2015 in music

Top 5 Albums

  1. Under the Red Cloud - Amorphis
  2. The Book of Souls - Iron Maiden
  3. The Anthropocene Extinction - Cattle Decapitation
  4. Hand. Cannot. Erase - Steven Wilson
  5. Abyss - Chelsea Wolfe
Top 5 Songs
  1. Mene - Brand New
  2. The Blacker the Berry - Kendrick Lamarr
  3. Do You Wanna Get High? - Weezer
  4. The Book of Souls - Iron Maiden
  5. After the Fall - Chelsea Wolfe
Top 5 Disappointments
  1. Bruce's Cancer
  2. Rush
  3. My enjoyment of Justin Bieber songs this year
  4. Christopher Lee died
  5. Motorhead at Glastonbury
 
Top 5 Albums

1. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
2. Lightning Bolt - Fantasy Empire
3. Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
4. Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
5. Death Curse - Death Curse

The others would require more thought than I have time to give at the moment.
 
Thanks for reminding me about Lightning Bolt! I heard the single early this year and then completely forgot to check out the album.
 
Albums
1. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
2. Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
3. Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
4. Paradise Lost - The Plague Within
5. Katatonia - Sanctitude (Live album based on the acoustic Dethroned and Uncrowned tour, I saw one of those shows in 2014)
I've also given a bit of play time to Children of Bodom - I Worship Chaos, and Ghost - Meliora.

Songs:
1. Iron Maiden - If Eternity Should Fail
2. Iron Maiden - Empire of the Clouds
3. Amorphis - Sacrifice
4. Amorphis - Tree of Ages
5. Paradise Lost - No Hope In Sight

Disappointments:
1. Bruce's illness - although seeing the man himself in August, bursting with energy, was a huge highlight of the year as far as I'm concerned :)
2 Chris Squire of Yes died.
3. The freshly re-united A-ha's new album, Cast In Steel. They've made some quality pop over the years, but have settled for too warm and fluffy here
5. All the hate for Iced Earth. <_<
4. I still can't count.

New category: things to look forward to in 2016
Aussie melodeath band Be'lakor have their fourth album on the way, hopefully looking at being released in 2016, after it was delayed this year. Very much looking forward to this based on everything else they've released to date. My pet band Katatonia are also working on a new studio album. And yes, Iced Earth's long-awaited The Judas Goat. Also interested in Abbath's new album in January.
 
I forgot another major disappointment for the year: The Savatage reunion.
 
Top 5 Albums:

1. The Darkness - Last of our Kind
2. Sweet & Lynch - Only to Rise
3. U.D.O. - Decadent
4. Mark Knopfler - Tracker
5. Five Finger Death Punch - Got Your Six

Top 5 Songs:

1. The Darkness - "Last of our Kind"
2. Sweet & Lynch - "Recover"
3. Mark Knopfler - "Lights of Taormina"
4. Richie Kotzen - "The Enemy"
5. Scorpions - "Eye of the Storm"

Disappointments (albums):

1. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
2. Europe - War of Kings
3. Lynch Mob - Rebel
4. The Winery Dogs - Hot Streak
5. Backyard Babies - Four by Four

My Spotify list for 2015 counts to 92 acknowledged album & single releases. Among those that could have but didn't make this list are The Answer, Hardcore Superstar, Revolution Saints, The Poodles, Ghost, Wearing Scars, Graveyard, Halestorm, Helloween, SOTO, Toto, Mustasch, Eclipse, Stryper, Praying Mantis, Imperial State Electric, Richie Kotzen etc.

Poto said:
No Europe fans here? War of Kings was a really good album.
Click to expand...

Big Europe fan, one of my absolute favourite bands. However, War of Kings didn't do anything for me. Secret Society (2006) is my favourite album by them, and I thought they had found a sound they could run with, a modern hard rock sound away from the glam metal days of the 80's. Instead they decided to further change and become a retro band, to again be part of a larger trend, this time of mostly painfully mediocre 70's hard rock with varying degrees of hammond organs & boring guitarwork. The Kevin Shirley produced Bag of Bones is still arguably very good - War of Kings not so much.
 
Top 5 Albums:

2015 was a "two album" year for me. Over the first half of the year I really only listened to Enslaved's In Times and ever since the last week of August I have listened to The Book of Souls from beginning to end at least 100 times. Three of my other favourite bands also released new albums in 2015...Ahab, The Sword and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats...but due to my intensity over Enslaved and Maiden I haven't yet had a chance to listen.

1) Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
2) Enslaved - In Times
------------------
3) Ahab - The Boats of the Glen Carrig
4) The Sword - High Country
5) Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Mind Crawler

Top 5 Songs:

1) The Red And The Black
2) Empire Of The Clouds
3) The Book Of Souls
4) Shadows Of The Valley
5) Death Or Glory

Favourite Concerts Of The Year:

1) Alestorm - 28 Nov @ Manning Bar, Sydney Australia
2) Pallbearer - 20 June @ Hermann's Bar, Sydney Australia
3) Amanda Palmer - 20 Jan @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney Australia
+ Lamb of God, Ne Obliviscaros, Testament, Exodus

Most Disappointing Concerts of the Year:

Helloween, Machine Head, Faith No More

Personal Highlights of 2015:

1) Hearing the news that Bruce had beaten cancer
2) Family holiday in the U.S.
3) My sister's 40th birthday party
4) Putting up a pergola on my rooftop terrace
5) Buying tickets to see Maiden on tour next year
 
Albums.

1. Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls
2. Royal Thunder - Crooked Doors
3. Toundra - IV
4. Kovacs - Shades Of Black
5. Beth Hart - Better Than Home


Songs.

1. Iron Maiden - Empire Of The Clouds
2. Royal Thunder - Time Machine
3. Toundra - Kitsune
4. Kovacs - Night Of The Nights
5. Beth Hart - Mechanical Heart


Disappointments.

1. Shinedown - Threat To Survival
2. Halestorm - Into The Wild Life
3. Symphony X - Underworld
4&5. Duran Duran - Paper Gods and Tremonti - Cauterize. Not really disappointments because I wasn't looking forward to listening to them. It just happened to listen to both albums and I wish there were more songs like The Butterfly Girl and Cauterize in them.
 
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FYI The Book of Souls Rankings on Critics End-of-Year Lists

Classic Rock - #1
Metal Hammer UK - #1
Kerrang! - #2
NME - N/A
Rolling Stone - N/A

(I'll update when i get more)
 
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