Best of Music: 2008

01Dec08

Mindful Scrobbling
From Crust Punk to Grindcore

It seems like it was only yesterday when the Dethalbum came out, and only days before that Band of Horses’ masterpiece Cease to Begin. But as another year circles the drain, it’s time to run through the best albums of the year. (Or take a look at last year’s)

Best Albums:

Watershed by Opeth

While this album didn’t rank a full 10/10 for me, Åkerfeldt and the gang’s new album rocked pretty fucking hard. They seemed to shy away from the brutal vocals of a typical album, and balance things out with some backing vocals (which I didn’t like) that took the band apart from their original direction. That being said, I’m very glad they’re progressing in their sound, but I like old Opeth better.

This album also scored some bonus points because I got to see them perform some of those songs live. (Turns out, that post is the first result when you search “The Gang Sees Opeth”)

obZen by Meshuggah

This album was my introduction into Meshuggah, and because I really have no history, I’m basing my addition of this album independent from how I think it compares to Mesh’s discography. That being said, I thought this was some great progressive metal. Very technical stuff, and while I would have liked the album better without the vocals, the tracks had pretty good balance.

Night Eternal by Moonspell

This album -similar to Meshuggah- was my introduction to Moonspell, however, I ended up going back and listening to their older stuff, which was all good. There exists a special place in my heart for gothic and doom metal, which this album blended perfectly. And while I’m not a particular fan of beauty-and-the-beast style vocals, they seemed to utilize them to establish a pretty unbeatable atmosphere. (especially on the track Scorpion Flower [my favorite of the album])

Twilight of the Thunder God by Amon Amarth

Holy fucking goddamn shit: this album had the most awesome artwork ever. Seriously, that image alone could have ranked this album on my list, even if it wasn’t by Amon Amarth, who managed to crank out another sweet metal album. So while they win the art art award for a while, this album was good, but nothing out of this world.

The Way of All Flesh by Gojira

This was an odd album for me. I’m not very familiar with Gojira, so this album seemed very progressive, very mold-breaking for them, and worked well as a metal album in general, but specially for Gojira, it was a tad bit of a disappointment. However, it still stuck to a basic level of awesomeness, because Randy would never attach himself to anything less than awesome.

(And I’m very excited about the idea of Gojira touring with Lamb of God when Wrath finally drops in February, which I hope is what’ll happen.)

Hammer Battalion by Unleashed

This album was fucking brutal, and perhaps a personal best for viking metal giants like Unleashed. It was also nice to see some hardcore viking material work its way to the top, as it was a nice break from the prog metal year this has been. I will mention though that this album probably doesn’t pick up as much good reception as it should, as it’s not be taken seriously, which is important to keep in mind listening to Unleashed.

The Scarecrow by Avantasia

This was that one album this year that I didn’t know came out in 2008, and I listened to a lot. While it is nowhere near the level of Demons & Wizards, Avantasia cranked out some pretty great power metal, utilizing Tobias Sammet’s amazing vocal range to put a force behind what would have normally been cheesy j-pop songs. (which is all power metal is, j-pop with balls) If you like power metal and hard rock (Ryan) then this album is where it’s at.

Do You Believe in Gosh by Mitch Hedberg

Not only was this one of the only non-metal albums of the year, it was a comedy album at that! We listened to that on the way up to see Bodom, and I was taken back to those golden days where I didn’t know every Mitch Hedberg joke by heart, and left me with a slice of the sweet moment. And this album isn’t just on here because it’s new, but because it was actually very funny. (c’mon, it’s Mitch!)

Touched by the Crimson King by Demons & Wizards

Here’s how good this album is: it was released three years ago. Combining the epic vocals of Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian) and hammering guitar of Jon Schaffer (Iced Earth) to form the most epic band ever created: Demons & Wizards. No part of this band goes to waste, and not a single note isn’t perfect. This album would win hands-down if this wasn’t a contest for albums of 2008, but I still consider it in the running. In short, if I got to pick one artist to listen to so hard it kills me, I’d pick Demons & Wizards.

Honorable Mentions:

Blooddrunk by Children of Bodom

This album is only the honorable mentions list by a hair, and while this might have been because every new song they played live, meant one less chance to hear Bodom After Midnight (my favorite [which they never ended up playing]) it was because this album was not up what Bodom should be producing. Most young bands would be life changing to have an album this good, but emerging veterans like Bodom need to be producing the utmost brutal and face-melting material. This was simply not up to standards for me.

The Art of War by Sabaton

This was a terrific album, full of great music, good vocals: very great power metal. Plus, this is some of Sabaton’s best work. However, the reason it only made honorable mention was that it failed to do anything extraordinary, and anything to really set itself apart. While this is some fucking great music, it’s just not running at the front of the pack for me.

(I look forward to seeing them in the upcoming years)

Kiss Kiss Kill Kill by HorrorPops

I loves me some psychobilly, I really do, and the HorrorPops have established themselves on the scene pretty well, fusing together a higher amount of punk than the norm, and boasting a female front-woman, something I find a bit of a rarity in psychobilly music. Their new album KKKK toned down that heavy punk influence and toned up the themes of the songs. This is what really held this album back: but it’s always good to see an artist break free from their traditional work and try something new.

October Rust by Type O Negative

This album flew pretty far under my radar this year. Because of Dead Again’s awesomeness last year, I felt Type O could have held back on making a new album so soon. However, the album didn’t seem too rush, and contains some some good ‘ol fashion gothic metal. I guess what truly held this album back was that it seemed to sexual for me, and lost most of its black humor that Type O Negative is amazing at.

Biggest Surprise:

Nostradamus by Judas Priest

I was legitimately surprised with the quality of the new Judas album. While it wouldn’t have phased me if the new album sucked, it’s getting rarer and rarer to see a classic band such as Priest crank out something worth finishing, let alone listening to again. Combine that with that fact that it sounded like a 3 Inches of Blood album (awesome!) and that they gave away free tickets, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a surprise.

Biggest Fail:

Chinese Democracy by Guns N’ Roses

As one review said: “it’s not a GNR album, it’s an Axl solo album”. I don’t think I could agree more. Combine that with the fact that this album should have been scrapped years ago, and that none of the songs kept the GNR format of past albums, this was a huge fail on their part. Even if it hadn’t taken so long to finally launch, this still constitutes a pretty epic fail on GNR’s part. I’ve give them that the only redeeming quality is that Buckethead worked with them for a small bit. Otherwise, they need to stop doing what they once did decently: create music.

Biggest Letdown:

Death Magnetic by Metallica

I had a small shred of hope that Metallica was starting to turn around. Not a chance.

Best Album, 2008:

Night Eternal
by
Moonspell

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  3 Comments
Tags: best of, media, music, review