Your Top Five Albums of 2011

[D-Rider]

Barring some late minute surprise that comes out of left field, I think we can call 2011 a wrap as far as new releases go.  Let's look back and talk about our favorites, maybe even shove a Youtube link to our favorite songs off them.  This section of the boards has been dead as fuck lately, and it needs to get back to what it's always been about:  finding some kickass music that you've never heard before and sharing the shit you like.

You can be wordy, or you can be succinct.  Anyone who's been around here for a while should know what I'm gonna be. :P

In no particular order:

Ghost - Opus Eponymous (released in America in January, so it counts :P)

Even though it seems like most of my metalhead brethren don't care for how firmly these guys have their tongues planted in their cheeks, I really dig the atmosphere Ghost maintains throughout this album.  The limited edition has a great cover of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles, which is by far the best cover of that song I have ever heard.

Symphony X - Iconoclast

This is by far my favorite Symphony X album, and I've been listening to them since V:  The New Mythology Suite.  Definitely the heaviest they've ever been, from the first second to the last.  I know some fans bemoaned the lack of progressiveness, but I like the turn they took with "Iconoclast".

Blood Ceremony - Living With the Ancients

Tony Iommi-like guitar mixed with a female singer that alternates between crooning about the occult, playing a flute, and banging on a Korg whist headbanging all the while?  I'll take two, please.  Blood Ceremony is definitely my favorite new discovery of 2011, and I look forward to hearing more from them.

Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising

I suppose it could be said that Amon Amarth is the AC/DC of death metal:  they don't change much between albums, but they consistently deliver.  "Surtur Rising" is no exception.  Quality melodic death metal from start to finish.

Disma - Towards the Megalith

Some music transports you to lands of magic and wonder.  Some music reminds you of that summer night when you kissed your first girl.  Some music runs you over like a steamroller and then jacks off on your corpse.  This sort of metal might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the riffs on this album hit like a fucking mammoth.

Your turn!

[Dincrest]

The three albums I've been listening to the most this year are:

"Bruises and Brains" by Mistress.  I'm friends with the vocalist and the lead guitarist.  They're insanely talented and their brand of high-octane traditional metal rocks my f'n socks.  http://www.mistressband.com 

"The Anatomy of Execution" by Strychnia.  I first saw them at Hostile City DeathFest 2010 and I loved their thrashy-death sound.  I couldn't believe how young they are.  THey'are 19-23 yet they sound like veterans who've been doing this for 20 years.  Too bad the band disbanded, because I thought these scrappy youngsters would be rolling heads at Wacken in the future. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAtCGYUOHiU&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLF64175D7B1D84153

To The Moon OST.  This game was one of the most memorable experience I've ever had in my gaming career and the music is exquisite. 
http://freebirdgames.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-moon-ost

Some other tidbits:

Gorguts was slated to release a new album this year, but that didn't happen.  Too bad, because their current lineup is SICK!  John Longstreth of Origin, Kevin Hufnagel and Colin Marston of Dysrhythmia, and of course Luc Lemay.  Gorguts + Dysrhythmia= an overly excited Dincrest.  The teaser stuff on their website is crazy. 
http://www.gorguts.com/discography listen to "demo 2011"

I still need to check out the new Battlecross album.  What little I heard on their website was pretty rockin.'  http://battlecrossmetal.com/

And for what it's worth, my band's EP dropped in October.  It's not perfect, but it was the most pleasurable recording experience I had.  We may be recording a full-length in the near future.     

[Adapheon]

I was totally stoked about this until i realized that due to crazy life changes that I did not have a chance to really check out any new music from this year. Dystopia from Iced Earth is I think the only real release from this year that I really got a chance to dive into and even using that term is a stretch. With that said Dystopia was a pretty awesome album and the dude from Into Eternity is doing a much better job than I thought he would filling in Matt Barlow's shoes.

[D-Rider]

I still haven't heard the new Iced Earth cd, but I did hear the re-recorded version of "Dante's Inferno", and Stu was fucking killer on that.  I expect that pairing will end up being better than the Ripper days at least.

[Esper_Crusader]

I agree with Ghost's album %100. Other picks for me would be the latest from Megadeth, Skeletonwitch, Sepultura and Pearl Jam. 

[SonicDeathMonkey]

I'm gonna make a list soon. Finals are over, don't have to work Monday-Wednesday, so what else would I do but make stupid lists no one will read.
I always enjoy these topics though and I encourage others to post, because I love hearing new music... I'm a pretty serious audiophile.

I remember you mentioning Gorguts's new lineup in another thread, I definitely wanna hear an album. Those guys fucking rock.
Amon Amarth is always epic indeed.
Haven't heard anything else mentioned but I'll probably check them out soon.

[ShadowLaguna]

Metallica and Lou Reed - Lulu

[RPGMetalFan]

Hmmmm. Tough, but I'll make the attempt.

Metallica - Beyond Magnetic

I expect to catch a bunch of shit just for mentioning this band, but I have to say, I've been really digging this EP over the past week. Just a Bullet Away and Rebel of Babylon should have ended up on Death Magnetic, in my opinion, and I LOVED that album (still do, in fact, although I'm with all of the people who believe that it needs to be remixed and remastered, and this EP suffers from the same loudness war issues, even as rough mixes).

Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues

Another EP that's just plain AWESOME. Every time I think this band can't get any better, they put out something new and absolutely floor me. I cannot wait for them to explore this further on their next album.

Opeth - Heritage

This one, honestly, I was a little wary of when I heard about it initially. I love Opeth, but when I heard there was going to be less emphasis on the death metal element (the glaring lack of Mikael Akerfeldt's distinctive roar), my first thought was "Bloody hell...I hope this doesn't end up being Damnation Part II." Honestly, to me, this is a prog-metal masterpiece. Unlike Damnation, which took a good few listens to finally get acclimated to it, this one sort of grabbed me by the throat (Throat of Winter, anyone?) and left me, at the end, going "Whoa....what in the blue fuck just happened?!"

Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning

I'm a fan of damn near anything this guy does, and after the intense ride that was Insurgentes, I was looking forward to this one with a huge level of excitement and anticipation. And boy, did it deliver. If you have a good surround setup, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up the blu-ray version of this album, because it sounds bloody AMAZING.

Rush - Time Machine

Okay, so if you haven't managed to guess from reading this, I'm a bit of a prog fan. And honestly, it's a Rush live album, so there's not a massive amount here that you haven't heard on previous Rush live releases, but Moving Pictures in its entirety? TOTALLY worth the purchase.

And, since I feel it's worthy of an honorable mention....

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events

This is the album that's been worrying me all year. Fortunately, I was worrying over nothing. I dig this album. It's not their best, by a long shot, and there's a fair amount that's been dissected and ripped apart elsewhere (like all of the nods to Images and Words, to say nothing of the divide that's still going on since the split with Portnoy), but I found it to be a great album that reminds me why I like this band in the first place. Biggest complaint: Mangini is mixed WAY too low. Other than that, great album.

[Dincrest]

For fun, here's Alex Webster's top 5 of 2011. 
http://basickrecords.tumblr.com/post/14476474422/alex-websters-top-5-of-2011

[Prime Mover]

I think I only bought 4 new albums this year, of those:

Devin Townsend - Deconstruction (fucking brilliant), Ghost, I'm not really into

Yes - Fly from Here (surprisingly good, I listen to it quite a bit)

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events (pretty good, growing on me slowly, better then most, but I'm not raving over it either)

I'm just sitting on pins and needles for Rush's Clockwork Angles

[SonicDeathMonkey]

lol it's 2011 who buys music
it's free

[RPGMetalFan]

lol it's 2011 who buys music
it's free

I buy music. I like leafing through the booklet, going through lyrics, liner notes, and what have you. Call me a bit of a relic, if you must.

........although, it still ends up going into the iPod anyway.

[Dincrest]

You're not the only one, dude.  I'm a bit of a vinyl junkie for just that reason... that and I think guitars sound better on vinyl than anything else. Okay, another reason is that I can get bands to autograph physical media, whereas you can't put an autograph on a stream of data. 

[SonicDeathMonkey]

ha, i was pretty much joking.
i buy vinyl once in a while but i'm too broke to do it often (i find cds incredibly inferior, they're like the retarded stepchild of vinyl and mp3s. large artwork and giant cumbersome discs ftw).
idk what i'd do if music wasn't so easily pirateable. my musical taste is totally a product of the ease with which i can access all of it.

[Solstafir]

40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room - incredibly powerful, emotional sort of doom metal band that arose from the ashes of Warning

Hell - Human Remains - fun, theatrically evil heavy metal from a band that was long dead

Manilla Road - Playground of the Damned - epic heavy metal, this band is solid as always despite their age

Twisted Tower Dire - Make It Dark - catchy heavy/power metal, I like this new style they took on and look forward more stuff

Arch/Matheos - Sympathetic Resonance - Fates Warning with John Arch but playing modern progressive metal


and then there's a fair deal of other stuff I enjoyed and even more that I should give more time. Pretty good year for me personally, though, considering that three of my absolute favorite musicians were on new releases this year.