronic infused and other times more rock oriented. This time she went deeper with the electronic side, and I can't say to be a fan of the outcome. "I... Civilization" is the only track I feel like replaying, because most of the album simply doesn't offer anything really memorable. |
| 77 |  | SOTO
Inside The Vertigo
Hard rock / AOR / heavy metal - I love me some Jeff Scott Soto vocals but this is a bit weak. A kind of radio-friendly hybrid between old and new. |
| 76 |  | Ava Luna
Infinite House
Art rock?
[albums are rated 3.0 starting here] |
| 75 |  | Mustasch
Testosterone
Hard rock / once a stoner rock band |
| 73 |  | Ninja Sex Party
Attitude City
Comedy pop - A few genuinely entertaining tracks but I didn't think I'd 3 this until I heard "6969". A 8 minutes long track which can be viewed as a sexual parody of Rush's "2112", full of tempo changes, stupid lyrics and catchy hooks. |
| 72 | | Powerwolf
Blessed & Possessed
Power metal - As expected, they've finally arrived to the point where almost the entirety of the album consists of self plagiarism. Thankfully, it's mad catchy. |
| 71 |  | Kanako Ito
Reactor
Pop |
| 70 |  | Luca Turilli's Rhapsody
Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus
Progressive power metal / symphonic metal |
| 69 |  | Breaking Benjamin
Dark Before Dawn
Alternative metal |
| 68 |  | Hiki
Saturday Calm
Shoegaze - I loved the debut album, but each following release felt progressively inferior (there was another Hiki release this year, which I rated 2.5). The addition of a few sung tracks gives some needed variety. |
| 67 |  | Max Pezzali
Astronave Max
Italian pop |
| 66 |  | Leprous
The Congregation
Progressive metal - Repetitive is an understatement. The machine-like riffing and the calm sections are cool but are overused. Vocals are impressive but I found them heavy to take in large doses. |
| 65 |  | Native Construct
Quiet World
Progressive metal |
| 64 |  | Infected Mushroom
Friends on Mushrooms (Deluxe Edition)
Psytrance / brostep (correct me if I'm wrong, please) |
| 63 |  | Kamelot
Haven
Power metal - From my point of view this received unbelievable praise. This is just some enjoyable hook-centric power metal with stale production. Arguably some of the band's weakest songwriting. |
| 62 |  | Weedeater
Goliathan
Sludge metal |
| 61 |  | LiSA
Launcher
Pop / pop rock |
| 60 | | Carly Rae Jepsen
E MO TION
Pop |
| 59 |  | Sigh
Graveward
Avant-garde black metal - Sigh may have gone too far this time in their search for the weird. There are a few killer tracks but as a whole this is probably my least favorite album by the band, or at least one of my less favorite. Production can be very dislikable. |
| 58 |  | Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas
Feeling of Unity
Trancecore - I still don't know how this band managed to get me hooked, since it contains a lot of things I normally despise. Eh, who am I kidding. I exactly know how they managed to get me: they actually know what they are doing with their songwriting. Punchy and clearly audible guitars, absolutely killer melodies and super catchy vocals which are auto-tuned to hell without any tentative to hide it when clean. Somehow, this worked four times in a row. |
| 57 |  | Europe
War of Kings
Hard rock / AOR - I didn't know Europe turned to this Deep Purple-like hard rock. Enjoyable for sure. |
| 56 |  | Leo Ieiri
20
Pop - Some very enjoyable tracks but at this point it seems that the driving energy of the more rock oriented debut album is lost. |
| 55 |  | Drowning the Light
From the Abyss
Black metal - The vocals can take a while to get used to, but the melodies should help. Artwork is pretty killer. |
| 54 |  | Level 10
Chapter One
Heavy metal / hard rock - Another side project featuring Russel Allen. Enjoyable but devoid of real depth. Reviewed by me. |
| 53 |  | Bjork
Vulnicura
Art pop - Interesting and potentially very emotional album, but I'm afraid I don't have the patience to let it sink completely. It could grow on me, but I really doubt it'll happen anytime soon. |
| 52 |  | Blind Guardian
Beyond the Red Mirror
Symphonic power metal |
| 51 |  | Autopsy
Skull Grinder
Filthy death metal
[albums are rated 3.5 starting here] |
| 50 |  | Weeping Silence
Opus IV Oblivion
Doom metal / gothic |
| 49 |  | Hot Chip
Why Make Sense?
Synthpop - Wasn't really feeling it that much at first, but the second half is definitely stronger than the first one. |
| 48 |  | Stratovarius
Eternal
Power metal |
| 47 |  | Nile
What Should Not Be Unearthed
Technical death metal - Nile is as Nile does. |
| 46 |  | Demetori
愧人贖悪 ~Evil People as the True Object of Salvation~
Instrumental power metal - Always a guarantee when in the mood for instrumental proggy power metal, the two brothers' music is starting to become predictable. |
| 45 |  | Sadist
Hyaena
Italian progressive death metal / jazz fusion influence |
| 44 |  | Black Wing
...Is Doomed
Electronic / shoegaze / chillwave |
| 43 |  | Greenrose Faire
Feed the Flames
Folk rock |
| 42 |  | Le Madri degli Orfani
La Grande Abbuffata
Italian alternative rock / indie rock |
| 41 |  | Symphony X
Underworld
Progressive metal |
| 40 |  | Unreal City (Italy)
Il paese del tramonto
Italian progressive rock |
| 39 |  | Goblin Rebirth
Goblin Rebirth
Italian progressive rock / instrumental |
| 38 |  | Pastel Ghost
Abyss
"Dreamrave" |
| 37 |  | Infected Mushroom
Converting Vegetarians II
Psytrance |
| 36 |  | Ozric Tentacles
Technicians of the Sacred
Space rock / progressive rock |
| 35 |  | Sorcerer
In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross
Doom metal / heavy metal |
| 34 |  | Ranger
Where Evil Dwells
Speed metal |
| 33 |  | Division Speed
Division Speed
Thrash metal |
| 32 |  | Turbowolf
Two Hands
Stoner rock / psychedelic |
| 31 |  | Corpus Christii
PaleMoon
Black metal - Very pissed off and thrashy, it reminded me of Sodom at times. |
| 30 |  | Enforcer
From Beyond
Speed metal |
| 29 |  | Toto
Toto XIV
AOR / progressive and at times jazzy influence - With Joseph Williams again on lead vocals, XIV sees Toto wanting to go closer to their roots after the many style shifts. I loved the heavy and progressive sound of Falling in Between (the previous album), but Toto going closer to older sounds is not something to throw away. Could have been definitely more with another rocker in the middle though. The closing epic "Great Expectations" is argualby one of the band's best tracks, being the closer to Falling in Between's sound due to its progressive structure. |
| 28 |  | Steven Wilson
Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Progressive rock - A highly emotional story that sadly has little to no replay value. It's great to see Wilson evolving and still pouring so much attention in his work, the album's protagonist's blog is an important part of the experience, but Raven's addictive and tasteful instrumentation is nowhere to be found. |
| 27 |  | Melechesh
Enki
Black metal / "Mesopotamian metal" says the band |
| 26 |  | Black Tower
The Secret Fire
Blackened heavy metal? |
| 25 |  | Killer Boogie
Detroit
Italian stoner rock |
| 24 |  | Visigoth
The Revenant King
Epic doom metal |
| 23 |  | Iron Maiden
The Book of Souls
Progressive metal - Maiden's attempt at a double album with very long tracks should be considered a success, but I honestly don't know when I'll find the patience to listen to the full thing again. |
| 22 |  | Ghoulgotha
The Deathmass Cloak
Progressive death/doom metal - At first it sounded as if it was almost trying to be a 'so bad it's so good' affair, but it grew. |
| 20 |  | Endlesshade
Wolf Will Swallow The Sun
Doom metal / death metal / post rock influence - Reviewed by me. |
| 19 |  | Cherry Five
Il Pozzo dei Giganti
Italian progressive rock - Having released a debut album in 1975, Cherry Five is known better as the band that later spawned Goblin. This comeback definitely has something to say. Three suites, the first (and easily best) being 25 minutes long. |
| 18 |  | Praying Mantis
Legacy
AOR - Quite heavy at times for what it is, the closing track even features some double bass. That's because the band is born as a "heavy metal gone aor" act, rather than the opposite. Very solid album, catchy riffing and keyboard layers with excellent vocals. |
| 17 |  | Ahab
The Boats Of The Glen Carrig
Progressive funeral doom metal / Opeth influence - Arguably the band's best. |
| 16 |  | Ultra-Violence
Deflect the Flow
Italian thrash metal - Reviewed by me. |
| 15 |  | Distruzione
Distruzione
Death metal - Reviewed by me (where I also make an ass out of myself in the comments). |
| 14 |  | La Coscienza Di Zeno
La Notte Anche di Giorno
Italian progressive rock - Two suites divided in multiple tracks. Killer melodies and vocals. |
| 13 |  | Osanna
Palepolitana
Italian progressive rock - Concept album that works as a sequel for 1972's Palepoli. Some excellent material and it also comes with a re-recording of Palepoli, so be sure to give it a try if you like this kind of prog. |
| 12 |  | Queensryche
Condition Human
Progressive metal - The band's best since 1994's Promised Land. It doesn't touch the band's classics but it's a damn good starting point to try! Remember that Wilton wrote Empire's fan favorite guitar solo, so be positive for the band's future and keep on Ryching. |
| 11 |  | Coffincraft
In Eerie Slumber
Death metal |
| 10 |  | Spettri
2973 La Nemica Dei Ricordi
Italian progressive rock - Reviewed by me. |
| 9 |  | Snarky Puppy
Sylva
Jazz fusion recorded live with an orchestra |
| 8 |  | Vhol
Deeper than Sky
A progressive melting pot of thrash metal, black metal, hardcore and psychedelic - Reviewed by me. |
| 7 |  | Napalm Death
Apex Predator - Easy Meat
Grindcore |
| 6 |  | Hiatus Kaiyote
Choose Your Weapon
Neo-soul / jazz and R&B influence
[albums are rated 4.5 starting here] |
| 5 |  | An Autumn For Crippled Children
The Long Goodbye
Black metal / shoegaze / post rock - Reviewed by me. |
| 4 |  | Tigran Hamasyan
Mockroot
Jazz fusion / piano driven - Terrific mix of beautiful and at times ghostly atmosphere. Fans of progressive music should enjoy this too, and it's interesting to see how some tracks feel heavy and metal influenced (wasn't Meshuggah one of his favorite bands?). |
| 3 |  | Galneryus
Under the Force of Courage
Progressive power metal / classical influence - I couldn't imagine Galneryus releasing such an album after Vetelgyus, which wasn't really one of my favorites even though it had some very notable material. Galneryus' last effort (and first concept album) is thankfully closer to the sound of Angel of Salvation, this time with an even bigger classical influence and more progressive structure, challenging the former for the title of favorite Galneryus album. The more material released, the more I think of them as the best power metal band around today. |
| 2 |  | Kamasi Washington
The Epic
Jazz excess - 3 discs, no filler. |
| 1 |  | Paradise Lost
The Plague Within
Doom/death metal - My biggest grower of 2015. I'm totally loving its both warm and cold sound. |
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