GEM’s Top Albums of 2016
Alright, alright – cards on the table – we have 11 albums
this year because we could not decide on ten. We just couldn’t possibly leave
one of these top albums out.
This was a good year for music. More importantly, at least
to us, 2016 was a great year for rock and heavy music, and this list certainly
represents that. Hell, every album we have listed here is of the heavy persuasion.
So, with that, let’s get right into it, shall we? Here
are our top 11 albums from 2016.
Album Of the
Year: Billy Talent – “Afraid of Heights” (The End Records)
With Afraid Of
Heights, punkers Billy Talent have released their best record since the
mid-aughts, an album that represents a shift for the band towards to the more
mature end of the spectrum. Not only does Afraid
of Heights feature some of the bands best songwriting to date;
hard-charging “Big Red Gun” tackles the hot button issue of guns, weary epic
“Rabbit Down the Hole” deals with the effects of drug addiction, the aptly
titled “This Is Our War” is a battlefield call-to-arms, “Ghosts of Cannibal
Rats” is one of the best songs Billy Talent has ever committed to wax, “Louder
Than The DJ” is frivolous and bouncy fun and “Time Bomb Ticking Away” is purely
classic Billy Talent. After 13 years and five studio albums, Billy Talent might
just now be hitting their stride. Afraid
of Heights is a statement and it might be the bands best one yet.
Frank Iero and the
Patience – “Parachutes” (BMG Music)
At its core, Parachutes
is part pissy, sneering garage punk rock with a snarling attitude (“World
Destroyer,” “Veins! Veins!! Veins!!!,” “The Resurrectionist, or an Existential
Crisis in C”) and part indie alt-rock (“I’ll Let You Down,” “Remedy,” “9-6-15”).
The band does their best Brand New impression on “They Wanted Darkness…,” a four-minute
monster that builds and crashes like a tidal wave of sound, the spastic,
unpredictable and aptly titled “Dear Percocet, I Don’t Think We Should See Each
Other Anymore” is a cathartic and seemingly therapeutic release for Iero, whose
vocals devolve into manic screams swirling in a pool of grating guitars and “Miss
Me” is sprawling and disparaging folk rock at its most emotional. If My
Chemical Romance never decides to get the band back together, it might be for
the best, because if we get more from Frank Iero and the Patience, we’re all
better off for it.
Death Valley
Dreams – “Death Valley Dreams”
The Drama Club, An Albatross, Stardog Champion, Lifer,
frontman Nick Coyle has long been able to reinvent himself vocally, a trait
which continues with his latest venture Death Valley Dreams. From the opening
words ‘with words like fire underneath your breath’ of opener “Words Like
Fire,” Death Valley Dreams is a truly
transcendent anthem, one that's emotionally engulfing from start to finish. Death Valley Dreams is sonically
immersive to say the very least (“The Darker Years” is full of waves of
sweeping synth and soaring atmospherics, “Turn Out Those Eyes” is glossy modern
alt-rock, “Take A Look At Yourself” is bouncy and emotional). On morose and
melancholic closer “Never Meant For Anyone,” Coyle turns positively gothic,
something of a guttural blend of Glenn Danzig and Type O Negative’s Peter
Steele. With Death Valley Dreams,
2016 has its first great ep.
Lody Kong –
“Dreams And Visions” (Mascot Label Group)
Helmed by brothers Igor and Zyon Cavalera,
sons of Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera,
Lody Kong continues on the Cavalera metal legacy in resplendent, heavy-as-hell
fashion. And their debut full length, Dreams
And Visions, is one of the best records to ever be incorporated with the
Cavalera name, which is surely saying something. From spectacularly menacing
riffs and vitriolic seething snarls to pit ready breakdowns (and that's just on
opener “Chillin’ Killin’”), Dreams And
Visions delivers crushing blow after crushing blow (title track “Dreams And
Visions” is unapologetic doom and gloom, the maniacal “Pig In the Pen” is rife
with sporadic dissonant guitars, “Rumsfield” is out and out devastating, the
stomping and provocative “Topaz” sees frontman Igor Cavalera Jr. proclaim ‘I'll
take her home tonight / I will go inside every single night’). Dreams And Visions is a scathing diatribe;
a manifesto of metal plain and simple.
Throw the Fight –
“Transmissions” (Bullet Tooth)
Throw the Fight’s seamless blend of latter day Eighteen
Visions and Lead Sails Paper Anchor-era
Atreyu is on full display from the outset on opening tandem “Don’t Let Me Down”
and “Come Drown With Me,” one of the best one-two punches you’ll hear in metal
anytime soon; a dizzying array of razor sharp riffs and bombastic vocals that
shred as easily as they pacify, a purely enjoyable cacophonous concoction that
produces one raging stomper after another (“Gallows,” “No Surrender,” “Scream
Out Your Name”). Frontman James Clark shines when the pace tempers and he
flexes his vocal muscle (“Bury Me Alive,” “Passing Ships”). Transmissions is a slick record and
shows a band in Throw the Fight who has not missed one step, making for not
only the best record of their young career, but one of the better metal
releases you’ll come across in 2016.
Abandoned By Bears
– “The Years Ahead” (Victory)
With shredding riffs, pissy snarls and perhaps as much
razor sharp melodies and gang vocals as you can possibly cram into a dozen
tracks, The Years Ahead might call to
mind a slew of bands that have come before them, be assured that these Swedish
purveyors of easycore are anything but a mere carbon copy. The Years Ahead stays true to ‘core form, occupying an area that
falls somewhere between bouncy radio-ready candor (“Good Luck Next Year,” “No
Rush”) and destructive, vitriol-fueled pit inducers (“Out Of Bounds,” “True
Colors”). The standout “Act As If” offers the best of both worlds, devolving
from an introspective ballad into pure mayhem, while the penultimate “Bad Luck”
sounds like Motion City Soundtrack and Four Strong got together and had a sonic
baby and the closer “Compromise” introduces some djent-y riffs into the mix. The Years Ahead is fun as hell.
Ghosts Again –
“The Closest Thing To Closure” (Independent)
With The Closest
Thing To Closure, Ghosts Again are reminding us all over again just as to
why we fell in love with this scene in the first place. From the initial strums
of powerfully emotional opener “Skeleton Boy,” The Closest Thing To Closure is rife with driving post-hardcore
that will have you thinking it’s the turn-of-the-century all over again
(“Pant’s Division (The End is Silence)” is textbook bleeding heart-on-sleeve
screamo, “Les Enfants Terribles” and “Relive_Revive” encapsulate everything
there is to love about Ghosts Again – dynamo hot and cold vocals, anthemic,
driving hooks and angular riffs - and powerhouse closer “Eleven” is both
heartfelt and earnest). The Closest Thing
to Closure is more dynamic than it is nostalgic, so to pass this EP off as
just another trip down memory lane would be incredibly foolish. Don’t make that
mistake because this record is nothing short of fantastic.
In Lights –
“Running With Scissors”
Grab your sunglasses, roll down the windows, put your foot on the gas, turn up
the volume and let In Lights’ Running
With Scissors EP do the rest of the work. This EP delivers an urgent dose
of modern pop-punk (think Knuckle Puck or Neck Deep) in the form of four
highly-caffeinated shredders (“Running With Scissors” is near perfect; a
driving salvo you’ll hope never ends, “One Year Down” shines bright with an
overwhelming nostalgic vibe you can’t help but try and sing along to, “Play
Your Cards Right, Kid” will put a beaming smile on fans of All Time Low’s So Wrong, It’s Right, the pulsating
closer “Turn Tables” has seemingly no OFF switch, leaving you wanting more). This
is four tracks of pop-punk that will remind you why you love summer.
Cage9 –
“Illuminator” (EMP Label Group)
Picking up where 30 Seconds to Mars left off on their
eponymous debut, Cage9 adds the immersive troposphere of Starset’s Transmissions to the mix on their
latest, Illuminator. The result is
nonetheless engulfing; a sonic meld of dense layers of atmospherics (“Open Your
Eyes,” “Illuminator”) and heavy alt-rock backed by steady prog undercurrents
(“Starry Eyes,” “Take Back Tomorrow”). Massive lead single “Everything You Love
Will Someday Die” pays homage to Coheed and Cambria’s “Welcome Home” with
grandiose riffing and towering hooks, while the equally stunning “Oscuro”
follows suit with chugging riffs and infectious melodies. Like peeling away the layers of an onion, notable moments are
unearthed as Illuminator wears on (Cage9
flexes the breadth of their chops on “Birds of Prey,” one of the albums
heaviest outings). Illuminator never
loses steam and doesn’t fade, which speaks to how strong of a record it really
is.
The Apprehended –
“At Arms Length” (Imminence Records)
There is a striking sense of urgency woven into every
note of this EP; lead single “Still Flyin’” out and out shreds thanks to
intricate, angular riffs and absolutely soaring hooks, the spastic “Lysie
Royalton” is Saosin meets From Autumn To Ashes, “Seam’s Gorge, WV” manages to
somehow be bouncy one instant and caustic the next, the devastating “Wisteria”
is perhaps all the best of what At Arms
Length has to offer rolled into one explosive track. The fact that the
Apprehended’s At Arms Length is so
many things – honest, passionate, volatile, unpredictable – at only five tracks
long really speaks to just how talented this band really is.
Slaves On Dope –
“Horse” (Independent Label Services, Inc.)
Slaves on Dope seem to have found a perfect sonic middle
ground on Horse with steady doses of
Rockman’s gravelly-throated barks and guitarist Kevin Jardine’s wah-wah-laced
churning riffs (“Electric Kool-Aid,” “P&P”) and tempered offerings that
shine the light on Slaves on Dope’s penchant for crafting striking hooks
(“Freebasing,” “Disco Biscuit”). Slaves on Dope pull out all the stops on Horse, including bringing out Run DMC’s
Darryl McDaniels on “Script Writer,” one of the albums most memorable moments,
where he shows he is still at the top of the rap game. Elsewhere, Mastodon’s
Bill Kelliher lends some six-string love to the sludgy and mountainous
“Interplanetary Mission,” legendary Bad Brains frontman H.R. delivers the grime
on the menacing “Liquid Sunshine” and songstress Lee-La Baum adds a unique
vocal dynamic alongside Rockman on “Codependency.” Horse is proof positive that you can in fact teach an old dog new
tricks.
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