Best Albums of 2008

Here it is New Year's Eve and it is time for that annual douchebag move that every music geek loves: the best album of the year list. I feel like a dick, but can't help myself.

10. Gigan- The Order of the False Eye

Take pummeling death metal then spice it up with bizarre song writing and super weird futuristic sci-fi style noise and you have Gigan. This debut is awesome and proves that death metal is not stale. It sounds like Hate Eternal mixed up with a japanese psychedelic space adventure. Yeah.

http://www.myspace.com/giganmusic

9. Nachtmystium- Assassins: Black Meddle, Pt. 1

This album is truly one of the critical darlings of 2008 and it deserves to be. It is probably the 2008 metal album most likely to pop up in the collection of an adventerous non-metalhead. As for the sound: mostly black metal with a crusty punk vibe at times and a good dose of Pink Floydian prog. One of America's most interesting metal bands.

http://www.myspace.com/nachtmystium

8. Origin- The Aftermath

Now, this album will never appear in the collection of someone who isn't diehard into metal. These guys are the most amazing technical death metal band I've ever heard. Every song is jampacked with 200,000 notes and 500,000 beats. The ear can barely comprehend the thick viciousness of this. But there are also hooks and songs hidden in there. If I could listen to this audio massacre more than once a day, this would be number 1 on the list. They should be given an award from Juliard or some high fallutin' orchestra because these grimy death metallers are more talented than 98% of professional orchestral musicians.

http://www.myspace.com/origin666

7. Metallica- Death Magnetic

You don't need an explantion or a link to their Myspace. You know the sound, you know the band. And if like metal, then you liked Metallica at some point, and this record is head and shoulders above anything I expected at this point. Bad-ass.

6. Torche- Meanderthal

I liked their first album a little better than this, but that one got kinda overlooked. Oh well, now it looks like every music critic on earth (metal or non) is lining up to provide them with oral favors. They are pretty awesome. If you like heavy Melvins style thickness, but wrestled into radio friendly almost pop style (think Nirvana or Foo Fighters), then they are for you. They are definitely for me.

http://www.myspace.com/torche

5. Gojira- The Way of All Flesh

These french eco-metallers are back with their blend of death and thrash metal with a flavor that is all their own. If you listen to Gojira than you know the sound and no one else has that sound. Like Torche, I liked Gojira's last record (From Mars to Sirius) better, but this one is amazing also. "Vacuity" is a masterpiece of simple pounding metal. One of the world's most important metal bands.

http://www.myspace.com/gojira

4. Of Montreal- Skeletal Lamping

OK, I know what you are thinking. You think I am just throwing a curveball in here to show you how eclectic I am. Wrong. I hate those reviewers with Top Ten lists that include rock, jazz, hip-hop, and country in one. I do not believe anyone really has tastes so broad that they can love the cream from all the big genres. I really don't; I think people fool themselves into liking things they think they should like.

Anyway, this my girlfriend's favorite band and from the start I hated them. But I kept listening and now I am sold. The sound is that of disco, mixed with the Beatles, mixed with David Bowie, mixed with indie rock, mixed with terrible club dance music. The best word word for it is gay. Not homosexual (well it's a little that too), but gay. But fuck it. I think the dude writes totally cool music that is never predictable and always keeps you guessing. I guess I am gay.

http://www.myspace.com/ofmontreal

3. Misery Index- Traitors

This is death metal/grindcore/super tough punk. These guys are just amazing. One of the best kept secrets in extreme metal. I am continually amazed at how underappreciated they are. Oh well, for myself and their legion of devotees, they are one of the best in the game. This is the most crushing album on the list. They are just sledgehammering your face and jackhammering your brain. This is brutalness for people who like headaches and bruises.

http://www.myspace.com/miseryindex

2. Enslaved- Vertebrae

If you want an indepth review of this record, look down about 5 posts. I don't need to reiterate the greatness of this band. It is time they break out bigger. Like Opeth size. I like Opeth a lot, but think Enslaved are much better. Let's hope the public agrees at some point.

http://www.myspace.com/enslaved

1. Trap Them- Seizures in Barren Praise

Like the last entry, I have an in depth review of this record just a few posts down. This band is really making a strong push to become one of the best young bands on the scene. The future for them is very bright and I fully expect to be listing them again in my best of 2009 list. Can't wait to see them at Maryland Deathfest 2009.

http://www.myspace.com/trapthem

Best Metal Song of 2008

Seed of Filth- Six Feet Under

If you are a metal fan then you probably already have an opinion on Six Feet Under. Alot of folks love 'em, alot of folks hate 'em. I love 'em. Seed of Filth is the first single (I don't know why they still use this dumb term or even keep up the concept of a single in the world of metal because there is no radio station in the country that is going to play this band) off of their new record Death Rituals. This is the kind of song that makes me personally love the band.

First thing you will notice is that the song's tempo is slow. This does two things. First, it allows you to hear the rythymic picking of the guitar. This is important as a lot of the hook lies here. Second, it creates 5 minutes of the best headbanging we got all year. This song is perfect for headbanging and throwing up the horns. The hook is simple and cruel and beautiful in its simplicity. You will also notice that the guitar solo comes after the first verse and chorus. This is a small thing, but I don't know if I've ever heard another song with this structure. You will also notice that Chris Barnes continues his reign as the gruffest, most ogrish death metal vocalist on the planet. This guy sounds like mutilated bodies look.

As they say, the devil is in the details. And a small detail about this song pushes it over the edge to greatness. During the choruses, Barnes sings a few words that the entire band echo in that punkish off-mike kind of way. These moments beg for audience sing alongs. What are they saying? It's "Maggots, maggots". And after the first verse, when they all shout along? It's "The maggots feed and grow, the maggots feed and grow!" Deal done, song of the year.

Trap Them- Seizures in Barren Praise

Trap Them is a band from New Hampshire. I saw them at the 2008 Maryland Deathfest where they were a late add due to someone dropping out. They played their 25 minute set at around 2 PM. Not exactly prime rocking time. Anyway, they stood out and I really dug their set. When I saw they had just released a new record, I figured it was about time I bought some of their recorded material.

Boy, am I glad I did. This here is one sharp, kick in the balls of a record. It is short and to the point; as lean as a record of this fierocity gets. Trap Them fall somewhere between gindcore, death metal, and crusty anarchopunk. These three things are not as different as some folks may claim, so let's just say they fall into a territory characterized by huge, buzzing guitars, precise drumming, crushing riffs, and a sense of violence and urgency. If you like hardcore or metal, there is something here for you.

A couple of pointed observations:

1) I listen to a ton of metal and punk. These genres are angry musics. It is in their DNA and is the main pillar of their sound. Every metal and punk band sound angry by default because of their harsh genre, but how many metal and hardcore records have you heard where the anger isn't noticable? A bunch. The emotion doesn't always come through. Not the case here. Trap Them sound seriously angry. You can taste it and it primally makes your fists and jaw clench. Visceral.

2) The vocalist is awesome. Ryan McKenney is his name. His vocal style is more of a hardcore shout or scream than a metal grunt. And you can usually understand what he is saying. His voice is a big part of conveying the disgruntled emotions that pour out of this disc.
























"My name is Ryan and I am gonna trap you real good!"

3) If you can listen to the first song and not scream along "The vertigo, the death threats, the funerals, ....they never end" then you and I are different animals, my friend.

4) Trap Them is a great name. It sounds so evil and nefarious. It is much more scary then just picking some graveyard imagery like a million extreme music bands. Like Dark Tombstone or Mausoleum or Inverted Candelabra. Trap who? What are they going to do after trapping them. Creepy.

Buy this. And buy this. And go ahead and buy this. Here is a good spot.
http://www.deathwishinc.com/estore/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=D&Product_Code=DW78v&Category_Code=FRNW

And you can check out some tunes from this page. Click on the album artwork to get tunes.
http://www.deathwishinc.com/

Guns N Roses- Chinese Democracy Part 2

8. Scraped- This song has a weird a capella beginning. Strange. Other than that, it is a pretty straight forward rocker. Not bad. OK.

9. Rian N' the Bedouins- This one here is another rocker that is straight forward. The verses actually sound like something off Appetite From Destruction. The chorus is cool, but I'm not sure it fits with the verses. Axel is really going for something with this tune, but I'm not sure if it works.

10. Sorry- This is a slow moody jam with guitar straight outta a western movie. It sounds a ton like Alice in Chains. When it gets to the chorus, it gets louder and even more AIC-ish. Now I love AIC, so I can deal, but Axel usually doesn't mimic others to this degree.

11. IRS- Here we go. This is another simple rock song, but much better than the last two. This song and Better are the most radio friendly. I like this song. This and Better are better than anything off of the 2 Use Your Illusions.

12. Madagascar- This is the first song on the record that sounds exactly how I expected this record to sound. It is a semi-symphonic, quasi-epic that doesn't really catch me. It reminds me more of the Estranged and November Rain type songs from the last albums. It is full of audio samples from movies and MLK Jr. speeches. I think Axel is trying to sound deep. This is the most boring song on the album.

13. This I Love- This is a piano and symphonic ballad. Fragile and pretty, it has a great vocal performance. I don't like this kind of song, but this is not bad for what it is.

14. Prostitute- This is another big, multi-layered, inspirational rock song like There Was a Time and Catcher in the Rye. This is where Axel needs to stay. This is his new place. Axel is no longer the rocker that he was when he was in his 20s. He has grown into a pretty excellent composer/arranger. He coulld put out albums of songs in this style treading water somewhere between Elton John, Queen, and Steely Dan, and I would buy them all. It's time for Axel to drop the GNR moniker and do this style of music under the name William Rose.

Whew.

Overall, I still can hardly believe that I own Chinese Democracy and that I have listened to it about 5 times in the last 2 days. Forget the 15 year build up for this record. No record could ever fulfill that kind of grand expectation. To be honest, I had pretty low expectations for this record, and I am suprised to say that it is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. There are some definite missteps, but there are a number of great songs, and some moments of true musical brilliance. And you get your money's worth. The ambition and "packed to the gills" feeling of some of the production sounds like the over grandiose piece of musical theater that it is. I would recommend that every rock fan check this out. You will find something on it to love and there are very few boring moments. I tip my hat to Axel. Mr. Rose, you are much more talented than I gave you credit for.

This album is my second favorite GNR album (obviously behind Appetite.)

Guns and Roses- Chinese Democracy, Pt. 1

If you like rock or metal music and you do not live in a cave, then you know that Guns and Roses (or shall I just say Axel Rose) finally released Chinese Democracy. This is probably the most highly anticipated release for me in my 33 years. First, because it took 15 years to make, second, because it's fuckin' GNR! Well, I bought it yesterday on its release date because that's how I roll.

I am going to review the disc song by song. This is usually a long-winded, self-important, douchey move. But this is Chinese Democracy, an album I've been dying to hear for 15 years and never thought I would actually hear. So how is it? Let's start.

1. Chinese Democracy- This is the first song, the title track and the first single. What strikes me the most is how after 15 years of build-up and about 45 seconds of ambient noise that gets the listener totally ready, the first riff comes on and it's..........pretty lame. The riff is pretty weak. Between riffs there is the sound of wind blowing. WTF? Once the song kicks in it is not too bad. It is a pretty agressive rocker that is decent. I notice two things immediately. 1) Slash is clearly not playing the guitar. This is a whole nother style of playing that Slash couldn't and wouldn't do. It is done by techies named BucketHead and Bumblefoot and a bunch of others. This isn't a bad thing, just different. 2) Axel is singing in a lower register, but layers a second layer of his trademark screech on top to make two voices. I'm am worried that his pipes haven't held up.

Overall, this song is a bit of a let down, but pretty rockin'. Solid, nothing more.

2. Shackler's Revenge- Starts with a terrible, uber modern guitar tone which sucks. Add to this a funk vibe and wah-wah guitar. Then the double voice layering again. Then guitar squiggles, and craziness is just jammed in everywhere. This is a train wreck.

Then comes a catchy chorus and amazing guitar solo. Then the song is just so full of parts that don't fit and all kinds of production noises and layered effects that it is just mind-blowing. Then against all music fan criticism, it just works and it is awesome. This song is weird, but listen to it 3 or 4 times and tell me it's no good.

3. Better- Song starts with Falsetto Axel and then the vocals kick in and any fears that Axel's voice is gone are laid to rest. His voice sounds amazing and I realize just how much I missed hearing that voice. The world of rock needs that voice. Seriously.

This song will be a hit. This joins the pantheon of amazing GNR songs. Awesome. This record is looking up.

There is a killer breakdown in the middle. If you can listen to this breakdown part with Axel screeching holy hell over the top and not want to crash a car, then you are a better person than me.

4. Street of Dreams- Uh-ooo. Starts with a piano. I hated the piano songs on the two Use Your Illusion albums. Song starts and it is a grand sounding, ballady, uplifting song that sounds like he wrote it after a break-up. It has strings and another amazing vocal performance. I normally don't like GNR songs like this, but this song is very listenable and suprisingly effective.

5. If the World- This song has a Moroccan sound that is accentuated with Spanish guitar (for real), dreamy keys, and a weird funky wah guitar. This song sounds like it should be in a movie. This is the first swing and miss of the record. I'll will probably skip this song usually when I listen to this record.

6. There Was a Time- This song starts low key with some singing over shitty sounding fake drums. It sounds like rap production. Ughh. I'm not gonna like this one. The song kicks in about 55 seconds, and the next 5 minutes blow me away!

For the first time ever, I finally get a glimpse of this beast that Axel kept hearing in his head. This is jaw-dropping, grand, epic, sweeping majestic rock. It has so much density and thought put into it. This transcends rock, this is amazing art. Axel was not crazy; he has the talent to do the kind of music that no one except himself thought he could pull off to this point. Wow.

Now I understand why he ditched the rest of the band. This is not music from the same bunch that wrote Appetite for Destruction. This kind of song is not created by a 5 member group of drunk misfits. This kind of song comes from the mind of an amazing writer, composer, and arranger.

I am getting real excited about the rest of this record.

7. Catcher in the Rye- This is a mid-tempo guitar and piano rock song, cut from the same cloth as the last song. Once again, it is very grand, and very well written. The song is warm and uplifting. Axel is on to something here. This is special music.

So far, I have been baffled, turned off, let down, rocked, uplifted, and amazed over the last 7 songs. This baby is worth the price of admission whether you end up loving it or not. There have been some misteps, as well as some perfect musical moments.

I will get to the second half later, when I've had more time to digest it.

Sunn O)))- The Black One

So I finally broke down and picked up my first Sunn O))) record (pronounced Sun, if you don't know). I have known about Sunn O))) for years and heard parts of a bunch of their songs. I just hadn't made the leap until now.

Sunn O))) are two guys who were in cool bands before, who have come together to play drone music/metal. The are doomy and heavy, but not like the Melvins, Earth, or Harvey Milk. They have taken the lessons those masters had to teach and have transformed them into something different. This music does not rock, in fact, it is more like sounscapes than music. These guys took the idea of drone/doom metal and approached in a more sonic, ambient way. If you don't like music that falls under the experimental label, they are not for you.

So what do they sound like? Well apparently different albums of theirs have different takes on the same theme. What can be described as the Sunn O))) theme? Big, rumbly, slow guitar riffs that repeat. No percussion. Musical themes that stretch into oblivion. At times the sounds are so big that the listener can't keep sight of the song as a whole. When I say big, I don't necessarily mean loud. I mean big. The songs are like planets. You can fly over the expansive landscape, but you can't see it all at once. It is too massive. And above all it is glacial. It is the sound of ice slowly overtaking everything. Now start with this Sunn O))) theme and run it through a black metal filter and you get the appropriately named Black One.

Does it sound like black metal? Not at all. Does it feel like black metal? Oh, yeah. To add to its bm vibe it contains guest spots by Wrest and Malefic. And the first song is named Sin Nanna. If you don't know who these people are, get to Googling and brush up on your modern bm.

I just tried to open a new Window while listening to this through my computer and it totally locked up my machine. How intense is that? Whoa.

Anyway, this album is a great piece of sound. I don't know what else to call it. Open your mind and give it a shot, if you want something beautiful and bizarre. You can buy it here:

http://www.southernlord.com/store.php

"Hi, we're Sunn O))). We are taking these guitars back to our big rolling home. Follow us and we will sell you some droids."

Get a Hold of Yerselves!

Check out these quotes:

"Wetnurse evince an almost spooky breadth of musical knowledge, with John Zorn-like smash cuts between blistering hardcore (in a Brutal Truth/Today Is The Day mode), Swedish death metal, Napalm Death grind and Gallhammer-dipped ablutions to the passion of the crust."-Metal Maniacs

"Wetnurse take the best elements of noise, punk, metal, hardcore, and grindcore, blend them together and add a Lower East Side art house aesthetic"-NoneLouder.com

"9/10. Relentless, unpredictable, and impossible to pin down... This is hardcore with a higher purpose."-Decibel

"Some strong psychedelia, lots of angular noise, a few blast beats, a handful of great acoustic passages and plenty of good old goddamn rock and roll... Now is the time and Invisible City is the record."-Guitar World's MetalKult.com

"With energy barely contained by the plastic on which it's pressed, Invisible City is your manic worst nightmare come to razor-sharp fruition. The self-titled was cool but I don't think anything could have prepared my ears for this kind of multi-front onslaught."-The Aquarian

These quotes are about the new album Invisible City from the NYC based band Wetnurse. I read these passages and I almost made a mess in my pants. These quotes had me expecting something totally life changing. Wetnurse clearly sound like no one in the history of recorded music, right? Now check out these tunes:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=85750131

Whattya think? Pretty fuckin' awesome, huh? But I'm confused. Are they great? Yeah, pretty amazing. But are they some sort of unparalled bastion of originality? I'm not so sure. They sound alot like three things: 1) At the Drive In, 2) Drowningman, 3) Late 90s arty hardcore ala Gravity Records, Ebulittion, and Vermiform(in particular I heard Clikitat Ikatowi and Torches to Rome). Now these three things are three of my favorite things in the world, so Wetnurse pretty much rules my world. This is my kind of rock. But the media seems a little out of control.

It reminds of the English music press. Every six months, they annoint a new band as the greatest band ever and immediately place them in the pantheon of legends. Slow down, buddy. I know you are excited and I am too. Wetnurse is amazing, but they haven't re-invented the wheel. But they have built an awesome wheel out of parts discarded from others' old wheels.

But I must confess, I haven't heard the entirity of Invisible City, just the two tracks from Myspace. Maybe the rest of the album will change my opinion, but for now they are just an excellent hardcore band that has an original spin and well written songs. I dig 'em, but they haven't shown me anything I haven't heard before.

With that said, I will buy the album, will go see them live, and will jump around like a rabid chimp. Wetnurse rocks and the media needs to get a hold of themselves.

Oh yeah, go here and buy this album:
http://www.seventhrule.com/home/frameindex.html