“My favorite shows on TV have twelve minutes of advertising. I can’t get behind that kind of time!”
— William Shatner (off “I Can’t Get Behind That” from his “Has Been” album)
I get a kick every year when I attempt to put together some sort of year in review. Without fail, at some point someone will say something to me like, “What a shitty year. Nothing good came out,” or “I’d have a hard enough time coming up with three great albums,” or even “how about a year’s worst instead.”
People, we love music. I love music … and I’m a pretty picky person. But when I really sit down and think about it, I can easily come up with a couple of handfuls of discs I picked up over the year that I found noteworthy. More times than not I can come up with at least 10 that I found fantastic. I’ve been putting lists like this together year after year since 1990, and retroactively after that too (mostly for a friend or two who wanted my opinions).
This year was particularly tough. I came up with at least 15 right away, then came across other stuff I had forgotten was released this year (mostly because I listened to it so much I assumed it was much older). I tried very hard to cull this list down to a top 10 with some notable mentions and still left off great releases from band’s I love like Drowning Pool, Sevendust and Fear Factory. While the top two or three albums were never a doubt in my mind, the rest of this list was carefully scrutinized.
So, without further ado …
1.Machine Head
“Through the Ashes of Empires”
(Roadrunner Records)
“You want more? You’ll get it. Determined, ferocious. Grit down and bite the bullet. Dare to unbind, smash and redefine!”
From the moment I finally got my hands on “Through the Ashes of Empires,” I could feel this would be my pick for album of the year. I had to wait over six months from the albums initial release overseas, for it to finally hit shelves stateside … and boy was this album worth the wait.
From my review of the album: “Through the Ashes of Empires” serves two purposes. On one hand, it’s a gift to the band’s fans, a solid return to form. On the other, it’s a blistering metal release from a band celebrating 10 years with little signs of slowing down. This is one of those few discs that was more than worth the wait. The drumming is fantastic; Flynn’s vocals are haunting and destroying and terrorizing all at once; the bass is subtle and intense; the guitars are mesmerizing. “Through the Ashes” is definitely one of Machine Head’s finest. With each subsequent listen I am convinced more and more this may be one of the strongest releases of the year.
I’ve loved Machine Head for 10 years, a decade … through the highpoints (the earlier albums) and the lower ones (the more experimental later discs), but “Through the Ashes” made it all worth while. From end to end, this is simply a sick, killer metal album, with just the right amount of angst, aggression and overall metal sensibility without going so over the top to make this an album you need to be “in the mood” to listen to. Great stuff!
2.Rise Against
“Siren Songs of the Counter Culture”
(Dreamworks)
“Today I offer all myself to this I’m living for my dying wish, I give it all, now there’s a reason, there’s a reason, to give it all.”
Rise Against’s “Siren Songs” is an album that hasn’t seen a week’s reprieve from my CD player since I picked it up last summer. From beginning to end, “Siren Songs” is an amazing album, filled with hook after hook and anthemic vocals that immediately pull the listener in. Every so often I grab the album just to listen to one quick song, and then find myself unable to shut the damn thing off (a sign, in my mind, of a truly great album — I keep trying to make myself sick of the thing just so I can listen to something else).
From the mini-anthems “Give it All” and “Life Less Frightening” to the catchy “Dancing For Rain” and “Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated,” I can’t find a song that needs to be skipped over.
Rise Against also offered up a little something different from its normal fair with the melancholic acoustic number “Swing Life Away,” a love it or hate it song that I just can’t seem to get enough of. “Siren Songs” is definitely one of the year’s best …
3.Lamb of God
“Ashes of the Wake”
(Sony Records)
“I’ll make all your dreams come to life, then slay them as quickly as they came.”
Though with each album it seemed impossible, Lamb of God continues to outdo itself with each subsequent release. Last year’s “As the Palaces Burn” was tight, intense metal offering that seemed destined for greatness the second it was released. Yet, Lamb of God was able to top that effort a year later with “Ashes of the Wake,” an even more tight, insanely heavy, yet moderately tempered metal album.
From the opening beats of “Laid to Rest,” Lamb of God show no signs of slowing down. The underlying political stance is in your face, yet completely non-overpowering all at the same time (that is to say you can appreciate this album, even with the elections over). The instrumental title track is one of the stronger instrumental tracks to come out in a while, with the undercurrent of the “soldier’s interview” acting as a perfect companion piece to the music, increasing its intensity to an extent.
While “Ashes” may not have been my pick for album of the year, it would be the first album I would recommend to anyone asking for one album they need to pick up a.s.a.p. Why? Simply because it’s that good standing completely on its own, without trying to force it into a year-in-review list (Machine Head is fantastic in context with the band’s career, while Rise Against is simply too-catchy-for-its-own-good).
4.Atreyu
“The Curse”
(Victory Records)
“Look how pretty she is when she falls down, Now there is no beauty in bleeding mascara, Lip are quivering like a withering rose. She’s back again!”
Since the release of “”Fractures In The Facade Of Your Porcelain Beauty” in 2001, Atreyu has been crafting and tweaking its sound ever so slightly. The band’s first EP relied mainly on a hardcore sound with a twist of death metal vocals. The band softened up a little on “Suicide Notes And Butterfly Kisses” the following year, adding more melody and lessening the hardcore. On “The Curse,” the band injected a hefty dose of straight-up metal to the mix of hardcore and melody and the results were astounding.
“Bleeding Mascara,” “Right Side Of The Bed,” “The Remembrance Ballad,” “This Flesh A Tomb” — the tracks just keep getting better and better, whether it’s with an initial listen of the album, or each subsequent listen.
Atreyu was, hands down, the breakout star of the 2004 edition of Ozzfest, not a small feat when you look at other bands sharing the stage: Slipknot, Hatebreed, Bleeding Through, Lamb of God. Even though the sound was screwed up for the band on the day I saw Ozzfest, it’s the performance I remember most vividly and fondly. Big things are in store for Atreyu, and if “The Curse” is just the tip of the iceberg, we have some exciting stuff to look forward to…
5.Slipknot
“Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)”
(Roadrunner Records)
“I’ve wished for this, I’ve bitched at that, I’ve left behind this little fact: You cannot kill what you did not create…”
Man … after a blistering death metal-esque release (2001’s “Iowa”) one was left to wonder what Slipknot had left to put out. The members all drifted to other “side” projects (Stone Sour, Murderdolls, To My Surprise) and swore they would get together for one last release. Well, this is it, and now the masked men from Iowa are prepared to continue Slipknot as long as they can.
“Vol 3” is a complete change of pace for the band, incorporating more singing (!), melody and subtlety into the music, the band has taken its sound, distilled its essence while incorporating even more influences and managed to create an album that is instantly Slipknot while nothing like anything Slipknot has done before (at least commercially, as the band was very experimental on “Mate, Kill, Feed, Repeat”).
From my initial review, Clocking in at just over an hour, “Vol. 3” offers up a hodgepodge of music, with portions that seem all the more extreme when juxtaposed against one another – acoustic guitar vs. drawn-out, screaming solos; hard-hitting drums or just a simple backbeat; vocals that range from screams and growls to melodic, heart-felt singing.
The album is filled with awesome tracks, but I really recommend “The Blister Exists,” “Duality” and the two “Vermilion” tracks…
6.The Haunted
“rEVOLVEr”
(Century Media)
“Broken Promises. Like ashes trough my fingers. It eats away my senses and my soul…”
The biggest surprise of the year for me, “rEVOLVEr” was an album that I knew was coming, but just wasn’t prepared for. The Haunted took its trademark, metal essence, added a little more melody and took away a little of the death metal, and crafted one of the best straight forward metal offerings I’ve even heard.
From the hook-laden “All Against All” to the blistering “99,” The Haunted continue to prove it has a place reserved for it in metal lore.
If someone were to ask me why I love metal, I would point to this album: The guitars sound huge, the drumming and bass work is tight and intense and front man Peter Dolving continues to amaze behind the mic. The Haunted may be the biggest metal band to ever come out of Sweden.
7.Taking Back Sunday
“Where You Want to Be”
(Victory Records)
“We’re gonna die like this, you know. Miserable and old. Really gotta hand it to you…”
This has to be the album I was anticipating most for the year (besides the Machine Head release). After a brief scare that TBS might be no more, the band added Fred Mascherino (filling in for the departed John Nolin) and a new bassist to the mix and crafted a more edgy, classic TBS album fit to be the band’s re-debut.
Gone, it seems at times, is the heavy pop hook from “Tell All Your Friends,” replaced by a darker tone. The lyrics sound angrier and occasionally more desperate or gloomy, yet TBS still maintained a catchy sound. Mascherino (formerly of Breaking Pangaea) injected a more intense sense to the band’s music and vocals, something I don’t think Nolan would have been able, or willing (considering his work now, in Straylight Run) to do. The only downside is that TBS have a hard time pulling off the older tracks without Nolan on secondary vocals.
Still, “Where You Want to Be” turned out to be one of the better albums of the year, something really worth the wait.
8.Killswitch Engage
“The End of Heartache”
(Roadrunner Records)
“There is no forever, just today. Don’t let your sacrifice waste away…”
I’ve loved Killswitch Engage since the band first burst onto the metal scene in 2000. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed when original vocalist Jesse Leach quit the band just as it was starting to hit big. (He went on to form Seamless, a pretty good band in its own right, though world’s away from the work on Killswitch Engage.)
The band rebounded quickly, adding hardcore notable Howard Jones (he of Blood Has Been Shed fame) to the fold. The results were fantastic. Jones is notably different on “The End of Heartache,” more aggressive and guttural in his delivery. But he’s also that much more haunting on the more melodic stuff and it’s this juxtaposition that really makes Killswitch Engage shine.
“When Darkness Falls,” “The Rose of Sharyn” and “Wasted Sacrifice” are instant classics, while the band can still crank out the blistering metal on tracks like “Declaration” and “Take This Oath.” Even with all the intense riffing and thunderous double-bass, the band can still take a second to catch a breath with haunting instrumentals like “And Embers Rise” and “Inhale.”
Even the few lowpoints of the album (only lowpoints in the context of the album) are better than most of what was released this year and that’s really saying a lot.
9.Mastodon
“Leviathan”
(Relapse Records)
“We like to breathe the ancient wind that we have followed. A perfect fire to burn the land, Before they knew it, The sun had fallen”
Mastodon’s “Leviathan” was another surprise for me this year, as this was a band I had heard of a lot, but had yet to get a hold of … once I did, I was hooked.
As I had said last September: At its heart, Mastodon is a metal band, but it’s impossible to stick that one-word “label” on it and even come close to what the band is creating: a brutal mix of metal, southern, sludgy rock (a la Clutch or Corrosion of Conformity) and mind-bending, complex, technical music mastery.
There’s so many layers to the band’s sound, hearing each song time after time is a continuous journey of discovery. Within the confines of each track, which range in length from two to four minutes with one whopping 13 plus minute song, the band throws multiple time changes out, morphing from one style to the next, without missing a beat.
Mastodon’s thick style is something I’ve found to be completely unique on the music scene this year … no one else (save perhaps Clutch) comes close to creating this specific brand of metal and I foresee even bigger things from the band in the future.
10.Remembering Never
“Women and Children Die First”
(Ferret Records)
“This bandwagon is on it’s last leg, how long will you beat this dead horse? I have no compassion as a witness to your demise.”
Almost a year after its release, “Women and Children Die First” is still one of the best hardcore releases of the year. Remembering Never all but abandoned it’s acoustic undertones from previous releases to deliver a bone-rattling album that grabs the listener by the throat from the opening moments, pummels said listener into submission and then never let’s up until the very end.
As I previously pointed out when discussing the band’s vocals, “At one point, Remembering Never’s sound strongly resembled that of Poison the Well, and many reviews point out similarities between the bands’ lead singers, but on “Women and Children,” the singing seems much more guttural and Remembering Never’s melody is more intrinsically set within the heavy, hardcore style of the band.
Track after track of blistering hardcore metal, with one hell of a closer, “serenading this dead horse,” a song encompassing the band’s feelings about the downfall of the hardcore scene. Within the disc’s liner notes is a letter from Kowalski and the band discussing (in depth) the dilution of the hardcore scene due to trends, less-than-sincere bands and posers: “We’ve been working on this record since the day we got out of the studio for ‘She looks…’ and were extremely unhappy with it … This record is to the memory of hardcore … but most importantly this record is for you.”
All that, and then a killer cover of Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength” to close the proceedings, makes this one must-have album for any fan of hardcore or metal.
It was near impossible for me to narrow down my list to a top 10. I really wanted to stick All That Remains “This Darkened Heart” on there. Dry Kill Logic also had a killer release, “The Dead and Dreaming,” which showed up on many “best of” lists this year (including Gloomchen’s collection of notable releases).
Ministry’s “House of the Mole” was a terrific return to form for a band that I haven’t really “been into” since the “Psalm 69” days. I didn’t get a chance to listen to it as much as I might have liked, but I loved “House…” as soon as I heard the opening of “No W.”
Surprisingly, Sum 41 even put out a pretty rocking album, finally wearing its metal influence totally on its sleeve and all but abandoning the pop punk featured on earlier albums.
Not so surprisingly, Velvet Revolver put out one hell of a rock album. But then again, what could you expect when former members of Guns N’ Roses and Scott Weiland got together.
I really enjoyed the eclectic offerings from Sparta and From First to Last. Sparta picked up right where it left off with its last album on “Porcelain,” an album chock-full of ambient goodness. On the other hand, From First to Last offered up a heavy helping of emo, rock, punk and even a little rap on “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount” (one hell of a album title).
The Used avoided the sophomore curse nicely with “In Love and Death,” an album that I really wanted to fit onto the list but just couldn’t seem to find space. The first five or seven tracks are simply amazing, rocking and catchy.
Similarly, Northstar’s “Pollyanna” was a mind-blowing affair, filled with melancholy and pop to the brims. I fell in love with the album all over again after I realized there was a running theme from end-to-end.
Lastly, in a more melodic vein, Straylight Run’s self-titled debut was a great way to introduce the band to the masses. Sadly, I had been listening to the band’s demo most of the year (it was probably the CD I listened to most in 2004) and I felt the end result didn’t measure up to the potential. A couple of the tracks seem a little overblown or overproduced and one specific track (the only sung with female vocals and an arbitrary techno beat) is really out of place on the album.
So there you have it, faithful Inside Pulse readers, my picks for top albums of the year. Sure, my top 10 consisted almost exclusively of metal bands, but what did you expect. Year after year, I continue to be excited by the music I listen to, new bands and returning favorites, and 2005 looks to be no different … but that’s a column for another time (like, next week). But remember, you’re probably here because you love music … sitting there glumly complaining that “nothing good came out this year” year after year will do you no good. There’s great music to be found, new or old, if you take the time to talk to people, read around and seek things out. Don’t close yourself off from exciting possibilities just to seem elitist or “genre specific.” Hell, I’m a metal head through and through but I get a kick out of that new Kelly Clarkson song once in a while.
And that’s that. As always, drop me a line. Until next time, I’ll be here at Inside Pulse making sure no metal news falls through the cracks.
Take it easy…
