Reflecting on 2016
Graduated from high school this year and started in college. Lost a bunch of friends along the way and life shifted pretty massively overall. Music, as always, was a wonderful escape from reality, and I was able to get to a sizable chunk of albums this year. Of course, I didn't hear everything, and I don't find it worth the effort to try and organize a definitive end-year ranking. So, this is just stuff I rated 4.0+ during 2016. Here's to another year of music. List is sorted only by rating and nothing else. |
| 1 |  | Overhead,The Albatross
Learning To Growl
[4.0]
Post-rock |
| 2 |  | Shadow Of Intent
Primordial
Tech-death/deathcore |
| 3 |  | Entropia (PL)
Ufonaut
Black metal |
| 4 |  | Wildernessking
Mystical Future
Post-metal/black metal |
| 5 |  | Avantasia
Ghostlights
Power metal; love these guys |
| 6 |  | Valerinne
Monumenta
Post-rock; has a great space vibe to it |
| 7 |  | Pinegrove
Cardinal
Alt. rock/indie |
| 8 |  | Slabdragger
Rise Of The Dawncrusher
Sludge metal/post-metal; fucking heavy shit |
| 9 |  | Au Revoir
Veles
Post-metal |
| 10 |  | Degaruda
Monstrous Victorious
Post-punk/rock; incredibly fun jams |
| 11 |  | Show Me A Dinosaur
Show Me A Dinosaur
'Blackgaze'; for fans of Deafhaven |
| 12 |  | Deviant Process
Paroxysm
tech-death; very clean production |
| 13 |  | Draugnim
Vulturine
Black metal |
| 14 |  | Slice the Cake
Odyssey To the West
Death metal/deathcore; really epic feel to what may be the last release by this band. |
| 15 |  | The Zenith Passage
Solipsist
Tech-death; not nearly as bad as people say, but tech-death isn't always the most beloved of genres |
| 16 |  | Uada
Devoid of Light
Black metal |
| 17 |  | Zealotry
The Last Witness
Death metal |
| 18 |  | The Morningside
Yellow
Black metal/post-rock |
| 19 |  | Perturbator
The Uncanny Valley
Synthwave; lacks the power of Dangerous Days, but still holds as a strong release from one of the genre's bests |
| 20 |  | Thranenkind
King Apathy
Black metal/post-metal/hardcore |
| 21 |  | Sioum
Yet Further
Post-metal |
| 22 |  | Sojourner
Empires of Ash
Black metal |
| 23 |  | PUP
The Dream Is Over
pop-punk/alt. rock |
| 24 |  | Vale of Pnath
II
tech-death |
| 25 |  | Terra Tenebrosa
The Reverses
Black metal/post-metal; has one of the best horror/suspenseful atmospheres I've heard |
| 26 |  | Thrawsunblat
Metachthonia
Black metal |
| 27 |  | Be'lakor
Vessels
Melodic death metal |
| 28 |  | The Most
At Once
Math rock |
| 29 |  | Invent, Animate
Stillworld
Metalcore; a clear improvement from anything else they've done |
| 30 |  | Wolverine
Machina Viva
Prog rock; great, but still rather disappointing |
| 31 |  | Harakiri for the Sky
III: Trauma
Black metal/post-metal |
| 32 |  | Departures
Death Touches Us, From The Moment We Begin To Love
Hardcore/melodic hardcore |
| 33 |  | Save Face
Folly
Pop-punk/alt. rock |
| 34 |  | Blood Incantation
Starspawn
Death metal/black metal |
| 35 |  | Plini
Handmade Cities
Prog. rock/metal |
| 36 |  | The Dear Hunter
Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional
Alt. rock/prog. rock |
| 37 |  | Preoccupations
Preoccupations
Post-punk/noise rock |
| 38 |  | Insomnium
Winter's Gate
Death metal/melodic death metal |
| 39 |  | Oathbreaker
Rheia
Black metal |
| 40 |  | Aenaon
Hypnosophy
Black metal/prog. metal; throwing in a saxophone seems like a gimmick, but it works surprisingly well |
| 41 |  | Hikrahe
Lily (The Wilt)
Drone/experimental |
| 42 |  | Cara Neir
Perpetual Despair is the Human Condition
Black metal/hardcore |
| 43 |  | Jardin de la Croix
Circadia
Prog. rock/post-rock |
| 44 |  | Khemmis
Hunted
Doom metal/sludge metal |
| 45 |  | Ion Dissonance
Cast the First Stone
Metalcore/grind |
| 46 |  | Car Seat Headrest
Teens of Denial
Indie rock/alt. rock |
| 47 |  | The Ritual Aura
Taether
Tech-death/prog. metal; the band ditches super-fast tech-death for slower and more progressive-leaning songwriting, which surprisingly works out well. |
| 48 |  | Vipassi
Śūnyatā
[4.5]
Prog. metal/death metal |
| 49 |  | Ordinance
The Ides Of March
Tech-death/death metal; the deathcore influence is dropped in favor of straight dm/tech-death. Amazing vocal performance. |
| 50 |  | Setentia
Darkness Transcend
Prog. metal/death metal; def for fans of Ulcerate |
| 51 |  | Niechec
Niechec
Prog. rock/jazz; super interesting album that deserves more attention |
| 52 |  | Vektor
Terminal Redux
Trash metal/death metal |
| 53 |  | Winterhorde
Maestro
Prog. metal/black metal; pretty underrated stuff |
| 54 |  | Virvum
Illuminance
Tech-death/prog. metal |
| 55 |  | Trophy Eyes
Chemical Miracle
Pop punk/hardcore; a big change from previous stuff but so much better |
| 56 |  | Ulcerate
Shrines of Paralysis
Death metal/post-metal |
| 57 |  | Deathspell Omega
The Synarchy of Molten Bones
Black metal; just Deathspell doing what they do best again |
| 58 |  | Old Gray
Slow Burn
Post-hardcore/emo; album came at the right time for me and hits hard emotionally. The music itself has a great blend between chaos and beauty that fits the subject matter perfectly. Seems really over-hated to me. |
| 59 |  | Zao
The Well-Intentioned Virus
Metalcore/hardcore; good to see one of the older bands in the scene still managing to churn out highly enjoyable albums |
| 60 |  | The Hotelier
Goodness
[5.0]
Pop-punk/emo; this is an amazing successor to Home. It sounds so much like a recovery from the tragedy experienced in Home, where there is a path to happiness littered with doubt and lingering depression. Not as outwardly strong as its predecessor, but still has a strong emotional vibe and great, catchy songwriting. |
| 61 |  | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Dissociation
Metalcore/hardcore; it remains to be seen if this really will be the last we hear of Dillinger, and if it is then we were given one hell of a parting gift. Dissociation synthesizes the older work of the band with their more experimental leanings on Killer and Ire Works. You don't need to factor in the 'swan song' aspect to determine that this is an incredible album that hits like the world's largest freight train. |
| 62 |  | First Fragment
Dasein
Tech-death/death metal; Dasein has a ferocity and technical ability that other tech-death bands simply lack. Riffs are composed and catchy as all hell instead of just being thrown around to display skill. This is a clean, calculated aural assault that stands well above the rest of the pack. Yeah, in my opinion it beats Vektor in pretty much every regard. |
| 63 |  | Macho Man Randy Savage
Be A Man
2016 provided fans of all musical genres plenty of listen and discuss. I'm sure 2017 will be doing just the same. Personally, I can't wait to hear new releases from Persefone, plus potential outputs from VOLA and In the Silence. No doubt I'm forgetting some other big names in the moment. Anyways, I'm ready to close the book on 2016 and get ready for even more killer tunes. Hopefully you find something on here to enjoy or whatever. Peace. |
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