Journal

To start things off I would like to point out that my "true" musical taste, as I call it, didn't start until 2004, so most albums I was into before 2004 I've forgotten. 2004 was the year I was introduced to bands like Opeth, Avenged Sevenfold, and Dimmu Borgir. On top of my new found metal taste I had a huge explosion of progressiveness especially between the years 2006 and 2008 which included bands like Dream Theater, Muse, King Crimson, Anekdoten, Katatonia, The Flower Kings, and Between the Buried and Me. Since 2004 the music I've listened to has influenced me beyond anything else.

I have specific awards that I will also include in this note for those bands and instrumentalists that are best in my opinion in different aspects.

So 2009 was a pretty damn good year for music. Surprisingly, it was not my top favorite bands that put out the best albums but those bands that I still liked a lot but never really considered all time favorites. Without further ado here is my 2009 Top 10!


Best of 2009

1. Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
2. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
3. Lamb of God - Wrath
4. The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death
5. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
6. Obscura - Cosmogenesis
7. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
8. The Mars Volta - Octahedron
9. dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
10. Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings


During 2009 I was fully exposed to bands like The Mars Volta and dredg who I heard a few songs from before but never realized how good they really were! The best additions to my collection of artists were Mastodon and The Dear Hunter. Mastodon's earlier stuff was kinda hard for me to get into but Crack the Skye, like for many others, has blown me away. Now their post 2009 catalogue is easy and fun to listen to. I "get" them now.

Best new band of the year undoubtedly goes to The Dear Hunter. On the same musical page as The Mars Volta, dredg, and Coheed and Cambria, The Dear Hunter are a band that should be on top of EVERYTHING popular right now. Casey Crescenzo is a fucking genius.

Between the Buried and Me takes the top spot because they progressed out of Colors! I wasn't sure how they'd do it but they did it! The Great Misdirect is definitely not Colors Part 2, and that's exactly how I wanted it to be!

The top three bands that I've come to love a lot ended up more progressive and innovative than even my most anticipated releases by Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, and Muse.

And now for the first Off Beat Award!! The Biggest Disappointment of 2009!!
The Winner is.....

Muse - The Resistance

What the hell. How does one of my favorite bands put out the worst album of the year. I mean Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree were still decent, but this album sucked... hard. Come on Matt, you had three years to write something good. Katatonia did it, and they are on their 10th album!! Sadness was to be had. Muse has fallen in my books a little bit.


Ok now we're on to the hard stuff. This is where we dive into the entire decade. But first some more awards!!


The best years in music this decade!!
Runner up is... 2003!! and the winner is......

2007!

This year was PACKED with new releases from so many bands. Long awaited releases from bands like Type O Negative, Symphony X, and Rush as long as Top Notch releases from bands like Dream Theater, Explosions in the Sky, Anekdoten, Porcupine Tree, and BTBAM.


Best drummers of the decade!!

Martin Lopez, Martin Axenrot, Gavin Harrison, and Blake Richardson! Portnoy would probably be included if LTE and Scenes were 00's releases and not 90's :p


And Now for my decade's Top 20! I made a self rule of only 1 album per band. I did this because there are too many albums that I liked from the same 5 or 6 bands that it wouldn't be fair to many of the newer bands I've discovered over the last few years. And I certainly want to represent them in my list. These ones were both important and favorite. No between talk either. These albums are beyond anymore words other than "BEST"

Without further ado.



20. Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (2005)

19. Mastodon - Crack The Skye (2009)

18. Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane (2002)

17. Meshuggah - obZen (2008)

16. Protest the Hero - Fortress (2008)

15. Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh (2008)

14. Frost* - Milliontown (2006)

13. BeardFish - Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two (2008)

12. The Tangent - The Music That Died Alone (2003)

11. The Flower Kings - Unfold the Future (2002)


The Top Ten Albums Of The Decade


10. The Dear Hunter - Act III: Life and Death (2009)

9. Muse - Absolution (2003)

8. System of a Down - Steal This Album! (2002)

7. Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen (2003)

6. Lamb of God - Sacrament (2006)

5. Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

4. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)

3. Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (2006)

2. Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)


And finally... My Number One Album Of The Decade....





1. Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001)

Opeth is by far my band of the Decade. It was my gateway drug to other metal, prog, and even jazzier dudes. Watershed or Porcupine Tree's "Fear" would have been the number one album if Blackwater Park didn't come out this decade.



Some last awards!

2008 gets the award for "Deadest musical year but every album that did come out all ended up being masterpieces" lawl

Runner up albums!
Oceansize - Frames
Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
Anekdoten - A Time Of Day
Spock's Beard - V

And my favorite band right now

Between the Buried and Me!!
-Alaksa, Colors, and The Great Misdirect have all owned me for a while now, and it's safe to say that BTBAM is my favorite band now.


To wrap things up.... I know most of you guys haven't heard all of these albums, but if you ever get the chance to hear any of them I assure you it's worth your while in some way. I live for music, and I hope I end up on some random kid's list in the future. That would be pretty cool.