Best Albums of 2020 so far

[PeterS]

So, the nights now start getting longer for most of us. Time to throw out the annual question. 

What do people like so far this year? 

Passion the album I've played most. Also enjoyed the Black Swan and Night Flight Orchestra.

Quite a few solid releases but not much that's really got me going back repeatedly. Probably I do need to go back and listen to the Vega and One Desire but neither grabbed me the way their earlier releases had. 

So far, a really disappointing year for my tastes. 

[CureTheSane]

In no particular order

Gotthard
Harem Scarem
Captain Black Beard
DeVicious
Bonfire
SteelCity
Confess
Collateral
Five Finger Death Punch

[Doggy]

Jason Old -  solo album.

Waiting For Monday -  S/T

Dirty Shirley - S/T

Black Swan -  S/T

Wicked Smile - Delirium  E.P.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

16 hours ago, PeterS said:

So far, a really disappointing year for my tastes. 

That's been the general consensus for the last few years. 

[Glen]

8 hours ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

That's been the general consensus for the last few years. 

I've always been able to pull together a really strong top 10 which is enough to keep me going. And back in the late 90s I would never have dreamed that this much music in our genre would still be released 20 years later. Only grateful 

[Glen]

I have rather enjoyed all of these so far, in no order :

HEAT, Vega, Harem Scarem, Platforms, Captain BB, Khymera, NFO, One Desire

 

looking forward to :

Arctic Rain, JSS, TMF, Brother Firetribe, Lebrock, Houston, Ted Poley, Winger, Dan Reed Network, 

Also, midnite city & treat....but might be 2021? 

[zacharyamelie]

I haven’t been disappointed so far...just fewer releases coming out in the past few months. 

my top 10 so far in no real order...but close...

NFO, H.E.A.T, Paradise Lost, Captain Black Beard, Pyogenesis, One Desire, Sapphire Eyes, Gathering Of Kings, Allen/Olzon and Trivium. 
 

A few releases from 2019 that I discovered in 2020 that were awesome....JD Miller - Afterglow and The New Roses - Nothing But Wild. 

[tts42572]

Only really three releases so far that I'd even rank in my top 10....So I guess it's only a top 3 for me to this point.  And that's pretty sad considering 2 of them are only EP's.

HEAT - HEAT II

Shiraz Lane - Vibration EP

Wicked Smile - Delirium EP

For me it's been the worst 6 months in a long time for new releases.  I don't know if I'm just grumpy from everything that's gone on the past few months or what but just not much exciting me and hasn't been much coming out.  I've tried a lot of what's mentioned but nothing else has really grabbed me.  I did like bits of Black Swan and almost bought that one but guess I didn't quite like it enough.  I expected to love One Desire but it was a big letdown for me.  I've spent most of the past few months really diving into and rediscovering older releases that I haven't listened to in a long time.

Expecting things to pick up in the second half of the year though beginning with Tokyo Motor Fist in a couple weeks.  Also looking forward to Arctic Rain, Maverick, maybe Midnite City and Shiraz Lane in the fall.  And hopefully we see some other surprises as a result of bands having a lot more time on their hands during this Covid business.

[Glen]

14 minutes ago, tts42572 said:

Only really three releases so far that I'd even rank in my top 10....So I guess it's only a top 3 for me to this point.  And that's pretty sad considering 2 of them are only EP's.

HEAT - HEAT II

Shiraz Lane - Vibration EP

Wicked Smile - Delirium EP

For me it's been the worst 6 months in a long time for new releases.  I don't know if I'm just grumpy from everything that's gone on the past few months or what but just not much exciting me and hasn't been much coming out.  I've tried a lot of what's mentioned but nothing else has really grabbed me.  I did like bits of Black Swan and almost bought that one but guess I didn't quite like it enough.  I expected to love One Desire but it was a big letdown for me.  I've spent most of the past few months really diving into and rediscovering older releases that I haven't listened to in a long time.

Expecting things to pick up in the second half of the year though beginning with Tokyo Motor Fist in a couple weeks.  Also looking forward to Arctic Rain, Maverick, maybe Midnite City and Shiraz Lane in the fall.  And hopefully we see some other surprises as a result of bands having a lot more time on their hands during this Covid business.

you like everything from HEAT to HEAT

 

[Jez]

Loads of good - great albums this year so far...Order to be decided

 

Night Flight Orchestra

Pendragon

Gathering Of Kings

FM

Son Of Man

Lordi

One Desire 

Young Gun Silver Fox

Delain

Beyond The Black

In This Moment

H.E.A.T

Khymera

[crazynights]

We are getting closer to the 2020 top ten

Steel city, night flight orchestra,House of lords, Room experience, Jessie Damon,Bon jovi (I still like'em),One desire (the first was much better),Brother firetribe,H.E.A.T.,Xtasy,Tokyo motor fist,Gotthard and Confess.

Those are the bands I listened and apreciated this year

 

[Glen]

so seen a few comments about how weak 2020 has been, but in truth if someone had told me 20 yrs ago that melodic rock would be alive and kicking in 2020 I wouldn't have believed them

I am grateful for every release which keeps this scene alive.

in my opinion these were all very good to great but no idea on an order yet.....

Brother Firetribe, Vega, HEAT, Harem Scarem, Platforms, Arctic Rain, NFO, Lionville, One Desire, Tokyo Motor Fist, JSS, Rev Saints, Passion, Captain BB

Also there have been some great singles and Esp.

still got Cats in Space to come which will be a dead cert for my top 10

And these are all still in the making so loads to look forward to -

Winger, Midnite City, WET, Treat, Lebrock & Creye

[PeterS]

There’s been  lot that disappointed but maybe I don’t give things as Many chances as I used to.

 

Smackdown 20/20 one I’ve really enjoyed 

[Glen]

I forgot Houston as well - that single was a top 10 tune of 2020 for me 

[DorrianWolf]

I really loved Vega,Passion album,TMF,Gathering of kings,Brother Firetribe,HEAT was also nice,although not better than Adress the nation,One desire was nice but not better than previous one,JSS was imo decent but not even close to say Damage control. 

I really am looking forward to LeBrock album,these boys are great surprise,WET one and Midnite city too.

 

[PeterS]

1 hour ago, DorrianWolf said:

I really loved Vega,Passion album,TMF,Gathering of kings,Brother Firetribe,HEAT was also nice,although not better than Adress the nation,One desire was nice but not better than previous one,JSS was imo decent but not even close to say Damage control. 

I really am looking forward to LeBrock album,these boys are great surprise,WET one and Midnite city too.

 

Lebrock I’m a little confused about. 
 

So I’m listening to them a lot at the moment. Love it. But it’s electronic or retro electronic or something like that isn’t it? Do we classify it as HH approved ?

 

Whole world of similar stuff keeping me entertained right now. The joys of lockdown and YouTube. 

[DorrianWolf]

34 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Lebrock I’m a little confused about. 
 

So I’m listening to them a lot at the moment. Love it. But it’s electronic or retro electronic or something like that isn’t it? Do we classify it as HH approved ?

 

Whole world of similar stuff keeping me entertained right now. The joys of lockdown and YouTube. 

Well not sure if it would be approved here,but it's surely catchy as fuck. And certain tunes really bring that 80s AOR vibe,late night drive,city lights type of thing. I really can't wait for their album,gonna be blast. 

 

[Glen]

2 hours ago, DorrianWolf said:

I really loved Vega,Passion album,TMF,Gathering of kings,Brother Firetribe,HEAT was also nice,although not better than Adress the nation,One desire was nice but not better than previous one,JSS was imo decent but not even close to say Damage control. 

I really am looking forward to LeBrock album,these boys are great surprise,WET one and Midnite city too.

 

backed on most of that.

JSS is decent.... would prob be bottom of my list.

A far cry from LITT in particular which remains his best solo effort in my opinion. 

[tts42572]

Feeling like my 2020 top 7 is just about set.  I don't really know of anything that will make it out before the end of the year that will change my list.  If it does, I'll edit.  And I'm only going with 7 this year as nothing else really captivated me enough to add it.

1.  H.E.A.T - H.E.A.T II.  For me, nothing else is even close but you all knew that.  Nice way for Erik to go out and it sure capped a fabulous 4 album run.

2.  Shiraz Lane - Vibration I EP.  It's only an EP so I hesitated putting it on the list.  But love what these guys are doing and this EP got a ton of play for me this year.

3.  Tokyo Motor Fist - Lions.  Good second effort.  For me, the first 4 songs are darn near perfection and exactly what I'd want from these guys.  There's a couple songs I skip in the second half but still solid overall.

4.  Arctic Rain - The One.  Fabulous debut album from these guys.  Have spun this album a lot since it came out.  Cool 80's vibe without being cheesy.

5.  Thundermother - Heat Wave.  I happened on this band recently and had never listened to them before.  Haven't had much time with this yet but damn, digging it.  They're like a more classic hard rock version of Halestorm.

6.  AC/DC - Power Up.  Just a casual fan of these guys and honestly haven't been interested enough to listen to much of their output since Razor's Edge.  But I've been spinning this one frequently.  It's kind of similar to Tokyo Motor Fist in that I dig the first 4-5 songs, then it weakens in the second half before finishing pretty well with Money Shot and Code Red.  Solid release though for this stage in their career.

7.  Wicked Smile - Delirium EP.  Solid debut EP that's gotten a lot of play.  I'm generally not a "metal" guy but I dug this.  It reminds me of Turbo era Juda s Priest...metal but with a melodic, commercial vibe to it.  Black Swan is probably also a good comparison but I like this much more than I liked Black Swan.

8.  Collateral - S/T.  I liked 3-4 tunes on this release (Big Shot, Promiseland, Lullaby, Merry Go Round) but also really disliked a few of the more Country sounding tunes.  These guys have potential though I hope they stay away from the Country twang.

Honorable mention-Basically these are a few releases I liked 2-3 tunes off but didn't grab me much overall. 

One Desire - Midnite Empire  

Palace- Rock & Roll Radio 

Perfect Plan - Time For A Miracle

Harem Scarem - Change The World

For my tastes, it's not been a great year at all and expecting/hoping 2021 is much better in many ways!

Edited December 21, 2020 by tts42572

[nyoilers]

While I've bought more new CD's this year than last year I would say a good number are either live CD's or re-releases.That being said the first 2020 CD that I bought was Ozzy-Ordinary Man and that is definitely in my top 5.

[CureTheSane]

Each to their own, but for me this has been a pretty great year.
Looking back at what I've managed to get through, I was very happy with all of the following...

Cats In Space
Haren Scarem
Collateral
Gotthard
Hell In The Club
Five Finger Death Punch
Butch Walker
Confess
Steel City
Bonfire
Revolution Saints
DeVicious
Captain Black Beard
Maryann Cotton
Dynazty
Black Stone Cherry
Vega
Tokyo Motor Fist
Arctic Rain
Bonfire
SteelCity
HEAT
 

[Doug]

Tough one, 2020 has sucked in so many ways. For me, so far, AC/DC's "Power Up," Black Swan's debut, Tokyo Motor Fist's, "Lions," and Revolution Saints', "Rise."  Looking forward to George Lynch/Jeff Pilson album coming out soon, hard rock redo's of pop hits. 

[zacharyamelie]

My Spotify best of list came out today

According to Spotify these are my top 3 bands of 2020

1. Night Flight Orchestra 

2. H.E.A.T

3. Paradise Lost

Hard to argue with those choices. 

[Aordave89]

My top 10 of 2020 in no particular order:

1. H.E.A.T

2. One Desire

3. Dynazty

4. Brother Firetribe

5. Cory Marks

6. Arctic Rain

7. Amaranthe

8. Catalano

9. Wildness

10. Vega

Honourable mentions for Palace, Shiraz Lane, Victorius and Confess. 
 

2021 is shaping up decent already with some great releases on the horizon. A few of those are scheduled just next month. Let’s hope we can get back to watching live music safely also. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

4 hours ago, Aordave89 said:

My top 10 of 2020 in no particular order:

1. H.E.A.T

2. One Desire

3. Dynazty

4. Brother Firetribe

5. Cory Marks

6. Arctic Rain

7. Amaranthe

8. Catalano

9. Wildness

10. Vega

Honourable mentions for Palace, Shiraz Lane, Victorius and Confess. 
 

2021 is shaping up decent already with some great releases on the horizon. A few of those are scheduled just next month. Let’s hope we can get back to watching live music safely also. 

Happy to see One Desire so high on your list. It's probably my most played album this year.