Another great year full of doom and psychedelic rock!
2017 is over and it’s been a great year within music and many of the most popular bands in the scene have released albums ranging from good to amazing.
But I feel like this year it’s the newcomers who have caught my attention the most, many bands released a debut album with an original sound that won’t be mistaken for anyone else.
And that is what have made this year awesome to me! Diversity, originality and being creative is what makes the scene interesting!
Enjoy this batch of sonic awesomeness!
Don't forget to check out the Top Albums of the other More Fuzz team members !
Top 15 Albums of 2017
15 : King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Murder Of The Universe
King Gizz seems to be the most hardworking band in the scene, they put out 5 records this year and this one was the coolest one in my opinion.
It got great lyrics that could fit into an awesome comic book and the music is fastpaced and got some crazy guitar playing.
Just the combo of The Lord Of Lightning and The Balrog makes the album worth buying.
14 : Electric Wizard – Wizard Bloody Wizard
For sure different from the past albums by Electric Wizard, this one is less doomy and got more 70’s rock thrown into the mix.
But I think it works very well and another positive note is that it’s just 6 songs in a great length of 43 minutes.
The last album felt like some songs could have been shorter but here the songs doesn’t have that problem for me.
13 : Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Feed The Rats
I admit I checked these guys out just for the band name but I was hooked after hearing Feed The Rats, they got some killer doomy riffs and the shouted vocals fit very well.
There’s also some more stoner rock found in the short rocker Sweet Relief, a side I wouldn’t mind they explore more on the next album.
12 : Elder – Reflections Of A Floating World
While everyone praised Elder since Lore I’ve been wondering what’s so great about them. At the first listen of ROAFW I still didn’t get it but maybe I just didn’t give it a proper listen. Indeed, after giving the album a second chance everything fell into places! Better late than never, right?!
The album has some amazing guitar riffs and melodies and every song stick out so they won’t pass you by unnoticed.
11 : Ufomammut – 8
Ufomammut is a band I haven’t been listening to very much because I first heard them when Ecate got released 2015 , although I like that album it’s right here on 8 where they hit the right spot for me, a perfect blend of doom and droony atmospheres.
10 : Black Moon Circle – Flowing Into The 3rd Dimension
The kings of Norwegian psychedelic rock! These guys got some amazing space rock jams going on and with the addition of Dr.Space from Øresund Space Collective it can only get better in a spaced out way.
Right from the start on Barnard’s Loop you get one of my favorite songs of this year, a dark and heavy psych rock song that will melt your brain, Waves is no slouch either…
9 : Frozen Planet… 1969 – Electric Smokehouse
Frozen Planet… 1969 seem to have gotten a lot of attention with the release of Electric Smokehouse and totally earned it in my opinion.
This is some amazing instrumental psych rock, my first thought when listening to Ascendant was this is some Earthless quality jams.
The drums and bass guitar work is awesome and well heard in the mix, but the guitar playing and effects is what takes this album to the next level.
8 : The Sonic Dawn – Into The Long Night
One of my favorite bands when it comes to 70’s psychedelia with a modern touch, their debut album was an amazing album with plenty of rock.
On Into The Long Night it takes a different route though, it doesn’t rock as much but it has a super nice summery feeling going on, like good friends and drinks on the beach!
7 : Electric Moon – Stardust Ritual
Electric Moon‘s first studio album in a few years and it’s another winner of instrumental psych, the old song The Picture gets a great new rendition with vocals. The album gets finished off with a nice chilled out raga influenced song with a few distorted pieces here and there, a spectacular song that stands out in the rest of their discography.
6 : The Spacelords – Water Planet
The Spacelords have been getting better and better with each album and here they’re not even earthbound, true Spacelords indeed! 😉
Nag Kanya is one of my favorite songs this year, it got some killer guitar playing and awesome effects.
5 : Cosmic Fall – Kick Out The Jams
This one I raise my glass to Mr. Inkeeper beacuse I found this album through his review of it before I joined the More Fuzz team.
By far the coolest instrumental psych rock album of the year, not only having some kickass jams! It is also one of the best recorded/mixed albums of this year.
The sound is HUGE, the bass guitar is well heard in the mix, the drumming is some of the best you will hear this year and the guitar work is far out there.
4 : Mephistofeles – (((I’m Heroin)))
After reading Mr. Cosmos Top 2016 list last year I checked out Mephistofeles, who wouldn’t dig some Electric Wizard influenced band. 😉
Whore was a good album but I’m Heroin blows it right out of the bong water, filled with great Black Sabbath riffs and dirty drugged out hymns to satan.
3 : Toke – Orange
The shortest album on my list, yet it says the most! Toke has some kickass doom with killer vocals and riffs anyone should be envious of.
While not being the most versatile album, it still has awesome songs and heavy riffs from the first second to last.
You should definitely not pass on this one!
2 : Telekinetic Yeti – Abominable
Abominable is pretty much the album I’ve listened to the most this year, even though released in March I still listen to it regularly.
It’s just two cool bearded dudes doing there own twist of fuzzed out doom, they bring it like no other!
1 : Samsara Blues Experiment – One With The Universe
Being my introduction to psychedelic rock and one of my favorite bands in the scene it shouldn’t come as a surprise that SBE have released my favorite album of 2017. What stood out for me from the first listen to Vipassana when it was released as a single was how amazing the production and mix is, definitely their best one yet.
This album got THE best bass guitar sound of the year, it’s thick, heavy and quite prominent and since the bass lines are also great it makes for an awesome listen on great speakers. The rest of the instruments and vocals are well balanced and every part get their time to shine, but the bass sound is the icing on the cake.
Musically, SBE has put together something amazing and you can hear the different moods of their prior albums shining through here and there but also a new one in my opinion. Vipassana and Sad Guru Returns have a heavy kind of psych-blues like their 2 first albums have mostly, kinda like showing we’re back to rock out. But on the rest of the album, (Glorious Daze, One With The Universe and Eastern Sun & Western Moon) it’s more of that spiritual side most prominent on their 3rd album Waiting For The Flood. It’s more varied in its instrumentation and got more calmer and spiritual moods, but it also has a new mood I don’t feel present before. On the title track, even though the lyrics seem to be about a past that doesn’t exist anymore the whole track give out a feeling of joy and happiness. It’s like being happy and grateful of something that happened in your past, you want it back but you’re also fine with it being gone forever.
At the end of the day SBE brought me something that reminds me of all their albums and something more, I can’t wait to hear what they bring next.
Don't forget to check out the Top Albums of the other More Fuzz team members !
Honourable Mentions
3rd Ear Experience – Stoned Gold : An amazing album that deserves a spot in my top 5 but since it’s so new I feel like it needs a few months of listening to see if I still feel the same then.
Shadowmaster – Shadowmaster : A debut album of some crushing doom with great riffs and screamed vocals, 2 last songs on the album is some of the best songs I’ve heard this year.
Monolord – Rust : With less focus on trying to sound the heaviest I think Monolord made a more effective album with a more varied bunch of songs, fantastic album cover also.
Horisont – About Time : After the lackluster Odyssey, Horisont is back with a fantastic album, pretty much my favorite of theirs at this point.
Snowy Dunes – Atlantis : Snowy Dunes evolved and refined their sound and it deserve a spot on the top list but as for 3EE it’s to early to tell if it will age well.
The Atomic Bitchwax – Force Field : This is the perfect party album ATM, it’s fast, fun and great melodies. Been listening to it alot lately but since it’s a new one it’s too early for my Top 15.
John Garcia – The Coyote Who Spoke In Tounges : Acoustic music at its best, I rarely like all acoustic albums but this one by John Garcia is awesome.
The Moonbeats – The Moonbeats : Not a lot of fuzz but it’s a great debut album full of 60s/70s psych rock, something along the lines of The Sonic Dawn but with less of a modern touch.
Eloy – The Vision, The Sword & The Pyre: Part 1 : A classic band of progressive rock alongside Pink Floyd, although not as famous they once again show that they still deliver great music.
Ball – Ball : An album I feel deserves a spot on the Top 15, it’s such a great album yet there was some others I couldn’t leave out. 😛
Thanks for reading
Don't forget to check out the Top Albums of the other More Fuzz team members !
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