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Best of 2014 thus far?


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I haven't heard any albums that blew me away this year except for a couple of EPs. Seconds Away's "(Untitled) EP" is good Modern Rock and Aaron Vaughn's "Never Before" EP is a must-have if you like Country music. I'll just list my top 10 tracks so far:

 

01. Aaron Vaugn - Never Before
02. Seconds Away - Dissent
03. Thousand Foot Krutch - I See Red
04. Poets of the Fall - Brighter Than the Sun
05. Seconds Away - Valediction

06. Seasons After - It's Alright
07. Grand Design - Rawk n Roll Heart Attack
08. Our Last Night - Bye Bye Bye
09. Aaron Vaughn - I Don't Want to Love Her Anymore
10. Royal Bliss - Cry Sister

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  • My Little Pony

I haven't heard any albums that blew me away this year except for a couple of EPs. Seconds Away's "(Untitled) EP" is good Modern Rock and Aaron Vaughn's "Never Before" EP is a must-have if you like Country music. I'll just list my top 10 tracks so far:

 

01. Aaron Vaugn - Never Before

02. Seconds Away - Dissent

03. Thousand Foot Krutch - I See Red

04. Poets of the Fall - Brighter Than the Sun

05. Seconds Away - Valediction

06. Seasons After - It's Alright

07. Grand Design - Rawk n Roll Heart Attack

08. Our Last Night - Bye Bye Bye

09. Aaron Vaughn - I Don't Want to Love Her Anymore

10. Royal Bliss - Cry Sister

Have you actually listened to the whole of Grand Design's new album? 'Cause I wouldn't rate the lead single as the best track. Meaning, you should hear it, if you haven't.

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I haven't heard any albums that blew me away this year except for a couple of EPs. Seconds Away's "(Untitled) EP" is good Modern Rock and Aaron Vaughn's "Never Before" EP is a must-have if you like Country music. I'll just list my top 10 tracks so far:

 

01. Aaron Vaugn - Never Before

02. Seconds Away - Dissent

03. Thousand Foot Krutch - I See Red

04. Poets of the Fall - Brighter Than the Sun

05. Seconds Away - Valediction

06. Seasons After - It's Alright

07. Grand Design - Rawk n Roll Heart Attack

08. Our Last Night - Bye Bye Bye

09. Aaron Vaughn - I Don't Want to Love Her Anymore

10. Royal Bliss - Cry Sister

Have you actually listened to the whole of Grand Design's new album? 'Cause I wouldn't rate the lead single as the best track. Meaning, you should hear it, if you haven't.

 

I've heard the the whole thing. Decent songs, but I didn't care much for the audio quality. Rawk n Roll Heart Attack was still my favorite though.

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Hey guys, was just quickly checking this thread for some old info but couldn't help notice the last few posts. I'll hopefully post some more later, but you guys are really digging the Tango Down disc? Very surprised by that. I was really, really disappointed by it. One of the disappointments of the year, imo. I think the only song I really liked on it was a re-recording of one of the tunes off their last disc. Need to double check that, but yeah, I didn't think much of the album at all. :(

 

Anyway, as for the best of the year, I did a revamp on my list and re-rated a lot of stuff - knocked close to 10% off a lot of albums I'd over-rated initially. Having heard the new Vega today, it absolutely blows away the 2d best disc of the year so far, easily. And until White Widdow or Wigelius release new discs, I can't see that changing. Jeez Vega are ahead of the pack at the moment, by a significant margin. IMO. ;)

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There has been some excellent albums recently and Vega is definitely one of them and up their with the best. Been spinning their other 2 today and I'm going out on a limb and saying it's their best yet.

 

Other discs well worth checking out recently are the new Billy Idol 'Kings & Queens Of The Underground', which is his best in a long long time, varied, very retro in places and majorly well produced by Trevor Horn and although not for everyone, is really a great great album. It's gonna be well up there in my list.for sure. Robby Valentine and 'Bizarro' World' is also majorly good and existing fans are really gonna go for this one in a big way, non fans maybe less so, but it is major quality non-the-less.

 

The new 2014 version of the Newman debut is excellent and well worth picking up, as it kills the original version, especially sonically as it sounds huge..It's limited I believe, so go and get a copy now.

 

Others well worth picking up...For Prog fans, the new Pendragon, which continues to see the band release top quality albums, and is so far along with IQ, the best Prog release of the year so far and the Scintilla Project, which is also a great one for the Prog Metal fans. More to come this year, so way off deciding on any order yet.

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Hey guys, was just quickly checking this thread for some old info but couldn't help notice the last few posts. I'll hopefully post some more later, but you guys are really digging the Tango Down disc? Very surprised by that. I was really, really disappointed by it. One of the disappointments of the year, imo. I think the only song I really liked on it was a re-recording of one of the tunes off their last disc. Need to double check that, but yeah, I didn't think much of the album at all. :(

 

Anyway, as for the best of the year, I did a revamp on my list and re-rated a lot of stuff - knocked close to 10% off a lot of albums I'd over-rated initially. Having heard the new Vega today, it absolutely blows away the 2d best disc of the year so far, easily. And until White Widdow or Wigelius release new discs, I can't see that changing. Jeez Vega are ahead of the pack at the moment, by a significant margin. IMO. ;)

Geoff, we usually like the same stuff, but Vega does nothing for me(along with Work Of Art). They are both 3 for 3 for me,(in a bad way).

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I was going to start a thread suggesting there are no classic albums this year .Up until the Vega album I've not heard anything that keeps on pulling me back and I can't wait to start listening to again as soon as I wake up. Vega seems to be that album. Keeps on growing on me every spin.

 

I don't get the hype over WoA. It's solid enough with some nice tunes but I can't see myself listening to it again in a years time.

 

I've enjoyed a lot of albums but there just seems to be a lack of genuine deep quality this year?

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All 3 WoA albums are excellent imo. Vega less so.

Rubbish. ;)

 

I love both bands, but I'd personally favour Vega's discography. WOA's debut may edge out Vega's but imo the 2nd and 3rd would easily be Vega's, imo, of course. ;)

 

And Jez, thanks for the heads up about the Newman disc. That's amazing news - I was never able to track that debut down, so that's great news. I'm sure it's somewhere on this forum, but this is where I saw it first, so thanks!! Will check it out asap.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is about the time of year I start narrowing down the list of contendors for the top 5 list. While I keep general lists of 1-5 stars throughout the year, I don't get as granular as some of you do.

 

Now I start re-listening to all of the albums that I initially rated as 4.5 or 5 stars to establish a pecking order, re-examining when new releases come in (for example I still haven't heard the new Ten, Harem Scarem, or live Within Temptation).

 

Right this second, my list of 4.5- and 5-star albums for 2014 are as follows, in alphabetical order:

 

21 Octayne - Into the Open

A Sound of Thunder - The Lesser Key of Solomon

Adrenaline Rush - ST

Allen-Lande - The Great Divide

Amaranthe - Massive Addictive

Arion - Last of Us

Babymetal - ST

Brother Firetribe - Diamond in the Firepit

Crazy Lixx - ST

Devils Heaven - Heaven on Earth

Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto

Gotthard - Bang!

Harmony - Theatre of Redemption

Iron Savior - Rise Of The Hero

Kissin Dynamite - Megalomania

Laney's Legion - ST

Lyriel - Skin and Bones

Moonland - ST

Neonfly - Strangers in Paradise

Outloud - Let's Get Serious

Pretty Maids - Louder Than Ever

Pretty Wild - ST

Silent Force - Rising From The Ashes

Sinbreed - Shadows

State of Salazar - All the Way

Three Lions - ST

WET - One Live - In Stockholm

Within Temptation - Hydra

Work of Art - Framework

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Some nice picks in there Dan, with a few of those possibiities for me too. It's gonna be quite difficult this year for me because as I said before, there have been some really good releases with some of my fave bands releasing real quality. As usual, my final list is gonna be pretty varied, but pretty solid I think. As with you, time to start back tracking on a few and getting the old ears and brain into gear

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Riot V- Unleash the Fire

Mike LePond's Silent Assassins ( Rare combination of great dude/great music, easily wipes the floor with the 2 latest symphony x releases, can't wait for Heathen's Rage reunion gig, if I survive from the scheduled gig of Q5 on next Monday)

Saracen - Redemption

Solitary Sabred - Redemption through force

Johnny Lima- My Revolution

Vega - Stereo Messiah

Alien - Eternity

 

 

Huge disappointment:

 

While Heaven Wept- Suspended at Aphelion ( Nuclear Blast, please stop killing my favorite bands, not all of them is Helloween)

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This is about the time of year I start narrowing down the list of contendors for the top 5 list. While I keep general lists of 1-5 stars throughout the year, I don't get as granular as some of you do.

 

Now I start re-listening to all of the albums that I initially rated as 4.5 or 5 stars to establish a pecking order, re-examining when new releases come in (for example I still haven't heard the new Ten, Harem Scarem, or live Within Temptation).

 

Right this second, my list of 4.5- and 5-star albums for 2014 are as follows, in alphabetical order:

 

21 Octayne - Into the Open

A Sound of Thunder - The Lesser Key of Solomon

Adrenaline Rush - ST

Allen-Lande - The Great Divide

Amaranthe - Massive Addictive

Arion - Last of Us

Babymetal - ST

Brother Firetribe - Diamond in the Firepit

Crazy Lixx - ST

Devils Heaven - Heaven on Earth

Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto

Gotthard - Bang!

Harmony - Theatre of Redemption

Iron Savior - Rise Of The Hero

Kissin Dynamite - Megalomania

Laney's Legion - ST

Lyriel - Skin and Bones

Moonland - ST

Neonfly - Strangers in Paradise

Outloud - Let's Get Serious

Pretty Maids - Louder Than Ever

Pretty Wild - ST

Silent Force - Rising From The Ashes

Sinbreed - Shadows

State of Salazar - All the Way

Three Lions - ST

WET - One Live - In Stockholm

Within Temptation - Hydra

Work of Art - Framework

I need to hear that Harmony - Theatre of Redemption - i liked their first album, and i like the guy from Heed on vocals now..

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Yeah obviously Babymetal > Vega.

 

As Nick Workman would say 'What The Fuck!' ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

Back on topic - I heard most of Ammunition over the weekend - definite top 5 contender - excellent album

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Yeah obviously Babymetal > Vega.

 

As Nick Workman would say 'What The Fuck!' ;-)

 

 

 

And let's not overlook Gotthard > Vega. Or Adrenaline Rush or Laney's Legion > Vega. Kissin' Dynamite, Amaranthe... Obviously in my opinion, basically the whole list, but there are definitely a few "really? No, you mean, really?" moments in there. But that's what music's for! To each their own. Dan's obviously comfortable being wrong, and he's not afraid to show it. ;):lol:

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:baneed:

 

I revel in my wrongitude! (Is that even a word?) :bananamac:

 

 

Seriously though, it's remarkable how albums that *should* trip your trigger don't always do so. Also, perceptions and preferences change over time. I'm sure that if I were to go back and redo Top 5 lists from several years ago, the results would be completely different, for several reasons:

 

1. Hearing a particular artist or style for the first time bumps it up compared to subsequent releases. We had that discussion earlier this year about the new Brother Firetribe. Because they set the bar so high with the first 2 CDs, this one no longer hits you with the same impact because it's no longer new, despite being a musically superior album (IMO).

 

2. Follow-up releases and releases from other artists in the same genre may surpass what was originally a groundbreaking release in one way or another.

 

3. Tastes change. For example, so-called "modern hard rock" had many more detractors early on, especially from die-hard '80s hair metal fans, however that resistance has mellowed over the course of time, especially as the borders between the genres have blurred. Also, you can get "burned out" on one style or another over time and repeated plays. Sometimes you come back around; sometimes you don't.

 

4. What is "consistent" or "staying true" (a positive) to some people, others see as "worn out" or "rehashed" (a negative). See earlier discussion re: AC/DC releasing the same album 37 times over the course of their career. :lol:

 

I find it interesting that occasionally I will hear a follow-up album from an artist that I perceive as "meh", then go back and re-listen to a previous release form the same artist that I thought was "OMFG! STUPERB!"... only to then realize just how similar the two are... so why does one garner a completely different aural or visceral reaction from the other?

 

As far as Vega is concerned, through two complete listens it simple hasn't tripped those "ear candy triggers" that make a top album for me. That may change on subsequent listens, or it may not.

 

P.S. Babymetal just plain rocks... deal with it. :headbanger:

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Indeed, indeed. Fair points, Dan, all of them. Which oddly enough, only sort of re-enforce the sentiment shared in my post.

 

I'm not sure exactly of your exact tastes, but I'd assume most melodic rock fans would like Vega and what they bring to the table. And I think many will argue that this is probably their best and most consistent release yet. Certainly their most consistent.

 

So just relating directly to the five bands I mentioned above by comparison:

 

Gotthard - in my opinion this is their weakest CD yet. A tried, over-long collection of average songs... imo of course. They have a large discography, and for me to rate this at the bottom says a lot, to me anyway. ;)

 

Laney's Legion - weakest Laney album yet, imo. Not bad overall but a muddy production and lack of really great songs apart from 'Assassin of our love' really does this one damage.

 

Kissin' Dynamite - again, I know you're a fan, but I don't think they've mixed it up at all either. Similar to their last discs, and I still think they're very poor, personally. ;)

 

Amaranthe - AC/DC's 38th album. Just identical to their last two, to a T.

 

Adrenaline Rush - the only new band I pinpointed. I do like this CD. Some good generic hard rock riffs, but a very poor vocalist and I'd have to be on some heavy drugs personally to put this on par with or above Vega. New band or not, it's been done before and much, much better. Even by Moonland this year.

 

Anyway, just my silly opinion. I know Vega are only doing what they've done before, like a lot of those bands in that list, but unlike a lot of bands in that list, I feel like they've only gotten better. Imo, of course. :)

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