This seems to be a fitting way to open up my blog to the world, it certainly encompasses one of the main themes. In the next couple of posts I will present my list of albums and shows of 2014: not only the Top Ten albums, but the near misses, the complete losers, and the gigs I attended. It should also serve to provide an indication of the kind of music I listen to and like; rather than try and explain it, you can just see the process in action.

It is unfortunate however that it was not a better year for music. Certainly there were plenty of releases, there always are: but the proportion that interested me, even for a brief time, was very low, compared to the year before—at least, that is how it seems. A few other people I know also complained of finding very little of interest as well, so maybe it wasn’t just me. In the end, I could not even put together a shortlist of 20 albums to whittle down, and for most of the year I didn’t even have 10 in total to work with, let alone a Top Ten. Thankfully the latter part of the year was better than the first half and brought in some serious contenders.

So let’s get down to it: In alphabetical order are the albums I considered, however briefly, over the past year. It might not seem like a lot, but there were other issues, not relevant to this post, that prevented me from spending as much time with my music as I otherwise would have.   In the next post: The Short List

The Long List

Amplifier — Mystoria

Anathema – Distant Satellites

Blueneck – King Nine

Crippled Black Phoenix – White Light Generator

Gazpacho — Demon

Haken – Restoration

IQ – Road of Bones

Katatonia – Kocytean

Dave Kerzner – New World

Knifeworld – The Unravelling

Lunatic Soul – Walking on a Flashlight Beam

Maybeshewill – Fair Youth

Mercury Tree — Countenance

Necro Deathmort – EP 2

Opeth – Pale Communion

The Pineapple Thief — Magnolia

Pink Floyd – The Endless River

Robert Plant – Lullaby and…the Ceaseless Roar

Ricamatrici di Silenzio — Nyarlathotep

Bjorn Riis – Lullabies in a Car Crash

Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie

Salt – Intelligent Design

Seven Impale – City of the Sun

Soen — Tellurian

Solstafir — Otta

Sounds Like the End of the World — Stages of Delusion

Trojan Horse – World Turned Upside Down

Tuber – Desert Overcrowded

Tune — Identity

John Wesley — Disconnect