Well at last, we find ourselves at the end of 2019. And I couldn’t have asked for a better year to start writing this blog. There has been an abundance of incredible music released this year, and I have truly enjoyed listening to and writing about as much of it as was humanly possible. Right now, it’s time to run through what I believe to be the ten best albums of the year. Bear in mind that because I started this blog in July, there may be several albums on this list that I didn’t review. Since there was so much music that I loved this year, choosing only ten albums to highlight was near impossible. So before we get into the top ten, I’d like to list some honorable mentions that I truly wish could’ve made the list:
South of Reality – The Claypool Lennon Delirium
High Crimes – The Damned Things
Dedicated – Carly Rae Jepsen
Infest the Rats’ Nest – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Age of Unreason – Bad Religion
And now, let’s jump into my top 10 favorite albums of 2019!
10. Distance Over Time – Dream Theater
Starting things off is a pretty well-established band within the progressive metal scene. With their fourteenth studio album, Dream Theater managed to create perhaps their most sleek and accessible album to date, without sacrificing the prog characteristics that made them famous. While we are treated to pleasant melodies and a relatively unintimidating run-time (for Dream Theater, anyway), the band hasn’t sacrificed longer individual tracks, complex progressions, and of course, virtuosic guitar work from the incomparable John Petrucci. For those of us who enjoy the longer, more strange and conceptual side of Dream Theater, Distance Over Time more or less amounts to a mid-tier DT album. But hey, a good album from Dream Theater is a great album by all other metrics, right?
9. In Cauda Venenum – Opeth
I guess you could say 2019 was a pretty good year for prog. But while Dream Theater released an album that more or less met our expectations for them at this point, Opeth’s In Cauda Venenum has been something of a redemption album for the band. While purist fans have felt somewhat alienated by the band’s transition from death metal to prog rock over the last decade, the latest entry in this chapter of Opeth’s career is so good, even the grumpiest of metal elitists have been surprisingly receptive to it. In Cauda Venenum is an endlessly impressive exercise in prog rock, featuring an exceptionally diverse sonic palette. Opeth’s traditional hard rock texture is tastefully peppered with multilayered vocals, acoustic guitars, pianos, and strings. Heavier moments are balanced out by softer, but equally intense ones. Oh, and we even get a jazz song. Any fan open-minded enough to look past the lack of growling must admit that this is one of the most ambitious and accomplished albums in Opeth’s discography. I’d confidently call it my favorite since Ghost Reveries.
8. How Do You Love? – The Regrettes
If you don’t know about this band, it’s time to change that. The Regrettes are a riot grrrl band from LA that took the underground punk world by storm with their 2017 debut album, Feel Your Feelings Fool!. Not as aggressive as many of the bands commonly associated with the riot grrrl genre, The Regrettes incorporate elements of 50s and 60s surf and garage rock into their primarily 90s punk influenced sound, creating something that is really all their own. With their sophomore release, How Do You Love?, they have somewhat moved away from the riot grrrl feminist themes of their debut, and created an album entirely about love. And while How Do You Love? Isn’t nearly as bold and explosive as Feel Your Feelings Fool!, it is every bit as much fun. The focus on romance comes off with a very endearing, awkward indie film charm, and is supplemented by a handful of softer, ballad-like songs. However, we are still treated to the upbeat instrumentation, infectious melodies, and clever lyrics that put this band on the map in the first place. The fact that frontwoman and primary songwriter Lydia Night is a teenager only makes How Do You Love? that much more impressive.
7. OK, I’M SICK – Badflower
Very rarely does a new band release a debut album that sounds so complete, competent, and fully formed. World, meet Badflower. This noisy and chaotic California quartet really hit it out of the park with OK, I’M SICK, setting a standard that will indeed be tough to beat. This album is one of the most vivid looks at mental illness we’ve seen in rock music to date. Frontman Josh Katz pulls no punches in describing his struggles and lamenting his personal demons, including depression, anxiety, stage fright, sexual frustration, parental abuse, addiction, and even political unrest. All presented in a whirlwind of haunting melodies, drastically changing dynamics, and chaotic production, including fuzzed out guitars and tasteful electronics. OK, I’M SICK isn’t always a pleasant ride, but it’s one worth taking.
6. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Eilish
Call me a bandwagoner all you want, but I truly believe Billie Eilish is the most refreshing thing to happen to mainstream pop music in a very long time, and I really love her album. While the credits in the liner notes of most pop albums from recent decades contain literally hundreds of names, this album is credited to Billie, her brother Finneas, who co-wrote, produced, and played all instruments, as well as two mixers, and one mastering engineer. Five people made this album happen. And it’s better than pretty much anything else that came out of the pop world this year. The songs here have a lyrical vulnerability that is accentuated by the minimalist production and instrumentation. Modern trap production, complete with pounding bass and percussion, provides an intriguing contrast against Eilish’s haunting legato vocal style. On softer songs, pianos, guitars, and even ukuleles provide an entirely different instrumental texture. All of this works together to convey a full range of emotions, and tell stories that are clearly very deep and personal to this young woman. If you’re in search of some kind of hope for the future of popular music, look no further.
5. The Gereg – The HU
Let me just start by saying that this is one of the most interesting breakout acts to come out of rock and metal in recent years. Hailing from Mongolia, The HU are a folk metal band that primarily feature traditional Mongolian string instruments, but play them in heavy metal fashion, while the vocals consist almost entirely of throat singing. Lyrically, The HU are interested in traditional Mongolian folklore and epic battles. This eclectic collection of sounds and ideas amounts to pretty much the most badass thing ever. The HU are a band who have carved out an entire corner of the market all their own, and after hearing this extremely solid debut, I am excited to see what they do next.
4. Order in Decline – Sum 41
Talk about a pleasant surprise! Let’s be honest, when any 2000s pop-punk band comes back with a new album in the current decade, it’s usually crap. And Sum 41 has certainly been one of the worst offenders. I honestly wasn’t expecting to like this album at all. But while their contemporaries, such as Blink-182, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At The Disco, have all gone full-blown millennial pop, Sum 41 went hard in the opposite direction with Order in Decline. Sum 41 wear their love for 80s metal on their sleeve in a big way on this album, and the result is their heaviest, most energetic album to date. Lyrically, we also see the band at the most mature and reflective that they’ve perhaps ever been. I know most of you probably haven’t listened to Sum 41 in years, except for “In Too Deep” occasionally popping up on your Throwback Jamz playlist, but trust me when I urge you not to sleep on Order in Decline. If I didn’t write a music blog, I probably would’ve skipped over it myself, but I’m so glad I didn’t miss out on what is easily one of my favorite albums of the year.
3. We Are Not Your Kind – Slipknot
While we’re on the topic of pleasant surprises, this album was way better than I thought it would be too. I may have had higher hopes for this one than Sum 41, but still, with the last two Slipknot albums being less than stellar overall, I figured we would have another mixed bag on our hands. But ladies and gentleman, I can honestly say that We Are Not Your Kind is one of the band’s best albums to date. Slipknot are as adventurous and ambitious on this album as they’ve ever been, and for the first time since Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), they delivered an album that is absolutely breathtaking and captivating from start to finish. Featuring impeccable pacing and flow, sublime production, instrumentation, and soundscaping, and some of the band’s best songwriting, We Are Not Your Kind is sure to go down in music history as essential listening, not only for Slipknot fans, but for metal fans of all persuasions.
2. Fear Inoculum – TOOL
This was a big one, to say the least. Perhaps the most anticipated album of all time, Fear Inoculum was without a doubt the nail-biter of 2019. After TOOL made us wait 13 years for this album, the disappointment would’ve been devastating, had this album been less than stellar. Luckily, TOOL delivered an album that is not only up to their standard of excellence, but is their single most ambitious to date, and one of their best. As someone who enjoyed the more prog-centric direction TOOL took on Lateralus and 10,000 Days, I was thrilled to see that trend continued on the band’s latest outing. With songs such as “7empest” and “Pneuma” standing as some of the band’s best to date, it is fair to say that TOOL have yet to lose their luster. Clocking in at nearly an hour and a half, Fear Inoculum isn’t the easiest listen, but it is certainly a rewarding one. Who knows if the next TOOL album will be this good, but something tells me we won’t have to worry about that for quite awhile.
1. STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS – FEVER 333
All things considered, there has been a lot of amazing music released this year. But without a doubt, my choice for album of the year goes to FEVER 333, another new artist, who released their debut album in January of this year. With the aggression and passion of Rage Against the Machine, and the melodic sensibility of Linkin Park, FEVER 333 pull no punches in delivering the message that they feel America needs to hear. In today’s socio-political climate, it is more important than ever that we have bands that are unafraid to speak truth to power, and that is exactly what FEVER 333 does on STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS. The music is mercilessly heavy, groovy, and infectious, while the lyrics are smart and topical. Taking all of this into consideration, I truly believe there hasn’t been a better or more important album released in 2019.
Phil Klinker Music Reviews 