We're now about half way through 2015 and we have seen some pretty solid releases come out so far. So which are you're favourites?
I'm torn myself on which one claims the top but there are several that are contenders:
Kontinuum - Kyrr : Only discovered this one today and only listened to it once but so far pretty awesome
Leprous - The Congregation : It may just be me but the different between Bilateral to Coal and Coal to The Congregation is much less. Not that is necessarily a bad thing, especially if you enjoyed Coal. I enjoyed Bilateral more but this is still a solid album
Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase. : Beautiful. Just listen.
High on Fire - Luminiferous : I haven't listened to this yet but it's HoF. It has to be awesome
Enslaved - In Times : I'm not familiar with Enslaved but I'm really digging this album. I find myself going back to relisten to this at least once or twice a week
What do you guys think? Am I daft?
A Forest of Stars - Beware The Sword You Cannot See has been my favorite metal album this year. Helrunar - Niederkunfft was pretty good too. Having a hard time even thinking of other metal albums released this year, so whatever else there was must not have been memorable.
Beware the sword you cannot see has been on my list to listen to but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll try to give it a listen later today if I can got of some of these conference calls :/ And I never heard of Helrunar. Will definitely give that one a shot too.
I know I'm late to the party, but let me throw my hat in about Luminiferous. It's nothing we haven't heard before by High on Fire, but what Matt Pike's done is very good. The riffs are super heavy, the solos carve their way across each song, the drums sound better and better, and whatever they did to mimic Dopesmoker's production is near perfect. Luminiferous doesn't have High on Fire's best writing, but it might be their best sound. I could listen to that final main riff from Carcosa for an hour.
Do black metal and hardcore count? If so... Peste Noire - La Chaise Dyable Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling (Such a good album) Ghost Bath - Moonlover Pariso's self-titled which comes out July 6th is already set to be dope Xibalba - Tierra y libertad !!!
It's hard to pick one, so far Beyond the Red Mirror from Blind Guardian was a good album, My God Given Right from Helloween was pretty nice too, Endless Forms Most Beautiful from Nightwish was good as well. But I can tell you that I received yesterday my copy of the new album of Arcturus (The Arcturian Sign) and I love it, I can't stop listening it. I we still have next month a new album from Symphony X, so that's something to check out, and Luca Turilli Rhapsody too.
I am really looking forward to the new Arcturus. I'm very happy to hear that it's awesome. I haven't listened to Blind Guardian in about 10 years. I will have to check it out. And I have a really hard time getting into Nightwish. Tried in high school but that was about the same time I stopped listening to BG lol. Will have to check them out again I think
Same thing with me with Nightwish, they have this new vocalist that at least in my opinion fits better in the band, I don't like much Nightwish but this a good album to check out. And you can never go wrong with Arcturus, now that ICS Vortex is the vocalist they sound great, maybe in my taste Urd from Borknagar is a little bit better but it's a different theme this new album of Arcturus. Arcturus - The Arcturian Sign
Honestly I've only been listening to metal for maybe the last month after taking close to a decade long sabbatical from all the subgenera. Because of that I'm mostly in an exploratory phase and it feels like last year had most of the releases I've been listening to. I'll be sure to check out what you posted, and would be open to more suggestions too.