Top 5 Albums of 2006

[Sprry75]

5. Eagles Of Death Metal, Death By Sexy



This is just a cool, fun, rock-n-roll album.  It might not be on here if I'd actually bought The Raconteurs CD, though.

4. Deftones, Saturday Night Wrist



This was a real pleasant surprise.  I got into Deftones with White Pony, which is still one of my favorite albums of all time.  The follow-up was very, very heavy and good, but didn't quite have that sonic freakout dreamy fuzz that White Pony had.  Chino did more of the atmospheric stuff with Team Sleep, but that was a little too fuzzed out and didn't have the Deftones' aggro edge.  Saturday Night Wrist struck the balance again.  It's a trippy, kind of scary sound throughout.  Lots of dense aural textures.  I really, really liked this CD.

3. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, So Divided



Kind of like with Deftones, I got on the Trail of Dead bandwagon two albums ago (well, two albums and one EP), but was a little let down by the previous album, Worlds Apart.  It was a little too heavy on the baroque, chamber music stuff.  So Divided is less chamber musc, more ELO, with some punk rawkishness thrown in. 

2. Tool, 10,000 Days



Tool's my favorite band, and this CD was really, really, really good, but I can't help but compare it to Lateralus, which I think is the most perfect recording ever made in the history of all existence.  Some highlight songs, for sure, but all in all not quite as cohesive an album experience as I like to hear, especially from Tool.  It would have been number one just because it's Tool if I hadn't been so kicked in the balls by Brand New's CD.

1. Brand New, The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me



Where the hell did this come from?  Brand New have put out two albums of kind of anemic emo/screamo stuff that didn't suck, but was definitely not my thing.  I'd heard of them and heard a couple of songs, but couldn't have cared less.  Then a few weeks ago I was at a record store and the album cover caught my eye.  Something about that little girl hiding around the corner....It was on a listening station, so I gave it a shot.  The first song was good.  The second song was better.  I skipped through a few tracks, and none of them sucked, but then I got to the ninth song, "Luca," which I listened to the whole way through, and it kicked my ass.  I bought the CD and went out and put it in my car, and I sat there in the parking lot and listened to the whole thing.  There are precious few CDs that have blown me away like that (Tool's Lateralus, natch; Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; The Arcade Fire).  Just an amazing, rocking, heavy CD.

[Angry Ewok]

My Morning Jacket's Okonokos, for me.

[GeneralBelIblis]

what about stadium arcadium? if that isnt top 5 material than i you would be really hard pressed to find a cd that is...i also like pearl jams cd a lot.

[Darth_Ennis]

In no particular order....

The new Pearl Jam CD. ( The name escapes me at the moment)

Disturbed:10,000 Fists

Tool: 10,000 days

[speedermike]

For me, the best 2006 album is "At War with the Mystics" by the Flaming Lips. 

[Cory Chaos]

I felt compelled to comment on some of these.

RHCP have been making the same album for about 10 years now. Deftones SNW is a great album, furthur solidified after having just seen them live, but there are a few tracks that REALLY bog it down, i.e. "Pink Cellphone". Disturbed, same music, different album. Their songs are basically interchangable. Catchy, but monotonous.

As for what I would pick, submitted expecting some backlash, representing my favorite genres.

5)

Torture Killer's - "Swarm!"

This was a much needed return to straight up DEATH METAL. Track listings, song material, the looks, everything. Death metal has lost its roots, and this is the way back.

4)

Protest the Hero's - "Kezia"

A concept album as a major label debut is ballsy, IMO. This was EASILY one of my albums of the year. It's incredibly original, enjoyable, and fluid considering the bending of genres and technicality. One of the first "punk" bands I can really enjoy.

3)

Gnarls Barkley's - "St. Elsewhere"

One of musics most important albums. Ever. Pure genius.

2)

Mastodon's - "Blood Mountain"

This is probably the best full-fledged rock album I've heard in along time, and really opened my ears to prog-rock on the whole. I tended to keep away after hearing "Blood and Thunder" so often off of "Leviathan", now I fully embrace it.

..now I apologize in advance, but I have a tie for Number 1.

1a)

Hatebreed's - "Supremacy"

What Hatebreed did with this album has ruined bands in the past. They were forced tochange their style because of copycats, but for the better. No more straight up yelling on this one. Jamey Jasta actually has some "choral articulation", and it felt more personal than anything he's ever written. Just a brutal, brutal metal-core album.

1b)

Killswitch Engage's - "As Daylight Dies"

Overall, one of the best crafted albums I have ever heard. KSE have their own sound, but on this one, Howard Jones' range is just insane, as is how he can flow from each one into another seamlessly. I've listened to this about half as many times as I have Gnarls Barkley's album, which is roughly 100 to KSE's 50.
This is an essential album for metal fans that can appreciate a little emotion.

[Sprry75]

I liked both RHCP's Stadium Arcadium and Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere, just not as much as the others I picked.  If I'd stretched it out to top 10, both of those would have been in there.

The year's biggest surprise for me was that Pearl Jam released an album that I didn't buy the day it came out.  I kept telling myself I'd wait until I was really in the mood for Pearl Jam, and the year's almost gone and that time didn't come.  Still the only song I've heard from it is Worldwide Suicide.  That's not meant as a dis on PJ at all; they're one of my favorite bands.  But it's gotten to the point where they scratch a very specific itch.

Another band I love, but whose CD I haven't picked up, is the Twilight Singers, who came out with "Powder Burns" a couple of weeks after Pearl Jam and Tool came out.  I've actually gone into the store a few times to buy that one (there are certain bands I just don't download), but it's been out of stock.

I've heard lots of good things about Mastodon; I'm going to have to check it out.

[Darth Jaxx]

As for what I would pick, submitted expecting some backlash, representing my favorite genres.

5)

Torture Killer's - "Swarm!"

This was a much needed return to straight up DEATH METAL. Track listings, song material, the looks, everything. Death metal has lost its roots, and this is the way back.

Thanks for the great recommendation!
I picked this up yesterday and it's as good as you claimed!  

[ruiner]

I may have to check this one out - you're right, that cover is intriguing.

[Sprry75]

There have only been two times in my life when I've bought an album because of it's cover; that Brand New CD and Elliott Smith's "either/or," and I ended up loving both of them.

[stormie]

There have only been two times in my life when I've bought an album because of it's cover; that Brand New CD and Elliott Smith's "either/or," and I ended up loving both of them.

Of all the Elliot Smith CDs, you sure picked a good one to pick up because of its cover. That's probably his best work...or maybe just behind his self-titled CD of the year before. Hell, they're all good.

[Cory Chaos]

As for what I would pick, submitted expecting some backlash, representing my favorite genres.

5)

Torture Killer's - "Swarm!"

This was a much needed return to straight up DEATH METAL. Track listings, song material, the looks, everything. Death metal has lost its roots, and this is the way back.

Thanks for the great recommendation!
I picked this up yesterday and it's as good as you claimed! 

I'm glad you liked it! I kind of forgot to mention, if the voice sounds familiar, it's Chris Barnes from Six Feet Under.

[R5Don4]

As for what I would pick, submitted expecting some backlash, representing my favorite genres.

5)

Torture Killer's - "Swarm!"

This was a much needed return to straight up DEATH METAL. Track listings, song material, the looks, everything. Death metal has lost its roots, and this is the way back.

Thanks for the great recommendation!
I picked this up yesterday and it's as good as you claimed! 

I'm glad you liked it! I kind of forgot to mention, if the voice sounds familiar, it's Chris Barnes from Six Feet Under.

... And Cannibal Corpse.

[Madcow]

4)

Protest the Hero's - "Kezia"

A concept album as a major label debut is ballsy, IMO. This was EASILY one of my albums of the year. It's incredibly original, enjoyable, and fluid considering the bending of genres and technicality. One of the first "punk" bands I can really enjoy.

I HIGHLY AGREE. That is hands down my favorite album of the year. Followed by:

- Strapping Young Lad: The New Black


- All That Remains: The Fall of Ideals


- In Flames: Come Clarity


- Trivium: The Crusade


- Suffocation: S/T



I'm a HUGE KSE fan but i'm lazy and haven't gotten the new album. Blashphemy, I know I suck...

[Darth Jaxx]

As for what I would pick, submitted expecting some backlash, representing my favorite genres.

5)

Torture Killer's - "Swarm!"

This was a much needed return to straight up DEATH METAL. Track listings, song material, the looks, everything. Death metal has lost its roots, and this is the way back.

Thanks for the great recommendation!
I picked this up yesterday and it's as good as you claimed! 

I'm glad you liked it! I kind of forgot to mention, if the voice sounds familiar, it's Chris Barnes from Six Feet Under.

... And Cannibal Corpse.

Thanks to both of you for your posts... the CD had a sticker on it saying it was Barnes... so I knew who it was before I bought it and, in fact, that was the factor that cinched the purchase for me!
As much as I love his vocals, they had become kind of predictable with the latest 6FU releases. There's some new aspects of his gutterings on Swarm that, along with the music, remind me of Bloodbath (essential stuff) and are a welcome addition.