User
Reviews 219 Approval 95%
Soundoffs 102 News Articles 18 Band Edits + Tags 222 Album Edits 2,913
Album Ratings 5731 Objectivity 71%
Last Active 05-23-22 7:56 pm Joined 07-06-08
Review Comments 8,656
| Nagrarok's Top 25 Albums Of 2011 | 1 | | Foo Fighters Wasting Light
Wasting Light was a terrific comeback for the Foo Fighters, having made a loud and clear statement with 'White Limo' before it came out, and actually living up to it in the end. Roughing up the production and writing a no-filler album, the Foos managed to properly rock again while still keeping their familiar traits. It's hardly flawless, but it surely is the thing I enjoyed most in '11. | 2 | | Florence and the Machine Ceremonials
Lungs was already a pretty damn good debut, but Florence Welch somehow avoided the notorious pitfall, crafting something even more impressive here. And she can sing. | 3 | | Manchester Orchestra Simple Math
Following up Mean Everything to Nothing with even stronger songwriting, this band shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. | 4 | | The Jezabels Prisoner
With a very capable vocalist and their unique, bass-less sound, The Jezabels set a proper mark for themselves with their first full-length. | 5 | | Beardfish Mammoth
Swedish retro-prog that has no trouble referencing the old giants, but definitely stands on its own, packing a colourful sound. | 6 | | dEUS Keep You Close
Following closely after Sweden is Belgium, where native band dEUS was also responsible for a great progressive album. | 7 | | Laura Stevenson and the Cans Sit Resist
Beautiful and passionate, though I'm not going as far as to call it the best thing ever. | 8 | | Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
Simon & Garfunkel-esque vocal melodies win you bonus points. | 9 | | Eisley The Valley
It
It's easy enough to love this sweet and simple music. | 10 | | Gentlemans Pistols At Her Majesty's Pleasure
With hard rocking cuts like 'Living in Sin Again', 'Midnight Crawler', and 'Into the Haze', Gentlemans Pistols aren't just another so-so revival band. Quite ravishing indeed. | 11 | | Lo-Pan Salvador
This stuff also rawks hard. | 12 | | Ulver Wars of the Roses
I have yet to hear Ulver's black metal origins, but for now I know I'm very much enjoying this. | 13 | | Wild Beasts Smother
Another young band with a new take. | 14 | | Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Noel Gallagher finally quits Oasis and proceeds to make the best Oasis record in quite some time. | 15 | | The War on Drugs Slave Ambient
Wrapping up Dylan and Springsteen into alt rock, or something like that at least. | 16 | | Opeth Heritage
What Akerfeldt and company did here is no surprise; in fact it could have happened sooner considering their huge old-school prog influences. Didn't work out quite as well as I hoped it could, but still deserving of its spot. | 17 | | Amon Amarth Surtur Rising
Amon Amarth being themselves, which means creating a very solid metal album. | 18 | | The Black Keys El Camino
Not quite improving on Brothers but not letting down anything either, The Black Keys also did what they do best. | 19 | | Voivod Warriors of Ice
Live album or not, it's on here; Voivod performing thrash with passion. | 20 | | Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow
Apart from the inconsistency caused by 'Wild Man', 50 Words for Snow is a success for Kate Bush, an impressive feat that most artists at the same point in their career cannot hope or dare not try to make. | 21 | | Mastodon The Hunter
So what if it's more commercially viable? | 22 | | Elbow Build a Rocket Boys!
Build a Rocket Boys! doesn't succeed at every point, but when it does, it can be magnificent, especially so during the opening duo of 'The Birds' and 'Lippy Kids'. | 23 | | Anthrax Worship Music
'City authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead
are rising from the graves and attacking the living.' | 24 | | Arctic Monkeys Suck it and See
Could use some tempo. Better than Humbug though. | 25 | | In Flames Sounds of a Playground Fading
They were better when they were still making melodic death metal, but they're getting better at what they're doing now. | |
Nagrarok
01.16.12 | About time, I thought. | BigHans
01.16.12 | nice list Nag surprised 23 is that low | tarkus
01.16.12 | sweet list | JamieTwort
01.16.12 | Great list. | Nagrarok
01.16.12 | Yeah Hans, unfortunately it did grow off me slightly. | Tyrael
01.16.12 | Since when is 6 prog ;]
lol | Nagrarok
01.16.12 | ^actually I was thinking whether it should be considered prog or not ;) | greg84
01.16.12 | 1, 2, 5, 10 and 11 are all amazing. Great list. | Tyrael
01.16.12 | According to Jethro they are 'experimental rock' in their early years and now they are like... alt rock
I guess :p
On another note: have you listened to a lot of DM this year or are you only into melodic DM? | Nagrarok
01.16.12 | Always prefer the melodic/progressive part to go with the death metal, so not really. | Tyrael
01.16.12 | Hah, you should check out the new Insomnium then :] | Nagrarok
01.16.12 | Will do, no doubt I have missed some great releases, can't keep up with everything. | greg84
01.16.12 | You also haven't heard my favorite record of the year. Otherwise it'd be on here. Haha. | AliW1993
01.16.12 | Awesome list Nag, 1, 2 and 13 made my top 10. Good to see Elbow too, even though I didn't particularly like that record. Lippy Kids is magnificent. | Deviant.
01.16.12 | Featured | TheFonz123
01.17.12 | pretty good list | MO
01.17.12 | Fuck yea nag 5 ruled. | twlight
01.17.12 | great to see more support for 5 | Gyromania
01.17.12 | Number 1 was such a shocker, wasn't it!? Excellent write up and picks, Nag | WhiteNoise
01.17.12 | I've no idea what my number 1 was but 'Wasting Light' and 'Suck it and See' where definitley up there. good choices. | clercqie
01.17.12 | dEUS = prog? Confused...
Fucking terrific list though, a lot of my favorites are on here, props! | Nagrarok
01.17.12 | Thanks everyone, and thanks for the feature Dev!
'You also haven't heard my favorite record of the year. Otherwise it'd be on here. Haha.'
3 of these ended up here by your reviews though ;)
'dEUS = prog? Confused...'
Yeah, I knew prog wasn't really the right term for it but I had no idea what to call it exactly; would edit but that will screw up a couple of covers.
| JamieTwort
01.17.12 | Have you heard Steve Hackett's new album Nag? | Nagrarok
01.17.12 | No, it's one of those albums that I wanted to listen to but couldn't find the time for anymore at the end of the year. | DaveyBoy
01.17.12 | Since your top 4 are all in my top 10, I kinda have no option but to call you a great judge Nag. | Nagrarok
01.17.12 | ^I see my 2, 3, 4 are your 3, 2, 4, cheers to that. | DaveyBoy
01.17.12 | Yeah, well, I'm not gonna be too harsh on you for getting Florence & ManchOrch the wrong way around. LOL! | Jethro42
01.17.12 | Varied and refreshing list, mate. 1,2,3,5,6,10,11,16 and 20 all figure in my own list. I'm interested
in giving a go to most of the rest at some point. Btw, just like Ty mentioned, I wouldn't consider
dEUS a Prog band although it's assuredly Art Rock on the edge. | Irving
01.17.12 | Surprising #1, but great list all around.
GOOOO!!! LIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! | seedofnothing
01.17.12 |
| Nagrarok
01.17.12 | 'Varied and refreshing list, mate. 1,2,3,5,6,10,11,16 and 20 all figure in my own list. I'm interested in giving a go to most of the rest at some point.'
Cheers Jethro, we were bound to have some in common, really ;)
'Surprising #1, but great list all around.'
Thanks Irving, but what makes it so surprising?
| Poet
01.18.12 | Surtur Rising makes me want to destroy the world. | Dirk32
01.20.12 | Amon Amarth makes me want to go pillage a village at any given moment. Great list, I must say. | Metalstyles
01.20.12 | Lucky me that this got bumped, otherwise I would've missed this list. Good to see you put one out too, Nag, I was afraid you've left us alltogether. 11, 23 and 25 made my list as well. I didn't get to Mastodon because I was lazy and I completely forgot that The Foo's put out a record last year. | PiratesWithHats
01.20.12 | Black metal Ulver is a MUST:) |
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