Top Albums of 2008 [column]

It’s hard to complain when, this year, there were pretty good releases almost every month. And as the year came to a close, I was actually surprised to find that as I tried to cull a best-of list down to ten, I was left with about 20 fantastic albums from which to chose. I did manage to come up with what I saw as the best of the best, but before we get to the main attraction, let's take a look at some of the year's near-misses...

"***"

Firewind - The Premonition
Basically, this is a classic power-metal album—soaring vocals, nothing too loud with plenty of melody, and enough riffs, solos and other various guitar mastery to satiate any metal lover's appetite.

Cradle to Grave - Texas Medicine
Chock-full of thick, meaty riffs, explosive drumming and antagonistic bass licks—not to mention some absolutely crushing groove—the band grabs the listener by the throat with the opening track and proceeds to toss them down eleven flights of stairs.

Seven Mary Three - Day&Nightdriving
The songwriting skills are exemplary: the lyrics are smart, the stories are captivating and the music casually drifts between solid rock and melodic dirges, all with a slight Southern twist.

Kate Voegele - Don‘t Look Away
This album shoots out of the gate with melody and catchy hooks, and never seems to let up. With a voice that betrays her 22 years, Voegele commands attention from the album opener and carries the rest of the album with authority through to the end.

Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone
From the meaty riffs to the thunderous drumming and accentuating added percussion, the turntable scratching to the gang vocals ... just put the title track on and crank the volume to 10 to see all these various elements seamlessly merge together into something no other band on the metal scene has done.

In Flames - A Sense of Purpose
Working within the confines of melodic metal, the band takes more than enough chances and manages to craft such hook-laden tracks that it's almost impossible to resist.

Marie Digby - Unfold
The singer/songwriter incorporates a variety of influences into her songs. There's the usual smattering of pop-rock throughout, but Digby takes a chance or two over the course of the album's journey.

With Dead Hands Rising - Expect Hell
The band sounds tight as hell, tearing through each track with a vengeance; drums and bass shake the listener to the core like a depth charge with a dueling guitar attack taking out anything left moving.

So, without further ado...

Best albums of 2008...

10.

Kingdom of Sorrow
Kingdom of Sorrow
(Relapse Records)

"I turned to stone, once I saw the reflection was my own."

Each track off this self-titled effort spills forth like a avalanche of sludgy, thick sonic turmoil. Jamie Jasta's (Hatebreed) guttural wails merge perfectly with Kirk Windstein's (Crowbar, Down) more mournful howls. From "Free the Fallen" to the one-two opening of "Hear This Prayer for Her" and "Grieve a Lifetime", whether the band tears through the songs or they unfold in a dirge, everything is a perfect melding of metal and mood, anger and harmony, and when they shift gears to a slower, more methodical and melodic approach, the results are equally as good.

9.

Taylor Swift
Fearless
(Big Machine Records)

"And we know it's never simple, never easy. / Never a clean break / No one here to save me You're the only thing I know, like the back of my hand."

Part country, part pop, and catchy as hell. Taylor Swift followed up her smash debut album with the best-selling country album of the year. Sure, the songs still reflect Swift's young mindset, but there's a certain timeless element to them, too. It's all the more impressive that Swift wrote more than half of the album, and co-wrote the rest, which not only puts her in a certain league in the country scene, but well above most of her teen brethren in the pop genre. Mostly love songs, or songs of lost love, there's a song to suit any mood on this album, which makes it one of my favorite on this list.

8.

Candlebox
Into the Sun
(Silent Majority)

"I‘m in the need, of someone to confide. / Surrendering / 'Cause I'm not as strong as you think."

Into the Sun reminds listeners how missed frontman Kevin Martin's soulful vocals have been in the rock scene. The album is immediately comfortable, and Candlebox manages to string together a collection of songs to rival its best effort. The band shifts from louder material ("Stand") to a more laid-back rock-blues approach ("Bitches Brewin'") but really shines the brightest when it gets melancholic ("Surrendering", "Miss You" and the title-track). Managing to channel the ghost of Mother Love Bone, the band just rocks out in every way imaginable. The best part of this entire album is that Candlebox never sounds dated, and the band was never so huge that the effort might reek of a nostalgia trip. Instead, the group puts forth one of this year’s strongest rock releases.

7.

Eyes Set to Kill
Reach
(Break Silence Records)

"Don‘t mind me, I'm only dying."

Eyes Set to Kill could easily draw comparisons to early Atreyu, From Autumn to Ashes or Avenged Sevenfold—but instead of hardcore vocals, the lead vocals are melodic and haunting. The band's dual guitars offer a thick wall of riffs to pull everything together with hooks galore. The drumming is thunderous without being overpowering. The piano or synthesizer pops up at the most unexpected times for a welcome, added dimension of melody. There's no screwing around on Reach, with the blistering metallic numbers ("Violent Kiss"), some epic tracks ("Young Blood Spills Tonight" and "Darling") with plenty of style shifts, and some catchy songs, too (the title track or "Song 2"). Nothing comes across as filler. A fantastic debut full-length from a band on the rise.

6.

Guns N' Roses
Chinese Democracy
(Geffen)

"So now I wander through my days / And try to find my ways / To the feelings that I felt / I saved for you and no one else / And though as long as this road seems / I know it's called the street of dreams / But that's not stardust on my feet / It leaves a taste that's bittersweet / That's called the blues."

Chinese Democracy isn’t a head-banger like Appetite for Destruction, but was that really what fans were expecting? Instead, the album plays out like a compendium of modern-rock, pulling in elements from all corners of the rock/metal genre and really turning everything on its end. The harder material—the title-track, "Riad N’ the Bedouins", "Better", "Catcher in the Rye", "Shackler’s Revenge"—is all heavy on the guitar. And there's plenty of slower, more mood-oriented material to juxtapose those songs ("This I Love", "Madagascar", "Sorry"). Everything is beautifully over-produced, but in a good way; from the slick, layered guitar attack, to the layers upon layers of vocals, it all just seems to work. In the end, Chinese Democracy is one hell of a journey, with musical peaks and valleys that I doubt anyone was expecting. The guitars sound great, and Axl's voice sounds fantastic; he truly has been one of rock's most-missed vocalists. This album becomes more impressive with each spin. Maybe it will never quite live up to the hype, but it doesn't have to.

5.

Trivium
Shogun
(Roadrunner Records)

"I will never be what they / Want me to / I live by my own path in life / No turning / Back now, I won't be held down / Forced into a shallow grave built upon their empty ways / There's no turning back."

It seems like any album by Trivium will find a place on one of my year-end lists. What's even more refreshing is that the band continues to grow and mature with each release. The band kicked off its career with a solid, straight-forward metal effort, followed it up with an even more intense release, then somehow managed to craft a follow-up to ...And Justice for All (even though the band wasn't named Metallica). With Shogun, Trivium crawled out from under the Metallica-wannabe label and crafted one hell of an epic. The songs are crushing and expansive, the lyrics and vocals stronger than any of the group's previous efforts. And the melody infused throughout is so punishing that you can’t help but bang your head and then shake it as the solos spill from your speakers.

4.

Byzantine
Oblivion Beckons
(Prosthetic Records)

"It’s a long road out of hell when you refuse to do the devil’s work."

With Oblivion Beckons, every aspect of Byzantine's sound has been ratcheted up a notch (or 10)—the riffs are thicker and more complex, the drumming more frenetic, the bass meatier and the vocals either grittier, more horrific or melodically haunting. Apart from the band's not-overly-progressive musical approach—there's a nice blend of metal and the nuances of prog without taking it to a limit that would alienate fans of either sub-genre—it's Chris "O.J." Ojeda's vocals that set Byzantine apart from similar acts in the metal scene. He can wail, he can sound like he's screaming from the bowels of hell, and he can also do some fantastic clean vocals (with just enough of a hint of a Southern accent) and somehow marry the two styles into a third monster. Heavy groove permeates every track, and the band’s straight-ahead metal approach harkens to Lamb of God’s delivery, albeit a little less abrasive. That the band is able to incorporate a variety of metal approaches (hints of thrash, an obvious nod to progressive material, the thunderous chug of speed and plenty of tech-inspired riffing) and work it into a cohesive piece, not to mention all of the other elements it throws in for good measure, is a true testament to the talent each member brought to the table.

3.

Children of Bodom
Blooddrunk
(Fontana Universal Records)

"In this shell of life you left me hanging dry / With a smile on my face I'll watch you cry."

This album spills out of the speakers like a wall of sound. Everything is thick, compact and foreboding. The band has incorporated more thrash elements to its repertoire, and it gives the material more of an edge than on its previous album. The rest is vintage Children of Bodom, with killer solos, mind-bending riffs, plenty of keyboards, choking double-bass drumming and a lot of melody to temper the breakneck pacing. With each subsequent spin, the various layers of each song expand before the listener. They like to blend these slower, more melodic elements with a crushing assault ("Tie My Rope" is a good example) to create soundscapes that border on the more accessible orchestrated metal genre.

2.

Metallica
Death Magnetic
(Warner Bros. Records)

"Cause we hunt you down without mercy / Hunt you down all nightmare long / Feel us breathe upon your face / Feel us shift, every move we trace."

This album has grown on me, spin after spin, since its release. Death Magnetic is a completely new monster, and die-hard fans can hear tiny elements from all of Metallica's previous efforts this time around. From the raw ("All Nightmare Long") to the thrash ("My Apocalypse") to the mid-tempo rocker ("The Judas Kiss"), each former album seems represented in some capacity this time out. When Metallica is able to pull pieces from its entire career into one song (like on "The Day That Never Comes") is not only a testament to the band and the album, but also producer Rick Rubin, who's made a name for himself for not only historically bringing the best out of bands, but also for pushing them to explore directions they might not regularly take. There are some really strong elements on Death Magnetic: Kirk Hammett unleashed for the entirety of the album; the crazy groove on the aforementioned "All Nightmare Long"; and check out the spotlight on Robert Trujillo with plenty of bass riffing taking center stage on "Cyanide". This is the "statement" album Metallica needed to make, and it shows why so many bands still point to them as a major influence. Sometimes there's nothing quite as good as a legend out to prove something.

1.

Amon Amarth
Twilight of the Thunder God
(Metal Blade)

"Standing firm against all odds / guarding the most sacred home / we protect the realm of gods / our destiny is carved in stone."

This album just came out of nowhere, grabbed me and just refused to let go. It's punishing metal at its finest; on this album Amon Amarth dialed down the death-metal edge and turned up the epic feel of each song. There's groove and melody and crushing solos... Sure, the title-track kills almost any other metal song to come out this year, but it's the fist-pounding nature of "Guardians of Asgaard" that really captured my attention. And then those moments of pure brilliance, most notably the cello-bridge on "Live for the Kill", that just blew my mind. Heavy metal detailing the life, trials and legends of the Vikings—it might sound ridiculous, but it results in my pick for album of the year.

Notable notables...

Most disappointing music news of the year: Marie Digby lays the foundation for her solo debut with a grassroots effort on YouTube, but after the album's release it is revealed that may have just been a clever marketing ploy by the record company, leaving a lot of fans feeling betrayed with a bitter taste in their mouths.

Most impressive debut album: She & Him's self-titled debut sees Zooey Deschanel's voice instantly capturing the listener as the band takes a musical journey inspired by pop music of the '50s and '60s.

Most underwhelming album: After such high hopes for Ultra Beatdown, Dragonforce somehow managed to craft a solid yet underwhelming retread of Inhuman Rampage.

Best song from a soundtrack (movie or television): The middle-eastern flavor of Guns N’ Roses' "If the World" was the perfect ending for Body of Lies.

Best cover song: Six Feet Under do a version of the Mötley Crüe classic "Bastard", that sounds like it was recorded at the gates of Hell.

Best guest appearance on a song: Colbie Caillat writes and sings with Taylor Swift on "Breathe".

Twisted Sister -- 'Live at the Astoria' CD/DVD [review]

Twisted Sister - Live at the Astoria [CD/DVD]
Demolition Records (11/18/08)
Hard rock / Metal (Glam)

While never the most prolific metal band out there, Twisted Sister has somehow become one of those bands from the '80s that is regarded as somewhat legendary on the strength of a handful of popular tracks.

Live at the Astoria plays out as a greatest-hits collection, with a solid sampling from the group's back catalogue. The recording is fairly crisp, with hardly any crowd interference (which you'll either like or dislike depending on what you're looking for in a live album).

And for the fans, there's little missing from this set. The band cranks out particularly rousing versions of "The Price", "Ride to Live (Live to Ride)" and "Under the Blade", closing out the festivities with a killer version of "I Wanna Rock" before a somewhat lackluster encore. Ending things with "S.M.F." is one thing, but the two-song set starts with the questionable "Come Out and Play" purely in an attempt to get the crowd to chant along with the Warriors-inspired "Twisted Sister ... Come out and play!", which, judging from the crowd noise, never quite takes off as the band might have hoped.

The rest of the set is pretty straight-forward. "The Fire Still Burns" ... "Like a Knife in the Back" ... "The Kids are Back" ... "Shoot ‘Em Down" ... the hits keep coming hard and heavy. The biggest surprise is that the band seems to sleepwalk through its biggest hit, "We're Not Gonna Take It", which lacks that certain spark that you'd expect from a live version.

This package includes a DVD of the same performance that, except for possible nuances, is pretty much a video translation of the concert—I say nuances because at least during "We're Not Gonna Take It" the band stops mid-song as Dee Snider goes off on a rant about an "unnamed" record executive that dismissed the song after it was recorded and prior to release. Post-rant, the band kicks back into the song for another minute for a crowd sing-along. You could appreciate the sentiment, except the audio is badly chopped (read: censored) to protect the identity of said executive Snider refers to by name. This entire exchange is happily missing from the CD.

The show was recorded back in 2004, but there's no clear reason as to the four-year delay in release since there are no bells and/or whistles to accompany the show. So, what you ultimately have is a bare-bones glimpse at a rock band doing what it does best—more than 20 years since its inception—rocking an audience into a frenzy.

Dir en grey -- 'Uroboros' [review]

Dir en grey - Uroboros
The End Records (11/11/08)
Metal (Melodic) / Rock

While perhaps not quite at the level of Opeth or Dream Theater, Dir en grey is Japan's answer to the aforementioned bands, proving it with a solid decade-long career and this, the band's seventh studio album.

Uroboros is a mixture of metal and progressive rock—a combination of beauty, bliss, horror and destruction. Dir en grey combines elements from all corners of the metal/rock genres to put forth a cacophony of pandemonium, all the while vocalist Kyo, singing almost exclusively in Japanese, wails, growls and grunts along like a frenzied madman.

Opening with the one-two punch of the instrumental "Sa Bir" and epic "Vinushka" (which clocks in at over nine minutes), it's clear the band is happy to take chances. While "Vinushka" may come across as bloated at moments, the song is a sonic journey, bouncing from acoustic beauty to peaks of power metal and depths of death metal, again and again.

The band takes its experimental approach even further with "Stuck Man", a head-banging blend of funk and death metal.

But it's those moments of tight musicianship when Dir en grey produces its best songs. Take the straight-forward "Red Soil", with its driving riffs and stutter-stop verses, or the blinding fury of "Doukoku to Sarinu", or the radio-friendly modern-rock feel of "Glass Skin". These 3- to 4-minute songs display a better sense of the best the band has to offer as opposed to, say, the self-indulgent 7-minute plus "Ware, Yami, Tote..." that aims for epic but hits overly-dramatic instead.

Two nice touches with the album: the liner notes contain all the lyrics translated into English, which shows the band weaving tales of reincarnation and guilt; and two versions of "Dozing Green" included on this set, one sung in English, the other in Japanese (which only shows that, with a frontman like Kyo, it matters not what language the songs are sung in).

Any fan of Opeth, Tool or any progressive metal outfits will find more than a few things to love on this album.

Various Artists -- 'Vans Warped Tour 2007' [DVD review]

Vans Warped Tour 2007 [DVD]
Image Entertainment (12/2/08)
Unrated
60 minutes

A year too late, this video compilation of live performances and artist interviews from the 2007 Warped Tour has finally hit shelves, and unfortunately does its best to underwhelm fans.

Sure, there's some good stuff on here, most notably killer performances from punk legends Bad Religion and Pennywise, as well as solid showings from Coheed and Cambria, and Killswitch Engage.

But for all that is good, there’s plenty of filler, with weak offerings from Pepper, Sum 41 and The Starting Line juxtaposed against unmemorable cuts from the likes of Chiodos and Fishbone.

The problem is, this collection really offers nothing more than a taste, featuring a single song from a broad mix of a scant collection from what the tour has to offer. Put aside the question of whether bands like Killswitch Engage or Avenged Sevenfold belong on the tour; the single-song offerings keep the running time to an hour at the expense of giving you anything of substance or even a real handle of what this tour was like. The producers could have doubled the running time to either offer more songs from the same acts, or at the very least more songs from more acts. Sure, a single song from 22 instead of 11 bands is still light on substance, but at least it gives us a bigger collection. For best effect, there probably should have been a single song from the lesser-known acts and then, for bands like Bad Religion, give at least three songs.

Then there's the choice of interview and performance footage. Why offer interviews with Paramore, The Almost or Meg & Dia but then no performance footage from those bands? Paramore is a particular quandary given the band's rise over the past year.

As for the nuts and bolts, the video is offered up in 1:33:1 with a nice Surround audio track, and there are a handful of bonus songs and interviews to be had as bonus footage.

So basically, what you have here is a perfectly suitable extended commercial for Warped Tour. And if the aim was to chronicle the tour's 13th anniversary, well ... see above for all the shortcomings. With over a year to compile and put this thing together, fans deserved a lot more, especially when you look at the superior audio sets the tour has put out over the years.

Filter -- 'Remixes for the Damned' [review]

Filter - Remixes for the Damned
Pulse Records (11/4/08)
Hard rock (Industrial rock) / Electronic

Hot on the heels of Anthems for the Damned, Richard Patrick has put together a Web-exclusive album of remixes offering what he calls a more industrial take on Filter’s first new album in five years.

Rather than sounding more industrial, however, most of the tracks have a "dance party remix" feel to them, if for no other real reason than the repetitive club beats and expanded tracks with little "edge."

Sure, there are moments, like the mid-way point of "I Keep the Flowers Around (Love's Labor's Lost)", which features a haunting, driving guitar playing over this expansive, spacey beat, but for the most part, these tracks feel ultimately forgettable.

But there are a few high points where the songs exceed their original counterparts. The mellower take on "Soldiers of Misfortune" (The Justin Eyerly Version), which focuses on a backing string section and acoustic guitar to accompany Patrick’s vocals, is a real gem. Stripping away the pop sheen gives the song an added dimension of complexity and seriousness that really works well with the subject matter.

This toned-down approach also works well on the stripped versions of "Only You" and "Lie After Lie", too, which aren't remixes as much as acoustic versions of the songs. Nonetheless, the simplistic approach works so well that you can't help but wonder if an acoustic album of Filter material is in the works.

For a different take on "Soldiers of Misfortune", the "Turning Blood into Oil" mix has a steady drum beat, which gives the song a militaristic feel, but during the choruses a haunting synth riff kicks in, adding an ethereal element to the track.

That particular tone is present on "Cold (Desert Sky)" as well. Once again, with the pop sheen stripped off, the song takes on a new dimension (though the programmed backing could have been toned down a little). The best part of the song is where the female backing vocals, which are hardly noticeable on the studio version, spring to the forefront this time around.

The multiple takes of "The Take" aren't too bad, either. The "Rumsfeld Torture Party" version is more frantic and high-energy, while the "Declanator" mix is a little more low-key but somehow manages to be more urgent as a result.

There are two versions of "What's Next", and both probably could have benefited from being combined into one track. And the third version of "Soldiers of Misfortune" (the "10 hits of X in Baghdad" mix) comes across as overkill. The version is a far cry from the other takes on the collection (much more aggressive and club-sounding) and adds nothing to the song or the album.

The weakest moments on the collection come about when the tracks just sort of meander with no direction. "Kill The Day (Gonzo in the Club)" or the aforementioned reworking of "Soldiers" could have been any song mixed for clubbing purposes, with layered, never-ending beats looping to no clear purpose.

This was supposed to be a return to Filter's industrial roots, but much like the proper studio version of Anthems for the Damned, nothing on this set touches the intensity of "Hey Man Nice Shot" or the Crystal Method collaboration "(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do".

In the end, Remixes for the Damned offers up a mixed bag of new takes on the songs. Ironically it's the quieter moments that really shine on here, but one wouldn't normally think "quiet" when thinking of industrial remixes. Of course, being a download exclusive, you're able to download your choice of tracks as opposed to the entire set, so feel free to create the best album you can.

Early Man -- 'Beware the Circling Fin' [review]

Early Man - Beware the Circling Fin [EP]
The End Records (10/14/08)
Metal (Thrash)

Throwing Early Man's latest EP onto the stereo is like activating a time machine. The band somehow manages to perfectly encapsulate the raw energy of Metallica's Kill 'Em All and other early thrash pioneers and, in doing so, they accomplish two things. First, Early Man refuse to fall into the trap of attempting to inject any modern element to the sound. But secondly, and more importantly, they do this without coming across as an homage or novelty act.

Instead, Early Man has basically constructed an album that should have come out in 1983 instead of 2008. From the catchy, thrash bliss of "Sinking the Knife" to the Priest-inspired wails on "Coiled Like a Snake", it's clear the band has a firm grasp on crafting a classic... well, something that sounds like a classic. But it's the title-track that most captures the best of what Early Man has to offer —driving riffs and cymbal-heavy drumming with soaring, lo-fi vocals crushing together into a mid-tempo, sludgy heap of metal. And just for kicks, the short set closes out with the punk-inspired, minute-and-a-half "Suck Me Dry".

It's clear this is just a taste of what this three-piece outfit has to offer. With another full-length on the horizon, fans may do better to wait for that. But for a nice, albeit brief, re-introduction to the band (it released an EP and full-length in 2005 as well), or for fans of classic thrash in general, you won't go wrong with Beware the Circling Fin.