Best CDs of 2005

2005 has been a good year for music if you ignore all the overhyped four chord whiners and poseurs that clog up the charts. Here's my top ten albums of the year. It excludes albums like The Darkness' One Way Ticket to Hell or Rammstein's Rosenrot, which came too late in the year for me to get the chance to listen to.

The Best

I can't single out any one album as the best of the year, but there are four that stand out.

Opeth: Ghost Reveries

Mikael Åkerfeldt and his fellow Swedes' finest album to date, seamlessly mixing Scandinavian death metal with English progressive rock to produce a dark, swirling masterpiece.

Mostly Autumn: Storms Over Still Water

Another solid release by York's finest, continuing the evolution of their sound. The earlier folk stylings are largely missing this time around, in favour of commercial hard rock and some wonderful soaring progressive epics. They've improved tremendously as musicians, and I think their best is still to come.

Porcupine Tree: Darkwing

A harder-edged album than earlier releases, which drags progressive rock kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Porcupine Tree manage to combine metal, indie-rock, progressive and psychadelica in equal proportions, and display some superb musicianship without ever falling into self-indulgent widdling.

The Mars Volta: Frances the Mute

The Mars Volta take their frenetic punk-prog crossover even further out, with high energy improvisations of boggling complexity, and even more exotic ingredients added to their heady brew of influences. Easy listening it certainly isn't.

The Rest

Deep Purple: Rapture of the Deep
The album that comes in a tin! Difficult to believe that it's now ten years and four albums since Steve Morse replaced Richie Blackmore, and only now does his guitar sound seem fully integrated with the band. Light years away from 'Smoke on the Water', this one takes 'No One Came' from Fireball as the template, updated for the noughties. Get the special 'tin' edition for the bonus track 'MTV', a caustic swipe at the conservatism of American classic rock radio.

Dream Theater: Octovarium
While I still believe DT peaked with their fifth album, Metropolis II, their second-best is still more impressive than many other bands' best. More prog and less metal, this one is an improvement on the rather tuneless Train of Thought.

Leaves Eyes: Vinland Saga
The surprise of the year. I caught this band live supporting Paradise Lost, and found their female-fronted viking-flavoured Euro-metal quite infectious. It certainly evokes images of longships and horned helmets.

Paradise Lost: Paradise Lost
With a self-titled tenth album, the Yorkshire doom metallers cut back on the electronic Depeche Mode sounds in favour of their earlier walls of twin guitar. A long-awaited return to form, or a cynical attempt at a retread of past glories? You decide!

Spocks Beard: Octane
There second release since the departure of founder and main man Neil Morse. With tighter arrangements this has a more streamlined commercial sound compared with earlier work, but it works well, and there's some excellent songwriting and musicianship here. And there's plenty of Mellotron.

Van der Graaf Generator: Present
Reunited after 28 years, their comeback double album is patchy but excellent in parts. Five new songs, two of them classics, and a whole disk of instrumental improvisations.

Posted by TimHall at December 28, 2005 02:21 PM | TrackBack

Comments


Go to Where Worlds Collide Front Page Previous Entry « Reasons not to read Dan Brown Next Entry All those Electrons, Nothing to Do » Categories Games Memes Miscellaneous Music News Photos Railways SF Recent Entries As Others See Us Terrorists Amongst Us Poll on Musicals Ouch! Your Ideal RPG Group? Torture Manchester Show 2006 Live Review: Porcupine Tree, Manchester Academy, 30 Sep 2006 Story vs. Experience Banger Blue on TV Full text feed for the Music category Summary aggreate feed for the whole site Powered by 2.661	Best CDs of 2005 2005 has been a good year for music if you ignore all the overhyped four chord whiners and poseurs that clog up the charts. Here's my top ten albums of the year. It excludes albums like The Darkness' One Way Ticket to Hell or Rammstein's Rosenrot, which came too late in the year for me to get the chance to listen to. The Best I can't single out any one album as the best of the year, but there are four that stand out. Opeth: Ghost Reveries Mikael Åkerfeldt and his fellow Swedes' finest album to date, seamlessly mixing Scandinavian death metal with English progressive rock to produce a dark, swirling masterpiece. Mostly Autumn: Storms Over Still Water Another solid release by York's finest, continuing the evolution of their sound. The earlier folk stylings are largely missing this time around, in favour of commercial hard rock and some wonderful soaring progressive epics. They've improved tremendously as musicians, and I think their best is still to come. Porcupine Tree: Darkwing A harder-edged album than earlier releases, which drags progressive rock kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Porcupine Tree manage to combine metal, indie-rock, progressive and psychadelica in equal proportions, and display some superb musicianship without ever falling into self-indulgent widdling. The Mars Volta: Frances the Mute The Mars Volta take their frenetic punk-prog crossover even further out, with high energy improvisations of boggling complexity, and even more exotic ingredients added to their heady brew of influences. Easy listening it certainly isn't. The Rest Deep Purple: Rapture of the Deep The album that comes in a tin! Difficult to believe that it's now ten years and four albums since Steve Morse replaced Richie Blackmore, and only now does his guitar sound seem fully integrated with the band. Light years away from 'Smoke on the Water', this one takes 'No One Came' from Fireball as the template, updated for the noughties. Get the special 'tin' edition for the bonus track 'MTV', a caustic swipe at the conservatism of American classic rock radio. Dream Theater: Octovarium While I still believe DT peaked with their fifth album, Metropolis II, their second-best is still more impressive than many other bands' best. More prog and less metal, this one is an improvement on the rather tuneless Train of Thought. Leaves Eyes: Vinland Saga The surprise of the year. I caught this band live supporting Paradise Lost, and found their female-fronted viking-flavoured Euro-metal quite infectious. It certainly evokes images of longships and horned helmets. Paradise Lost: Paradise Lost With a self-titled tenth album, the Yorkshire doom metallers cut back on the electronic Depeche Mode sounds in favour of their earlier walls of twin guitar. A long-awaited return to form, or a cynical attempt at a retread of past glories? You decide! Spocks Beard: Octane There second release since the departure of founder and main man Neil Morse. With tighter arrangements this has a more streamlined commercial sound compared with earlier work, but it works well, and there's some excellent songwriting and musicianship here. And there's plenty of Mellotron. Van der Graaf Generator: Present Reunited after 28 years, their comeback double album is patchy but excellent in parts. Five new songs, two of them classics, and a whole disk of instrumental improvisations. Posted by TimHall at December 28, 2005 02:21 PM \| TrackBack Comments Post a comment Name: Email Address: URL: Comments: Remember info?	Links of the day 10 Most Overrated Albums From BBC 6 Music. Coldplay! The Smiths! Oasis! Pete Knobhead Docherty! Who am I to disagree? More Ghost Reveries The Ministry of Information has another review of Opeth's new album. Everything Sounds Like Coldplay Now Mitch Benn's paean to formulaic glum rock for bedwetters is shortly to be released as a single! And there's an album and tour to follow. Scott on Railroad Earth Scott recommends some Railroad Earth MP3s. I'll have to catch this lot if they ever play live on my side of the Atlantic. Farewell, Dr Moog The man who gave the world the Mini Moog, Dr Robert Moog has died aged 71. "The sound defined progressive music as we know it," said Keith Emerson.