Songs From The Best Albums of 2010 (by hurricane_mario)

I have had this idea in my head to do this since about february. I realized that there were so many releases that come out every year that I needed a way to keep track. So, I kept this journal. I ended up making a top-20. 20 songs in this compilation are from the 20 albums there. Disk 1 contains songs 20-8, Disk 2 contains 7-1 interspersed with 7 other noteworthy songs. I will probably do a disk 3 "EP" later because SO MANY great songs came out in 2010.

On that note, I feel the need to discuss some major points music-wise this year.
- My year started with the frantic anticipation for Alcest and Les Discrets albums, due to the split album they put out in 2009. They both exceeded my expectations.
- Then, I found out the new Burzum album had been released, which was at the top of my chart for a month. Then came Kalmah which replaced that, then came Angra which replaced that and stayed there, because they are my favorite band.
- There were a lot of big-name bands that had released amazing albums a few years ago, but released really disappointing albums this year. Kamelot, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Astral Doors, Wuthering Heights, among others.
- At this point I was still playing Alcest and Les Discrets repeatedly and needed more of this genre - so I found Lantlos, Grey Waters, the new Drudkh album (Soliness also stood out but they did not release any material this year). I also tried a lot of regular shoegaze and of the dozens I tried, Depreciation Guild and Amusement Parks on Fire stood out. I still hope to find more.
- Also in here are just a lot of my favorite bands that cannot possibly make a bad album for my ears. Rhapsody, Joe Satriani, Sofa Surfers, Heimataerde, Stratovarius (Well, the composer of Stratovarius -- Revolution Renaissance), and finally the return of Mr. Big (technically released in 2011 but it leaked)!
- Shining I found completely by accident, I was looking for the Depressive Black Metal band, and instead I found this really unique and exciting journey of an album with the same band name.
- Tetsuo Sakurai is Jazz Fusion, if you don't know what that is, check it out! Basically speedy jazz fused with progressive rock. It features my favorite drummer, Dennis Chambers, and TS is a really great bassist virtuoso.
- Cee Lo Green gets my vote for the biggest surprise of the year, and only "mainstream" album I enjoyed this year. You may know him from "Gnarls Barkley" with their one-hit wonder "Crazy" a few years ago. This album starts with a nice intro, and each song is just captivating in it's own way, while at the same time feeling like a coherent album. Like, each song fits together in this order perfectly and it makes sense.
- Just wanted to note how clear and loud the Bass line is in Lantlos. Had it blasting one day and the guy upstairs complained that the floor was shaking, that it sounded like a vaccuum!
- Angra's song is not a "power ballad" in the traditional sense, I cannot explain it, but I guess that is why I like it so much.

Anyway, here is the track list below. The bitrate is mostly 256kbps and higher, except for (ironically) track 1-1 and track 2-13, which are 192kbps. They are all MP3 except track 1-7 and 2-2 which are AAC. The downloads are the songs themselves along with a m3u file. My interpretation of the genre of each song, which is somewhat subjective, are listed next to the song. I arranged them in the order that sounded best as a playlist, not in the order of my top 20.

As it turns out, completely by chance, Disk 1 is more chill and atmospheric and rock, and Disk 2 is more "metal." They are sub-74 minutes so they could easily be burned to CDs. As usual, I made these playlists for myself but figured someone else might enjoy them!


Disk 1 (Play time - 1:12:51)
1. Mr. Big - Undertow (Melodic / Hard Rock)
2. Pretty Maids - Cielo Drive (Thrashy Heavy Metal)
3. Analog Rebellion - Brain ≠ Heart (I Need To Know) (Downtempo / Indie / Rock)
4. The Depreciation Guild - Dream About Me (Downtempo / Shoegaze / Chiptune/8bit)
5. Heimataerde - Maarat An Numan (Darkwave / Electronic Body Music)
6. Tetsuo Sakurai - Another Kingdom (Jazz Fusion)
7. Sofa Surfers - Heavy Water (Progressive Rock-ish? / Trip-Hop? / Difficult to Categorize)
8. Mar de Grises - The Bell and the Solar Gust (Epic/Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal)
9. Les Discrets - Song For Mountains (Atmospheric / Blackened Shoegaze (Clean Vocals) / Post-Black Metal)
10. Lantlôs - Pulse/Surreal (Shoegazened Black Metal >:D (Black Vocals))
11. Alcest - Percées De Lumière (Shoegazened Black Metal)
12. Amusement Parks On Fire (Shoegaze)
13. Alex Band - Never Let You Go (Alternative Rock)
14. Dexter Freebish - Shine On (Alternative Rock / Electro)

Disk 2 (Play Time - 1:13:19)
1. Joe Satriani - Premonition (Instrumental Rock / Guitar Virtuoso)
2. Rhapsody of Fire - Sea of Fate (Power Metal)
3. The Last Days - Make The Change...Are Your Last Days (Atmospheric Instrumental / Blackened Shoegaze / Post-Black Metal)
4. Senmuth - Под знаменами Тэтишери (Symphonic Ethno Industrial Metal)
5. Shining - The Madness And The Damage Done, Pt. 1 (Progressive/Avant-Garde Rock with Black Metal, Electronic and Jazz influences)
6. Drudkh - Twilight Aureole (Post-Black Metal / Shoegazened Black Metal)
7. Kalmah - Godeye (Epic/Melodic Death Metal)
8. Cee Lo Green - Bright Lights Bigger City (Produced By Ben H. Allen Co-Produced By Graham Marsh) (Symphonic Hip-Hop / Melodic Vocals, not Rap)
9. Rage - Empty Hollow (Symphonic/Epic Power Metal)
10. Grey Waters - The Truth is in Your Eyes (Depressive Rock / Emo Vocals)
11. Arid - Custom Gold (Melodic/Progressive Rock)
12. Revolution Renaissance - Crossing the Rubicon
13. Angra - Lease of Life (my #1 song of 2010 / Power Metal "Ballad")

Mediafire Download (Disk 1)
Mediafire Download (Disk 2)

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Yearning - Frore Meadow (2001)

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal / Shoegaze / Doom Metal
Quality: mp3 @ 192 kbps

Mediafire Download

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!

The Depreciation Guild - Spirit Youth (2010)

Genre: Shoegaze, Chiptune
Quality: VBR mp3 @ 256ish (maybe v0?)
About: I have been getting really interested in shoegaze thanks to bands like Alcest, Les Discrets, the new Drudkh album.... So I put on shoegaze tag radio on last.fm. Of everything I heard I liked this the best. I have been getting progressively more addicted to this album. Every song will have something you like. The best songs are "Dream about me" and "crucify you".

Side-note: Sorry for lack of updates. Really busy with school and stuff. This may be my last update until the semester is over, mid-december.

Second side-note: Switching back to mediafire, I haven't gotten a broken RAR from them in a long time so maybe they FINALLY fixed it!

Mediafire Download

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy (Amazon - CD, MP3, or Vinyl)

Lantlôs - .neon (2010) (320kbps MP3)

Genre: Atmospheric/Depressive/Suicidal Blackened Shoegaze
Quality: 320kbps MP3
About: Yesterday I discovered this came out, and since I had listened to their album and demos before and liked them, I thought ok I should get it. But if someone had ran my face over with a steamroller I would not have been more surprised. This is a band who has matured so much over the past 5 years, from an almost blast-beat-fest on every song, to... this. Every song brings this wave of emotions, varying from anger to introspective to sad. The musical content varies along with it, there are moments of the fast aggressive black metal everyone loves, then there's passages with progressive-sounding beats and also minimalist parts. I don't know what more to say except it must be heard to be believed. New song of the year: "These Nights Were Ours."

Recommended A must-listen for all fans of the genre, in fact the multi-instrumentalist creator of Alcest is the permanent singer for this band now, and the artwork was done by a member of Les Discrets.

Neige - Vocals (Alcest, Peste Noire, Mortifera (Fra), Phest, Amesoeurs)
Herbst - Guitar, Bass, Drums, Lyrics (Epitaph, Herbst, Impavida, Líam)

Cover artwork by Fursy Teyssier (Les Discrets).

1. Minusmensch 07:49 2. These Nights Were Ours 04:41 3. Pulse / Surreal 08:21 4. Neige de Mars 05:01 5. Coma 06:07 6. Neon 07:42 Total playing time 39:41

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Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!

Alcest - Alcest / Les Discrets Split (2009)

Alcest:

Les Discrets:


Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Rock, Shoegaze
About: I have been eagerly awaiting this for two months now, and oh man, it was worth the wait. The first track "Percées De Lumière" marks Alcest's first new material in over two years. Whereas the previous album is more commonly classified as "shoegaze", this song makes a bit of a return back to the black metal roots, with heavier riffs and black screams. Track 2 is a mostly ambient song with some clean vocals, but it serves as a decent interlude between the two artist's songs.

Now where I was really surprised was the first "Les Discrets" track. I had listened on myspace, and thought it was ok, but this track grabbed me and bitchslapped me in the face. Surprisingly heavy, great atmosphere. Track 4 was not as memorable, and i felt the 2 minutes of silence at the end was completely unnecessary. But then Les Discrets redeems themselves with Song For Mountains. It is supposedly a demo, but it sounds pretty finished to me.

Mediafire Download