Blogg

1. Wintersun — Time I (Symphonic Metal) (--/--)
No comments on this, first part of the album which was the ultimate purpose of our unaware ancestors hitting boulders with sticks and thus producing first music sounds.

2. Finsterforst — Rastlos (Epic Blackened Folk Metal) (10/10)
This album brings Finsterforst from a “Moonsorrow lookalike” level to “HOLYSHIT” level, while the band surpasses their spiritual inspirators in many aspects. A breath of the ancient times, a monolithic coloss, excellently produced album taking all the good things not just from the band’s past and Moonsorrow roots but also from such names as Bathory, Summoning and Equilibrium.

3. Machinae Supremacy — Rise Of A Digital Nation (SID Metal) (10/10)
Yet another eclectic but 100% true-to-themselves melodic feast from these unique Swedes, perfectioning their already unquestionable skill and creativity.

4. Galneryus — Angel of Salvation (Neoclassical/Power Metal) (9.5/10)
…

Better late than never.

…or so they say? Well, it is kinda late, but then again, I was too greedy – wanted to rat—I mean, listen to so much music, hence the delay.

Note that my rating scale may (and probably will) differ from yours. Short summary:
9 – amazing
8 – very good, recommended for everyone
7 – not bad, if you like the genre/band very much, you might give it a try…
6 – well, you CAN listen to it, but there’s no point. Boring/annoying for some reason. Not recommended (maybe if you’re a fanboy of the band – but in that case you’d already own the album)
Anything below 6 – no. Just no.

2/10
This Or The Apocalypse – Dead Years // I’d rather have the Apocalypse…

5/10
All That Remains – A War You Can Not Win

5,5/10
As I Lay Dying – Awakened
Ektomorf – Black Flag
Every Time I Die – Ex Lives

6/10
Arthemis – We Fight
At Vance – Facing Your Enemy
Cradle of Filth – The Manticore and Other Horrors
Delain – We Are the Others
DragonForce – The Power Within
Eluveitie – Helvetios
…

Лучшие альбомы:

Silent Descent – Mind Games (Modern Melodic Death Metal) 10/10
Со времён первого альбома «Duplicity» миновало ни много ни мало 4 года и, похоже, всё это время группа накапливала мощь, чтобы заключив контракт с лейблом выдать действительно крутой релиз – музыкальный наркотик, который попробовав раз, уже невозможно отказаться от удовольствия вкусить его ещё раз. А потом ещё и ещё. Похоже, парни учли все свои прошлые недочёты и записали безупречный со всех сторон альбом с фантастической энергетикой, качественным звуком и целым вагоном хитов. Конечно же, особой похвалы здесь заслуживает электроника, ибо она красива, воздушна (чего только стоит клавишное соло в Lasting Impression и трансовый фейерверк в Breaking The Space) и самое главное – отлично вплетена в структуру композиций. Во второй раз группа доказала, что и в таком жанре как модерн метал можно звучать свежо и оригинально.

As I Lay Dying – Awakened (Metalcore) 10/10
…

I meant to have this posted over a week ago, but I've been sitting on it this entire time because of the #10 spot. There were so many choices for it, and I kept listening to each option over and over trying to decide which I prefer. Ultimately, I ended up picking the current #10 just because it has the prettiest cover. This kind of confusion tells me 2012 has been a good year for music overall. Out of all the albums I found even slightly disappointing, only one of them got a fairly low rating. More importantly, this has been a stellar year for new artists. Two of these albums are debut albums, and one of the albums that fought for #10 is one too.

Commence list.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa209/Zadion_Apocalaya/2012%20Albums/SwallowtheSun-EmeraldForestandtheBlackbird_zpsc033e36f.jpg

Honorable Mention: Swallow the Sun - Emerald Forest and the Blackbird
As with last year, this year's honorable mention isn't a tremendous album worthy of top 10. Rather, this is one of the two albums that surprised me the most. …

So, yet another issue of the Year End Summary is about to amuse and bewilder you. It was an awesome year for music, and it was also a totally magnificent year for my other passion, cinema, but that's not the place to speak about it. Anyway, for quite some time I've had this thought that this summary business is kinda stupid – suddenly in December you realise how many potentially awesome albums you've missed and then you desperately try to make up for it by listening as much as you can, neglecting your work, studies, family, girlfriend, cat or whatever you've got to care for. Not that I intend to drop doing this or something, I guess I just like doing pointless stuff nobody cares about. Oh well, I start to blabber here. So, let's get ready to rumble!


3/10:
This Or The Apocalypse – Dead Years (The Worst Album of the Year and The Disappointment of the Year; it's actually really, really sad how this band managed to stoop so low after two great releases...)
…

Content:
1. List of records ('normal' albums) I got
2. List of EPs, Live records, Best Ofs, Special Editions
3. Total statistics according to my Library (on my PC)
4. Top 10 Artists
5. Top 10 Songs
6. Top 10 Albums
7. Top 5 worst records (personal choice)
8. Top 10 best records (personal choice)
9. Highly anticipated and confirmed new releases in 2013 that I am looking forward to

1. This year released records that I've listened:
1. All That Remains - A War You Cannot Win - 4/10
- What happened to this band?
2. Allegaeon - Formshifter - 7.5/10
- Their debut got 6.5 two years ago and since then they developed a lot - technically and songwriting-wise. However, it needed a lot of time to grow on me.
3. Anberlin - Vital - 7/10
- Got heavier again after their experimental Dark Is The Way (8/10) and I clearly hear some back to the roots tunes. Nevertheless, it's not their best, personally better than Dark Is The Way but still not worth 8.
…

BEST ALBUMS OF 2012

http://s01.flagcounter.com/count/RWRL/bg_FFFFFF/txt_000000/border_CCCCCC/columns_5/maxflags_40/viewers_0/labels_1/pageviews_1/flags_1/

С сожалением нужно признать, что год выдался не слишком богатым на релизы групп-фаворитов. Но это означает лишь, что следующий, 2013 год, порадует обилием таковых. Выше головы никто не прыгнул, но и в «лужу» почти никто не сел, марку более-менее удержали все те, от кого это ожидалось. Теперь по персоналиям.

1. Shinedown - Amaryllis | [alternative rock/post-grunge] 9,5/10
http://i54.fastpic.ru/big/2012/1217/7b/ff6ef79fe82408557ad78504ddad067b.jpg
На безрыбье, как говорится…Давно уже нацепив на себя желтую майку лидера пост-гранжевой сцены, американцы из Shinedown, откровенно говоря, не сделали какого-то серьезного шага вперед в музыкальном плане на новом альбоме Amaryllis по сравнению с прошлым The Sound of Madness. От них этого, правда, и не требовалось. Выражаясь спортивной терминологией…