Bunny Gamer's Top Albums of 2011. Part Two: 75-51.

The second part of my Top 100 Albums of 2011 list. Sorry these take so long to publish, but we're halfway through, and then regular posting will resume. Without any further ado, here are the next 25 albums on the list, presented with art, genre, country of origin, descriptions, top tracks, and download links for your convenience. Just click on this post to read the list!

75. The Horrible Crowes - 'Elsie'
Genre: American Rock
Country of Origin: USA

It's pretty rare for side-projects to feel like anything more than a little diversion while you wait for the main band's new album. Especially in the modern rock scene, even the most successful of side-projects (see: The Postal Service) tend to be thought of as the kind of 'little brother' to the main band. This is why it's so impressive that the first album by The Horrible Crowes feels like a truly legitimate venture from Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon and his pal Ian Perkins. And honestly, that's in part because it's exactly what you'd expect from a Brian Fallon project--it sounds like The Gaslight Anthem, except more relaxed and slightly less indebted to Bruce Springsteen. However, with the pressure to make nothing but rock music gone, The Horrible Crowes really manage to spread out, creating everything from relaxed loungey pop numbers to Tom Waits-inspired shout-alongs. No, it's not a far cry from Brian Fallon's primary project, but that's okay, because The Gaslight Anthem are one of the greatest bands in the rock world today, and The Horrible Crowes do everything that Gaslight does right, but with some added creative freedom.
Top tracks: Go Tell Everybody; Black Betty & The Moon
Listen.

74. Glassjaw - 'Our Color Green (The Singles)'
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Country of Origin: USA
Chronicling the five singles that Glassjaw released across 2010, it's not really fair to call this a 2011 release, but I mean honestly it's just too good to ignore. While Glassjaw's reunion wasn't as massive of a deal as everyone expected (five singles and another EP, basically), the five tracks that heralded the seminal post-hardcore band's return to music are still basically everything that Glassjaw have always done, but better. There's the crazy song structures, the insane sing-scream vocals courtesy of lead virtuoso Daryl Palumbo, the ridiculously heavy-hitting guitars (complete with weird middle-eastern guitar licks) and crazy spastic mid-song freak-outs. But above it all is a sense of forward motion and power that makes Glassjaw's return something to be celebrated, possibly even over their two already-released genre-defining records.
Top tracks: Stars; You Think You're (John Fucking Lennon)
Listen.

73. Clams Casino - 'Rainforest'

Genre: Witch House/Atmospheric Electronic
Country of Origin: USA
Clams Casino is known to the general public for the masterful beats he's created for rappers like Lil B, A$AP Rocky, Childish Gambino, etc. But it's easy to forget that he actually makes music for himself, not just his semi-underground rapper pals. And Clams Casino's first official solo release is a beast of an EP, with five tracks of beautiful atmospheres and thick, heavy beats. True to Clams' style, 'Rainforest' is heavily indebted to the witch house trend, but with a good dose of lighter atmospheres and bombast thrown in. The five stunning instrumental pieces that form the record drift in and out of your consciousness with their choppy, pitch-shifted vocals and dreamy, swirling keys without ever really coming down to earth. The reverby beauty of it all is hard not to fall in love with, and it's such an easy and powerful listen that it's the perfect piece to latch onto and prove that Clams Casino has the potential for a thriving career outside of the rap game.
Top tracks: Treetop; Gorilla
Listen.

72. Wormrot - 'Dirge'
Genre: Grindcore
Country of Origin: Singapore
I know certain people will disagree, but I've always felt like the grindcore world has been struggling to recover from the blow dealt to the genre when Discordance Axis broke up. Wormrot seem determined to fill that hole, and while it's no 'Inalienable Dreamless,' their most recent endeavor is one of the best albums to come out of the genre since then. 'Dirge' cranks through its twenty-five songs at a breakneck pace, throwing dashes of powerviolence, hardcore, and death metal into its grindcore center. Wormrot take the grindcore trope of 'doing everything all at once' and make it six times as insane, with some of the fastest, grimiest songs to come out of the genre. Despite the tongue planted firmly in cheek during many of these songs, 'Dirge' is one of the most violent, evil albums to ever come out of the grindcore scene, and is a must-hear for any fans of extreme music.
Top tracks: Principle of Puppet Warfare; Manipulation
Listen.

71. Disfiguring the Goddess - 'Circle of Nine'
Genre: Slam
Country of Origin: USA
The fact that Cameron Argon is primarily known as Big Chocolate is incredibly dismaying to me, due to the fact that the just-alright electronic producer also makes some of the most inventive and enjoyable brutal death metal around under the name of Disfiguring the Goddess. Often referred to as 'djent-slam,' Disfiguring the Goddess's second full-length is a beast of an album, expertly combining the short-and-fast guitar hits and creative production of djent with the crushing brutality and slams often found in brutal death metal. This album deserves a mention for its absolutely off-the-charts vocals alone, but the intense brutality and heaviness on display throughout this album (not to mention its absolutely fantastic production) make it among the most intense and striking slam albums to come out, period. No, it probably won't please genre purists, but for those who like a little creativity mixed in with their slams, it literally does not get better than 'Circle of Nine.'
Top tracks: Void Leacher; Uprising
Listen.

70. Loss - 'Despond'
Genre: Funeral Doom
Country of Origin: USA

The void left in my heart by Fucked Up Mad Max's suicide will never truly be filled. To say that there will probably never be a funeral doom band quite like Worship back when Max was still alive is very likely an accurate prediction. Thankfully, however, that's not going to stop Loss from trying. Despite having been around for over seven years (and having released a split with the aforementioned Worship back in 2005), Loss have only just recently released their first full-length record, but it was well worth the wait. 'Despond' is an absolute monster of a funeral doom album, lumbering through its ten monolithic tracks at a brutally slow pace. 'Despond' lays all the cards on the table from the very beginning, from the trite song names to the telling album title, Loss make very clear that they are shooting for nothing less than sheer depression with their crushing doom, and they achieve this goal admirably. The incredibly dark atmospheres are only enhanced by the excruciating pace, making 'Despond' one of the most remarkable and viciously depressing pure funeral doom albums to come out in quite some years.
Top tracks: Cut Up, Depressed and Alone; Conceptual Funeralism Unto the Final Act (Of Being)
Listen.

69. Oh, Sleeper - 'Children of Fire'
Genre: Metalcore
Country of Origin: USA
In the past, I've paid Oh, Sleeper a very minimal amount of attention. The occasional Thrice-esque song and the fact that Wikipedia listed them as a 'related artist' to As Cities Burn briefly caught my attention, but their first two albums rarely impressed me, instead coming off as simply a slightly above-average Underoath-plus-Thrice metalcore group. Their third album changes that all, quite frankly. 'Children of Fire' is one of the best modern metalcore albums I've heard, period. Yes, there's the classic clean vocals, the (somewhat djenty!) breakdowns, and the mid-range screams that we've all come to expect from the genre, but Oh, Sleeper's third record truly does go above and beyond the standard metalcore tropes. The clean vocals are remarkably effective and impressively evocative. The screams are legitimately terrifying, turning 'Children of Fire' into a remarkably intense listening experience--especially when combined with the razor sharp, insanely heavy guitars. With the addition of the masterful drumming, heavy bass, and flawless production, 'Children of Fire' provides an incredible, atmospheric, and insanely dark listening experience.
Top tracks: The Marriage of Steel and Skin; Chewing the Stitch
Listen.

68. Manchester Orchestra - 'Simple Math'
Genre: Indie Rock
Country of Origin: USA

'Mean Everything to Nothing' was one of the greatest rock albums of the latter half of the '00s. I know, that's saying a lot, but it's pretty hard to argue with how hard Manchester Orchestra's second official album hit. Following it up with the more understated and subtle 'Simple Math' was honestly the only logical maneuver, but it unfortunately cripples the album a bit when compared to its bombastic and immense predecessor. That being said, you shouldn't let it steer you away from Manchester Orchestra's newest: it's an incredible album with incredible scope, led by frontman Andy Hull's remarkable vocal and lyrical prowess. The fact that the album is kind of divided into three sections (track one acts as a prelude, with 2-4 being more rock-oriented, 5-7 being more experimental, and 8-10 being more soft-spoken) allows listeners to easily compartmentalize it and pick their favourite style of Manchester Orchestra, but the band's trademark gut-wrenching honesty and pure rock'n'roll power are present throughout. Just because it isn't as immediate as 'Mean Everything to Nothing' doesn't mean it isn't just as potent, and when 'Simple Math' blossoms into the immense climax of its middle section, it lets you fall in love with the band all over again.
Top tracks: Simple Math; Virgin
Listen.

67. Evan Brewer - 'Alone'
Genre: Bass Virtuoso
Country of Origin: USA

You'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you've only ever heard him performing in deathcore band The Faceless, but Evan Brewer is ludicrously talented. In fact, that might be the biggest understatement on this hyperbole-strewn list. Evan Brewer is so insanely good at his instrument that on his first solo album, he manages to put almost every so-called guitar virtuoso to shame by creating an album which is both massively impressive and consistently engaging with almost nothing besides a few bass guitars and the occasional minimal effects. There are quite a good bit of different things that make 'Alone' so remarkable, and while Evan Brewer's incredible ability on the bass is immediately obvious, as you listen it becomes more apparent how brilliantly crafted these songs are, despite their instrumental limitations. With nothing more than his impressive bass stylings, Evan Brewer creates a melodically beautiful and emotionally complex album, completely unique among the dozens of fantastic releases this year. Truly a brilliant musician, in every sense of the word.
Top tracks: Actualize; A Climate For Change
Listen.

66. Johnny Foreigner - 'Johnny Foreigner vs Everything'
Genre: Indie Rock
Country of Origin: England
Johnny Foreigner are the kind of band that make you want to murder the world when you discover they aren't the most popular band ever. The trio's off-the-charts energy and unique male-female vocal interplay allows them to make superbly interesting music within the poppy indie-rock formula, with sudden bursts of fast-paced guitars interspersed with pleasant balladry and intertwining vocal lines, with all band members often singing completely different melodies over each other locking perfectly in place. Their tongue-in-cheek humour and fantastic lyrics mesh perfectly with their creative take on fun-as-hell indie rock music to make their third album an evocative and engaging listen through all seventeen of its fantastic songs.
Top tracks: With Who, Who and What I've Got (Standard Rock); Electricity vs The Dead
Listen. Discography.

65. The Weeknd - 'House Of Balloons'

Genre: Electronic/R&B
Country of Origin: Canada

It's almost unfair to allow The Weeknd to be on this list, for similar reasons (although on a smaller scale) to why I decided against including Lil B: he's released three fucking incredible albums this year. Oh, yeah, and they're all goddamn free. The thing is, though, that The Weeknd's work is so good that I just couldn't leave him off. The first release in his 2011 trilogy was a notable shock to the semi-underground music world--this completely unheard-of, unknown man comes out of nowhere and releases a beyond-amazing record with absolutely no publicity or previous fame. 'House Of Balloons' expertly mixes dark, minimalist production with Abel Tesfaye's absolutely stunning voice to flesh out the first part of his moody tale of losing oneself in the sex and drugs trademark of the hedonistic lifestyle depicted. This is evil, minimalist pop with a jaw-dropping voice, incredible production, and oppressing atmospheres, done like never before.
Top tracks: High For This; The Knowing
Listen.

64. Damascus - 'Of Whom I Always Think'
Genre: Post-Rock/Post-Metal
Country of Origin: USA
Post-rock has been in an interesting place the last few years.. There's been a remarkable surplus in new post-rock bands, but a dearth of actual new (or really even very interesting) ideas. Thankfully, this is where Damascus come in. Beautifully combining heavy guitars and post-rock stylings, Their second EP is legitimately stunning. Over its three semi-long tracks, 'Of Whom I Always Think' ebbs and flows perfectly, taking the traditional post-rock crescendo and making it something interesting, new, and powerful again. When this album is quiet and bubbling below the surface, it's beautiful, and when everything finally builds to one of its trademark huge, distorted climaxes, it's truly powerful. Here's hoping Damascus blossom into one of the truly great post-rock bands mentioned along with the best of em--they certainly have the potential.
Top tracks: Schematics; Interference
Listen.

63. Sister Crayon - 'Bellow'
Genre: Trip-Hop/Dreampop
Country of Origin: USA
Sister Crayon's semi-official EP from mid-2010 was one of the most enjoyable surprises of the year, so I was considerably excited for their debut full-length when it finally dropped. Thankfully, it lived wonderfully up to these expectations. 'Bellow' simply does everything right--beautiful, dreamy vocals courtesy of frontwoman Terra Lopez, backed my gorgeous, gauzy keys and simple trip-hop beats. There really isn't a whole lot to say about 'Bellow,' the truth is that it simply takes a style and does it perfectly. If you like dreampop or trip-hop, you owe it to yourself to check out Sister Crayon, and that's that.
Top tracks: And Glass...; (in) Reverse
Listen.

62. Thy Catafalque - 'Rengeteg'
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal
Country of Origin: Hungary

Thy Catafalque's fifth album is special, considering it is the first album recorded as a one-man band rather than as a duo. However, this doesn't hold back 'Rengeteg' at all. It's not even fair to call this album heavy--it is crushing, monolithic, and immense. The way that Thy Catafalque's experimental take on the metal genre is pieced together throughout the album is remarkable in every sense of the word. Insanely heavy, this album jumps between styles beautifully, being over-the-top dense at times and yet inexplicably catchy at others. However, at its core this is a dark, crushing, destructive album of immense Hungarian metal done perfectly. The huge wash of the heavier tunes gives way to beautiful folk-inspired songs before turning to strange electronic pieces and even a ballad, but it all comes back around to the impenetrably heavy songs that make up the core of the band's sound. Grim, yet stunning, this is Thy Catafalque's masterpiece.
Top tracks: Fekete mezők; Vashegyek
Listen.

61. Wolves in the Throne Room - 'Celestial Lineage'
Genre: Cascadian Black Metal
Country of Origin: USA

Wolves in the Throne Room's fourth full-length is also their first release with over four tracks. This may not seem important to the casual onlooker, but most fans of the band saw the announcement of the seven-song tracklisting as a sign of a significant departure from the band's well-established formula. When the first song opens with over two minutes of synths and female vocals, this idea is only solidified. However, once the album finally blooms into its true self, it becomes clear that this is simply a slight evolution, and the kings of cascadian black metal are still doing exactly what they do best. Atmospheric riffs cascade over the breakneck drumming and the trademark black metal shrieks, reminding everyone why Wolves in the Throne Room are still the most famous American black metal band out there. The short interlude songs only serve to heighten the atmosphere of the album, and the whole record provides that exact form of bleak, fascinating beauty that fans of the genre have grown to love so much. This is Wolves in the Throne Room at top form, delivering some of the best that the black metal world has to offer, yet again.
Top tracks: Astral Blood; Prayer of Transformation
Listen.

60. Ezophagothomia - 'Instinct of Inhuman Devourment'

Genre: Slam
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Ezophagothomia could easily be the heaviest band out there today, and on their debut, they're out to prove it. 'Instinct of Inhuman Devourment' is one of the most fucked up albums to come out of the slam genre since Jenovavirus' demo back in 2006, and to even earn a comparison to those 'Nightmare Slam' legends says a lot about Ezophagothomia. This is one of those rare brutal death metal records where everything just fits perfectly into place. The vocals are genuinely terrifying, the slams are slow and brutal, the songs move along at the perfect pace, everything just works. And that's why it's easily the best slam album to come out this year, if not the last five years.
Top tracks: Instinct of Inhuman Devourment; Parasitic Vivisection
Listen.

59. Aethere - 'Wave Existence'
Genre: Djent/Deathcore
Country of Origin: USA
It's probably unfair to put a band on your year-end list that you're friends with, but honestly I couldn't care less. Easily one of my most-listened and most-anticipated albums of the year, Aethere's debut is just so fucking fun I can't help but love it. And honestly, a record of this quality simply shouldn't be able to come from a tiny local band, but Aethere pull it off with flying colours. The breakdowns are subtle and immense, the solos are blisteringly fast, the vocals guttural and intense, and the just displays ludicrous amounts of technical prowess with their own unique combination of deathcore, djent, and a little dash of tech death. On top of all this, every once in awhile the band pulls back into some truly breathtaking melodic sections that really do make this more than your average metal album. Besides, like more than half the album is a big Xenogears reference. How can this be anything short of fucking awesome?
Top tracks: Welltall; Oblivion
Listen.

58. Frank Turner - 'England Keep My Bones'
Genre: Folk Rock
Country of Origin: England
I've known Frank Turner's name since his first album dropped in early 2007, but for whatever reason I never really actually listened to his music until earlier this year, and boy do I regret it. His fourth album, 'England Keep My Bones' is pretty much a masterpiece of folk, with little bits of rock and roll thrown in. With evocative vocals, beautiful guitars, and impeccable lyrics, Frank Turner does exactly what this brand of folk music should do: inspire, emote, and astonish in all the right places. The upbeat tracks are chest-thumping pieces to stand and yell along to, and the more somber tunes create an absolutely heartbreaking soundtrack to a lonely night. But what's truly amazing about 'England Keep My Bones' is how much it stands out from its contemporaries--Frank Turner has a sound all his own, and it's pretty much flawless.
Top tracks: I Am Disappeared; Redemption
Listen.

57. Mahria - 'Mahria'

Genre: Skramz
Country of Origin: Canada

The screamo genre was in a bit of a lull this year, much to my dismay. As one of my personal favourite genres, it was sad to see such a lack of heavy hitters coming out of it in an otherwise fantastic year. Thankfully, Canadian newcomers Mahria fixed that right up. Their noodly brand of emotional hardcore hits hard and fast, jumping in and out of the seven songs on their first EP so quickly that it's hard not to listen to it three or four times in a row. The emotional ebb and flow of the first half of the cassette is truly impressive, especially when contrasted with the brutal, noisecore-influenced second half. And while it's easy to make a big deal out of them being a skramz band with a female singer, the fact is that Corby Burnett delivers the kind of fantastic, emotive performance that it makes her gender completely irrelevant. Couple this with remarkably creative guitar lines and ripping drum parts, and you've got the recipe for a screamo masterwork.
Top tracks: Lights; Wagering Life
Listen.

56. Defeater - 'Empty Days & Sleepless Nights'

Genre: Hardcore/Indie Folk
Country of Origin: USA

The second half of Defeater's two-part set of concept albums about a middle-class family in mid-century America torn apart by drugs, abuse and murder also happens to essentially serve as the band's chance to prove themselves. Their 2008 debut 'Travels' was a surprising shot in the arm of the hardcore scene, weaving a harrowing narrative in with Defeater's own emotive form of the genre's trademark aggression, but it was hard to tell where they would take their direction in the future. Thankfully, Defeater's sophomore effort is just as powerful (if not more so) than their first record, telling the other side of the story, possibly even more chilling than the first part. The repeated themes help link the aggressive melodic hardcore of the first part of the album with the aching beauty of the final four songs, providing a surprisingly potent other side of the band not shown before in the form of some simple, beautiful acoustic indie folk tracks. The beauty of the final four songs provides a perfect foil to the chilling power of the tale told through the more hardcore songs, and it all comes together to create an incredibly powerful and complete album to be remembered for years by the hardcore genre.
Top tracks: Dear Father; Brothers
Listen.

55. A Hope For Home - 'In Abstraction'
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Country of Origin: USA
Now this album was a surprise for me. Between the band's name and purported image, I expected shitty Attack Attack! styled music, or, at the very best, Chasing Safety-era Underoath ripoffs. However, the band takes the modern post-hardcore formula and, instead, does something truly remarkable with it. Their seven-track fourth album is a massive, long-winded romp across huge riffs and beautiful melodies, eschewing autotuned choruses for soft, melodic build-ups, and leaving breakdowns behind in favour of massive, sludgy, almost post-metal-esque segments. The laid-back, extended nature of the songs on this album betray how truly crushingly slow and heavy they can get, and when the soft build-ups and fantastically-delivered clean vocals finally give way to the massive climaxes and powerful screams that define the album, it truly is breathtaking.
Top tracks: Out of Ruin, Misery; Everything That Rises Must Converge

Listen.

54. O'Brother - 'Garden Window'

Genre: Post-Hardcore/Sludge
Country of Origin: USA

The beginning of 'Garden Window' should come as quite the surprise to anyone who listened to O'Brother's previous EP, 'The Death of Day.' Beginning with a single, heavy, sludgy chord, O'Brother's first full-length wastes no time in stating the band's newfound purpose: this is slow, churning, evil music, and while the feedback-laden heaviness does let up over the course of the surprisingly lengthy album, the atmosphere never really does. Throughout 'Garden Window,' O'Brother blend their previous Thrice-meets-post-rock sound with these newfound doomy influences to create a dark, amorphous album which touches on the full spectrum of human emotion. It's an exhausting listen, with no less than five of the albums eleven songs clocking in at over six minutes and one touching on fourteen, but it is also the kind of album which draws you in from the first second and all but stuns you into submission until it ends, and for that, it is truly one of the greatest debuts in the genre.
Top tracks: Sputnik; Cleanse Me
Listen.

53. Kimbra - 'Vows'
Genre: Alternative Pop
Country of Origin: New Zealand

Kimbra has gained a good bit of fame from her guest spot on this year's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' by Gotye, but many listeners aren't even aware that she has her own 2011 album which is even better than that track. 'Vows' presents a joyous, sexy, compelling take on the pop formula which tosses away thumping beats and simple choruses for jazzy vocals and dense, blissful instrumentation. Although on the surface, it initially falls into the classic pop trap where the singles are the best tracks, 'Vows' slowly deconstructs from the fun-but-complex pop music in the beginning into genuinely moving, dense, and extremely potent slow-burning songs in the latter half of the album which really blossom into mighty, powerful and tragic pieces which weren't even hinted at when the record began. While easily enjoyable for its pure pop fun, as this album slowly evolves it reveals itself as a gorgeous and haunting masterpiece.
Top tracks: Settle Down; Withdraw
Listen.

52. Emery - 'We Do What We Want'
Genre: Modern Post-Hardcore
Country of Origin: USA
Emery have always been my favourite modern post-hardcore band, deftly combining aggression and beauty with their entertwining tri-vocal attack and unique instrumentation. On their fifth album, although Emery have been reduced to a four-piece (and hence, only two vocalists rather than the previous three), they still manage to make fantastic post-hardcore music just as they always have. 'We Do What We Want' lacks bits and pieces of what made the band so special in the first place, but they've moved forward into a territory where they can make slightly more straightforward music and keep it interesting, enjoyable, and powerful. The heavy sections hit hard, with intense dual-screamed vocals and even the occasional breakdown, and Toby Morrell's clean vocals are as enjoyable and powerful as always. Basically, if you like modern post-hardcore, you need this album. It's Emery doing everything they do best, and it rules.
Top tracks: Scissors; Daddy's Little Peach
Listen.

51. Matana Roberts - 'Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres'
Genre: Experimental Jazz
Country of Origin: USA
Whatever you're expecting when you go into this album, you're wrong. One of two inventive saxophonists to have albums released this year on Constellation Records (famous for being home to Godspeed You! Black Emperor), Matana's first album in her twelve-part Coin Coin series takes weirdness to the extreme. As the album grows and develops over its eigth tracks, the frantic free-jazz morphs into dark, avant-garde pieces which flow together seamlessly, all guided by Matana's incredibly agile and unique vocal stylings as she sings, speaks, whispers, and shrieks about the trepidation of black slaves in America's history. It makes a lot of sense that the album was released on Constellation Records, as its jarring, crazed experimental jazz ramblings tend to ebb and flow with an almost post-rock aesthetic, but in the end, this album is in a league all its own. To compare Matana Roberts to any other musician is almost laughable: this is music completely separate from the standard, and when it hits the emotional heights that it is capable of, it is brilliantly emotive, chilling, and impressive because of it.
Top tracks: Lulla/Bye; I Am
Listen.


PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE