JRundquist's Good, Bad, Ugly, Happy Fun Time Look at 2011

Not a problem man. Thanks for enjoying this thread as much as I've enjoyed making it.
 
Elef Kirot is  Progressive Metal/Pop Rock Album...its the only way I know how to describe it. haha The two shouldn't go together, but it does so damn well. The Prog Songs, and The Pop Rock songs flow together and makes an incredible album.

I'm actually surprised that Battle Circus wasn't higher on your list  But I know you listen to tons of new releases, I don't have time for that kind of luxury. 
 
Thanks again for recommending that one, made my top ten list easily, I love it!

In similar, I'm glad to see Battle Circus was so high on your list.
 
I do feel very fortunate for it, although it's been cut in half time wise thanks to the radio show, but it's worth it. I still get to check out a ton of killer bands and albums. And it helped me show off Battle Circus. so it's Win/Win
 
 

You know what I hate about reading end-of-year top lists? You find so many albums released in 2011 that you missed and are awesome, so when you come to write your own 2011 list, you have no idea how to rank things because you're only just hearing this awesome new music.
 
Some things I thought you might have missed (though I might not have read thoroughly enough):
 
Shels* - Plains of the Purple Buffalo - forget sleepmakeswaves, forget Long Distance Calling, this was the post rock album of 2011 for me (along with This Will Destroy You, which I felt was pretty damn good - also, none of it is synth, it's all guitar...).
Falls of Rauros - The Light That Dwells In Rotten Wood - progressive black metal very much in the Agalloch/Falloch vein.
Thy Caraflaque - Rengeteg - progressive black metal also in the Agalloch/Falloch vein, but much more varied.
Wobbler - Rites at Dawn - basically, imagine if Yes did another album in 2011. Yeah.
Turisas - Stand Up And Fight - couldn't help but notice Alestorm and miss seeing this.
 
Once again, if I just missed it from your list, my bad. Excellent list.

maybe some missed it, but there was a topic about Battle Circus earlier this year.
http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2682864

Not to turn this into a commercial, but if anyone is trying to catch up on the year releases like I am, Amazon MP3 has a lot of good stuff for 5 bucks, that I've notice so far Anchors & Arrows, The Parallax Hypersleep Dialogues, Weightless, Scurillous, Worship Music, Grace For Drowning, and the Collective are all either 4.99 or 5.00 even.

I checked out Daniel Jakubovic yesterday on youtube and had my mind blown. I'm usually leery of one man bands. But he doesn't just play different instruments, he's mastered them. I certainly had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I even laughed a bunch of times. I have listened to it on bandcamp today, and I might do it again. Any idea where a guy could use paypal to get a physical copy? Thanks for the discovery.

@Staker- I'm a huge Fan of *Shels. Bt when listening to so much music this year, I totally forgot about them. Now that the list is done, I can go back to appreciating albums for albums again rather then just ranking them like I have been for the last 2 months. I gotta check out the other 3 you mentioned as well. Turisas on the other hand. Listened to it once and it didn't grab me. It was almost TOO symphonic for my tastes, as if it live it will be a huge letdown.
 
@tangentuniverse IT was actually Daniel posting one of his videos here that got me into him. I've been hooked ever since. Like you said it's not often when a musician can master so many different instruments...and be able to write great music with that knowledge.

JRundquist

 
8.) Scale The Summit- The Collective

BEST INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM IN OVER A DECADE! quote me on that in any way you want. This album has everything that I'm looking for in an instrumental album. Melodic, Heavy, Emotional driven, and Beautiful. A major departure from their 2 previous album. The Collective is a very dark album using minor scales 9AKA sad sounding scales for you non music nerds) and has some of their best songs they have written including Origin Of Species, Whales, and the most perfect ending song Drifting Figures. If you think all music needs to have a singer to be any good, first, go fuck yourself, and second get your head out of your ass and start appreciating some real talent. A great place to start is Scale The Summit. 

 
It sounds good to me. I think I have to give this a try!
Another great instrumental album from 2011 is "Gangs" by Irish band "...And So I Watch You From Afar", which the first time since LTE I enjoyed an instrumental album!

^ I love that band. Didn't know they had a new album. I'll be getting it soon.

Josh, the *Shels record is great, as it won't be left out of mine of course, but I personally think it's one of those albums that a lot of it is really great, but overstays its welcome a little too much. In other words, a little bit of the fat could be trimmed on it and it would have been right up there amongst the best records of the year.

@angra1 - oh, yes, they could have trimmed a lot of fat from the new *Shels record... but I think the long quiet spaces are more or less who they are, so somehow it makes sense to them.
 
@JRundquist - ASIWYFA's new album is pretty great. The mix is different... it lacks the atmosphere of the first one, and for that reason alone I prefer the first album, but the songwriting is just as good if not better. I'd recommend this band to a lot of forum members here...
 
Turisas do go quite heavy on the symphony stuff. They use a real orchestra on the new one (unlike the previous albums) but they can have some really proggy moments (eg. Five Hundred And One on The Varangian Way), which I think you'd really enjoy. Very fun live, too - I wouldn't say the lack of a full orchestra let them down.
 
Looking at your top list, I get the feeling we have quite similar musical tastes (read: we share the same favourite album, Terria), and I'm pretty sure you listen to more stuff than I do, so seeing such a simillar list is great. Thanks for writing it.

I will be checking out the new ASIWYFA very soon, along with the Jelly Jam. Which I totally forgot came out.
 
I like the earlier Turisas albums but Stand Up ANd FIght just didn't do it for me for some reason. I do think it was because it was overlly symphonic. I'm planning on seeing them next year so mabye live it will work out with the new songs.
 
I do love how I am known here almost entirely because Terria is my favorite album. hahahaha It's a great way to be remembered. The best 72 minutes ever put on the same record.

I quite like The Parallex: Hypersleep Dialogues, but I hope that those guys will have a few new tricks up their sleeve on the forthcoming album. Becoming too repetitive for my ears. Weird that I don't like Colors so much at all but just loved The Great Misdirect.
 
I listened to Thomas Giles' solo effort a few months ago but back then it didn't hit me. Today I listened to it again and it was suddenly pretty damn good! Many different styles that keep my brain interested all the way through. The right album at the right time for me today, it seems...  

Terria - where even the "hidden bonus track" is absolutely friggin' awesome.

@Liquidrsr I'm sure there will be no shortage of BTBAM variety. It will be Prog Metal, but I'm sure they know what they are doing this time around.
 
@Staker