Destrage - Are You Kidding Me? No.
March 4
Still one of my favorite bands that I've listened to in the last year. Here's to a hundred more albums!
Intervals - A Voice Within
March 4
The singer introduced on this album has since left the band. Back to the instrumental-djent drawing board! Unless Tesseract's Ashe O'Hara is interested in the job opening.
Animals As Leaders - The Joy Of Motion
March 24
Ronnie James Dio: This Is Your Life
March 31
Prong - Ruining Lives
April 23
Played through this album once and completely forgot about it afterwards. It's a shame, really. I genuinely enjoyed their last output, Carved Into Stone.
Cloudkicker - EPs, Live with Intronaut, and Little Histories
April 24, November 24, December 1
Here's one I got to see live, at one of their first performances as this lineup!
Mushroomhead - The Righteous & The Butterfly
May 13
Not sure which is more disappointing: the album itself, which wasn't helped that much with the return of original vocalist Jason Popson, or the fact that half the band, some of whom had been involved since the band's earlist incarnations, were kicked out earlier for dubious reasons.
Pink Guy - Pink Guy
May 22
Warning: Extremely NSFW, and extremely funny.
Die Antwoord - Donker Mag
June 3
I only discovered this group recently, relenting that "Mindless Self Indulgence on meth" is exactly what I've been searching for my entire musical life. One of the few bands where I can honestly say that the music videos are just as captivating, if not more so, than the music itself. Here's to their appearance in "Chappie" next year!
Dog Fashion Disco - Sweet Nothings
July 22
Yet another disappointment for me, but possibly the one that I was eagerly anticipating the most this year. I discovered this band late in their game, years after they had already called it quits and worked on similarly bizarre-yet-catchy side projects. Right when I had nearly listened to every song in their catalogue, they announce a reunion and new album, and it ends up falling flat with subsequently little fanfare. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though I wasn't exactly clamoring for such a comeback, especially after all this time. Hopefully, the new Faith No More release won't suffer the same fate as their proteges.
Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
June 24
Decided to give this band yet another second chance, and I like what I hear so far. Obviously, I'm a sucker for their more straightforward offerings of their sludge-fueled seminal albums, but I was surprised to find how little I was opposed to their dabblings into progressive rock. Plus, they don't seem to take their time when it comes to releasing a regular amount of material. In the end, Mastodon maintains their title as the heavyweight champions of both the prog and sludge metal scenes. And I vastly appreciate the audacity of their "controversial" new music video, lovingly made in celebration of the culture of their hometown Atlanta, especially in a time when it seems as if the modern morality police are rearing their ugly heads into heavy metal discourse.
Monuments - The Amanuensis
July 8
Guardians Of The Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1
July 29
Opeth - Pale Communion
August 25
Mike Doughty - Stellar Motel
September 16
YEAH! FUCK IT!
Devin Townsend Project - Z2
October 27
Haken - Restoration
October 27
Skyharbor - Guiding Lights
November 10
Halo 2 Anniversary (Original Soundtrack)
November 11
The remastered version of this game is AMAZING. Go play it. I can't honestly say the same for the first and third Halos, both of which let me down both in game-play dynamics, cutscene quality, and graphical performance. But I did learn that I don't hate Halo 4 nearly as much as I used to, or as much as the gaming community as a whole does. Oh, and the upgraded soundtrack includes Steve Vai and Misha Monsoor, placed at key moments in the game's select action scenes.
Pastors Of Muppets
November 24
Brass band covers of metal and rock classics. 'Nuff said.
See you all next year when I expand my musical taste to include even more nerdy djent and prog metal, and hopefully more weird rap-rave from exotic continents.
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