After listening to their lead single "Heaven" I was pretty much settled on this being top five - easy. To be honest I would have even thought top three given how excited I was. Well they managed to PVRIS managed to make it into my top five with All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell but ohnly just. Don't let that negate how good the album actually is, I just didn't expect there to be so much other amazing music out this year! But let's get into it...

Following on from 2013's pretty stellar White Noise, PVRIS are back with another brilliant album concept staying true to their nature. Practically made to be heard live, and with Lynn's unique vocals, as strong and as enchanting as ever.

My biggest criticism of this album is that they released too many of the songs as singles. By the time it dropped I'd already heard most of the tracks and to be honest a lot of the strongest ones. The visuals were amazing but I reckon if they wanted to get the most out of such a strong concept I would've liked to see them do an enire visual album all released at once instead. I just feel like that would've had more of an impact.

Regardless, my favourite tracks at the moment are "Anyone Else", "Walk Alone", "Same Soul", "Heaven", and "Half". I haven't even gone a week since the album was released without listening to at least one of these songs. "Anyone Else" probably has the least lyrics on any track in this whole record but resonates the most to me. I had that rolling over in my head for weeks and weeks after first listening and I'm sure I'll be listening to this and the rest of the record on repeat until album three drops.

Have a read of my thoughts on last year's very different number five pick here.

On the 18th of April I went to O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham to catch PVRIS' sold out headline show. I wrote about them as a new discovery a couple of years ago here and now they're finally and deservedly blowing up.

First up on the bill was Twin Wild. I'd not heard of this band before the night but I've remembered the name every day since. They really caught my attention. The lead singer's vocals were great and their sons were very catchy. Although I did feel at the time that their set had been the perfect length for them, I would love to see them again live at their own headline show.

Next, Light You Up. I've been keeping up with this band for just over a year now and in that time their fame has just gone from zero to one hundred, just like PVRIS to be honest. I didn't really know what to expect in terms of their live stage presence, all I had to go by was their behaviour in the "All We've Ever Known" video. They absolutely killed it though! Tom is just pure energy! Even from before the set started, Tom was getting juiced up during sound-check. The perfect set to get the crowd ready for the main event.When Tom jumped into the crowd and started singing with and talking to the fans, I'm sure that they gained some new fans in that moment.

Finally, after some unexpected but enjoyable tunes during the interval, PVRIS. That electricity you feel when a band that you love steps on stage. That will never get old. But I swear, that electricity was x100 when Lynn came on - she has a crazy amount of presence. Playing such a small venue off the back of their debut album, I was hoping that they'd play the album in it's entirety. When they started off with "Smoke" followed by "St. Patrick", I must admit that I was hopeful. Even though they didn't play "Let Them In" I was far too caught up in the euphoria to even let it phase me. Everything just sounded so much better live than I'd imagined. The crowd's voices covering the sound of the band even at times! Especially during the album singles - "My House" was frenetic. Everybody knew it was coming but nobody was ready. That is such a huge hit!! As musicians each of them are very multi-talented, well as expected I suppose - it's hard for a three piece band to make such a huge sound, but they did it! And did it very well. Everyone was buzzing after the show - Lynn even tweeting "Birmingham! We all just unanimously agreed that tonight may have been our favorite show ever. Thank you so much!!!" Big show, if you haven't already checked PVRIS out, don't waste any more time.

Overall Rating - 7.5/10


Here are some pictures from the night... 

So we've reached the top three and this is where it gets really unexpected for me. Each of the top three albums this year I never would have pegged to make it this far.

My third favourite album of the year is PVRIS' spectacular debut White Noise. It wasn't until late last year here that I really discovered PVRIS and got into them. I wasn't even thinking about them releasing a debut to be honest, I was just enjoying their one song "The Heartless". It wasn't until I heard their first single - "St. Patrick" - from the record, that I actually started paying full attention. What an entrance?! After this release, every single rock magazine worldwide seemed to take notice. I could hardly flick through Twitter without seeing somebody mention them. This band are contagious! I listened to "St. Patrick" for weeks on end and could still happily listen to it every day until the end of the year. This trio are brilliant song crafters.

Then their second single "My House" dropped and it was even better! Once I found out the album release date; the 4th of November was etched in my memory. I had to get my hands on it. After a few listens to their singles, I couldn't help but draw comparisons to VERSA (Emerge). Then, I found out that Blake Harnage was actually responsible for producing their record! Everything made sense after that. And even though I didn't think it'd be possible, I was even more excited to hear the finished product. I'm still a little sad that VersaEmerge aren't around anymore but PVRIS have managed to take the genre to whole new levels! Frontwoman Lyndsey Gunnulfsen brings so much power to each song with her candid lyrics and fantastic tone, whilst Brian and Alex make sure that even their softer tracks sound so musically huge and full. The record as a whole just immerses you. 2015 is going to be a ridiculously big year for these three and I'm excited to keep up with them through it.

My favourite songs on the record right now aside from the singles are "Holy", "Fire", "Smoke" and "Mirrors". The whole thing just flows so perfectly - absolutely brilliant debut! 2015, year of PVRIS.

Even though we're already a few days into the week/month, here are some the records from this week that you can get your hands, released and upcoming...




FUSE ODG - T.I.N.A.
After seeing him take over The Library, Birmingham last week I've actually been a lot more interested in hearing some of Fuse's not so mainstream songs. I'm excited to see what his music sounds like as an album instead of a party song here and there on the radio! Album came out on the 3rd of November.






DELS - PETALS HAVE FALLEN 
The is purely on recommendation from Kwes. A few days ago I was scrolling through Facebook and came across him promoting this new release. If it's anything like Kwes' material then it should be something to look forward to. It was also released on the 3rd of November.







SUPERFOOD - DON'T SAY THAT
Well it's no secret that I like Superfood and now finally I have a debut album to rave about. It's been a bit hard to get a hold of their singles to date and so now there's no excuse. This should be a pretty damn good listen! Very cool band, giving us more music on the 3rd of November.






PVRIS - WHITE NOISE
Probably the album I was looking forward to most this week. It was being streamed prior to it's release here but now it's out both digitally and in hard copy. I had a listen when it was streaming and I already love the songs "Holy" and "Eyelids". This'll be one that I play for a long while even after the 4th of November.



 


 

CALVIN HARRIS - MOTION
I really liked his previous album 18 Months - there were some interesting tunes on there and as well as having chart toppers, it also had a few more mellow listens. I'm excited to hear what this one will sound like. I've only heard the single "Blame" from it but it's a good'un. Grab it now as it came out on the 4th of November.

Ahead of the release of their debut album White Noise on the 4th of November, PVRIS have just provided the interwebs with this gem of a title track...

PVRIS - White Noise