Tuesday 10 December 2013

Albums of the Year - 2013

Well, everyone does it! Lists of their favourite albums of the year. I cannot put them in order as preferences change from day to day. But here are my top 30 favs. Head and shoulders above the rest.

Riverside - Shrine of New Generation so atmospheric and so emotional

Haken - The Mountain completely bonkers. Covers every form of prog

Sound Of Contact - Dimensionaut lush. Very, very lush

Sand - Sand even better than NAO

La Maschera Di Cera - Le Porte Del Domani Italians doing what Italians do so well

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing is this too obvious?

Von Hertzen Brothers - Nine Lives commercial prog. Great, great songs

Anima Mundi - The Lamplighter symphonic prog in all it's glory

Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep always reliably superb

Comedy Of Errors - Fanfare & Fantasy great to see some superb Scottish prog here

Big Big Train - English Electric Part 2 as good as Part one. How do they do it?

Days Between Stations - In Extremis so good. Nice epitaph for the great Pete Banks

The Opium Cartel - Ardor it's not White Willow. Different, but just as good

Fish - A Feast Of Consequences truly back on form. Gorgeous packaging

Magenta - The Twenty Seven Club always a pleasure to experience retro prog at its finest

La Coscienza Di Zeno - Sensitivita simply, RPI at its very best

Dream Theater - Dream Theater settling very nicely into their new lineup

The Flower Kings - Desolation Rose nearly been going for 20 years and still producing the goods

Believe - The Warmest Sun In Winter without a doubt their best yet. Mirek Gil's guitar playing is superb

Vienna Circle - Silhouette Moon hopefully this release will get these guys better known. They deserve it

Kingbathmat - Overcoming The Monster yes, a monster of an album. Big, big sound

Quickbeam - Quickbeam great Scottish band. An almost chamber folk charm

The Fierce and the Dead - Spooky Action best instrumental album in years

Ayreon - The Theory of Everything Arjen is back, doing what he does best

Nosound - Afterthought Giancarlo produces some of the best atmospheric music around at the moment

Rhys Marsh - Suspended In A Weightless Wind maybe not an album, but some sublime cover versions

Solstice - Prophesy not really familiar with this band. But love the extended arrangements. Great playing

The Tangent - Le Sacre Du Travail Andy Tillison's masterwork. His most complex and ambitious album yet

Airbag - The Greatest Show On Earth this took a while to grow, but it did. Superbly atmospheric and Floydy

Il Tempio delle Clessidre - alieNatura RPI album of the year. Elisa Montaldo is a prog superstar

 

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