Main menu

Round Up of “Best Of” Lists for 2009 and Decade

First off, allow me and Viola to wish everyone a Happy New Year!! I hope 2010 is off to a good start.

To start us off this year, I thought I’d provide a collection of “Best of” lists. When it comes to selecting what albums, songs, artists, etc. ruled during a particular year, decade, century, or “all time,” I find it rather entertaining to review various opinions. Rarely is there agreement about who deserves the top honor. Likely because musical tastes are personal, but whatever.

Of course, depending on the musical style(s) magazines elect to write about will often serve as a guide of what deserves a thumbs up or down for the given list. The advantage of scouring several “best of” lists is noticing which albums and artists consistently appear. For example, Mastodon’s Crack The Skye consistently made an appearance. Perhaps the most popular album this year is Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion.

I contemplated publishing my own rankings, but I have decided not to do so. Instead, here are some of the 2009 releases I have enjoyed the most in no particular order:

Megadeth – Endgame: One of the best albums produced since the Marty Friedman years, and I simply couldn’t get enough of this album. Without a doubt, one of the best albums of this year.

Katatonia – Night Is The New Day­: I recently reviewed this album. After being given an early listen by the label, Peaceville, I had no choice but to go and buy this album. Since adding it to my permanent collection, I can’t get enough of it.

Riverside – Anno Dommini High Definition: This album was a pain in the ass to get once I finally had the money, and I even had to purchase it through an Amazon dealer because the actual site stopped carrying it. Ridiculous, because this band simply deserves more notoriety then they get. Oh, and this came together with the Katatonia album.

Dream Theater – Black Clouds and Silver Lining: All this wasn’t the band’s best album, it is still an album I’ve plenty of attention to since Viola and I purchased it.

Rodrigo y Gabriela – 11:11: It is safe to say that this duo should be included on several of the lists below, but they aren’t. It’s a shame, because the album is pretty awesome.

The 69 Eyes – Back In Blood: The 69 Eyes is a much newer discovery, but Viola gave this album to me for my B-day after going to the show thanks to Roadrunner. We went to checkout Dommin, but we also became fans of this awesome band as well.

To be fair, there are several newer albums I haven’t had much time to digest. Since I was with family, I didn’t spend much time listening. However, there are the new albums from Creed, Transatlantic, Animals As Leaders, 3, The Swell Season, and several others that I will certainly enjoy in the next few weeks.

So, I have made it as easy as possible to access the assortment of “best of” lists below. If I missed any that deserve inclusion below, please let me know and will make an update.