Your top 3 album picks of 2014?

[stevexc]

Primordial's Where Greater Men Have Fallen
Elvenking's The Pagan Manifesto
Benighted's Carnivore Sublime

Runner ups: Eluveitie's Origins, Agalloch's The Serpent & The Sphere

Although looking through wikipedia's list of 2014 releases, there's a few I missed that could be good (Machinae Supremacy, Gamma Ray, Trollfest, Vintersorg, Einherjer, Revocation). Listening through the Machinae Supremacy album now, it seems solid. And what I've heard from Einherjer's was really good.

 

[metaldoggie]

1. At The Gates - At War With Reality
2. DTP - Z2 (Blu Sky was kind of Meh)
3. Adimiron - Timelapse

4. Distorted Harmony - Chain Reaction
5. Toehider - What Kind of Creature Am I?
5. Black Crown Initiate - Wreckage of the Stars
6. Scar Symmetry - The Singularity Phase 1
7. Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral

The Opeth and Mastodon albums were pretty good, but not amazing for me.

 

[87456342]

1. Z2 - Devin Townsend
2. Kindly Bent to Free Us - Cynic
3. Monuments To an Elegy - Smashing Pumpkins

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

man, a lot of stuff came out this year...

 

[MatthewK]

Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
A.C.T - Circus Pandemonium
BABYMETAL - BABYMETAL

 

[thedarknightshreds]

Devin Townsend Project - Z2
Royal Blood - Royal Blood
Iron Reagan - Tyranny of The Will

 

[octatoan]

AAL - The Joy of Motion
Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel (obviously)

's it. I listen to old stuff

 

[scherzo1928]

First off, this was a GREAT GREAT GREAT year for music. it is because of that that I cannot make a list of 3 albums. I've made an effort to order my list, but I have a hard time saying I like any one at the top more than the others... It may depend on my mood.

Inferi – The Path of Apotheoisis
Dark Fortress – Venereal Dawn
Morbus Chron – Sweve
Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel
Beyond Creation – Earthborn Evolution
Giant Squid - Minoans

Allegaeon – Elements of the infinite
Botanist - VI: Flora
Agalloch – The Serpent and the Sphere
Revocation - Deathless
Murmur – Murmur
Destrage – Are you kiddingme? No
Bloodbath – Gran Morbid Funeral
Abysmal Dawn – Obsolescence
Noneuclid - Metatheosis
Stephan Forté – Enigma Opera Black
Bloodshot Dawn – Demons
Blut Aus Nord – Memoria Vetusta III
Devin Towsend – Z2
The Great Old Ones - Tekeli-li
Opeth – Pale Communion
Sidious – Revealedin Profane Splendour
Aborted – The Necrotic Manifesto
Decapitated – Blood Mantra
Teramaze – Esoteric Symbolism
Wretched - Cannibal
Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise

 

[gorthul]

I've made a post with my top 3 earlier in this thread, but now I extented it to a top 15 list plus added genres for each release, so there is a higher chance you may get interested in any of these releases:

1. Wife – What's Between (Electronic Pop)
2. Haywyre – Two Fold pt. I (Glitch Hop, Dubstep, Neofunk)
3. Fallujah – The Flesh Prevails (Technical Death Metal)
4. Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel (Progressive Metal)
5. Piano - Salvage Architecture (Post Hardcore, Progressive Rock)
6. The Contortionist – Language (Progressive Rock, Djent-Fusion)
7. Trophy Scars – Holy Vacants (Bluesrock, Post Hardcore)
8. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2 (Hip Hop)
9. Wreck And Reference – Want (I seriously have no idea how I should categorize this. Just listen to it)
10. Behemoth – The Satanist (Black / Death Metal)
11. The Algorithm – Octopus4 (EDM, Dubstep, Djent)
12. Dirge – Hyperion (Sludge, Post Metal)
13. Skyharbor – Guiding Lights (Progressive Pop / Rock)
14. Thantifaxath – Sacred White Noise (Black Metal)
15. Zapruder – Fall In Line (Mathcore)

Best EPs:
1. The Darcys - Hymn for a missing girl (Electronic, Ambient)
2. The Shreyas Skandan Project - The Shreyas Skandan Project (Progressive Rock)
3. Navene K - Mind (Djent-Fusion, Dubstep, EDM)

Other notable releases that didn't make it on my list:
Stimpy Lockjaw - Stimpy Lockjaw (Jazz Fusion)
Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here (Jazz)
Dioramic - Supra (Progressive Metal)
Have A Nice Life - The Unnatural World (Post Rock, Noise Rock)
Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith (Blackgaze)
The Room Colored Charlatan - Primitives (Progressive Deathcore)

In retrospect I feel a little bit disappointed about 2014 (especially when I look at the metal scene). There were some very good releases, but none of them hit me as hard as the previos two years (2013: Altar of Plagues, 2012: Ne Obliviscaris). But at least I was able to take a deeper look into genres I didn't listen to in the past (especially electronic music and hip hop).

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

haha...i see ppl are having a hard time picking just 3 albums this year.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

This is tough. I wish it was a Top 10 list. Just seems more applicable here. But let me narrow my list down.

1.) The Contortionist - Language
2.) At The Gates - At War With Reality
3.) Babymetal - Babymetal

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- Animals As Leaders - The Joy of Motion
- Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails
- Big Chocolate - Couples [EP]
- Big Chocolate - The WDF [EP]

Some of you guys are just straight-up overkilling it here...

 

[Dusty Chalk]

haha...i see ppl are having a hard time picking just 3 albums this year.

Yeah, I have a hard time with rules -- it's not like anyone is going to stop you from buying ten albums if you go to the store; it's not like anyone is going to stop you from listening to #4 because it's not in your top 3; etc. Why not just ask for everyone's "top albums of 2014"?

EDIT: And most importantly -- it's not like sports, where tournament style cancellation and contests actually make sense. There are no absolutes in music, "artist A is better than artist B". Artist A might be better than artist B to you, but artist B might be better than artist A to me.

 

[Stijnson]

Conquering Dystopia s/t
AAL - Joy of Motion
Intervals - A Voice Within

Then again, Ive been listening to alot of older music this year and trying to find new music by just listening to what seems to be the best album of a certain band.

But I have a lot of music to listen to that got recently released, and that I have not been able to give a full album listen to; Fallujah, Devin Townsend, Ne Oblisviscaris, The Contortionist, Polyphia, Monuments. The list goes on, but I can only listen to so much music at a time.

 

[feraledge]

Three is a tough number. Sorting out of my top ten just based on the amount I have listened to them and how that's looking for future binges:
1. At the Gates: At War with Reality
2. Beyond Creation: Earthborn Evolution
3. Septicflesh: Titan

Tie for fourth;
Misery Index: The Killing Gods
Hour of Penance: Regicide
Woccon: Solace in Decay
Behemoth: The Satanist
Fallujah: The Flesh Prevails

 

[wankerness]

The only albums I listened to more than twice that were released this year were Anathema - Distant Satellites, Pat Metheny Unity Group - Kin, Imogen Heap - Sparks and Animals as Leaders - Joy of Motion. There were a lot of decent things that I just listened to a couple times and might not again (ex Cynic, Agalloch, Opeth, At the Gates, Carcass, Mastodon). Nothing mindblowing like there was last year, besides a few songs on Distant Satellites/Kin/Joy of Motion, and the song "The Confession" by Billy Childs with Becca Stevens. There were a few other jazz and pop rock albums I could see myself getting into somewhere down the line (Gideon Van Gelder, Ben Frost, My Brightest Diamond, Sharon Van Etten, Nicole Atkins, Matt Ulery), but none of them grabbed me fast enough to make any best of anything lists unless I was required to fill more than 4 spaces! I listened to plenty of albums a ton of times that I first heard in 2014, but that doesn't count.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

Yeah, I have a hard time with rules -- it's not like anyone is going to stop you from buying ten albums if you go to the store; it's not like anyone is going to stop you from listening to #4 because it's not in your top 3; etc. Why not just ask for everyone's "top albums of 2014"?

EDIT: And most importantly -- it's not like sports, where tournament style cancellation and contests actually make sense. There are no absolutes in music, "artist A is better than artist B". Artist A might be better than artist B to you, but artist B might be better than artist A to me.

by having to only pick 3...the best albums rise to the top.

ive discovered several that i will/have picked up.

also, its great for cussing & discussing

 

[dj0ntCosmos]

1. Monuments - The Amanuensis
2. Volumes - No Sleep
3. Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together

Honorable mention I tried to squeeze in but could't:
4. Intervals - A Voice Within

 

[PlumbTheDerps]

1. Monuments - The Amanuensis
2. Volumes - No Sleep
3. Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together

Honorable mention I tried to squeeze in but could't:
4. Intervals - A Voice Within

do you listen to any bands that are not one-word plural nouns

 

[youngthrasher9]

Whitechapel - Our Endless War
Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
Slipknot - .5 The Gray Chapter

Honorable mentions:

Bloodbath - Grand Morbid Funeral

Revocation - Deathless

Conquering Dystopia - self titled


It was a really close battle between Grand Morbid Funeral and The Gray Chapter. I really liked both, but the main difference is that I wasn't expecting The Gray Chapter to be good. It ended up being my favorite Slipknot album by a good margin. I still haven't bought The Satanist, Blood Mantra, or new Fallujah. Sun Eater was really good but I liked Demonacracy way better.

 

[zakattak192]

posted my top 10 LPs and top 5 EPs on facebook last night so I'll just copy/paste that here.

LPs
10. Teitanblood - Death
9. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
8. Miasmal - Cursed Redeemer
7. Nunslaughter - Angelic Dread
6. Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem
5. Trenchrot - Necronomic Warfare
4. Horrendous - Ecdysis
3. Yob - Clearing the Path To Ascend
2. Electric Wizard - Time To Die
1. Cretin - Stranger

EPs/Demos
5. Suffering Hour - Foreseeing Exemptions to a Dismal Beyond
4. Void Ritual - Holodomor
3. Slutlust - Spread Angel
2. Noisem - Consumed
1. Bölzer - Soma