Apologies for this being finished in january, but only being posted halfway through 2009.
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Hello, and welcome to my (highly delayed) drawn out ramblings about some of the music that came out in 2008. Please note that this isn’t just a run down of the best, as there are some stinkers included as well.
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Agalloch – The White
It only makes sense to start at the beginning, and this EP was the first new release I bought in 2008 as I preordered it as soon as it was made available. The EP features only the soft side of Agalloch, with minimal distorted guitars, vocals or use of a standard drum kit and caters quite nicely to the deluded 'neofolk/dark ambient' pseudo-pagans who manage to remain unbelievably metal whilst listening to the sound of trees and enjoying the feel of Midwest wind in their hair. Whilst some of the seven songs are more or less misfires, there are some stunningly beautiful tracks, namely 'Sowilo Rune' with its exotic positivity and 'Summerisle Reprise', which is more or less the exact opposite.
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Thrice – The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV: Air & Earth
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Cynic – Traced In Air
Despite what some chosen pessimists may tell you, this isn't a perfect album, or the best album of the year. It is, however, pretty damn good. I can't say I particularly cared for Cynic or their debut until I heard 'Integral Birth' on a zine compilation, and then saw them live. All of a sudden, it clicked and I am digging it all majorly. The thing with 'Traced In Air' is that I did overplay it when my combination of enjoyment and reviewing obligations came around, so maybe it'll take a while for me to return to it without being sick of the sound of that Tymon knobend supplying another weak growl or Sean Reinert sort of sucking at drumming. Yeah, I said it, but the majorly redeeming factor about this album is the vocals. They are absolutely sublimely performed and produced, and despite the fairly heavy dosage of vocoding, they are sung with real soul. In any case, it's an album most people will remember from this year.
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Coldplay – Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
A lot of people didn't like 'X&Y'. I personally did but that doesn't mean I wasn't very receptive to Coldplay breaking out of their box as they made their most experimental record yet. Sure, you may say, it's not UneXpect (though that is undoubtedly a good thing), but it's certainly a step away from the simple format that a lot of people seem to hate Coldplay for. This one's filled with delicious textures and tones that one wouldn't expect from Coldplay, but is combined with the acute melodic ear that you would. Every single song serves a purpose and has its own very distinct identity, but for me it's got to be 'Life In Technicolor', easily one of the best songs of the year.
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Alkaline Trio – Agony & Irony
2005's 'Crimson' is one of my favourite albums of all time, and my first ever show was put on by the Trio, so you'll forgive me for being more than a little excited about this one. At first I was a little put off by the slower tempos and generally smoother sounding songs, however it's a grower, it's a very very big grower. The songwriting is as good as ever, the bass, guitars and drums are as good as ever, but what impressed me the most was the vocals. I mean yes, their vocal lines have always been fantastic, but the technical capability and range of Dan Andriano especially has improved massively (did you hear those high notes in 'Do You Wanna Know?'!?) It's got the feel-good hits and the frankly depressing moments as well, just as an Alkaline Trio album should. I'm still not all that convinced about 'Into The Night', but other than that this is a stellar effort, even if it doesn't top 'Crimson'.
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At The Soundawn - Red Square : We Come In Waves
Good god! A post-metal band that doesn't pride themselves on their oh-so-original use of dynamics, comgining twinkly, down-tempo guitars and dirty, down-tempo guitars! Sure, bits and pieces sound like whatever peer you'd care to mention but this debut from Italy's At The Soundawn doesn't waste any unnecessary mood establishing an 'atmosphere'; it's already there after a few bars. The bass playing especially is worth noting with that difficult yet heavily appreciated (by myself, at least) balance between emotive presence and that lo-mid EQ presence which just makes everything sound fat as fuck. Recommended if you still think Isis are the be-all and end-all of this style of music.
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Immortal Technique – The 3rd World
Everyone's favourite 'underground' rapper (I'm looking at you, rap threads in The Pit) returned after a 5 year dry spell, and released 'The 3rd World' which seems to feature more name-dropping from DJ Green Lantern than Mr. Coronel himself. He's not at his lyrical best on this one, delving a little too much into the sensationalist, but it's more than made up for by his toughened delivery and the consistently awesome beats from Green Lantern. It seems to be some kind of a side-project to his two other upcoming albums, 'The Middle Passage' and 'Revolutionary Vol. 3', but this isn't reflected in the music as I think 'The 3rd World' is, musically at least, his best album to date.
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Fall Out Boy - Folie a Deux
Some people have difficulties when it comes to understanding that Fall Out Boy don't make their songs entirely out of three power chords. They provide us with an absolute belter of an album, yet again showcasing Patrick Stump's considerable talent as a songwriter and singer. Sure, it begins to slope a little towards the end but that doesn't mean much when its songs suddenly take up a majority chunk of Fall Out Boy's top 10 of all time. There's the infectious 'Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes', the uplifting 'The (Shipped) Gold Standard', the sophisticated ballad 'What A Catch, Donnie', the subtly sinister 'I Don't Care'...I could go on. But, thinking about who will read this, I won't.
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Cult Of Luna – Eternal Kingdom
Oh boy, this one needs more than a little segment in a blog to do it justice. It took me long enough to fully understand quite how good this album is (that's right, my initial high score from my review wasn't high enough), and I can only hope that it can continue to unfold itself in front of me. It's got everything that makes Cult Of Luna great on every album they make (give or take stylistic changes after 'The Beyond') but it's got something else that's a little rougher yet a little more enthralling. Putting words on music like this is never easy so I'll just say this album kicked 2008's ass and there are only two albums that I would rate higher.
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Opeth - Watershed
Oh, Opeth, why must you torture me so? Do you have to create one of the coolest fucking songs you've ever made, filled to the brim with death metal genius, and then go on to dismantle it piece by piece? Do you have to write songs like 'Hessian Peel', where you write two good songs and paste them together with a sketchy, self-indulgent 'interlude'? Do you have to write songs like 'Burden', that begin all well and good but totally miss the point? Do you have to write songs like 'Porcelain Heart', songs which insist on their own progressive nature despite being so linear? Do you have to write songs like 'Hex Omega' that just plain suck? Apparently you do.
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