zach redrup ’ s Album of the Year
zach redrup ’ s Album of the Year
1 . Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
When Architects dropped ‘ Lost Forever // Lost Together ’ back in 2014 , it was challenging to think just how they could possibly top such a visceral piece of work . Two years later , confident with their sound , ‘ All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us ’ left all doubts abandoned , and in its place sat a piece of work that ’ s as bleak and as heavy as the title it sits under .
Sadly , a few months following its release , ‘ All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us ’ saw itself as a bittersweet milestone of the band ’ s career , with guitarist and principle songwriter Tom Searle tragically losing his battle with skin cancer on August 20th . Not only did his passing shake waves across the community , but songs like ‘ Gone With The Wind ’ in hindsight portrayed a context and message lyrically that made the record all the more painful to bear .
2 . Casey – Love Is Not Enough
Writing about failed love , relationships , and romance is far from an original catharsis in any genre of music . However , with a heart breaking sincerity like Tom Weaver , screaming with a half broken voice lines like “ Our hearts lay on the bedroom floor / One was mine , but both were yours ”, Casey ’ s debut ‘ Love Is Not Enough ’ is one of the year ’ s most soaring output of solipsism and sadness .
3 . Deftones – Gore
Few bands manage to remain innovative and bear little sign of stagnation after a few years , nevermind a band like Deftones who have been at the game for nearly three decades now , and have been ahead of the game consistently . ‘ Gore ’ is the band ’ s first album since bassist Chi Cheng passed in 2013 , but instead of unleashing their mourning with blunt aggression , the band delivered arguably one of their most majestic records to date , shifting between spacious dream and merciless nightmare .
4 . The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep , For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It
Blending a flurry of crooning indie , jazzy rock , and synth akin to 80s era electropop , ‘ I Like It When You Sleep …’ sees The 1975 bear their influences on their sleeve , and push their capabilities and restrictions set in place on their self-titled debut . With chart bothering hits like ‘ The Sound ’ and ‘ Love Me ’, this record is one step closer to securing The 1975 as Manchester based icons of this generation aside hometown legends Oasis , The Smiths , and The Stone Roses .
5 . I See Stars – Treehouse
Generally with major shifts in a line-up comes a major downfall not only in speed of productivity , but also in quality of output , but Michigan ’ s I See Stars have proven to be an exception to this rule , despite losing both Zach Johnson ( screamer / keyboardist ) and Jimmy Gregerson ( guitarist ) last year . Moving from a sextet to a quartet , Devin Oliver adding screaming to his vocalist resume and Andrew Oliver moving from drums to keyboard duty , I See Stars have never sounded so confident , refined , and accomplished .
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