Top 10 Albums Of 2009 (Robby's)

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So I'm going to try something new with my top 10 list this year. I'm going to do a video and text lists. I'm just seeing how the video will work out on here so it's kind of an experiment but here goes!

2008 was a terrible year for music, at least for me. However, 2009 more than made up for 2008's lackluster releases. Much of what was on my list last year wouldn't have even made the top 20 this year. In fact, my #1 from last year MIGHT have been 7-8 this year.

I covered the disappointments in the video so here's my top 10 in textual format!

10. Thursday - Common Existence

After the let down that was A City By The Light Devided was Thursday are back to their frantic rock ways but it does suffer a couple of the same issues the last album did. Namely, terrible production value. I realize Thursday aren't as big as they were in 2003 but much of the album sounds muffled and overly bassy somewhat diminishing an overall strong album.

Best Track - "Last Call"

9. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

14 years is a long time be on hiatus and Alice In Chains makes it sound like they haven't even missed a year. This mostly due to the tragic story of Layne Staley and his drug addiction that finally led to his death. Staley was replaced by William Duvall and sounds eerily like Layne on many of the tracks and pairs up just as well as co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell. Cantrell's vocal work is as stong as ever here but his guitar rifs are among the most boring in the history of the band. However, they are still distinctly his and holds the feel the band has always had.

Best Track - "Private Hell"

8. ISIS - Wavering Radiant

ISIS was always a band that was good for a couple spins before kind of boring you with their minutes of droning riffs but this album is a different animal completely. I've already reviewed this album in full on here.

Best Track - "Ghost Key"

7. Thrice - Beggars

 Well, Thrice has moved up from it's normal spot at #10 where it was the last 2 years. For good reason, too. This album is MUCH better than The Alchemy Index albums were. Although it does remind me much of the "Air" segment of that release. People younger than myself didn't get to see the evolution Pearl Jam went through the criticism they got for it, but they do have Thrice; who is following much of the same path Pearl Jam did. Speaking of...

Best Track - "The Weight"

6. Pearl Jam - Backspacer

Their most electrically charged album in a decade. It's like all they needed was George Bush to leave office for them to stop bitching about the Goverment and start rocking again. One big setback is the album length. Very short album length is about the only negative about this album.

Best Track - "Amongst The Waves"

5. Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect

Their previous album Colors was my #2 album in 2007 only losing to my favorite album of all time, Kaddisfly's Set Sail The Prairie. The lofty expactations I had for this album may have effected my overall thoughts about it. It's half "good" and half "AWESOME!" There's more random guitar solos and jam sessions than ever before and they are very close to becomming another Dream Theater. Need cohesive songwriting, not musical masturbation!

Best Track - "Fossil Genera - A Feed From Cloud Mountain"

4. 311 - Uplifter

After the very rightly panned Don't Tread On Me 311 needed a break, and to come back with the energy. They did just that and this is their best work since 2001's From Chaos. They rap a bit again, rock some more, and of course their reggae-rock ballads are hanging about. Of course, in typical 311 fashion, the 2 singles off this album also happen to be the 2 worst songs on the album. Also, they had 4 "bonus" songs depending on where you bought it and 2 of those happen to be better than anything on the actual album.

Best Track - "Neverending Summer" (because I don't think "Get Down" counts)

3. Gavin Castleton - Home

I'm always going to miss the brilliance that was Grüvis Malt but Gavin's solo work helps take the sting away a bit. I already reviewed this in full here.

Best Track - "Bugguts"

2. Mastodon - Crack The Skye

An epic tale of Astral Projection, wormholes, time travel, and a cameo from Mr. Die Hard himself, Grigori Rasputin. The music is just beautiful on this album and really takes what they did on Blood Mountain to the next level. They toned back the overall vocal heaviness but it really improved the band and the feel and imaging you get while listening to the album.

Best Track - "Oblivion"

1. Karnivool - Sound Awake

This album turned out kind of tricky because it's a 2009 release that we in the States won't see until February 2010. But in Australia it's been out for months. In any case, it's an excellent album. Not as rocking as Themata was as this album goes more for a prog-like tone. 4 songs close to or over 10 minutes long spells that out clearly.  Not a bad song to be found on here and will surely open some eyes when it finally washes up on our shores.

Best Track - "Illumine"

There's my 2009 top 10 albums in 2 separate nutshells! Hopefully 2010 is just as awesome-heavy as this year was! Feel free to comment or give suggestions as to what I might have missed.