Yup. I've never been a big fan of Aesop, and his newest did nothing to change my mind.

Do you not listen to progressive metal anymore? Are bands like Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist, Baroness all mediocre? All three of those bands had crazy good releases.
You're changing, Reaper.

There are 6 albums in my top 30 that are or are related to progressive metal! That's like 20% of the list. The only genre with more albums on this list is hip-hop, with 8 albums.

Hip-hop has, frankly, been more "progressive" in recent years. There's tons of exciting things going on with hip-hop production.

I like the Baroness album(s). If I went to 40 albums it'd have landed in the 40-31 area.

After three listens, I think that is a better album than 2011's LiveLoveA$AP, even though that album has like 4 songs I like a lot better than any songs on the new one.

Im trying to like it...but...I don't get it. Part of me likes it, part of me doesn't.

Too often im reminded of:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nV0GI8FkJBc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

IMO, the vocalist sounds just like Wes Willis.

I know it's not necessarily in your musical spectrum, but I absolutely loved WIXIW by Liars. Great album, if you're into Radiohead knock-offs.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nm8mi4SGkbc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Go suck a honey badger's ass.

No, the first time I heard it I thought of Wesley Willis, too. But it's still really, really ****ing good.

yeah, maybe i just need to download the whole thing and re-train my brain.

Death Grips are abrasive and offputting as hell at first, imo. After a few listens, I started enjoying them more. They still aren't in heavy rotation for me because I have to be in the right mood to really enjoy them.

This should not already be on the second page...

OK, I won't go nearly as in-depth as Reaper, but my top 5 are:

5. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
4. Jack White - Blunderbuss
3. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
2. Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE
1. Death Grips - The Money Store / No Love Deep Web (I'm not cheating by putting the two together. Money Store would have taken the top spot alone, but I personally can't separate the two albums.)

Ok ok. So I dove into death grips a bit more last night. I watched an interview and some live videos.

I now see WHY people are intrigued by this group. It IS different.
I'm not a fan of the vocals at all though. Imagine if he was a great lyricist and had much better flow.

To paraphrase a recent blurb I read on Death Grips:

If you listen to it for a few minutes, it sounds like abrasive noise. After 20 minutes, it becomes almost meditative and trance-inducing... in a really brutal way.

My children now shout/sing/chant in their best Stef voice, "I eat PUDDING!" to the tune of "I've Seen Footage."

If I started a thread titled "Reaper's Favorite Dads of 2012," you'd top the list.