Pinning down your top25 or even 50 favorite releases from the passing year is a tough task under normal circumstances, but given the aforementioned horde of top-shelf albums released this year it has been a near impossible task to complete. So in order to ease the selection of the best this year had to offer, I needed to narrow the perspective to include only full-length albums released on vinyl although this inevitable would rule out some magnificent digital/CD only releases. Furthermore is not included albums released before 2015 as digital/CD only and that saw a vinyl reissue this year.
However, the list below at best tries to outline the releases of 2015 that ranked the highest with me, and stood the test of multiple listens and thus managed to remain intriguing, vibrant and that kept me coming back for another spin. So based on number of listens and magnitude of joy the Top 25 of 2015 according to my humble opinion:
1. DoctoR DooM – ‘The Seed We Have Sown’ (STB Records)
2. Elder – ‘Lore’ (Stickmann Records)
3. Sweat Lodge – ‘Talismana’ (Ripple Music)
4. Brothers Of The Head – ‘Light The Night And Feed The Flame (xx)
5. The Devil And The Almighty Blues – ‘The Devil And The Almighty Blues’ (Blues For The Red Sun)
6. Windhand – ‘Grief’s Infernal Flower’ (Relapse Records)
7. Spelljammer – ‘Ancient Of Days’ (Riding Easy Records)
8. Uncle Acid – ‘The Night Creeper’ (Rise Above Records)
9. The Heavy Eyes – ‘He Dreams Of Lions’ (Bilocation Records)
10. Nocturnalia – ‘Above*Below*Within (Gaphals Records)
11. Kadavar – ‘Berlin’ (Nuclear Blast)
12. Horisont – ‘Odyssey’ (Rise Above Records)
13. Clutch – ‘Psychic Warfare’
14. Freedom Hawk – ‘Into Your Mind’ (Small Stone Records)
15. Demon Eye – ‘Tempora Infernalia’ (Soulseller Records)
16. Bison Machine – ‘Hoarfrost’ (Bilocation Records)
17. Old Man’s Will – ‘Hard Times – Troubled Man’ (Riding Easy Records)
18. Captain Crimson – ‘Ageless Times’ (Nasoni Records)
19. Palm Desert – ‘Pearls From The Muddy Hollow’
20. Libido Fuzz – ‘Kaleido Lumo Age’ (Pink Tank Records)
21. We Hunt Buffalo – ‘Living Ghosts’ (Fuzzorama Records)
22. Red Mountain – ‘Red Mountain’ (Nasoni Records)
23. Limb – ‘Terminal’ (New Heavy Sounds)
24. Ruby The Hatchet – ‘Valley Of The Snake’ (Tee Pee Records)
25. Sacri Monti – ‘Sacri Monti’ (Tee Pee Records)
However, the list below at best tries to outline the releases of 2015 that ranked the highest with me, and stood the test of multiple listens and thus managed to remain intriguing, vibrant and that kept me coming back for another spin. So based on number of listens and magnitude of joy the Top 25 of 2015 according to my humble opinion:
1. DoctoR DooM – ‘The Seed We Have Sown’ (STB Records)
2. Elder – ‘Lore’ (Stickmann Records)
3. Sweat Lodge – ‘Talismana’ (Ripple Music)
4. Brothers Of The Head – ‘Light The Night And Feed The Flame (xx)
5. The Devil And The Almighty Blues – ‘The Devil And The Almighty Blues’ (Blues For The Red Sun)
6. Windhand – ‘Grief’s Infernal Flower’ (Relapse Records)
7. Spelljammer – ‘Ancient Of Days’ (Riding Easy Records)
8. Uncle Acid – ‘The Night Creeper’ (Rise Above Records)
9. The Heavy Eyes – ‘He Dreams Of Lions’ (Bilocation Records)
10. Nocturnalia – ‘Above*Below*Within (Gaphals Records)
11. Kadavar – ‘Berlin’ (Nuclear Blast)
12. Horisont – ‘Odyssey’ (Rise Above Records)
13. Clutch – ‘Psychic Warfare’
14. Freedom Hawk – ‘Into Your Mind’ (Small Stone Records)
15. Demon Eye – ‘Tempora Infernalia’ (Soulseller Records)
16. Bison Machine – ‘Hoarfrost’ (Bilocation Records)
17. Old Man’s Will – ‘Hard Times – Troubled Man’ (Riding Easy Records)
18. Captain Crimson – ‘Ageless Times’ (Nasoni Records)
19. Palm Desert – ‘Pearls From The Muddy Hollow’
20. Libido Fuzz – ‘Kaleido Lumo Age’ (Pink Tank Records)
21. We Hunt Buffalo – ‘Living Ghosts’ (Fuzzorama Records)
22. Red Mountain – ‘Red Mountain’ (Nasoni Records)
23. Limb – ‘Terminal’ (New Heavy Sounds)
24. Ruby The Hatchet – ‘Valley Of The Snake’ (Tee Pee Records)
25. Sacri Monti – ‘Sacri Monti’ (Tee Pee Records)
Words by Niels Fuzz Bartholdy
