With their 9th studio album, Electric Wizard creates just a spectacular vision of stoner doom grooves which aren’t unlike their other albums, but who cares? I just want to sit on my ass, rip a bong, and play this album over and over. Overall, much cleaner sound coming from these guys without losing that fuzz we all love.
American Hardcore Punkers Code Orange bringing this beat down of an album straight to your earholes! Man these guys are tight, starting out as a pretty run of the mill punk band and then after a couple albums evolving into this. Fueled by influences of Hatebreed, Earth Crisis and Black Flag. Can’t wait for what’s next!
How could I not include this one? I mean come on, it’s their 27th freaking album and they’re still kicking ass. While this album doesn’t blow my mind, it’s still jam packed with great moments. Billy Gibbons gets a solo, guests from Deep Purple and U2, not to mention two tracks with the original lineup! I was so excited when this came out.
Gotta give credit to Canadian death metal band Ex Deo, who recently were on a short break, to come back and work on this new album. A concept album, symphonically Romanesque themed, and fun, especially if you are into theatrical performances. Which I am, I found “The Roman” to be a good example of this. Normally an album like this wouldn’t be so high on my list, however it’s so well done, and the story behind the band and the lean quality of the songs make it hard to resist.
With their 7th studio album, American metal band Mastodon has dropped this amazing piece of art on us back in March. I picked this up as soon as I possibly could and haven’t yet put it down. The versatility between band members alone playing different parts on separate parts of the album, crisp tones, intricate melodies, heavy riffs, not too mention ties to other bands including members of Mastodon almost make this album a flagship piece connected to many side stories. I haven’t enjoyed a Mastodon album like this since Crack the Skye. “Show Yourself,” the first single on the album, got a lot of attention but there are so many other gems on this piece like “Steambreather” and “Andromeda” that pump hard enough to choke a camel. The fact that these songs aren’t getting old for me is the main reason it has made the top of my list.