2012: First Half
Favorite albums for the first half of 2012. Rankings might change over time, but this is how I would rank it as of now. |
| 40 |  | Accept
Stalingrad
Decent album, lacks a bit variety for me personally. |
| 39 |  | Van Halen
A Different Kind of Truth
Not the biggest Van Halen-fan, they have some good songs in their back catalogue. This album was decent. |
| 38 |  | Lana Del Rey
Born to Die
Decent album. Some catchy tunes. |
| 37 |  | Lacuna Coil
Dark Adrenaline
Had a huge Lacuna Coil-phase a few years ago. Unleashed Memories and Comalies still remains two of my favorite alternative metal albums, and both Karmacode and In a Reverie were good albums. Shallow Life was decent, but nowhere near as special as the previous albums. This one is another step down for me sadly, it's a pretty average album. Maybe 1 or 2 decent songs, rest of it just feels dull to me. I feel like the band did more interesting things with their music a few years ago, now it's way too much "standard metal" for my taste. |
| 36 | | The Beach Boys
That's Why God Made The Radio
Only knew the classics before this one. Some good tunes, overall a decent album. |
| 35 |  | Flying Colors
Flying Colors
2 or 3 good songs on this one, rest is decent I guess. Not the best album, but a decent listen I suppose. |
| 34 |  | Anneke Van Giersbergen
Everything is Changing
Another solid album from this wonderful lady. I might prefer Agua De Annique's latest album over this, but I still liked this one. |
| 33 |  | Paradise Lost
Tragic Idol
Been one of those bands whose name I've heard a lot (but never heard the music) for a long time, but I finally heard them with this album. Pretty good stuff. |
| 32 |  | Buckethead
Electric Sea
I'm really not the biggest expert on this guy, I heard "Its Alive" last year, and this one this year. I like them, but maybe he has even better albums in his back catalogue. It's pretty big from what I've heard, but if someone could recommend an album, I'd check it out. |
| 31 | | Crippled Black Phoenix
(Mankind) The Crafty Ape
Pretty good album, though I think I, Vigilante was better. |
| 30 |  | Bersarin Quartett
II
Cool album. |
| 29 | | A Place to Bury Strangers
Worship
Noise Rock/Shoegaze I suppose. Very interesting sound. |
| 28 |  | Lights Out Asia
Hy-Brasil
Electronic/Post Rock-ish, me like. |
| 27 |  | Portico Quartet
Portico Quartet
Good stuff. |
| 26 |  | Cloud Nothings
Attack on Memory
Good stuff. |
| 25 |  | Vaura
Selenelion
Experimental Black Metal-ish. Toby Driver is on it which made me interested, and the album is good. |
| 24 |  | Les Discrets
Ariettes Oubliees...
In the beginning they felt like an Alcest 2.0 (for those who know the band it might be obvious why), but it grew with some spins. Pretty solid stuff. |
| 23 |  | Rush
Clockwork Angels
I don't really know much about their newer albums. I know the more classic ones, I guess I would consider Permanent Waves my favorite. Anyhow, it's hard to rank this album against the classic ones, but luckily that isn't what I'm doing here. As an album in 2012 I think it holds up well. Good album, might climb more with more spins, time will tell. |
| 22 |  | Akphaezya
Anthology IV: The Tragedy of Nerak
Cool Avant-Garde stuff. |
| 21 |  | Meshuggah
Koloss
Heavy shit. |
| 20 | | First Aid Kit
The Lions Roar
Being a Swede, it's hard to miss out on all the fuzz regarding this duo. I'm not sure if I would classify them as folk, indie or country (since there's pieces of all), but they make really good music for their ages. The title-track has been quite overplayed here by now, but there are some really great songs on this one. Even the lesser songs are still good. |
| 19 |  | OSI
Fire Make Thunder
Not the biggest OSI-fan. I don't mean that in a bad way, I had heard a bit of the band before (ShutDOWN with Steven Wilson) and I have the album that it's featured on, the self-titled release, which is good. I saw this one getting good reviews so I checked it out, and it's pretty good. I like it. |
| 18 |  | Kayo Dot
Gamma Knife
Good stuff. Toby Driver has done it again. |
| 17 | | Gojira
L'Enfant Sauvage
Heaviness in it's finest form. It's too early to say how this one will compare with the previous two albums in the long run, but it's a fine album. Very solid, with some facesmashing songs on it. |
| 16 | | Alcest
Les Voyages De L'Ame
Discovered this band in late 2010 when I heard Ecailles De Lune. That album was really something special, so I had high hopes for this one. Great album. Not much more to say. |
| 15 |  | Anathema
Weather Systems
An album I had incredible expectations on. WHBWH was one of my favorite albums in 2010, and I still consider it to be the band's best album. To me, Weather Systems has a bit of that "WHBWH 2.0"-feel. Some of the songs were originally written for that album but later put on here, so I guess it's logical. Untouchable (both parts) opens up the album in an amazing way. Two magic songs that are as good as anything on WHBWH, but after those songs the albums drops a bit for me. The other songs range from good to great (and sometimes better), but some of them have pretty similar structures and it doesn't feel as fresh or as new as WHBWH did when it came out. |
| 14 |  | The Safety Fire
Grind the Ocean
New discovery this year, and a very pleasant one. Progressive/Technical Metal, my first thought was "Periphery", while they don't sound THAT alike, they do tread the same waters of playing more technical and progressive metal, or "djent" if you prefer that term. Really excited about seeing this band together with Periphery and BTBAM later this fall. This album is really great, title-track especially. |
| 13 |  | Sigur Ros
Valtari
Really great album. I had sky high expectations for this album, because ( ), Takk and Agaetis Byrjun are among my favorite Post Rock albums. Valtari couldn't live up to the expectations (but I dont think anything could have), but it's still a very good album. I really like it, and it has some really good songs on it. |
| 12 |  | Linkin Park
Living Things
Possibly the most controversial pick on the list. I grew up with this band. Hybrid Theory was all I listened to back in the days, when Meteora was released I bought it on the same day, and listened to it for weeks on repeat. I didn't have internet then, didn't own a massive collection of music, I was a young kid and treasured those albums, maybe even a bit too much. I enjoyed Minutes to Midnight, and A Thousand Suns (though I thought it was their weakest). This album however surprised me a lot. I didn't have that high expectations after the last album, but I was really surprised. I really like this album, and I think it has some of the best songs they've made in a long time. Powerless and Lies Greed Misery comes to mind. |
| 11 |  | Sigh
In Somniphobia
From what I've read this band gets both love and hate. Being diverse and incorporating many elements in music can be both positive and negative, it's a fine thread. In this case I think it works. I really enjoy this album, and the "odd" elements from other genres really adds something to the whole thing. |
| 10 | | The Tallest Man on Earth
There's No Leaving Now
Another album I had high expectations for. Shallow Grave and The Wild Hunt are both incredibly solid, and this album continues a very good run of albums. I can't decide yet if I like it more than The Wild Hunt (as his best), but it's fantastic never the less. The title-track is one of his best. |
| 9 |  | If These Trees Could Talk
Red Forest
Highest rated Post-Rock album so far. This album is really good, and there's really not much more to say about it. Barren Lands Of The Modern Dinosaur is amazing. |
| 8 |  | Storm Corrosion
Storm Corrosion
Not sure how I would categorise this, Progressive? Nah. Folk? Well some parts possibly. Post Rock? Some influences sure. The album might be hard to put into one genre, but there's really no reason to do it. It's Mikael ?kerfeldt and Steven Wilson. Some people hated this, some people like myself loved it. It's pretty much what I expected it to be, but even better. The album is really amazing, the title-track and Ljudet Innan stands out. |
| 7 |  | Ne Obliviscaris
Portal of I
I hadn't heard the EP, but I had heard good things about it. It was on my "checkout"-list for a while, but when I heard the full length would be released, I didn't check out the EP but instead waited for this album. Really good album, and the violin adds another dimension. |
| 6 | | Ulver
Childhood's End
A Cover-album? Outrageous! In all seriousness I didn't have much expectations for this album. Or scratch that, it sounds wrong. I love Ulver. Perdition City, Shadows of the Sun and Blood Inside were all amazing, and Wars of the Roses impressed me as well. I didn't know what to expect from this album, I've heard the names of some of the groups covered, but hadn't heard any of the songs. I didn't know what to think until I heard it, but it was really good. Some of the songs are incredible, and the worst songs are still good. |
| 5 |  | The Smashing Pumpkins
Oceania
I've been getting into this band over the last weeks, and Mellon Collie and Siamese Dream are both two solid 5/5 albums for me. This album is not AS good, but I really like it, and I haven't listened to it as much yet. It might grow more, time will tell. I haven't heard anything else apart from these 3 albums I mentioned, so I can't really say much about their previous albums before Oceania. |
| 4 |  | Gazpacho
March of Ghosts
Really pleasant surprise. Night remains my favorite album by this band, but this album is not far behind. Really digging their sound, perfect music for chillin', and it's sort of a mixture between Progressive and Post Rock, with some violin thrown in. |
| 3 |  | Susanne Sundfor
The Silicone Veil
The Brothel was an amazing album, so I had very high expectations for the follow-up. I would say that this album was even better than The Brothel, and a really strong album. Mixture between Electronica, Singer/Songwriter and some strings thrown in. |
| 2 | | Diablo Swing Orchestra
Pandora's Pinata
Just such a fun experience. Hadn't heard this band before, but really cool sound. The Jazz-influences combined with the metal sound is very well executed. |
| 1 |  | Ancestors
In Dreams and Time
Great mixture of different genres. Some really heavy moments, but also some beautiful and softer ones. Very hard to pinpoint into a specific genre, but I'd say a mix between Doom, Psychadelic and Post/Progressive Metal. |
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