Gig Reviews
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Album Reviews
Best Music Of 2014: Staff Picks
Previous Nextauthor PP date 30/12/14
It's that time of the year again. 2015 is just around the corner, which means our yearly ritual of retrospection lies ahead of us. Which albums were the best representatives of 2014? Which records permanently marked themselves into the minds of our editors for years to come? Separating the best from the rest, our expert staff of music enthusiasts each year tirelessly scour the release schedules of labels and DIY bands alike so that you don't have to. With more than a thousand albums reviewed each year and countless more listened to but not written about, Rockfreaks.net offers you a filtered window into what's happening in the music world, a true 'by the fans, for the fans' medium if you happen to be an enthusiast for anything qualifying for the giant umbrella tag 'rock and metal'.
We've already seen what were the favorite albums of the editor's at Rockfreaks.net. This article contains the 2014 favorites by the remainder of our writers and contributors, who received the same task as our editors did. Look back in the year gone by and choose their picks based on a simple criteria: if you're reading this article three year's time from now, which albums do you think should be specifically highlighted as the ones worth mentioning from 2014. It was up to each writer to figure out just how many or how few albums they interpreted as suitable according to that description, and to rank them in order of preference.
Without further ado, I present you Best Music of 2014: Staff Picks. //PP
MBC specialises in various forms of hardcore with occasional stints to death metal and hard rock. His taste is music that is serious, honest, passionate, brutal, emotional, meaningful and spiritual.
- 1. Silent Planet - The Night God Slept (progressive metalcore)
- 2. Prepared Like A Bride - Overcomer (progressive metalcore)
- 3. Architects - Lost Forever//Lost Together (progressive metalcore)
- 4. Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails (progressive death metal)
- 5. Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown (hardcore / southern)
- 6. Mouth Of The South - Struggle Well (progressive metalcore)
- 7. To The Wind - Block Out The Sun & Sleep (melodic hardcore)
- 8. Trap Them - Blissfucker (hardcore)
- 9. The Overseer - Rest & Let Go (post-hardcore / melodic hardcore)
- 10. Killer Be Killed - Killer Be Killed (progressive metal)
LF's preferred bands can usually be described as post-rock, pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, progressive metal, or any combination or experimental version of these. Her coverage this year reflects that while she's also always on the look-out for good bands in neighboring genres.
- 1. Prawn - Kingfisher (indie / post-rock / emo)
- 2. Mogwai - Rave Tapes (post-rock / instrumental)
- 3. Marmozets - The Weird And Wonderful (alternative / math rock)
- 4. Elder Brother - Heavy Head (indie / pop punk / singer-songwriter)
- 5. Sun Kil Moon - Benji (singer-songwriter / folk)
- 6. Somos - Temple Of Plenty (alternative rock / pop punk / emo)
- 7. Intervals - A Voice Within (progressive / math metal)
- 8. La Dispute - Rooms Of The House (post-hardcore / experimental)
- 9. Neck Deep - Wishful Thinking (pop punk)
- 10. PUP - PUP (punk rock / pop punk)
- 11. Braid - No Coast (indie / emo)
- 12. Lonely The Brave - The Day's War (alternative rock)
- 13. Issues - Issues (metalcore / R&B)
Mischa's musical interests are firmly planted within heavy metal with a specific inclination towards the progressive and the ultra (djent) heavy. These recent years has, however, seen his interest stray to somewhat polar opposite corners of the rock spectrum. He is still metal to the bone, but also enjoys a good heartland rock song with solid songwriting and the invigorating moods conjured by the folk punk movement ever so popular today. In the meditative hours, Mischa enjoys his dose of cathartic post rock/shoegaze.
- 1. Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds (thrash metal / groove metal)
- 2. The Contortionist - Joy Of Motion (Djent / Progressive metal)
- 3. The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt (heartland rock / alternative rock)
- 4. Norrsköld - Reflections Of The Night Sky (blackened / melodic death metal)
- 5. Gogol Bordello - Pura Vida Conspiracy (gypsy punk / ska punk)
- 6. Behemoth - The Satanist (extreme metal / blackened death metal)
- 7. Fatherson - I Am An Island (indie rock / stadium rock)
- 8. Slipknot - .5: The Grey Chapter (nu metal / alternative metal)
- 9. Alcest - Shelter (post-rock / shoegaze)
- 10. The Menzingers - Rented World (folk punk / alternative rock)
- 11. Septicflesh - Titan (symphonic metal / blackened death metal)
- 12. Protest The Hero - Volition (mathcore / progressive metal)
- 13. Lonely The Brave - The Day's War (indie rock / stadium rock)
HES has a background in punk/emo/post-hardcore, but has gradually also moved into the softer categories folk/indie/singer-songwriter. Genuinely in love with genre-crossovers and always up for listening to your friend's new jazz-infused garage-rock EP. A special place in HES heart is reserved for emotive, well-written, thought-provoking lyrics tied to a supporting composition. For HES it is important that an album is more than a mere collection of songs, but has a general soundscape and purpose.
- 1. Chorus Grant - Space (singer-songwriter)
- 2. Bleachers - Strange Desire (indie pop / 80s)
- 3. Cancer - Ragazzi (jazz rock / fusion / electro-rock)
- 4. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold (folk / psychedelic pop)
- 5. Sleep Party People - Floating (ambient / slowcore / shoegaze)
- 6. The Menzingers - Rented World (punk rock)
- 7. Reptile Youth - Rivers That Run For A Sea That Is Gone (electronic rock)
- 8. Walk The Moon -Talking Is Hard (indie rock / dance-rock / new wave)
- 9. Stu Larsen - Vagabond (singer-songwriter)
- 10. The Black Keys – Turn Blue (garage rock)
Honorable mentions:
- The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream (indie / psychedelic rock / americana)
- Pseudo Shark - Couches (indie)
- Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were (singer-songwriter)
- Get Your Gun - The Worrying Kind (folk rock / desert rock / dark americana)
Martin is the other resident metal head, who has been eagerly covering the Jylland metal scene for multiple years here at Rockfreaks.net. Sadly, this is his last input as he will be stepping down as a writer and contributor.
- 1. Spectral Lore - III (Ambient / Atmospheric black metal)
- 2. Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith (Atmospheric black metal)
- 3. Darkspace - Dark Space III I (Ambient black metal)
- 4. Dephosphorus - Ravenous Solemnity (Blackened death metal / Grindcore)
- 5. Saor - Aura (Atmospheric black metal / Folk metal)
- 6. Solbrud - Jærtegn (Atmospheric black metal)
- 7. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata (extreme metal)
- 8. Emptiness - Nothing but the Whole (Blackened death metal)
One of the new kids on the block, Billy will put his ear to most things, unless he gets distracted by his love of prog and grunge. Ska and standard rock can also find their way in.
- 1. Emigrate - Silent So Long (alternatve metal / industrial metal)
- 2. Alter Bridge - Fortress (alternative metal / hard rock)
- 3. Skambankt - Sirens (hard rock / punk)
- 4. Deadheads - This is Deadheads First Album (It Contains Guitars) (metal / hardcore)
- 5. Rival Sons - Great Western Valkyrie (blues rock / hard rock)
- 6. Flying Colours - Second Nature (progressive rock / hard rock)
- 7. The Manic Shine - Let Go or Be Dragged (synth rock / hard rock)