2026 has been a really great year for new albums. Not just new albums but, bands returning and giving us new music that is just as good as their previous work, as well as a bunch of independent bands that are really coming into their own. This is one of my favorite posts of the year. It’s a great way to catch up on everything that’s come out that yo might have missed and check out something new. Audioeclectica, while mainly focused on rock music, is all about exploring new musical avenues. Why not start with these! Enjoy!
THIS LIST IS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!!
AUDIOECLECTICA’S BEST OF 2026… SO FAR:
01) Held- Grey 02) Puscifer- Normal Isn’t 03) Converge- Hum Of Hurt 04) Converge- Love Is Not Enough 05) Poison The Well- Peace In Place 06) Lamb Of God- Into Oblivion 07) Blackwater Holylight- Not Here Not Gone 08) The Owling- Intravenous Flow 09) Neurosis- An Undying Love For A Burning World 10) Failure- Location Lost 11) Monolord- Neverending 12) Corrosion Of Conformity- Good God/Baad Man 13) Nine Inch Noize- Nine Inch Noize 14) Sevendust- One 15) At The Gates- The Ghost Of A Future Dead 16) XCOMM- Time To Burn 17) Exodus- Goliath 18) Rob Zombie- The Great Satan 19) Genghis Tron- Signal Fire 20) A Place To Kill- A Place To Kill 21) Gaerea- Loss 22) Final Gasp- New Day Symptoms 23) Trauma Ray- Carnival 24) Carpenter Brut- Leather Temple 25) The Smashing Pumpkins- Zodeon At Crystal Hall
The time is upon us as we start the new year, to take a moment and look at the albums that have come before. I took the liberty of making a giant list of albums that are hitting interesting milestones this year. Be it an album that is 10 years old, 25 years old, 40 years old, even 60 years old. Dig into this list of albums celebrating their anniversaries. On a side note, I had a feeling ten years ago that 2016 would be looked back on as quite a monumental year for music and looking at what just hit the ten year mark, I’d day I was correct.
We are coming up to the halfway point of 2025 and I thought now would be a good time to do a Best Of 2025… So Far. In here you’ll find what I think are the best albums released so far as well as the best concerts I’ve seen all year!
Best Albums Of 2025… So Far: ALBUMS!!!!
01) Idle Heirs- Life Is Violence This album is my absolute favorite of the year so far and I don’t think anything is going to over take it unless Nine Inch Nails puts out their new album this year. I love this album and everything it entails. The sheer rawness and atmospheric nature of it all as well as the devastating nature of it and how real it all comes to life.
02) Linkin Park- From Zero (Deluxe Edition) From Zero is already a great album. It’s not the best thing this band has ever done (Meteora and A Thousand Suns take that prize) but, this album is phenomenal. And I’m being absolutely serious. When it came out towards the end of 2024 it left a lasting impression on me and now with the 3 additional songs added, it just takes it to a whole other level. It’s criminal how good this album is!!!!
03) Guiltless- Teeth To Sky This album is another that is still in rotation and I keep finding more and more to love about this record. As I mentioned in my album of the week feature, having a band play music like this but, flipping the script and making it optimistic instead of straight doom and gloom, really puts this album up high.
04) Spiritbox- Tsunami Sea I’ve quite enjoyed this album. It’s a really well put together album with some really killer songs on it. It’s a really solid second album as well that is quite cohesive. I just recently went to see Spiritbox live and they are a really good live band and these songs definitely go harder than on album as one would expect. It’s going to be interesting to see and hear where they go next.
05) Coheed And Cambria- Vaxis III: The Father Of Make Believe Coheed is back!!! Not that they went away, I mean it more in that after the past two albums which felt kind of long and more of a collection of songs, they are back with an “album” that really kicks ass. If you are a fan of albums such as In Keeping Secrets and Good Apollo Part IV, then you’ll really dig this one. It’s a really good album that has a great flow to it. And there also feels like a renewed sense of the band on this one too as the performances really are kicked up a few notches!
06) Youth Code- Yours, With Malice I’ve been a Youth Code fan for quite some time so, when it came time for this record to arrive, I was pretty stoked and it’s a banger! Though only an EP, Yours, With Malice doesn’t lose a beat with the punishing and menacing beats pulsating along with vocals that reflect the trying times and harsh reality of it all.
07) Tonguecutter- Minnow When I first heard Tonguecutter’s Minnow, I thought I was in a time machine back to 1993 in a great way. This band and album have been a really cool surprise to hear in 2025. They make music that I’ve always loved and give it a bump in energy. Really look forward to more from Tonguecutter. They are one of those bands if the right people hear it will really resonate!
08) Black Map- Hex I’ve been a fan since the first single dropped and Black Map keeps getting better! Hex is one hell of an album. It’s short, concise and very direct in its approach. Throughout the 9 songs and 32 minutes, you are taken on a ride of great riffs and rhythms along with soaring melodic vocals. I keep finding myself listening to this album as whole more so than picking songs. Give this one a good spin!!
09) SOM- Let The Light In I remember seeing SOM open for Holy Fawn a couple years back and I was hooked from that point. Their new album, Let The Light In, is a tremendous album that really expands upon their already epic nature. I find myself listening to this a lot when I need something a bit more calming or relaxing as their post-metal sound reaches new heights.
10) Machinekit- Goddamn Vanity This LA techno-punk band is awesome! The new album, Goddamn Vanity, strikes quite hard. It’s abrasive and quite powerful. The way this album gut punches you is superb. The aggressive nature of this album is harks back to late 80’s Ministry and Broken era Nine Inch Nails. Also, their live show is one of the most fun and energetic shows you can see!
BEST CONCERTS OF 2025… SO FAR:
01) Poison The Well, Glassjaw, Better Lovers at Hollywood Palladium 02) Snot at SoHo Santa Barabara 03) Helmet and Slomosa at The Regent Theater 04) Jerry Cantrell and Filter at Ventura Theater 05) Danzig and Down at Forum 06) Meshuggah, Cannibal Corpse & Carcass at Forum 07) Deftones at Forum 08) Spiritbox at Hollywood Palladium 09) Kerry King at Fonda Theater 10) All Cobalt/Audioeclectica shows!
We are a little past the halfway point of 2023 so, why not put together a list of a bunch of my favorite releases of the year… so far!
*This List Is In No Particular Order EXCEPT For Number 1
01) Iress- Solace EP 02) Loma Prieta- Last 03) Will Haven- VII 04) Better Lovers- God Made Me An Animal EP 05) The Ocean- Holocene 06) Metallica- 72 Seasons 07) Turbid North- The Decline 08) Deathgrave- It’s Only Midnight 09) Unearth- The Wretched / The Ruinous 10) Dave Lombardo- Rites Of Percussion 11) Rancid- Tomorrow Never Comes 12) Creeping Death- Boundless Domain 13) Queens Of The Stone Age- In Times New Roman 14) Tunic- Wrong Dream 15) Common Wounds- Common Wounds EP 16) Jerome’s Dream- The Gray In Between 17) Vanishment- No More Torture 18) The Smashing Pumpkins- ATUM 19) Year Of The Knife- Dust To Dust 20) Thrice- The Artist and The Ambulance (2023 Version)
We are at the half way point of 2022 and I thought I’d share the best albums and EP’s of 2022… SO FAR. There have been a lot of really great albums released already, some that will compete for album of the year for sure. It’s all here in this list (in no particular order by the way)!
BEST ALBUMS OF 2022… SO FAR:
01) Greg Puciato- Mirrorcell 02) If It Kills You- Invisible Self 03) Cave In- Heavy Pendulum 04) Billy Howerdel- What Normal Was 05) Korn- Requiem 06) Author & Punisher- Kruller 07) Black Map- Melodoria 08) Absent In Body- Plague God 09) Meshuggah- Immutable 10) Coheed and Cambria- Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind 11) Vein- The World Is Going To Ruin You 12) Drug Church- Hygiene 13) Ghost- Impera 14) H09909- Skin 15) QAALM- Resilience & Despair 16) Trace Amount- Anti Body Language 17) Decapitated- Cancer Culture 18) Helms Alee- Keep This Be The Way 19) Be Well- Hello Sun 20) The Smile- A Light For Attracting Attention 21) Liam Gallagher- C’mon You Know 22) Dalek- Precipice 23) Deaf Club- Productive Disruption
BEST EP’S…SO FAR:
01) Centershift- A Different Shade 02) God Mother- Obeveklig 03) Ibaraki- Rashomon 04) Bleeding Through- Rage 05) Vio-lence- Let The World Burn 06) Deaf Club- Bad Songs Forever
STILL TO COME:
Soilwork- Övergivenheten Machine Head- Of Kingdom and Crown Muse- Will Of The People Megadeth- The Sick, The Dying… The Dead! Ken Mode- Null Lamb Of God- Omens Cycotic Youth- Cyco Up Centershift- Of
DATES STILL TBD:
Centershift- Full Length Don’t Panic- TBD Slipknot The Cure
I was having a conversation with a couple friends the other day. We were discussing a few bands and the thing that kept coming up was the voice of the vocalist. As we were chatting a list was starting to be made and why not make this a fun collaborative list! This list doesn’t necessarily mean they are terrible just that their voices aren’t easy to listen to (high pitched, nasally, obnoxious, etc). So, here we go…
Geddy Lee- Rush Tom DeLonge- Blink 182/Angels and Airwaves Perry Farrell- Jane’s Addiction/Porno For Pyros Claudio Sanchez- Coheed and Cambria Scott Stapp- Creed Myles Kennedy- Alter Bridge/Slash Daron Malakian- System Of A Down/Scars On Broadway Justin Hawkins- The Darkness King Diamond- Mercyful Fate/King Diamond Gerard Way- My Chemical Romance Davey Havok- AFI/Blaqq Audio Steven Tyler- Aerosmith Chris Carraba- Dashboard Confessional Bert McKracken- The Used Adam Lazzara- Taking Back Sunday Brian Molko- Placebo Billy Corgan- The Smashing Pumpkins Chino Moreno- Deftones Joey Belladona- Anthrax Dani Filth- Cradle Of Filth Ben Gibbard- Death Cab For Cutie/The Postal Service Sully Erna- Godsmack Chad Gray- Mudvayne/Hellyeah Anders Frieden- In Flames Chester Bennington- Linkin Park Cedric Bixler Zavala- At The Drive In/The Mars Volta Maria Brink- In This Moment Dave Mustaine- Megadeth Vince Neil- Motley Crue (anything post 1991) Tim Armstrong- Rancid/The Transplants Anthony Green- Saosin/Circa Survive Brian Aubert- Silversun Pickups Bjork Jewel Joni Mitchell Joan Baez Bob Dylan
2021 has been a very interesting year. Thankfully, it’s not a bad as 2020. That being said, the music released this year so far is on fire. It’s only been half a year and these albums have been on constant rotation. I personally can’t wait to see what else is coming this year (EVERY TIME I DIE PLEASE!!!!). This list is in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!! If I forgot any, let me know and I’ll be sure to check them out!!!!
Genghis Tron- Dream Weapon:
Bossk- Migration:
End You- Aimless Dread:
The Pretty Reckless- Death By Rock And Roll:
Rob Zombie- The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy:
I’ve put this list together many times and changed the parameters so much to fit in different films, that it sort of got out of hand. So now, I’ve simplified it to make it easier to define what is a great “rock n roll” movie. No it doesn’t’ have to be all music based, though that would be super simple, instead I’ve made this list based upon movies that used rock music in such a way that it helped to make the movie that much better. I’m not including music documentaries in this or concert films (for example: The Who’s Tommy or The Band’s The Last Waltz). Biopic movies do count and should be included. As always, your participation in adding to this list is more than welcome.
Let’s Begin!!
Almost Famous
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey
Dazed and Confused
Rock N Roll High School
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Pink Floyd: The Wall
High Fidelity
The School Of Rock
Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny
Detroit Rock City
Velvet Goldmine
I’m Not There
Wayne’s World
Wayne’s World 2
The Doors
La Bamba
Spinal Tap
That Thing You Do
Sid and Nancy
The Wedding Singer
24 Hour Party People
200 Cigarettes
Singles
Hedwig And The Angry Inch
Control
American Graffiti
The Blues Brothers
Purple Rain
Grosse Point Blank
The Commitments
The Dirt
Bohemian Rhapsody
Walk The Line
A Star Is Born (all versions)
The Runaways
Get Him To The Greek
Airheads
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Rockstar
2020 has definitely been a strange one that’s for sure. Thankfully, through all the craziness and madness, there have been a few bright spots as far as new music goes. At least we have that during all this. And with all the time we’ve had, it’s been nice to be able to delve into band catalogs as well as discover some really good new bands and albums. So, here is a nice list (with links to the albums) for you to check out. These are the Best Albums of 2020…So Far (in no particular order by the way).
Because the world is in a panic and we all can use a little humor to brighten things up, I thought of making a list of the best End Of The World songs. This should be a fun one to throw songs at and create different playlists and such. So, lets begin.
