Albums I found notable this year and wanted to review, chronologically from older to newer[This is gonna be long, my music taste is quite all around, if you're still interested, go ahead]:
Lostprophets-WeaponsA decent album with great potential but a somewhat lacking execution, some great songs and a great surprise in a form of a garage demo that was probably my favorite but only if they had done that in a decent quality with decent recording. A slight disappointment and their early albums were obviously better to me. 6/10.
Jack White-BlunderbussAfter his departure from the 'White Stripes' which I really love as a band resulting in the end of the band as it's only a two people band
, White carries on making good music and this time in a form of his solo album 'Blunderbuss' I liked the album, kinda fresh and very bluesy. some standout tracks and some other pretty good ones, I didn't listen to that quite as much as I'd wish but it's really good
I still prefer White Stripes . 8.5/10
Slash-Apocalyptic LoveThe legendary guitarist joins powers with the great singer from Alter Bridges, Myles. Slash picks an excellent partner to present a great album to us, one of my favorite singers ever, so versatile with his voice and yet so powerful when he needs on any vocal note he wishes. I should listen to it more to appreciate. Slash's playing, as solid and great as ever, he even gets better constantly. Some very powerful songs,some touching, dynamic album, some songs do feel like fillers though if I have to note out. 8.5/10
Fear Factory-The IndustrialistHere's a band I started liking recently, due to some of their old classic stuff maybe known to us stunters in the form of oldschool stuntvids[like barney's early vids] soundtracks and to some new stuff like 'Final Exit' song and many from 'Mechanize'. This album, although I didn't hear enough of it, is a strong and powerful album with strong songs and and feels like a Fear Factory comeback to their older sound with a twist. Initial rating would be 8/10
The Beach Boys-That's Why God Made The RadioTalk about a blast from the past, it's been a long time since they were young boys making hits and making a brilliant album 'Pet Sounds'. And stuff has changed, they still deserve a credit for their real effort in making a good album that has still the trademark harmonizing, nice piano and good music. 7/10
Rush-Clockwork AngelsI've never been a huge Rush fan for a reason, though their musicality and impact can not be doubted and I do like stuff by them. That album impresses me for several reasons: music- still great music, tasty bass lines[their bass lines.. oh..], awesome drum patterns and creativity over the top. singing- sounds as fresh as any other great nowadays singer and unique in his way, still. evolving- they still evolve and remain actual even today. My favorite song from that would be the song which gave the album it's name, simply great feeling, great sound, great bassline, awesome. And other great songs imo- 'Seven Cities Of Gold', 'The Wreckers', 'Headlong Flight', 'Carnies', 'Anarchist'... oh fuck it.. too many, most of them really. The album that made me a fan if you will. 9.5/10
Linkin Park-Living ThingsAs summer approached, I highly anticipated this album, a friend of mine knew how much I did. I finally got to hear it and in contrast to the disappointed fans I thought it was brilliant, finally an album which not only gave them a new way but also had the wow factor the first two albums of this band had. From Lost In The Echo, great song with a feel to Burn It Down, a classic LP track done nicely and a slightly weird at first 'Lies Greed Misery' which got good gradually. 'Castle Of Glass', a masterpiece of it's own, very different. Heavy kickass 'Victimized' which was one of my favorites and other interesting tracks that follow and then a nice finisher. 9/10
John Frusciante-PBX Funicular Intaglio ZoneI liked some parts of it but for one, I think most of it was a weird mess I didn't get, and I was quite disappointed. I think leaving RHCP was not the right thing to do on his behalf but then again, should do what he feels like. 5/10
Green Day-¡Uno!Highly anticipated this trilogy of albums which still hasn't quite finished releasing. First of them was pretty good at parts, nice songs like 'Oh Love', 'Nuclear Family', 'Carpe Diem', 'Let yourself go', 'Kill The Dj' which didn't have much point but was catchy and had cool instrumentals. A really tiny disappointed as I expected more and then kinda found out an album which was only ok and didn't get me all too impressed, good tho. 7/10
Muse-The 2nd LawAh that was a really great album, from start to finish, awesome music, awesome variety, great songs like 'Supremacy', 'Madness', 'Panic Station', 'Survival', 'Save Me' and 'Liquid State'. A big success of Muse in my eyes, really liked. 9.5/10
Three Days Grace- Transit Of VenusTDG surprised me again, great album for me.. quite a journey, powerful and fresh album by them. 'Chalk Outline'[wow what a song], 'Operate', 'Anonymous', 'Misery Loves My Company', 'Happiness', 'Time That Remains'[Great acoustic], 'Unbreakable Heart'. Only thing that might bother me is lyrical themes that aren't changing too often. 8.5/10
Greenday-¡Dos!This album's review is gonna be totally different than Uno's, and for a good reason, I thought it was brilliant... I liked almost anything about it really, the basslines, the ballads, the variety, guitar solos and generally all of it, very much one of my fav albums this year along with others mentioned above. Much better than Uno which leads to thinking how good the third is gonna be. 'See You Tonight' is very light and sweet, very touching and I like acoustics and their acoustics especially. 'Fuck Time' is shallow in the good way, unlike 'Kill The DJ' it's lyrics seem like some kinda comic take on what he's singing about, awesome solo too. 'Lazy Bones', very memorable, nice lyrics, nice bass[as usual, dirnt is badass] and a really nice song. Then wow, probably my favorite song from the album or one of, 'Wild One', just everything, the lyrics, the guitar with a lot of treble and a lot of feel, the song basically... from the first second I love it. 'Makeout Party' has a great bass and a great bass solo. 'Stray Heart' is another one of my favorites from that, again starts with awesome bass and goes on that way too, again very touching and lyrics that talk to me directly and clearly, then the buildup which explodes with drums and a fast, more energetic 'everything that I want...' singing billie, then comes the solo, very nice little breakout. 'Ashley' has a great energy and catchy lines. 'Wow That's Loud' is loud indeed, nice guitar work, very nice, another one of my favorites. And 'Amy', a very different, like the opener of this album, song. Very nice, full of emotion acoustic song that's quite blurry in sound but in a good way and another one of my favs. Oh and Nightlife totally didn't do it to me at all. 9.5/10
Deftones-Koi No YokanAn epic album in the literal meaning, very epic feel to it. Opens with a strong, 'big' singing and complimented by the instruments that way too. Then 'Romantic Dreams', describes purely something I can relate to in a Deftonish way, one of my favs. 'Leathers' is one of my favorites, builds up nicely, love the singing. 'Poltergeist' is strong.. very strong and different sounding guitar, with those little 'breaks' in the middle of the song that make the buildup exactly great. 'Entombed' is the right kinda pause from heavy singing that comes in the right time to give a nice unique feeling, kinda feels like the cover of the album looks. I didn't quite get 'Graphic Nature'. 'Tempest' is absolutely brilliant, nice bass and nice all over... ends nicely. 'Gauze' has one great playing on it with a really good structure, one of my favs, nice fading away ending. 'Goon Squad' feels very nice to listen to and the two very different parts of the song make it really interesting, one of my favs... that buildup, that 'story'. 9/10
Soundgarden-King AnimalThe comeback of the band I personally highly anticipated, with Cornell coming back to his old group after all his wandering. 'I've Been Away For Too Long' took time but eventually became a very loved song of mines, a great single leaving impression and anticipation. The album came and I can say it was really nice, felt like oldschool soundgarden with a few nice twists... I liked most of the songs and those I didn't like, will take longer till I like. Overall I think it was some great writing, guitar playing and very greatly formed song structures. 9/10
Oh.. and forgive me for forgetting one album I wanted to talk about
Wintersun-Time IWhat can I say that hasn't been said, I can only say this band came to my knowledge pretty late but from all I've heard about that album I decided to just give it a listen. First track, a wonderful intro... very melodic. The whole album in one piece, that's very good and takes skill to pull off nicely, obviously they have it... the instrumentals in particular draw you in more and more, so many layers excellently combine. Epic feeling is one way to describe the whole thing. 9/10 only because I still didn't get into them that much but they're obviously musically awesome.
