Your Top Albums of the Year 2009

[Haws Bah Gawd]

So, the year is almost over. What would YOU say is the best album you've heard this year? What lived up to the hype, and your expectations? What ended up being a major disappointment? What was the most surprisingly good album you heard?

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Lots of good metal this year.

My favorite was Agorapocalypse, though Isis put out yet another fucking incredible album; Wavering Radiant.

The SunnO)) and Mastodon releases this year are great, too.

 

[Edwin]

Similar to what Byron said in the P4K 100 songs of 2009 list, I've fallen off in my consumption. Nothing I really truly blowaway loved this year, I don't think, though I liked the xx's album a bunch. Japandroids were pretty good, Neko Case put out a good one that wasn't quite as good as Fox Confessor, and the Bat for Lashes and Dirty Projectors albums were pretty good. Oh, and I liked the Fever Ray album.

I imagine I'll find a couple things from this year I adore within the next 3-4 months. It usually works out that way.

 

[ericmm]

I think the only new Albums I knowingly listened to all the way through this year were:

Metric's new Album

Dethalbum 2

and Sarah Jarosz Song Up In Her Head

The latter two were excellent. Are.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Only Built for Cuban Linx II by a fairly wide margin.

 

[Gary]

Only Built for Cuban Linx II by a fairly wide margin.

That one and the new Sunn 0))) are tied for me.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Should have a top 50 list finalised soon enough. I'll prevent this post from being completely worthless by mentioning that Fanfarlo are a fantastic new Anglo-Swedish band, and Reservoir is probably the best debut album I've heard all year.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Second Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2. I also liked The Ecstatic by Mos Def.

 

[KOAB]

Genius

 

[Mickey Massuco]

The only album I even remember offhand hearing from 2009 is Album by Girls. I liked it enough, though it didn't blow me away or anything.

 

[Incandenza]

Jim O'Rourke's The Visitor was My Favorite 2009 Release for Using As Background Music While Reading or Working. That's a good thing, btw.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

My "Best Ofs" are going to predictably get crucified, but here ya go:

Overall Best Album:
"Black Gives Way to Blue" - Alice in Chains
Lived up to and surpassed all my expectations. Duvall will NEVER replace Layne, but he's doing an admirable job as a stand-in. Cantrell can still produce some great riffs, and his voice meshes nicely with Duvall's.
Honorable Mention for Overall Best Album:
"Design Your Universe" - Epica
FUCK YEA! I feel obligated to give AiC overall best album due to it being well worth the wait (I'm looking at YOU, Chinese Democracy!), this is phenomenal. The 13-minute track "Kingdom of Heaven" is probably their best work yet. Highly recommended if you're into symphonic metal.

Best Live Album:
"Fucking with Fire" - Edguy
Just great, fun power metal from beginning to end. Edguy is criminally underrated. The whole set is full of energy and Tobi's voice only cracks once or twice when he hits some insanely high notes. "Fucking with Fire", "Mysteria", and "Save Me" are probably the best tracks here, but the whole set is outstanding. Tobi's stupid little jokes between songs are fun as always.
Honorable Mention for Best Live Album:
"Classical Conspiracy" - Epica
A fun live show, utilizing a 40-piece orchestra and 30-person choir. The first half of the concert takes Epica's style and applies it to some classic instrumental music such as "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and "Palladium", as well as modern pieces like "The Imperial March" and "The Pirates of the Carribean Medley". The second half of the show is a fantastic 15 song set. The final track is "Consign to Oblivion". A near 13-minute track which the group often closes shows with.

Most Shockingly GOOD album given the Artist (I'm going to catch hell for this):
"Full Circle" - Creed
What can I say? If you can get past the fact that it's fucking CREED, this is actually worth a listen. Tremonti's guitar work is stellar as always, and even their lyrics have taken a step in a better direction.

Most Disappointing Album:
"Live in Hong Kong (and various other places)" - Nightwish
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but this was a huge letdown. No live classic Nightwish tracks recorded with the new singer. Sorry fanboys but she's a LOT more energetic live than Tarja, and her vocals actually improve some, not all, of the tracks. Just live tracks from the "Dark Passion Play" album with some B-sides are thrown in. "While Your Lips Are Still Red" and the "Cadence of Her Last Breath" demo are nice additions though. One to skip.
Honorable Mention for Most Disappointing Live Album:
"We Came with the Northern Winds" - Leaves Eyes
While it's not a bad album by any means, it doesn't live up to the hype. Leaves Eyes worked on this album/DVD for nearly 3 years, and the end result is definitely NOT worth the wait. They even cancelled their North American tour in 2008 because "the DVD wasn't finished yet". Nice try guys. Definitely not the Godsend they hyped it to be.

 

[Mattdotcom]

The Beatles-Revolver

 

[Incandenza]

Mission of Burma released a pretty good album this year, The Sound the Speed the Light. The excitement generated by OnOffOn—a tough, ferocious record that didn't betray the fact it was their first set of new material in more than 20 years—and continued two years later with the killer The Obliterati has, now, waned a bit. TSTSTL is the work of a band that does what they do and do it very well, but are perfectly content to stay the course. It is something I enjoy while I listen to it (such as now), but the good will it inspires is fleeting. I can't help but feel that, should Mission of Burma make another album, they'll find themselves in a situation similar to the one Wilco is presently in. There was nothing particularly *wrong* with Wilco (The Album), but there was nothing particularly *right* about it, either. The fact that I find little to critcize about it shows that Wilco, to their credit—and however dubiously at that—is really good at going through the motions. I don't want the same thing to happen to Mission of Burma.

 

[tonyjaymz03]

In no particular order, my favorite albums of the year

Jay-z "The Blueprint 3"
Mastodon "Crack The Skye"
Brand New "Daisy"
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson "Break up"
Lupe Fiasco "Enemy of The State"

Okay that last one probably doesn't count but still, I loved it

 

[Smartly Pretty]

I liked Discovery's LP. Even though naming your album LP is almost as annoying as naming it Album (fuck you, Girls. Naming your band Girls is almost as bad as naming your band Black Kids [fuck you, Jacksonville. Black Kids being your signature band is almost as annoying as your signature band being Lynyrd Skynyrd]).

 

[mellow]

 

[Incandenza]

I liked Discovery's LP. Even though naming your album LP is almost as annoying as naming it Album (fuck you, Girls. Naming your band Girls is almost as bad as naming your band Black Kids [fuck you, Jacksonville. Black Kids being your signature band is almost as annoying as your signature band being Lynyrd Skynyrd]).

Reggie Youngblood and I were both at the 2:10 p.m. showing of Up in the Air at the AMC Regency 24 today!

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Matthew Good- Vancouver

Going from lead singer of the one of the more popular (Canadian) bands of the 90's-early 2000's can't be easy, especially when you're regarded as an overtly-emotional, borderline disturbed asshole but Good has done it again but not revamping but tweaking the existing style to make the songs bigger. Lyrics aren't nearly as emotional or depressing as the last album, Hospital Music but for a guy who's pushing 40 he doesn't sound it."Volcanoes" should be the rock song of the year. That song has enough arena-rock to garner radio play but the content doesn't exactly scream top-selling single. Kings of Leon, take notes.

 

[Slayer]

In before the new year!

1. Isis – Wavering Radiant

Pretty easy decision. I don't know how many times I've listened to this album since buying it back in June, but it's definitely more than any other album I picked up this year.

2. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
3. Absu – Absu

And the rest (ordering them after #3 is purely an arbitrary exercise for me):

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agoraphobia
Amorphis – Skyforger
Candlemass – Death Magic Doom
Eternal Tears of Sorrow – Children Of The Dark Waters
Katatonia – Night is the New Day
Kreator – Hordes of Chaos
Megadeth – Endgame

 

[Precious Roy]

I liked Merriweather Post Pavillion (Animal Collective), Middle Cyclone (Neko Case) and A Brief History of Love (The Big Pink)

Crack the Skye was good, but I prefer the new Baroness album Blue Record

 

[Garth]

There's a few albums from last year that I really love, these would be:

The Decemberists - 'The Hazards of Love'
Probably my favourite Decemberists album now, the whole album just flows brilliantly. Great comeback after the disappointing Crane Wife album.

Röyksopp - 'Junior'
I hadn't really been all that aware of Röyksopp until I heard this album. It's happy sounding, but still downbeat electronic music, they remind me somewhat of The Knife. It must be something that living in Northern Europe does to you.

Sparks - 'The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman'
Their 22nd album now I believe, and they Sparks are putting out some of the best stuff they've ever done in recent years. This is a bit of a peculiar album in that it's a 65 minute musical. It's absolutely brilliant though.

I can't see myself getting sick of any of these albums and time soon.

 

[Czech]

Just found out that Nellie McKay put an album out in October, a Doris Day tribute album. Probably gonna make this my album of the year, albeit late.

 

[Mik]

I know you were all dying for my input so here you go.

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
fun. - Aim and Ignite
Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Ok, here's my metal top five:

1. Agorapocalypse
2. Wavering Radiant
3. Monoliths and Dimensions (why the hell did I type thrones and dominions? Pot.)
4. Crack the Skye
5. Carving out the Eyes of God

Yeah, I probably just put that Goatwhore there because it's fresh in my mind, but that's just straight up DEVIL MUSIC, and I'm not black metal purist by any means.

 

[Gary]

I tend to split it with metal and non metal albums these days, so my 10 favorite metal (which was hard-Agents right, there was a lot of great shit this year.)

1.) Sunn 0)))-Monoliths and Dimensions
2.) Katatonia-Night is the New Day
3.) Baroness-Blue Record
4.) Absu-Absu
5.) Isis-Wavering Radient
6.) Ancient-Of Sound Mind
7.) Obscura-Cosmogenesis
8.) YOB-The Great Cessation
9.) Kylesea-Static Tension
10.) Altar of Plagues-White Tomb

Best non metal (some might think two of them are metal, but I consider one to be more hard rock and whatnot, and the other is harder to classify. I'll put a * next to them)

1.) Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
2.) Current 93-Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain
3.) Rome-Flowers From Exile
4.) Mount Eerie-Winds Poem
5.) Amesoeurs-Amesoeurs*
6.) Alice in Chains-Black Gives Way to Blue*
7.) A Place to Bury Strangers-Exploding Head
8.) Antony and the Johnson's-The Crying Light
9.) J.G. Thirlwell-Venture Bros. Soundtrack Vol. 1
10.) Russian Circles-Geneva