I'm bored so I thought I'd make a thread about this. I think 2006, so far, has been a very good year for music. A lot of great stuff has come out, and not even half the year has passed! Anywhore, what albums impressed you all the most this year? Here are mine:

Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black
Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth
Dog Fashion Disco - Adultery
Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
Jesu - Silver
Ministry - Rio Grande Blood

There's still a few that I haven't yet heard (Muse, Queensryche, etc.), and a few that I'm eagerly anticipating. Here's a list:

Isis
Dillinger Escape Plan
Neurosis (I think?)
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Orphaned Land
DJ Shadow - The Outsider

And there's probably a LOT more.

1. Tool - 10,000 Days - The title track alone sends me into orgasms of happyness, and the rest of the album is just as good as anything else they've ever done. Only worse than Lateralus because that album had a really cool and meaningful concept (even if I just imagined it).

2. Strapping Young Lad - The New Black - It's got two weak songs, but the great songs more than make up for it.

3. Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Defuse - best instrume(n)tal album I have ever heard.

4. Devin Townsend - Synchestra - It's amazing how Devin's weakest solo album is still fucking great.

5. Orbit Service - Songs of Eta Carinae - Amazingly atmospheric Radiohead-ish (but more experimental) rocky stuff that's joygasmic in every way possible.

6. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One of Us - I think I'm this bands only fan, they're like a mad combination of every trendy indie rock band, but in the end I like them a lot

it'll probably change a bunch, especially since the new zero hour, arsis, martyr and psyopus haven't arrived yet. also if neurosis fires off another album that'll probably be top 3

I think I'm going to check Canvas Solaris out. What are they like?

They're instrumental prog-metal with a healthy dose of Cynic (all of the members's favourite band). Very spacey (but not always relaxing), and they are great songwriters.

Sublimation is like an insane technical riff-fest with some cool solos thrown in. Penumbra Defuse is similar, except its got some actual songs and great atmospheres too. It's one of the few instrumental albums where I could tell most of the songs apart after two or three listens.

Sounds good! My favorite instrumental band at this point is probably "Behold... the Arctopus" but this sounds very promising. Thanks!

Sounds good! My favorite instrumental band at this point is probably "Behold... the Arctopus" but this sounds very promising. Thanks!

they're damn good and need to release a full album already1

3. Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Defuse - best instrume(n)tal album I have ever heard.

Man, when I first heard this band I was totally digging the shit out of the MP3 on Sensory's page until I noticed no one was singing. Then I was sad. I'm not a big instrumental fan, it get tiresome for me. I would have loved this shit if there were vocals on it.

Anyway, for me this is my list so far, which I will wittle away (if possible) into 15 at the end of the year:

Potentials:

Amorphis - Eclipse
Astral Doors - Astralism
Beyond Fear - Beyond Fear
By Blood Alone - Eternally (EP)
Canopy - Serene Catharsis
Cataract - Kingdom
Cellador - Enter Deception
Def Leppard - Yeah!
Dog Fashion Disco - Adultery
Edguy - Rocket Ride
Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse
Eyes Of Fire - Prisons
In Flames - Come Clarity
Jorn - The Duke
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Kottonmouth Kings - Koast II Koast
Lacuna Coil - Karmacode
Moonspell - Memorial
Priestess - Hello Master!
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime II
Rage - Speak Of The Dead
Raunchy - Death Pop Romance
Scars - The Nether Hell (EP)
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black
The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra
The Gathering - Home
The Sword - Age Of Winters
Wastefall - Self Exile
Witch - Witch

Anticipated:

Ani Difranco - Reprieve
Black Label Society - Shot To Hell
Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth
Charlotte Martin - Stromata
Chris Caffrey - Pins & Needles
Circle II Cirle - Burden Of Truth
Helmet - Monochrome
Jon Oliva's Pain - Maniacal Renderings
Nappy Roots - Humdinger
Pro-Pain - TBA
Redemption - The Origins Of Ruin (covering Tori Amos' "Precious Things" )
Seemless - TBA
Tesla - TBA
Zero Hour - Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond

I'm sure there's more, especially more non-metal albums, but so far 2006 has fucking kicked my ass in every direction!!

3. Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Defuse - best instrume(n)tal album I have ever heard.

Man, when I first heard this band I was totally digging the shit out of the MP3 on Sensory's page until I noticed no one was singing. Then I was sad. I'm not a big instrumental fan, it get tiresome for me. I would have loved this shit if there were vocals on it.

Apparently they had a singer on their first demo and sounded like a more tech metal version of Carcass's Heartwork.

Right now:

DTB - Synchestra
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
SYL - The New Black
John Zorn - Moonchild (Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron)
Tool - 10,000 Days
Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell - Ballad of the Broken Seas
Om - Conference of the Birds
Boris - Pink
Scissorfight - Jaggernaut
Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth
Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
The Sword - Age of Winters
Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom
Eagles of Death Metal - Death By Sexy
Mono - You Are There
Lair of the Minotaur - Ultimate Destroyer
Witch - Witch
Sepultura - Dante XXI
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Ihsahn - Adversary
Rebel Meets Rebel - Rebel Meets Rebel

So far that is it, but I'm sure a lot of these won't be there by the end of the year and plenty of new ones will be there.

Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Diffuse
DTB - Synchestra
Dysrhythmia - Barriers and Passages
Textures - Drawing Circles
Tool - 10,000 Days

Anticipated
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Sikth - Death of a Daad Day (wish it would bloody arrive!)
SYL - The New Black

Thats all I can think of right now..I'm sure there are a few more for both categories thoguh

let's see.......
DTB - Synchestra (of course!!)
SYL - The New Black (haven't heard it yet but i KNOW it's gonna kill!)
Raunchy - Death Pop Romance
Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage
In Flames - Come Clarity
Himsa - Hail Horror
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Nasum - Grind Finale
Tool - 10,000 Days
Lacuna Coil - Karmacode
Skinless - Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead
Gadget - The Funeral March
Cretin - Freakery
Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
Witchery - Don't Fear the Reaper
Krisiun - Assassination
Zyklon - Disintegrate
Jeff Walker und Die Fluffers - Welcome to Carcass Cuntry
Rebel Meets Rebel

10,000 Days, I think, will be my disappointment of 2006.

Best of 2006 so far:

Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra
Killing Joke - Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance
Waltari - Blood Sample
Moonspell - Memorial
Ministry - Rio Grande Blood
Strapping Young Lad - not released yet

01) Front Line Assembly - Artificial Soldier
02) Ministry - Rio Grande Blood
03) Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
04) Satyricon - Now, Diabolical
05) Rotten Sound - Consume to Contaminate
06) Devin Towsend - Synchestra
07) Amorphis - Eclipse
08 ) Dagoba - What Hell Is About
09) Ihsahn - The Adversary
10) Misery Index - Discordia

Disappointments so far:

Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse (what the hell were they thinking :S)
Ihsahn - The Adversary (yes, it is also in my Top 10, but I still was a little disappointed over what it could have been)
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (it just doesn't work for me, I've already heard the same album released twice before by SYL: Alien & feather)
Stam1na - Uudet kymmenen käskyä (after their incredible debut, this is very boring and to top that, the crushing sound of the original is now replaced by a weak fart-y sound)
Zyklon - Disintegrate (come on, you can do a lot better than this)

Best of 2006:

1. Mokoma - Kuoleman Laulukunnaat (maybe my favourite Thrash Metal album of all time by now!)
2. Rio Grande Blood (kills everything they´ve done before!)
3. Stam1na - Uudet Kymmenen Käskyä (overall awesome, pretty much as goos as the debut album)
4. Strapping Young Lad - The New Black (Fucker is a weak track but the rest of the album is totally SYL quality!)