Over the last few weeks of 05 we will be posting our writers' picks for the best of 2005. 

Each day we posted a new Top 5 list from one of our writers. Now at the conclusion we are please to present the master list comprised of the top picks from all of our writer submissions. 

Morley Seaver's Top 5 (or so) of 2005.

OK, you want ME to pick my Top 5 of the year?  Well, you gotta give me a bit of latitude on that one, cuz this was a great year for music, and I like a lot of different types of music.  Three of them are slam-dunk-easy to be tied for the Top Pick and another four come in pretty even after that

OK so if I can have three tied for first place (all right I know it’s a cop-out ---- YOU try and pick ‘em) then this all works.  Here we go.

5.  Cori Yarckin - Ringing in My Head: I’m a metal head.  Cradle of Filth is my favourite band.  So why do I like this record so darn much?  Because it’s a great one that’s why, dammit!  Cori churned out 10 cuts of perfect power pop/rock material that laughs in the face of Hillary Fluff and Ashlee Lip-sync.  She delivered great songs and vocals framed perfectly in terrific instrumentation/production courtesy of Jimmy Landry.
samples / buy cd | review)

4.  Crisis - Like Sheep Led to Slaughter: East Coasters turned West Coasters scorched ears with this release in their own particular extreme metal way.  Karyn Crisis scared the crap out of everybody listening with her demon vocals and the songs….well, there’s not much better this year than “Nomad” and “Waking the Dead”.  Awesome stuff!
(samples / buy cd | review)

3. Scarling - So Long Scarecrow:  Jessicka and company followed up last year’s “Sweet Heart Dealer” with an amazing record that works on a bunch of different levels.  It’s entertaining lyrically.  Instrumentally and sonically the band has never sounded so good or confident.  And the songs are the best the group has penned.  “City Noise” and “Bummer” just kill.
(samples / buy cd | review)

2.  My Ruin - The Brutal Language:  The wrecking crew from Los Angeles stripped down to basics and retooled themselves.  Vocalist Tairrie B and guitarist Mick Murphy went into the studio after their rhythm section quit and merely knocked out the best album of their career.  Brutal yet smarter, like a boxer who has learned to do more than just throw hammer-fall right hands, the record has a torqued up guitar sound and varied vocals from Miss B.  This is music to decompress by…like primal therapy.   
(samples / buy cd | review)

And finally the amazing, spectacular trio that tied for #1

1c.  Janeen Leah - Time is Never Wasted: Sneaking in just before the end of the year is the singer-songwriter’s massively awesome debut record.  Janeen has a voice that is just pure heaven and she uses it to great effect in thirteen quality cuts.  There is a blues song and a jazz-oriented cut and the rest can be described as simply awesome.  Nothing fancy. No frills. Just the most solid adult-oriented rock album of the year.
(samples / buy cd | review)

1b.   Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself: I heard about five seconds of the song “Hide and Seek” and from then on couldn’t play anything else.  When I got the record, my jaw dropped.  This is the best record Bjork never made. There are twelve spectacular cuts from Britain’s own Ms. Heap.  Electronic wizardry is mixed with emotive vocals to make a record that stands at the top of the…..Heap (sorry).  
(samples / buy cd | review)

1a.  Green Carnation - The Quiet Offspring: Green Carnation was already three albums old by the time I got to hear them with this, their newest, released in Feb of this year.  Like a shot of pure adrenaline, I was hooked by this masterpiece as easily as a cougar taking down a deer.  These guys write songs so perfect it’s unreal.  With a six member group, talent abounds as everybody had a hand in writing.  Strangely, it sounds really cohesive instead of fractured as you would think.  I’ve played this record to death all year and haven’t yet got tired of it.
(samples / buy cd | review)