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Since 2005 is about to end in 2 months,I thought it would be appropriate to ask what is your favorite new band/song of '05.There was a lot of new music and also bands like The Strokes(well mainly The Strokes) spawned new bands like The Bravery,Bloc Party,The Killers(well,actually they came in late '04),and more.But for some of you it jeopardized the music genre.Interestingly enough,there was also great music news,Corgan is trying to get The Smashing Pumpkins back,and uh...That's it.It is also nice to hear from a lot of great bands like System of a down's "Mezmerize"(and the upcoming Hypnotize),Coldplay's "X&Y",The Offspring's "Greatest Hits",White Stripes "Get behind me satan",and more.

So what is your favorite/least-favorite song/band of '05(and late '04).This year was not a disappointment for me,Avenged Sevenfold's "Bat Country" was a very cool song,SoaD's "Question!" is one of the best songs of '05,there are a lot of songs I like for '05 I won't finish in one post.Bands like Death cab for cutie didn't disappoint me aswell,however one band i'm really looking forward to is The Bravery.

Edit:Had to edit some stuff.I also had to take off Franz Ferdinand because they started in '03 with "Darts of Pleasure"

This post has been edited by saileboat on 11th October 2005 21:38

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"...But we will succeed. We pride ourselves in making the impossible possible."

My Chemical Romance is in no way a new band, actually, their first album came out three or four years ago. Their new album is inspired by the emo trend fueled by a rock and roll passion.

Musically, though, this year has had a lot going on. System Of A Down's new album blew me away. New As I Lay Dying is simply spectacular. The new hardcore music trend definatly took a huge step in the right direction over this year, dropping the simplicity of palm muted open notes and going in a more metal direction. Underoath's more recent album and From Autumn To Ashes' albums are great examples of this. Dredg's new album is nothing short of spectacular, Children Of Bodom's new work is great. Actually, the whole rock scene is general seemingly has been moving a lot more lately than in the last few years together. Head Automatica is probably one of the best bands of the year, by my standards.

Biggest dissapointments for me are Dimebag Darrell's death, the stupidities of Axl Rose, screwing us yet again out of a possibly REAL Guns N Roses reunion. Audioslave being allowed to continue to exist is a huge dissapointment for me. Iron Maiden's recent anti-Ozzy antics have definatly been a huge dissapointment. Metallica is a continuous dissapointment for me and they have been for a few years now.

That's about all I can think of, but if anything else comes to mind, I'll edit it in.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Quote

My Chemical Romance is in no way a new band, actually, their first album came out three or four years ago. Their new album is inspired by the emo trend fueled by a rock and roll passion.

Yeah,I just remembered,it came out in 2002,"I brought you my Bullets,you brought me your love" was the name of the album,wasn't it?

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"...But we will succeed. We pride ourselves in making the impossible possible."

I can't think any any new band in particular but so far I can say that 2005 spawned so many good hits.

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:)Don't get kicked out of school! Click here to Check your papers for plagiarism

The worst is by far this emo revolution crap. Wow, I used to like bands that had the base type of this music, but in the past 2 years it's gotten so bad. I mean every song you hear "I'll slit my wrists because I love you", "Suffocate me dry and stab me with your heart", and the emo kids that accompany them: " I write in a livejournal and wear thick rimmed glasses I tell all my friends that I bleed black and cried during classes", "I’m dark and sensitive with low self esteem the way I dress makes everyday feel like Halloween. I have no real problems but I like to make believe, I stole my sisters’ mascara now I’m grounded for a week. Sulking and writing poetry are my hobbies I can’t get through a Hawthorne Heights album without sobbing. Girls keep breaking up with me it’s never any fun", and general whine whine I'm a sensitive guy and want to kill myself because I care so much about you.

Ugh.... Grow up, you're not deep. You don't live the worst life the world has ever seen. Come on, just look at things as half full for once. I defintely liked the Fallout Boy song "Sugar we're goin down" though. In the video, they were still normal. Then all of the sudden at the VMA's they had become disciples of My Chemical Romance. It really is quite weird and creepy.


Hmm...since all my buddies listen to Heavy Metal I know the music and all the bands DF is talking about. I've seen this Pantera concert and behind the scenes DVD about 5 times. It has a pretty funny "Death Smokes" cigarettes skit. Also, gotta love Zakk Wylde.

I'm not even sure what kind of music I'm into at the moment. Nothing in particular I guess.

This post has been edited by Tidu-who on 11th October 2005 03:08

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

I'm finding the music released recently just doesn't do it for me. However, that doesn't make 2005 a complete disaster for me.

~Queens of the Stone Age released a new cd, Lullabies to Paralyze, this year. It's not quite what I expected. And to be honest, of their 4 CDs, I rate this in last place. That's not to mean that it's bad, because it's not. But this is their first cd without long time bassist Nick Oliveri. And his absence is noticable. However, Josh Homme picks up the slack with his prototypical blend of stoner rock, garage noise, and alternative grunge. Best tracks are "Burn the Witch", "Little Sister", and "You've Got a Killer Scene There, Man..."

~I'm a huge White Stripes fan. Yeah, laugh, it's ok if you don't like it. But I do. They released the long-awaited follow up to Elephant in the bizarrely titled Get Behind Me, Satan. This is certainly the duo's most eclectic offering by far. They go beyond distorted guitar and simple drumline. On many tracks, Jack White trades his guitar for a grand piano. And there's even a pair of tracks where he plays a marimba. It was hard to get into this CD, but once I did, it just kicks all sorts of artsy-fartsy ass. There's really only one problem with the CD. That being that it was over produced. Some of the tracks could've been better off taking more time to be written than power-produced. But it's awesome nonetheless. Best tracks: "Blue Orchid", "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)", and "Red Rain"

~The aformentioned return of System of a Down. They released Mesmerize earlier with Hypnotize on the way. The former is one of the most complete albums I've ever heard. It's so articulately written and perfectly performed. The way the album is set up just makes every song so important to listen to. In a genre that seems like it can't be revolutionized any more than it is, System finds a way. Truly a magnificent band. Best tracks: "B.Y.O.B.", "Revenga", and "Question!"

~Black Rebel Motorcycle Club recently released a CD. Wow. They have changed their sound immensely. Their first two albums were superbly written British garage rock. But this new CD, Howl, completely forsakes that for a more rustic, acoustic sound. That was a risky move, but it paid humongous dividends. They now show how versatile they are by going from Brit rock to bluesy acoustic rock. After awhile, I came to the conclusion that a lot of these songs sounded like they borrowed a page from Led Zeppelin. I can easily compare a bunch of BRMC songs to certain Led Zep acoustic tracks. It's truly great. Best tracks: "Shuffle Your Feet", "Ain't No Easy Way", and "Weight of the World"

~Out of Exile. The new release from Audioslave. I can see why DF, and everyone else who shares his opinion, don't like Audioslave. Hell, I myself would much rather take Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine than Audioslave. But that won't happen sadly. And Tom Morello is still the equivalent to Jesus with a guitar. And if Tom is still making music, I can't not listen to it. And this CD. Holy. Crap. It blows my mind. I won't admit that it's better than their debut CD, but you can certainly make a case for it. The music sounds a lot more like a complete band than a supergroup trying to make it like some of their previous songs. Cornell still can't sing to the best of his grunge roots. He probably burnt his voice out all those years with Soundgarden. But he still delivers well on this CD. Tim, Tom, and Brad also still have the most chemistry of any trio of musicians I've ever seen. I think this is my album of the year. Best tracks: "Your Time Has Come", "Drown Me Slowly", and "#1 Zero"

~~~~

~Disappointments. Well, I guess my biggest thing is the rise of this nu-new wave fad. I'm particularly upset with the Killers. This is the band I am loathing the most. Their music is horrible, Brandon Flowers is an arrogant prick, and they have stupid "feuds" with other stupid bands every other week. Every other day, I pray that rabid wolverines jump out of their closet and comatise them.

~Also disappointing, how about Brian "Head" Welch forsaking his Korn bretherin and leaving the hard rock quintet to serve a life of Christianity. I guess "disappointed" would be the wrong word. More like "shocked". Who honestly could've seen this coming? I know how everyone says that Korn "sucks" now and that they don't matter, and it might be true. But I still enjoyed their music, and I still will without Head. But still... what the heck?

~I'm also disappointed in the general public for not running Ashlee Simpson out of Tinseltown forever. She went on Saturday Night Live and was caught using a vocal track. She was caught in the act of lip syncing, then blamed it on the band saying they were "playing the wrong song". Oh shut up, you stupid twit. You were busted, now just accept it. But not only is Ashlee Simpson still well in the public eye. I'm pretty sure that her vocal track incident has actually helped her career. Maybe not musically, but she's friggin' everywhere. When Milli Vanilli were busted for lip syncing, they were the laughing stock of the music industry, and we still haven't heard from them yet. Why hasn't this happened to Ashlee Simpson? Because the everyone are sheep, and the media knows that.


I'm sure I can think of more. Perhaps another post later.

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

Quote (Tidu-who @ 10th October 2005 22:04)

The worst is by far this emo revolution crap. Wow, I used to like bands that had the base type of this music, but in the past 2 years it's gotten so bad. I mean every song you hear "I'll slit my wrists because I love you", "Suffocate me dry and stab me with your heart", and the emo kids that accompany them: " I write in a livejournal and wear thick rimmed glasses I tell all my friends that I bleed black and cried during classes", "I’m dark and sensitive with low self esteem the way I dress makes everyday feel like Halloween. I have no real problems but I like to make believe, I stole my sisters’ mascara now I’m grounded for a week. Sulking and writing poetry are my hobbies I can’t get through a Hawthorne Heights album without sobbing. Girls keep breaking up with me it’s never any fun", and general whine whine I'm a sensitive guy and want to kill myself because I care so much about you.

Ugh.... Grow up, you're not deep. You don't live the worst life the world has ever seen. Come on, just look at things as half full for once. I defintely liked the Fallout Boy song "Sugar we're goin down" though. In the video, they were still normal. Then all of the sudden at the VMA's they had become disciples of My Chemical Romance. It really is quite weird and creepy.

As an emo kid myself, I find myself at hatred for all those kids that actually do that stuff...like support Hawthorne Heights...ugh...

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WORST MOMENTS:

- Hawthorne Heights finally garning attention in the form of a horrible song. 'Ohio is for Lovers became a MTV hit this past summer (after a year of rotation), inviting preppy girls to sing the lines 'So cut my wrists and black my eyes' in the hallways of schools everywhere. Their second single, 'Niki FM' has also been released, meaning more impending doom on us unsuspecting music listeners.

- Like Hawthorne Heights, Aiden is Victory Record's worthless try at making a My Chemical Romance-like band and falling miserable, with it laughing-at vocals and just plain bad (and worn out) metal riffs. The CD is being called the worst of the year with reviewers. In about another year, their single will probably be played on MTV and preppy girls will sing their lame lines yet again.

BEST MOMENTS:

- System of a Down returning to us all to dominate with a great CD in Mesmerize and its sure to be great follow up, Hypnotize. Not only backed with two strong singles in 'B.Y.O.B.' and 'Question!', the CD itself also offered a refreshing change to the horrible alternative rock nonsense played on the radio. Thank you, Serj.

- More screamo/hardcore/emocore acts had a pretty decent year with Funeral for a Friend's Hours being a strong CD, A Wilhelm Scream's Ruiner providing a nice kick in the ass, and the reissue of Underoath's CD They're Only Chasing Safety. Also put that alongside the pretty good albums by Atreyu (yeah, I know, not that best of a band but the CD was pretty decent), From Autumn to Ashes, and From First to Last.

- Coheed and Cambria's Good Apollo... brought me back into the engaging storyline of the first two albums. The musicianship was also peaked to a high, shown with the first single, 'Welcome Home'. Very solid CD and a bit of a surprise to me.

So far, 2005 has been pretty great for me. While there really has been some absolute crap, I've got so many incredible albums it more than balances out, thanks in no small part to R51 who reccommended some great stuff. Let's start with the good.

+ The Arcade Fire's Funeral. This album alone makes the year worth it. I'd say it's the most tremendous album ever, but I'm averaging about 5 playthroughs a day and I know I'll tire of it at some point. It's an emotional, multi-layered album driven by Win Butler's beautiful voice, reminiscent almost of Jeff Buckley.
+ Sigur Ros' Takk. See above. It's such a well-constructed album, there's a flash of genius at every corner, little touches no-one would ever think to put in but perfectly fitting.
+L ittle Barrie's We Are Little Barrie. It's like dozens of great bands had a great-band orgy and this was the result. There are shades of Kula Shaker, the Happy Mondays, Led Zeppelin and even North Mississippi Allstars, all with this original British garage - indie flavour that makes for, for me, the ultimate 'summer' album.
+ The White Stripes' Get Behind Me, Satan. Well, Sabin said it perfectly, though I like 'Take, Take, Take,' 'The Nurse' and 'As Ugly As I Seem.'

Like I said, however, there was some absolute crap. I won't list specific albums, because I hardly know any, but I've been satisfactorily annoyed by a fair few groups and individuals.

- Jack Johnson. I'm not too fond of the 'pot-smoking surfer with a guitar' thing, myself. People over here listen to it, thinking they're gnarly hippies, when to me, it's just bland, poppy, middle of the road acoustic pop.
- James Blunt. God, no. Like the above, but poppier. It's like he said 'I'm going to make music that absolutely no-one can hate. Resistance is futile. Tremble before my whiny, nasal voice and boring melodies.'
- The likes of The Bravery, The Killers and all that alternative synth-pop artsy stuff. I just absolutely hate it. I can't even tell you why, just that I hate it and the way those people dress with a passion.

Suprises, too, included the new Franz Ferdinand, with the stunning track 'Fade Together.' That made it worth a download, and that alone. I'm also sure the new North Mississippi Allstars is brilliant, but haven't been able to get a hold of it yet.

I, too, think The Arcade Fire's Funeral is an awesome album, but for some reason I was thinking it was originally released last year. I dunno.

Mimic took a lot of my answers, and so did Sabin. But here's a brief list of stuff I enjoyed and stuff that was disappointing.

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me, Satan - OK, so Meg's a little shaky on the kit. Jack's not the best guitarist the world has ever known. But this is an album of amazing variety and solid songwriting front to back.
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm - Nobody knows or cares about this girl. Fine by me. She's one of the best there is for bittersweet songwriting, and with every new album she moves more into musicianship. This is a great concept album.
Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace - Oh yes, I went there. It's weird, it's electronic, it's in virtually no way Smashing Pumpkins or even Zwan. And it's still awesome.
Coldplay - X&Y - I am still not convinced it's better than Parachutes or Rush. And I don't care. It keeps getting better with every listen.
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine - The first mix was good. The reproduced mix, just released to retail, was phenomenal. She will never have an album better than Tidal. But neither will 95 out of every 100 published artists, so don't hold that against her.

My disappointments are shorter. I tend to forget them.

Garbage - Bleed Like Me - This is not a bad album. But they just seem to get a little more lackluster with every new outing; you can tell their hearts just aren't in it, which is a shame. The s/t was creepy fun; 2.0 was poppy electronic schizophrenia; BeautifulGarbage was uneven but with a few great tracks; this just kinda slides down the slope a bit more.
Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up - Where, oh where, is the Dave Matthews of the last century? This album is boring, whiny, and badly written, and it once again takes the spotlight off of the true gifts of the band (Carter, Boyd, and Leroi). I haven't even listened to it a second time.
Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace - Oh yes, I went there. It's weird, it's electronic, it's in virtually no way Smashing Pumpkins or even Zwan. And it's still a bit disappointing for those same reasons. Please, D'Arcy, stop shooting up for a second and help Billy get the Pumpkins back.

OK, that will do for now.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote

~Out of Exile. The new release from Audioslave. I can see why DF, and everyone else who shares his opinion, don't like Audioslave. Hell, I myself would much rather take Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine than Audioslave. But that won't happen sadly. And Tom Morello is still the equivalent to Jesus with a guitar. And if Tom is still making music, I can't not listen to it. And this CD. Holy. Crap. It blows my mind. I won't admit that it's better than their debut CD, but you can certainly make a case for it. The music sounds a lot more like a complete band than a supergroup trying to make it like some of their previous songs. Cornell still can't sing to the best of his grunge roots. He probably burnt his voice out all those years with Soundgarden. But he still delivers well on this CD. Tim, Tom, and Brad also still have the most chemistry of any trio of musicians I've ever seen. I think this is my album of the year. Best tracks: "Your Time Has Come", "Drown Me Slowly", and "#1 Zero"

I agree,I would much rather prefer RATM and Soundgarden than Audioslave,that's not to say they are bad,in fact,some of their better music is in the CD like "Drown Me Slowly","Doesn't Remind Me","Be Yourself",and "Your Time Has Come".I haven't heard their debut album yet,so I can't really judge "Out Of Exile",or say much about it.I'll get back to this when I hear their debut album.

-My favorite CD so far this year is "Mezmerize" by SoaD.Every aspect of this album is simply amazing,from the intro of "Soldier Side-Intro" to the techno/metal "Violent Pornography".However some of the better tracks are "Question!","Lost in Hollywood","Radio/Video",and "Revenga".I just hope "Hypnotize" will get here soon,I want to hear "Holy Mountains"(its supposed to be like Aerials).Here's some info on the album...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotize_%28album%29

-The Bravery's debut album is my second favorite CD this year,with their fast "Swollen Summer",to their slower paced "Tyrant"."Unconditional" is also a great song,danceable too.Good songs are "An Honest Mistake","Tyrant","No Brakes",and "Give In".

-The Offsprings "Greatest Hits" is I guess my only disappointment of the year,I just wish they had newer songs,well at least I don't have to download their better songs ."Can't Repeat",and "Next to you" are the only songs I recommend,everything else good,but you might have heard them before.

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"...But we will succeed. We pride ourselves in making the impossible possible."

System of a Down's Mezmerize
Disturbed's 10,000 Fists
Iron Maiden's Death on the Road
Black Label Society's Mafia
Ozzy Osbourne's Prince of Darkness Box Set
Megadeth's Greatest Hits
and the new album fomr Seether.

The only dissapointing album I can think of it Auiodlave's Out of Exile. Before Sabin starts including me, I love Auioslave's s/t album. But this one was just a dissapointment.
And I still think Morello is seriously overrated, but that's an argument for another day.

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I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

Hip-Hop bounced back a little bit in 2005 from a couple of slow years. Not a huge bounce back, but enough for me to keep checking the record stores whenever possible.

Common- Be

Hands down the highlight of the year, just an amazing album. Finally settled at #2 in my top 25 all time (along with J-Live's All of the Above and Kanye's College Dropout, the only albums from the 2000s on my list.) Common took a risky step when he released Electric Circus, but while he still had his requisite few good songs, and a few good points, something didn't feel right about it.

Common found it on Be. The hardcore hip-hop and lyrics we haven't heard since Ressurection. But as much as I love No I.D., Kanye's beats added an element that upped from a great album to the great album. Seriously, I think I would buy this album if it had no lyrics at all, or if it had nothing but lyrics. But both combine to make this the best album I've heard since Black Star. What's more, he had the guts to make the album too short instead of too long (I think it should be a law that no hip-hop album should be allowed to have more than 12 songs) so there's pretty much no filler.

Best songs:
Be
The Corner
Go
Chi-town Anthem
The Food
Real People
It's Your World

Kanye West- Late Registration

Regardless of his lack of astuteness when it comes to making political statements (keep it in the music, Kanye,) he is still a good artist. His second album doesn't quite live up to the first, however (not that many do,) but at least he brought some of the good aspects of the first album with him. When he's with what I like to call the "good" influences (Common, Consequence) the song works well. As like the first album (and songs like Breathe In) the "bad" influences (The Game, Jay-Z in full "coming down from the mountaintop to grace us with his presence mode") bring out his, well, not so introspective side. Although it isn't a hard and fast rule, since Paul Wall, who I wouldn't characterize as a good influence, is on the best track of the album (Drive Slow.) And I was looking forward to a Kanye-Nas collab, but We Major is one of the few songs I skip on this album.

Best Songs:
Golddigger
Drive Slow
My Way Home
Bring Me Down
Gone

And although they're both from late 2004:

Mos Def-The New Danger

Taking a chance on veering off from hip-hop drastically didn't work so well for Common, but Mos Def has always been a little more about artistry and entertainment than straight hip-hop, which is why I think this album doesn't get as much credit as it deserves. I still think the best songs on this album are the hip-hop ones more than the blues or rock ones, though, so maybe Mos will come back like Common and make a great hip-hop album.

Best Songs:
Ghetto Rock
Sunshine
Bedstuy Parade and Funeral March
Grown Man Business

Talib Kweli- The Beautiful Struggle

Starts great and ends great. Not sure exactly what Kweli was trying to do in the middle, but some songs are among the best Kweli's made. I don't really know why Kweli is trying to diversify so much like he has been on the last two albums. Kweli's always been at his best when making street music, and nothing he's done outside that has ever made me want to listen to it. The weird early 80's throwback tracks (The Game and We Got the Beat) really break up the rhythm of the album pretty bad. But Kweli's really at his best when he's mad about something and wants to talk about it, and Going Hard and Beautiful Struggle both exemplify that perfetly.

Best Songs:
Going Hard
Broken Glass
Around My Way
The Ghetto Show
Black Girl Pain
Beautiful Struggle




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Hip-Hop QOTW:

"Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
The Roots

I can't believe I could've possibly forgotten these albums. I must be going senile prematurely.

Probably one of the greatest albums to come out this year is definatly the new Mars Volta album. Call me crazy, but I like it mountain-loads more than the first. It has a more improvised feel to it, the kind of thing you get from a live jam-band, along with their insane energy and feel to their sound, it's probably on my top 50 list of greatest rock albums.

Also, the new Alexisonfire album, Watchout! They've definatly improved from the last album, throwing away some of the more typical Canadian hardcore scene cliches and replacing it with a unique spin on the style. The music is high in the energy factor, catchy as hell and has a great flow to the album as a whole. I haven't found a single song that I'd hit skip on. Those guys are truly talented musicians.

The new Every Time I Die album is for the most part, another Hot Damn!, to which I have absolutely no complaints. Their unique take on classic rock, today's metal and a post-apocolyptic theme is just brilliant. Not the kind of band you'd fall in love with after a first listen, but definatly a band that grows on you. The new album is great though.

Finally, I'm surprised this band isn't all that popular, but at any rate, the new He Is Legend album is brutal is so many ways it's sickening. Just the title song alone, I Am Holywood, is enough to tear down any house. Throw in some great guitar work on The Greatest Actor Alive or Eating A Book and you've got some great album material.




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Okay, but there was a goat!

OK! my favorite band, that the album came out in '05 is..drumroll..SYSTEM OF A DOWN-as i lay dying. That is a very awesome album, my fav. song is....BYOB.

Disturbed-10,000 fists

Seether-remedy, i dunno if it came out this year.



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I was scared of it all, scared to
fall, and i couldn't even crawl,
when i was forced to run. . .
:-linkin park-:

Quote (Inu_cloud @ 13th October 2005 01:31)

OK! my favorite band, that the album came out in '05 is..drumroll..SYSTEM OF A DOWN-as i lay dying. That is a very awesome album, my fav. song is....BYOB.

Disturbed-10,000 fists

Seether-remedy, i dunno if it came out this year.

Are you saying that your favorite bands of '05 are As I Lay Dying and System Of A Down, or are you refering to Mesmerize, S.O.A.D's latest album and mistakenly called it the name of another band? Sorry, just confused.

I've thought up yet another album that came out this year that blew me away. Between The Buried And Me's new release, though it's title escapes me at the moment, is a great work of technically played progressive hardcore. Yeah, that's a lot of labels for one band, especially ones that don't ever normally go together, but these guys pull it off flawlessly.

Also, new Nine Inch Nails this year. Huge surprise for me, seeing as how I thought they'd never let out a new album ever again. [With Teeth] is a different direction for NIN, it's less of the super electronicness and more of the actual instruments being played. It's got a much cleaner sound than what I'm used to from Trent, but it's still got the same NIN flair. Good job Trent, now if you could only clone yourself so that you could do everything at once, rather than one at a time and then have to teach it all to the band for live shows, ya crazy perfectionist.

New Mindless Self Indulgence is simply the sex. It's all I really can say about those guys. It's just downright sexy. Everyone should pick up the new album and listen to it from now til forever.

Dissapointment?
New Our Lady Peace. The new album is just slaughter to my eardrums. Mindyou, I haven't liked any of their work since Clumsy, but still, this album is unnaturally bad. Some songs sounds like they're trying to get back into their more rock-ish roots...and fail horribly. Raine needs to stop worrying about the goddamn rainforest and start really putting some thought into the music he makes.

New H.I.M. is just ...whatever. I was expecting a lot more from those guys, their last works were pretty good in themselves, although a good chunk of their work is covers. Considering this is the first album to truly be their own, I'm dissapointed. I guess that's what happens when you sell your souls to Bam Margera.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

As music goes forward, I keep finding myself going backward into the 70's-80's-90's for good music, and usually end up finding good stuff. However, there were some bright spots this year:

Best Moments:
Dredg - Catch Without Arms - This CD is unbelievably amazing, and as soon as I got a hold of it, I couldn't put it down. I still can't. It's that good, and worth every penny.
Coldplay - X&Y What can I say that hasn't already been said? Once again, they prove their genuine talent for songwriting.
System of a Down - Mesmerize - Definitely an interesting change of pace, with the guitarist (I believe) seeming to have more vocal opportunity on the album than the lead singer. And he's not bad. Highlights are: Sad Statue, Radio/Video, BYOB, Lost in Hollywood.
Pink Floyd's Live 8 Performance - This was truly an amazing scene to behold after all the years of separation. Watching them perform their classics possibly for the last time (though hopefully not) pretty much made my summer.

Quote (Dragon_Fire @ 13th October 2005 15:25)

I've thought up yet another album that came out this year that blew me away. Between The Buried And Me's new release, though it's title escapes me at the moment, is a great work of technically played progressive hardcore. Yeah, that's a lot of labels for one band, especially ones that don't ever normally go together, but these guys pull it off flawlessly.

I think that would be Alaska, I haven't listened to it yet but what I have heard is amazing. These guys are incredible!

For me, Dredg's new album is way up there, although I know some people didn't enjoy their more straightforward approach. Their previous cds are a bit more "out there" but I really enjoy the pace of the new cd.

The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute is their best work, in my opinion, if only for Cassandra Gemini (all 30 minutes of it). It's the kind of cd you can play and listen to as one big epic, without interruption. Excellent bass playing by Juan Alderete, his debut with TMV.

The Arcade Fire's Funeral is fun stuff, excellent music on the whole. One big advantage is the fact that so many songs on the cd are good... they won't be a one-hit wonder with Funeral.

System of a Down's new cd was a pleasant change of pace, I was surprised by the character it had. Definitely a big jump from Toxicity. I never listened much to Steal This Album!, so it was a big jump for me.

CKY's An Answer Can Be Found is distinctly CKY, but it's very different in approach and feel from their other two works. I think it's a fresh sound that has a lot of character to it, I was impressed by this cd.

Coheed and Cambria's new cd, Good Apollo... is excellent. The whole cd is amazing, but the last four tracks (The Willing Well I-IV) make the cd on their own. Maybe it's just that I'm a fan of concept albums and the like, in general, but I enjoy the way this cd opens and closes.

I really like Death Cab for Cutie's new cd, Plans. I had enjoyed Transatlanticism but it never hit me the way Plans does. Great cd from start to finish.

Horse the Band's new album, The Mechanical Hand, is intense! It's more of what I loved from R. Borlax, but they kicked the insanity up a notch or three. Amazing stuff.

Oh, and who can forget Children of Bodom's new cd, Are You Dead Yet? Where Hate Crew Deathroll lost me a bit since it seemed like more of a straightforward metal album, the new one brings back a lot of keyboards and melody that made Bodom's early cds, with a hint of hardcore in it that they pull off really well.

There weren't much disappointments among bands I listen to this year. At the least, I wasn't crazy about From Autumn to Ashes' new album, which is pretty good but can't compare to Too Bad You're Beautiful, in my opinion. I just gave the Decemberists' new cd a listen and it sounds great, and I'll have to check out Metric's new cd as soon as possible. And I still haven't listened to Opeth's new album!

This post has been edited by Jlombardi13 on 16th October 2005 21:35

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