Listed below are the best albums of the 2020s (so far) as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 2 hours ago).
"Definitely not among the best work that Opeth has delivered. It is dark and some of the Black Metal singing is back, but the album lacks really good melodies (except for "A Story Never Told") The music is traped in a blace that combines darkness with extensive prog-rock passages and weird vocals ...""Definitely not among the best work that Opeth has delivered. It is dark and some of the Black Metal singing is back, but the album lacks really good melodies (except for "A Story Never Told") The music is traped in a blace that combines darkness with extensive prog-rock passages and weird vocals and atmosphere. It just doesn't shine It is simply not great. §1, §4 and A Story never Told are the highlights."[+]Reply
"Very stripped back Elbow Sparse and beautiful, sort of like their "get back" project. The last two songs are a test to check if you have a heart. Seldom seen kid paints a picture of what would have happened if his wife had had the opportunity to meet his best friend who died. While I read the las...""Very stripped back Elbow
Sparse and beautiful, sort of like their "get back" project.
The last two songs are a test to check if you have a heart.
Seldom seen kid paints a picture of what would have happened if his wife had had the opportunity to meet his best friend who died.
While I read the last one as an ode to fatherhood in the simplest of things.
I could totally understand if people dont like it as it is very mellow, but if you are on the mood for it. Its one of their best works to date."[+]Reply
"Undeniably, the sonic output is quite mesmerizing, yet I find myself at odds with the lyrical content. It grates on my senses to such an extent that any attempt at a second listening becomes an exercise in futility. The words seem to channel the musings of a 13-year-old grappling with the enormit...""Undeniably, the sonic output is quite mesmerizing, yet I find myself at odds with the lyrical content. It grates on my senses to such an extent that any attempt at a second listening becomes an exercise in futility. The words seem to channel the musings of a 13-year-old grappling with the enormity of global issues, packaged within a virtuoso soundscape that hardly compensates for the lyrical shortcomings.
The band Riverside, I confess, hasn't graced my playlist in a few years. Perhaps in the past, my ears were less discerning, less troubled by potentially mediocre lyrical content. Or maybe, this latest endeavor represents a significant departure from their previous standards, presenting a concept album grappling with present-day dilemmas that, unfortunately, falls flat in its articulation."[+]Reply
"Not my favorite release from Purity Ring, but a solid collection of songs and an upgrade in song production. This seems to be a combination of the sounds explored on the first two albums. I would love to hear them move into darker, more ominous-sounding territory to correlate with song titles. Fa...""Not my favorite release from Purity Ring, but a solid collection of songs and an upgrade in song production. This seems to be a combination of the sounds explored on the first two albums. I would love to hear them move into darker, more ominous-sounding territory to correlate with song titles.
Favorite Songs: Stardew, Pink Lightning"[+]Reply
"I had fun with this album but it's a little inconsistent. Hearing all of the different influences and how Halsey was able to fuse those sounds with her deeply personal lyrics was very cool. The marketing worked for me, though maybe not for everyone else. I will say, there are some songs that don'...""I had fun with this album but it's a little inconsistent. Hearing all of the different influences and how Halsey was able to fuse those sounds with her deeply personal lyrics was very cool. The marketing worked for me, though maybe not for everyone else. I will say, there are some songs that don't succeed at capturing the sound of certain artists. She nailed a lot of them but others, like Kate Bush in, "I Never Loved You," left me scratching my head. Maybe on relistening to that specific song I'll start to hear the influences more but for now it just sounds too much like modern pop fluff. That being said, this is an enjoyable album with a fun concept. The meaningful lyrics elevate it above simple imitation. "[+]Reply
"(One of the best albums of this year. Easily. From one of the greatest and most consistent musicians of this millennium so far. Again, that is easily the case. This woman doesn't miss. If you love heartfelt singer/songwriter albums and songs and if you love albums that are rooted in American folk...""(One of the best albums of this year. Easily. From one of the greatest and most consistent musicians of this millennium so far. Again, that is easily the case. This woman doesn't miss. If you love heartfelt singer/songwriter albums and songs and if you love albums that are rooted in American folk, country, country rock and all that stuff, then I highly recommend this to you.)
This album took a little while to worm its way into my heart. At first I thought it was just another solid album from Carlile - one of the best and most consistent singer/songwriters of the last decade and a half - and that was it. I thought maybe some of the songs were too sacharrine and sentimental and I thought this album had some special something missing. But after several listens it feels like this album is much better than I was giving it credit for. It has a certain depth of feeling and of course some incredible production that now strike me as exceptional.
The opener "Right On Time" is perhaps the source of my feeling of over-sentimentality earlier on. Now that track feels heartfelt and wise. On first listen it felt too much, too direct, too much like a pick-me-up type song. But now I just think its a beautiful song that is, truthfully, pretty damn direct in its advice-like messaging, but also gorgeous with some solid piano melodies and its a solid opener.
Aftyer that opener is when this album opens up and sonically is just a damn feast. Whether Brandi is rocking out with some cosmic american badassery, or is bringing the songs down to the earthy ground with a folk ballad, or if she is doing a somewhat old American standards sounding song, or really whatever avenue she chooses to sue, the songs here are consistently warm and full and the production is just so gorgeously fleshed out! The singing is solid throughout, the only complaint I have for the vocals is that Brandi does that big vibrato trick. I love it sometimes when she does that, but sometimes it feels a bit much. Still, overall, she is a great singer, she knows when to imbue a line with a certain croak or strain to get across a feeling, and she knows when to really belt out these big notes and when to take it down to a quieter and more intimate affair.
The band here and the way the instruments interact are incredible. The guitar playing here is earthy and powerful and gorgeous, the drums and percussion are consistently beautiful and hard hitting, and when the songs are layered with strings or horns or back up singers, they are produced and performed excellently and work to add a certain drama and largeness to the tracks.
Standout tracks include: the heavy as hell and epic "Sinners, Saint and Fools" - the way that song builds and then crescendos at its close is...HOLY SHIT! Amazing stuff. The touching and lullaby-soft closer "Throwing Good After Bad" is a standout - her vocals here are stunning and soulful and brilliant. Also, track 2 "You and Me on the Rock (Feat. Lucius)" is a buoyant and loving and exuberant Americana jam that puts a smile on my face, and its a sweet love song... I think... and I love a good love song. "This Time Tomorrow", oh boy, I love that acoustic melody that comes in and those 2 part harmonies, and those lyrics, and the whole vibe of this track is just what I want injected straight into my folk-loving veins. Fuck me, I love this sound and song. Of course there is MASSIVE country rocking masterpiece that is "Broken Horses" - this song has everything going for it, incredible lyrics and a chorus that is so inspiring it should be illegal and a massive rocking stomp and riff that can make me feel renewed in these demoralizing times, and it has some of the most intense vocals of her career, and the way the song - which is already epic as hell - opens up toward the end with a face melting passionate guitar solo after a slow, sensual build, holy shit when those last 90 seconds of music come in, I am on cloud nine! Oh and the piano chords are so strident and powerful. anyway, you get the idea this track is a badass one and you should check it out. "Letter to the Past" melts my heart and somehow this songs makes me love Brandi more than I already did, this feels like a message from a dear friend. "Mama Werewolf" has a vein of sadness and grief running through it that it is excellent and at times overwhelming, then there is also the drama and power of the singing and the rhythm and the piano and the way this song builds up stronger and stronger - it feels larger than life and I love it. "When You're Wrong" is pained and beautiful and has a very soft sound and Brandi's vocals are excellent and touching. "Stay Gentle" sounds like an old timey American standard, and it works as a track to rock away your worries and woes. And it seems weird to leave one single solitary song out of this massive paragraph of standout tracks, especially when the one song left off is the opener and so, I'll say that now that I have heard it a dozen times, the opening track "Right On Time" is a standout and is a beautiful and reassuring little song. Of course now that I have listed here every song as a standout that means none are stabndouts or it means each of these songs is a standout in comparison to most music I hear in general. I will say that latter option is true. I think this album is just fabulous, its uplifting and its emotional and gritty and real and sad and hopeful... this is a great album in my opinion and I recommend it. "[+]Reply
"This is great, Alynda and co. have finally come through with a project that they suggested they could pull off with The Navigator in 2017. The band remain relatively bad at cover design – not a single good cover in their entire discography – but if you can work past that, you get just a really pl...""This is great, Alynda and co. have finally come through with a project that they suggested they could pull off with The Navigator in 2017. The band remain relatively bad at cover design – not a single good cover in their entire discography – but if you can work past that, you get just a really pleasant and (importantly! people making music in 2022 have seemed to forgotten this) dynamic album. This one takes you on a fun little ride, and has actual variance in song structure, tone, instrumentation – things vital to a full and vibrant album experience."[+]Reply
Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Arthurknight | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
