Slayer 0 Report post Posted December 20, 2008 2008 in Metal The major event for 2008 for me, as noted by my top two albums for the year, was the return of Matt Barlow to the world of metal, first for Pyramaze and then reuniting with Jon Schafer. While I would like to have seen more of what he could have done with Pyramaze, it's very clear that his return has helped bolster Iced Earth back to its former self. While TCOM was no less different from Framing Armageddon (which I listed last year as a major disappointment), either in composition or in length, Barlow IMO helped boost TCOM to a level well beyond FA (that or I just subconsciously dislike Tim Owens) Top Ten (now with numbers!) 1. Pyramaze - Immortal 2. Iced Earth - The Crucible of Man 3. Draconian - Turning Season Within 4. Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God 5. Opeth - Watershed 6. Enslaved - Vertebrae 7. Moonspell - Night Eternal 8. Zimmers Hole - While You Were Shouting... 9. Origin - Antithesis 10. Testament - The Formation of Damnation Surprise OTY Metallica released a new album... and it was actually good! Not good enough to make my top 10, but good enough to keep them out of Disappointment OTY We in the metal thread have already gnashed our teeth over this one, but it deserves mention yet again. Cryptopsy's The Unspoken King (mistakenly referred to as The King Beneath earlier, way to do your homework GF!), as Agent said upon first hearing it, is the Cold Lake of this metal generation, and nothing more need be said than that... although extra piles of shame should be heaped upon them for their mature response to criticism of the album, which consisted of a middle finger custom track posted on their Myspace page that fell back upon the very tired "Internet complainers are losers living in their parents' basement" bit. Dishonorable mention also goes to Judas Priest for their overbloated mess that was Nostradamus. Great idea, awful execution, resulting in a double album padded with way too many songs. Given the quality of most of the songs though, I'm not sure condensing it into a single CD would have made it any better. As it stands right now, Rob Halford's two solo albums from earlier this decade still blow away the two that JP's put out since his return. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Giuseppe Zangara 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2008 This year is the second or maybe even third year in a row where, at the beginning of the year—or late the previous year—I made a thread with the idea of keeping abreast of the forthcoming year's new music releases. This was also the second (or maybe even third) year in a row where, after listening to bunch of new mediocrity, I gave up on my mission before the start of summer. I'm so terribly disinterested in new music; it was only within the past couple of days that I gave the new Kanye West a shot, which is why this morning marked the appearance of the first post wherein I discussed my feelings on the album itself rather than just its critical reception. Maybe I should listen to Chinese Democracy now, huh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH! 0 Report post Posted December 22, 2008 Sometimes I listen to new music for the sake of listening to new music. There's so much shit from this past year sitting in my iTunes library with a 1 or 2 in the play count column. Is this a good way to meaningfully consume/interact with music? Probably not, but I can't help myself. I feel so behind the times if I'm not up on all the latest must-haves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Agent of Oblivion Report post Posted December 25, 2008 as Agent said upon first hearing it, is the Cold Lake of this metal generation, and nothing more need be said than that... although extra piles of shame should be heaped upon them for their mature response to criticism of the album, which consisted of a middle finger custom track posted on their Myspace page that fell back upon the very tired "Internet complainers are losers living in their parents' basement" bit. I'm really proud of that Cold Lake assessment. I'm way behind on new metal releases. My favorite: Origin-Antithesis. Magnificent drumming. The approach was to relentlessly punish the listener but to make the chaos so intricate and interesting that one has difficulty turning away or writing it off as "just fast." The guitarists are no joke, either. They keep up nicely, and keep the vocals lower in the mix where they belong, which is fine considering they're mostly unintelligible. Head and shoulders above their previous work. Love the new Earth album, and I really liked Don Caballero's release this year. Much better than their last one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MFer 0 Report post Posted December 31, 2008 Once again didn't buy many CD's this year, I'd say Paper Trail is the best out of all the stuff I really listened to. Tha Carter III was good, but definitely overhyped. I really need to expand my music library in '09. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PLAGIARISM! 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2009 1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science 2. Neon Neon - Stainless Style 3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig! 4. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent 5. The Magnetic Fields - Distortion Other than that, I wasn't too keen on Sparks' Exotic Creatures of the Deep at first, but as with their last two albums I came around on it a lot after the live show. And I couldn't help but like AC/DC's Black Ice. Especially as they just tossed it off like all their others and it was still better than Chinese Democracy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Niggardly King 0 Report post Posted January 7, 2009 Best song of '08 had to be, "Get Wet" by AKTION Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
