Albums Released In 2015 That You're Enjoying Or Expecting To

[Dream Sphere]

I was just curious what music albums people are looking forward to this year, or ones that've released already and have brought you great enjoyment.

So far one album I was really looking forward to has released and it's very good, but the production bogged it down a fair bit unfortunately. It's Blind Guardian's new album called Beyond the Red Mirror and it's been fluctuating in my ranking of their ten albums between 6th and 4th place. The songwriting on about half of the songs could've made it worthy of a top 3 spot if the production/mixing wasn't so poor. My favourite songs from the album are "Prophecies," "The Holy Grail," "The Throne," and "Sacred Mind." I've still yet to listen to the second bonus track called "Doom," that's only found on the Ear Book editions of the album or the Japanese Limited Edition, but I've heard from people that the song's good, and I'll probably pick up the Deluxe Ear Book Edition sometime. I'd rate the album about an 8.5/10 currently.

I've also been looking forward to some other albums, but none other than Blind Guardian's I've had the chance to hear in full yet, but, there have been singles released from a number of albums I'm interested in that I've heard.

Sigh, my favourite band, has released a single for their album Graveward called "Out of the Grave" and I like it a lot. It's kinda like a "The Transfiguration Fear" type song mixed with some of the kind of riffing they played on Hangman's Hymn. Here's a link to "Out of the Grave" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el0IdD_y6gg Supposedly it's the fastest song on the album, and the majority of the album is going to be either mid-paced or slow.

Melechesh has scheduled their new album Enki to release later this month, and I'm at least interested in hearing what they've got to offer on it. I can't say I was a huge fan of their last album, but it still was pretty good. I'm more of a fan of their albums Emissaries, and Sphynx. The album cover for Enki looks beautiful to me here's the metal-archives webpage for anyone interested to see what it looks like (the album cover is on the right) - http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Me ... nki/476089 - Their record label (Nuclear Blast) released two songs from their album in support of it, and I think "Multiple Truths" is good/decent, and has good production, but it definitely isn't going to become one of my favourites of theirs. "Lost Tribes" was a fair bit better, and rekindled my interest in this album after hearing the underwhelming "Multiple Truths," but I don't think it'll be a favourite of mine in their discography either, but it's still quite good.

Visigoth released their debut album titled The Revenant King some weeks ago, and I've only heard one song from it so far. I think it was good, but I definitely preferred their EP that was released 3 years ago, but I'll need to check out the rest of the album to see if they've hopefully done anything better that's either as good or even better than their EP that they released in 2012.


Some other bands I like that're probably going to release albums this year are Mondstille with their album Metamorphosis, Absu with Apsu. Also, here are some as of yet untitled albums from bands I like that could release this year; as of February 6th Forefather says their new album is 99% done, and the title will come soon with the cover art, Cor Scorpii is a little less close to finishing their new album, and Mistur is probably about the same in their progress as Cor Scorpii in completing their new albums. Also, hopefully Wintersun will pull it together to release Time II this year, though it took them 8 years from their debut self-titled album (from 2004) to release Time I in 2012 when they originally promised it for 2006, and Time II was originally supposed to release either the same year, or year after Time I which would've put it at 2013 at the latest, so I have no clue when or if they'll even release the album.

Two other bands I've liked in the past, but have been unsure of my liking of them in recent years that are going to release or have already released an album are Angra with their album Secret Garden, and Ensiferum with One Man Army, the former I'm unsure about more due to ignorance of their recent albums, the latter due to my taste in their recent albums being poor.


There're probably more bands that'll announce/release new albums this year, so I'll be sure to update them into my list, plus give some reviews for what I've thought of the other new albums here too, once they've released.

Hopefully there'll be many people that can share what albums they're excited for this year, 'cause it's always nice to discover good new music, and while there's also a lot of good music from the past of course, it's also nice to feel like there's still good music being made today.

[Jebus]

I gave up all hope of discovering good new music many years ago. I prefer spending my time searching for gems from 1966-1993 that I may have missed. I recently listened through the 5 most recommended (by critics) albums from 2000-2010 and I was thoroughly disappointed.

[Dream Sphere]

I gave up all hope of discovering good new music many years ago. I prefer spending my time searching for gems from 1966-1993 that I may have missed. I recently listened through the 5 most recommended (by critics) albums from 2000-2010 and I was thoroughly disappointed.

I agree partially, on the part of it being good to look for music from the past and not being absorbed by only what's currently happening in music. Likewise, I also think it's good not to shut off the possibilities of discovering music from any time period or genre in a way that could have you missing out on something you otherwise would've really enjoyed. Therefore, I essentially am open to listening to music written in 2015, back to the 17th century, or even earlier.

I'm curious what genres do you like, as well as what were those five albums recommended by critics? There's a ton of music out there now, and it does take some wading through stuff to get to what you could potentially really like, but there's probably still something or another that was made in recent years that most people could find appreciable.

Also, why specifically cut it off at 1993, as well as nothing earlier than 1966? I understand if you specifically search in that time period due to there being a better likely-hood of finding music you'll enjoy due probably to your familiarity with the period, but I think finding music you like all has to do with where you've rooted yourself. So, if you spread your roots to more ground and open up new pathways in music you like, be it in time periods or genres, you'll soon find it easier to start branching out from there once you've found something you like and can hold onto in a previously unexplored period or genre. You'll then be able to tell what you like more and don't like as much about different genres or music from that period, so that you'll have a better idea of what to look for in each respective genre or period. Which will make it easier to find new music in genres or time periods you've just begun to familiarize yourself with.

I could try recommending you some stuff, if you were to tell me what sorts of music you already enjoy, so as to possibly get you started on branching out.

[Neptual]

While I try to stay away from the crap that's made today I do like some newer artists ( no, not Taylor Swift). I've liked listening to Kanye West however while I don't agree with his lifestyle or his personality I still enjoy listening to his music. I listen to all kinds of music even if I know it's going to be bad just so I can at least give them a chance.

I feel that people have a favorite type of music don't listen to enough music.

The only album I'm waiting to come out is with Kanye West (and Paul McCartney).

[Dream Sphere]

While I try to stay away from the crap that's made today I do like some newer artists ( no, not Taylor Swift). I've liked listening to Kanye West however while I don't agree with his lifestyle or his personality I still enjoy listening to his music. I listen to all kinds of music even if I know it's going to be bad just so I can at least give them a chance.

I feel that people have a favorite type of music don't listen to enough music.

The only album I'm waiting to come out is with Kanye West (and Paul McCartney).

Well I'd say I have a favourite type of music, but I've enjoyed and listen to a fair variety of music. My favourite genre is Metal music and even there in that genre I have preferred sub-genres and preferred sub-sub-genres, though my preferences of those do fluctuate. While I also enjoy Folk music like Gordon Lightfoot, and Ulver's and Manegarm's pure Folk albums. I like some Swing music I've heard, as well as other Pop and Country songs from the Fallout video games that's soundtrack focuses around music made from the 1950's and back. I like some Prog-rock like Rush, and other older rock like Queen, The Animals, Boston, The Doors, The Beatles etc. I like Alcest's more Post-rock/Shoegaze oriented songs. I've liked some sorta Electronic/Ambient stuff like some of what Delerium makes, as well as the Electronic/Industrial influences Samael incorporates into their songs. I've also liked some Chiptune like Rainbowdragoneyes though my interest in his music has waned a little. I like Classical, Baroque and Romantic era Classical too, though I've yet to really familiarize myself with lesser known composers. There's probably more I'm forgetting, but I've got to go right now.

Having a favourite genre is really just a preference, and I can't see how having a preferred genre means I wouldn't like enough other music.


Edit: okay, it seems I have a bit more time now, so I'm going to elaborate this post, and will edit it again soon.

And when it comes to Metal music, I'm a fan of over 150 Metal bands, and the variety between many of those bands is quite large. The genre's been my musical "passion" for a while and it's certainly the genre I've explored the most, but many of those bands also incorporate genres outside of Metal into their music, so I've been a tiny bit less inclined (though in other circumstances have gotten a greater interest) to venture outside of Metal. I'm pretty satisfied with what I've found in Metal, and a lot of my time listening to music is taken up by the genre, but I still take time now and then to try to find music from other genres I can enjoy and I've been pretty successful with it I think.

[Jebus]

what were those five albums recommended by critics?

Radiohead- Kid A which I thought was very lame (although I consider Karma Police one of the greatest songs ever made)
Arcade Fire- Funeral (this was the only album I liked a little bit
The Strokes- Is this it?
Wilco- Yankee hotel foxtrot
Arctic Monkeys- Whatever people

[quote="Dream Sphere"Also, why specifically cut it off at 1993, as well as nothing earlier than 1966?[/quote]

Until fairly recently I was saying that good music ended in 1989. I spent my young adulthood living in southern California in the early 90s and at the time I had already begun my negative attitude towards "new music". While my friends were listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam I was still enjoying Euro 80s music. I very much regret this today, having realized that the early 90s brought with it some excellent music and some of the greatest singers in music history. Regrettably, since then the rare joy of finding new good music has become increasingly unusual.

With a few exceptions I don't appreciate pre 1966 pop/rock music very much. The artists come off as very fake and superficial and the sound makes the live recordings unbearable. I actually prefer early 50s Sinatra rat pack music to late 50s early 60s rock n'roll.

I usually attribute my dislike to new music by the following three criteria (the first two being the most prominent):
1. These days, compared to the past, an artist must be good looking to succeed
2. Due to plagiarism laws, it is difficult for a modern artist to come up with a melody that has not already been written down.
3. Drugs improved the song writing in the late 60s to early 90s.

[quote="Dream Sphere" I could try recommending you some stuff, if you were to tell me what sorts of music you already enjoy, so as to possibly get you started on branching out.[/quote]

Thanks, I recently discovered a great song (Hero by Family of the Year) while watching the excellent movie "Boyhood." Unfortunately such discoveries have been rare in the last 20 years. Porcupine Tree has made a few great songs but unfortunately these are burried in layers of shit. My favorite albums ever are:

1. Les Miserables- Complete Symphonic recording 1989
2. Manfred Mann's Earth Band- Angel Station 1979
3. Alphaville- Afternoons in Utopia 1986
4. Men without hats- Pop goes the World 1987
5. Red Box-The Circle and the Square 1986

You noted that you have a preference to metal music. A couple of years ago I traveled to one of the world's most isolated villages in Orinoco, Venezuela. When hearing that I came from Gothenburg, Sweden a young local man started talking to me about all the great bands he loved from Gothenburg. He was shocked to learn that I had not heard of any of them. Hence, I am not very hip.

[Neptual]

Having a favourite genre is really just a preference, and I can't see how having a preferred genre means I wouldn't like enough other music.

By favorite I mean people who say that they only like one genre and won't listen to any other ones.

[Dream Sphere]

what were those five albums recommended by critics?

Radiohead- Kid A which I thought was very lame (although I consider Karma Police one of the greatest songs ever made)
Arcade Fire- Funeral (this was the only album I liked a little bit
The Strokes- Is this it?
Wilco- Yankee hotel foxtrot
Arctic Monkeys- Whatever people

Those all seem to be bands of which play a style of Alternative Rock, or at least have on some of their albums. I'm quite sure all those five albums were Alt-Rock. What do you think of the Alternative Rock genre in general? Of your top 5 favourite music albums you showed me it seems (according to wikipedia) three were a sort of Synth Pop/New Wave, another was a mix of Prog Rock/Art-Rock, and the one in the first spot was a musical. I'm curious if those are the main sorts of genres you're interested in, or if you'd call those albums' genres different, and if there's any other styles you enjoy a lot. My knowledge of those genres isn't great, and I'm sorry if I led you to believe I was really knowledgeable about many genres, I'd really only consider myself an expert with the Metal genre, so I'll try to recommend some of that which may be more accessible to someone with your tastes near the end of my post.

Also, why specifically cut it off at 1993, as well as nothing earlier than 1966?

Until fairly recently I was saying that good music ended in 1989. I spent my young adulthood living in southern California in the early 90s and at the time I had already begun my negative attitude towards "new music". While my friends were listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam I was still enjoying Euro 80s music. I very much regret this today, having realized that the early 90s brought with it some excellent music and some of the greatest singers in music history. Regrettably, since then the rare joy of finding new good music has become increasingly unusual.

Is what the singer sings often the most important or often best part of the songs you enjoy? This would be helpful for me to know, as well as what kinds of vocalists you enjoy so I can narrow some of my suggestions down to groups that would be more likely to please you.

I usually attribute my dislike to new music by the following three criteria (the first two being the most prominent):
1. These days, compared to the past, an artist must be good looking to succeed
2. Due to plagiarism laws, it is difficult for a modern artist to come up with a melody that has not already been written down.
3. Drugs improved the song writing in the late 60s to early 90s.

On some level your first point is kinda true, but it depends how you define succeeding. If you mean succeeding as in an artist becoming very popular with being able to generate a large monetary income from their performances and releases, then that's probably the most true, though I wouldn't say all bands/artists that are very popular and wealthy today are necessarily good looking, but I do agree many (but not all) of them do ride on their looks for their popularity, some more blatantly and some others possibly inadvertently. Also, if you look at succeeding as just making music that sounds good, there're many lesser known bands and some better known ones today that don't try to look attractive at all, and their image really doesn't play a role in most people I've known to be fans of them's reasons for enjoying them.

I'm unsure about your second point, but I feel a lot of the copyright claims are made by popular artists against popular artists, and I don't think these claims are as prevalent in more underground sorts of music. I've known some bands to openly present that they're using samples of music from another band, and I'd expect they just give some royalties to whatever artist they're taking that small song section from. Also, all music is derivative on one level or another, so unless a "new" song is basically like a cover of an already existing song is almost completely the same, I find it a little funny for copyrights to be coming their way, though there's definitely a grey area on where something will actually cross the line of plagiarism, I tend to error on it not being plagiarism unless it's a large section of the song that's 95% or more the same, or very, very similar to an already existing song. Luckily, I do still find bands making melodies I'd never heard before though, but there are a lot of similarities between some bands I know of for sure.

For your third point; who said musicians stopped using drugs? I'm semi-kidding of course, but while I can kind of understand why some people could think it'd give an artist more potential from the abstract spontaneous inspiration it could elicit, I just haven't really seen any decline in the creativity of many modern bands and artists I enjoy, some of whom probably do consume drugs, but I'd also bet that many do not and have been just as creative.

I could try recommending you some stuff, if you were to tell me what sorts of music you already enjoy, so as to possibly get you started on branching out.

Thanks, I recently discovered a great song (Hero by Family of the Year) while watching the excellent movie "Boyhood." Unfortunately such discoveries have been rare in the last 20 years. Porcupine Tree has made a few great songs but unfortunately these are burried in layers of shit. My favorite albums ever are:

1. Les Miserables- Complete Symphonic recording 1989
2. Manfred Mann's Earth Band- Angel Station 1979
3. Alphaville- Afternoons in Utopia 1986
4. Men without hats- Pop goes the World 1987
5. Red Box-The Circle and the Square 1986

You noted that you have a preference to metal music. A couple of years ago I traveled to one of the world's most isolated villages in Orinoco, Venezuela. When hearing that I came from Gothenburg, Sweden a young local man started talking to me about all the great bands he loved from Gothenburg. He was shocked to learn that I had not heard of any of them. Hence, I am not very hip.

So, as I kind of mentioned earlier, while I could probably recommend some artists/bands from the genres those five favourite albums of your are, I think you would probably already know them due to my knowledge of genres, (besides Metal of which I am an expert,) not being too extensive, and the bands I would recommend would be from the time period you already enjoy. Which is a product of me not being very familiar with those genres.

As for the local man who mentioned about your hometown being a hotspot for Metal bands, that's quite true. A number of popular Power Metal bands came from that area, and according to the website metal-archives there've been 312 Metal bands from that city in Sweden, though many are independent/very underground bands to be sure. Gothenburg is probably best known for the three Metal bands that pioneered the sub-genre Melodic Death Metal. The bands' names are At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, and In Flames. Of the Melodic Death Metal bands I like I actually prefer the Finnish and Norwegian ones, but those three bands provided a good groundwork for bands that came later.

At the Gates went on hiatus for a while after their 1995 album, which was also their most popular album called Slaughter of the Soul. Only last year did they come back with a new album titled At War with Reality. I've only listened to two of their albums, SotS, and their first album The Red in the Sky is Ours, and I definitely prefer their first album, but I kinda doubt you would enjoy either due to the type of vocals on the albums.

Dark Tranquility I'm probably the least familiar with of the three. I've only heard about a dozen of their songs, half of which are from probably one of their most critically acclaimed albums The Gallery also from 1995. I know that later into their career they started incorporating more Goth Rock/Symphonic stuff into their music, which at some point down the line quite drastically lowered their appeal to Metalheads who enjoyed their early albums.

In Flames is probably my favourite of the three and has created some stuff that I like quite a bit more than the other two, but they made that music early in their career, and later into their career they incorporated Alternative Metal (not to be confused with Alt-Rock) into their sound which made them produce probably some of the worst albums that the three have made.


I doubt those three would appeal to you due to the vocal styles on the albums, and I was planning to mostly show you Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Traditional Doom Metal, Folk Metal, Avant-garde Metal, and Symphonic Metal after hearing what your favourite 5 albums were, since those sub-genres would likely be more accessible to you than the harsher Extreme Metal sub-genres like Death Metal and Black Metal. But, just so you can hear at least one album that I think is good that also came from your home town, here's In Flames' EP titled Subterranean that was released in 1994. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suzldZRB3OU


Okay, I'll now start on recommending you some other stuff. It would be good if you could give me feedback on what you like/dislike about the various bands and songs I'll show you.


Here's a song from my favourite Power Metal band that's from Germany called Blind Guardian. You may've noticed I posted about their new album from this year in the thread earlier, and here's a song from their new album. It's called "Prophecies" and it has many symphonic/operatic elements, with a very melodic/harmonious approach and some progressive elements. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kTxfjjSu4

Here's another song by them from an older album. Here's "Blood Tears" from their 1998 album Nightfall in Middle-earth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPlocfzFLnQ


Here's a Swedish Power Metal band that has a vocalist similar to the one from Blind Guardian, they're called Persuader. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIge-101ot4


Here's a pure Folk song from a Folk Metal band I like from Sweden called Månegarm. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlQxiuje9Ww


Here's an Atmospheric Doom Metal song from a French band called Lethian Dreams. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8ihG3coGs


Here's a Post-Rock/Shoegaze song from a French band called Alcest. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waGDKnFv_Vg


Here's an Avant-garde Metal song from my favourite band Sigh, who are from Japan. This song has harsh vocals, and I would definitely understand if you found it off-putting, but I did so as well when I first heard harsh vocals like this, but after first beginning to tolerate them, and then learning to actually enjoy them it's now opened me up to a lot of music I hold among my favourites nowadays. Anyways here's the song to at least have a try at. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dqKbzRqc5g

Sigh made an album back in 2005 with only clean vocals, but they're not a typical type of clean vocals really and could use some getting used to, but here's a song from that album as well. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dd8_0v2EXI


Here's a band with some harsh vocals but that also uses clean vocals. Their genre is said to be best described as Psychedelic Black Metal. I'm unsure if this particular song best shows it, but I've heard them described as "The Doors meets Black Metal." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOQhnQerRfo


Here's a song from a Finnish Melodic Death Metal band called Wintersun that later incorporated massive amounts of synths and orchestrations into their music. I've heard many people who've said they used to dislike Metal express how much this album/song opened them up to the genre. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMbFu457jGs


Here's an Avant-garde Metal band from Norway called Solefald, I don't believe this has any harsh vocals, though I might need to re-listen to be sure, I know it does have clean vocals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9aSymmizxM


Here's an instrumental Black Metal song, so you don't need to worry about the vocals being dissonant. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by-oN-TpVUU


Here's an Epic Doom Metal band called Candlemass. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmV9MsFnUbk


Here's another Power Metal band, this one's from Finland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQtuPvtye5Y



I hope you'll like all of it, though I'm uncertain of if you'll like any of it, but it'd be good to at least give some feedback on what you thought about the songs.

[Jebus]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've never been a big metal fan, but will give it a listen.

[Dream Sphere]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've never been a big metal fan, but will give it a listen.

So, I'll understand if you didn't like what I recommended you, but I'm curious if you could give me your opinion of the different songs I recommended? Don't worry about giving any sort of highly detailed opinion, I'd just like to know if you liked any of what I showed you, so maybe that I could have success in recommending you more music you may enjoy.