Favorite albums from the first half of 2015

Forgot 

Ruby The Hatchet - Valley of the Snake

and want to add

Royal Thunder - Crooked Doors

Both fantastic records

Is the new scorpions any good? Still hesitating to pick it up.

Orden Ogan-Ravenhead
Serious Black-As Daylight Breaks
Helloween-My God Given Right
Black Star Riders-The Killer Instinct
Armored Saint-Win Hands Down
Worldview-The Chosen Few

1.) Impellitteri - Venom
2.) Raven - Extermination
3.) Trixter - Human Era
4.) Armored Saint - Win Hands Down
5.) Whitesnake - The Purple Album

My top 10 Mid Year:

1. Wilson, Steve Hand.Cannot.Erase
2. Enforcer From Above
3. Anekdoten Until the Ghosts are Gone
4. Beardfish +4626 - Comfortzone
5. Impellitteri Venom
6. Morse, Neal The Grand Experiment
7. Tangent, The A Spark in the Aether
8. Eclipse Armageddonize
9. Scanner The Judgement
10. Helloween My God-Given Right

Quote :

Is the new scorpions any good? Still hesitating to pick it up.

I really like it. Keep in mind, however, that there are not that many "new" songs on it. Most of them were at least partially written at various stages throughout the band's history.

I haven't listened to many new releases this year, but my list looks like this:

The Tallest Man On Earth - Dark Bird is Home. His first release that isn't just sparse folk guitar, and I think it worked really well.

Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic. I really like the direction they're going, scaling back on the growls, adding a bit more cohesion to their generally schizophrenic songwriting style.

Steven Wilson - Hand.Cannot.Erase. I mean, it's Steven Wilson. Some didn't like that it's more accessible, but I really like it (I'm a sucker for pop sensibilities).

Laura Marling - Short Movie. She's definitely moving in a more indie direction, but hell, I like indie folk, so it's still fine in my eyes. It's definitely not as great as Once I Was An Eagle or I Speak Because I Can, but still great.

I still need to listen more to Armored Saint, Enforcer, and Leprous' new ones, but they could be up there too.

And I have a download of it, but I haven't listened to the new live King Crimson, but I need to do that (and eventually purchase it).

Doesn't really count, but the Yes - Progeny: Highlights from 72 is a new release I've really enjoyed. Live Yes is an experience.

And I didn't know a new Maiden album was confirmed, but holy hell am I stoked for that now. I loved The Final Frontier, and I'm sure I'll love this one. They can do no wrong in my eyes.

Wurthless wrote:

I haven't listened to many new releases this year, but my list looks like this:

The Tallest Man On Earth - Dark Bird is Home. His first release that isn't just sparse folk guitar, and I think it worked really well.

Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic. I really like the direction they're going, scaling back on the growls, adding a bit more cohesion to their generally schizophrenic songwriting style.

Steven Wilson - Hand.Cannot.Erase. I mean, it's Steven Wilson. Some didn't like that it's more accessible, but I really like it (I'm a sucker for pop sensibilities).

Laura Marling - Short Movie. She's definitely moving in a more indie direction, but hell, I like indie folk, so it's still fine in my eyes. It's definitely not as great as Once I Was An Eagle or I Speak Because I Can, but still great.

I still need to listen more to Armored Saint, Enforcer, and Leprous' new ones, but they could be up there too.

And I have a download of it, but I haven't listened to the new live King Crimson, but I need to do that (and eventually purchase it).

Doesn't really count, but the Yes - Progeny: Highlights from 72 is a new release I've really enjoyed. Live Yes is an experience.

And I didn't know a new Maiden album was confirmed, but holy hell am I stoked for that now. I loved The Final Frontier, and I'm sure I'll love this one. They can do no wrong in my eyes.

Thanks for the reviews! Good to see you around.

Thanks man, I figured I'd stop in a bit more frequently. It'd been a good coupla months since I'd even been on here.

Wurthless wrote:

Thanks man, I figured I'd stop in a bit more frequently. It'd been a good coupla months since I'd even been on here.

Lurideath wrote:

The Viking album isn't very good in my opinion. C level at best!

Yeah ... I really dug the two songs that were posted here and bought the CD, which was a bit of a let down. But since that's the only '15 album I bought (with the exception of Heathen's Rage compilation) and the only other recent thing I've heard was Nuclear Assault EP, it still qualifies as the best from this year

Been kinda lack-luster so far in 2015. Of the 13 new releases I've purchased, the only ones that have made any real impact on me are:

Armored Saint - Win Hands Down
Art of Anarchy - s/t
Night Demon - Curse of the Damned

There have been a few other "better-than-ok-but-not-great" albums too (Black Star Riders, Enforcer, Raven, Motor Sister). Mostly with those, they are pretty much what you'd expect from the artist. Good, but nothing that surprised me.

I haven't bought anything that has really disappointed so far though. So that's something. August and September have some releases with big expectations (Black Trip, Danzig, Ghost, Motorhead, Maiden, Slayer, The Sword, WASP, Riverside, Queensryche).

I added a couple more albums to my list on the first page.

Echolyn - I Hear You Listening. Very good album of pop oriented progressive rock, song-based and melodic.

The Aristocrats - Tres Caballaros. BRILLIANT instrumental fusion/rock music from Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson), Marco Minneman (Steven Wilson) and Bryan Beller (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani). I'm definitely going to be picking up their previous releases.

S.D. wrote:

The Aristocrats - Tres Caballaros.  BRILLIANT instrumental fusion/rock music from Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson), Marco Minneman (Steven Wilson) and Bryan Beller (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani).  I'm definitely going to be picking up their previous releases.  

The Aristocrats is good stuff. Anything with Guthrie Govan doesn't disappoint.

In no particular order!

Tremonti - Cauterize
Pro-Pain - Voice of Rebellion
Like A Storm - Awaken The Fire
A Life Divided - Human
Sons of Texas - Baptized In The Rio Grande
Daniel Johns - Talk
Orden Ogan - Ravenhead

Yeah, Aristocrats are mind-blowing.

Most certainly Steven Wilson's latest. What a phenomenal, transcendent work.

Whitesnake...The Purple Album
Black Star Riders-The Killer Instinct
Sammy Hagar and The Circle...At Your Service
Pat Travers...Retro Rocket
Beauvoir Free....American Trash

Worldview - The Chosen Few
Impellitteri - Venom
Armored Saint - Win Hands Down

probably forgetting something else.....