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On Kärlek Är För Dom Joakim Thåström continued down the path of more personal songs he had explored on his previous album, and combined it with the ominous tones of the sort-of industrial sideproject Sällskapet.
Not sure how many non-Swedes will get anything out this, but go ahead and take the plunge.
(mp3) Thåström - Kärlek är för dom (feat. Anna Ternheim)
(mp3) Thåström - Axel Landqvists park
(mp3) Thåström - Linnéa
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It's becoming quite easy to recognise a Richard Hawley record - within second you know exactly who you're listening to.
His previous records have been ideal for night time endevours, now he's moved on to morning music. More sparse and intimate than ever before and with his vocals pushed way up front, Truelove's Gutter is the soundtrack to those forlorn moments at four o'clock in the morning when the whole world is asleep except for you and the street lights.
(mp3) Richard Hawley - Open up your door
(mp3) Richard Hawley - Soldier on
(mp3) Richard Hawley - For your lover give some time
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Gallows' 2007 debut Orchestra Of Wolves did absolutely nothing for me. Disjointed songs that went in many different directions, none of which were very satisfactory. Run of the mill screamo-ish punk largely devoid of hooks, air guitar-worthy riffs or anything even remotely memorable.
Grey Britain also took a few listens to strike a chord with me, but I cannot but admit what a masterpiece it truly is. I've been an anglophile for as long as I can remember, and as much as I loved Britpop I must say it's quite refreshing to finally hear its complete antithesis. Grey Britain is The Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen distilled and filtered through thirty years of discontent and misanthropy.
Listening to it I can't help but see images of every loveable/loathsome British stereotype I can think of. Cockney dock workers having a stout and some toad in the hole at the local greasy spoon, people who spend more money on football tickets than dentistry, fat jaded couples in their 60s who think going to Blackpool over the weekend and eating fish 'n chips with way too much vinegar on a rocky beach ignoring each other for two days counts as going on holiday.
It's also intestering that it points the finger of blame inwards, not at the people in power. It's not the politicians fault we're in this shit, we brought this on ourselves by not doing enough to stop them, by not caring enough. Grey Britain wants to be a call to arms to inspire people to snap out of their apathy and sort everything out, but it knows it's too far gone and the hopelessness never ceases to shine through. I'm sure that's something we can all relate to in one way or another, British or not.
But apart from the nihilism of its theme and its lyrics, the album is a triumph musically - it's all the best components from punk, hardcore, rock and metal crammed into one cd. All four genres constantly wrestles and fight to get in the front and the result is at times downright exhausting.
Still can't fucking stand Orchestra Of Wolves though.
(mp3) Gallows - Black eyes
(mp3) Gallows - The vulture acts I & II
(mp3) Gallows - Crucifucks
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After two dirgy, sludgy albums Big Business opened their sound up a bit. While the band has always been known as a bass & drum band only, they've used plenty of guitars in the past, and the addition of guitarist Toshi Kasai as a full-time means that signature monster bass has been pushed to the back a bit, giving the band a perhaps more conventional rock sound. Less heavy, but every bit as good.
Someone (sadly I don't remember who or where I read it) compared this album to Uriah Heep, and as strange as that may sound it actually kind of fits. Mind The Drift has such a clear classic rock leaning that you could almost think they'd been inspired by Crack The Skye. That's not the case though, as the albums were recorded more or less at the same time. The two make quite nice companion pieces though, they compliment each other nicely.
(mp3) Big Business - Gold and final
(mp3) Big Business - The drift
(mp3) Big Business - Ayes have it
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Much like the Omar Rodriguez stuff at #21, I couldn't help but slab these two masterpieces together in the same spot. I already wrote about Addicted here, go and read it.
Devin Townsend - one of very few musical geniuses alive today. Worship the Phil Spector of metal. Something tells me both Deconstruction and Ghost will rank quite highly when it the time comes to present the best album of 2010.
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Coast
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Heaven send
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Lady Helen
Buy Ki @ Amazon.com
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Supercrush!
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Hyperdrive!
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Numbered!
Buy Addicted @ Amazon.com
I have no idea what to make of this album, I really dont. Definitely the best album I've heard in the "let's throw every last thing we can think of into the mix and see what happens" category since Fireside's Elite.
It's all over the place and while I've been listening to it almost every day since its release early in the year I have still to properly penerate it. It still continues to catch me by surprise with its amalgamation of doom riffs, proggy parts proggier than you'd like to know, and vocals ranging from blood curling screams (some of them courtesy of Karyn Crisis), Serj Tankian/Jello Biafra-esque operatics, beautiful goth-esque siren wails (some of them courtesy of Anneke Von Giersbergen) and Steve von Till-type moaning.
Imagine the Neurosis & Jarboe record mixed with System Of A Down and a mariachi band and you're not even close, but at least you're somewhat heading in the right direction. I honestly have no idea how to even begin to describe this album or even put into words how captivating it is and just how much love it and cant stop listening to it. It's fucked up, it makes no sense, and it's absolutely breathtaking.
If there ever was an idiot savant band in metal, it would be Giant Squid.
(mp3) Giant Squid - Panthalassa
(mp3) Giant Squid - Sevengill
(mp3) Giant Squid - Mormon Island
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A secret project that went on behind the curtains for quite some time, before they finally decided to present their spunktacular product to the world.
Dismissed by some as sounding like just another Queens Of The Stones Age album by people who didnt listen very carefully, Them Crooked Vultures may not be anything revolutionary in terms of its contest. It's just a rock record. There's nothing here that hadn't already been done by 1978, but many things set it apart from being just another rock record. The main one being fantastic songs, another one would be a loose, chilled-out vibe and good times. It's the feel good record of the year, rivalled only by Addicted (see above).
A third would be the best vocal performance of Josh Hommes career - compare this to the first QOTSA record and it's hard to believe it's the same guy. A fourth would be simple fact that is the best album Homme has played on in seven years, the best DaveGrohl has played on in twelve years, and the best John Paul Jones has played on in thirty-four.
Believe the hype.
(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Scumbag blues
(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Bandoliers
(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Gunman
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Are you just like me and can't get enough of good old fashioned psychedelic rock? No? Oh.
Well maybe The Weirding can change your mind. On this their debut album, San Diego's Astra gives us 80 minutes of 100% undiluted derivative progressive jazzy psychedelic rock straight from the school of Pink Floyd, Camel, King Crimson, Yes and probably hundreds of obscure bands I've never heard of.
15 minute songs with long trippy jams in the middle? Of course. Rick Wright/David Gilmour style vocal harmonies? Definitely. Mellotrons and flutes? You bet your ass.
For us sane ones who understand that Pink Floyd peaked in 1971, this album is heaven. I wouldn't bet on it but something in my gut tells me this is sort of what Mikael Åkerfeldt was aiming for when he wrote Opeth's Damnation. Only this is far trippier.
I'd never heard of Astra before and I can't remember who told me about them, but I am eternally greatful, definitely the biggest find of the year for me. You want this album, I know you do.
No, you need this album. Go get it immediately.
(mp3) Astra - Silent sleep
(mp3) Astra - Beyond to slight the maze
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True evil always lurks where you wouldn't expect it.
This is why crossburning corpsepaint posers who name their bands "Christfucker" and talk about how amazing Satan is offer little but hollow provocations. This is why the most evil people, the ones will ultimately destroy the world as we know it aren't devilworhippers with guitars, but rather innocuous-looking old white guys in fantastic suits.
This is why the world's most revered horror fiction writer looks like an accountant and why the most wanted terrorist in history looks gentler than a garden gnome.
Fuck, there I go rambling again.
What I'm trying to get to is that this is also why the most nightmarish soul-rape of a record released this year comes from the land of koalas, from a group of people who call themselves Portal (a name so mundane you don't stop to think just how sinister it really is) and wear grandfather clocks on their heads.
No traditional song structures to speak of, just continuous eruptions of black slime from the darkest corners of the underworld. Imagine Evoken playing Deathspell Omega covers in Arkham Asylum and you're halfway there. Had black metal existed in 1925 it would have sounded like this. Lovecraft's ancient, slithering tentacles set to music. A landmark record.
Portal aren't the fastest, the heaviest or the most technical, but what they do have in spades is the Feel. Yes, with a capital F. That feel of nihilism and utter despair that so many bands, particularly in black metal, try to achieve. The feel of lurking chaos, inescapable terrors and a suffocating descent into a madness darker than the deepest chasm.
You dont believe me? Try listening to Swarth with headpones in the dark all by yourself and the volume cranked all the way up. It's the closest thing possible to a waking nightmare, one of the most terrifying, claustrophobic musical experiences you will ever have. You can psysically feel it slowly engulfing your soul, one track at a time.
(mp3) Portal - The swayy
(mp3) Portal - Werships
(mp3) Portal - Marityme
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Well that came as no surprise, did it?
I could ramble on about Rasputin, golden umbilical cords and time travel. But I won't, enough has been said about that already. Crack The Skye is at the top of every sensible person's list and for all the best reasons. About as perfect as an album can get.
(mp3) Mastodon - Crack the skye
(mp3) Mastodon - The last baron
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1 comments:
Awesome!
What a nice list.
Been listening to punch of these album's sample songs...you'll get post from me later.
Thanks for making this!
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