best of 2017

Best of 2017: Mark’s List

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It was an honor joining the Nice Circles team this year. I started a series of posts called A Headbanger’s Journey that I hope to continue into 2018.  Late to the party,  I bought an absurd amount of music at the end of the year, much of it from the excellent Nine Circles coverage and I’m just now coming up for breath. In 2016 I went back in time to investigate the early death metal classics of the late 80’s/early 90’s and this year, I did the same with classic punk and hardcore. Both of those genres inform my current listening and are reflected in this list. So, let’s see where the rubber hits the road.   Continue reading →

Best of 2017: Vincent’s List

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Welcome back to part two of my best of 2017 series.  Last time I talked about my favorite shorter releases from the past year in an effort to shine light on some things that might have otherwise not gotten the respect they deserved.  Now comes the meat of the series: my favorite full-length albums.  Figuring out this list was a pretty exhausting process, not only because I listened to significantly more full-lengths than I did shorter releases this year, but because I wanted to make an effort to challenge myself when it came to thinking about what really stuck with me.  In 2016, my criteria for what I chose to include on my year-end list was more simplistic, and no disrespect is meant to anyone who writes 50 or 100 album lists of everything they thought was cool, but for this year, I wanted to really think about whether or not an album had a genuine impact on me versus just listening to it and thinking it was good.  As such, I ended up with a slightly shorter list this time around, and some albums and artists I liked did not end up making it on here, but I feel like this list is the most real representation of my “favorites” than ever.  Without further ado… Continue reading →

Best of 2017: The Short List – Vincent’s Favorite EP’s and Demos

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As I’ve probably mentioned here before, I love EP’s and demos almost as much as I love full albums.  There’s something about the condensed goodness, coupled with my ever dwindling attention span, that makes me wish these little gems got their own recognition sometimes when it comes to year-end lists.  You have to be the change you want to see in the world though, right?  So here it is then: my list of favorite shorter releases from this year. Continue reading →

Best of 2017: Dan’s Rainbows in the Dark Edition

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I know I’m far from the only person on our staff capable of writing an end-of-year Rainbows in the Dark post, but I guess I called “dibs” first? So here we are. As you may recall, I made a point to keep my 2017 metal recap strictly metal. So now that 2018’s here, we’ll take a look back at 2017-in-Non-Metal, and keep it strictly non-metal. And don’t worry, this one will be a much shorter read than the metal list. (That’s not to suggest that these aren’t as good, or are less worth of extended written rants; it’s to suggest that at this point, I’m just kinda tired of writing about music from 2017.)

One stipulation: again — despite what the title may imply — I’m not suggesting these are the Best of 2017. I can’t make that call. These are just some albums I enjoyed from outside the metal spectrum. Okay. That’s it. Let’s get started…  Continue reading →

Best of 2017: Corey’s List

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2017 was an interesting year. While the trend of decreased album coverage continued to pave the way for increased show coverage, I still managed to get my hands on several dozen records that left an impact with me. Naturally, trimming that population down to my Best of 2017 list was daunting as any preceding year. While we did see some familiar names return with impressive new work over the past twelve months, my personal listening experience arguably covered more ground than ever. This theme was undoubtedly tied to the aforementioned increased time spent on the live setting. I was exposed to artists and styles I was previously unfamiliar with (there’s a reason I rarely skip openers). Of course, this meant that I missed some albums I was told I simply couldn’t. But in return, 2017 ended up being one of the more important years I’ve had in covering music. The live performance has a crucial impact on how an audience reacts to an artist, and that, at least in part, explains how I came up with the list below. Continue reading →