Everything 2011
Yep another one of these. Some really fantastic stuff came out this year and here are my top 50 ranked. |
| 50 |  | Opeth
Heritage |
| 49 |  | The Boxer Rebellion
The Cold Still |
| 48 |  | Earth
Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light (Volume 1) |
| 47 |  | Wu Lyf
Go Tell Fire to the Mountain |
| 46 |  | Jesu
Ascension |
| 45 |  | The Black Keys
El Camino |
| 44 |  | Ulver
Wars of the Roses |
| 43 |  | Enduser
Even Weight |
| 42 |  | Yuck
Yuck |
| 41 |  | Devin Townsend Project
Ghost |
| 40 |  | Machine Head
Unto the Locust |
| 39 |  | Maybeshewill
I was Here for a Moment, Then I Was Gone |
| 38 |  | Nicolas Jaar
Space is Only Noise |
| 37 |  | Cave In
White Silence |
| 36 |  | Fleet Foxes
Helplessness Blues |
| 35 |  | Haken
Visions |
| 34 |  | Ash Borer
Ash Borer |
| 33 |  | Devin Townsend Project
Deconstruction
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| 32 | | Protest the Hero
Scurillous |
| 31 |  | Thursday
No Devolucion |
| 30 |  | Laura Stevenson and the Cans
Sit Resist
Sweet indie pop/rock stuff that I am pretty surprised I enjoyed so much. I love her voice. |
| 29 |  | The Flight of Sleipnir
Essence of Nine
Cool mix of folk, psychadelic, and black metal. |
| 28 |  | Moonsorrow
Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
More of the same from these guys. Epic in every sense of the word. Some may dislike the lack of originality here but when you do something so well why change it? |
| 27 |  | Buckethead
Look Up There
This album reaffirms my mancrush on Buckethead. Two long jams showcasing his phenomenal lead guitar work. |
| 26 |  | Frank Turner
England Keep My Bones
Only recently listened to this and absolutely enjoyed it. If I'd gotten this earlier in the year it probably would have ended up higher. |
| 25 |  | Defeater
Empty Days and Sleepless Nights
I enjoyed the contrast between the harder hitting hardcore songs and the acoustic ones. Also White Knuckles freaking owns. |
| 24 |  | Zomby
Dedication
A pretty haunting electronica album that conveys some pretty intense emotions I usually don't associate with this style of music. |
| 23 |  | City and Colour
Little Hell
I'm gay for his voice. Best City and Colour album by far. |
| 22 |  | Barrows
Imprecari Island
Not unlike Pelican, but better imo. |
| 21 |  | Falls of Rauros
The Light that Dwells in Rotten Wood
Pussy-post-cascadian-folkened black metal. Good stuff. |
| 20 |  | The Decemberists
The King is Dead
God I must have listened to this a thousand times over the summer. One of the few bands my friends and I can agree are awesome. Down by the Water was probably my most listened to song this year. |
| 19 |  | Swarms
Old Raves End
It's hard for me to describe electronic albums but this is pretty keen. |
| 18 |  | Scale the Summit
The Collective
These guys are incredible musicians that makes for a very entertaining listen. |
| 17 |  | Radiohead
The King of Limbs
I must admit I didn't much care for this when I first heard but of course, as with most Radiohead albums, it grew on me and now I seem to be listening to it more and more often. |
| 16 |  | Boris
Heavy Rocks II
Face melting stoner metal jams. Their best album of the year by far. |
| 15 |  | The War on Drugs
Slave Ambient
A very unique take on americana with some shoegaze elements thrown into the mix. Very original idea that is executed extremely well. |
| 14 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Incredible new direction taken here. If For Emma was identified with winter this most assuredly would be identified with Sping. |
| 13 |  | Steven Wilson
Grace for Drowning
The album Opeth wishes they could make. |
| 12 |  | Bomb the Music Industry!
Vacation
Great album that still shows their energy while showing a more mature style of songwriting. |
| 11 |  | Midnight Odyssey
Funerals from the Astral Sphere
A double album of atmospheric black metal. It's pretty long but is very hypnotic and is executed extremely well. Nice mix of softer, ambient moments with straight up black metal. |
| 10 |  | Mastodon
The Hunter
Just a fuckin hard rocking, beer drinking, head banging good time. They didn't get caught up in bizzare concepts and even more bizarre experimentation and just rock out. |
| 9 |  | Sleepmakeswaves
...and so we destroyed everything
Gives hope for post-rock just when you start to think there's nothing more the genre is capable of. |
| 8 |  | CunninLynguists
Oneirology
Best hip hop album of the year. |
| 7 |  | Thrice
Major/Minor
Their consistency in quality releases is really quite remarkable and they leave us with another winner. I look at this as a somewhat heavier version of Beggars but it still has those jaw dropping moments in songs like Anthology and Words in the Water. |
| 6 |  | M83
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Recreates that feeling of childlike wonder we seem to lose as we get older. Fun album and Midnight City is one of the best songs of the year. |
| 5 |  | Foo Fighters
Wasting Light
Seems like most Foo Fighters albums have a few gems on them and a lot of filler. Well this cut all the filler and we're left only with all the things we love about them. Mainstream rock done right. |
| 4 |  | Vektor
Outer Isolation
Only heard this recently but I think it deserves being this high up. Incredibley well executed thrash with a pterodactyl sounding vocalist. m/ |
| 3 |  | Manchester Orchestra
Simple Math
It's no Mean Everything to Nothing but it's still fantastic in its own right. The song Simple Math is the best song they've ever done. |
| 2 |  | Andrew Jackson Jihad
Knife Man
This album hit hard with me during a pretty rough time in my life. It's clever, humerous, emotional, and everything in between. |
| 1 |  | The Dear Hunter
The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection)
One of the most impressive releases in recent memory and they pull it off with flying colors. |
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