LISTMANIA 2015 Archives - Page 5 of 7

LISTMANIA 2015: VONLUGHLIO’S LIST OF 2015’s TOP EPs

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Dec 162015

(Our old friend and steadfast NCS supporter Vonlughlio has once again prepared his year-end list of albums, but first shares with us this list of his favorite EPs from 2015.)

First of all I want to start by thanking Islander for letting me do my end-of-year lists. Last year, for the first time I made my list of favorite albums up to 50, plus made a list of my favorite EPs and Honorable Mentions. This year I’m going to divide my year-end list into two posts. This first one will have my top 15 EPs and mentions of some of the places where I find new music. The second one will have my top 50 albums with the Honorable Mentions (when I’m done with that clusterfuck of a list – J).

So, to give you an idea of my year, let’s just say that it has been more Brutal than others. Some might like my list, others will hate it, but I’m doing this for me and the bands I like.

Here are my Top 15 EPs of 2015: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A YEAR-END LIST FROM NEILL JAMESON (KRIEG)

LISTMANIA 2015 7 Responses »

Dec 162015

(Once again, we invited Neill Jameson of Krieg to share a year-end list with us as part of our LISTMANIA series, and once again we are very happy to report that he agreed.)

We’re now at that part of the year where everyone sits and jerks each other off in the form of lists of what records industry people are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for releasing and the inevitable think tank that follows in the comments section complaining that whatever bullshit they like got ignored by the publications they spent the other 364 days of the year saying they hate anyway.

I personally like to use these lists to look into releases that fell through the cracks for me during whatever given year (this is for 2015 I think, I don’t remember anymore) and also when someone is nice enough to want my opinion (sorry in advance) a way for me to show people some bands they might not even know about.

Much like last year I’m going to skip a lot of the more well-known releases from this year, opting to focus on some great recordings you may have never heard but definitely should look into. If you really must know what captured the top slot for the year for me, go listen to the newest Killing Joke record or Leviathan’s Scar Sighted; both records show an energy and focus that both bands have always been capable of, but in a more urgent manner than before. Both are absolutely brilliant and essential. Continue reading »

A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS

LISTMANIA 2015 72 Responses »

Dec 162015

(Andy Synn wrote this. Let me repeat, ANDY SYNN WROTE THIS.)

Well, here it is, the one column of mine a year which I know Islander truly hates with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns!

Ok, maybe not that much, but I do know that the boss-man doesn’t like us being negative on this site… and this is probably the most overtly negative thing that we publish all year, so I can understand where he’s coming from!

Still… we all know it’s important for there to be balance to the force, and I think having this *slightly* more negative than usual post at the end of the year definitely serves a purpose, in the grand scheme of things.

Let me reiterate, though, that just because I feel like these albums are “Disappointing”, to a greater or lesser extent, doesn’t necessarily mean I think that they’re “Bad” albums, per se, nor am I trying to tell you what to think or what you’re allowed/supposed to like.

In fact the general theme of this year’s column is just how many of these albums simply ended up being surprisingly bland or boring – as opposed to utterly terrible – particularly when compared not only with the rest of the year’s best output but also with the usual high standards set by the band’s themselves! Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JONNY PETTERSSON (WOMBBATH, ASHCLOUD, JUST BEFORE DAWN, and more)

LISTMANIA 2015 12 Responses »

Dec 152015

(We invited Jonny Pettersson — vocalist and riff-maker at Wombbath, Lieutenant General at Just before Dawn, and vocalist/guitarist at Ashcloud (among many other projects) — to let us share with our readers his year-end list for 2015, and we are grateful that he agreed!)

I started this list thinking that this year it would be easy to pick the top 10. Halfway through I realized that, as always, there are too many good releases to make easy choices. Continue reading »

2015 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD ALBUMS

LISTMANIA 2015 20 Responses »

Dec 152015

(This is the second of Andy Synn’s 5-part year-end series this week. To see his list of the “Great Albums” of 2015, go here.)

Now, depending on how you interpret it, I realise that the word “Good” can be a bit of a… loaded term.

On the one hand it can be entirely positive. “This is really good!” and so forth… and on the other it can be used in a much more grudging manner. “This is good enough, I suppose”.

So rejoice my friends, because the majority of the albums on this list definitely fall into the “Really good!” category, and many of them just missed out on getting on the “Great” list by the skin of their teeth. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: YEAR-END LISTS FROM EXCLAIM!, APPLE MUSIC, AND ANTI-GRAVITY BUNNY

LISTMANIA 2015 12 Responses »

Dec 142015

As part of our annual LISTMANIA series we re-publish year-end lists of metal from selected print zines and a group of cross-genre web sites with large audiences. We have two more of those in this post (and we’re only waiting for one or two more of those before we’re finished for this year).

We usually don’t re-publish year-end lists from other metal sites and blogs, because we figure you already know about the ones you care about and because, where would we stop? But this year, for the first time, we’re making a few exceptions to that policy.

One of those few exceptions is Angry Metal Guy. Whenever he gets around to posting his year-end list, I’m going to share it here. Among the reasons, AMG is one of the few surviving metal blogs out there which was born in the same year (2009) as our own putrid site. Plus, although we don’t always see eye-to-eye about music, the writing is top-notch. And then, there’s also this little item that recently appeared on the AMG Facebook page: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN LUNN (PANOPTICON)

LISTMANIA 2015 30 Responses »

Dec 142015

(We are grateful that for the third year in a row Austin Lunn accepted our invitation to share his favorite releases from the year that’s about to end. He is, of course, the man behind one of ours: Panopticon’s Autumn Eternal.)

First off, sorry for the excessive length of my list this year. There was a lot of to choose from and a lot of records to listen to this year. I am sure that I have forgotten some excellent records, and immediately after this is published it’ll hit me. Please keep in mind that there is no particular order or ranking on this list… it is simply a list of records I really enjoyed this year, and I hope that others have, too.

Best wishes,
Austin Continue reading »

2015 A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GREAT ALBUMS

LISTMANIA 2015 29 Responses »

Dec 142015

(Here’s the first of Andy Synn’s annual five-part, year-end round-up of metal.)

Well, well, well… it’s already that time again, is it? Time to look back on the year in Metal and take stock of all the Great, Good, and Disappointing albums that the past twelve months have produced.

As you may have gathered, I’ve once again elected to split the year into the usual three categories:

The “Great” – the albums which I honestly consider the top tier of this year’s crop.

The “Good” – albums which vary from “solid” to “really good”, but perhaps don’t quite reach the bar of true greatness (though most of them still kick a major amount of ass).

The “Disappointing” – albums which I honestly think could/should have been better (though that doesn’t necessarily make them “Bad” albums).

Now I’ll go a little bit more into the rationale of each one in detail at the appropriate time, but let me just specify that these lists should NOT – I repeat, NOT – be considered comprehensive. There’s just so many albums that have been released this year that there’s almost no way for one person to get to them all. Continue reading »

2015 – A YEAR IN EPs

LISTMANIA 2015, Phro's Posts, SHORT BUT SWEET 20 Responses »

Dec 112015

(So far, our year-end LISTMANIA series has mostly been devoted to year-end lists from other sites and print zines, but today we begin rolling out our own lists, and we start with the first of six that Andy Synn is preparing. Every day next week we’ll post his remaining five.)

Such is the chaos that is my life at the moment (in between trying to get my End of Year List/s done, I’ve also been putting together a PhD proposal/application, booking a photo shoot for Beyond Grace, TRYING to book shows for next year for us, and helping some good friends move house) that I almost forgot about my annual semi-traditional round-up of all the great EPs I’ve heard this year!

Yes, yes, I know there are several bloggers and/or sites out there who argue that EPs should be considered right alongside full-length albums when it comes to summing up matters at the end of the year… but I’m not one of them.

No, I think EPs deserve their own category, and their own specific focus, and so I’ve written this little round-up to give some of the year’s shortest, sharpest, releases their due. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: STEREOGUM’S LIST OF THE 50 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2015

LISTMANIA 2015 42 Responses »

Dec 102015

Of all the year-end lists we re-post from “big platform” web sites as part of our LISTMANIA extravaganza, this is the one I most look forward to seeing. It’s Stereogum’s list of “The 50 Best Metal Albums of 2015“, which was published today. I look forward to it because it’s assembled by a team of people whose opinions I respect a lot — the five guys responsible for Stereogum’s excellent Black Market column this year: Michael Nelson, Doug Moore, Ian Chainey, Aaron Lariviere, and Wyatt Marshall.

This year’s Stereogum list is preceded by a long opinion piece — prompted in part by Disma’s removal from some metal festival line-ups — that raises the thorny and always-controversial issue of whether there are lines crossed by musicians that warrant “excommunication” of their music from our lives. Regardless of what you think about that issue, this is a good and interesting list. It includes some of whom we can safely anoint as “the usual suspects” this year, but some deep cuts as well. And I’m especially happy to see the pick at the top of the list. Continue reading »

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