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Fourtheye Readers Best Albums of 2014

The poll has closed this years Best Albums of 2014 list, and the votes have been counted! 151 people voted in this years poll, with 671 votes resulting in about 300 albums being nominated this time round. I usually aim to have a top 10, but this time around there was a tie for the final spot, so there’s actually 11 albums in this years list!

I present to you the Fourtheye Readers Best Albums of 2014 list!

10. Foundations Of Burden – Pallbearer & The Ape Of God – Old Man Gloom

Equal tenth are two bands that crank out consistently good metal albums. Old Man Gloom, who are a supergroup featuring members of Isis, Converge and Cave-in fooled the world a couple of months ago be releasing a decoy album, and then the real thing. Some would say the decoy is as good as the actual album!

Pallbearer followed up their excellent debut album with a new doom metal classic Foundations of Burden.

9. The Grey Chapter – Slipknot

Nice voting here guys. Never before have I felt the need to doctor the results for the Fourtheye poll, and believe me, the temptation was strong this time around. /end rant

8. To Be Kind – The Swans

The Swans seem to be a firm favorite with Fourtheye readers these days, and for many their latest album didn’t disappoint.

7. The Joy of Motion – Animals As Leaders

Animals As Leaders followed up the excellent Weightless with the equally excellent The Joy Of Motion. Excellent instrumental progressive metal with a formidable live reputation – just don’t call them djent!

6. The Endless River – “Pink Floyd”

This seemingly endless album by parts of Pink Floyd seemed to have been well received by many readers.

5. Clearing The Path To Ascend – Yob

Yob continue on their upward path to become one of the most respected doom metal bands out there. Clearing The Path To Ascend is a great addition to their existing catalogue.

4. Pale Communion – Opeth

Some die-hard fans may argue that Opeth aren’t the same band that they used to be, but for many the 70s prog rock styling of their latest Pale Communion rang true.

3. Syro – Aphex Twin

Richard D. James takes about the same amount of time to produce records as Tool do, and 2014 was the year when the next Aphex Twin album was released by the well know Drum & Bass artist into the wild (the last one, Drukqs was released in 2001 not long after Lateralus). It would appear to have been well received by many Fourtheye readers!

2. Sines – Jakob

Jakob seem to be a regular Tool support act these days (especially when touring Down Under), and in 2014 they released their long awaited album Sines. Instrumental Post-Rock is their genre of choice, and you won’t find many better examples of this going around.

1. Once More ‘Round The Sun – Mastodon

Mastodon’s latest album appears to be regarded as one of their best. As a band they seemed to have moved onto the safer ground of more traditional songwriting rather than the more progressive work of their earlier albums, but the catchiness of the tunes, not to mention the high quality instrumental work have elevated this album to Fourtheye’s favorite of 2014.

Congratulations Mastodon!

Feel free to take a look at my top 10, which shares quite a few (not Slipknot) from this list!

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nxrm
nxrm
9 years ago

Thanks for the poll HB. Finding out about new music from other Tool fans is definitely a highlight of the site. Looking forward to seeing your top 10 as well. Happy New Year!

UndKeineEier
Member
9 years ago

Pretty good list excluding that one album.

Yob, Old Man Gloom, Pallbearer, and Swans were all on my list.

Can’t say I was too impressed with either the new Mastodon or Opeth albums. That Animals As Leaders album was pretty underwhelming too, in my opinion, but I do feel like I might need to give it another shot.

Ravenpig
Ravenpig
Reply to  UndKeineEier
9 years ago

I’ve not heard Pallbearer and I disagree on Swans (thought it sucked, big time), but other than that I agree with everything you wrote. Shocking, I know.

UndKeineEier
Member
Reply to  Ravenpig
9 years ago

Yeah? Well, I disagree with everything you wrote.

Ravenpig
Ravenpig
Reply to  UndKeineEier
9 years ago

I agree!

killershears
killershears
9 years ago

This makes me embarrassed to be a Tool fan, but I guess this kind of stuff is what comes with the territory every now and then.

Maynerd
Maynerd
Reply to  killershears
9 years ago

Really?
It could have been worse. Consider Foo Fighters or Smashing Pumpkins being in this list. *VOMIT*

Z-Werewolf
Z-Werewolf
9 years ago

I didn’t submit a list… couldn’t think of anything that really blew me out of the water or even just merely impressed me this year. If i had submitted a list it would have just been Jakob on the list period. Even so, Sines was good but… Subsets of Sets and Solace… Sines isn’t even close to those. I’m really happy for Jakob though, they sold quite a few vinyl records rather quickly and they deserve to have some attention. As for Syro… I was disappointed in Aphex Twin for this release. Then again, I don’t know what I could… Read more »

Leo Monzo
9 years ago

Odd list, still good stuff in there… i tought that Soen – Tellurian would come up… oh well…

Nostrenominon
Nostrenominon
9 years ago

I can’t understand for the life of me why or how anyone could like Mastodon?! Especially Tool fans, a group who are supposedly supposed to have good taste in music, at least better than your average 14 year old girl, but Mastodon? Come on. I saw them live at Bonnaroo and had to walk away half way through because I was so fucking bored, AND I was already on drugs, so they must really suck bad.

UndKeineEier
Member
Reply to  hellboy1975
9 years ago

I haven’t seen them live, but I did see their Live At Brixton DVD they put out last year and really dug it.

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