Alright it's that time again, the year is almost over and I need to wrap my head around all the good music that came out. There was a lot of it so your list will likely differ from mine considerably, that's cool. No real criteria here except it had to be one of my favorite albums of the year and had to have a vinyl releases. Some albums definitely would have made it if they were on wax. Enjoy!
10. The Hundred In The Hands - Red Night
Warp Records
9.Sigur Ros - Valtari
XL Recordings
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Constellation
7. Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction
20 Buck Spin
6. Ancestors - In Dreams And Time
Tee Pee Records
5. Saint Vitus - Lillie F-65
Season Of Mist
4. Krallice - Years Past Matter
Gilead Media
Pesanta Urfolk
2. Astra - The Black Chord
The best album of 2012 is without a doubt Rush's twentieth studio album, Clockwork Angels. Rush is easily one of my favorite bands ever so perhaps my love of this album is not quite objective, but the fact that a band as old as Rush has delivered something this good is worthy of praise. Far and away the best album this Canadian trio has done since maybe...Signals(1982) or Grace Under Pressure(1984), listening to this brings the listener back to the classic movement oriented progressive rock that Rush crafted so well in 1970s. A true concept album having something to do with a steam punk theme(it's pretty cryptic), Clockwork Angels almost demands you listen to the whole thing through. This is easily the most progressive album Rush has written since, well really Hemispheres in 1978. I was fortunate enough to see the band on the Clockwork Angels tour recently, and they still have it! A good third or so of the set was taken up by songs from this album, accompanied by a string section. It was a very ambitious live show that really did these complex masterpieces justice. Rush proved both in the studio and on the road that they are the best band around in 2012.
10. The Hundred In The Hands - Red Night
Warp Records
The Hundred In The Hands is a New York based electro/snyth post-rock band, well that's about as close as I can get to classifying their sound. Consisting of just two members,
Eleanore Everdell and
Jason Friedman, the band's second album, Red Night, is full of soundscapes that will make it difficult to believe that several other musicians were not involved. Most of what is found on Red Night is ambient drum and synth loops with layers upon layers of vocals. The vocals are ethereal, cold, and full of reverb and produce a mesmerizing quality. This is an odd choice for me, as there is very little guitar to be heard on this album. I would hesitate to even call this rock music, although there is a good bit of post-rock influence, which is unusual for my states. However, I've always like synth and atmospheric music and Red Night is one of the best albums to combine those two elements this year.
9.Sigur Ros - Valtari
XL Recordings
Sigur Rós, Icelandic for "victory rose", are one of the biggest names in post rock. Along with Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor(who make an appearance below), Sigur Ros rounds out the trifecta of most celebrated post rock bands. These Icelanders have always been the "weird" ones though; playing guitars with violin bows, singing in a made up language called "Hopelandic", and the ever present falsetto vocals of Jónsi Birgisson. On Valtari the band continues in that spirit, it is certainly a weird one. While the album is enitrely beautiful, peaceful, and atmospheric; it manages to feel completely foreign and difficult to comprehend. There is very little of what could be considered rock in any stretch of the imagination, the post part of post-rock is present but not much of the rock part. Valtari is a strangely beautiful album that I can't help but love.
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Constellation
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is the legendary Montreal nine piece band that consists of two bass players, two drummers, a violinist, and a cellist. The band formed in 1994 and essentially created post-rock. They're known(and loved) for extremely long compositions with little to no repeated sections and no "hooks" to speak of. A full decade has passed since the band's last album, Yanqui U.X.O., and many fans were skeptical of a new album. Well with 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! the godfathers of post-rock have proven they are deserving of such an illustrious title. If you want post-rock in 2012 Godspeed You! Black Emperor should be the first place you look, no one did it better.
7. Pallbearer - Sorrow And Extinction
20 Buck Spin
On the surface this Little Rock, Arkansas outfit seems to be just another doom metal band in sea of similar Black Sabbath clones. Sorrow And Extinction, the band's debut album, has more than a few nods to the 70s but it manages to remain completely fresh and relevant. Touches of funeral doom creep in to the albums longer tracks such as Foreigner and Given To The Grave in the form of long drawn out riffs that haunt and enchant the listener. Most notable are the vocals of Brett Campbell which are almost always fully clean, there are no growls or screams to be found here, yet they manage to sound at times distant, strange, and chill inducing. In short this may be standard fare doom, but it has so much more atmosphere than many in the genre. Put this album on your turntable, close your eyes, and your mind will do crazy things.
6. Ancestors - In Dreams And Time
Tee Pee Records
Two genres that seem to have had the best year in 2012 are prog rock and doom metal, so naturally one of the best album of the year is equal parts of each. Ancestors are a band that seem to have grown up on a strict diet of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Kyuss, Hawkwind, and Pink Floyd. If that sounds like a killer combination, you're right it is! Doom riffs, heavy vocals, spacey keyboards, and flowing song structures all come together beautifully on In Dreams And Time. This album is very diverse, from the female vocals of Carah Faye(singer of the electro band Shiny Toy Guns) on "The Last Return", to the cello and violin on "First Light" In Dreams And Time will keep you guessing until you pick the needle up.
5. Saint Vitus - Lillie F-65
Season Of Mist
Saint Vitus is the legendary Los Angeles doom band that, second only to Black Sabbath, is the most important band the genre has. Lille F-65 is the band's first album since 1995's Die Healing, and the first since the band's classic lineup reunited in 2008. This album sees Wino return to the microphone for the first time on a studio album in twenty four years, and it is a triumphant return. What I wrote about this album six months ago really says it all: "Classic Sabbath style doom that is drenched in riffs and whiskey. Really
no one is doing this style better than Saint Vitus, and this is one
hell of a comeback album. Wino is on vocals again, and Chandler is just
as crunchy and fuzz soaked as ever. This album is more or less what
you'd expect Vitus to do, but that is exactly what makes it so great."
4. Krallice - Years Past Matter
Gilead Media
This should come as no surprise to those who have seen my list from last year. Krallice's 2012 offering, Years Past Matter, comes in a full three places higher than the band's 2011 album, Diotima. This has more to do with 2011 being a better year for music in my opinion than the relative quality of this album compared to the previous one. Years Past Matter is the New York prog/technical black metal band's fourth album since 2008, an impressive pace to say the least. The band seems intent on taking black metal to places it has never been, and pushes the limits further with each album. Where Diotima had many stand out riffs and a cohesive structure to it(although not immediately apparent), Years Past Matter is much more of a single path or theme spread out over the entire album. That point is driven home in the fact that this release comes with no lyrics or even song titles, instead each track is noted with only a series of tally marks. This is an incredibly dense and overwhelming album that takes multiple listens to really begin to comprehend, but the effort is very much worth it. *The vinyl version from Gilead Media isn't technically out yet.
3. Velnias - RuneEaterPesanta Urfolk
"Velnias" is a Lithuanian god of Baltic mythology, the god of the natural world. I can hardly think of a band with a more fitting name, as Velnias plays a particular type of black/folk metal which immediately places the listener in a forest on a cold winter night as the wind howls and pierces everything in its path. It stands to reason that the band is from Boulder, Colorado, a city on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I first heard Velnias' debut, Sovereign Nocturnal, a few years ago and was very impressed. RuneEater is in fact heads and shoulders above its predecessor, everything they got right on the last album is even better here. Long movement based pieces that focus on a feeling and atmosphere instead of a riff or vocal, slow drawn out doom sections, extremely heavy riffs, and soothing acoustic sections; its all here. RuneEater is a very special album in that it is entirely analog, and as such one of the best sounding vinyl releases in
a very long time. The album was recorded on two inch tape and the
master lacquers were cut by hand directly from the tape. Not only a
fantastic album, but one that was made specifically for us record nerds.
2. Astra - The Black Chord
Rise Above Records
2012 has been an excellent year for prog rock, and not the kind of "prog" that bands like Meshuggah play. Keyboard heavy, saturated guitars, long winded movements, and musically ambitious playing is what you'll find here. In other words; prog rock in the 70s tradition. Imagine what you would get if you mixed Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, and Rush, well that is exactly what Astra has done on The Black Chord. These guys from San Diego clearly grew up with the classics and have been profoundly influenced by them. Have you always wondered what Genesis may have sounded like if they never became pop stars, or what King Crimson could have done if it weren't for their neo-prog period? Well Astra speculates on those questions, and produces fantastic results. The real highlight here is the absolutely top notch musicianship, writing, and above all the journey you embark upon by listening to this album.
1. Rush - Clockwork Angels
Roadrunner Records
The best album of 2012 is without a doubt Rush's twentieth studio album, Clockwork Angels. Rush is easily one of my favorite bands ever so perhaps my love of this album is not quite objective, but the fact that a band as old as Rush has delivered something this good is worthy of praise. Far and away the best album this Canadian trio has done since maybe...Signals(1982) or Grace Under Pressure(1984), listening to this brings the listener back to the classic movement oriented progressive rock that Rush crafted so well in 1970s. A true concept album having something to do with a steam punk theme(it's pretty cryptic), Clockwork Angels almost demands you listen to the whole thing through. This is easily the most progressive album Rush has written since, well really Hemispheres in 1978. I was fortunate enough to see the band on the Clockwork Angels tour recently, and they still have it! A good third or so of the set was taken up by songs from this album, accompanied by a string section. It was a very ambitious live show that really did these complex masterpieces justice. Rush proved both in the studio and on the road that they are the best band around in 2012.
Honorable Mentions
Steve Hackett - Genesis Revisited II
I came so close to putting this in the top 10! Hackett got a ton of guests to come in and reinterpret Genesis classics, some of the best in prog rock. I left it off because there is no new material.
Faustcoven
–
Hellfire And Funeral Bells
Killer black/doom, almost made the top 10
Stellar Descent - Accretion
Phenomenal atmospheric black metal, cassette only it would have made the list if it was on vinyl
Finger Of Scorn - Relics Of A Forgotten Age
Harsh black metal, cassette only
Electric Wizard - Legalize Drugs and Murder
Doom metal 7" single
Aura Noir - Out To Die
Black/thrash
OSI - Fire Make Thunder
Prog Metal
The Flower Kings - Banks Of Eden
Prog Rock
Ne Obliviscaris – Portal Of I
Prog Metal
Ne Obliviscaris – Portal Of I
Prog Metal
