May 2016 music roundup

It's everyone's favorite day of the month!

My favorite albums of May

Releases from 2016: Goo Goo Dolls's Boxes, Lights's Midnight Machines, The Lumineers's Cleopatra, Rhapsody of Fire's Into the Legend, Against the Current's In Our Bones, Explosions in the Sky's The Wilderness.

Older releases: Listened to some good symphonic metal bands—Avantasia's trilogy & duology, Cain's Offering, and, of course, what I was missing from Rhapsody of Fire's discography, which I loved. They're seriously so talented. Luca Turilli's amazing. Finally heard that latest Relient K album, which was good. Listened to Empire of the Sun, the first album by The Lumineers, some older Nemesea stuff (I really like them, and Uprise, even if it didn't quite make my favorites list). Plus I caught up on Christopher Franzén's discography; this month was a good one for some solid post-rock albums.

Recommendations: If you've any interest in symphonic metal, you have to listen to everything by Rhapsody of Fire. Avantasia and Cain's Offering are good too. I'd recommend all of my 'favorites' on principle alone. Oh, and I also started listening to this Portuguese Celtic/fantasy composer called BrunuhVille, but I'm going to wait to log those albums until I've finished the whole collection and really familiarized myself with it.

So yeah. Good stuff. June will have some fun albums, too: Sherwood, letlive., Fitz & the Tantrums, The Temper Trap, Broods, and probably some more.

Until then!

Full May list

bolded albums are ones that I purchased

++ means I loved it

+ means I liked/really liked it

* means I'm indifferent or that it had some good songs

– means I won't listen again

May
267. Avantasia – The Scarecrow [2008] +
268. Avantasia – The Wicked Symphony [2010] ++
269. Avantasia – Angel of Babylon [2010] ++
270. Cain's Offering – Gather The Faithful [2009] ++
271. Cain's Offering – Stormcrow [2015] ++
272. Avantasia – The Metal Opera I [2001] +
273. Avantasia – The Metal Opera II [2002] ++
284. Relient K – Collapsible Lung [2013] ++
285. The Lumineers – The Lumineers [2012] ++
286. The Lumineers – Cleopatra [2016] ++
287. Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream [2008] ++
288. Empire of the Sun – Ice on the Dune [2013] ++
289. Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous [2004] +
290. 1208 – Feedback is Payback [2002] +
291. Goo Goo Dolls – Boxes [2016] ++
292. Lights – Midnight Machines [2016] ++
293. Nemesea – Uprise [2016] ++
294. Adia Victoria – Beyond the Bloodhounds [2016] +
295. Nemesea – Mana [2004] ++
296. Nemesea – In Control [2007] ++
297. M83 – Junk [2016] +
298. Rhapsody of Fire – Legendary Tales [1997] ++
299. Rhapsody of Fire – Symphony of Enchanted Lands I [1998] ++
300. Rhapsody of Fire – Dawn of Victory [2000] ++
301. Rhapsody of Fire – Rain of a Thousand Flames [2001] ++
302. Rhapsody of Fire – Power of the Dragonflame [2002] ++
303. Rhapsody of Fire – The Dark Secret EP [2004] +
304. Rhapsody of Fire – Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret [2004] ++
305. Rhapsody of Fire – Into the Legend [2016] ++
306. Rhapsody of Fire – Live in Canada 2005: The Dark Secret [2006] ++
307. Rhapsody of Fire – Live – From Chaos to Eternity [2013] ++
308. Brighter Brightest – Right For Me [2011] ++
309. Brighter Brightest – ARROW EP [2014] ++
310. This Century – Biography of Heartbreak [2013] ++
311. This Century – Soul Sucker [2015] ++
312. Dustin Kensrue – Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood [2016] *
313. Din Brad – Dor [2012] +
314. Blaqk Audio - Material [2016] +
315. Saosin - Saosin [2016] ++
316. Against the Current - In Our Bones [2016] ++
317. Ali Barter – Trip EP [2012] +
318. Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness [2016] ++
319. Lights & Motion – Chronicle [2015] ++
320. Christoffer Franzén – Unreleased (Music for Film & TV) I [2015] ++
321. Christoffer Franzén – Unreleased (Music for Film & TV) II [2015] ++
322. Christoffer Franzén – Wide Awake [2016] ++