The Best Albums of 2009
Introduction
We Were Hungry Before We Were Born
Album of the Year:
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
I was already a big admirer of Swedish electro-pop band the Knife, 2006's Silent Shout turning out to be one of the biggest growers I have heard this past decade, and when it was announced that the duo's female half, Karin Dreijer Andersson, was going to be putting out her first solo album, I was intrigued to say the least. But also a little cautious; after all, more often than not solo efforts by members of established bands tend to be horribly self-indulgent affairs as the artist relishes more artistic freedom than usual. When Fever Ray's first single "If I Had a Heart" came out, all apprehensiveness vanished instantly, and it was clear that this was going to be a very good album. As it turned out, however, Fever Ray would actually surpass anything the Knife had put out prior, a staggering work that left me initially shattered and never left my subconscious all year long.
This record actually sounds muted, extraordinarily so. The music still operates within a similar electronic niche as the Knife, but the synths and beats are far less intrusive; in fact, the arrangements are stripped down so much that it's like the songs are only in skeletal form at best, yet the music never feels raw. Just simply restrained. And that in turn lends Fever Ray a dark, brooding, enigmatic quality that's impossible to shake. And considering the unique quality of Dreijer Andersson's voice (not to mention her rather peculiar lyrics), that's the perfect musical backdrop for her to have. Using pitch shifters and vocal filters she creates multiple disembodied personae, sounding hauntingly low one moment ("If I Had a Heart", "Dry and Dusty"), sweet and innocent the next ("Seven", "When I Grow Up"), while her arrangements alternately channel dark ambient ("If I Had a Heart") and Giorgio Moroder ("Coconut"). It's a fascinating, entrancing blend, one that comes to a head on the stunning "Keep the Streets Empty For Me", the one song that resonated with yours truly the most in 2009, desolate, contemplative, puzzling, and utterly beautiful, perfect music for solitary night owls. I sensed as far back as March that this would be my album of the year, and indeed, nothing topped it. A dark, minimalist tour de force.
2. Cobalt - Gin
By December of 2008 I'd been expecting very big things from Cobalt for well over a year, especially considering just how strong their second album Eater of Birds was and how intriguing the stopgap Landfill Breastmilk Beast turned out to be, but when I was treated to an unmastered advance that month, I was floored. Could it be, I thought, that I've heard the best metal album of 2009 before 2009 has even started yet? Here was the kind of metal album that thrills me to no end, the kind of heavy music I crave the most: an album that is absolutely towering sonically, epic in scope, and completely unafraid to remain within the confines of a single subgenre, primal, poetic, experimental, and cathartic all at the same time. Cobalt might be rooted in American black metal, but Gin extends its reach even further. We get a very strong crust punk influence in the raw guitar riffs, subdued passages and powerful crescendoes reminiscent of Tool, the kind of atmospherics that made Swans so unique, and even a little Johnny Cash-style darkness as well. Multi-instrumentalist Erik Wunder and lyricist/vocalist Phil McSorley have put together an extraordinary piece of work here; throughout all of 2009, Gin was my measuring stick for all metal and extreme music, and although I heard plenty of good records, nothing could come close to topping this nihilist, primitivist, literate, audacious, pulverizing masterpiece. This is the kind of metal I live for.
3. Katatonia - Night is the New Day
Considering that it's taking Katatonia longer and longer to put together their albums, slowly writing songs (some often taking weeks to construct) and meticulously, painstakingly recording and mixing them, it's no surprise at all that their last three full-lengths have gotten more and more elaborate and lavish sounding. Nobody complains about production as much as metal fans, with many claiming that sounding pristine or elegant goes against everything the traditional definition of metal stands for, but in Katatonia's case, it suits them perfectly. They've been inching towards a true genre-straddling sound for the past ten years, and with their eighth album, it actually sounds fully realized. The doom metal riffs and goth atmospherics remain ever present, but Night is the New Day is also adorned with moody electronic touches and contemplative, subtle keyboard work, everything forming a luxurious backdrop for singer Jonas Renske, who continues to buck convention, singing in a subdued croon instead of trying to sound larger than life like other metal frontmen. It's his strongest vocal performance to date, as he carries the entire record, which is highlighted by his performances on "Nephilim", "Departer", and the shattering "The Longest Year". 1996's Brave Murder Day will always be regarded as Katatonia's most influential album, but in my opinion, anyway, this is their true magnum opus, one that was definitely worth the long wait.
4. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
We all knew Natasha Khan was on to something big when she put out her first album under her pseudonym Bat For Lashes back in 2007, and with heightened expectations two years later, she came through with a stunner. In fact, I'd go as far to describe her work on Two Suns as the most beautiful female vocal performance since Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain. You can draw a lot of parallels between the two albums actually: both are lavishly produced, heavily indebted to Kate Bush, tastefully arranged, alternately mellow, pensive, and enigmatic, and feature a singer who knows exactly what to add to a song without completely overplaying her hand. The wonderful lead single "Daniel" is the main draw, and for good reason, but delve deeper and you'll unearth even more riches, be it the schizophrenic "Pearl's Dream", the adventurous "Siren Song", the entrancing opener "Glass", and the dark, brooding, passionate "Sleep Alone". The atmosphere of Two Suns is extraordinary, the production by Khan and David Kosten sumptuous, but in the end it's all about Khan's breathy, understated delivery, which convincingly sounds as "arty" as her music demands, but neither veers into melodrama nor pretentious vocal theatrics. It's a masterful album, one that was robbed of the Mercury Prize earlier this year.
5. Converge - Axe to Fall
Converge has been around for nearly 20 years, and despite putting out one of this past decade's most jarring metal/hardcore albums in 2001's Jane Doe, they've just keep pushing forward. This is one band who is clearly driven to outdo themselves with each new record, and incredibly, that's what they've done, transforming their already ferocious sound every single time. It's one thing to boast that you're going to put out a landmark album time and again, but few if any bands are able to put their money where their mouth is as Converge has done, and while Jane Doe continues to get all the accolades, I am convinced it's far from their best work. That honor goes to Axe to Fall, one of the most viscerally intense listening experiences you will ever hear. As opposed to their previous work, there's a tiny hint of accessibility this time around thanks to a heavy d-beat influence, that simpler, more direct formula allowing Kurt Ballou to let loose with some of his greatest riffs to date. As bracing as songs like "Dark Horse" and "Cutter" are, though, the jarring sonic detours "Worms Will Feed", "Cruel Bloom", and "Wretched World" prove again there's far more to this band than many people realize.
6. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Glasgow's Camera Obscura has been slowly growing on me over the entire last decade. After starting off as a strikingly similar band to twee nerds Belle and Sebastian, Tracyanne Campbell and company has been gradually forming their own musical identity, firmly rooted in 1950s pop and centered on Campbell's acerbic, self-deprecating confessional songwriting style. 2006's Let's Get Out of This Country was a big step in the right direction, led by the knockout single "Lloyd, I'm ready to be Heartbroken", but although there have been no changes to the formula on their fourth album (right down to the production), the wryly titled My Maudlin Career feels like the most complete Camera Obscura album to date. It's one of those records that feels confidently executed from the get-go, the pop classic-in-the-making "French Navy" instantly sounding timeless, Campbell's vocal delivery sweet and understated, her lyrics half-tortured, half neurotic, the underlying strings not so much high gloss as simply refined. With an album so preoccupied with retro pop, that immediacy, that contagiousness is crucial, and every track on the album nails it, be it the tender "Careless Love", the adoring "The Sweetest Thing", the rousing Motown of "Honey in the Sand", or the insanely hooky "Swans".
7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Having listened to a lot of thrash and prog metal and far too much grunge for my own good from 1989 to 1992, I sort of missed out on shoegaze/dream pop's heyday, but Velocity Girl's blend of distortion and dulcet melodies on their 1993 Sub Pop debut Copacetic captivated me in a huge way. Skip ahead to January of this year, and in spite of a deadfully "emo" band name, Brooklyn's Pains of Being Pure at Heart came along and blew me away in just the same fashion as Velocity Girl did 16 years before. However, unlike the revelatory feel of Copacetic, the main appeal of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart was more its familiarity, as the ten-track album hearkens back to that sound of Velocity Girl, My Bloody Valentine, C86, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Unlike other like-minded bands such as Vivian Girls, though, this band brings the hooks in a huge, huge way. Like the bands that influenced them, these songs might be drenched in noise, but it never, ever comes at the expense of the melody, and songs like "Come Saturday", "Gentle Sons", "Everything With You", and the fabulous little single "Young Adult Friction" positively glisten.
8. Baroness - Blue Record
In direct contrast to fellow Georgians Kylesa, Baroness wasted no time in fulfilling expectations; three really good EPs, and blammo, an absolute knockout of a debut full-length in 2007's Red Album. Baroness's swift rise to prominence was remarkable to witness: just like that you had a fully-realized band establishing itself among the very best in American metal. So it goes without saying that expectations for the follow-up were astronomical, but this time around, Baroness did things a little more subtly. While Red Album was a quantum leap from the band's early material, the aptly-titled Blue Record is not much of a departure at all, and can easily be seen as a companion piece to its predecessor: big, galloping riffs, those coarse yet melodic vocals by John Baizley, slight nods to Fugazi. However, the palette from which they draw is so much richer this time around, with a great deal of the credit going to producer John Congleton and new guitarist Pete Adams, as the record is infused with a strong acoustic element, songs like "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" and "Blackpowder Orchard" brilliantly offsetting such more aggressive fare as "Jake Leg", "A Horse Called Golgotha", and the stupendous "The Gnashing".
9. Kylesa - Static Tensions
I always liked Kylesa's music, but never really loved it. It was a cool variation on Southern sludge metal and groovy crust punk, but it always felt like something was missing. In fact, when their third album Time Will Fuse its Worth placed on Decibel's list of the best albums of 2006, I was actually baffled…the Savannah band had its moments and had enormous potential for big things, but at the time it certainly was nothing worthy of year-end accolades. Well, that all changed this year. It's always a great feeling to see a band fully live up to its promise, and Kylesa did just that on Static Tensions. So what's the big difference this time around, you ask? For one, everything gels perfectly, whether it's rampaging garage rock ("Scapegoat"), stoner/psychedelic ("Only One"), or well crafted melodic heavy rock ("Running Red"). The producton is also exceptional, the hard-panning of the band's two drummers an inspired idea, adding extraordinary texture to such tracks as "Said and Done" and "Perception". Best of all, though, is that this album is insanely catchy from start to finish, a near perfect balance of aggression and accessibility, the sound of a hard working band finally coming into its own.
10. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
It's easy to understand why the duo Sunn O))) has so many haters. You've got two guys in hooded robes (that is, if you can see them through the thick fog of dry ice) playing over-amplified tritone riffs at a snail's crawl, the drones, distortion, and feedback so overwhelmingly loud that it's hard to distinguish one track from the next. It's metal at its most pretentious. However, while they're a completely visceral force live, their albums are often immaculately constructed, and in the end that's what matters most. Their last three studio full-lengths have been an especially intriguing journey, but while the uber-dark Black One and the Boris collaboration Altar were excellent, the aptly titled Monoliths & Dimensions is Sunn O)))'s most revelatory record yet. Divided neatly into four sides of a mammoth double album, it's a spellbinding experience. "Aghartha" is typically ominous, thanks in large part to Attila Csihar's muttered doomsday poetry, "Big Church" is a theatrical blend of a female choir and harrowing incantations, "Hunting & Gathering" is a great exercise in Celtic Frost-style riffing, while show-stopper "Alice" starts off ominously, only this time gradually letting the sun in until the 16 minute track feels more graceful than lumbering.
11. Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
Heading into 2009, the debut full-length album by France's Amesoeurs was among my most eagerly anticipated albums of the new year, and for very good reason. A side project of Alcest mastermind Stephane "Neige" Paut, Amesoeurs had hinted at huge, huge potential on two EPs, a fascinating combination of ferocious black metal and contemplative darkwave, and the fact that the new album was to focus heavily on the latter sound, influenced by Joy Division and the Cure, was extremely enticing. When it finally came out, the self-titled record didn't disappoint at all, and although it was being serviced almost exclusively to metal writers, one could make a very convincing case that it, save for the straight-up black metal of "Trouble (Eveiles-Infames)", could hardly qualify as metal whatsoever. It's a stupid debate in metal circles, and ultimately pointless, because regardless of genre, this is a bleak, beautiful little album. Though this is Neige's baby, bassist Audrey Sylvain is front and centre, her girlish, detached singing the perfect complement to the melancholy arrangements ("Les Ruches Malades", "Faux Semblants", "Video Girl", "Amesoeurs"), her tortured, primal screams on the show-stopper "La Reine Trayeuse" having an effect no man could ever pull off so convincingly.
12. Isis - Wavering Radiant
With the decade coming to a close, everyone who is making a list of the most important metal albums of the last ten years is going to name Isis's 2002 breakthrough Oceanic. And rightfully so. It's a seminal work, one that spawned a wave of imitators, but as the years have gone on, though, what I've most come to admire about Isis is their stubborn refusal to just stop there. It's been a continual search for a different musical identity in the wake of Oceanic, a journey that I've found particularly intriguing, and with Wavering Radiant it finally feels like the band has successfully reinvented itself, to the point where I sincerely think this album is superior to that record from seven years ago. The band is no longer all about big, crushing waves of guitars and that rather basic soft-loud-soft-loud formula; the arrangements are richer, the songwriting less predictable. Producer Joe Barresi brings a coziness that we haven't heard from Isis before, which accentuates the record's improved dynamics immensely, its key performance by keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer, who brings a very strong progressive rock and krautrock influence to such tracks as "Ghost Key" and "Stone to Wake a Serpent".
13. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective's rise to prominence in the last half of this decade coincided with my growing disconnect from American indie rock, which to me just kept sounding more and more full of itself, precious and pretentious, with lots of showing off and little substance, and the hype surrounding Animal Collective was simply baffling to me. To this day I still consider albums like Sung Tongs, Feels, and Strawberry Jam near unlistenable. It always came off as the sound of a bunch of guys who thought they were cleverer than they actually were, half-baked ideas masquerading as experimental, cutting edge music. But then Merriweather Post Pavilion came along in December of 2008, and the ecstatic reaction on the internet compelled me to give these dummies one last shot. So I listened; it sounded surprisingly cohesive and fully-formed, and after a few weeks it had grown on me enormously. It's a small miracle of a record, really, the sound of a band finally getting it right after twiddling around for so long, with richly layered production, beautiful vocal harmonies, the songs' unconventional structures also enormously catchy. This is as much a psychedelic landmark as Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs was eleven years ago.
14. Funeral Mist - Maranatha
Whether you want to call him Mortuus or Arioch, Daniel Rosten has had a monstrous year. Not only has he played a very significant role in the creative rebirth of Swedish black metal veterans Marduk (their Wormwood album is one of the year's better metal releases), but his side project Funeral Mist came along and floored critics and fans alike, yours truly included. Visually, this album is stunning, the incomprehensibly grotesque images immediately drilling into our heads, their visceral impact coming before the music sinks in. And when those eight tracks do come and go, the effect is shattering. Maranatha encapsulates what many purists feel are the most important aspects of black metal: primitive, ugly, provocative, Satanic, and above all else, staunchly anti-Christian. Instead of merely tossing out those criteria as mere clichés, Rosten sounds absolutely inspired within that template. His songs range from your typical, wickedly fast, blastbeat-driven fare ("Sword of Faith") to monolithically slow, lurching crawls ("White Stone"), while his vocals are extraordinary, grunting, spitting, groaning, howling his surprisingly eloquent verses. As strong as the entire album is, it peaks during the mid-record trifecta of "Jesus Saves!", "A New Light", and the astounding, 12 minute groove piece "Blessed Curse".
15. Slayer - World Painted Blood
I've been listening to Slayer since 1984 and greatly admire the band for being as resilient as they have, but although they've been churning out consistently good music this past decade, I never really thought they'd be able to elevate their game as much as they wound up doing on World Painted Blood. For the first time in ages, since Seasons in the Abyss actually, Slayer sounds, well, bloodthirsty. Nothing has changed in their sound whatsoever: it's still the same slicing riffs and dive-bombing solos by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, the same malevolent vocals by Tom Araya (who remains metal's great enunciator), and that unmistakable Dave Lombardo swing is there. However, we feel genuine passion this time, their eleventh album. The key on this record is the contributions of Hanneman; he's the man behind virtually all of Slayer's best-known riffs and songs, and after barely contributing to the songwriting on 2006's Christ Illusion, he's back in a huge way, writing six of the new album's eleven tracks. All of them are standouts, especially the Reign in Blood-worthy "Psycopathy Red", the mid-tempo stomp of "Human Strain", and the brilliant title track, proof that there's plenty of inspiration in this band yet.
16. Florence + the Machine - Lungs
We always get these types of albums, debuts by a female singer-songwriter who does everything she can to show she's FEARLESS and AUDACIOUS and flamboyantly PROFOUND. It happens so much that we have every reason to be jaded when the next bombastic lady troubadour comes along, but once in a rare while, there's a record that truly deserves our attention. And in Florence Welch's case, she sure pulls out all the stops on her Mercury prize-nominated first album, so much so that it comes perilously close to total overkill. Never mind the fact that she uses her big, booming voice so ostentatiously that you wonder if she's ever heard of the word "understated", but the arrangements are completely over the top in their eclecticism and Kate Bush worship, the latter influence most blatant on tracks like "Between Two Lungs", "Cosmic Love", "Drumming Song", and the excellent single "Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)". Impressive as those moments are, it's the curveballs she and her band toss our way that make this album so compelling, be it the tongue-in-cheek garage rock of "Kiss With a Fist", the gorgeous "Dog Days Are Over", and the spellbinding album closer "You've Got the Love".
17. La Roux - La Roux
When electropop duo La Roux appeared on the BBC's Sound of 2009 list early this year, I gave a listen to then-current single "Quicksand", and thought, It's okay, nothing too special here. Then four or five months later, I decided on the spur of the moment to sample an online promo of the band's debut full-length I'd been granted access to, and "Bulletproof" grabbed me, hook, line, and sinker. Bouncy, extremely catchy, boasting an arrangement that hearkens back to the days of Human League and Yazoo, and with just the right amount of sass, it was an absolute knockout of a single. Much has been made of Elly Jackson's in-your-face demeanor and her rather shrill voice, but while a track like "In For the Kill" is a fair bit harsher than your usual chart-toppers, the rest of the record delves into more subtle territory. On "Colourless Colour" she employs a deeper, gentler voice which works wonders with the arrangement by Ben Langmaid, "As if By Magic" has an unmistakable Goldfrapp influence, while the slinky "Reflections Are Protection" and the very pretty ballad "Armour Love" hints at just how much untapped potential La Roux has. Avery strong, confident first album.
18. Metric - Fantasies
Although I enjoyed 2005's Fantasies, it was clear that Metric wasn't exactly the happiest of bands. The album was too centered on harsh guitar riffs instead of finding a nice balance between guitar-driven power pop and electro-pop, the hooks were more dark than ebullient, and although the foursome was still plenty capable of putting on a good, tight show, their performances looked and felt a little on the chilly side. However, some time after the band took a little break and Emily Haines put out her nice but even more morose solo debut, something changed: the mood brightened, the passion returned. The shimmering new single "Help I'm Alive", released in November 2008, was a tremendous return to form, and the band's Christmas charity tour across Canada in mid-December was wonderful, the happiest they'd looked onstage in a long time. The eight new tracks they performed on that -35 degree night here sounded very strong, immediately memorable, and indeed, when it hit stores this past April, Fantasies sounded as good as the band and their performance had promised, subsequent singles "Sick Muse" and "Gimme Sympathy" going over huge with fans, "Collect Call" and "Twilight Galaxy" experimenting more with textured electronic arrangements.
19. Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da
The fact that Rammstein has been able to put together a good, lengthy career in the wake of the worldwide success of 1998's Sehnsucht and the "Du Hast" single is very admirable, but as good as Mutter, Reise, Reise, and Rosenrot were, something was missing from those records. I really dug their continually broadening sound, but it seemed to come at the expense of the attitude, the swagger. It felt safe instead of provocative and incendiary. Well, that's all changed with Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, as after 11 years, it feels like we finally got the proper follow-up to Sehnsucht. We still get some cool forward-thinking moments (the lovely, Edith Piaf-referencing "Frühling in Paris", the ballad "Roter Sand"), but this album is more about the return to that simple formula that made "Du Hast" and "Engel" so popular: gigantic, catchy riffs, huge Ministry-inspired beats, textured synths, and graphic lyrics, sung in German by the baritone-voiced Till Lindemann, highlighted by the rampaging title track, "Ich Tu Der Weh", the grisly "Wiener Blut", and controversial single "Pussy". Sometimes it's better when a band sticks primarily to its strengths, and in so doing Rammstein has hit one out of the park.
20. The xx - xx
Of all the heavily hyped bands to come out of the UK over the past few years, London foursome the xx is definitely the most peculiar. Not that they're odd by any stretch, but their music is completely devoid of the kind of gimmicks that the British press continually gets suckered into. This band's approach is subtle and simple, so much so that the first time you hear it, it practically goes in one ear and out the other unless you give it your undivided attention. However, pinning down the xx's sound isn't exactly easy. The minimalist pop of Young Marble Giants is the most obvious influence at first, but it's not as stripped down, the low-key electronic touches adding tremendous depth and resonance to the 11 tracks. The hushed tones provide a perfect backdrop for guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim's tender, seductive vocal interplay, Sim singing detachedly, Madley Croft breathy and tender, which works brilliantly on such standout tracks as "Crystalised", "Infinity", "Stars", and "VCR". What starts off sounding sterile and impersonal slowly, gradually turns into a remarkably warm, confident, immaculately conceived and produced debut album, one that becomes more and more rewarding with each spin.
Honourable Mentions of 2009:
(The best of the rest, in alphabetical order)
3 Inches of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom
The Vancouver retro-metalers just keep getting better on record, and their fourth album, produced by Jack Endino, is enormously fun traditional heavy metal, packed with the kind of fist-pumpin' anthems that I ate up 25 years ago. Nothing has changed!
Essential tracks: "Battles and Brotherhood", "Call of the Hammer"
Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
Akron/Family is as eclectic as ever, but there's something different about their fourth CD, rooted more in classic rock, progressive/psychedelic rock, and funk than ever before. It's a wild ride, but not for a moment does it ever get tedious.
Essential tracks: "Everyone is Guilty", "MBF"
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Proving that her debut was no fluke, Lily Allen hooked up with Greg Kurstin from the Bird and the Bee and put together a confident follow-up that eschewed the eclecticism of Alright, Still in favour of a more consistent, electro-pop sound.
Essential tracks: "The Fear", "I Could Say"
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
The reigning kings of progressive metal returned with an album every bit as challenging as 2007's Colors, but as crazy as these epic tracks all seem at first, there's a cohesiveness to the songwriting that's just remarkable. Jaw-dropping at times.
Essential tracks: "Obfuscation", "Swim to the Moon"
Blacklist - Midnight of the Century
People tend to forget how bombastic goth rock was back in the late-'80s, but Blacklist certainly hasn't, reveling in the garish, gigantic, stadium-friendly sounds of Sisters of Mercy and the Mission and completely nailing the aesthetic on their debut album.
Essential tracks: "Flight of the Demoiselles", "Shock in the Hotel Falcon"
BLK JKS - After Robots
While I refuse to buy into Vampire Weekend's phony Afro-pop, South Africa's BLK JKS is more up my alley, combining those indigenous sounds with the experimentalism of TV on the Radio and the progressive rock noodling of the Mars Volta.
Essential tracks: "Molalatladi", "Lakeside"
Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague
The death metal greats are on a mighty impressive creative roll these days, and their eleventh album is one of their finest, the songs typically brutal yet incessantly catchy, while the production by Erik Rutan is simultaneously clean and crushing.
Essential tracks: "Evisceration Plague", "To Decompose"
Handsome Furs - Face Control
This side project by Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner and his partner Alexei Perry started off as a decent sounding band, but their second album made a tremendous leap, a cool, contagious blend of raw garage rock and thrumming electronic touches.
Essential tracks: "All We Want, Baby, is Everything", "I'm Confused"
Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
Mick Barr and Colin Marston wasted no time in putting together a follow-up to last year's outstanding debut, and while it's not quite as revelatory, it feels like more like a band effort, emphasizing ambient black metal over crazed soloing.
Essential tracks: "Aridity", "Monolith of Possession"
Liturgy - Renihilation
This debut by the Brooklyn band makes Krallice sound tame by comparison, hitting us straight in the face with blasts of mind-bogglingly fast black metal. Cacophonous, yes, but it quickly achieves a trance-like quality thanks to the songs' subtle melodies.
Essential tracks: "Pagan Dawn", "Ecstatic Rite"
Marduk - Wormwood
It's amazing how these guys can still carry on with the same Satanic black metal and still sound fresh on record, but Wormwood has the Swedish veterans sounding as incendiary and malevolent as ever, led by Mortuus's wicked, charismatic snarl.
Essential tracks: "Funeral Dawn", "To Redirect Perdition"
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
The best American metal band of the past decade took a sharp turn towards prog on their newest album, which took some adjusting to, but eventually provided them with the commercial breakthrough they deserved, "The Czar" their best song to date.
Essential tracks: "The Czar", "Oblivion"
Revocation - Existence is Futile
If there's one band that should become the next big thing in metal, it's Revocation, who take Lamb of God's rapidly stagnating sound and inject it with energy, technical death metal wizardry, and competent songwriting, immediately establishing them as a major talent.
Essential tracks: "Pestilence Reigns", "Across Forests and Fjords"
Saviours - Accelerated Living
They're not innovative in the least, but Saviours' third album grabs me on an instinctive level that's impossible to ignore, pounding out a filthy, swaggering, booze-fueled brand of NWOBHM-inspired metal that we haven't heard since Tank. Too awesome for words.
Essential tracks: "Slave to the Hex", "Acid Hand"
Worm Ouroboros - Worm Ouroboros
This one really crept up on me, a dreamy excursion into dark ambient music led by the seductive singing of Lorraine Rath, the San Francisco trio often sounding like Alison Goldfrapp fronting Katatonia. Which, if you know me, is totally up my alley.
Essential tracks: "A Birth a Death", "Riverbed"
The Best Ineligible Releases of 2009:
(collections of previously released material, like live albums, reissues, compilations, music DVDs, etc.)
1. Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972
I first learned of Neil Young's gigantic archives project in late 1991, right when I was developing a serious obsession with the guy's back catalogue, and after an excruciating wait for the first volume, after countless delays, false starts, and pushed-back release dates, the unthinkable finally happened this past summer: we finally got it. And it turned out to be just the kind of treasure trove that die-hard fans have been craving, a completely immersive multi-media experience, its expandable blu-ray format groundbreaking. Much has been made of all the video extras, press clippings, photos, record sleeves, lyrics, production notes, and seemingly endless ephemera, but at the heart of it all, and what is most important to me anyway, is the original music, the remastering of which sounding superb on CD, even better on DVD, and utterly spectacular on blu-ray. While we do get the odd curious inclusions and exclusions (why he put on a dicey mono version of "Mr. Soul" instead of the blistering stereo version heard on Decade, I'll never know), Young's meticulously-arranged guided tour through his formative years is nonetheless enthralling, from his days with Winnipeg's Squires, to Buffalo Springfield, to his budding solo career, to Crazy Horse, to the Harvest-era Stray Gators. And to think this is only the tip of the iceberg! Plus you can't help but think that Volume Two, which will cover his greatest, most prolific period, will be even better. I can't wait for it, but wait we most likely will have to do!
2. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses: Legacy Edition
The entire world was flipping out over the heavily-hyped Beatles remasters, but personally, the sonic improvements on those CDs have nothing on what was done to the Stone Roses' classic 1989 debut album. The Stone Roses was already one of the greatest albums of my generation, there was never any question of that, but John Leckie's remastering on this new reissue was astonishing. Instead of sounding thin like every other UK album did at the time, it now sounds as full as it should, John Squire's inimitable riffs beefed up, Ian Brown's vocals now richly layered, the rhythm section, such a crucial part of that Madchester sound, now as punchy as it's supposed to sound. This three-disc reissue comes with a CD of demos, a DVD featuring videos and a cool live performance, and nicely put together liner notes, but it always comes back to that original album, songs like "I Wanna Be Adored", "She Bangs the Drums", "Made of Stone", and "Fool's Gold" resonating even more than they already did, if that's even possible. And for what it's worth, I agree, this record is better off without "Elephant Stone".
3. Iron Maiden - Flight 666
I've said it time and again, nobody treats their fans as well as Iron Maiden does, especially when it comes to live documents. 2008 was a special year for both the band and us longtime fans, as Maiden toured the world playing songs from their classic era, traveling in their customized 757 with singer Bruce Dickinson piloting, with Canadian documentarians Samm Dunn and Scott McFayden along for the ride, there to capture every moment. The end result is a wonderful, often revealing documentary, a far cry from the usual vanity pieces most bands churn out, full of spectacular live performances from all over the globe, candid interviews with band and crew, and most importantly, profiles of the fans. No matter what the country, the devotion to this band is the same throughout, something truly unique in the world of music. If you're looking ofr a perfect explanation of why Iron Maiden is my favourite band of all time, this DVD/CD is it.
4. Def Leppard - Pyromania: Deluxe Edition
From day one, I've considered Pyromania to be a really top-heavy album, its spectacular singles far outshining the album tracks, and I still feel the same, but as the years and (eeps) decades have gone by, those deep cuts have aged surprisingly well, to the point now that I can begrudgingly enjoy the otherwise asinine "Rock Rock 'Til You Drop" as much as "Photograph" or "Foolin'". The plain, undeniable fact is, this is a classic record through and through, and Universal has done a marvelous job of reissuing it. Not only is the original album very nicely remastered, but it's appended by a scorching live CD recorded in late 1983. It's the dealbreaker of this reissue: originally intended to be released as a double live album, it's a brilliant performance, the young band sounding explosive, full of so much contagious energy that they can barely contain themselves during the slower numbers. Although I still contend that Hysteria is the superior album, this deluxe edition ranks as one of the definitive snapshots of 80s pop metal at its most glorious.
5. Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
Two of my more curious musical discoveries this past decade were Can and Serge Gainsbourg. I kept seeing Gainsbourg's 1971 concept album referenced back in 2002 or so, and when I did eventually hear MP3s ripped from the out-of-print record, it wasn't hard to hear the influence the album had on some of my favourite contemporary artists, namely Jarvis Cocker. It's such a peculiar album, rife with contradictions: barely 28 minutes long yet epic in scope, the story both loving and lecherous, the arrangements minimalist and lavish, the style gentle folk one minute, wickedly heavy funk the next. However, it wasn't until Melody was finally released in North America this year that it really had an impact on me: superbly remastered to the point of sounding pristine, it's a stunning piece of work, Gainsbourg weaving his scandalous tale as Jean-Claude Vannier assembles a backdrop that's just as melodramatic and seductive. This classic just got even better.
6. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
Funny how a financial catastrophe can catapult the mellowest dude into action. And honestly, the last thing the 75 year-old Leonard Cohen should be doing at his age is hitting the road for gigantic tours around the world. But give the dude credit, not only has he shown astonishing resilience ever since staging his comeback in 2008, but he sounds as impassioned, as classy as he ever has. Recorded in June of last year in front of a sold-out arena crowd in London, this live CD and DVD was perfectly timed for his gigantic tour across Canada and the US, and while it's a relatively bare-bones package (the DVD is basically a non-HD capture of his in-concert video screens), it's absolutely sublime in every way. The band is pitch-perfect throughout, tasteful and just a tiny bit schmaltzy, his background singers complement him beautifully ("Ah, tell 'em, angels"), and best of all, that gravelly, inimitable voice is in fine form during the entire spellbinding two and a half hour performance.
7. Big Star - Keep an Eye on the Sky
Now this is how to put together a box set. Classic studio recordings, demos, alternate mixes, and a full live set, arranged in such a way that it gives us an illuminating glimpse of the fleeting career trajectory of one of the greatest rock bands to ever come out of the 1970s. Keep an Eye on the Sky is doubly successful, either as an introduction to Big Star or as an undeniable fan-pleaser. No worries, either, as none of the band's finest songs have been tinkered with or replaced with skeletal demos, and besides, the demos that we hear are phenomenal, whether it's Alex Chilton's aching acoustic take on the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" or his emotionally raw performance of "Holocaust". Whether it's the pristine sounds of #1 Record, the classic power pop of Radio City, the tortured Third/Sister Lovers, or Chris Bell's gorgeous "I Am the Cosmos", Big Star's recorded output was nothing short of perfect between 1972 and 1978, and this is as good a look as we'll ever get.
8. Drive-By Truckers - Live From Austin, TX/The Fine Print: A Collection of Oddities and Rarities
America's greatest rock 'n' roll band closed out its relationship with New West Records with a pair of collections, but unlike your usual contractual obligation albums, these two have nothing but substance. Filmed and recorded at PBS's Austin City Limits, the CD/DVD combo Live From Austin, TX features a very fun, impeccably mixed, hour-plus live set, a great showcase of the band's versatility. Meanwhile, The Fine Print is a real treat, serving up a bunch of touched-up leftover tracks, some of which we've heard before ("Talkin' George Jones Cell Phone Blues", "Like a Rolling Stone"), others which hadn't seen the light of day, such as the passionate re-recording of "Uncle Frank", a phenomenal cover of Warren Zevon's "Play it All Night Long", and a rendition of Tom Petty's "Rebels" that many of us DBT fans had been waiting years to hear in full. How can you not love this band? Even their ephemera is great.
9. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Jawbox's third album was a big, big one for me back in 1994. I was right smack in the middle of a major obsession with American indie rock, and For Your Own Special Sweetheart was not only my introduction to that distinct post-hardcore sound that Dischord specialized in, but to this day I consider it the best album from that scene's heyday. There was a lot of controversy when Jawbox left Dischord for Atlantic Records, but did the band ever come through, as this album not only was as ferocious as anything Fugazi was putting out ("Breathe", "FF=66"), but unlike the great majority of their peers, it had hooks up the wazoo on tracks like "Cooling Card", "Motorist", "Whitney Walks", and the timeless "Savory", one of the very best songs of the 1990s. This new reissue, now owned by Dischord, boasts some phenomenal mastering, the punchier bass and drums giving an already formidable album even more muscle.
10. The Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines
I won't lie, I'm just like everyone else, I first heard of the Vaselines when that Cobain dummy carted out his ably performed covers on Incesticide and the horribly overrated Unplugged, but at the time I never even considered investigating the original material any further. Which is odd looking back, because this Scottish duo was definitely up my alley circa 1993-94. But that's fine, it's better late than never, and the Vaseline's entire studio output from 1987 to 1990 (which amounts to about 55 minutes of music) was conveniently repackaged by Sub Pop for a 2009 release, this time as a double CD, with a special bonus disc of live performances. While the live stuff is nothing earth-shattering, the original studio recordings (which comprised the 1992 compilation The Way of the Vaselines) are terrific, Eugene Kelly's deadpan delivery offset by the charming, completely unpretentious Frances McKee. And the originals destroy the Nirvana covers.
Introduction
Well, yet another year over and done with, hundreds of albums, thousands of songs. What does it all amount to? On the metal side, it was a spectacular year. Overall, though, it was only merely decent. Looking at this year's new releases it's quite amazing how few non-metal albums truly engaged me a lot…my top 20 has quite an even balance, but go beyond that, and the non-metal pool gets very, very thin. It reminds me of how 1999 ended the 90s on a bit of a downbeat note; if it wasn't for all the heavy stuff I listen to, I don't think I could have come up with a very good year-end list at all. That said, my album of the year isn't a metal record! So go figure. Anyway, there was no shortage of colossal disappointments (Muse has plummeted faster than any band I have ever seen), big-budget catastrophes (Chris Cornell's hilarious trainwreck), and overhyped indie bands (hello, Wavves), metal bands whose popularity is both befuddling and frightening (Suicide Silence), and popular trends that have us wondering if this is the end of music altogether (crabcore? Screamo crunk?!), but average year or not, there was still a might impressive array of new music for me to obsess over, and this ninth annual project is a celebration the good stuff, and nothing but.
As far as the writing profession goes, yours truly and many other fellow scribes were dealt a huge blow with the sudden, unfortunate demise of Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs magazines. It especially stung for me since I was starting to get some really amazing assignments for Metal Edge and my overall writin' gig was really starting to pay off, and to not get full pay by the parent company for my first cover story was a real slap in the face. But that's how it is these days, the print media is dying a horrible death, and it was inevitable that the metal publications would get hit hard. In addition, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles went kablooey, while Revolver is now a bimonthly. Still, when one door closes another one opens, as Hellbound.ca was started up by a bunch of us fellow Canadian metal writers. In addition, my production at Decibel really started to pick up, I had some great feature assignments, and I put together my all-time pride and joy, a Hall of Fame feature piece on the legendary band Accept, which was an absolute joy to put together from start to finish. And the PopMatters thing is still going strong, of course, tons of reviews and columns being churned out. It's not all bad.
As for live shows, it's not like I was anywhere exotic in 2009, but I did see some doozies. I finally got to see Neil Young and Leonard Cohen after all these years, and those two shows from this past spring are probably the best I've seen all year. Mastodon and Kylesa were great to see, Paganfest in Edmonton was a blast with Korpiklaani and Primordial, Clutch was as fun as ever, AC/DC was quite the overblown stadium extravaganza (a far cry from seeing them play arenas twice in the 80s), Franz Ferdinand was super-tight, In Flames was as satisfying as ever, the Hold Steady was an absolute blast, DragonForce and Sonata Arctica were joyously garish, Children of Bodom played here twice, 3 Inches of Blood and Saviours brought the old school metal, Metric delivered as they always do. For someone who doesn't get to the number of cool shows as writers in Toronto or New York, that's not a shabby year at all.
Anyway, when this daily countdown kicks into gear, be sure to watch for my top 20 singles countdown in the right margin, which will begin at the same time as my album countdown. There will be MP3 links posted for each track, so don't hesitate to sample (and then buy)! So thanks for reading this page for another year, and I hope you have as much fun reading this stuff as I do writing it. If I can introduce you to at least one piece of music you might have otherwise missed out on, then the whole project will have been totally worth it. Enjoy!
(Usually this is the part of the year-end retrospective where I run down four or five releases from the previous year that I foolishly missed out on, but looking back, there isn't a single 2008 album that I loved that I listened to for the first time in 2009. Actually the one that comes closest is Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part1, which is a really extraordinary album that floored me when I heard it around New Year's. But that's pretty much it!)
My top ten albums of 2008:
1. Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
2. Harvey Milk - Life…the Best Game in Town
3. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
4. Portishead. - Third
5. Opeth - Watershed
6. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
7. Disfear - Live the Storm
8. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
9. Black Mountain - In the Future
10. Lukestar - Lake Toba
Past albums of the year (uh, please bear in mind I was sixteen when I started this):
1986: Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
1987: Def Leppard - Hysteria
1988: Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
1989: Voivod - Nothingface
1990: Megadeth - Rust In Peace, Led Zeppelin Box Set (tie)
1991: Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
1992: R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1994: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
1995: Elastica - Elastica
1996: Pulp - Different Class
1997: Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
1998: Monster Magnet - Powertrip
1999: Metallica - S & M
2000: Yo La Tengo - ...And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
2001: Bob Dylan - Love And Theft, The Langley Schools Music Project - Innocence & Despair (tie)
2002: The Streets - Original Pirate Material
2003: Manitoba - Up in Flames
2004: Arcade Fire - Funeral
2005: Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2006: Mastodon - Blood Mountain
2007: Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
2008: Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
