The last few times I tried to rank the year's best releases it was a fun exercise that had me excited about the resurgence of rock and forced me to count killer tracks to compare albums to crack my top 10. This year the list making was easier and this was due in large part to the lack of quality efforts, in my opinion. There were many disappointments this year. Foo Fighters and Weezer were chief among them for releasing much softer, poppier albums than I care to listen to. Now I can be a sucker for a catchy hook or a great ballad (just see my top 10 Seether song list), but I didn't think the songwriting was up to par either. Similarly, albums by Stone Sour, Motionless in White, Paramore, Papa Roach, the Used, and Seether were okay, but not up to their usual standards and left me underwhelmed.
That being said, there was some good stuff that came out of 2017 and I think my list is more diverse than previous years. There is no doubt about who deserved the #1 spot. After that it was challenging and my list did shuffle a few times as I re-listened to the best albums of the year. Check them all out and let me know what you think.
1. Trivium - The Sin & The Sentence
2. Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark
3. Rise Against - Wolves
4. Nothing More - The Stories We Tell Ourselves
5. Ded - Mis-An-Thrope
6. Darkness - Pinewood Smile
7. Josh Todd & the Conflict - Year of the Tiger
8. Lionheart - Welcome to West Coast II
9. Danko Jones - Wildcat
10. Seaway - Vacation
