Atomic's Top 20 Of 2011
My favorite albums of the year. Yup, that's about it. |
| 20 |  | Sleepmakeswaves
...And So We Destroyed Everything
Honorable mentions:
The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
3 - The Ghost You Gave to Me |
| 19 |  | Dananananaykroyd
There Is A Way |
| 18 |  | Opeth
Heritage |
| 17 |  | Jakszyk, Fripp, Collins - A King Crimson Projekct
A Scarcity of Miracles |
| 16 |  | David Maxim Micic
Bilo EP |
| 15 |  | Deadlock
Bizarro World |
| 14 |  | The Omega Experiment
Karma EP |
| 13 |  | Mastodon
The Hunter |
| 12 |  | Angel Vivaldi
Universal Language |
| 11 |  | Orion
Where Whales Go To Die |
| 10 |  | The Devin Townsend Project
Ghost
Soft, blissful, and wispy. Exactly what you'd never expect Devin Townsend
to do. |
| 9 |  | Joncofy
Rorschach Inkblots
A lot of people pine for Tesseract's earlier days, before Dan Tompkins
softened their vocal (and musical) approach. Joncofy is, essentially, a group
that hearkens back to the early Tesseract, and outdoes it. |
| 8 |  | Cynic
Carbon-Based Anatomy
It's Cynic. |
| 7 |  | Mark Hawkins
Grandpa's Guitars
I loved Soul Cycle, so it's no surprise that I'd like something else Mark
Hawkins has his fingers in. Maybe it's a bit more surprising that he's come
out with an acoustic album than anything else, given that most of his
projects are djenty as all hell, but this is just the opposite. Very colorful
acoustic passages that incorporate a variety of styles. A great all-around
release. |
| 6 |  | WU LYF
Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
We Brooooooooooooooooos. |
| 5 |  | The Kymatica
2011 EP
I want more and I want it now. This EP has the chance to revolutionize
metalcore and make it astonishing. I can't wait to see what these guys do
next. |
| 4 |  | Damascus
Of Whom I Always Think
This album started as just a one-off discovery on got-djent.com (despite
not being djent - my favorite kind of discovery on that site) that I could
groove to, but it's become one of my favorite releases of all-time. Beautifully
executed post-rock with so many subtle variations and a great use of
technical skill that complements the music. AND it still remains fun. Won't be
turning this off anytime soon. |
| 3 |  | Fair to Midland
Arrows and Anchors
Didn't really appeal to me at first, but then, like a plague, I got stuck on it
and it just kept growing until it became one of my very favorite records of
the year. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, I guess, since [i]Fables
from a Mayfly[/i] did the same thing to me. |
| 2 |  | The Dear Hunter
The Color Spectrum (Complete Collection) |
| 1 |  | Scale the Summit
The Collective
For all intents and purposes, The Color Spectrum is tied with The Collective,
but it's really comparing apples and oranges. [i]The Collective[/i] embodies
all that is inspired instrumental musicianship, while [i]The Color Spectrum[/i]
emphasizes all that is, well, traditional and nontraditional songwriting -
showcasing a variety of styles and the adaptive use of lyrics and phrasing
that accompany those styles. |
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