My favourite records of the year 2015

Dear readers of my blog!

Today is the day where I would like to share a list of my twenty favourite records of the year 2015 with you. I will also talk about recommendable live albums and compilations as well as about a few upcoming releases I'm looking forward to this year.

1. M.H.X'S Chronicles - Infinite Ocean

My favourite record of the year came as a complete surprise to me since I had never ever heard of this Brazilian quartet before. The four young men from Sao Paulo offer a very captivating and emotional kind of progressive melodic death metal on their debut full length release "Infinite Ocean". Their haunting, hypnotizing and natural soundscapes really struck a chord in me and I adore this atmospherically coherent yet musically eclectic album from start to finish.

2. Moonspell - Extinct

Moonspell offers a perfect contemporary definition of gothic identity, lifestyle and music on its new output "Extinct": desperate guitar tones meet enchanting folklore, appeasingly low vocals meet angry growls, pessimistic topics meet romantic passion. From elegiac ballads over Middle Eastern folk rock to dramatic orchestral symphonies, each track on this masterpiece works both on its own and as a greater whole.

3. Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud

Amorphis is my favourite band of all times and their new output is another masterpiece in its extensive discography. The new record focuses on European and Middle Eastern folk influences with different guest musicians, features a gloomy atmosphere with perfectly integrated extreme metal elements and the band's typical melancholic yet uplifting melodies that are simply unforgettable.   

4. Pantommind - Searching for Eternity

Bulgarian progressive rock quintet Pantommind had already called it quits two years ago but the band decided to release a third and last album. This inspired swansong convinces in its calmest and most playful moments and ends the career of an underestimated group on an excellent note.

5. Subterranean Masquerade - The Great Bazaar

This progressive folk metal septet from Israel, Norway and the United States of America was one of last year's greatest discoveries for me. On seven new epic tracks, the band led me on a rather short yet most colourful journey to Middle Eastern cultures.

6. Shining - IX: Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Ends

The controversial Swedish black metal quintet delivered its most atmospheric, emotional, epic, mature and progressive album that might surprise both critics and fans alike. It unites the band's gloomier and more sinister roots with a calmer and slower song writing approach that includes open-minded and unusual influences from different genres.

7.Melted Space - The Great Lie

This French symphonic extreme metal project unites an elevated number of international extreme metal musicians from bands such as Dutch progressive rock project Ayreon, American death metal veterans Morbid Angel and Israeli folk metal group Orphaned Land among others. Despite their diversity, the elven tracks develop a cinematic atmosphere, tell an intriguing story and have a clear guiding line in form of epic symphonic song structures.

8. Putamen Insula - Condoléances

This final release of French Canadian extreme metal trio Putamen Insula convinces with a calmer and more simplistic song writing approach, an elevated number of haunting and hypnotizing melodies and a coherent atmospheric guiding line that deals with deception, fatality and loss in a most emotional way that opposes poetry and simplicity.

9. Coppelius - Hertzmaschine

German steampunk band Coppelius offers its most vivid release so far. The septet plays an unusual mixture of Victorian era chamber music, modern rock genres and a cappella vocals. Four different singers tells us of humorous stories accompanied by exotic instruments such as celli, clarinets and harpsichords among others. The band's fifth output is also its most creative, diversified and entertaining release so far.

10. Sound Horizon - Nein

Japanese musical group Sound Horizon offers its ninth full length release that summarizes the greatest influences of its past efforts in nearly fifteen years. Japanese pop music meets big band sounds, classical structures and jazz influences but also modern electronic music, heavy metal melodies and progressive rock song structures. This creative, diversified and generous output takes us on a journey through space and time set in a coherent yet epic story.   

11. Mary's Blood - Bloody Palace

This charming all-female power metal quartet from Japan offers eleven powerful, emotional and catchy anthems that shine thanks to a passionate performance, diversified song writing ideas and an outstanding production delivering a crystal clear sound experience. 

12. Ghost - Meliora

Swedish occult rock sextet Ghost offers its third and best record to date that convinces with haunting lyrics, massive influences from rock and pop music of the sixties and seventies and unforgettable choruses that just won't let you go.

Other great studio albums that didn't make it into my personal top twelve are: 13. Lindemann - Skills in Pills, 14. Eisbrecher - Schock, 15. lynch. - D.A.R.K. -In the Name of evil-, 16. Apocalyptica - Shadowmaker, 17. Leaves' Eyes - King of Kings, 18. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls, 19. Children of Bodom - I Worship Chaos, 20. Fruitpochette - The Crest of Evil.

Here are my favourite live albums, DVDs and Blu-rays of the year: 1. Mono für Alle! - # D.I.Y. - Live, 2. Babymetal - Live at Budokan: Red Night, 3. Elvenking - The Night of Nights - Live, 4. Nine Treasures - Live in Beijing, 5. Rammstein - In Amerika.

My favourite compilation album of the year 2015 was: Golden Earring - 50 Years: Anniversary Album

These are the records I'm looking forward to in 2016: Anthrax - For All Kings // Anvil - Anvil is Anvil // Avantasia - Ghostlights // Axel Rudi Pell - Game of Sins // Babymetal - Metal Resistance // Blaze Bayley - Infinite Entanglement // Crematory - Monument // Dissona - Paleopneumatic // Dream Theater - The Astonishing // Exmortus - Ride Forth // In Extremo - Quid pro quo // Primal Fear - Rulebreaker // Rhapsody of Fire - Into the Legend // Voivod - Post Society // 人間 椅子 - 怪 談 そ し て 死 と エ ロ ス