So the first in the list, is also one of the earliest albums on the list... Though it doesn't feel like it. Many people I’ve spoken to, harbour the opinion that Morning View is the point in Incubus’ career where they began to lose it; I’d disagree, and argue that it was their peak. 97’s S.C.I.E.N.C.E and 98’s Make Yourself were good albums in their own right, but in terms of song-writing and composing a full album, as opposed to a bunch of songs on a disc, Morning View is a brilliant example of what Incubus used to do brilliantly.
Stand out tracks –
Just a Phase
Mexico
Under my Umbrella
9. Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine (2007)
2007 seems to be pretty well represented in this list, maybe 2007 was a good year for music, or maybe it was just a good year for me, which it very much was. Chuck Ragan broke away from Hot Water Music in 2006 and released Feast or Famine in mid 2007. Ragan’s always had a love for this sort of story-telling folk rock and his gritty, whisky vocals suit it perfectly, but his earlier folk offerings, with side project Rumbleseat had always been lacking a certain something. He found it with Feast or Famine. Acoustic guitars, fiddles, lap slide guitars, harmonicas and a shit-tonne of passion make this my favourite folk album of the decade.
Stand out Tracks-
The Boat
Do you Pray
California Burritos
8. Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
Rise Against are the punk representatives of the list. I had to debate with myself whether their newest album, Appeal to Reason, was worthy of replacing Siren Song of the Counter Culture, on this list which it very nearly did, until I went back and looked through the tracklisting for the album and was transported back to 2004, and feeling that youthful rebelliousness that this album oozes out of its every pore. And so here it is, my favorite punk album of the decade.
Stand out Tracks –
Paper Wings
Dancing for Rain
Swing life Away
7. Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (2003)
I was aware of Coheed and Cambria from around about the time this album came out, but I never really bothered to give them the listen-time they deserved. Partly because I was in to a whole different kind of music back then, and partly because I, like many others, couldn’t get past the vocals. But seven years later, and Claudio Sanchez is one of my favourite vocalists, and Coheed, one of my favourite bands. What separates this, for me, from the other Coheed releases is its slightly more polished feel, I like how it feels just as epic every time I listen to it, as it did on my first listen.
Stand out Tracks-
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
The Crowing
The Light & the Glass
6. Thom Yorke – The Eraser (2006)
I couldn’t leave this out, it was like getting a new Radiohead album... except not. I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the list, or a Radiohead album. In Rainbows has the same sort of electronic vibe going on, and a load of really good tracks, but this album is just screaming for acclaim, as a solo effort, it’s almost flawless.
Stand out Tracks
The Clock
Harrowdown Hill
Atoms for Peace
5. Opeth - Blackwater Park (2004)
Now we come to the top five, and this is where ordering started to become a problem. Particularly with the four and five spots, I decided to put this first because I haven’t really listened to it in a while, whereas back in the day, I probably would have punched myself in the face for not having this at a higher spot in the list. This is my favourite Opeth album, it’s genius. The first time I listened to The Drapery Falls, my mind was blown, and I was sold on progressive music.
Stand out Tracks-
Bleak
The Drapery Falls
Patterns in the Ivy
4.Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
This was somewhat of an odd choice for me, because I wouldn’t say I’m a big Dream Theater fan, in fact, this is the only Dream Theater album that I like. Actually, I’d go as far as to say that I dislike most other Dream Theater albums, I think they’re self-indulgent and pretentious, and James LaBrie’s voice grates on me something awful. “But Mike.” I hear you say “Six Degrees is easily their most self-indulgent and pretentious album?” I know, but I love it, there’s something about the operatic composition that just blows me away. And if any other argument was needed, The Glass Prison, End of discussion.
Stand out Tracks –
THE GLASS PRISON
3. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)
This album is fucking absurd. There’s no other word for it... Well, maybe genius, but absurd sums the whole thing up better. It’s an unrelenting machine gun barrage of sound, it takes the music theory textbook, learns it front to back and back to front, and then thinks “Fuck it.” And does whatever the fuck it wants. For single songs, The Silent Circus and Alaska probably have a better selection. But as a finely tuned album, Colours is by far BTBAM’s best offering to date, you can get lost in its intricacy’s and even now, after listening to the album what must have been at least a hundred times, I can still manage to find something new to love about it with every listen.
Stand out Tracks-
Sun of Nothing
Ants of the Sky
White Walls
2. Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing (2009)
This album really crept up on me out of nowhere. I was really getting in to Andy Hull’s solo project Right Away, Great Captain, and only knew vaguely that he was in some sort of pretty big indie band called Manchester Orchestra. I didn’t really give them a proper listen until they were announced to play at Reading Festival 2009, and thank god they were, because I don’t think 2009 would have been anywhere near as good as it was were it not for this album. Every track is superb, and I’m pretty sure that these guys are destined for huge things, and if they’re not, then they deserve to be.
Stand out Tracks-
The River
Everything to Nothing
Shake it Out
1. Protest the Hero - Kezia (2005)
So the number one spot really wasn’t a big problem for me to fill. It was always going to be Protest the Hero, the only real decision was Kezia, or Fortress? I opted for the former, even though Fortress is a brilliant album, and easily deserves a place on this list (only one album per band is fair though, right?) it’s Kezia for me that stands out. It came out in 2005, where pretty much everything sounded the same, it was Protest the Hero’s first album release, which meant it was make-or-break time for them, so what they should have done was create something standard and current, that would become instantly popular and sell thousands of records. Or not, they chose to create a conceptual 10-song masterpiece, unlike anything else that was floating around at the time.
Stand out tracks-
No Stars over Bethlehem
Blindfolds Aside
The Divine Suicide of K
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