AlbumLove (February 2024): 2005-2009
Time Period: 2005-2009
Choose one album
that you love
that you think deserves more love
Tell us what it is, and why.
Additional Details
Why AlbumLove?
In this day and age, algorithmic recommendations for music are easy to come by, and it's trivial to seek out new music that interests you by searching online. AlbumLove offers an opportunity to sift through music loved by others, including those who might have divergent tastes from you. Think of this as an opportunity to listen outside of your comfort zone, with music that you know someone else adores, from a small pool of thoughtful hand-selected options.
What do I post?
Any album that you love and that you feel deserves more appreciation. There are no restrictions on genre, year, or anything else, and nothing is “too popular” or “too niche”. If you think it needs more love — for whatever reason — then it’s welcome in AlbumLove.
Name the artist and the album, and then, most importantly, share what you love about the album. It could be the music itself, but it could also be your associations with it -- maybe the album reminds you of someone you love, or you saw the band live and got a new appreciation for the studio songs.
Also, commenting on others' recommendations is encouraged! If you love something that someone else shared, let them know!
Do I have to listen to what everyone else posts?
Nope. You don't have to listen to anything if you don't want to. This is about creating a menu of options that people can explore as they wish.
Can I post more than one album in a month?
Nope. Limit one! This helps us be more selective about what we choose, as well as preventing the threads from getting flooded with too many contributions to keep track of.
Why albums and not songs/artists?
I like albums. :)
Seriously though, I feel like it's a very different thing to like an album as a whole versus a few songs or just an artist's general vibe. I like the idea of quantizing music for appreciation in the same way we might do with books or movies.
What about EPs?
Fair game!
2005-2009 covers a fair bit of my Reminiscence Bump and albums between those years would make up a a pretty high percentage of my top 100 albums so this is pretty darn hard to pick.
I think I'll go with Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005). It's a fantastic album, from the narrative track titles to the devastating lyrics, the beautiful piano and swirling strings. Plus Sufjan has had a heck of a rough time lately and could do with all the love.
[edit] just looking through RYM and this is the top album for 2005 lol, so not exactly an original choice. Ah well, I'm sticking with it.
Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin
As someone who leans on the hardcore/punk side of heavy music, this is my favorite metal album of all time. Most folks I've talked to are more interested in their previous album (Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation), but each song on this one is considerably more memorable to me.
It's thrashy and heartfelt in a tight, well-mixed package that has great pacing and lots of variance on their sound. Bonus: the last minute on the album fades into the first minute perfectly, so leave it on repeat for full effect!
If we're going to post about albums that need more love, I'll pitch in Katamine - Lag. Acoustic with dark lyrics. He did some guitar work for Elliott Smith and some of that style can be heard on this album in both style and lyric. Melancholic, but also a great listen with pretty much no filler. There is one follow-up album but it is pretty hard to find. It's definitely one album in my top 50.
Desaster - Angelwhore
German (teutonic) blackened thrash metal. In the vein of bands like Deströyer 666, Aura Noir, Toxic Holocaust, Sodom. I think I picked this up randomly at a record store in 2005 and it has been one of my most listened albums since then. Black and thrash are among my favorite metal genres, so this is just the perfection combination of the two. High speed aggression. The rest of their discography is also worth listening, but this album is still where they peak for me. Bands like Deströyer 666 come close, but no other band has that perfect blackened thrash sound as Desaster in my opinion.
So many incredible albums in this period. This was when I "came of age" and really discovered what kind of music I liked as a 15-19 year old.
I discovered the Smashing Pumpkins during this period and fell in love with Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and Machina but they also released Zeitgeist as their big come back album during this time in 2007 and while nowhere near as good as their previous efforts, I thought it was a kick ass rock album. Huge walls of distorted guitars, absolutely soul melting guitar solos and pounding drums from Jimmy Chamberlin (in my opinion the most underrated rock drummer in existence).
That drum fill/solo leading into the first track "Doomsday Clock", the shredding guitar solos of "Tarantula", the beautiful love song "That's the Way (My Love Is), Billy's best Brian May harmony guitar solo in" Bring the Light" and the bombastic pomp of "United States" (that headbanger of a riff in the last couple of minutes is a beast).
That's not to speak of the B-sides not included on the album, "Ma Belle" in particular is beautiful, classic Pumpkins and I don't understand why it wasn't included on the album.
A Few Honourable Mentions
The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Puzzle - Biffy Clyro
From Under the Cork Tree - Fall Out Boy