Thursday, January 14, 2010

MMIX


Here it is finally, our opinions on the best of 2009. Thank you to everyone who sent me a list and sorry it took so long to post. For any bands I might have forgotten, I'm sorry to you also. There was SO much out there that deserved a listen that I just didn't get to or couldn't fit into a top 10. Maybe next year a top 20..?

Matt Amyx (Torquezine)

ABSU - Absu
TOMBS – Winter Hours
COALESCE – OX
CONVERGE – Ax to Fall
PELICAN – What We All Come to Need/Ephemeral
SUNN 0))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
ISIS – Wavering Radiant
THE LIFE AND TIMES – Tragic Boogie
KYLESA – Static Tentions
KHANATE – Clean Hands Go Foul

Honorable: Jesu – Infinity

2010: CRAFT - Void

Morgan (Kill The Client)

GOATWHORE: carving out the eyes of god- this album fucking rips! i've probably played this a couple of hundred of times this year and seen them live 4 times. they turned up the guitars in the mix and cut the amount of lyrics. RIFFS-A-PLENTY! just a fantastic album all the way around. great songs and great production. SICK FUCKIN RECORD!
TOMBS: winter hours- this is one of the most open and layered sonic experiences EVER! this album is huge and expansive. yet almost closterphobic at times. just pure genius. it has some black metal elements just a 1000 times smarter. very experimental and heavy.
HATRED SURGE: deconstruct- this record makes me want to smash everything i own. by far the single best sounding power-violence record ever recorded! just plain punishing. i can't say enough about this band or this record.
NAPALM DEATH: time waits for no slave- one of the top 10 bands of all time! a huge influnce on me personally and this album is more proof why. awesome awesome shit. grindcore at it's absolute finest!
COALESCE: ox- you know when you set around with your friends and say "i wish this band or that band would get back together"? this is that dream come true. it's a coalesce record to the next level. just crazy jerking, hulking, spaztic noise! AMAZING!
WEEKEND NACHOS: unforgivable- chicagos finest! another power-violence/hardcore band that just puts violence on record. huge riffs and angry breakdowns make morgan a punching machine! grab your mouthpiece and start destroying!
CONVERGE: axe to grind- i can't say enough about his band. every record feeds into the next record that goes to the next level. un-fucking-touchable live! axe picks up and passes the torch and just keeps going. converge have really become a genre crushing musical monstrosity.
MAGRUDERGRIND: s/t- what do you get when you mix grind, power-violence, hardcore, and good times? this record. they really stepped up the production this time around. great samples on this record too. fast, pissed, and awesome!
SHRINEBUILDER: s/t- one part st vitus, one part neurosis, one part sleep, and one part melvins... GODLIKE is what it is! this is a supergroup, people! every single track on this album is everything you thought it would be like when these masters of time and space came together. a huge almost spritual audible experience.
BURNT BY THE SUN: heart of darkness- this album is/was everything i had hoped it would be and just a little more. sad to say this is the end of the road for this amazing band. at least they're going out leaving something behind to take notes from for the next 10 years.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
BRUTAL TRUTH, GAZA, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, JAVALINA, KEELHAUL, SLAYER, RED CHORD, HARMS WAY

NOTABLE LET DOWNS:
BARONESS, ISIS, HATEBREED, MASTODON

WATCH FOR IN 2010:
RATKING

James Delgado (Kill The Client)

Tombs - Winter Hours
Vorum - Grim Death Awaits
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Weekend Nachos - Unforgivable
Hatred Surge - Deconstruct
Suffocation - Close of a Chapter (Live)

Dave Powell (Dross)

Nirvana 2002 - Recordings 89-91
Absu - Absu
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Burnt By The Sun - Heart Of Darkness
Dying Fetus - Descend Into Depravity
Slayer - World Painted Blood
The Red Chord - Fed Through The Teeth Machine
Goatwhore - Carving Out The Eyes Of God
Suffocation - Blood Oath
Obituary - Darkest Day

Proscriptor (Absu)

INPO:

Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough/Portal - Swarth (Tie)
Gong - 2032
W.A.S.P - Babylon
Peaches - I Feel Cream
Foreigner - Can't Slow Down
Razor Of Occam - Homage To Martyrs
Circulus - Thought Becomes Reality
Astra - The Weirding
Kiss - Sonic Boom
Zemial - I Am The Dark

Honorable Mention:

King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King, Lizard & Red - 40th Anniversary Series - Steven Wilson Remix Editions (CD/DVD-A)
Genesis - 1973-2007 - Live Box Set

Andre (Locrian)

Horseback – The Invisible Mountain
Gog – MFTRM (Mist form the Random More)
Buried Inside – Spoils of Failure
Josh Lay – True Mask
Wrnlrd – Myrmidon
The Human Quena Orchestra – The Politics of the Irredeemable
Khanate – Clean Hands Go Foul
Gnaw – This Face
Vagus Nerve – Lo Pan
Aun - Motorsleep

Terence (Locrian)

Expo '70 - Psychosis (LP)
Habsyll - MMVII (CD)
Wolf Eyes - Always Wrong (CD)
Fell Voices - Fell Voices
Horna -Sanojesi Aarelle (CD)
The Human Quena Orchestra - The Politics of the Irredeemable (CD)
Hans Joachim-Roedelius - Durch Die Wuste (LP Reissue)
Absu - Absu (2xLP)
Vomir - Proanomie (CD)
Horseback - The Invisible Mountain (CD)

Justin Bartlett (VberKvlt Art Lord)

Embrace of Thorns "Atonement Ritual"
Stench of Decay "Where Death and Decay Reign" cassette
Altaar "Dødsønske" cassette
Black Majesty "Seventh King of Edom" 7" EP
Portal "Swarth"
ABSU "Absu"
Funeral Mist "Maranantha"
Beherit "Engram"

notable:
Katharsis "Fourth Reich"
Teitanblood "Seven Chalices"
Depeche Mode "Sounds of the Universe" boxset
SUNN O))) "Monoliths and Dimensions"
The Observatory "Dark Folke"
Gravetemple "Le Vampire de Paris"

re-releases/new versions:
VON "Satanic Blood Angel" diehard LP version
SIXX "Sister Devil" diehard LP version
Aura Noir "Hades Rise" LP version
Virus "Black Flux" die hard LP version

Jason Burris (Corruption Code)

Absu - Absu
Goatwhore - Carving out the eyes of god
Slayer - world painted blood
Baroness - Blue Record
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Tombs - Winter Hours
Torche/Boris (split) - Chapter ahead being fake
Spinnerette - Spinnerette
Clutch - strange cousins from the west
The Dead Weather – Horehound

Mark Dawursk (Photo Lord/Walking Billboard for Hydrahead and Southern Lord)

In no particular order

ISIS - Wavering Radiant
Converge - Axe To Fall
Coalesce - OX
Nihill - Grond
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vestusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
Funeral Mist - Maranatha
Yob - The Great Cessation
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - White Luna
Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
Altar Of Plagues - White Tomb

Honorable mentions:
Friends & Family
Cave In - Planets Of Old EP
A Serious Man
Halo : ODST
McSweeny's entire 09 output
The Hangover
Where The Wild Things Are
COD: Modern Warfare 2
The Venture Brothers
Groom Lake (graphic novel) - Ben Templesmith

(((03:Everyone)