Best Songs of 2017

2017 was a really rather miserable year, but hopefully 2018 will be better. It wasn't all that bad in terms of music, but I'm busy during the holidays and exam period, so I didn't have time to sort out best albums. I also didn't listen to as many as last year, so it would've been hard to really honestly rank them. These 'best songs', or rather, my (40) favourite songs, are also in order of release, so this list is not a ranking. The whole thing is on spotify, but if you want a little more explanation and notes on my favourite records of the year, read on.

Album Reviews: September

A little late, but I'm here with a selection of September records.

Album Reviews: Summer

The last time I had such an un-metal summer, I think, must have been at least two years ago. To be fair, I did reach back a lot for releases from 2016, an apparent heat-induced laziness preventing me from searching out new, potentially more interesting music. Summer is always a floatier affair, not really lending itself to the heavy sluggishness of my usual musical diet. Instead, there's some light-hearted prog and in memory of the fun days, a surprising amount of relative-to-doom upbeat punk.

Album Reviews: Spring

Here is my extremely late recap of the spring albums I've listened to - better late than never, I guess. At this point I doubt I'll do a monthly of summer either, especially since there are less releases altogether; so hopefully I'll pick up the regular schedule in September.

Album Reviews: October

October was a good month. Naturally, the autumn months generally fit the mood of the genre better, but the quality of the releases was still superb, even after September, which had many favourites for me. These months see me sitting at home with my laptop working a bit more, so there's always some music in the background, and the memorable ones help me get through those dreaded all-nighters.

Album Reviews: June

Here I am with the new review! Summer is usually bleaker for releases, but these are the months I have more time to write, so I work with what I have. There were two records I was really looking forward to, but there are some nice finds apart from those as well.

Album Reviews: March-April-May

Honestly, I most missed my monthly reviews of my favourite albums. It's a bit late now, and it's a monster of a post - so mostly just blurbs go with the albums - but here is my favourite 15 from this spring; as per usual, in chronological order.

Best Songs of 2015

Songs, songs, songs - it's even harder to pick out a top 40 than to pick out 10 albums. There's no such thing as a bad year or a good year for songs - there are always great ones out there. As with the albums, these songs largely reflects my personal taste - too weird for the common people, really not heavy enough for metalheads - and is largely independent of the actual "goodness" of songs.

As per usual, links are in the descriptions (the song titles), but the songs are available on 8tracks and Spotify (although 3 songs are missing in the latter). As per usual, the post is extremely long.

Best Albums of 2015

The last Monday of the year is Music Monday with the best - my favourite albums now, and my favourite songs coming in a later post. I must say, despite some highly anticipated records of some of my favourite bands, 2015 was a little less impactful for me (album-wise) than 2014. However, paired with the fact that I listened to more albums than ever before, the choice wasn't particularly easier.

A Halloween Playlist

This comes with the usual warning: only for lovers of all things metal. Here you can listen to it on 8tracks, and after the break there's a track-by-track breakdown with youtube links, for those who don't want to listen to the whole length. (And in case 8tracks skips some songs, which it sometimes does.)

A Music Tag

It's Monday again, a day which would normally be like any other day in the summer, but adult life isn't as kind. I have my internship, which is rather fun, only I have to bike an obscene amount in very hot weather for absolutely no money. But at least I feel like I'm doing something relatively useful.

Anyway, after concluding the same song titles series I wanted to do a Music Monday which would possibly include me gathering some of my favourite songs to dump on the (admittedly very small) unsuspecting readership. I found this tag on (Hungarian blogger) Bree's blog, which I promptly stole. The real challenge was not to include too many songs from my absolute favourites, so I tried to stick to one song per band.
(Long post ahead with youtube links!)

Album Reviews: June

June was kind of weak concerning metal releases, slightly better in other genres - which I just don't really listen to these days. I also had considerably less time to spend on listening to new music due to exams and more exams. I did look through June releases afterwards too, and still nothing really stood out to me even genre-wise; I guess after being spoiled in May it was a slight disappointment. In any case, summer month are always less busy.

Summer Playlist II

Hey, it's the summer solstice!

It's kinda fun that it's on a Sunday. I wish I was in some kind of stupid independent drama where I would go with my friends into the forest, up on a mountain, and wait for the sunset on the year's longest day. Accompanied by a metal soundtrack, cause that's what I'm all about.

Here it is on 8tracks.

Album Reviews: May

 

The May assortment of albums. Seven metal albums and a punk rock... but plenty of catchy and pop-like music. It was a rather good month, even if the end-of-the-semester period is crazy for me, and I haven't got the time to properly listen to new music.

Spring Playlist II

We've entered the astronomical spring with a solar eclipse, isn't that nice? Here wasn't much of a spectacle, especially since we didn't bother to get anything to view as little as we could have. I kind of forgot about it, even, but it was still noticeable - how the tone of the light changed just ever so slightly, how it was just a little too dark without any clouds to speak of. It was eerie in a very bright way, which made it all the more disconcerting.

I say this calls for a metal sort of spring. (I mean, how appropriate is the Shadows of the Dying Sun cover?) Anyway, to commemorate, here's a playlist (I've done quite some time ago, since this is a thing I do every changing of the seasons), vaguely spring-like for those who appreciate everything from pop-rock to metal. Well, mostly metal still.

A Year In Music

Aka my top40 of 2014 songs. So that I maintain a certain variety (and because of 8tracks' limitations) only two songs are included by any artist, which in some cases is kinda cheating - since I've listened to Shadows of the Dying Sun excessively, and WT and Rise Against certainly would have more than two songs if going by my iTunes play count.

You neend't continue, here's the playlist on 8tracks, but if you have loads of free time or are terribly interested in what I have to say (/fangirl) about these, then by all means, do read on. There are also separate youtube links there, for those who'd only listen to a few.