Music Top 10 Albums of the Decade 2010-2019

[DPCyric]

I've been waiting for this thread to pop up for awhile now but it's August so it's my time to shine 

 

10. Borknagar - True North

 

9. Gojira - Magma

 

8. Khemmis - Absolution

 

7. Ayreon - The Source

 

6. Amorphis - The Bee

 

5. Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale 

 

4. Chthe'ilist - Le Dernier Crépuscule

 

3. Epica - The Quantum Enigma

 

2. Vektor - Terminal Redux

 

1. Anaal Nathrakh - The Whole of the Law

 

I've worked a ton this weekend will fill in why I chose these albums later!

[Emblazon]

So HERE is where I post Hamilton. @Anzo

[GeneticBlueprint]

Man I had a whole write-up going on for this topic. Then the pandemic hit and I stopped using my work laptop and just used my home computer for work. I should dig that up and finish it/post it.

[Keyser_Soze]

37 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Man I had a whole write-up going on for this topic. Then the pandemic hit and I stopped using my work laptop and just used my home computer for work. I should dig that up and finish it/post it.

 

You must have been very productive at work.

[DPCyric]

On 8/4/2020 at 10:48 AM, GeneticBlueprint said:

Man I had a whole write-up going on for this topic. Then the pandemic hit and I stopped using my work laptop and just used my home computer for work. I should dig that up and finish it/post it.

 

Yeah I thought you were going to start the thread lol.

[Keyser_Soze]

27 minutes ago, DPCyric said:

Yeah I thought you were going to start the thread lol.

 

Technically I said I MIGHT when I made the end of the year thread.

 

And obviously I didn't 😧

[DPCyric]

6 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Technically I said I MIGHT when I made the end of the year thread.

 

And obviously I didn't 😧

 

He said he was making two posts by the end of last year his top 10 for the year and his top 10 for the decade... maybe he posted the later on another website 

[GeneticBlueprint]

12 minutes ago, DPCyric said:

 

He said he was making two posts by the end of last year his top 10 for the year and his top 10 for the decade... maybe he posted the later on another website 

 

 

I did open up my work laptop and found the file I was using. All the formatting to easily paste most of it here was gone. And since it was the decade I was actually doing a top 20. Maybe--starting tomorrow--I'll post 5 per day or something like that.

[DPCyric]

33 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

 

 

I did open up my work laptop and found the file I was using. All the formatting to easily paste most of it here was gone. And since it was the decade I was actually doing a top 20. Maybe--starting tomorrow--I'll post 5 per day or something like that.

 

Hmm, maybe I will update to 20 I had at least half a dozen others I felt bad about leaving out and I'm not entirely certain on my No. 10 pick.

[GeneticBlueprint]

I did like 90% of this six months ago but ever since I started working from home I haven't looked at the document which was on my work laptop because I much prefer working on my home desktop for all the reasons. But here's the start of my best of the decade list. I've avoided doubling up on artists within this decade list as well as avoided having anything that appeared in my top of 2019 appear here to keep it a little different.

[GeneticBlueprint]

GB's top 20 of the 2010s: #20-#16

 

20. Scale the Summit -  The Collective (2011)

 

 

A fantastic collection of instrumental adventures that are at times chunky, at times plunky, and always give way to a melodic resolution and emotional uplift at some point. Favorite tracks: Black Hills, Whales, The Levitated

 

 

19. Nathan Salsburg - Third (2018)

 

 

More instrumental goodness. Third takes pensive acoustic instrumental music and elevates it without being gimmicky (looking at you Andy Mckee and Erik Mongrain). Nathan uses some very unconventional tunings that allow some truly beautiful harmonies to ring through on multiple strings that normally wouldn't be possible, or would be much more muted by having to finger them in a more conventional tuning. Favorite tracks: Impossible Air, Timoneys, BB

 

 

18. Haken - Affinity (2016)

 

 

Everything on the album is 80s-infused--production, cover art, lyrics, song titles. I don't know why. There are some songs on here with snippets that are bound to be timeless prog moments. And there are some beautiful poppy moments as well. Yet it is all punctuated by a modern prog sound. Everything on this album is on its A game but Ross Jennings' vocals are the clear standout performance. Favorite tracks: 1985, The Endless Knot, The Architect

 

 

17. Astronoid - Air (2016)

 

 

This album has only gotten better over time for me. The happy, soaring, black-gazey melodies are catchy and memorable. They just stick with you. Favorite tracks: Up and Atom, Resin, Obsolete

 

 

16. Le Matos - Join Us (2013)

 

 

Of all the synthwave/new retrowave that has exploded in the 2010's Join Us is the most consistent front to back. Another album that could have gone into this spot for me was the soundtrack they did for the movie Turbo Kid. Favorite tracks: The Stuff, Montrose, Interceptor

[Keyser_Soze]

Since this year was a wash for music (so far imo) I think I might dig into doing this list a bit more seriously right now.

[Bloodporne]

I honestly think I haven't heard anything new this year that I enjoyed or came back to. I'll check out some of the stuff on this list (*these lists)

[DPCyric]

@GeneticBlueprint I liked the Le Matos and checked out that Haken album (not my favorite of theirs but it has some bangers). What happened to the rest of your list 

[Keyser_Soze]

Personally I'm still stuck on 2010.

[DPCyric]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Personally I'm still stuck on 2010.

 

Well I was thinking about doing this for previous decades but maybe it's too much 

[GeneticBlueprint]

Forgot about this, @DPCyric. Whoopsie. One thing I'm noticing about my list as it is taking more shape and definition is that there's a lot of prog here. I guess that's not surprising for me but I was expecting a lot more death metal.

 

GB's Top 20 of the 2010s: #15-#11

 

15. Caligula's Horse - In Contact (2017)

 

 

Lyrics are usually the last thing I care about on any album of any style. But god the lyrics on this album are so good. I rarely connect emotionally with words themselves in a song, but this is a concept album about the creative process told through the eyes of four different artists. The final track is about a sculptor who becomes a father. I became a father shortly before this album’s release. And through the earlier half of last decade I spent quite a bit of time losing my religion. I connect quite a bit with the lyrics. Here’s a snippet I love from the track "Graves".

 

Spoiler

Faint heart

Tip of my tongue

A song like youth: wasted on the young

And it's over and over

What kind of father could I be?

 

Faint heart

 

Rain to the spark

At last my light, giving in to dark

And the thought of it crumbling to dust - no, I was not done

 

Faint heart

 

I beg she won't see the coward, the cur, maybe this is me

These hands shaped stone

But I'm scared like you wouldn't believe

 

Faint heart

 

Only a glimpse

I was wrong, take it back, just let this one live

Then it hits me like ice to the bone

What if I'm just like him?

 

Good god

 

Give me the strength that I need not to be

To fight, not to flee

Or succumb to the beast underneath

What if he's just like me?

Naked in the wild

All was reconciled

When I held my child

 

This album is very proggy without being up its own ass. I love that. Favorite tracks: Graves, The Hands Are the Hardest, Will's Song (Let the Colours Run)

 

 

 

14. Devin Townsend Project - Sky Blue [Z2] (2014)

 

 

I always liked Devin ever since I heard Strapping Young Lad and then his first solo album Terria. He's an unbelievably unique and varied artist. I saw Strapping Young Lad several times in the early 00s. I moved to South America for a while and didn't see any shows while I was down there. When I came back in 2009 and my wife came with me one of the first things I took her to do in the U.S. was to go see Devin Townsend play an acoustic show in this little book store in Seattle. She still loves him to this day. Anyways, Z2 is actually a double album consisting of a sequel to Devin's Ziltoid the Omniscient called Dark Matters. The other half is what's here on my list. Dark Matters is good and funny and fun just like its first installment, but Sky Blue is something special. It's an album full of beautiful, haunting, soaring melodies. It heavily features Anneke van Giersbergen. So much so that she's like the co-vocalist on this album instead of accompaniment or backup like on Devin Townsend Project's other albums. Favorite tracks: Warrior, Universal Flame (that fucking chant at the end my god), A New Reign

 

 

13. Ne Obliviscaris - Urn (2017)

 

 

Right around the time we sadly lost Opeth to mediocrity some new hotness came into our lives via Ne Obliviscaris. Like Opeth did, they do something truly unique with death metal. It sounds a little like Opeth in that there are lots of chord progressions and haunting voicings within those chords as opposed to traditional death metal riffs. It blends clean vocals and growls in a unique way like Opeth but in a different way. But it's still definitely its own thing. Oh yeah there’s a violin too. Any of their albums could have made this list but I think their latest Urn is the best front to back. Favorite tracks: Eyrie*, Intra Venus, Urn, Pt. II: As Embers Dance in Our Eyes

*If we did a top songs of the decade this would easily break the top 5

 

 

12. Behemoth - The Satanist (2014)

 

 

This album was written and recorded after frontman Nergal’s battles with both leukemia and the Polish government over his desecration of a sacred text. You can really feel the emotion in a death metal record about--if you read between the lines--finding divinity in man and celebrating the collapse of power in any form. Favorite tracks: Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel, Ora pro nobis Lucifer, O Father O Satan O Sun!

 

 

11. Protest the Hero - Volition (2013)

 

 

You know when a band has a run of three or four fantastic albums that lead to something epic? This is the epic one for me. The album is full of catchy, proggy, heavy bangers from front to back. Favorite tracks: Mist* (song starts at ~1:55, opening is the story of the song and what it's about), Drumhead Trial, Clarity

*Another top 5 songs of the decade

[Iculus]

8 hours ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

You know when a band has a run of three or four fantastic albums that lead to something epic?

I don't, but would love some examples. 

[Brian]

No Taylor Swift? Wow fake lists. @Rachel

[DPCyric]

17 hours ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Forgot about this, @DPCyric. Whoopsie. One thing I'm noticing about my list as it is taking more shape and definition is that there's a lot of prog here. I guess that's not surprising for me but I was expecting a lot more death metal.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Faint heart

Tip of my tongue

A song like youth: wasted on the young

And it's over and over

What kind of father could I be?

 

Faint heart

 

Rain to the spark

At last my light, giving in to dark

And the thought of it crumbling to dust - no, I was not done

 

Faint heart

 

I beg she won't see the coward, the cur, maybe this is me

These hands shaped stone

But I'm scared like you wouldn't believe

 

Faint heart

 

Only a glimpse

I was wrong, take it back, just let this one live

Then it hits me like ice to the bone

What if I'm just like him?

 

Good god

 

Give me the strength that I need not to be

To fight, not to flee

Or succumb to the beast underneath

What if he's just like me?

Naked in the wild

All was reconciled

When I held my child

 

 

 

 

14. Devin Townsend Project - Sky Blue [Z2] (2014)

 

 

I always liked Devin ever since I heard Strapping Young Lad and then his first solo album Terria. He's an unbelievably unique and varied artist. I saw Strapping Young Lad several times in the early 00s. I moved to South America for a while and didn't see any shows while I was down there. When I came back in 2009 and my wife came with me one of the first things I took her to do in the U.S. was to go see Devin Townsend play an acoustic show in this little book store in Seattle. She still loves him to this day. Anyways, Z2 is actually a double album consisting of a sequel to Devin's Ziltoid the Omniscient called Dark Matters. The other half is what's here on my list. Dark Matters is good and funny and fun just like its first installment, but Sky Blue is something special. It's an album full of beautiful, haunting, soaring melodies. It heavily features Anneke van Giersbergen. So much so that she's like the co-vocalist on this album instead of accompaniment or backup like on Devin Townsend Project's other albums. Favorite tracks: Warrior, Universal Flame (that fucking chant at the end my god), A New Reign

 

 

13. Ne Obliviscaris - Urn (2017)

 

 

Right around the time we sadly lost Opeth to mediocrity some new hotness came into our lives via Ne Obliviscaris. Like Opeth did, they do something truly unique with death metal. It sounds a little like Opeth in that there are lots of chord progressions and haunting voicings within those chords as opposed to traditional death metal riffs. It blends clean vocals and growls in a unique way like Opeth but in a different way. But it's still definitely its own thing. Oh yeah there’s a violin too. Any of their albums could have made this list but I think their latest Urn is the best front to back. Favorite tracks: Eyrie*, Intra Venus, Urn, Pt. II: As Embers Dance in Our Eyes

 

Sky Blue was in contention for my top 10 and Urn would have made my top 20. It was a good decade for prog but I hate to break it to you current Opeth is fantastic (actually don't hate to break it to you it's just the facts). Not at all surprised by all the prog it was an amazing decade for it and if this year is anything to go by it's just getting better (there is a certain extremely heavy album I think will be on both of our end of year lists).

 

9 hours ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

No Taylor Swift? Wow fake lists. @Rachel

 

If I extended it to a top 20 Taylor Swift would have definitely been on my list.

[Keyser_Soze]

49 minutes ago, DPCyric said:

If I extended it to a top 20 Taylor Swift would have definitely been on my list.

 

Speak Now isn't that bad.

[Bloodporne]

Hmmm, I don't have a list but this is one of my favorite albums in recent memory and definitely in my favorites of the decade:

 

Where All Is Fled, by Steve Hauschildt

STEVEHAUSCHILDT.BANDCAMP.COM

---

14 track album

 

[GeneticBlueprint]

5 hours ago, DPCyric said:

 

Sky Blue was in contention for my top 10 and Urn would have made my top 20. It was a good decade for prog but I hate to break it to you current Opeth is fantastic (actually don't hate to break it to you it's just the facts). Not at all surprised by all the prog it was an amazing decade for it and if this year is anything to go by it's just getting better (there is a certain extremely heavy album I think will be on both of our end of year lists).

 

I don't like hate where Opeth has gone. I mean I like Yes and Deep Purple. But that's the problem is that it's just Yes and Deep Purple but with black eye shadow. They used to be truly unique and one of a kind but now they're just doing stuff that was done forever ago. I don't mind throwback or retro-themed bands. But it's weird to decide to change to that from something that was its own thing.

 

Let's put it this way: None of the stuff they did last decade made it onto your list (and won't appear on the rest of mine), but Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, or Deliverance/Damnation could all compete for the number one spot in the 00s.

 

Also: which album are you alluding to in your last sentence? I've bought so many albums this year but I've also missed quite a few.

 

[DPCyric]

17 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

 

I don't like hate where Opeth has gone. I mean I like Yes and Deep Purple. But that's the problem is that it's just Yes and Deep Purple but with black eye shadow. They used to be truly unique and one of a kind but now they're just doing stuff that was done forever ago. I don't mind throwback or retro-themed bands. But it's weird to decide to change to that from something that was its own thing.

 

Let's put it this way: None of the stuff they did last decade made it onto your list (and won't appear on the rest of mine), but Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, or Deliverance/Damnation could all compete for the number one spot in the 00s.

 

Also: which album are you alluding to in your last sentence? I've bought so many albums this year but I've also missed quite a few.

 

 

Well vocals are a major part of my musical enjoyment and I really like Mikael's clean vocals. In Cauda Venenum would be in my top 20 and "Sorceress" would have been in my top songs list (and was what got me into them). I know it's blasphemous but I'm not a fan of the older stuff outside of a concert. I am extremely finicky with death metal vocals unfortunately.

 

I don't want to spoil the band I mentioned I will send you a link and save it for everyone else when our top 10 of 2020 goes up!

[DPCyric]

@GeneticBlueprint Where is the rest?