Best in 2011: MUSIC

This is always a category guarenteed to piss someone off, wait every one off.  If you ask 50 people to list their 5 favortie albums you will have 50 different answers guarenteed.  Even if those 50 people belong to the Beatles-Only Listening Club they will fight amongst themselves about why Sgt. Pepper is better than Abby Road and visa-versa.  Music is almost as bad a topic to discuss as religion.  But anyways, here we go.

WINNERS:

Hard Rock/Metal – Leveler by August Burns Red
Rock – Alchemy Vol1 by Poets of the Fall
Hip Hop – Rehab: The Overdose by Lecrae

Honorable Mention:

Decas by As I Lay Dying
Fear of Infinity by While Heaven Wept
Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West

Hard Rock/Metal – Leveler by August Burns Red

When I mention to other fans that I love Leveler the response I typically get is, “eh Constellations is better.”  In reality Constellations probably is a better album, but this is not about what is their or the best album, this is about what came out in 2011.  Constellations is a classic, the level of quality songs just on that album would hog a greatest hits album, but put this album a few years out and look back and you may put this in the same boat as Constellations.   If it makes you feel better we will call it 1a and 1b.

Like any ABR album the timings are all over the place like a monkey is playing with the metronome while they were writing, but it works, it works to the point that chief song writer JB Brubaker is likely a musical savant.  Who else would mess death metal tempos with Latin guitar influence, think Carlos Santana playing metal?

As hard and fast as ABR can make an album they never stray far from their positive theme and Christian metal roots.  Match them up with any other band and they are as fast and cunning as any band in the game today.

Rock – Alchemy Vol1 by Poets of the Fall

If you have played Max Payne or Alan Wake you know this band, they do most of the in game music.  Not much I can say but an awesome Finnish rock band with their own haunting sound.

Alchemy is their first greatest hits compiling songs for their first four albums, in my opinion the only great song missing would be “War.”

Hip Hop – Rehab: The Overdose by Lecrae

Overdose is Lecrae’s most successful album to date, highest on charts, and best in sales.  IMO this also happens to be musically his weakest CD, but it is still better than anything anyone else is putting out in Hip-Hop not named Jay-Z.  Jesus-influenced Southern Crunk Rap is the only way to describe Crae’s sound.  This is his most commercially produced sounding album, which may also be the reason it is the one album of his I would rank lowest.  It was just not “his sound,” but still an awesome album.  I would just say don’t judge his entire work based on this album.  Because his other releases sound nothing like what you will hear in the Overdose.

While you are checking out Lecrae, check out his record label mates Trip Lee, Tedashii and Flame they all have equally good albums based on your Hip Hop tastes.

Honorable Mentions:

Decas by As I Lay Dying

The first three songs, the new tracks are absolutely some of the best work AILD has put out since Shadows are Security.  Powerless Rise and Oceans Between Us were both great albums, but since SaS the band seemed to get a bit softer on the vocal sides and presented more of a sound like Devil Wears Prada sound.  These tracks bring back the brutality of their earlier albums.  The covers on the album are ok, nothing special, I just never thought much of hard rock becoming a death/white metal song…then the remixes take over.  Horrible.  I Love AILD.  Absolutely love them.  But I can not stomach the house beats over the metal tracks, sounds like Prodigy, we don’t need that sound coming back again.

Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West

This album may have won had Kanye not been involved.  For every talented bone in his body he has two self-centered ligaments.  While he is everything he believe himself to be, his far from humble attitude and selfish behavior makes his work worthless in my eyes.

Fear of Infinity by While Heaven Wept 

Who?

Google them and listen to them on youtube if you have to ask the question.