Joshua Clarke ’ s Album of the Year
2016 Album Of the Year
Well , that ’ s it . 2016 is nearly over and it ’ s safe to say we ’ ve had one of the best years for music this millennium !
Little spoiler alert , in a year where we ’ ve had new albums from Metallica , Korn , Blink 182 , Green Day and Red Hot Chilli Peppers , and for none of those to make our top 5 lists is absolutely astounding . A solid round of applause to the alternative music scene and all of the bands we are about to mention .
This is our approach . Each of our journalists has compiled a list of their top 5 albums of the year and they ’ ve written a little piece about why each album has had such a big impact on them .
Joshua Clarke ’ s Album of the Year
1 . Touché Amoré - Stage Four
This record blew me away , the rawness of the lyrics from frontman Jeremy Bolm is staggering . Jeremy lost his mother to cancer and his grief and dealing with her death runs through every track on this album . Not only that but the music accompanies the pain and vulnerable delivery perfectly and capture the mood and help to paint a real picture for this album I can ’ t stop listening to it and I feel it will be an album I will come back to time and time again .
2 . Cane Hill - Smile
New kids on the block who draw influences from Korn , Marilyn Manson and the darker side of nu metal but add a fresh twist to create a record full of visceral and vibrant songs . ‘ MGGDA ’ is one of the best album openers of the year .
3 . Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
This album has become even more incredible after the loss of founding member and main songwriter Tom Searle ( RIP ). The lyrical content in ‘ Gone In The Wind ’ has taken on even more relevance and importance since his passing but the album is the bands most mature and streamlined effort to date .
4 . Every Time I Die - Low Teens
The longest hot streak in the game has just got even longer with a record full of riffs that puts most young bands to shame and don ’ t even come close to the brilliance and full throttle approach that ETID do so well . A truly special band who get better with age .
5 . Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound
Stripped back , no thinking , just feel . After the mixed reception to Runes the boys return to form with 10 songs that go by in blistering fashion but what sits in them is some of the biggest choruses the guys have penned to date . The record sounds HUGE and has justifiably taken them to the next step .
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