Awards 2008

Too many releases, so little time. I've been spedning more time on trying to make the site better (the next version should correct the bugs of V2) and as a result I had less time for reviews this year. I miss reviewing but my current personal and financial situation makes it even more difficult for me to review as I did in the past. I still will review from time to time as I really love doing it, in the hope that things get better in all fronts (personal, financial & technical for the site) so I can devote my free time to this activity (reviewing) that I love so much.

2009 started amazingly in my opinion with Iron Fire's inhuman new album To the Grave (in my to-do list of reviews for the next few weeks btw !), I've been waiting for this since their debut and they are finally back ! If you liked Thunderstorm, then you cannot afford to miss To The Grave, already one album of the year for 2009 :). The new Grave digger also seemed interesting at first listen but will require more in-depth listens before I can make any judgement. I also guess Axxis will release a new album in 2009 and I can't wait to see if they manage to keep the bar as high as they have set it since their return (with Eyes of Darkness as an exception, though the title song is one of the best ever from the band, the rest of the album was a bit flat). Also awaiting with huge anticipation is the second Wintersun album, Jari and the guys had terrible computer issues during the recording of their follow-up to debut, which was one of the best melodeath albums of all time (to me that is !). So I'm waiting eagerly, hoping that this new album, Time, will be as good if not better than Wintersun was.

I have lost complete hope that Edguy will get back on track with the Power Metal wagon, its clear to me Toby is trying to be a sort of Bon Jovi personae and while his music is still of great quality, its lost punch and power and it saddens me very much. I'm sure TONS of fans are really disappointed, and while I could accept the low-tone of Avantasia' Scarecrow, by simply not thinking of it as Avantasia but a Tobias Sammet side-project, the new Edguy is so soft it hurts me. Avantasia at least had a few really bombastic songs, something that is nowhere to be found on the all-too-commercial-trying-to-get-high-in-the-charts Tinnitus Sanctus :(. Edguy's past glory will be sadly missed in the current metal scene, on the other hand the next generation of bands like Seventh Avenue and Storwarrior might just manage to get the flame burning and deliver what we excepted from Edguy, Gamamray and others who seem to be really losing speed lately.

Happy (late) new year to everyone and have a heavy 2009 year !

2008 was a year with the least amount of new metal that I listened to. I just can't find much excitement in what is coming out. My cd buying habits have switched from scouring the streets for something new to filling out my collection. This year alone I got fabulous gems such as Steel Prophet's first two albums, Viper's Soldiers Of Sunrise, everything by Magnum, and demos from Stormwarrior and Blind Guardian. Maybe it is because the traditional heavy metal sound (Maiden, Priest, Saxon) is what I fell in love with first so naturally I gravitate towards that sound. That old sound, that authentic sound.

This list is dreadfully short. That is because these are basically the handful of 2008 releases that came my way. The top one on the list Marcello - Vestry sits atop the only five cds that got me going this year. And by got me going I mean plays well within the triple digit club. It kicks so much ass it was my Surprise Of The Year as well. Everything else after the top five, take as hearty recommendations.

The album that pretty much every Black Metal fan under the sun has been waiting for, this is the fulfilment of years of underachievement from the Norwegian legend. You want hope? You want light? You want happiness? You won’t find them here. It gains the top spot of 2007 for a simple reason – it affected me deeply, reminding of things I’d much rather have forgotten, and in a scene where most people respond to Metal in the same way (headbang… now! air guitar… now!) a piece of deliberately difficult art like this that speaks to each of us in a different way is special indeed. You can’t escape your dark side, however far you may run…

The Greeks prove that there’s more to Greece than, um… yeah, Theogonia’s really good, an atmospheric mix of Black Metal and Folksy Goth, ten songs of passion that’ll bring out the Achilles in all of us. Perfect writing, perfect flow, my introduction to a band that deserve far more attention than it gets - I’ll definitely be chasing past works down. Some might call it an odd choice for second-best with other deserving possibilities in the running, but it’s a classic piece of Metal and deserves every compliment that it gets. With albums like this being released in the here and now, Metal’s future is assured.

Concept albums about aliens? Yes, please! Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens has never sounded better, and the fact that Iced Earth seems headed in a more Progressive direction is great news. Sure, Schaeffer and co. were awesome in the past as an OTT riff-heavy Power Metal band – let’s hope he ramps up the experimental Progginess with part II, due next year, even without Ripper on vocals. In the meantime, Framing Armageddon is an excellent album that rewards your time tenfold.

Fine, they’ve got a new singer and she’s not Tarja. Yet the talent shines through, and Marco and co. have produced another million-dollar winner, with some supreme songwriting skills going into creating a classic for the band. The changes are for the better, I think, and with luck this band will be as good for many years to come.

Who cares when it was released, the best Black Metal is timeless, and L’Acephale will still be putting fear in peoples’ hearts in a hundred years’ time if this blast from the sewer proves anything. Like staring into the abyss and having something cold and slimy stare back…

Mendonca, Gray and the gang have never disappointed me, and Antichrist is no exception. It might not be as immediately outstanding as Words… but give it time and you’ll see this is the Satanic Londoners’ best and most experimental platter o’splatter yet.

Death Metal with style, with skill, and with variation, album number two from this English crew is more than a match for the big names this year. This brute is as much about the brain as the brawn…

Norway’s finest prove they can do subtle as well as overbearing with this heartbreaking album. If they were American they’d be superstars, as it is, well, they’re stars to us. Another slice of genius from the Ulver pie – long may it feed us all.

Voivod meets Kyuss in an explosion of riffs, taking in influences from Meshuggah to Led Zeppelin without losing touch with the music’s foundation. Anyone that appreciates the zanier Doom bands will love this.

Cinematic Metal doesn’t get much better. Think you know epic? Think again, as this band of Swedes prove there’s more to Kabbalah than ropey pop stars and add another shining star to their collection.

True genius lies in the hands of a bunch of Jazzy Black Metallers from Belgium, it seems, and their seventh album of 'Boersk Blek Metle’ is amazing. Blue-skinned dwarves have never been so creepy…

“Someone has found the antidote!” screams Ofu Khan on the ripping opening track. The antidote to the new Nine Inch Nails album, perhaps? Fear Factory’s heavier, scarier sibling proves Industrial Metal doesn’t mean Wimpy Metal yet again, with intriguing hints of a progressive slant meaning that this band isn’t going to run out of ideas any time soon.

These plucky Swedes are the original and best, and it’s about time that people start speaking of them with the respect they deserve. Serpent Saints is a ridiculously good collection of Death Metal anthems, and anyone that appreciates the genre should love it.

Ire works, indeed, so well that you’ll be wondering how in the hell Justin Timberlake went Grindcore. Before remembering you are, in fact, listening to The Dillinger Escape Plan and they’re awesome.

Whatever you think of Dave’s politics, it’s impossible to deny that he’s still got it, and that this (eleventh!) album is the best his band’s put out for a while. There’s no way he can end his band when releases of this quality are ripping up stereos – let’s hope we’ll still be headbanging in another eleven albums’ time.

One of the most out-there bands on the Black Metal front shoots itself in the foot by turning formulaic. Sure, bonkers kvltsters who put style over substance will love it, but those who care more for music than image will be as saddened as I was.

After the awe-inspiring epic pyramids of riffs to be found on Annihilation Of The Wicked, Nile abruptly turned around and produced… this. Although after many listens I’ve started to accept it as not being completely awful, it’s not an instant classic like, ooh, any of the past albums. People have been suggesting that this band has been running out of ideas for a while, and I didn’t believe it until Ithyphallic came along.

Following two underrated experimental albums with a riff-heavy blast may be the way to go. What a pity the riffs are all at least ten years old and the experience in total is about as engrossing as watching paint dry.

In which it is proven that not every Black Metal legend that has split up should reform. The sound of men stuck ten years in the past, trying to sound as if they’re in the present.

An exercise in cutting through hype, actually listening to music, and being disappointed to find that if not for their shapely fire-haired singer, none of you would ever have heard of Epica because they’d be lost in a sea of similarly mediocre bands.

What Amy Winehouse is to Jazz and Ben Stiller is to comedy, these are to Metal. Mock them with harsh words, mock them with scornful laughs, mock their very existence and mock people that enjoy listening to them. It’s not that they aren’t extreme or underground enough, oh no. It’s that each and every song they’ve written is exactly the sort of rubbish that mainstream toe-dippers and day-trippers seize upon as being proof that Metal isn’t dead, that Limp Bizkit and Nirvana didn’t kill us after all. Welcome to the real world, cretins, we’ve known that for years. The above five make metal for the scum, the sheep, those that paddle at the edge of the sea of steel whilst the rest of us dive to its depths, and if you’re reading this rage-filled at this casual trashing of the five bands that have given you a new outlook on life, then may I respectfully suggest spending a shitload more time at this site because, heck, you sure need it.

Well, that was 2008, and it was an interesting year at the very least. Metallica made something of a comeback, Crytopsy made a desperate grab towards the Metal Hammer crowd, and Chinese Democracy proved that it was a lot more interesting when it wasn't actually released. Most notably for me of course, I started writing for the fine institution that is Metal Reviews. And as corny it is to say it, it genuinely has changed my life. I've heard so much new music since my tenure here started, and what's more, it's also completely changed the way I look at music. I may not have got it right all the time (look at my reviews of Voyager and Thirteen Blues For Thirteen Moons for proof), but generally I've had a blast (although pulling my hair out attempting to review the new Horna was not a highlight of my year). 2009 has brought us great new releases from Animal Collective and Absu already this year, and it's set to bring us more from the likes of Mastodon, Immortal and Wolves In The Throne Room. With any luck I'll get to write about some of these, and I hope you enjoy reading the reviews as much as I'll enjoy listening to them. Oh, and of course, thanks to the team for making me very welcome here, particularly Zadok for showing me the ropes.