Best of 2015: Album of the Year

No matter how different people are, they always look forward to the same thing– new music, or even better, a new album! It could be a wait of a couple months to even a couple of years, yet when that album drops, one still gets that same euphoric feeling. Check out which bands produced 2015’s Album of the Year!

10. Dance Gavin Dance – Instant Gratification

“Who could have predicted that this motley crew would put out the best record of their career in 2015? After mixed reactions to Tilian Pearson’s debut on Acceptance Speech, there was some trepidation heading into Instant Gratification. That all seems foolish now, as the band’s sixth LP is as brilliant a fusion of mind-boggling musicianship, lunatic lyrical themes and sky-scraping vocals as anything that’s come before. Every experimental influence makes its songs feel exciting, and the Pearson-Mess vocal tag team have truly settled in as one of the best in the scene. Instant gratification is guaranteed, but this is an album of such depth that you’ll want to revisit its pleasures over and over again.” -Michael Bird

9. The Story So Far – The Story So Far

“Proving to be more than just a fad, The Story So Far imbue their contemporary style of pop-punk with an unrivaled heart-wrenching sense of emotion and superb musicianship. Living up to 2014’s ‘What You Don’t See’ wasn’t an easy task, but rising to the challenge made for some of the group’s most satisfyingly moody and passionate material yet.” -Matthew Powers

8. Neck Deep – Life’s Not Out To Get You

“As a Brit, it was heart-warming to see a band of my countrymen achieving so much in the normally exclusively American world of pop punk. What’s more, the success of Neck Deep proves a victory for the genre in a very traditional sense. As other bands dilute their sound further and further, leaving little “punk” left, Neck Deep revive the fun and freneticism of turn-of-the-century New Found Glory and Sum 41. Assisted by the production of Jeremy McKinnon, who pops up to provide vocals on album highlight “Kali Ma”, the Brits really did good on what might just be pop punk album of the year. Hail the saviours of the genre.” -Michael Bird

7. Sleeping With Sirens – Madness

“Sleeping With Sirens is a band who is always impressing their fans. From post-hardcore to acoustic to a combination of both, they’re always experimenting. Madness is full of different music styles. It contains tracks that are heavy and make you want to jump around with friends, tracks that are slow and get you ready to sing. Whatever it is you like, Sleeping With Sirens probably has something in your preference.” -Alex Lizette

6. Blessthefall – To Those Left Behind

“When it comes to being regarded as a mainstay in any genre of music, such a status is a double-edged sword. The longer your career goes on for the more ideas you must conjure up to keep your listener base interested. Blessthefall have had no problem in doing so with their fifth and most varied album. Blending atmospheric passages with thrashy, destructive metalcore and upbeat choruses adds just enough to the band’s formula to create a record worth exploring.” -Matthew Powers

5. The Plot In You – Happiness In Self-Destruction

“Taking a break from the edginess and aggressiveness, The Plot In You toned it down and controlled their chaos. Happiness In Self Destruction showed growth and maturity. It brought out emotion. The entire album was full of meaning that hit hard home for a bunch of fans, and most importantly vocalist Landon Tewers himself.” -Alex Lizette

4. Ice Nine Kills – Every Trick In The Book

“How interesting it is that Ice Nine Kills are named after a literature reference and this, the band’s latest full-length and debut on new label Fearless Records, is an album completely based around literary concepts. Full circle, eh? INK’s passion for the 10 stories covered is engaging and quite simply, a blast to listen to. It’s as if the musicians themselves recorded this as one big play, costume changes and all, in audio format. A vividly inspired and exciting record.” -Matthew Powers

3. All Time Low – Future Hearts

“Almost everyone has listened to All Time Low once back in the early 2000 Myspace days. With their catchy lyrics, and pop punk sound, All Time Low is a band for everyone. It’s been three years since they put out an album, and Future Hearts was worth the wait. Compared to their original albums, it’s apparent that they have definitely improved everything from instrumentals to vocals. The lyrics– they will always be the same, meaningful.” -Alex Lizette

2. Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface

Few bands reversed the tide of public opinion in 2015 quite like Twenty One Pilots. At the year’s start they were seen by many as obtuse, their music needlessly over complicated. Blurryface changed that. Reshaping the duo’s eccentricities into more easily digestible shapes and above all better songs, the once heady fusion of pop, rock, hip-hop and reggae now seemed vibrant and engaging. From the swagger of “Heavydirtysoul” and “Fairly Local”, to the anthemic rush of “Tear In My Heart” and brooding parting shot “Goner”, the album was rammed with arena-sized tracks that left them a global mainstream concern as the year closes.

1. Bring Me The Horizon – That’s The Spirit

“Proving once again that a Bring Me The Horizon album releasing is a huge deal, ‘That’s The Spirit’ is an emotionally revealing and ironically-titled record. The concept of making negative emotions into a tongue-in-cheek musically folly isn’t new for the group, but the atmospheric electro pop meets alternative metal approach on this album is. The amount of texture throughout really allowed for some epically dynamic and accessible moments for a band that previously only knew how to play fast and loud. Equally as profound is the fact that this record was completely done by the musicians sans any outside producers. If this maturation is any proof, and it certainly is, BMTH are continuing on as one of their genre’s most influential, forward-thinking and appealing acts.” -Matthew Powers