1. REDEMPTION – Snowfall On Judgment Day
By far my most-listened-to-disc–of-the-year, and in my honest opinion, the best progressive metal album since Dream Theater released “Images & Words”. Yes, I’m biased on this being the bands manager, but it really is the best album of the year to me. The melodies are fantastic, the playing is phenomenal and Ray’s voice has just grown stronger and more emotional than ever. Nick is THE best songwriter in prog metal!
2. TORI AMOS – Abnormally Attracted To Sin
It’s TORI!!! Whenever she releases an album it will end up in my Top 3, that’s just how it is. No need to argue that one
3. ORPHANED LAND – The Never Ending Way Of OrWarrior
I’ve only had this album for a week now, but I’ve been listening to it constantly. It picks up where they left us five years ago with “Mabool” and add even more of the middle-eastern folklore this time around. It might not be as progressive as it’s predecessor, or have as much death metal elements in it, but it has some fantastic acoustic passages, some new gothic rock elements, and just flows in a way only these guys can make an album flow. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be spinning this more than any other 2009 album save the first two mentioned over the years to come.
4. LEPROUS – Tall Poppy Syndrome
These guys make me so proud being their manager. From Norway comes a young band of great musicians creating a mixture that just can’t be labeled as either “prog”, “metal”, “rock”, “death”, “black” or whatever. There’s so much stuff going on and I truly believe that in a few years this band will be huge!
5. DREDG – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
I love this disc, I really do. Whenever I’m in my car, this is the CD I reach for. From the get-go you know that you’re getting an album that doesn’t just appeal to the hip young alternative rock crowd, but also has something in it for the pop fan, the prog rock fan and even something for the artsy people. It’s a “feel-good” album.
6. CANDLEMASS – Death Magic Doom
Perhaps their darkest and heaviest album since “Ancient Dreams”, and that’s definitely a compliment for a band who’s delivered a ton of great albums over the years.
7. MASTODON – Crack The Skye
I honestly never cared enough to check out this band previous to “Crack The Skye”, but the heavy promotion machine dragged me in and I gave it a listen on their myspace page, decided to buy it, and have become a fan of the band after that.
8. DREAM THEATER – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
As many have said already, this might be their best album in many years. With the previous album (“Systematic Chaos”) they showed that they were heading the right way back to a style of music that once made them what they are, and in my opinion “Black Clouds…” is absolutely the best album we could expect from them in 2009.
9. FKU – Where Moshers Dwell
THRASH!!!!! This is exactly what that whole genre is all about. Energy, passion, aggression and fun! I really want to put on my Bermuda shorts with the Anthrax logo on and start moshing around the living room. I’m pretty sure though that the hair salon below wouldn’t appreciate
10. OBSCURA – Cosmogenesis
Death, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence etc all mixed together in one ass-kicking tech-death metal release. Fantastic musicianship and great songwriting channeling the old heroes of the genre and infusing their own little jazz-weirdness here and there!
11. PERSEFONE – Shin-Ken
Every time I listen to this album I get so upset about all the bad luck this band has had. First their previous label in Europe collapsed and we’ve been searching forever for a new label (finally got that in place these past weeks), and then their Japanese label who actually did release this disc in the summer also collapsed. Arghhh… With that said, this album is a must for anyone who likes the prog-death of Opeth or loves the old school guitar-hero antics of Cacophony.
12. SLOUGH FEG – Ape Uprising
This is probably the closest we’ll get to a band taking on the good old Thin Lizzy feeling these days. Yes, it’s more “doomy” and “power metal” but it’s just awesome! There’s even a bit of Twisted Sister sound to some of the songs (especially the vocals), which totally makes it a unique listening experience.
13. WINGER – Karma
My #1 melodic hard rock disc of the year. The song “Supernova” is brilliant, and Kip Winger sounds better than ever. From a band that was once made fun of by most everyone in the metal scene, this album is a total asskicker.
14. SHADOW GALLERY – Digital Ghosts
I didn’t have high expectations for this considering that Mike Baker wasn’t there anymore, but the band struggled through the sad circumstances and delivered a very strong prog-metal album, which really sits well with their other outputs. It’s not “Carved In Stone” or “Tyranny”, but it’s a better album than “Room V”, and the new vocalist(s) fits perfectly in.
15. THE BENEATH – City Of Light
An independent band releasing one of the best modern-tech-metal albums, somewhere along the lines of Protest The Hero, Between The Buried & Me or DEP. It’s sooooo sad that the band has decided to split up now, as I would have loved to see where they could take this music on a new album. Go to CD Baby and order this disc NOW! It’s definitely worth it!
16. X-JAPAN – Jade
Okay, so this is not even recorded in the studio yet. It is just one new song that X-JAPAN played live at their Japanese shows, but it’s AWESOME! I love X-JAPAN and everything they’ve done, so it’s a given that I love this song too. It kind of have the same feeling that their 2008 song “I.V.” had, a touch of modern rock and not as power metallic as their old material. I can’t wait till they finally get a new album out.
17. THE DEAR HUNTER – Act III
The whole “alternative-prog-rock” genre is booming these days with great bands such as Mew, Dredg, Coheed & Cambria, Three (3) and The Dear Hunter. This album is wonderful and has sooo many layers of great music. It’s not as “easy-listening” as t.ex. Dredg or C&C, but it has something else that sets it apart – a conceptual vision behind it all.
18. ARTILLERY – When Death Comes
These guys are old friends of mine, and I am very biased when it comes to this band, but “When Death Comes” is one of the very best thrash metal discs this year (only being beaten by FKU). I’ve not warmed up 100% to the new singer yet, but I’m getting there. Still, this album is classic Artillery music, and the Stutzer brothers are some of the best guitarists for this style of music.
19. RAM – Lightbringer
Pure old school HEAVY METAL! There’s so much awesomeness to be found here if you’re a fan of old power bands like Omen, Helstar, Accept, Mercyful Fate, etc.
20. TENET – Sovereign
Aggressive THRASH metal featuring Steve Zetro Souza (ex-Exodus) on vocals!!! This is like the ultimate mixture of Dark Angel, Slayer, Testament, Exodus, Forbidden and hints of death metal here and there. It’s BRUTAL!!!
c.
PS: I probably forgot something ... oh well
By far my most-listened-to-disc–of-the-year, and in my honest opinion, the best progressive metal album since Dream Theater released “Images & Words”. Yes, I’m biased on this being the bands manager, but it really is the best album of the year to me. The melodies are fantastic, the playing is phenomenal and Ray’s voice has just grown stronger and more emotional than ever. Nick is THE best songwriter in prog metal!
2. TORI AMOS – Abnormally Attracted To Sin
It’s TORI!!! Whenever she releases an album it will end up in my Top 3, that’s just how it is. No need to argue that one
3. ORPHANED LAND – The Never Ending Way Of OrWarrior
I’ve only had this album for a week now, but I’ve been listening to it constantly. It picks up where they left us five years ago with “Mabool” and add even more of the middle-eastern folklore this time around. It might not be as progressive as it’s predecessor, or have as much death metal elements in it, but it has some fantastic acoustic passages, some new gothic rock elements, and just flows in a way only these guys can make an album flow. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be spinning this more than any other 2009 album save the first two mentioned over the years to come.
4. LEPROUS – Tall Poppy Syndrome
These guys make me so proud being their manager. From Norway comes a young band of great musicians creating a mixture that just can’t be labeled as either “prog”, “metal”, “rock”, “death”, “black” or whatever. There’s so much stuff going on and I truly believe that in a few years this band will be huge!
5. DREDG – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
I love this disc, I really do. Whenever I’m in my car, this is the CD I reach for. From the get-go you know that you’re getting an album that doesn’t just appeal to the hip young alternative rock crowd, but also has something in it for the pop fan, the prog rock fan and even something for the artsy people. It’s a “feel-good” album.
6. CANDLEMASS – Death Magic Doom
Perhaps their darkest and heaviest album since “Ancient Dreams”, and that’s definitely a compliment for a band who’s delivered a ton of great albums over the years.
7. MASTODON – Crack The Skye
I honestly never cared enough to check out this band previous to “Crack The Skye”, but the heavy promotion machine dragged me in and I gave it a listen on their myspace page, decided to buy it, and have become a fan of the band after that.
8. DREAM THEATER – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
As many have said already, this might be their best album in many years. With the previous album (“Systematic Chaos”) they showed that they were heading the right way back to a style of music that once made them what they are, and in my opinion “Black Clouds…” is absolutely the best album we could expect from them in 2009.
9. FKU – Where Moshers Dwell
THRASH!!!!! This is exactly what that whole genre is all about. Energy, passion, aggression and fun! I really want to put on my Bermuda shorts with the Anthrax logo on and start moshing around the living room. I’m pretty sure though that the hair salon below wouldn’t appreciate
10. OBSCURA – Cosmogenesis
Death, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence etc all mixed together in one ass-kicking tech-death metal release. Fantastic musicianship and great songwriting channeling the old heroes of the genre and infusing their own little jazz-weirdness here and there!
11. PERSEFONE – Shin-Ken
Every time I listen to this album I get so upset about all the bad luck this band has had. First their previous label in Europe collapsed and we’ve been searching forever for a new label (finally got that in place these past weeks), and then their Japanese label who actually did release this disc in the summer also collapsed. Arghhh… With that said, this album is a must for anyone who likes the prog-death of Opeth or loves the old school guitar-hero antics of Cacophony.
12. SLOUGH FEG – Ape Uprising
This is probably the closest we’ll get to a band taking on the good old Thin Lizzy feeling these days. Yes, it’s more “doomy” and “power metal” but it’s just awesome! There’s even a bit of Twisted Sister sound to some of the songs (especially the vocals), which totally makes it a unique listening experience.
13. WINGER – Karma
My #1 melodic hard rock disc of the year. The song “Supernova” is brilliant, and Kip Winger sounds better than ever. From a band that was once made fun of by most everyone in the metal scene, this album is a total asskicker.
14. SHADOW GALLERY – Digital Ghosts
I didn’t have high expectations for this considering that Mike Baker wasn’t there anymore, but the band struggled through the sad circumstances and delivered a very strong prog-metal album, which really sits well with their other outputs. It’s not “Carved In Stone” or “Tyranny”, but it’s a better album than “Room V”, and the new vocalist(s) fits perfectly in.
15. THE BENEATH – City Of Light
An independent band releasing one of the best modern-tech-metal albums, somewhere along the lines of Protest The Hero, Between The Buried & Me or DEP. It’s sooooo sad that the band has decided to split up now, as I would have loved to see where they could take this music on a new album. Go to CD Baby and order this disc NOW! It’s definitely worth it!
16. X-JAPAN – Jade
Okay, so this is not even recorded in the studio yet. It is just one new song that X-JAPAN played live at their Japanese shows, but it’s AWESOME! I love X-JAPAN and everything they’ve done, so it’s a given that I love this song too. It kind of have the same feeling that their 2008 song “I.V.” had, a touch of modern rock and not as power metallic as their old material. I can’t wait till they finally get a new album out.
17. THE DEAR HUNTER – Act III
The whole “alternative-prog-rock” genre is booming these days with great bands such as Mew, Dredg, Coheed & Cambria, Three (3) and The Dear Hunter. This album is wonderful and has sooo many layers of great music. It’s not as “easy-listening” as t.ex. Dredg or C&C, but it has something else that sets it apart – a conceptual vision behind it all.
18. ARTILLERY – When Death Comes
These guys are old friends of mine, and I am very biased when it comes to this band, but “When Death Comes” is one of the very best thrash metal discs this year (only being beaten by FKU). I’ve not warmed up 100% to the new singer yet, but I’m getting there. Still, this album is classic Artillery music, and the Stutzer brothers are some of the best guitarists for this style of music.
19. RAM – Lightbringer
Pure old school HEAVY METAL! There’s so much awesomeness to be found here if you’re a fan of old power bands like Omen, Helstar, Accept, Mercyful Fate, etc.
20. TENET – Sovereign
Aggressive THRASH metal featuring Steve Zetro Souza (ex-Exodus) on vocals!!! This is like the ultimate mixture of Dark Angel, Slayer, Testament, Exodus, Forbidden and hints of death metal here and there. It’s BRUTAL!!!
c.
PS: I probably forgot something ... oh well