ScoreHero's Top Albums of 2011

**PiemanLK** · Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 4711 Location: /export/home

_________________

[quote=''Otend'']Id come up with a long post, but Pieman said what we are all thinking, as usual[/quote]
[quote=''youhas'']EDIT TO ADD: Hey, post #3000! Neat! I will eagerly anticipate my set of ScoreHero-branded steak knives within six to eight weeks.[/quote]

**MSH-Hitman** · Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 4481 Location: Florida

While I didn't have high hopes for "Lulu" by Metallica and Lou Reed, I thought that Metallica doing something outside of their usual stuff, especially after Death Magnetic, which is was an alright album, was gonna be pretty cool.

It turned out to be the one of the worst things I've listened to in recent memory. I've said enough about it in the other thread on it, but man...That album was ATROCIOUS and Metallica should not be happy with the release, no matter how much they enjoyed making it. It's a miserable experience lol

**GuitarHailz** · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 4910 Location: Austin, Texas

**The-B.O.D.** · Joined: 20 Dec 2008 Posts: 2413 Location: Portland, Oregon

The lack of love for That Handsome Devil in this thread saddens me

**Nubnut** · Joined: 07 Jun 2008 Posts: 2078 Location: Denver, CO

**inv4der** · Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 9656 Location: Meridian, ID

Basically The Hunter is not "Mastodon" to me. It's too... normal? While I don't expect Leviathan/Blood Mountain/Crack the Skye (note that these are all distinct albums that they made in a row) from a new album, I would at least expect it to hold my interest as its predecessors did. (And still do, those albums are great.) Basically because of what Mastodon has been in the past, this album can not stand alongside the others. (Had it been the debut, it would be forgivable, but the oft-ignored Remission is better than this. >__>)

It's hard to explain exactly what the problem is given how varied Mastodon can be, but The Hunter is lackluster. Everything seems very simplified to me. (Hence my use of "casuals".)

An issue for me is that the drummer's song (Creature Lives) sounds like a Fang Island song. Now I like Fang Island, but I have an issue when there's a Fang Island song on my Mastodon album. That'd be like having Horchata by Vampire Weekend show up on a Rammstein album because the drummer felt like writing a song. (EDIT: now I want to hear Rammstein cover Horchata.)

I'm all for experimentation, after all, we would not have Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye if they hadn't done so after Leviathan. This is not what Mastodon fans have come come to expect from Mastodon. (No true Scotsman indeed.)

At least there's rumor of a Baroness album this year to fill the gap that Mastodon left wide open. And hey, maybe the next Mastodon album will be a return to for. All I know is that this one is a memorable disappointment.

EDIT: as for using this as a starting point, I guess if that's really what you want. I'd think Crack the Skye is better while still being accessible. (Despite it being about a kid who astral projects and then gets sucked into Rasputin via black holes.) That or you could listen to Baroness' Blue Record instead. That's the best Mastodon album imo.
_________________

**Nubnut** · Joined: 07 Jun 2008 Posts: 2078 Location: Denver, CO

Actually your feelings are exactly right Inv4der, I was reading an interview with Mastodon recently where they were talking about how they wanted to keep this album "light" compared to their past albums. Not necessarily in a heavy sound sort of way but in a heavy atmosphere sort of way, which is what made Mastodon so unique was the overwhelming atmosphere they had on Leviathan, Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye.

Brent said it was largely due to the depressing and touchy subject of the album. Which honestly kinda confuses me considering Crack the Skye is Brann's reflections on the suicide of his sister Skye (through the most complex story I've ever heard of in a concept album), which maybe it's just me but that kinda seems like a touchy subject.
_________________

1st place on 8 GH:WoR songs on Expert+ drums! (well, at least for a couple days).
XBL Gamertag: Gavesit
Add me if you wanna play RB 3, GH:WoR, GTA IV, Halo Reach, Left 4 Dead etc. etc.
"THERE IS A DREAM I AM LIVING
THERE IS A LIFE I AM DREAMING OF"

**JTHomeslice** · Joined: 06 Jan 2008 Posts: 1100

Exactly. They wanted to do something a little more simple after the sprawling epic of Crack the Skye. I read an interview with Bill saying that they were exhausted after the Crack the Skye touring from playing the whole damn every night. So they decided to dial it back and just rock.
_________________

Mah Twitter|My Youtubes (The Darkness and Pierce the Veil wooooooo)|Album reviews?!?! (MCA tribute and Brendon Small's Galaktikon)

That's the biggest black ass I've ever seen and I like it

**GregoryZero** · Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 2338 Location: California

While this may be true, it doesn't make The Hunter a better Mastodon album.
_________________

**JOE2210** · Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 2480 Location: In the Gagasphere

Top 5:

1. Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Yeah like there was any other choice for me :P I've listened to that album so much this year and it still sounds great as hell even with each song having at least 150 plays in my iTunes.

2. The Bunny The Bear - If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say
I haven't liked a metalcore/synth album as much as this in a long time. Ocean Floor and Aisle are my favourite metal songs of the year. They're a little like Attack Attack, but you know, opinions.

3. The Complete Cellout - Celldweller
Hell, this guy is amazing. Possibly the best mix of techno and rock ever. Basically, it's what Korn just did, except he's been doing it for more than 10 years.

4. Distraction Pieces - Scroobius Pip
It takes a lot to get me to listen to a rap album, but damn this guys good.

5. La Liberacion - CSS
Great dancepunk rock stuff. Love it.
_________________

Eastwinn wrote:

I honestly don't get it. What is the point of riding someone's ass. What benefit does it bring you?

**Sixen** · Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 1201 Location: Johnstown, NY

TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Nero - Welcome Reality
George and Jonathan - Beautiful Lifestyle

Those were my favorites probably.

The Hunter was pretty dope too.

And Skrillex's new EP that came out a few weeks ago was good, even though some people are not into that sort of thing

**HellAshes** · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 8320 Location: Livingston, NY

Well, 4 out of my top 5 favorite bands had new albums this year. Well, technically 5 out of 5 since Thomas Giles is now on that list. =P It's really tough to rank them in order but I did the best I could. I will say this, none of the albums are the band's best in my opinion (except Thomas Giles' Pulse obviously.) but are all still very awesome.

1. Thomas Giles - Pulse - This was my most listened to album on 2011 by far. I enjoyed everything about this album; every track and all. Even some of the lesser tracks that took a bit to get used to I definitely did start to love eventually. This stuff is all the quiet lines Between the Buried and Me does, and really shows why Tommy Rogers is not just "another random screaming singer who's not talented' like a lot of people claim he is.

2. Animals as Leaders - Weightless - This album blew me away the minute I started listening to it. Tobin Abasi has somehow improved his already incredible technical ability. There are some songs that don't seem to wow me as much as their first album in terms of musical style to me though, which is just my opinion. Occasionally I'd skip a song here or there while listening to the album if I'm not feeling it. It's tough to explain, but I'll leave it at that.

3. Between the Buried and Me - Parallax: The Hypersleep Dialogue - It's BtBaM going back to their more heavy roots. Where Colors and the Great Misdirect had a much more progressive approach, this album was definitely more heavy. The band sort of combined both their older sounds and current sounds together on this one. It worked pretty well, but the songs at times have that dragging feel to them. It's almost as if some riffs were just thrown in for feeling between awesome sounding verses and choruses, which is the exact opposite of how I felt about the band with their last two albums. The transitions were the thing that really wowed me about the band. Still, this is a solid album, but more of something I listen to as travel music mostly since the length of the individual songs are massive.

4. Protest the Hero - Scurrilous - This album was decent. Protest claimed to be more progressive with this album but I didn't see it as much. It almost to me sounded like Fortress 2.0, but who am I kidding it was still very enjoyable. Their vocalist was great, the guitar work insane as always, and everything else was still very technically sound. I was probably expecting something too crazy from the band and got my own hopes a bit too high. But this is coming from someone who only enjoys the band for Fortress and never liked Kezia at all.

5. The Human Abstract - Digital Veil - This was a great album, but still disappointed me. It was mostly the vocalist that disappointed me. As much as a dick their old lead singer was, he was a powerhouse vocalist for the band. This new guy didn't seem to have any part in any song that felt important at all. If you just left the album as an instrumental all the way through I seriously wouldn't have noticed the difference half the time. One more thing that sort of irked me about this album was the lack of "Epic" track. I'm just nitpicking here, but there wasn't a song on this album that absolutely wowed me like the last couple albums had. (Yes, even Midheaven had some awesome tracks.) There isn't one track I don't like on the album, but there aren't any that stand out either.
_________________

My GH Accomplishments Thread (I'm Actually Playing GH: Live!)
My RB Accomplishments Thread (First Place in the Brutal Mode Battle competition!)
Guitar Hero: Live Goals:
Actually get good at Guitar Hero: Live
10 Guitar Hero: Live Setlist FCs

ShadoWolf wrote:

Fuck you HellAsses you fucking fucker

mazegeek999PSN from my accomplishments thread wrote:

koloxid wrote:

holy fuk
do you ever stop

Well, he hasn't posted in a month.

**alexhaz64** · Joined: 01 Mar 2008 Posts: 4480 Location: Long Beach, CA

Only Hailz mentioned Torches? Great album right there. Definitely a great start for Foster the People, really looking forward to what they come out with in the future. (plus I'm seeing them in June, which is exciting as well)

I liked I'm With You, but I'll agree that it's not as good as their past albums.

The only other CD I got this year was Cage the Elephant, and I enjoyed that, despite only half the album really standing out as good. :p
_________________

2:59 alexhaz64: I'm like 6th place on that song
2:59 alexhaz64: pretty neat
2:59 alexhaz64: :p
2:59 JohnnyGrey: No Alex, I don't care how good your score is
2:59 JohnnyGrey: DAMMIT
2:59 alexhaz64: XD
alexhaz64 flexes
2:59 psxfreak101: too slow on the trigger there, boyo
2:59 alexhaz64: that seems to be the case all night
2:59 JohnnyGrey: I've been too slow a few times tonight
2:59 JohnnyGrey: GDSAKj hfask
2:59 psxfreak101: XD
2:59 alexhaz64: LMAO
2:59 alexhaz64: OMG
psxfreak101 actua-loling

**MSH-Hitman** · Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 4481 Location: Florida

I've been listening more to Hell's "Human Remains" as I mostly only touched on a few songs with my listening, but I'm really liking it more. It's some pretty good stuff.

Hell - On Earth As It Is In Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpkuYxyYM2A

**EmoArbiter** · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:16 am Post subject: