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Yes, I am a lazy freaking jackass. My plan of writing a Quarterly Review for July-September kept getting put off and put off as I procrastinated my heart out, eventually leading me to scrap the project and write a six month review instead. I just looked through old reviews and made a list of 29 albums released in the past six months that I rather enjoyed (not counting live discs, reissues or EPs), which made it hard to narrow down to a Top 10 list, which had me wishing that I wrote a Quarterly Review instead.
TOP 10 ALBUMS OF THE PAST HALF YEAR:
10. The Human Abstract-Nocturna: Really good Between the Buried and Me styled metal, with a few parts that sound like they were literally taken from Alaska, but I don't care much about that due to the fact that the music is so good. (Hopeless)
9. Bad Astronaut-Twelve Small Steps, One Huge Disappointment: A very sad album, but I find nothing wrong with tear jerking songs. (Fat)
8. Street Dogs-Fading American Dream: Mike McColgan's distinct voice is as good as ever on this album, as Street Dogs wrote a wicked album to sing along to. (Brass Tracks)
7. Mastodon-Blood Mountain: Its good to know that they didn't compromise their music for their major label debut. (Reprise)
6. Tim Barry-Riviana Junction: Barry's storytelling is just as good as his songwriting, and this folk/country acoustic album has a lot of enjoyment packed into it. (Suburban Home)
5. Strike Anywhere-Dead FM: Another anthem filled thought provoking punk album from Strike Anywhere that is anything but a disappointment. (Fat)
4. Set Your Goals-Mutiny: Pop punk hardcore that is so super fun its almost scary. (Eulogy)
3. Converge-No Heroes: Converge is back and better than ever. This album features everything that I love about this band, and more than makes up for the disappointing You Fail Me. (Epitaph)
2. Old Crow Medicine Show-Big Iron World: I really found myself enjoying the country tinged folk music this year, and Big Iron World was an incredibly strong release featuring songs that can make you laugh, cry and dance, sometimes all at the same time. (Nettwerk)
1. Lucero-Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers: Lucero is good on so many levels. These songs, like the rest of their back catalogue, are packed with so much honesty that adds an extra layer of enjoyment. This album is a little more rock oriented, but its still as good as anything else they've ever released, if not better. (East West)
Honorable Mentions:
Cattle Decapitation-Karma.Bloody.Karma, Death Breath-Stinking Up the Night, Drag the River-Its Crazy, Have Heart-The Things They Carried, Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies-Love Their Country, Moros Eros-I Saw the Devil Last Night and Now the Sun Shines, New Found Glory-Coming Home, No Turning Back-Holding On, Rise Against-The Sufferer and the Witness, Valient Thorr-The Legend of the World, World Inferno Friendship Society-Red-Eyed Soul
Written by: RF