So close...so close to the end. We have 4 albums left. I'm sure you've been able to figure out WHICH four, but do you know the order?
Before we dive into the last four, you can review everything we've covered here:
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Let's finish this!
4. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
This album should probably be higher. It should probably be in a fight for #1. But, I had expectations. I do with every Deftones album. I always want the sound from Around The Fur, and we almost got that with Diamond Eyes. But Koi No Yokan is in a different direction. Not that its a BAD direction, but its not what I was hoping for.
That being said, you should own this album if you don’t already. Songs like “Tempest” and “Leathers” give this album teeth. The sounds makes it into an album that can be listened to when you’re either up or down. Its not a mood record, its just a good record.
3. In This Moment - Blood
Sssssshheeeeee’s hhheeeeeerrrrreeeeeeee...I don’t need to tell you, but I will...Maria Brink has arrived. In This Moment blasted into the mainstream this year with the release of Blood. Now I will stop you die-hard ITM fans right there; I know that A Star-Crossed Wasteland was a critical hit, but you can’t argue that it didn’t have the mainstream appeal and success that Blood achieved this year.
Singles like “Blood” and “Whore” will carry this album into MANY collections. We talked about Lzzy Hale of Halestorm becoming the first frontwoman to take a female-fronted rock band to #1 on the Active Rock charts, and Maria Brink is quickly becoming the Lzzy Hale of the metal world. Yes, I know that Doro, Otep, and others have paved the path for Maria Brink and In This Moment, but for today, with where the world is, Maria Brink is taking the female metal flag and running with it into the mainstream.
2. Shinedown - Amaryllis
These guys have been on fire for years. They know, and we know that this fire is more like a blowtorch than a forest fire though. Even though their fire burns with intensity, it could be put out quick. One bad album from these guys, and they’re gone.
BUT, Shinedown has used that as motivation! The album Amaryllis not only produced hit, after hit, after hit...but it’s fun to listen to.
It today’s world of digital downloads and focusing on singles, Shinedown tired, and succeeded, in putting together more than one or two radio-ready singles, they complete a front-to-back joyride. Congrats to them for continuing to defy the odds, and good luck to them in the future.
1. Stone Sour - House of Gold & Bones: Part 1
Yes, the top album of the year. This can be the silver lining for Slipknot fans who may be upset that Slipknot’s greatest hits release from this year didn’t make the list.
This album will go down as the moment people started view Stone Sour as more than a Corey Taylor side-project. This will be the album that makes people take note that Stone Sour was around BEFORE Slipknot formed...this is Corey Taylor’s band. He brings more passion to this project than I’ve ever heard on an entire Slipknot album. Sure, part of that has to do with the fact Slipknot has a lot of strong personalities who can take over the whole group at any time, but it just SOUNDS more like Corey Taylor has more passion for this band.
Songs like “RU486”, “Gone Sovereign”, and “Absolute Zero” make this a juggernaut album that will stand the test of time...making it the top album of 2012.
That's it! That wraps the whole thing. 2012 was a great year for rock. And with more to come in 2013 from Stone Sour, Coheed & Cambria, and the chance we could get new Queens of the Stone Age and Shinedown, it's not going to stop!
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