Added by the giraffe on 19 Aug 2011 05:26

1480 Views 5 Comments

vote

Best albums of 2005

Sort by: Showing 24 items

Rating: List Type:

For my other Best albums lists for this decade, please visit my Best albums of the 00s list. All videos chosen for quality of sound, rather than visuals.

7.5

A Healthy Distrust - Sage Francis

By far my favorite Sage Francis album for its mix of humor, emotion, intelligence, and intensity. Also there's a perfect flow to it as all the songs fit perfectly together.
Favorite song: "Slow Down Gandhi"

the giraffe's rating:

204

7.7

Frances the Mute - The Mars Volta

Even more amazing than De-loused In the Comatorium. This is one of those albums that's best listened to in its entirety, and whenever one of the songs pops up on my mp3 player when I have it on random I have to either skip it or pull up the album to listen to instead.
Favorite song: "L' Via l'Viaquez"

the giraffe's rating:

8.4

Searching for a Former Clarity - Against Me!

Against Me! peaked with this one, and have yet to recapture the magic of their earlier work.
Favorite song: "Holy Shit!"

the giraffe's rating:

Beyond Virtue Beyond Vice - Vaux

This one surprised me. Take the 00s hardcore revival sound & filter it through Marilyn Manson's Holy Wood, and this might be what you get.
Favorite song: "Van Fong"

the giraffe's rating:

148

7.6

Lullabies to Paralyze - Queens of the Stone Age, Troy Van Leeuwen

I got into Queens via Songs for the Deaf, and after seeing them live a couple times I bought & fell in love with Rated R. When I first got this album I thought it was merely OK. It didn't hit me as strongly as the other 2 albums did, and so I didn't listen to it very often.

After they opened for NIN & played possibly the best show I've seen them do, I gave this album another chance. It's funny how a great live show can encourage me to listen to an album I'm not crazy about more often.

Now when I listen to it I love every song on it, and it's worked its way up to being my favorite QOTSA album.
--from my Albums that grew on me list

Favorite song: "Broken Box"

the giraffe's rating:

7.5

Live It Out - Metric

Favorite song: "Hand$hake$"

the giraffe's rating:

823

7.1

Demon Days - Gorillaz

Favorite song: "November Has Come"

the giraffe's rating:

8.3

Worlds Apart - ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Those who whine that they haven't made a good album since Source Tags & Codes need to give this one another listen. Some days I even think it's better.
Favorite song: "The Lost City of Refuge" ...which apparently has no video anywhere. So here's another song called "Let It Dive"

the giraffe's rating:

7.3

Radical Recital - Rasputina

Works just as well as a best-of/greatest hits package might, except you get the wonderful bonus of Melora's between-song banter since it's a live album. My favorite thing about this album is that the live performances of their earlier songs are better than the original recordings of them.
Favorite song: "Barracuda"

Awful video by the way. But better sound quality than all other options.

the giraffe's rating:

432

7.2

With Teeth - Nine Inch Nails

Favorite song: "right where it belongs"

the giraffe's rating:

7.9

Six Demon Bag - Man Man

Favorite song: "Skin Tension"

the giraffe's rating:

Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - Gogol Bordello

Favorite song: "Start Wearing Purple" (I think it's everyone's favorite actually)

the giraffe's rating:

6.5

Say Hello to Sunshine - Finch

So much Mike Patton influence on display here I can't help but love it.
Favorite song: "A Man Alone"

the giraffe's rating:

Add items to section

Runners-up

Pretty rare that a hip-hop album tops my list, but then the hip-hop album in the #1 spot here is atypical in many ways. I'd also like to note that Sage Francis's album got me back into hip-hop by showing me that good hip-hop still existed, it had just gone underground.