My Top Albums of 2015

2014 was no 2013 in respect to the albums that were released. I don’t know if there are many other years that had as many amazing albums released as 2013 did. 2015 showed a bit more promise, leaving me a little more excited about writing this post about my favourite albums of 2015. Like last year and the year before I’ll be talking a bit about each album and posting a song to accompany the album, for those who have never listened to each respective album. This year sees an increase in bands which were given to me for review who I had never previously heard of. Almost half of the list as well as some honourable mentions have that in common, which makes this year’s Top 10 different from last year and completely different from the year before that.

Deepshade “Everything Popular Is Wrong”

It’s my birthday. What better way to celebrate then by writing a review? Or even better, two reviews? Cause that’s exactly what I’m going to do, starting with a band called Deepshade and their album Everything Popular Is Wrong. The term “alternative” doesn’t mean what it used to, but if it were the 90s, that’s exactly how I’d best describe Deepshade’s sound, though they don’t by any means sound like a band re-hashing 90s alternative rock. I mean if I had to pick a common thread between each song, it would be a grunge influence in just about every song, but that doesn’t say enough so just keep reading.

Downers “Noose”

My second review of the day is of a nice little three song EP called Noose by a UK band Downers. Fun fact: even though I posted this after my Deepshade review posted earlier today (read it here), I actually wrote it first. Yup, right now it’s actually Thanksgiving Monday and I’m thankful for the time I have to kill right now that I will dedicate to this grungy rock band who may not have the most original sound, but they still use it to their advantage.

Failure “The Heart Is A Monster”

Prior to being given Failure‘s recently released The Heart Is A Monster, I had never actually heard of the space rock band. They were around in the early 90s to some success at the time, having released three albums at the height of the grunge era, but nothing I’ve ever heard. They went on a seventeen year hiatus before reforming and recording this new album to the pleasure of their fans.

Monster Jaw “Basement Sessions”

Monster Jaw is a UK based alternative rock band. Their facebook page describes them as “Garage Grunge” and quite frankly I like that description. Their recently released EP Basement Sessions is a short one but it provides all I need to know. The “garage grunge” sound that they seem to adopt is ever present on all three tracks – four tracks if you count the thirty-eight second Intro.

Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts “Blaster”

Scott Weiland has taken a lot of shit lately. From people accusing him of still being on drugs to his undeniably bad live performance that surfaced last week, it seems the veteran singer can’t catch a break. But this article isn’t a review on the life of the former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman. It’s a review of his new band The Wildabouts, their new album Blaster and how it holds up compared to other contemporary bands, and yes there may be some comparisons to Scott’s previous bands.

Dead Sara “Pleasure To Meet You”

If you look back on my site, you’ll see Dead Sara were the second band I ever reviewed, but I was so new at this that I had to give that album a second review once I got better at this just to make myself feel better. Since the release of their self-titled debut album Dead Sara have toured with some big acts (Muse and The Offspring stand out of the bunch) and spawned a hell of a devoted fan club called The Deadicated. All they had to do was release more music. That first album wasn’t enough; fans wanted more. Those prayers were answered with Pleasure To Meet You.