TNF Presents: The Top 100 Albums Of 2016, Part II

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Here’s part II of our list of the top 100 albums of 2016. You can find part 1 after the jump below to see what you missed. There’s an incredibly diverse set of albums to listen to here, and I’d recommend checking them all out, no matter what genres of music you dig.

#75: What It Means To Be (Belle Noire)

It’s a shame Belle Noire’s debut full-length is only 9 songs long, but at the same time, it probably means more music is on the horizon fairly soon. In the span of those 9 songs, though, the band really seems to get into their zone, especially on tracks like “Regret” and “Sleep”, the latter of which features one of the best choruses on the album. The tracks tend to run together a bit with little variation, but when the kind of ambient rock you play is comfortable yet somehow familiar, why wouldn’t you settle a bit? Regardless, this is some great music, especially if you’re a fan of like-minded bands like Moving Mountains. Clearly, the band is capable of making a great album – this is fairly close. They’ve got the songwriting chops down better than some veteran bands, so it’s only a matter of time.

#74: Smile (Cane Hill)

There’s been a nu-metal revival of sorts going on for the last few years. There’s bands who do it really well (My Ticket Home, Sylar) and who do it fairly well but add interesting variations to it (Issues). Cane Hill falls somewhere in between those two descriptors, as the style of nu-metal they play is often ferocious and unrelenting (“MGGDA”, “Strange Candy”) but also bold and melodic (crossover track and album highlight “You’re So Wonderful”, which evokes memories of Slipknot’s “Vermillion”). Greater things are in store for Cane Hill, certainly, but the present is just as bright.

#73: The Brighter View (To The Wind)

To The Wind’s third full-length album shows one of the Northwest’s best melodic hardcore bands refining their overall sound, and honing in on what can safely be called their signature sound. The passion and fervor the band displays on tracks like “Temporary Escape” are traits that few can honestly match. Listen up, because To The Wind have something to say, and their words are loud.

#72: Transcendence (Devin Townsend Project)

In the last 20 years, can you name a more prolific musician in the world of metal than Devin Townsend? From collaborating with Steve Vai on 1993’s Sex And Religion to his most current effort Transcendence, the amount of work Devin’s been a part of since the early 90’s is staggering. Rarely has he released anything even mediocre, and even when he has, it’s usually been some experiment that has been at least an admirable effort to try something new (Devlab comes to mind). Transcendence is both a look back at some of his most celebrated work, but also blazes a trail to the future. Listen to “Failure” – arguably the best track here, and one of the best songs Townsend has ever written, period. Transcendence is ambitious as hell.

#71: Awake In Color (Bad Seed Rising)

As one of the youngest acts you’ll ever see on the Vans Warped Tour, Bad Seed Rising may have been playing the smallest stage the summer of 2016. But make no mistake, this is a band that’s poised to rock the biggest stages. On their impressive debut full-length, the band effortlessly displays songwriting skills that are as diverse as they are catchy. Listeners can find anything from borderline alternative metal (“What Have We Done”) to killer pop hooks (“Fighting Gravity”, “I Can Feel You”). For being the youngest band Roadrunner Records has ever signed, their lyrics display a sense of innocence and youth, yet tackle familiar subjects with maturity (relationship abuse, the real life emotions we feel when we connect with someone else, etc). There’s a surprising amount of diversity here, which really helps the album avoid running together.

#70: The Violent Sleep Of Reason (Meshuggah)

It’s Meshuggah. What else is there to say? Even a weaker album like this one is still very good, and “Clockworks” will knock you on your tail.

#69: Peach (Culture Abuse)

30 minutes of honest rock and roll with obvious punk and 90’s grunge/alt-rock influences. Not too abrasive, not too poppy, Peach is somewhere in the middle.

#68: Stay Lost (Sianvar)

Sianvar is a supergroup made up of some of the most prominent post-hardcore bands in the scene – Dance Gavin Dance, Hail The Sun, A Lot Like Birds, and Stolas. Clearly, the band is made up of talented personnel, and Sianvar is at their best when new ideas are brought to the table (“Anticoagulant”).

#67: Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional (The Dear Hunter)

In the span of a decade, Casey Crescenzo has proven himself as incredibly prolific – this is The Dear Hunter’s 7th full-length since 2006. Act V has some of TDH’s best material yet, and draws from The Color Spectrum and Migrant as much as it does the previous 4 acts. You really have to wonder if the creative well for Casey will ever run dry, because after a decade (more if you count his work with The Receiving End Of Sirens) it seems like it never will.

#66: Along The Shadow (Saosin)

Along The Shadow is probably the best album that Saosin could’ve made with Anthony Green in 2016. Riffs for days, great drumming, and though their sound might be a bit dated & nostalgic, if you don’t come in expecting another Translating The Name, you’ll have a great time here. It’s a surprise that this album even exists at all.

#65: Paradise Gallows (Inter Arma)

Paradise Gallows shows Inter Arma continuing to easily defy categorization. Are they a death metal band? Are they post-metal? Maybe they’re black metal or progressive metal? The truth is, they’re somewhere in between, but this is the band’s best album yet – possibly their most ambitious.

#64: The Scenic Route (Conspire)

Invogue Records has cultivated many of today’s most interesting bands, including Being As An Ocean and Dayseeker. You can add another one to that list in the form of Conspire. The wellspring of music in Florida is staggering (Yellowcard, Further Seems Forever, Underoath, Oceana, Polyenso, the list goes on), and Conspire’s out of nowhere debut album The Scenic Route will probably be compared to Being As An Ocean the most. That comparison isn’t unwarranted, as both bands share a similar knack for passionate vocals and emotive soundscapes, not to mention lyrics that question faith with both passion and fervor. But where Conspire diverges is both with an emphasis on melody and aggression, letting the latter take hold where it works the best – in the punchy production from Ricky Armellino (of This Or The Apocalypse fame). Promoted and marketed right, Conspire might be the next big thing – a lyrically propelled work of art that has very little negative to say about it.

#63: Cast The First Stone (Ion Dissonance)

Heavy, chaotic, and unpredictable have been 3 of the best adjectives to describe Canadian metal veterans Ion Dissonance, who fuse metalcore, grind, death, and hardcore stylings to create something unique and barbaric. And on Cast The First Stone (their first album in 6 years), it’s almost like they never really went away. CTFS is essentially the sound of the apocalypse, as the album takes a turn for the dark and ominous. The album is very pessimistic, and it’s unrelenting in that aspect, but it’s also Ion Dissonance at their most technical. The clear strongpoint here is that the album never feels chaotic just for chaos’s sake, which many of their peers fall pray to. Ion Dissonance is back to show everyone how it’s done.

#62: The Bones Of A Dying World (If These Trees Could Talk)

More engaging textural post-rock with soaring high to low (and back again) crescendos. “Berlin” is straight up ridiculous and it’s a perfect track that encapsulates what ITTCT does best.

#61: Guidance (Russian Circles)

Guidance is Russian Circles’ 6th full-length album. And while it may not necessarily be their best, they’re an extremely skilled post-rock 3-piece that always sound tight, both live and in the studio.

#60: 22, A Million (Bon Iver)

Weird song titles aside (seriously, when did random symbols become song titles?), this is Bon Iver at his most experimental. “33 “God”‘ is worth the price of admission alone.

#59: Transit Blues (The Devil Wears Prada)

Transit Blues is the culmination of everything The Devil Wears Prada have been working towards for the last decades. Previously, the band had been on an upward trend, and 2011’s Dead Throne was TDWP at their most ambitious. But on Transit Blues, the band has clearly reached new heights in their songwriting abilities. Or maybe it’s Mike Hranica’s more palatable vocals? Both play a huge part in why TB is easily TDWP’s best album, and is also why those who thought the band might be waxing stagnant are very wrong.

#58: Goodness (The Hotelier)

Another powerful musical journey from The Hotelier. Goodness isn’t quite as immediate as the once-in-a-generation Home, Like NoPlace Is There, but it might be a more rewarding listen.

#57: Handmade Cities (Plini)

Thanks to Bandcamp and the general rise of music being a digital platform (as well as music in general being more accessible than ever before), there’s a certain flair that these “bedroom projects” carry with them. It’s true that they’re not all the same, but when you have a prolific artist like Plini on hand, there’s very few that can match him. His previous trilogy of EP’s were all quite good, but it’s clear Handmade Cities is his best work yet – even getting a prominent shout out from the legendary Steve Vai. That has to be a career achievement, but with tracks like “Cascade” and the highlight “Pastures” here, so too is the songwriting.

#56: Yellowcard (Yellowcard)

One of the most beloved bands of the last 15 or so years is disbanding, but on Yellowcard’s final album, the band forgoes the slower/mid-tempo speed on Lift A Sail (which is in itself a misunderstood album), and opts for the faster, melodic underpinnings the band’s been so great at in their career. A self-titled album aims to be a definite statement, and with bombastic tracks like “Savior’s Robes” sitting effectively alongside slow-burners like “Fields And Fences”, it’s Yellowcard’s sense of rise and fall, of light and occasional dark, of fast and slow, that makes this pretty close to what they were aiming for. If you thought Yellowcard was going out on a whimper, think again. Rest In Peace, indeed.

#55: Integrity Blues (Jimmy Eat World)

Here it is, Jimmy Eat World’s best album since 2004’s Futures. With songs that massively build up and then explode out of nowhere like “Pass The Baby” (seriously, after 3 solid but lukewarm records, who expected this?), to more conventional but just as effective tracks like “Get Right”, this album proves that JEW’s songwriting skills haven’t gone anywhere. Seriously though, “Pass The Baby” is so unexpected, it almost pulls back to their 90’s output in Static Prevails and especially the career-defining Clarity. If you somehow forgot about Jimmy Eat World, run, don’t walk, to listen to Integrity Blues.

#54: The Madness Of Many (Animals As Leaders)

The Madness Of Many is the album AAL have been building towards since their 2009 groundbreaking self-titled debut. Another great progressive metal album from the band that never really falters. “Inner Assassins” is a standout track, and there’s enough diversity here that yet again, most fans of the band will all have a different favorite album from the band. Consistency reigns.

#53: The North Corridor (Chevelle)

Chevelle’s heaviest and best record in 14 years, that’s not hyperbole either. From the thick, grinding tones of opener “Door To Door Cannibals” to the surprising “Shot From A Cannon”, there’s both the consistent excellence the band has always brought to the table, as well as room for just enough experimentation to keep things intriguing.

#52: Tired Of Tomorrow (Nothing)

Nothing’s 2nd full-length album is another effective set of songs. Though it’s an album that feels a little too diverse for its own good, tracks like “Curse Of The Sun” ensure that Tired Of Tomorrow remains an effectively good record. “Curse Of The Sun” is a killer track mainly because of the way it hearkens back to essential alt-rock/metal bands like Deftones and Smashing Pumpkins (the latter especially giving off major Siamese Dream vibes). Clearly, Nothing’s best work is ahead – but Tired Of Tomorrow is pretty good for the present, too.

#51: Everything Feels Better Now (From Indian Lakes)

Everything Feels Better Now, the 4th full-length of From Indian Lakes’ storied career, is probably the most “fall” sounding record you’ll hear all year. And much like that season of change, so too is EFB, which is almost completely an atmospheric dream pop record. That being said, it’s an album that, with their new sound, will likely have to grow on you. But once it does, its massive, atmospheric pop sound will dig its hooks into you, and it won’t let go. The guitar isn’t absent either – it’s definitely there – but it’s more subdued, especially on album highlight “Blank Tapes”. This is definitely a sound change that works in From Indian Lakes’ favor, never sounding phoned-in or contrived.

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