Sound Obsession

2015 was an exceptional year for music.  Here are my top-ten favorite albums of 2015, and check out my ten runners-up and honorable mentions .  Hey, better late than never.  Enjoy. . . . 1. Ghost: Meliora (8.5/10) Meliora is Ghost's third LP, released in late summer of 2015. The title is a Latin adjective meaning "better" and so it is that the album continues an upward trajectory for the Swedish occult-metal band, adding to their mock-ecclesiastical mythos. Ghost's breakout debut Opus Eponymous mined a spooky mediaeval aesthetic exemplified by a traditional proto-metal sound, while their playful sophomore album Infetissumam (previously reviewed here ) skewed baroque, incorporating disparate elements like disco, surf-rock, and choral music. By contrast, Meliora is the band's take on 20th century modernity and futurism (its cover references Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi film Metropolis ) . Accordingly, on Meliora , the band's musical palette...

Kurt Vile & The Violators, 930 Club, Washington DC - 10/8/15 Sturgill Simpson, Lincoln Theater, Washington DC - 9/23/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Ghost, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 9/22/15 Eagles of Death Metal, 930 Club, Washington DC - 9/15/15 Eagles of Death Metal, 930 Club, Washington DC - 9/15/15 Chelsea Wolfe, U Street Music Hall, Washington DC - 9/11/15 High on Fire, Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore MD - 8/20/15 Pallbearer, Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore MD - 8/20/15 Lucifer, Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore MD - 8/20/15 Failure, 930 Club, Washington DC - 8/11/15 Hum, 930 Club, Washington DC - 8/11/15 Deftones, The Fillmore, Silver Spring MD - 7/31/15 Black B...