No fancy cover image this time. Just make yourself a big “ta-da!” and a drumroll, please.
Thanks to Spotify, I listened to 315 new releases this year. It is the first year where I have managed to keep up with the pace of new releases and check out everything within a week or two of its release date. I may have missed a handful here and there because they never showed up on Spotify (see my previous post regarding that topic), but for the most part I got all the rock/metal/country releases that piqued my interest.
It may sound like I’m boasting in some deranged way, but truthfully it was not always fun. As I mentioned in the previous post, when almost 80% of what you listen to falls between the ratings of “meh” and “oh-god-my-precious-ears-are-crying-in-pain,” it is hard to keep going. Yes, I found some diamonds in the rough and I love those moments of discovering great new music. Still, I can’t say I will do this again in 2015. I will probably just stick to new releases from bands I know I like and quit checking out every single unknown artist that looks promising.
Then again, I am addicted to those diamonds.
I have to find them.
They need me. I need them.
……okay, moving on
So here are 32 albums that were my favorites on 2014. Some of these I have talked about in previous posts so I will not say anything that I have not said before. A few additional notes here and there, maybe.
You probably will not agree with all on the list, but I do hope you check out anything that you have not heard before and give it a shot.
It will make my suffering through all the horrible crap worthwhile.
32) Abysmal Dawn – Obsolescence
Hands down the most awesome metal album cover of the year. I got into this band after their previous album. They do a great job of writing death metal with a little bit of groove.
31) Atmosphere – Southsiders
30) Mark E – Product of Industry
29) Seether – Isolate and Medicate
Like a few other bands on this list, a heavy rock band with a knack for some catchy melodies always manages to muscle their way higher than what my brain says they really deserve. As much as I want to dislike this band for rehashing songs, ripping off Cobain’s vocals, and being a bit too whiny, they at least put out albums that have something to like a little on each track. Not much, just a little. I would not buy this album, but it is pretty good if they are your style.
28) Body Count – Manslaughter
27) Johnny Cash – Out Among the Stars
26) U2 – Songs of Innocence
I am surprised that U2 agreed to this “free album” deal with Apple. Feels pretentious, like they honestly believe they are so loved that everyone will obviously want this new album. I do not feel like U2 has captured their old sound and energy on this new release, but they succeeded in writing an album that pays tribute to those early days and the band’s roots and pre-fame life in Dublin. The music is much improved over the last outing, the slow and dull No Line on the Horizon. That alone is enough to deserve some praise. It feels like the band is finding their way back to what they used to be as the reach an age in their life where they look back fondly at their youth and write an ode to those boys.
25) John Butler Trio – Flesh & Blood
24) Watsky – All You Can Do
23) Brad Paisley – Moonshine in the Trunk
This album grew on me a little bit more after I went back and gave it a few more spins recently. Not his best, but better than a lot of his recent ones.
22) The Pretty Reckless – Going To Hell
Thought this album would drop in my favor over time, but I still enjoy the title track a lot (the ridiculously hot music video helps). Good hooks help me accept dumb songs way too often.
21) Decapitated – Blood Mantra
20) Ektomorf – Retribution
19) Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
I listened to this without watching the TV special that folows the band crafting these songs in different cities across the country. From what I have read, the documentary really shows where a lot of the ideas came from that coalesce into these songs and adds meaningful weight. I will probably end up ranking this higher once I watch the shows, but for now and out of context it sits pretty fairly at this spot.
18) Marc Broussard – A Life Worth Living
17) Misery Index – The Killing Gods
16) Sarah Jaffe – Don’t Disconnect
15) Tom Petty – Hypnotic Eye
14) Smoke Fairies – Smoke Fairies
Not only does this sound sweet with their gentle whispering voices, but that album cover strikes me as the most beautiful I have seen all year.
13) Weird Al Yankovic – Mandatory Fun
12) Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls
11) Wolfmother – New Crown
10) Karma To Burn – Arch Stanton
9) Chevelle – La Gargola
8) First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
7) Needtobreathe – Rivers in the Wasteland
6) Archspire – The Lucid Collective
5) Godsmack – 1000hp
Again, really not that crazy about this album being in my Top 5, but this band is like the AC/DC of heavy rock – they know what works and they churn it out every time. My teenage self still gets a kick out of them even though I think Sully is a bit of an egomaniacal dick and the title track is just as lame. Consider them a guilty pleasure of mine.
4) The Beards – The Beard album
3) Miranda Lambert – Platinum
The single “Automatic” is what really managed to push this album to the top of my list. Like a lot of her work, there are great songs, good moments, and then just okay tracks. But rarely is anything skippable, which is a big plus in my book. Except for that song she sings with Carrie Underwood, but only if it is live. Yeesh, they did not pull that off well.
2) Avatar – Hail the Apocalypse
1) Bruce Springsteen – High Hopes
If you know me, surely you saw this coming, right? Honestly, The Boss was not my top pick over the course of the year, but when it came time to revisit a few albums I discovered that his music rarely gets old for me and his good songs never lose their luster. Having Tom Morello elevate the energy on a few songs was a huge selling point.
But this album makes me wonder in a suspicious way. Some of the songs are covers of bands that Bruce enjoyed in his “glory days.” I feel like, much like U2 did, this album is Bruce looking back at his life and the people he journeyed with, reflecting on where he came from and how it fuels him today. He’s lost some dear friends in his band and I get this sense he is pondering his own mortality more than he has before. I too have had one of those years where this kind of loss weighs on my mind more than it ever did and this album connected with me. Here’s hoping Bruce has a few songs left to give us before he calls it quits. I am sure they will be at the top of my lists every time.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
Wrantnwrave 