Top 10 Albums Of The Year - 2011 (Part 2)

After Part 1 of my Top 10 Albums Of The Year – 2011, where we went through No.10 to No.6, its all down to the Top 5. This list really gave me a hard time to come up with and I had to think long and hard about this, but it really has come to these 5 gems.

So here it is, the Top 5 Albums Of The Year – 2011.

Drum roll, please…

5. Textures - Dualism

Its no secret I'm a huge Textures fan. Their last album Silhouettes is one of my all time favorite albums. There wasn't a single flaw in the album and in every sense, it was perfect. With Dualism, they expanded on the idea of having more space on the album, using more atmospheric effects and droning guitars to create atmosphere. But after all, they're a math-metal band, so there is still a lot of technicality as well and the album has some of the most amazing riffs and drumming I've heard all year. It does have a lot more "space" (the term the band uses) in it compared to the last album, which sometimes seems unnecessary but at certain points creates an awesome atmosphere. Yet the album is still technical, riff heavy and strangely, very catchy. This album also has one of my favorite tracks of the year, "Singularity", which has the best drumming I've heard all year round (apart from Decapitated's "Homo Sum" of course). But then their vocalist and keyboardist left in 2010 and Textures sadly isn't the same for me any more. Which is the only reason why this album doesn't go any higher than 5th place. 

Stand out tracks are "Singularity", "Reaching Home", "Burning The Midnight Oil", "Minor Earth, Major Skies" and "Sanguine Draws The Oath".

4. Last Chance To Reason - Level 2

If you're a gaming nerd like I am, then you need to check out Last Chance To Reason. No, wait. Let me rephrase that. If you're a nerd in any sense, then you need to check out Last Chance To Reason. This is one of the best prog-metal albums to come out this year. One of the main reasons I loved this album is the vocals. Michael Lessard is without a doubt one of the best vocalists in the metal genre right now. Picture this, if Michael Bublé did metal, this is exactly how he would sound like. The dude has insane range! Though, the vocals were really the selling point for me, that's not to say the music isn't good. On the contrary, the music is great! The tracks are very well-written and complicated as hell with different time signatures and the riffs are also heavy and as complicating as it gets. 

Stand out tracks are "The Prototype", "Upload Complete", "Temp Files","The Parabolic" and "Apotheosis".

3. Oh, Sleeper - Children Of Fire

Oh, Sleeper's last album Son Of The Morning was an amazing album, but it had the problem where the standout tracks "Son Of The Morning" and "The Finisher" were great but what was going on with the rest of the album, I couldn't tell and just completely missed it. With Children Of Fire, Oh, Sleeper took their writing prowess and gave it a tinge of djent to make one of the greatest albums of the year. The album is a concept album like the previous one, but this time they delved deeper into more morose topics and wrote some of the most emotional songs till date. Their vocalist 'Micah Kinard' is one of the best screamers in the genre and can scream with such conviction it truly feels like you're listening to a man who has lost all hope in mankind and is raising his fist towards god. He really is such an amazing vocalist. The tracks are arranged well with frequent acoustic songs for the listener to settle down to after the aural assaults of all those heavy songs. Mind you, these acoustic tracks aren't just breathers and meaningless, but rather come at relevant times. 

Stand out tracks are "Endseekers", "Hush Yael", "Means To Believe" and "In The Wake Of Pigs" which has one of the most frightening riffs I've ever heard.

2. Chevelle - Hats Off To The Bull

I guess I have to admit it. I am slightly biased towards Chevelle. They were basically a bridging band for me. Back when I was young and couldnt handle metal, they introduced me to music that was melodious yet heavy. It was also pretty simple and easy to listen to for my yet developing brain. So I have a special place for them in my heart. With Hats Off To The Bull, they managed to utilize their sound they perfected with Sci-Fi Crimes and wrote some amazing songs reminiscent of the This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In)  era. This album is a step forward for Chevelle like all the previous albums but then it leaves me wondering, where will the band go next? 

Stand out tracks are "Envy", "Face To The Floor", "Ruse", "The Meddler" and "Piñata"

1. Uneven Structure - Februus

This album.... this album is the MOST important album of the year. I'd been waiting for 2 years for this album. I heard the "Februus Extract" about more than an year ago and I knew that this was going to be epic. But how epic? I had no clue. Then the release date came and I downloaded the album. After listening to it the first time, I was left speechless. I had never before heard anything so beautiful. It had the perfect balance of heavy djent and ambient post-rock. The flow was amazing, the tracks went through seamlessly, as if the entire album was just one track. I started and I couldn't stop till the entire album was over. 

Stand out tracks are... basically the entire album. But if you want to be picky, then my favorite have to be "Awaken", "Frost", "Hail", "Awe", "Plenitude" and "Finale".

Honorable mentions:

- Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

- Animals As Leaders - Weightless

- Vildhjarta - Måsstaden

- Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

- All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends

- Legend - The Pale Horse

- The Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual

- Jesu - Ascension

- Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction/Ghost

- Norma Jean - Meridional 

- August Burns Red - Leveler

- Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues
- Hands - Give Me Rest

Review: Chevelle - Hats Off To The Bull; Score: 4 / 5

10 years and 5 albums later, Chevelle have perfected a sound they can call their own and created an album that puts them safely at the top of the Hard Rock genre.

Chevelle is a band that has consistently been putting out great records and constantly been pushing its boundaries of sound and song-writing. In my opinion, Chevelle has never made a bad album. Every album from their first album Point #1, when they were just teenagers, they've constantly pushed the envelope and have just written some of the most amazing songs ever. Songs both filled with emotion and at times ferocity of the heaviest metal songs you've heard. And due to this reason, Chevelle has a rather good standing within the Metal community.

 With Hats Off To The Bull, they've used the sound they perfected with Sci-Fi Crimes and have written amazing songs reminiscent of both the power and emotion of the Wonder What's Next and This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In) era, along with the high production value and sound quality of Vena Sera and Sci-Fi Crimes era.

The album starts off with the heavy groove-laden 'Face To The Floor'. Chevelle have never written a song as groovy as this one. I use the term "groovy" not like the 70's disco-era, but rather as how the djent scene use it. The opener is a good upbeat song that serves as a reminder that Chevelle knows how to write catchy songs with memorable riffs such as 'The Clincher' from the album This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In).

The next few songs do not go along the same lines as the opener, where the band dwells into more morose songs such as 'Same Old Trip', 'Ruse' and the Bernie Madoff inspired track 'The Meddler'. 'Ruse' is very emotional and is one of the stand-out tracks of the album along with 'The Meddler'.

After going through such emotional "Chevelle-ish" songs we go into 'Piñata'. Another upbeat song with one of the best solos Chevelle has ever written, but is very similar to a solo I heard by another huge band, Queens Of The Stone Age.

From 'Piñata', we come to the most powerful songs Chevelle has ever written since 'Closure' from the Wonder What's Next album, 'Envy'. This track is one of my favorite tracks off the album and is just the most powerful and emotional song I've heard in a very long time. This song truly shows off Pete Loeffler's ability to write amazing lyrics, such as my favorite verse, "I may not win the race/ I may not reach the top/ Or I may not live your way/ Doesn't mean I'm stuck here". And when this is sung with Pete's angelic voice, which could make a grown man cry, it just completely drives the nail in. This track is also the first time I've ever seen Chevelle use a string arrangement to complement their songs, but its a perfect addition for the track. The song is actually rather uplifting if you read the lyrics, but its hard to say when they create such a morose atmosphere with the haunting drums, the strings and Pete's pain-filled voice. 

After 'Envy' completely destroys your self-esteem, we go off to the track which shares the same name of the album 'Hats Off To The Bull'. Its a very upbeat and catchy song that Chevelle knows how to do very well. The next are 'Arise', which is also a very uplifting song, and 'Revenge' which is another amazing emotional song which Chevelle writes well.

The next track 'Prima Donna' is the token acoustic track that Chevelle always have in their album. Though its not their best acoustic track (their best is actually 'Bend The Bracket' from This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In), but this is no doubt a good acoustic track.

'Clones', the last track off the album is a good closer. It ends the album in an upbeat yet provocative manner, asking us to stand up and change the way we live and not be clones.

This is an amazing album, and Chevelle have truly out-done themselves by writing some of their best songs they've written for this album. The album flows well and is a treat to listen to. But the only fault I could find was that after the 1st half of the album, the songs could not hold my attention, and after 'Envy' I sort of just drifted off. The 2nd half is not as memorable as the 1st half and they seemed uninspired. But nonetheless, this is truly a great album worthy as an addition to Chevelle's already amazing track record. And like I mentioned earlier, Chevelle has never made a bad album, and this album is testament to that.