I sat down to beginning working on this piece around 10:15 AM EST this morning and as I was tinkering with the album rankings prior to copy/pasting to them to this very website, it dawned on me that this hasn't been an overly exciting year for music for me personally. That's not to say that it's been bad at all. In fact, there are a dozen or so records that I really enjoyed. It's just that not much has really floored me (Converge's Love is Not Enough is the only record that's registered a grade above a B+), which is in stark contrast to last year where a whopping 6 records landed in the A-range. The good news is that sweeping change could be imminent as July is overflowing with releases that have the potential to be really special. Below, you'll find a list of every release I listened in the first half of 2026 ranked from worst to best along with some awards and my picks for the top 25 songs of the year to date. Hope you enjoy.
EP's:
3.Wage War-It Calls Me by Name (B-)
2.Your Spirit Dies-It Is Well... (B)
1.Moon Tooth-Bastard (B)
LP's:
42.UnityTX-Somewhere, in Between (C-)
41.Megadeth-Megadeth (C)
40.Bruno Mars-The Romantic (C)
39.Tiffany Day-Halo (C)
38.Ov Sulfur-Endless (C+)
37.Karnivool-In Verses (B-)
36.Thundercat-Distracted (B-)
35.Good Tiger-The Most Negative Day of the Year (B-)
34.Foo Fighters-Your Favorite Toy (B-)
33.Harry Styles-Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally (B-)
32.Mitski-Nothing's About to Happen to Me (B-)
31.Olivia Rodrigo-You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (B-)
30.underscores-U (B-)
29.Charli XCX-Wuthering Heights (B)
28.Kacey Musgraves-Middle of Nowhere (B)
27.A$AP Rocky-Don't Be Dumb (B)
26.concealer.-This Room Could Be Heaven (B)
25.At the Gates-The Ghost of a Future Dead (B)
24.Exhumed-Red Asphalt (B)
23.Angine de Poitrine-Vol.II (B)
22.Genesis Owusu-Redstar Wu & the Nightmare Scourge (B)
21.Don Broco-Nightmare Tripping (B)
20.Lip Critic-Theft World (B)
19.Poppy-Empty Hands (B)
18.Rob Zombie-The Great Satan (B)
17.Varials-Where the Light Leaves (B)
16.Inferi-Heaven Wept (B)
15.Vince Staples-Cry Baby (B)
14.Static Dress-Injury Episode (B)
13.Action Bronson-Planet Frog (B+)
12.Periphery-A Pale White Dot (B+)
11.Archspire-Too Fast to Die (B+)
10.hemlocke springs-The Apple Tree Under the Sea (B+)
9.Roman Candle-Unadulterated (B+)
8.Bodysnatcher-Hell is Here, Hell is Home (B+)
7.Slayyter-Wor$t Girl in America (B+)
6.Hellripper-Coronach (B+)
5.August Burns Red-Season of Surrender (B+)
4.Converge-Hum of Hurt (B+)
3.Lamb of God-Into Oblivion (B+)
2.Chamber-This is Goodbye... (B+)
1.Converge-Love is Not Enough (A-)
Awards:
Biggest Surprises:
1.Lamb of God-Into Oblivion
2.Action Bronson-Planet Frog
3.Varials-Where the Light Leaves
Biggest Letdowns:
1.Foo Fighters-Your Favorite Toy
2.Good Tiger-The Most Negative Day of the Year
3.Megadeth-Megadeth
Most Underrated:
1.Bodysnatcher-Hell is Here, Hell is Home
2.Periphery-A Pale White Dot
3.Poppy-Empty Hands
Most Overrated:
1.Tiffany Day-Halo
2.Karnivool-In Verses
3.Thundercat-Distracted
Top Discoveries:
1.Chamber
2.Hellripper
3.hemlocke springs
Records I'm Most Excited to Hear from July-December (Note: Only Records with Confirmed Release Dates Were Considered)
1.Loathe-A Stranger to You
2.No Cure-It is Going to Get Dark
3.Protest the Hero-Within
Top 25 Songs (in alphabetical by artist name):
August Burns Red-Den of Thieves
Bodysnatcher-The Maker
Boundaries-Death Will Follow Me
The Callous Daoboys-Gigantic Parasite Tongue
Chamber-Parting Gift
Chamber-Violins
Converge-Bad Faith
Converge-Force Meets Presence
Converge-It Only Gets Worse
Don Broco-Somersaults
Hellripper-Hunderpest
hemlocke springs-w-w-w-w-w
Knocked Loose-Hive Mind (feat. Denzel Curry)
Lamb of God-Blunt Force Blues
Loathe-Fangs
Mastodon-Your Ghost Again
No Cure-Convulsing in the Dark
No Cure-Slowly Turning Blue
Poppy-Dying to Forget
Roman Candle-Blasphemous Act
Slayyter-Dance...
Slayyter-Old Technology
Static Dress-human props
Static Dress-Pharmacy Film
Vince Staples-Go! Go! Gorilla
No comments:
Post a Comment