Here’s part 2 of our list of the top 100 albums of 2015. Check out the list below, and if you’re unfamiliar with any of these releases, you owe it to yourself to get acquainted with them. They’re all stellar. Attached to each album is a song or full album stream, so if you’re looking to dig deep for some new tunes, look no further.
In case you missed it, part 1 can be found right here.
#75: Further Out (Cloakroom)
I often pine for the days where I would space out listening to bands like Hum, Failure, and Codeine – all 90’s rock bands with keen attentions to detail and atmosphere above all else, while not sacrificing it for the sake of songwriting. You can put Run For Cover Records own Cloakroom with the aforementioned bands – Further Out adds more obvious stoner/sludge influences than their peers, which makes for an intriguing full-length debut.
#74: The Color Clear (Reflections)
If you’re reading this, go listen to “Shadow Self”. It’s a vicious 3-minute song that crushes everything Reflections has ever done (which is quite solid). Better production and some unfortunate life experiences for vocalist Jake Wolf have helped Reflections craft their most interesting and diverse album to date. There’s even a hint of the popular post-black metal sound in tracks like “Psuedo”. Sometimes it takes tragedy and misfortune to bring out the beast that’s inside.
#73: If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (Drake)
“If you cry on a Drake album it unlocks a bonus track.”
The best production and atmosphere on anything Drake has done to date, tracks like “Now & Forever” and “Energy” make it clear that he’s separating himself both from his peers, and that he’s capable of making a great record. Sure, Take Care and Nothing Was The Same were solid records, but they both had lots of filler – something that’s in play here too, but to a lesser extent. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late proves that Drake may yet have his biggest accomplishments somewhere in the very near future.
#72: Handmade (The Ongoing Concept)
True to the album title, the band literally made all the instruments for this album by hand. If that’s not worthy of your attention for some reason, the music you’ll hear on their sophomore full-length certainly is. The soulful yet aggressive vocals of Dawson Scholz (buoyed by a fantastic rhythm section!) are exactly what you need if you’re looking for something that’s not just the average post-hardcore album. “Amends” is catchy as hell.
#71: Xeno (Crossfaith)
Maybe Crossfaith could write better lyrics. Maybe Crossfaith is still due for a great album, and they’re not quite there yet. But Xeno is still their best work yet – it continues the sound of Apocalyze, but is slightly more metallic-leaning. You owe it to yourself to experience them live, because you just know this band was built for the big stage. The music itself is pretty solid, to be sure. The fusion of metalcore with electronic elements has been done by dozens of other bands, but Crossfaith continue to pull it off without ever sounding cheesy. The title track, “Ghost In The Mirror”, and “Devil’s Party” are all tracks that will help the Japanese veterans cross over to the American market successfully – after two Warped stints in 2013 and 2015, their stock is on the rise. Don’t be left behind.
#70: That’s The Spirit (Bring Me The Horizon)
They’ve now completely left behind the metalcore sound that made them famous, but that doesn’t mean the alternative rock sound they now play is bad. There’s more pop and electronic influences here than ever before, and if you haven’t heard BMTH in a few years, it’s a completely foreign sound. But that doesn’t mean the album is phoned in – “Throne” and “Happy Song” are singles that are rising through the charts at a breakneck speed, and “Avalanche”, should they choose to release it as one, is surely the best song on the album.
#69: The Powers That B – Part II: Jenny Death (Death Grips)
Is Death Grips breaking up? Are they going on hiatus? Is it all just a big marketing ploy? Around this time last year, that’s what fans like myself were thinking. The industrial/rap/rock/electronic/whatever you want to call them group is back with their best album since The Money Store. “Why A Bitch Gotta Lie” is hilarious for reasons I can’t pin down – it’s incredibly over the top in all the best ways. MC Ride and Zach Hill still have the magic.
#68: Crooked Doors (Royal Thunder)
Talk about a band that came out of nowhere to release one of my favorite records of 2012 in CVI. 3 years later, Crooked Doors sees the light of day, and much like its predecessor, I was immediately captured by the band’s merging of classic rock (Fleetwood Mac is a huge influence here), and raw, gritty rock and roll (Kylesa? Baroness? Pretty much.). “Time Machine” is undoubtedly one of the best songs on the album – a riff monster with passionate vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place next to a Led Zeppelin record collection. Seriously, the vocals here are stunningly good near the end of the song, as it builds and builds into something truly epic.
#67: I Am Alive In Everything I Touch (Silverstein)
Another 2 years, another solid, sometimes spectacular Silverstein record. The post-hardcore veterans (15 years at this point) refuse to slow down, and are still writing mosh-inducing anthems like “Milestone” better than any of their peers.
#66: Salome (Marriages)
Emma Ruth Rundle can do no wrong – whether it’s her work in Red Sparowes, solo material, and especially the debut full-length from ambient rock band Marriages, it’s clear she’s got a grip on what it really means to be a musician. Salome is beautiful and cinematic in scope. Much like similar acts Beach House and Chelsea Wolfe, you almost feel “underwater” when listening to Marriages. Have you heard the title track? It encapsulates all that makes Salome such a massive success.
#65: A Head Full Of Moonlight (Good Tiger)
Exciting math/progressive rock featuring musicians you know and love (vocalist Elliot Coleman and drummer Alex Rudinger). The best part? It’s an incredibly fun but technical listen that demands your attention from the first note.
#64: The Ride Majestic (Soilwork)
Soilwork is doing what In Flames (sadly) isn’t – making career-defining melodic death metal gems almost two decades into the game. The passion and songwriting is still there, if that wasn’t evident from 2013’s double album The Living Infinite
#63: Node (Northlane)
Vocalist changes are often incredibly hard to deal with for a band. But alt-metal Aussies Northlane still find success with new vocalist Marcus Bridge, on their third full-length, Node. The bold new direction they’re going for doesn’t seem completely fleshed out here, but the post-rock and atmospheric tendencies of “Ohm” are a few of the standouts. If they can write a full album in that vein, the best is yet to come. But for now? We’ll have to settle for solid.
#62: Heaven And Earth (Arcane Roots)
One word comes to mind when hearing Arcane Roots’ latest EP: stunning. Especially for an EP, it’s a huge success for the band, who really embody the spirit of compatriots At The Drive-In and Biffy Clyro. How can you not totally dig a band that goes from calm, ambient soundscapes one moment, to spastic, post-hardcore/math-rock sections? Best EP of 2015, that’s for sure.
#61: Cloak Of Ash (Hope Drone)
First thought? Sick album cover. Subsequent thoughts? The world needs more post-black metal bands that do the genre justice like Hope Drone. Coming across as perhaps a slightly more melodic Altar Of Plagues, Cloak Of Ash is a length affair at over an hour, but don’t let that stop you from listening to an album that is truly cinematic in scope – for a genre this harsh, it’s surprisingly accessible.
#60: In Vaults (District 97)
Progressive rock with 2007 American Idol Top 10 Finalist Leslie Hunt. Yeah, it’s as fantastic as it sounds. Seriously, “Snow Country” sounds like it came straight out of 1976. Why aren’t their more progressive rock bands with a fantastic female singer? It works totally well here.
#59: Pale Horses (Mewithoutyou)
Mewithoutyou still challenges your ears on Pale Horses. It even brings back the more post-hardcore aspects of earlier acclaimed albums like A to B: Life. Consistently awesome.
#58: Juggernaut: Alpha & Omega (Periphery)
Both sides of the Juggernaut double album are both here, because they’re equally important. The prog-metal veterans (I can’t believe I just typed that) are at their best when Spencer Sotelo is using his high-quality vocal abilities to complement the raging Meshuggah-inspired riffs, like on the 12-minute long track “Omega”. If you missed much of the prog-metal revolution the last 10 years, this is a good place to start.
#57: Transcension (Breaking Orbit)
More progressive rock/metal from Australia. Breaking Orbit’s new album Transcension is arguably the most fun album of the year – it’s not pretentious or overbearing, simply put, it’s meticulously crafted, technically proficient, and catchy for the ears.
#56: Meliora (Ghost)
Straight out of a time machine from the late 1970’s/early 1980’s when AOR bands were all the rage, Ghost has created yet another album of intelligent, guitar/keyboard driven rock and roll.
#55: Restarter (Torche)
More accessible and heavy music from the “stoner pop” band. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some mindlessly sharp and heavy guitar riffs.
#54: Jaded Love (The Beautiful Ones)
More hardcore bands than ever are wearing their Type O Negative and Life Of Agony influences on their sleeve. And why not? Both bands were supremely influential in the doom metal and metalcore scenes respectively, the latter of which shaped the metalcore we know today, thanks to 1993’s River Runs Red.
You’ll probably think you know what to expect with the debut full-length from hardcore newcomers The Beautiful Ones – a sound more akin to bands like Turnstile, or maybe even Twitching Tongues. But the reality is they’re even more melodic and experimental than their peers. Take “The Morning”, a mostly instrumental track that features the fragile vocals of Pity Sex’s Britty Drake – tracks like this are a welcome break to the monotony a hardcore punk album brings.
I’m not sure what’s next for The Beautiful Ones, but the future’s pretty bright if they keep up their often experimental hardcore punk sound going.
#53: Found In Far Away Places (August Burns Red)
August Burns Red being, well, August Burns Red. There’s always a few standout songs on any given ABR record, and “Ghosts” is the big one here, with an intro that wouldn’t sound out of place on 2009’s Constellations, before giving way to the rapid-fire drum beats of Matt Greiner.
#52: Pull The Thorns From Your Heart (Senses Fail)
The pictures they fade, my horrible memories fade
They burst into fire when I chose to let love be my guide
Depression, anxiety and shame, they almost killed me
Obsession, addiction and pain, they almost killed me
If you listen to one track on this album, make it “Wounds”. The Deftones/Hum/Hopesfall-esque track may well be the single most important track Senses Fail has ever put to tape, along with also being the biggest surprise. The rest of the album is pretty diverse, but when Senses Fail is still putting out tremendously heavy jams like the crust punk/hardcore track “The Three Marks Of Existence”, anyone pretending they’re not still a vital band is fooling themselves.
#51: Joy, Departed (Sorority Noise)
Powerful, sharp lyrics and a diverse but still familiar pop-punk/emo sound have Sorority Noise on the right track. Certainly an improvement from their debut full-length, and tracks like “Corrigan”, though short and fast, have lots of staying power. Recommended.
