My Top 10 Albums of 2019

Over 100 albums I went through and 110k mins streamed on Spotify alone! There was the good, the bad, the pure utter trash but there was also the extraordinary. This was difficult, but today I challenged myself to write about my 10 favorites with an added stress of trying to rank them. Enjoy:

10. Denzel Curry – “Zuu”

My 2018 rapper of the year, dropping another tape full of bangers! It doesn’t have all the moodiness and experimentation/scream raps from last year’s effort, but what this album does is give me classic mixtape feels that you continually bump solely because it’s so much damn fun. Zuu is just what I needed in a year where I expected the likes of SchoolBoy Q to fill that hole in my heart. Denzel is such a versatile rapper known for that raspy angst filled delivery, and I dig every bit of it. Add strong beat selection to that and precise mixing / use of features and you got something for everything.

Dive into: “Speedboat”

9. He is Legend- “White Bat”

One of the first southern rock style bands I got into alongside Evertime I Die over a decade ago. While they’ve had a strong discography, I wasn't sure they'd be able to create a classic album that I’d enjoy start to finish, putting together their post hardcore roots with their more modern stoner rock vibe. Hello White Bat. Pummeling instrumentation full of swagger in its riffs, alongside the whiskey –cigarette indulged crooning voice of their lead singer. Its dirty, sleazy, it’s a drunken Friday night party where you’re well aware a fight will go down and some drywalls will be kicked through- but you’re still there for a good time!

Dive into: “Eye teeth”

8. Slipknot “We are not your Kind”

A progressive accomplishment. It shows that the band 20 + years ongoing in their careers still have a lot to give in terms of performance and fresh ideas. While it’s not as heavy and furious as their infamous “IOWA” in the early 00’s, it might be their heaviest since (and that’s saying a lot because of IOWA’s reputation). Some tracks are a kick to the teeth, while others create moods of living in a horror movie with a killer on the loose. I would describe this effort by my idolized lead singer since I was a wee teen Corey Taylor and company as, Controlled Insanity.

Dive into: “Nero Forte”

7. Bilmuri – “Wet Milk”

What can I say, this is my most streamed newfound artist this year. For a good reason, his music speaks to me. This album summarizes where my taste is heading from the hardcode kid transitioning to more pop oriented melodies and dabbles into electronic instrumentation. All the while keeping that late 00’s post-hardcore essence to give us grown up emo’s and a drop of nostalgia without relying on it too much, instead teaching us to the good of discovering and accepting new sounds. While his latest album that just dropped yesterday “Rich Sips” was even better in my opinion, this was the one I sang along to all year.

Dive into: “Lifeisgood”

6. FKA Twigs – “Magdalene

““Art Pop” is one of the new genres I started digging into in 2019. Being a long time Bjork fan I wasn’t even aware her music could be considered as that. While my go to is usually higher energy music with instrumental technicality I am drawn to this music because how lost I get in it. Not to mention is perfect with gaming and adds a shroud of mystery to dungeons and worlds I explore in them. FKA Twigs, is polarizing in ways that I don’t think I’m yet capable of explaining as a music writer. Experimental RnB is my best way of describing it. However what this album did is opened the doors for me to discovering artists alike. It is cutting edge from anything I've heard all year, and may very well inspire me on my own musical projects!

Dive into: " fallen alien"

5. Periphery – “P4:Hail Stan”

As if I couldn’t enjoy this one enough from the walloping 16 min opening track of epic proportions in “reptile, seeing them perform this album live in the summer made me appreciate it even more! It’s such a stylistically diverse metal album with so much progressive traits. Some of the most brutal moments in Metal I heard this year are on this album. While the band is known for trolling us fans from time even with a few joke lyrics and that horrific album title, Hail Stan shows their full maturity as musicians who have truly figured out how to collaborate and play to each other’s strengths.

Dive into: “Follow your Ghost”

4. BrockHampton – "Ginger"

Always been a fan of the self proclaimed the “World’s best boyband”, but not as heavily as some die hard fans knowing about each members and their personalities. Kevin abstract was the one I followed most in the group separately, and listening to Ginger the first few times I was not even aware of the drama that surrounded this effort. The more I listened because of how drawn I was to everything else already sonicaly to the song writing and the group’s workflow, I felt the tension and emotion was a big thing to the story. I won’t explain here, but it did add a whole new dimension to how I perceived the music. This is a fun going, yet calculatingly emotional album by these young men all with tremendous potential.

Dive into: " Love me for Life"

3. The Game – “Born 2 Rap”

As much as I’ve enjoyed hip hop in 2019, this was the first album with a truly “Classic” feel. Cohesive from start to finish, Game does what he does best and that’s Rap his ass off. No gimmicks, dumb marketing ploy to sell streams, cheeky non sense features just to get on playlists (Ed Sheeran addition was quite tasteful) and no songs for the Rap A.D.D checking out before the 2min mark. Pure honest story telling that requires 3 verses on inspiring beats from one of the most consistent rapper around. While I enjoy some of the younger lean rappers still, found on this album are tales that can only be told by men who went through a a certain type of life trials and tribulations other than being bored on deciding which drug to do or being dumped by a girl they liked for 2 weeks. P.S That Nipssey Hustle feature gave me goosebumps! #rip

Dive into: “West Side”

2. Northlane – “Alien”

Speaking of cutting edge, I had no prediction that the band who would present the most interesting and genre defying album of this year in heavy music would be from Australia. Although let’s face it, Australian metal scene has been killing it the last year, and I put Northlane as the fore front of that. What they managed to present in Alien is a concept that, while not completely new as it borrows aspects of Metalcore, 00’s Nu metal, Math progressive, synths for trance effects, they find a fresh way of merging those elements uniquely without sounding like a forced mashup of styles like say a, Motionless in White. The tasty distorted riffs are still there, metal screams all intact while hooks are very Linkin Park-esque in how the simple yet memorable the melodies are crafted. A paragraph is not enough for me to explain it, please go listen to Alien yourself, you deserve it!

Dive into: “Talking Heads”

1. Babymetal – “Metal Galaxy”

I have been conflicted in putting a band fronted by 3 kawaii Japanese girls singing lyrics I cannot understand into not only in my top list, but as my album of the year! For a while I felt pure guilt about it, cause I am such a lyrically driven listener, so this can't be considered the best right? For an album that doesn’t really have all that much concept rather than each song is to feel like a different planet as you traverse around the Galaxy of Metal genres (which trust me it does), it’s just way too much fun to deny! The band also grows with me in a sense that in 2014, they were mainly guilty pleasure, to this year being older and not giving a care what anyone thinks where I proudly boast my obsession with these girls and the Talented Kami band. As well personally, in a year where Anime and my music has been so closely tied for me, Jrock has been a constant go to. So whether I understand what these girls are singing about – even if it’s actually just about chocolates and Karate – Metal Galaxy is the main soundtrack to my 2019

Dive into: “Night Night Burn”

-Lamar Ramos