Happy Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holidays. I think take this opportunity to update a running post.
(This is one of those posts that has morphing potential [items, sentences, etc. taken away or added, as music continues to shape our ears and shape itself with each passing month, week, day, album, song, note...].)
As of 11/23/05, and still needing to hear MANY albums released this year, the following stands:
Albums of 2005 that have so far brazenly kicked my ass and have not (even if replay has decreased) stopped:
Norma Jean - "O' God, the Aftermath"
Still Remains - "Of Love and Lunacy"
Funeral for a Friend - "Hours"
Waking Ashland - "Composure"
Becoming the Archetype - "Terminate Damnation"
Mae - "The Everglow"
The Myriad - "Never Trust a Ladder"
Albums of 2005 that have so far subtlely kicked my ass and not (with replay probably going up) stopped:
The Hurt Process - "A Heartbeat Behind"
As I Lay Dying - "Shadows are Security"
Thrice - "Vhiessu"
Life in Your Way - "Ignite and Rebuild"
Albums of 2005 that frustrate the crap out of me purely because of bad production (or some other easily fixable f*ck-up):
Mortal Treason - "Sunrise Over a Sea of Blood" (There's more than one way to play a fucking keyboard!!! What a waste a great guitar work.)
Symphony in Peril - "The Whore's Trophy" (Either they have two song writers and one is a lazy dumbass, or they were cruelly pushed and shoved through the writing process)
Project 86 - "And the Rest Will Follow" (This is set aside because the problems are not necessarily easy to fix, but that makes them no less frustrating. The album is not THAT bad; every song has something going for it. But, the production is over-done in some places and under-done in others--often in the same song--, and most of the songs--but not all [see "Sincerely Ichabod," "Subject to Change" and "Necktie Remedy"]--could have been fleshed-out, reworked, and turned into beautiful monsters. Instead, most of the songs hit a happy button inside you, and then run off when you look to see who or what it was that hit the button, leaving you with an incomplete feeling. Maybe this album was rushed, or maybe they are starting to not care as much. Maybe, I'm asking too much of them [after all, I've been playing the CD quite regularly], but I think they've set thier own standard--with any of the previous three albums--as being higher than this.)
Pushing for year's best:
As Cities Burn - "Son, I loved You at Your Darkest"
Emery - "The Question"
Pushing for year's most disappointing:
The Evan Anthem - "Sens"
Other notables:
Thousand Foot Krutch - "The Art of Breating" (I'm not kidding. Really.)
Disciple - S/T (This is not a joke! Come on, I'm as shocked as anyone!)
Starflyer 59 - "Talking Voice VS. Singing Voice" (yes, I know it's the same stuff they've churning out for 12 years, but I keep pressing play when I sit at my computer. Thats got to mean something.)
Slow Coming Day - "Police and Paramedics" (self-produced and self-printed 4-song e.p. with no loss of song quality - impressive)
Apocalyptica - S/T
The Agony Scene - "The Darkest Red"
Hammock - "Kenotic"
From Autumn To Ashes - "Abandon Your Friends"
4th Avenue Jones - "Stereo: The Evolution of Hiprocksoul"
Plumb - "Chaotic Resolve"
Staple - "Of Truth and Reconciliation"
Yeah.
