Top 15 albums of 2015
Kategori: Concerts
So this is my favourite albums from 2015! Clearly I've missed a lot of them, but still this was a good year!
15.
Raise Hell - Written in Blood
First album in 9 years, and what a comeback! This sounds very much like Teutonic Thrash, and especially like Sodom. They do that nice mixture of really fast songs with midtempo, keeping it interesting all the way through. And they have a real beast on vocals.
14.
Cruciamentum - Charnel Passages
The English Death Metal scene is still there under the surface, creeping up to show it's face once in a while. This is one of those bands! It's a really nice brutal record, but it also has a lot of space in the sound. Some pretty cool riffs going on and nice all around.
13.
Krisiun - Forged in Fury
Veteran Death Metallers from Brazil keeps delivering really solid albums I think. They still have that really hard edge and funky beat that sets them apart from a lot of other bands. This album is just full of energy from start to end, you put it on and feel the adrenaline start pumping.
12.
Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
Maiden are back with their first double album, and it's a good one! However, as usual when it comes to Maiden in my mind is that it's only half of the album that's really good. The first disc has it's highlights, but is overall pretty mediocre for me - but the second disc is where it really shines! It has some really cool Maiden songs that I feel might be some of the best the band has released in quite some time! I have a feeling this album will last longer than the last couple of albums they've put out!
11.
Enslaved - In Times
Enslaved is one of those bands that has evolved a lot over the years, and I feel they've found themselves in this more melodic style they're playing these days. This is one of those albums telling a story, and you feel like you really want to listen to it from start to end rather than picking out single songs. And then you float away on the ocean of time.
10.
Firespawn - Shadow Realms
Well, when I saw the names joining together for this band I was instantly interested. With those people in the band it could hardly go wrong right? To my surprise it was the least "famous" member who wrote pretty much every song, but you still hear the distinct marks of the rest of the band anyway. And you know what? It's some killer songs. I was also very surprised to hear LG on this album, as he has basically been sounding the same since the dawn of time, but here he has changed it up and sounds brutal as hell. I like it!
9.
Drudkh - Борозна обірвалася (A Furrow Cut Short)
This is basically the kind of Black Metal I really enjoy. It's pretty straight forward, but still it catches your attention. It's fast and frantic, yet it has an atmosphere you can't really ignore. I don't understand a single word of the lyrics (them being in Ukrainian), but it doesn't matter, it gets the message across. Really nice Black Metal, showing that not all good Black Metal comes from Scandinavia.
8.
Myrkur - M
Took me a while to finally listen to this album. I heard it talked about for months before I finally listened to it, and realised it was worth all the praise it has been given. The atmosphere on this album is really great, which is so important for Black Metal overall. Listening to this album is a bit like a journey in itself, it leads you through various emotions in a very subtle way. I really like how varied this album manages to be while still not compromising one bit.
7.
Enshine - Singularity
So this two man band came out with a new release this year as well, and it's absolutely fantastic. It of course helps that they hired wonder kid Fredik Widings (Marduk etc) to handle the drums, that guy is an absolute beast. But what makes this album so good is the melodies and the atmosphere. It has a very sad feeling, but yet somehow hopeful. It reminds me a lot of those Finish Melodic Death Metal bands with a touch of Doom, like Insomnium for example. It's really good.
6.
Tribulation - Children of the Night
Ah Tribulation... this was the year they absolutely exploded I suppose! They make their own thing, yet it's hard not to think about Watain when you listen to them. However, this is not Black Metal - it's something else. It's Tribulation. First time I saw them live I was a bit at loss of words for how to describe them (you can read my attempt here), they change it up so much but it always follows a specific thread. It's easy to just lay back and listen to them however, but they still have those extreme sounds from time to time. It's really nice to see them get all this well deserved hype, hopefully they just continue to grow!
5.
Sterbhaus - New Level of Malevolence
Okay, the goofy Thrashers (or whatever you want to call them, but I guess Thrash is the closest you get) has done it again. This new album really does raise the bar to a new level. This album is just straight up _better_ than the last one. The goofiness has taken a bit of a back-seat in this one, while it's still there it feels like a much more serious album for some reason. Perhaps it's just the sheer intensity of it. Every member of the band has really stepped up on this one, it has awesome riffs, great solos and superb vocals. In the rhythm section they've finally recruited Erik Röjås to play drums full time and as usual he's making an excellent job. It's his drumming and the loud bass that really drives the intensity of this album, and it just doesn't slow down.
4.
Unleashed - Dawn of the Nine
Viking Death Metal - No Compromise! That's right, Unleashed are back once again, and it's typical Unleashed... no, wait a minute - it's actually not typical Unleashed because it does NOT start with a scream! What! No worries however, the rest of the album is classical Unleashed. As anyone who has listened to them the last couple of years are aware of they have delivered some really good albums since Midvinterblot. Personally I don't think it's quite on par with Midvinterblot, but it's keeping the high standard from the last five albums up at least! Excellent Death Metal with typical Fredrik Folkare-melodies. Good stuff!
3.
Vreid - Sólverv
I think the anniversary gigs on various festivals last year inspired Vreid a lot, because this is the closest thing to Windir that I've heard since... well, Windir. And that is in my mind absolutely amazing. Those haunting melodies are back and still they have a fresh sound. Even though it's familiar it's also clearly new. This was one of those albums that the first time after I heard it I immediately put it on again, and again. That's very rare for me these days.
2.
Grave - Out of Respect for the Dead
Finally it arrived! This album was a pretty long time in the making actually, and had lots of delays for various reasons. But it was well worth the wait! Grave is another of those Swedish Death Metal bands that just keeps on pushing out great releases for the last couple of years. But unlike most others they actually changed it up a bit for this last one. While it still sounds like Grave it also has some distinct new elements in there. This is a very angry album, perhaps the guys took out some frustrations with this one. Where Endless Procession of Souls feels more like a story being told this album feels like a punch in the face. But in a good way. And it just keeps on giving.
1.
Månegarm - Månegarm
Månegarm are celebrating 20 years as a band this year by releasing a self titled album... and clearly after 20 years of music they know what they want to sound like, and it shows. Like somebody said about the album, it's nothing new or unexpected - but it's so well executed it really doesn't matter. It's simply pure class from the first to the last song. And speaking of the order of songs, other bands end their albums with the epic song, in this case Månegarm opens the album with Blodörn, the 8 min song. That shows some confidence, putting the bar for the rest of the album that high. But they manage to keep up with it for the rest of the album as well. This time around it's mostly mid-tempo and acoustic songs actually, but I don't mind at all because I think that's where Månegarm are at their best.
As the year started coming to it's end I decided to start listening to all my albums from this year again to see if I could compile this list, but the thing is that while listening to the other albums I found myself wanting to listen to this album instead. And that's why this is my favourite album of 2015.
