I have listened to a ton of music this year good band and in between. I love this part of the year but the hardest part is limiting down the list of best albums. keep in mind this is my personal favorite albums, so don't get offended if your favorite album isn't here. I may not have gotten to it yet or we may just have a difference of opinion. Also important to note before I go into this that although I am very open minded I don't like hip hop, country, dubstep, or pop for the most part so any album that falls under that will not be on here. Yes, I have heard Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly and it is very good. I don't know enough about hip hop to really review it. All that said here is my top 20 albums of 2015.
20. Florence and the Machine- How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful-
Florence and the machine have never put out a bad album but throughout the time she has evolved as a song writer. This time around she crafted her best song writing yet, cutting all the pomp and circumstance of the pervious albums and letting her grief and voice do all the talking. She's matured here in a way that only years on the road and real artistry can craft.
19. Turbowolf- Two Hands-
Once in a while a sophomore album comes along and breaks the slump and really shines and says something that even matured veterans can't muster up. Turbowolf created a cluttered but interesting fuzz rock debut but on the second album they really put it together. They craft the the sonic hard rocking fuzz album of the year. Even the fuzz man Ty Segall himself would be proud. They have a lot of promise and talent, hopefully they keep it up. They are a very promising young band.
18. Faith No More-Sol Invictus-
Faith No More come out with reunion album that didn't seem like they were ever apart at all. So many reunion albums fail and ruin the legacy of the band. This time the band proves by making it that they belong back in the game in the first place, and making weird alt metal albums like they always have. Mike Patton does what he always does and shines with insane vocal range and variety that puts him back as he was at the top of the lead singer ladder. For a bunch of 50 year olds they still sound heavy and weird as they ever did.
17. Foals- What Went Down-
Foals continue what was started on 2013's Holy Fire and take it up a notch to make this their best albums since Antidotes. The rockers are bigger, the ballads better, and the layers are deeper. This band has now figured out the perfect line between danceable alternative and pounding alt rock. They make the best of both worlds here with the best vocals and song writing so far. The days of math rock may be gone, but they have transformed into one of the best alt rock bands of the decade.
16. Alabama Shakes- Color and Sound-
Alabama Shakes are still fairly new to the game with this just being their second album but after raw talent and lot of promise on their debut, they have now ascended to rock royalty with the their second. This band went from playing clubs to playing duets with Paul McCartney at Lollapalooza. Sound and Color is an extremely elaborate album that bends and molds genre lines as it sees fit crafting a hard to describe rock album with elements of blues, soul, r and b, and many others. It all stems behind the amazing vocals of Britney Howard, who lets loose like she is on fire.
15. Iron Maiden-Book of Souls-
Speaking of Rock royalty, no one earns that title more then metal legends Iron Maiden. This album amazes me on so many levels. When news of singer Bruce Dickinson's throat cancer struck the album itself wasn't even metal fans minds. We all prayed to metal gods for the health of Bruce Dickinson. Then on a shocking turn of events the band announced the completion of a double album. They floored fans not only on its existence but with what was on it, it was amazing. To me they have crafted the best Iron Maiden album since Fear of the Dark. Now that Bruce Dickinson is in remission we can fully appreciate the magic of this album and the world tour to follow. Iron Maiden in many ways deserve a huge victory lap for this and once again sit a top the thrown with this years top releases.
14. Bjork- Vulncura-
Bjork has been around making phenomenal albums for years and years. So this album should come as no surprise to some. This album is one of Bjorks most personal albums ever made as it deals with the heartbreak and breakup of her longtime relationship. This album practically bleeds of the page and its hard to believe that this is only the second best breakup album of the year. As with all Bjork albums she pushed the boundaries of pop music, if you can even call what she makes pop, in whole new directions that boggle the mind. No one comes up with avant-garde pop music like her. I have yet to see her live, but Ive heard she pushes the boundaries of that as well.
13. Torche- Restarter-
Torche have been rocking the doom/sludge metal community since 2005 and have become one of the top live and album favorites since then. I had the pleasure of seeing them live this year with Melt Banana and it blew me away. This band is one of the best sludge and doom metal bands to come since early Mastodon and Kyuss before them. They play the heaviest baselines of the year.
12. The Districts- A Flourish and a Spoil-
Every now and then a debut album comes around thats so good that it takes the music world by storm. This album is one of those albums. This band was a group of high school friends that played classic rock covers and then went on the road to play their own music. They now write indie rock infused with classic rock. They are just musicians and friends who travel and do what they do best play great rock music. The future here is very bright and I can't wait to see what they do next.
11. Strung Out- Transmission Alpha Delta-
This album reminds me why this bands was cool years and years ago and it reminds me why people love punk rock to this day. Strung Out have been around for a long time, but It's been a long time since they put out an album six years to be exact. This albums bring back their classic fast paced huge metal guitar riffing sound with fiery lyrics that pull no punches. This is the band that took off from where Bad Religion started and just like Bad Religion they still kick ass to this day. If your a fan of punk this is an album you need!
10. Puscifer- Money Shot-
Maynard James Keenan finally breaks his musical silence and put an album, not Tool but his first album since 2011's Conditions of my Parole, so Ill take it. This side project started out as a joke on the Mr Show program but it became a real project in 2007. It wasn't until 2011 that they started taking themselves seriously and put out a very different, but very good album. It was a combination of A Perfect Circle and a new sonically deep electronic sound. This album takes that electronic sound up a few notches and becomes something truly its own. This side project is something good enough that I hope when he goes back to Tool and A Perfect Circle he doesn't forget about it, because it's worth revisiting.
9. Baroness- Purple-
This is Baroness's first album since the terrible bus crash and lineup change. Not much has changed sonically as this band puts another super star entry in color form of purple. The choruses soar, the twin guitar lines battle each other for supremacy. The songs are metal, but also songs for all fans of rock with huge anthemic lines that are perfect for concert sing alongs. The rhythm section is new and hugely inventive here with soaring atmospheric sections. If you liked them before, you will love them now. If you have never heard of Baroness, Purple is as good a point as any to start. They have never had a bad album and that streak continues here.
8. Tame Impala- Currents-
I thought they had completely mastered the Psychedelic style with their last album, I couldn't praise it enough. On currents they go even farther down the rabbit hole and come out in entirely new territory with hypnotic and atmospheric psychedelic sound that feels like a mix of Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd and John Lennon's style of pop song. Kevin Parker shines his beautiful falsetto all over the album. This albums is a lot lighter than the past two albums, but even that said it enters new territory. Some people call it watered down pop music, but if you listen to it a few times and really explore what it is trying to say I think you will love it too.
7. Deafheaven- New Bermuda-
2013's Sunbather was an Atmospheric Shoegaze Metal album and my album of the year. On this years New Bermuda they change things up and push forward into new territory. This album is more straight forward black metal with some melodic gutar lines. They still have elements of Shoegaze in the guitar lines. The vocal delivery is also slightly different on this album but not worse. This album is not as good as Sunbather in my opinion but i'm glad they pushed forward to a new sound instead of trying to create Sunbather 2. This album is still a great album and one of the best metal albums of the year.
6. Sleater Kinney- No Cities to Love-
I didn't actually know who Sleater Kinney was before No Cities to Love but after being recommend to check out their reunion album, I did and I loved it. This is one of the best riot girl punk bands ever. I'm glad to get to hear them digging into their back catalog live because its great and the new one is not just a great addition to the past albums, but it might be the best album they have ever made. This album could fit under a ton of different genres, its rock, punk, alternative, and even could be called hard rock. This album is not just a little hipster alt rock album it really flies and rocks hard. Rock is not a genre just for men, it never has been, but sometimes people forget that and this album is a reminder of that simple fact.
5. Farther John Misty- I Love You, Honeybear-
After leaving Fleet Foxes Joushua Tillman created a new moniker for himself and starting performing as solo act called Father John Misty. his first album was a beautiful and weird mix of folk humor and brilliantly witty lyrics. For the second album he decided to tell a story of a relation ship from start to violent end and did so in a way that even know the couple isn't real we really felt for them. This isn't just your Taylor Swift breakup writing Josh goes into detail on each part of the relationship including his characters shortcomings and screw ups. This is loosely based on his own marriage but considering he's still married, it's not all factual. This album is hands down the best break up album of the year and the second best folk album. It's truly heart wrenching and beautiful stuff.
4. Between the Buried and Me- Coma Ecliptic-
Between the Buried and Me started off as a Black Metal band but just like Opeth they have been slowly transitioning to progressive metal. Just like Opeth before them I love the new music they have been making. Between the Buried and Me have created the best Progressive metal album of the year. Every track on Coma Ecliptic is a separate story played out in an epic and huge way. Don't worry though long time fans the death metal screams are still there and they rock as hard as they ever have. This time around thought their song writing has hit an all time high and future of the band and progressive metal as a whole has never been brighter.
3. Refused- Freedom
2. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie and Lowell-
This is the only album of the year that made me cry. Sufjan Stevens past work has implicitly avoided going into his own life so when Carrie and Lowell dived into the most personal subject he could write about people took notice. He goes back to his folk roots here with a story so heartbreakingly painful you can't help but choke up. This is the story of how his mother abandoned him and his step dad when he was little and he dealt with hating her for it his entire life. He finally got to meet her again, but it was in the last year of her life as she died of cancer, talk about some deep shit seriously! The whole album has some of the best lyrical writing I have ever heard, like old school Neil Young or Dylan. This man is one of the last of a dying breed of true lyricists that spin beauty and poetry into every thing they write.
1. Titus Andronicus- The Most Lamentable Tragedy-
When Titus Andronicus made The Monitor I honestly thought there was nothing they could ever do to top it, then came this album. The Most Lamentable Tragedy is a double album punk rock opera. Its as good as the best rock operas ever written, your Tommy's, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wall, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I know how big that praise is, but they deserve it. This is one of the best punk albums I have ever heard, and it tells a rock opera for the punks. I know it will never been as praised as it deserves and hell I think even the band knows that. It doesn't matter though, that isn't why they wrote it. Just listen to it and let your self get swept away into one of the best albums I have ever heard.
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