Rock is in a fantastic state right now
I’ve been thinking about the past year of music, and I have to say it’s been amazing for Rock. Yeah, obviously it’s no longer the biggest genre out there, but there’s been so much great stuff this year, and there’s been an audience for it.
Just to say what my favorites have been this year:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s “No Title” is a fantastic album. I don’t mean to overhype it, but I do honestly think it’s the best post-rock album I’ve ever heard, and one of the best rock albums period. It might partly be because of my own heritage, but it’s just so haunting, hopeful, sorrowful, and conventionally beautiful, I think it’s a legitimate masterpiece.
The New Sound by Geordie Greep: I feel that I have to preface what I’m about to say by mentioning that I’m a huge Progressive Rock fan. I’m not a Prog-archives type of person where I’ll like any Prog Rock Revival music, but Prog Rock is well represented in my top 15 OAT. With that background, I have to say I’m blown away by Black Midi (mostly Hellfire) and Geordie Greep’s The New Sound. Even though the latter is somewhat flawed in certain aspects, it’s still one of the best albums I’ve heard in the genre. Holy Holy is one of the best Prog Rock singles I’ve heard, period, too. It’s honestly great to hear Progressive Rock that’s not just Progressive in name.
No Name by Jack White: another no-skips album, it’s as good if not better than Boarding House Reach IMHO. Not much to say here, other than fire.
The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World: I haven’t listened to it all the way through, but from what I have heard, it’s a great Gothic Rock album to add to the discography, and I really enjoyed what I did hear. Also, a lot of other people have been liking it too.
Fontaine’s D.C. Romance: I also haven’t listened to it all the way through, but a lot of people have enjoyed this a lot, which is great. I thought the lead single “starburster” was really intriguing.
Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee: though I admit I didn’t see the hype Pitchfork gave it, giving it the highest rating since a 10 they gave in 2020, I did think there was a lot of quality here. It reminds me of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle in the best way possible.
Blood Incantation’s absolute elsewhere: though I’m not typically a fan of prog metal, because I feel like it tends to be more “technical” than literally progressive, I thought this was pretty good. I’m not going to pretend to have listened to more than one Death Metal Band (death), but this makes me want to branch into the genre more.
Overall, I don’t think this is indicative of a “dead” genre at all, and I frankly enjoyed listening to contemporary music overall. Hopefully 2025 is about as good, though I dont wanna jinx it🤞.