Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Reviews Top Ten Metal Albums of 2008, pt. 2
Posted by Matt Sullivan on Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 11:26 AM
I decided to put together my own best-of-metal 2008 list because I couldn't let a glowing endorsement of Chinese Democracy go unchecked on this blog, free Dr. Pepper or no. As good as the Gojira, Sword and Gates of Slumber albums are (especially the Gojira one), here are 10 better ones.
Disfear
Live the Storm
(Relapse)
I like Converge's Jane Doe as much as the next guy or gal, but that band is responsible for an ever-growing and obnoxious mountain of shit generally called metalcore. The idea is you mix metal with hardcore, which is logical and all, but much the way many hardcore bands in the late '80s and early '90s became indistinguishable and brimming with self-parody, metalcore is that times 10. Locally, it's largely relegated to Rocketown (the genre, for reasons unknown to myself, is typically popular with Christian metal enthusiasts). But Disfear dabble in a tangent of hardcore that's inextricably linked to metal without all the metalcore hokeyness. Musical taxonomy nerds call the genre "d-beat." Think Motorhead but with much more concern for stickin' it to the man. Former At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg's lead throat provides what we in the biz call "cred."
myspace.com/disfear
Krallice
Krallice
(Profound Lore)
For a black metal record, this one is about as technical as they get, but compared to past projects from guitarists Mick Barr and Colin Marston (Orthrelm, Ocrilim, Behold...the Arctopus), the two might as well be playing in their sleep. Still, I like this band far and away more than the past work of each. Rather than focusing songs on sheer technical prowess, Krallice is melodic without sacrificing any of the bite.
myspace.com/krallice
Withered
Folie Circulaire
(Prosthetic)
Historically, death metal and black metal haven't meshed well. For one, each camp used to not care much for one another. Black metal is traditionally pretty primitive while death metal isn't very theatrical. These days the boundaries between the two are much more porous, and of all the blackened death metal records from last year, this one's probably the best. The riffs are deceptively complex, slithering unexpectedly, with the duel vocals providing as sinister a backdrop as one could ask for.
myspace.com/withered
Torche
Meanderthal
(Hydra Head)
From all the year-end wrap-up stuff I've read, this album and Nachtmystium's Assassins: Black Meddle, pt 1, seem to have garnered the most praise. The two are very different bands, but the acclaim for each record tends to be similar: the albums demonstrate each band "maturing." My problem with Assassins is that it sacrifices too much of the lo-fi dirtiness that interested me in Nachtmystium in the first place. That said, they're still the best black metal band in the U.S. But back to Torche--while I miss the grittier production on their first album, the more palatable sound they've forged on Meanderthal isn't a detriment. You can hate metal and love this album.
myspace.com/torche
Javelina
Javelina
(Translation Loss)
Javelina reminded me how badass those first generation death metal bands could be. One of the dudes from the band sounds uncannily like Obituary's John Tardy. There really isn't much new going on here, but Javelina do that odd thing where an extreme metal metal band can still write hooks that get stuck in your head just as easily as a pop song melody, albeit it's usually a guitar hook rather than a vocal one. I've probably listened to "Let the Blood Flow" about six times while writing this entry.
myspace.com/javelinaphiladelphia
Dead Congregation
Graves of the Archangels
(Nuclear War Now!)
Death metal probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Athens, Ga., but hidden behind all the REMs, Pylons and Elephant 6s are a number of not so sunny sounding bands, the most brutal of which being Dead Congregation. The monotone Cookie Monster vocals can get a bit tedious, but the disjointed guitar harmonies and dissonance are jarring enough to break the monotony.
myspace.com/deadcongregation
Samothrace
Life's Trade
(20 Buck Spin)
Slow and dirgy doom metal has been exhausting me in recent months. The hundreds of bands jumping on the bandwagon and trying to play as slow as possible get a little hard to distinguish, so, admittedly, I haven't actively sought out new bands calling themselves doom metal this past year. Samothrace started generating enough buzz that I finally gave in. There isn't anything surprising--pretty standard stuff, but as far as new doom bands go, this one is the coolest sounding one.
myspace.com/samothraceproject
Leviathan
Massive Conspiracy Against all Life
(Moribund)
There are a lot of one-man underground black metal projects, and, until Nachtmystium's coming out party this year, the two most prominent ones have largely defined USBM for the past few years. Both Xasthur and Leviathan are hyper-prolific, but recent Xasthur records have sucked unimaginably. Each auteur has attempted to leave his drum machine behind and try his hands at live drums, the difference being that the dude from Xasthur is a shitty drummer while the dude from Leviathan is a badass. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I miss the lo-fi home-recorded Leviathan albums, but Massive Conspiracy is the first Leviathan album to actually sound like a full band.
myspace.com/leviathanx666x (fan page)
Menace Ruine
The Die is Cast
(Alien8)
Canadian duo Menace Ruine released two phenomenal records this year, the first being Cult of Ruins, an obtuse and droning black metal record. The Die is Cast is similar in that it's weird and droney, but the two records could have easily bee released by two different bands. The Die is Cast eschews much of the vitriol found on Cult and, instead, focuses on textures and quasi-new age melodies that are, dare I say, pretty
Wetnurse
Invisible City
(Seventh Rule)
Initially I was a little surprised by how taken metal writers were with this band, but after the third or fourth listen I was finally sold. They're hard to peg, which is saying a lot in a realm of music where everything is categorized into tiny, obscure sub-genres. The elements I originally found aggravating eventually made sense as the band grew on me (there's a secondary screamer whose unorthodoxy is a little off-putting at first). Think of them as a less ambitious version of Botch, but a correction of everything that went wrong on Converge's You Fail Me.
myspace.com/wetnursenyc
Honerable mentions:
Harvey Milk Life...The Best Game in Town
Boris Smile
Vargr Storm of Northern Evil
Wold Stratification
Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
anyone who still argues that cream isn't broad enough in its reviews can now officially go suck it.
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Yeah, more stuff like this, PLEASE. I haven't heard of most of these bands but at least you guys are trying to talk about music that involves some thought instead of fashion or glitter or whatever. Good work!
Steve: I'd be hard-pressed to find a metal review that weighed heavily on the band's clothing but maybe your experience is different than mine..
It just seems that metalheads in general speak more about specific musical points as opposed to some of the stuff I read about the flavor-of-the-month bands covered here and in The Spin. Seriously, the last few articles haven't made you cringe?
Oh I know what you're saying Matt, but when discussing actual musical details the nerdy metalheads are much more on top of their game than the sissies who giggle about crap like 'Of Montreal', just as an example.
My hat's off to you Matt. You listed some fantastic albums there. I've heard of a number of them but hadn't heard of Leviathan or Wet Nurse and plan to check these out. As jaded as I am about the Scene and Cream, I'm willing to give props when it's deserved. Good job.
probably all the metal sounds good,they r extremly differnt then any others genre.Black metal and death metal are fuckinn cooolllllll i luv that,,,,,,,more than anything i luv to hear the speed of the metalsss,,speed,vocals,basssss,guitarr trapping is what i prefer to...these things attracts me to listen metalsss,,and mostly i love thier styleeee,,they r dammnnn fuckingggggg cooooooooolllllll
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