Normally I’m not one to make an AOTY proclamation or any of that jazz, but why not use this canvas that Jay has set up and talk about some of my favorite albums this year, artists that I didn’t know about that surprised me, and whatever other random things that pop out of my brain?
Hands down, my favorite album this year was Bilmuri – American Motor Sports 420cc Edition. I absolutely love what Johnny and company have done over the last few releases and this year’s release was better than I could have expected. Picking out one favorite song from this album is really tough, so I’m going to go with my two favorite tracks: The End and Drunk Enough.
When it comes to The End, a bonus song included on the 420cc Edition version of the album, ever since I first heard it I cannot get the lyrics below out of my head. Honestly, I’ve listened to this album so many times I could probably recite the lyrics to most of the songs out of the blue.
“I’m still getting these concussions
Throw my head against the wall
Turning nothing into something, making everything my fault
But you got me tore up, begging you to stay
I’m bleeding out from screaming out your name”
The other album that i really, really enjoyed this year was Windwaker – HYPERVIOLENCE. I have been following this Australian metalcore outfit for a few years now and am always impressed how they seem to mash various genres into their hooky metalcore-y sound. Once again, tough to pick out a favorite track here so back with another cop out, I’m going with Tabula Rasa and Juliet as a couple tracks that I kept going back to.
My music listening style is probably different from most people, I rarely listen to one artist or one album over and over unless it REALLY is something that grabs me, I tend to just listen to random bands/artists/genres but mostly sticking to the heavier genres with the occasional move to lighter artists like Bilmuri. My Spotify wrapped this year tells me I listened to 1896 different artists, mostly artists I hadn’t heard of before and a few that I had. Below are some of the artists from that 1896 that stood out/surprised me with their songs this year.
Poppy
Not much to say as her new album Negative Spaces has been named one of the best metalcore records this year by many publications. I knew absolutely nothing about her until she started dropping singles, and I was absolutely hooked. If you haven’t heard any of her music yet, you should probably do so. New Way Out is a pretty good intro into the world of Poppy
Aurorawave
Apparently I like Reggae music, never thought I would say that about myself, or at the very least, I really enjoy Aurorawave. You may have seen Nathan Aurora’s clips on Instagram/TikTok and I think you should check them out. I really enjoyed Boiling Point with a feature from one of my favorite metalcore bands The Ghost Inside.
The Home Team
This is a band that Jay turned me onto and i really, really dig their vocal style, it’s not like many other acts I’ve heard in the past. Not much else to say about them other than I really dig them. Loud is a pretty good track to check out as well.
Galleons
I don’t really know much about these guys, there isn’t really a ton of info out on the web about them as of yet. No Wikipedia, no bio on Facebook, nothing. All I really know is that I really enjoyed the song DeLorean and maybe you will to.
Make Them Suffer
And last but not least, the heaviest of this group, Make Them Suffer. Once again, I really enjoy their vocals and the variety of which you hear them in Doomswitch below. Definitely not for everyone but I dig it.
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