Yeah I'm an hour late. Sue me.
As I stated in my previous post, I was going to number off my top albums of 2010. Out of the 9 options, what will take the cake as my best album of 2010?
To be honest, out of the 9 albums, some were disappointing, but there were those that made their mark. So let's begin with the 4 runners-up.
RUNNERS-UP:
All That Remains - For We Are Many: Nothing truly memorable. Especially compared to Overcome. To be honest, when I first listened to it, it just... went by. 40 minutes or so passed and I didn't even realize it because nothing stood out to my ears.
Kamelot - Poetry For the Poisoned: Was a decent album, but there's not a lot of songs that truly stick out, save for one or two. However, this is still the Kamelot I know and thus I have no regrets about this purchase. Still a good album, but not as good as previous releases.
DragonForce - Twilight Dementia: Proves to all that DragonForce really ARE that fast live, but even live is kind of repetitive. And I don't mean the music. ZP Theart loves the fans to "get those hands in the air and go 'ai, ai, ai, ai!'" It gets annoying after a while. Also, this can be seen as the farewell to ZP Theart as he has now left DragonForce.
Disturbed - Asylum: Really nothing memorable. It's Disturbed, yes, but there's no change. I appreciate following the adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," but you CAN modify it at times. That would be nice for the next album.
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5TH:
Coheed and Cambria - Year of the Black Rainbow: Good album, and different. More heavier, and less progressive than their older albums. It works at times, but falters at others. Does feature an awesome song that really sticks out, and a few more that are good as well. For those who follow the Amory Wars, a good prequel chapter.
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4TH:
In This Moment - A Star-Crossed Wasteland: A solid album, but no real standouts unlike The Dream. However, I have no beefs with anything in the album. It's an enjoyable listen from start to finish and that's always a good thing in music.
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3RD:
Hail the Villain - Population: Declining: Thank you HMV for having this available in your points store. Best 40k points I've ever spent. Anyway, great Canadian band who released their debut with this. Solid hard rock album that has it's thrash fests, it's slower stuff, and a whole lot of headbangable madness in the middle. This could be a solid candidate for my favourite album in my collection, yet here it resides in 3rd for the year.
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2ND:
Silverstein - Decade: The idea behind this was excellent. The execution? Flawless. Silverstein is one of few bands who sound not only as good as the album recordings, if not better, when performing live. This I can attest to as I've seen Silverstein live before, and it was one of the best shows I have ever witnessed. Best live album I've heard and easily one of the better albums of the year.
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1ST:
Eluveitie - Everything Remains (As It Never Was): This is easily the oddest style of music I have heard but, oh dear Lord, does it ever ROCK! Imagine death metal. Now marry it to flutes, violins, and bagpipes. Yes, bagpipes. The sound is like nothing I have ever heard before and listening to this is a new experience. While this could fail easily, this album was an excellent mix of everything. Slower songs, thrash fests, headbanger balls, and beautiful interludes. An enjoyable listen from start to finish and the experience never dies no matter how many times you hear it. Easily the best album of 2010.
Enjoy.
