This, ladies and gentlemen, was a glaring example of false advertising - well, at least the first part. In fact, it's entirely possible that this isn't the best and maybe even the most complete journal ever - so I'm not aiming quite as high, and the 'Most boring, overlong, stupid and generally useless journal' award will actually do. But the number is true - 891 albums. I don't think it's really that much, but people usually tell me otherwise - often with the added remark that I'm clinically insane. But it's okay, even my second personality doesn't mind.
However, one thing really bugs me - all those 'Best albums of 2007' journals popping all over last.fm lately. You open them with anticipation of something interesting, original, worthwhile or just plainly funny to read, and then you see it's just another generic 'My favorite visual-kei albums'. Or emo. Or pretentious indie faggotry, whatever. So you're closeminded or simply not interested in any music other than
Radiohead - which is of course perfectly fine, just save me that click and extra loading time and specify it in your journal title, thank you. While I'm thinking about it, as far as I can remember, not one of these journals were about hip-hop, which is kind of odd - maybe they're too busy hopping around their BMW's or riced out Civics and keepin' it real to write anything on here, I guess. And now I don't even know what I wanted to say, so I'll probably leave it at that. Wow, this is getting stupid even faster than I expected...
Oh right, the genres! I listen to pretty much everything on regular basis, but it's evident that I'm strongly interested in rock, metal and electronic music in general, with healthy dose of hip-hop, so-called 'indie' and jazz thrown in for a good measure. In general, I try to stay away from... well, bad music? I don't actively seek out hard electronic, emo, roots rock, blues and country, and majority of stuff found on MTV - so yeah, I've heard the latest Linkin Park album, but what's the point of rating it when the knitting needle in my ear would be probably much more pleasant experience, right? (that means - the new LP album was just as bad as I expected).
I'll break this into a few separate sections, just because I can, and besides, everyone LOVES subgenres! This journal is probably gonna be really huge anyway. And we'll start with [cheesy voice]METAAAAAAAAL![/cheesy voice]
***
edit: Ok, truth to be told, I don't have the time to really finish this now, but I finally want to get it over with. Maybe I'll finish it up sometime in the future, or maybe not, we'll see.
***
Thrash metal
1.
Fastkill - Nuclear Thrashing Attack
Short, fast, sweet, and fast. Did I mention it's fast? Basically a bit late Japanese answer to the 80's European thrash metal movement, and damn good at that - the influences of
Destruction,
Hypnosia or
Onslaught are blatantly evident, but thrash metal was never about originality, so they can easily get away with that - what really counts is a huge amount of neckbreaking riffs, and fortunately, they have them in spades. The best thing about Fastkill is their obvious passion for the genre - not one second is wasted on acoustic interludes, slow sections or (god forbid!) ballads, and everything is played exactly the way how it's supposed to be - at the 150% speed and intensity. Unique thing here are the vocals - Komori Toshio's vocal delivery is absolutely freakin' insane, as he screams though the whole album like a complete lunatic. He instantly reminded me of Sean Killian from
Vio-Lence, with a little bit of Mille from
Kreator style thrown in. The only downside of this album is - their debut was even better. It's hard not to compare these two albums, because they're essentially the same, and Infernal Thrashing Holocaust was just as raw and fast, but with even more insane vocals, cheesy gang choruses (with an amusing Japanese accent), much louder bass, and grittier production. But still, it's full of monster riffs coming out of nowhere and crushing you into oblivion, and that's what really matters.
2.
Meltdown - Executioner
I can't believe this came out in 2007, it seems more like an early 80's material. Imagine
Exodus jamming with
Metallica around 1982, and you're pretty much there. Actually, it's total Kill'Em All worship, and I really love these guys for that alone. Of course, it's full of nice riffs, not great, but appropriate vocals, awesome legato-based solos and solid songwriting, but most importantly, it's just friggin' catchy. If you love old-school metal, you can use this album as your personal time-travel machine.
3.
HYADES - And The Worst Is Yet To Come
So what do we have here - Italian band with cover art straight out of the 80's (courtesy of Edward Repka), and the music goes with it very nicely - 11 tracks of hi-octane, no holds barred pure thrash with occasional thrashcore influences (think
Nuclear Assault). You can't go wrong with this formula, so if your idea of fun is similar to mine (which basically means 'meeting up with friends in a garage somewhere in the outskirts of the city, drinking and playing our own butchered covers of Seek & Destroy and Bonded By Blood), then go out immediately and buy yourself a copy. Wops still thrash!
4.
Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying
I just love these guys and the way they suddenly break out into some crazy awesome necksnapping riff. Granted, it's considerably weaker than their previous efforts (Headbanger Face Rip is pretty much worthless, although that great little break right before the end saves it), but principally still the same, so it should be satisfying enough for those of you who want their usual dose of crossover thrash.
5.
Destruction - Thrash Anthems
As you probably already know, this is essentially a 'best of' compilation, though all songs have been re-recorded with current line-up - and it's really interesting to hear 'Cracked Brain' with Schmier on vocals. Production absolutely slays, the riffs literally jumps out on you, and that main break in Mad Butcher almost gave me a heart attack - which is a good thing. Oh, and the two new songs suck.
6.
Bonded By Blood - Extinguish The Weak
+ the sheer awesomeness hits you instantly like a raging tsunami
+ RIFFS!
+ LEADS!
+ absolutely flawless thrash production, the drums sound huge and thunderous
+ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme as a bonus track - how awesome (and nerdy) is that?
+ it's just great, over the top, totally non-serious and friendly fun
Cons:
- 6 tracks, clocking in less than 17 minutes
- it's just an
Exodus worship, but ... who cares?
7.
Sodom
The same thing as the last
Destruction offering, The Final Sign of Evil is a re-recorded version of the first EP 'In The Sign Of Evil' and seven previously unreleased songs, all of which were originally written for that EP. And believe or not, it's pretty good. So in short, if you're already a fan, you'll love this - and if you're not, you can easily become one after a few listens.
8.
Short Sharp Shock
We're going to have a little test now, so sharpen your mind tools! Do you like
D.R.I.? And what about
Cryptic Slaughter? And
S.O.D.? If you've answered 'fuck yes!' three times (or more, but in that case you may want to lay off the beer for a while), it's mandatory for you to obtain this album. And if you've answered 'yes' less than three times, then go listen to the
Robbie Williams, you fag. (ok, that was a joke... and not a good one, I admit).
Fag.
9.
Evile - Enter The Grave
As one of the most praised and talked about thrash metal albums of 2007, I expected a lot from Evile's debut. In theory, it's nearly textbook example of thrash record in all aspects. Nice riffs, really cool vocals with noticeable English accent, and perfect production by Flemming Rasmussen (yes, the one responsible for Master Of Puppets). Funny thing is, the perfect production also represents Enter The Grave's biggest downfall - it's just too artificially flawless for it's own good. Goddamn, we're talking about thrash here, not some overproduced and polished pop, and thrash is supposed to be as raw and aggressive as possible. While pretty tame, Evile is certainly far from 'fluffy-pink-bunnies-frolicking-in-the-park-on-a-sunny-sunday-afternoon' harmless bands like
Sacred Reich or
Testament, but I just like my thrash a little bit more dangerous.
10.
Skeletonwitch - Beyond The Permafrost
Thrash with black metal rhythm section? Interesting... They maintained the same sound and style of writing used on previous album and EP, highly reminiscent of melodic black metal, and while I usually can't stand that horribly sterile, super-compressed production, it kinda fits here. Somewhat. Maybe. Ok, I honestly think it's rather crappy, and they need to get rid of it. More thrash, less suck, please.
Honorable mentions
11.
Angelus Apatrida - Give 'Em War
While not good enough to be in the final top 10, I really feel the need to mention this album. Sure, the songwriting is pretty average, vocals are nothing special (although there are some shining moments too), and a lot of ideas end up sounding a bit juvenile, but there's this one little thing that saves this album from mediocrity - RIFFS. Actually quite a redeeming feature, because some of these riffs are so unbelievably THRASHTACULAR it's not even funny, and I mean classic
Exodus or
Dark Angel territory there - just listen to that one particular thrash break at 3:05 in 'In The Heart Of Nations' and try not to bang your head, I dare you. Unfortunately, they really fuck it up 30 seconds later, which pretty much sums up the reason why this album got only a 7/10 rating - a lot of good ideas that fall apart because of poor execution.
12.
Mekong Delta - Lurking Fear
This could be so awesome, if only ... *sigh*. First off, the vocals really suck - I'm not a fan of high-pitched vocals in thrash, but these are straight-up Halford rip-off. Second, the production and mastering job are so atrocious, it actually gives me headaches, especially combined with those ear-piercing vocals so high in the mix and 'tic-tic-tic' drums. Sad thing is, there's some pretty interesting riffs and ideas behind this trainwreck of an album.
Death metal
1.
Impaled - The Last Gasp
2.
DeathevokatioN - Chalice Of Ages
I like old school death metal and I cannot lie.
Possessed,
Deceased,
Obituary,
Grave,
Hellhammer, you name it. This release is a wonderful blast from the past, an unpretentious slab of honest midpaced death metal full of crushing harmonized riffs and melodic leads, with absolutely zero modern influences - the distinct early 90's atmosphere is just spot-on here. So if you even remotely liked anything that came out of Morrisound or Sunlight Studios in that era, I can highly recommend this one. A proof that music doesn't necessarily have to follow trends to be good.
3.
Demiurg - Breath Of The Demiurg
Dan Swanö produced this one, so if you're familiar with his name, you probably already know what to expect. If not, why the hell are you reading about death metal anyway? Great nod to the old school, and besides, I just love The Primitive Machinery - the main riff is, as the name suggests, primitive, mechanical sounding, and totally freakin' awesome.
4.
Benighted - Icon
Awesome brutal death metal from France. Groovy riffs, amazing vocals, not too flashy, but neat drumming not relying entirely on blast beats, which is great and rare nowadays, and there's even the bass somewhere, I guess. Given the fairly straighforward song structures, it's suprising that
Benighted can keep things interesting and varied enough through the whole album - I especially loved that little French rapping interlude in Slut, which seemed totally out of place, heh heh. Indeed, there are some moments that could be labelled as 'deathcore', but as long as they're not overusing them, who cares, really.
5.
Diskord - Doomscapes
One word - mindfuck. This is how I imagine
Morbid Angel would sound like today, if they were actually good. And tripping on LSD all the time. Diskord play an incredibly weird, unusual and quite technical death metal with strong old school roots. I can't quite pinpoint what's so strange about them, but I'm sure I haven't heard anything like it before. The riffing is totally bizarre, based on a rather percussive style, and the bass is really prominent in the mix, which enhances the listening experience quite significantly. The drumming fits just perfectly, as it sounds kinda loose and almost sloppy at times, effectively bringing up the crazed atmosphere of the record even more to the forefront. Actually, it reminds me of Nicke Andersson's (
Entombed) style on Clandestine. My favorite song is definitely the last one, Instauration -
Carcass worship with an original twist. All in all,
Diskord is at least a hundred times more interesting band than, say,
Necrophagist will ever be.
6.
Odious Mortem - Cryptic Implosion
7.
Alchemist - Tripsis
8.
Mithras - Behind The Shadows Lie Madness
This is a strange one. At first, I totally and absolutely loved it. However, once the initial excitement started to wear off, I slowly began to notice some considerable flaws. For example, the clean vocals - they suck. The guitar solos drenched in delay and reverb get old very quickly. And I know you play an 'experimental' metal, but some actual riffs instead of mindless scale wanking in odd time signatures would make this so much better (although the song The Twisted Tower shows some promise in this area). Don't get me wrong, it's still really good and undoubtely original, but there's certainly room for improvement.
9.
Hacksaw To The Throat - Wastelands
10.
NOX - Ixaxaar
This sounds like a ride straight through hell, you don't even know what's going on at times - it's the type of music that grabs you by the throat and pummels you into submission. Of course, every song sounds the same and you won't remember any of it after the first listen, but that's a small price to pay for such sheer brewtal death-metality *snickers*.
Black metal
1.
Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum
2.
Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
3.
Blut aus Nord - Odinist
4.
Sigh - Hangman's Hymn
5.
Cobalt - Eater Of Birds
6.
Stíny Plamenů - Odpadní Galerie
Cult Czech band lead by black metal mastermind Lord Morbivod, playing classic black metal with a slightly original twist. The most interesting thing about this band though are the lyrics - they don't deal with usual black metal stuff like Satan, Christianity, burning churches or being grim in the frostbitten forests, but instead, they're about sewers. Yes, you heard it right. It's of course funny as hell, because they explore this unusual topic with scientific approach that is truly fascinating. Can't get much more underground than that.
7.
Graveland - Will Stronger Than Death
8.
Shining - V - Halmstad
9.
Watain - Sworn To The Dark
They decided to openly rip-off
Dissection on this one, and I like it much better than any of their other albums. Go figure.
10.
Ravencult - Temples Of Torment
Vicious and raw black metal, totally unoriginal, yet quite enjoyable. Kvlt recommendation.
Grindcore/goregrind
1.
Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
I'm sure this is a big surprise to all of you, heh-heh. Absolutely relentless, heavier than a ten ton hammer, even dirtier than Terrifyer, and about as subtle as a kick in the balls, that's a fairly accurate description of the new Pig Destroyer album. Guitar work is great and really inventive (in the genre, at least), drumming totally chaotic, but still groovy enough, and the vocals... well, just as convincingly crazy as usual. I also dig the more old-school, but still crystal clear production work. Of course, nothing is perfect, and Phantom Limb is not an exception - I sure could do without all those deathcore-ish breakdowns. Luckily, they're not too distracting and cheesy, so you can suffer through them quite easily.
2.
Lymphatic Phlegm - Show-off Cadavers - The Anatomy Of Self Display
3.
Insect Warfare - World Extermination
4.
Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition - Inventory Of Fixtures
5.
Splitter - Avskräckande Exemplar
6.
Psychotic Despair - Psychotic Despair
I'm not much of a patriot, to be honest, and I take every stab at our little nation I can. The thing is, every single joke you ever heard about
checks Czechs is pretty much spot on. But we can do at least one thing really well, and that is grindcore and it's offshoots. They say there's something in the water here, hmm... Anyway, this rules, and should please any fan of the genre.
7.
Looking for an Answer - Extincion
8.
Tu Carne - Culto A La Muerte
9.
Mistress - The Glory Bitches Of Doghead
10.
Graf Orlock - Destination Time: Tomorrow
Doom metal
1.
Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today
I felt like a kid at Christmas when Witchcult Today finally came out, as I sat at home listening to it probably ten times in a row. And of course, it doesn't disappoint - songs are great and appropriately tripped-out, full of huge and memorable riffs with occasional ambient interlude. Jus Oborn even showcases his limited singing ability, and suprisingly, it works reasonably well in the context of the album. But nothing is flawless, and Witchcult Today is not an exception. Before recording this album, Electric Wizard said they wanted the to use more stripped-down, analogue sound, reminiscent of early
Black Sabbath records. Which is a great idea, but only when properly executed. And while the production is pleasantly vintage-y and nice, the drum sound is so weak it's pathetic - you can't even hear the drummer over the guitar track at times. And fuck, I demand more Dopethrone earmelting brutality! Or at least more of those hypnotic, trance-like elements found on Come My Fanatics - you can't really 'zone out and drift away' to Witchcult Today, it's much more rock-oriented and 'in your face' (in an old-school, 70's kind of way). Which is still cool, I guess. D'oh.
2.
Reverend Bizarre - So Long, Suckers
3.
Mammatus - The Coast Explodes
What do you get if you mix
OM and
Dead Meadow? Excellent heavy psychedelic stoner doom, a lot heavier than
Dead Meadow, but also much more textured and complex than
OM.
4.
OM - Pilgrimage
While heavier and more fuzzed-out, Variations On A Theme still remains my favorite. But it's
OM, so why should I complain?
5.
Burning Witch - The Crippled Lucifer
6.
Evoken - A Caress Of The Void
7.
Buried at Sea - Ghost
8.
Runemagick - Dawn Of The End
9.
Ahab - The Oath
10.
Worship - Dooom
Sludge/post-metal
1.
The Ocean - Precambrian
Holy shit... HOLY SHIT. I'm always a little bit skeptical about the modern sludge in general, but this caught me totally off-guard. This is an absolute behemoth of an album, intense and entertaining from the opening riff to the final symphonic section, which is a huge accomplishment, considering the almost hour and a half long playing time. And not only that, but every song is even better than the previous one - the last half of the album is just unbelievably good, but the first half is no slouch either. Nothing more needs to be said, this is bar none the best thing that came out last year.
2.
Cable - Last Call
One of the best bands that you probably have never heard of, Cable's farewell album is just as unclassifiable as the rest of their catalogue, but if any kind of heavy music is your thing, you'll most likely to find it here - sludge, noise, punk, stoner, hardcore, doesn't matter. Did I mention it absolutely fucking rules? Only drawback obviously is that Cable has decided to call it quits.
3.
Ramesses - Misanthropic Alchemy
Strip the
Electric Wizard off all laid back trippy grooves, replace them with pure hate and anger, and the result would sound probably a lot like
Ramesses. The comparison is not coincidental though, as two of the former
Electric Wizard members are present in the band. This is the type of album that will give you nightmares.
4.
High on Fire - Death Is This Communion
5.
Rwake - Voices Of Omens
6.
Neurosis - Given To The Rising
Christ, it's Neurosis... what do you need to know? Just buy (or steal) it.
7.
Baroness - Red Album
8.
Minsk - The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment
9.
Black Cobra - Feather And Stone
10.
Bongripper - Hippie Killer
11.
Ufomammut & Lent0 - Supernaturals Record One
12.
Unsane - Visqueen
13.
Sun of Nothing - ...In The Weak And The Wounded
This is some seriously sick shit. Extremely dirty sludge with vocals that can easily give
Demilich a run for their money - I haven't heard anything else like that in a long time.
14.
Zozobra - Harmonic Tremors
15.
Rosetta - Wake/Lift
Damn subgenres... whose dumb idea was that anyway? Oh, mine... so that wasn't exactly the brightest one I've ever had.
Stoner rock
1.
beehoover - The Sun Behind The Dustbin
Guitarless stoner rock? Why not, as it works suprisingly well. These guys got that whole groovy desert rock vibe down with no trouble.
2.
El-Thule - Green Magic
3.
Witchcraft - The Alchemist
4.
Bomb The Sun - Bomb The Sun
5.
Brant Bjork - Somera Sol
Everything this man touches turns to gold. I don't think there's anyone who can do pure enjoyable rock'n'roll better than him.
6.
Ahkmed - Chicxulub
Dreamy space rock that takes you somewhere else, but when it hits, it hits hard. Pure bliss for the fans of
Kyuss,
Hawkwind,
Spirit Caravan or
Mogwai.
7.
Causa Sui - Free Ride
8.
Clutch - From Beale Street To Oblivion
9.
RotoR - 3
10.
Fu Manchu - We Must Obey
Stoner rock veterans strike back with another solid release. Sure, it's not anywhere near King Of The Road or In Search Of, but they constantly deliver their trademark fuzzed-out and cool as ever groove without recycling their old material. To this day, I still can't quite figure how they manage to sound so angry and yet so laidback at the same time.
Post-rock
1.
World's End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland
2.
Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I
3.
Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love Of Shared Disasters
4.
Grails - Burning Off Impurities
5.
Caspian - The Four Trees
6.
Lento - Earthen
7.
God Is an Astronaut - Far From Refuge
8.
Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss
9.
Tuna Laguna - Ripples And Swells
10.
Aereogramme - My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go
11.
port-royal - Afraid To Dance
12.
té - It Be The Thinking As 'The Song' Of Realistic Sound From The World Which Resounds
13.
Atlantis - Carpe Omnium
14.
The World On Higher Downs - Land Patterns
15.
Maserati - Inventions For The New Season
Progressive rock
1.
Pineapple Thief - What We Have Sown
2.
Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring
After the colossal disappointment that was Fear Of A Blank Planet, I was a bit worried about the future of Porcupine Tree. No, they don't 'sold out', as the most of the songs on FOABP were more progressive than anything on In Absentia and Deadwing, but it just seemed so boring and uninspired that I thought for a while this will be the beginning of the end of one of my favorite active bands at the moment. Fortunately, FOABP was almost immediately followed by the release of this short, four-song EP called Nil Recurring, and it's easily much, much better than anything on FOABP. And while Normal is basically just an expanded and 'slightly' reworked version of Sentimental, it's so superior in all aspects, it's not even funny. Thank you Steven Wilson, I have faith in you again.
3.
Ritual - The Hemulic Voluntary Band
This record brought a smile to my face. Influenced by and blending elements of
Jethro Tull,
Comus and
Camel among others, while mixing in their own ideas and good amount of folky elements, this album is an interesting Scandinavian take on classic 70's vintage British prog - certainly much more interesting than recent and kinda lame
Kaipa or
The Flower Kings releases. Highlight would be definitely the closer, 26 minutes long epic A Dangerous Journey, and I even like the most 'out of place' song on the album, Waiting By The Bridge, which to me represents a clever and enjoyable homage to the progressive rock veterans
Caravan. If you're a 70's prog rock fan, you need to pick this one up.
4.
Blackfield - Blackfield II
5.
3 - The End Is Begun
Pros:
+ great musicianship, especially a quite clever use of acoustic instruments
+ pretty solid songwriting
Cons:
- vocals are almost unbearably whiny at times - just grow a pair and try to sing like a man, and not a castrated version of Gerard Way. But to be fair, they're good enough for the most part.
6.
Anekdoten - A Time Of Day
7.
The New Caledonia - Lotus
8.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times
9.
Nightingale - White Darkness
Dan Swanö, marvelously hyperactive as usual. While I think about it, there's nothing progressive about this album, aside from the fact that majority of songs on here are driven by cheesy
Rush-inspired keys. Other than that, it's nothing more than very straighforward melodic rock. But hey, it's catchy, enjoyable, Dan Swanö's vocals are great as always, and it's still quite a bit more progressive than last three
Dream Theater's albums combined.
10.
Rush - Snakes & Arrows
Electronic/ambient/IDM
1.
Venetian Snares - My Downfall (Original Soundtrack)
2.
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
3.
Odd Nosdam - Level Live Wires
4.
Ólafur Arnalds - Eulogy For Evolution
5.
The Valerie Project - The Valerie Project
6.
Boxcutter - Glyphic
7.
Prefuse 73 - Preparations
8.
Eluvium - Copia
Gorgeous. Captivating. Enthralling.
9.
Klute - The Emperor's New Clothes
10.
The Tuss - Rushup Edge
11.
Burial - Untrue
12.
Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline
13.
Sylvain Chauveau - Nuage
A collection of short instrumental songs (more like interludes) composed for the film by Sebastien Betbeder, heavily focused on minimalistic musical approach - a piano, some strings, and the guitar in a few songs, that's it. It's hard to classify this, and while it's far from post-rock or electronica, it sounds incredibly jazzy at times, but it's not jazz or classical either - just 35 minutes of pure beauty.
14.
Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol. I
15.
Efterklang - Under Giant Trees
See Eluvium.
16.
Pan Sonic - Katodivaihe
17.
Amon Tobin - Foley Room
Downtempo/nu-jazz
1.
Emancipator - Soon It Will Be Cold Enough
2.
Stateless - Stateless
3.
Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book
4.
Pepe Deluxé - Spare Time Machine
5.
UNKLE - War Stories
6.
The Juju Orchestra - Bossa Nova Is Not A Crime
7.
Air - Pocket Symphony
8.
Flevans - Unfabulous
9.
Flow Dynamics - Flow Dynamics
10.
Jabberloop - And Infinite Jazz...
Surprisingly deep and mellow Japanese nu-jazz, well-played and interesting enough compositionally that it doesn't get boring and serves as much more than just background music. You won't find anything new or groundbreaking here, but what they do, they do well.
My head hurts.
Jazz
1.
SOIL & "PIMP" Sessions - Pimpoint
After a first few seconds, I immediately knew that this band is Japanese. And I don't even have any kind of asian fetish, nor do I think that Japan is some kind of a fantasy fairyland, where men are always weird and psychotic, and women exist solely in a form of a 12-year old schoolgirl. Anyway, this one really kicks ass - a freejazz album that is actually listenable AND accessible. Jazz that RAWKS!
2.
Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
3.
John Abercrombie - The Third Quartet
4.
Hiromi - Time Control
5.
Nostalgia 77 Octet - Weapons Of Jazz Destruction
6.
Eivind Aarset - Sonic Codex
7.
Erik Truffaz - Arkhangelsk
8.
John Zorn - Six Litanies For Heliogabalus
Hip-hop
1.
Arts the Beatdoctor - Transitions
2.
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead
Dark and dope as hell, no real weak points at all. This is a good album, Walter.
3.
Sole and the Skyrider Band - Sole And The Skyrider Band
4.
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
5.
Busdriver - Roadkillovercoat
You know, say what you want about hip-hop, but guys like Busdriver make it more than worthwhile.
6.
dälek - Abandoned Language
7.
Madlib - Beat Conducta Vol. 3-4: In India
Madlib is back with another record full of ... well, does anyone even know what it is? Cinematic hip-hop, maybe? Granted, it could be a bit more balanced and coherent, but it's still a great piece of work.
8.
Subtle - Yell&Ice
9.
Atmosphere - Strictly Leakage
Pros:
+ You can't beat the price - as it's free. A great gift to the fans.
+ Slug's distinct flow - he's just very talented and instantly recogizable rapper
+ the atmosphere (*snickers*) of this album is more than slightly reminiscent of the classic
Beastie Boys party-centered style
+ Ant's production, of course
Cons:
- all those funk and soul samples - after a while, I feel like I'm listening to the fucking James Brown tribute album. It's not bad by any means, but gets old really fast.
10.
The Shape Of Broad Minds - Craft Of The Lost Art
Ok, I officially hate subgenres more than anything right now. And probably will for the rest of my life. So to avoid the dilemma of whether album X is freak folk, twee, shoegaze, noise rock, alt-country, americana, indie-that or post-whatever, I'll just lump it together into one big section.
Indie
1.
Low - Drums And Guns
Truth to be told, I didn't even really like it at first, and while Breaker, Dragonfly and Violent Past were love at first sight, I thought the rest of the album plodded along quite slowly, with uninspired and tedious songs, devoid of anything remotely interesting. Oh, how wrong I was. Over the last few months, Drums & Guns has grown on me immensely, and though there's still a few songs that could be a tiny bit better, I like them all. Also, I'm glad they abandoned the more rock-oriented style set on The Great Destroyer, but without going back to what they've already done in the past - Drums & Guns is stripped-down, full of sparse electronics and basic drum loops, all with Low's trademark minimalistic approach backed up by outstanding vocal harmonies. The most important thing is - it sounds fresh, original, and still like Low.
2.
Logh - North
3.
The Most Serene Republic - Population
One of the biggest surprises of the year for me, complex orchestrated indie rock, heavily layered and almost proggy at times, with excellent use of vocal harmonies, which I'm a sucker for. It's also extremely dense, chaotic and all around complicated yet enjoyable listen, there's so much going on at once, it's really hard to keep up at times. It also dies a little bit before the end, as the first half of the album is definitely much stronger. Nonetheless, I can't wait for their next release.
4.
Six Organs of Admittance - Shelter From The Ash
I want to marry Ben Chasny. Really, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's pretty much evident that I'm completely over-obsessed fanboy, so any attempt at reviewing this album would be kind of pointless, right? So I just say it's just as good as any of his previous ones, and leave it at that.
5.
St. Vincent - Marry Me
6.
The Angels of Light - We Are Him
Pros:
+ it's Michael Gira
Cons:
- it's Michael Gira - if you don't like him, this one definitely won't change your mind
7.
Blonde Redhead - 23
8.
Caribou - Andorra
9.
Boredoms Super Roots #9
You think you know what trance is? Check this album to really find out.
10.
Hearts of Black Science - The Ghost You Left Behind
11.
The Dragons - BFI
12.
Pinback - Autumn Of The Seraphs
13.
Magik Markers - Boss
Image if
PJ Harvey recorded a noise rock album - wouldn't that be great? This is pretty much it, or at least as close as possible, anyway. And yes, it
IS great.
14.
Tub Ring - The Great Filter
15.
Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land
16.
Parts & Labor - Mapmaker
Great poppy & punky noise rock, woo-hoo! One of the most fun albums of the year, especially their drummer is extremely energetic and pure pleasure to listen to. I guarantee you'll be singing along in no time (and looking totally stupid while doing it). The vocal effects and samples remind me of
Devin Townsend, which is of course a good thing. Shame about the slightly muddy production, though.
17.
Joanna Newsom - Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band
Greatest thing she's ever done. Colleen is a wonderful song with it's somewhat Celtic feel and almost folky prog rock atmosphere, and the reworked versions of Crab, Clam, Cockle, Cowrie and Cosmia are a lot better than originals. Also, the vocals are really good, I wouldn't say great, but definitely much more bearable - you don't feel like you're listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks most of the time anymore.
18.
Jeremy Enigk - The Missing Link
Maybe I'm slowly turning into a sixty-year old woman, but I really like this. The reworked versions of the songs from World Waits album are especially nice.
19.
The Makes Nice - This Time Tomorrow
I've been told that this band features some ex-members from
The Fucking Champs, which would be awesome, but I don't know if that's true or not, and I'm too lazy to check it out right now. Oh well... as for The Makes Nice, they play really happy sounding, 60's inspired power pop - the obvious influence would be
The Beatles, though most of the songs on This Time Tomorrow are quite dumbed-down and straighforward. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as it's very easy on the ears.
20.
Seabear - The Ghost That Carried Us Away
While this album unmistakably combines all ordinary features of substandard indie pop, for a somewhat strange reason, it just ... works. Reminds me of
Beck for some reason. Good stuff.
Uncategorized
1.
Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omniscient
2.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
3.
Ulver - Shadows Of The Sun
4.
The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand
5.
Collapsar - Integers
6.
Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
7.
Professor Fate - Inferno
8.
Blotted Science - The Machinations Of Dementia
Ron Jarzombek can do no wrong. Accompanied with Alex Webster (
Cannibal Corpse) and Charlie Zeleny (
Behold... the Arctopus), the result is indeed quite impressive - much heavier (although not as quirky) than
Spastic Ink, while not utilizing standard song structures like in
Watchtower, this is over the top instrumental metal that could be accurately described as sonic assault in it's purest form, so it could be somewhat overwhelming and hard to take for most listeners - and the excessive playing time (almost 60 minutes) is not helping either. Highly recommended to fans of technical metal.
9.
Tomahawk - Anonymous
10.
Behold... the Arctopus - Skullgrid
Worst albums
1.
Hellyeah - Hellyeah
This sucks even more than
Damageplan (which is already hard to imagine) - it's gayer than two guys fucking at the
Tegan and Sara concert.
2.
Oxbow - The Narcotic Story
Umm guys, you made a really nice beer coaster here, but I think you forgot the music somewhere along the way... Oh, and Eugene Robinson, thanks for ruining an otherwise perfectly good song on the last
Capricorns album.
3.
C-187 - Collision
Technical thrash metal with Tony Choy on bass and Sean Reinert on drums - sound awesome, right? But the reality is... oh god, I don't even know where to start. Try to imagine a big mean cookie monster rapping over a second-rate
Meshuggah riffs, and you'll get a basic idea of what to expect. The lyrics are straight up
50 Cent, plenty of bitches, hoes, riding dirty and cruisin' 4 a bruisin'. The result is of course absolutely hilarious, all hail gangsta prog metal!
4.
Elvenking - The Scythe
5.
Ancesttral - The Famous Unknown
Skullcrushing riffage. Expertly-crafted songwriting. Awe-inspiring ideas. Brilliant musicianship. Perfect production. Tons of memorable hooks. Sounds great, right? Shame you won't find any of it on this album, though. If
Trivium are a crappy
Metallica copy, then
Ancesttral are even crappier copy of
Trivium.
Most overrated albums
1.
Radiohead - In Rainbows
I like Radiohead, I really do. The Bends was one of the most important albums of the 90's, and rightfully so. You can't even hate Radiohead, because they're pretty much everyone's favorite band. But come on, they're also without shadow of a doubt the most overhyped thing in the whole known universe.
Thom Yorke's vocals are even more annoying then ever before (which in itself is quite an accomplishment), and a lot of the songs verge on being too
Coldplay (yes, I'm using the word Coldplay as a synonym for 'fucking shitty'). Does anyone ever care about the other four guys in the band, by the way? Ok,
Jonny Greenwood is now famous, but ask your average Radiohead fan to name their drummer, and you'll probably going to get a blank stare. And I still think that the In Rainbows marketing gimmick was rather silly. Anyway, it's not a complete disaster either, and Bodysnatchers, Reckoner and Videotape are cool songs.
2.
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
- stupid marketing gimmick? Check.
- creepy cult of personality thing going on? Check.
- angsty pseudo intellectual lyrics? Check.
- unnecessary and overblown concept/mysticism, involving some kind of political conspiracy? Check.
No, I'm not talking about
Tool. Trent, don't you think it's about time to lay off that teenage angst now?
3.
Machine Head - The Blackening
4.
Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
5.
Grinderman - Grinderman
I'm a Nick Cave fanboy, and I whole-heartedly love almost everything he's ever done, but I just don't get this. Boo-fucking-hoo.
Dumbest album title/band name
1.
!!!
Picking a band name that's impossible to find on internet search engines = great idea.
2.
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
Jesus... leave Bowie alone. At least the music is good, though.
3.
Lesbian
Umm... yeah, right.
Best album cover/packaging
1.
The Ocean - Precambrian
2.
Graf Orlock - Destination Time: Tomorrow
3.
Bongripper - Heroin
That's just cute.
4.
Artanker Convoy
You know... it's impossible to not include this one.
5.
The Angels of Light - We Are Him
Does anyone see the resemblance?
That's all for now, folks. Wow, that sucked.
Português
Jeremy Enigk
