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So… 2020 has been a year. However, if there has been one positive for me, it's that working from home makes it even easier to listen to music all day. While I was initially worried that COVID-19 was going to see bands pushing back their albums until they can tour again, the latter-half of the year saw a number of high-profile and much-anticipated releases. Beyond that, coping with quarantine led to several cooped-up bands being able to sit down and put out new music or livestream concerts across the globe. With lockdowns and no end in sight of restrictions, there's still plenty of time for you to experience fresh music, so why not check out the new albums I listened to this year and see if anything tickles your fancy?
Oh and one other thing – I usually do a countdown of the best movie posters of the year as well around this time. Obviously, due to COVID, most movies have had their releases pushed back so I decided to forego the rankings this year as the selection of posters is just too little to work with.
Honourable Mention: Somebody That I Used to Know EP, Three Days Grace
So this one is a really weird case. Normally I don't bother to cover singles and I usually only include EPs on this list if there are at least two tracks (hence why "Stairway to Nick John" made the list last year, despite having only a live and a studio version of the same song). Three Days Grace's Somebody That I Used to Know EP is really weird though because it's just a new cover track and then three songs lifted wholesale from their last album. It would be one thing if they reimagined these songs, but they're literally the same recordings. What makes it even weirder for me is that these three songs are all pretty damn good, certainly far better than the "meh" Gotye cover that this EP is named after. It's obvious that these three tracks were just put on here to lure in new fans or old fans who stopped paying attention after Adam Gontier left the band. As a result, I can't really justify putting this in the rankings, nor would I really know where to put it for that matter.
Honourable Mention: We Are The Lost Ones, Tear Us Apart and More To Living Than Being Alive, Anberlin
I've made it clear before that Anberlin are one of my all-time favourite bands so seeing them reunite in 2020 has been a real treat. They've been doing a series of livestreamed shows where they perform each of their albums in its entirety and they've been great. At the time of this writing, We Are The Lost Ones (the live recording of their first album, BlueprintsForTheBlackMarket) is the only one which has been released, but there are two more live recordings in the wings and at least four more shows coming over the next year. As a result, I'm going to refrain from ranking each of these albums individually in order to avoid swamping the countdown with Anberlin live albums in 2020 and 2021. Suffice to say they're great, seeing Cities performed live was a truly magical evening that I'll never forget, even if it would have been nice to be in the same room as them.
Anyway, with that out of the way let's get to the rankings, starting with a real, steaming turd…
24) Shadow Work, Trapt
Like most people my age, my only experience with Trapt was their angsty one-hit wonder, "Headstrong" waaaaay back in 2002. It probably would have stayed that way too, except while doing research on a band with some shady political leanings (don't worry, we'll get to that band shortly) Trapt's name came up as being a contemporary with awful politics. I've looked into it and, holy shit, they are seriously the biggest assholes in the music industry, getting into fights with everyone and bragging about how much money they make (and yet they can't seem to pay the guy who did their album art, imagine that). Like, how bad do you have to be to get your own Wikipedia section about all the awful shit you've said on Twitter? Anyway, after going into this rabbit hole I discovered that Trapt had put out a new album this year and… well, I couldn't resist the temptation.
I'm not sure what sort of music I was expecting to get going into Shadow Work, but it sure as hell wasn't an ass-load of toothless pop-rock. Like, say what you will about "Headstrong", but at least that song had some energy to it. The music in Shadow Work sounds like limp Backstreet Boys, stripped of any talent. For a band who is only known for one song, you'd think that there'd be at least one obligatory bro-metal, pump up song, something with some energy. From what I've heard, the band normally has more of a nu metal flavour, but they tried to sell out even harder on this album by watering down their sound and going for what's hot in radio rock right now, meaning that Shadow Work doesn't even please the people who normally like Trapt's music.
In case you're wondering, Trapt avoid bringing their shitty politics into their music (suggesting to me that it's more of a social media grift to get attention). You could say that it's wise that Trapt don't bring their political leanings into their music, but it would have been nice if they had brought anything at all into it. Every song on this album is the sort of shit that killed radio rock – false sincerity, vapid songwriting, and every single track is about love or relationships… it all blends together into a boring sludge meant to be enjoyed listened to by the widest possible audience. And good God the songwriting is just embarrassing at times, to the point where I feel like I owe Five Finger Death Punch an apology. Like, check out these lyrical highlights:
"I'm going to make it/Going to make it/Going to make it out alive/I'm going to make it/Going to make it/Going to make it out alive/Make it out alive/Make it out alive/Make it out alive"
"I want to want what I want/I don't want to have to have a need/I want to want what I want/I just want to be set free/I want to want what I want/I don't want to have to have these needs/I want to want what I want/I just want to be set free/I want to want what I want/I want to want what I want"
"Tell me how you really feel/Tell me how you feel/If you really want to make it real/Then tell me how to/Tell me how you feel/Tell me how you feel"
"Looking for love in so many places/I think I took a wrong turn back there somewhere/So many pictures, so many faces/There's not a soul that I know that well to tell/Looking for answers by going within/It's getting harder to know where I've been/Crashing and burning before I begin/I don't want it withheld/I want to hold and be held"
These look like the sorts of lyrics I tried to write back when I was in high schooler and I sucked at songwriting. Even the titles of the songs are lazy and cliched – like, the fifth track is "Far Enough Away" but then the ninth is "Too Far Away". Any competent artist would use this sort of mirroring to make some sort of statement, but here it's just a coincidence to wring out some sort of emotion based on the sentiment of the titles. Tracks that would be filler on any other album, like "Far Enough Away" and "Trying Too Hard" end up being highlights because at least they meet the level of bog standard. The best track though is "Save Your Soul", a Jewel cover. It's not amazing, but it feels like some actual effort was put into it, which is more than I can say about everything else on Shadow Work. That's really the main issue here – even if you leave the band's shitty politics out of the equation, Shadow Work is fucking boring and lazy, low-effort trash with no artistic merit to it.
I feel bad about making these annual rankings sometimes. I call it "Ranking The Albums I Listened To" for a reason – I'm generally not seeking out stuff that I won't enjoy, so even the bottom-rung albums on the list aren't necessarily awful in any given year, they just may be middling. Not so in this case though – Shadow Work is easily one of the worst albums I've listened through and has set a new standard for me for how shitty a band can be at everything they do. Oh and congrats on selling a grand total of 600 copies of this album in the first week, Trapt, it's more than it deserved!
(Post-script: A week before posting this Trapt finally got banned from Twitter for defending a statutory rape. Classy!)
(POST-post-script: Mere hours before this article went live there were rumours circulating that Chris Taylor-Brown had been fired from Trapt, complete with a profanity-laden Parler meltdown. Unfortunately, as funny as this would have been, it appears that this is fake news.)
23) 2020 EP, Smile Empty Soul
I know I said back in 2018 that I didn't have a lot of interest in Smile Empty Soul after being underwhelmed by their album Oblivion… but then a new EP called "2020" showed up in my "new releases" on Spotify and I knew I had to at least see what Smile Empty Soul think are the pressing issues in the turbulent times we're living in. After all, 2020 is such a loaded, meaningful title for an album, you can't really avoid tackling serious subjects, right? Well… Smile Empty Soul have some things to complain about, but holy shit are their priorities out of place. The album opens with "Entitled", which spends its entire runtime whining about the kids these days with their Instagram and opinions. It's seriously the sort of rant I've heard on more than one occasion from my aunt and it immediately put me in a sour mood with this EP. Like, you think that this is the biggest issue in 2020, to the point where you put it first on your album? You're the dude who makes your money putting your opinions out there in music, if you don't like it then stop caring about what they think. I mean, musically it's an alright song but the lyrics completely ruin it for me, nothing more than out of touch whining.
After "Entitled" put me off right out the gate, "Excommunicated" at least takes a break from the bullshit. It seems to be about the breaking up of a friendship rather than a political song, all-in-all it's fine. "Land of the Lost" put me back into hesitant territory though. The song itself seems innocuous enough, but "Entitled" put me off so badly that I started second guessing Smile Empty Soul's intentions everywhere. Like, look at the album cover – a barcode on the forehead, a mask on and a needle killing you… is Smile Empty Soul anti-vax..? I honestly don't know, but these lyrics calling out "smart people" who can't think for themselves and let the government trample over our freedom don't make me any less suspicious:
When you tell yourself you're the smartest kind/But you've never thought your own way out/Of the box, land of the lost/I hope you're ready this time/You've been away for so long/You fell asleep in another lie/The one that buries us all/ […] Nothing's ever gonna save you now/Go tell your children that they aren't free
Now, to be charitable, these lyrics are ambiguous enough that this song could also be about people who sit idly by as fascists take over, which would be quite fitting for an album with a loaded title like 2020. I get the sense that that's not the case though, the lack of specificity just makes it come across like so many mealy mouthed, commercial "protest" songs that sell themselves on the language of protest but don't actually stand for anything.
On the more positive side, "Go Broke" does seem to be pretty clear about how screwed up a society where everyone's in debt to someone is, making it probably the only appropriately "2020" track on the EP. The album then closes out with "Same World", which is just dull song on its own merits before you even look at the message which boils down to "I don't understand the world anymore". Again, you're not helping my case that you're just out of touch, dude.
2020 is a meh EP on its own, but is title really doesn't do it any favours. It doesn't even make any sort of relevant statement about the times we're living in for that matter – seriously, replace the Instagram references in "Entitled" with Facebook references and this whole EP could have easily been released a decade ago. It just feels like out of touch bullshit… which put me down the much more enjoyable rabbit hole of trying to figure out what sort of political inclinations Smile Empty Soul have and see if my anti-vaxxer suspicions were correct. While I couldn't find any evidence of that, it's pretty clear that the band (which is really just one guy, Sean Danielsen) don't like the government at all. To promote their shows they post a lot of imagery of Guy Fawkes and guns (oh Jesus Christ, they had an Austin, TX show with a gun poster that says "Come and take it"). There's nothing wrong with any of these by themselves, but it gives me the distinct impression that Sean Danielsen is a conservative libertarian, which would make the toothlessness of his opinions in 2020 make a lot more sense. This also isn't helped by the explicitly political post the band made where he liked when someone said he sounded like a conservative and then called someone else a social justice warrior because they pointed out that black people didn't have it so good 125 years ago… like, dude, you're supposed to be a punk. You tell me that you look out the window and look at what's going on in the world and you think that the real problem is that the government tells you what to do too much? Worrying about government overreach is a legitimate concern and both political parties in the US do suck, but are you telling me that you can't think of something to say about all the corruption, blatant authoritarianism, mass death from incompetence and rise in hate groups that are 100% specific to Donald Trump's presidency? You are, after all, the guy whining about people who have opinions that don't matter. Ugh, fuck 2020, this EP sucks.
22) Like A House On Fire, Asking Alexandria
I've never really had any interest in checking out Asking Alexandria before, but one day their newest single showed up in my Spotify recommendations with a, uh, interesting title: "Antisocialist". Luckily for Asking Alexandria, "Antisocialist" is a misnomer whereas "anti-social" would be more accurate, because otherwise I would have gone right off on this band. However, I was interested enough that I decided to check their new album, Like A House On Fire, just out of curiosity. Unfortunately, the music here doesn't really warrant any of that curiosity because it's largely "meh". Like, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't say that any song on here is "bad", but none of them are interesting either, just a lot of commercial hard rock looking for radio airplay. Vocalist Danny Worsnop doesn't really help either, when he isn't yelling he sounds like a whiny, hard rock Callum Scott. Normally I take notes on every track while going through albums for this ranking, but Like A House On Fire lost me about halfway through its bloated 52 minute playtime. On "All Due Respect" Danny sings "I can fly, and you're gonna fall face down while/I inspire greatness/As long as I'm alive, I'll fight, and you'll be stuck in the shadows of/The heights of my greatness". All I can say to that is… got a pretty high opinion of yourself, bro?
21) Supernatural Miracle, Stillwell
I saw Stillwell live back in 2010 or 2011 when they opened for Korn and Disturbed. It was actually a big deal for me because Wuv, the drummer for P.O.D., is the drummer for Stillwell so it was the closest I had ever been to my childhood favourite band at the time. Even better, I actually got to meet him after the show and get a picture together, which was easily one of the most exciting moments of my life and the only time that I was ever truly starstruck. Maybe I should have been more excited that freaking Fieldy from Korn was there too but at the time I was just too tongue-tied to think straight. Anyway, as you can expect I was on a high when I bought a copy of the band's debut album, Dirtbag, and got Fieldy, Wuv and Q-unique to sign it, but as soon as I popped it into the CD player I knew I had made a mistake. The band put on a great show and there are a couple tracks which are straight fire, but Dirtbag was… rough to say the least. With each subsequent listen I was basically just listening to "Street Metal" and ignoring the rest. Due to this distaste, I never really bothered to check in again on Stillwell – in fact, they managed to put out a whole second album without me noticing. However, when the band put out their third album, Supernatural Miracle, this year and it popped up in my Spotify recommendations I grit my teeth and decided to take the plunge. I mean, I've already listened to goddamn Trapt this year, how bad can Stillwell be?
If I'm being honest, I actually expected Supernatural Miracle to be really bad, maybe even second worst album of the year bad, but I was pleasantly surprised when "You Don't Wanna Know" started up. Gone were the rap and lite-metal proceedings of Dirtbag and instead in their place they gave us a pretty solid and polished rock track. I was even more surprised then when "Gasoline" kicked in and had me legitimately rocking along and having a good time. Even the most outright-Christian song on the album, "A Come to Jesus Moment", was much better than I would have expected, bringing some hard-rockin' swagger to the proceedings. By the time "Could've Sworn" rolled around my expectations had already been blown well past, but this also marks the point in the album where Supernatural Miracle starts getting really mediocre. The next six tracks are all "fine" at best, largely let down by their mediocre, shallow and uninspiring lyrics, although the closing track "Contagious" picks the energy back up a bit. The album is also short at only 32 minutes and definitely feels like it, it's quick, breezy and inoffensive. Like I said, I was not expecting much out of Supernatural Miracle, but the album easily surpassed these expectations. It's a big step up from Dirtbag and while it's unfortunate that more than half of the album is pretty meh, there are a few tracks here that are well worth listening to!
20) Curse of the Crystal Coconut, Alestorm
Alestorm have a long career of keeping the delicate balance between being fun and comedic but still taking themselves seriously on their past outings. However, Curse of the Crystal Coconut definitely crosses that line and just keeps going, resulting in an album which alternates between uproarious laughter and mind-numbingly stupid in equal measure. On the positive side of things we have fun tracks like "Treasure Chest Party Quest", "Fannybaws" and "Pirate's Scorn" (a freaking Donkey Kong Country cover of all things and also where the album's title comes from!), which I can see myself sitting in a tavern singing along to with my mates. Leaning on the more "serious" side for Alestorm we get two fantastic tracks, "Chomp Chomp" and "Henry Martin". Then there's the epic "Wooden Leg Pt. 2 (The Woodening)", which threads the needle brilliantly between deathly serious and laugh out loud funny.
Unfortunately, Curse of the Crystal Coconut is filled to the brim with embarrassing joke tracks, the first of which is "Tortuga", this weird pop-rock track that turns into Run DMC-style rap-rock when Captain Yarrface steps in. It's such a staggeringly stupid track that you need to hear it to believe it. You might even end up appreciating the audacity of it, but on repeat listens I've just found myself growing more and more tired. "Shit Boat (No Fans)" and "Pirate Metal Drinking Crew" are just dismal. "Shit Boat (No Fans)" sounds like it was written verbatim from an angry internet commenter, whereas "Pirate Metal Drinking Crew" is just vulgar for the sake of vulgarity (because "Fucked With an Anchor" was so popular last time, got to just do the same thing again right guys?). Meanwhile, "Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship" and "Call of the Waves" are just "meh", but clock in over ten minutes between the two of them, almost a quarter of the total album length. As a result, half the album is practically unlistenable, especially on replays. Alestorm have really gone too far with turning themselves into a one-note joke this time, to the point where several of the tracks just feel half-assed. It's too bad, there's some tracks here which are great, but Alestorm may have finally scraped right through that barrel and out the other side.
Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, less-stingy critics seem to think it's a blast so what do I know.
Also, like No Grave But the Sea before it, Curse of the Crystal Coconut comes with a gimmicky bonus disc on the deluxe edition. Whereas No Grave But the Sea had a funny but unlistenable version of the album with all the vocals replaced with dogs barking, Curse of the Crystal Coconut's bonus disc is a little more interesting, taking the songs on the album and running them through a 16-bit compression filter. The result is that each song sounds like it's being run off a SNES, which would make it kind of cool to listen to while playing Sid Meier's Pirates! or something like that. It's not really worth paying extra for but when the album dropped it was actually cheaper to buy the deluxe edition so I snagged it.
19) F8, Five Finger Death Punch
I've made it clear in the past that I really don't like Five Finger Death Punch. Musically they're right in my wheelhouse, but lyrically they are just awful. However, I knew going in that F8 (it's their eighth album, get it?) was the first album coming off Ivan Moody and Zoltan Bathory both getting sober, so maybe the band would find it in themselves to do some introspection. Also worth noting was that this album had no covers on it, which would normally be great news, except that FFDP are so bad at writing lyrics that their covers are almost always their only good songs on a new album. Still, I was curious and willing to give F8 a shot… and honestly, this is probably the band's best album since American Capitalist.
After the tone-setting, title track instrumental the album goes right into the single-baits "Inside Out", "Full Circle" and "Living the Dream" which immediately demonstrate that lyrics are still FFDP's achilles heel. These songs all sound catchy, but their lyrics let them down as usual ("Living the Dream" in particular has trendy/cringy references to superheroes and then alludes to Ghost in the Shell… which makes me wonder if the band think that the Major is a superhero too). That said, at least "Living the Dream" has something to say, actively criticizing the American Dream as a ploy that doesn't benefit us. While it could be articulated better, it makes for a more interesting song than FFDP's usual oeuvre.
Then they go into "A Little Bit Off", which I initially thought was a joke interlude – Ivan Moody puts on an air of intentionally-false optimism over an acoustic rock track. But no, you soon realize that this is a legitimate effort on FFDP's part, so much so that it's actually the album's second single (and, what the hell, actually did really well for them)!? Once again, it's nice to see the band trying to branch out, and the writing is deeper than they usually go (coping with the difficulties of mental health), but I can't get over the fact that this sounds like a joke track. Maybe it's just the way FFDP present the song, but it doesn't work for me.
Luckily "Bottom of the Top" comes up next and is explosive, its drums sounding like gunshots in the chorus as FFDP rage back at the chinstrokers who say they aren't "real metal". It's definitely one of the best tracks on the album, although the best has to be "Darkness Settles In". In my opinion, "Darkness Settles In" is what "A Little Bit Off" should have been, a slowed-down, introspective and somber track which provides a stark look at recovery from alcoholism.
The rest of the album putters along, with a couple more decent tracks like "Brighter Side of Grey" and "To Be Alone", but most of the rest are unremarkable (although "This Is War" is "classic" FFDP in all the wrong ways, as are the two bonus tracks on the deluxe edition). F8 ends up in a bit of an awkward place as a result. FFDP are clearly trying to expand their sound and are far less pissed off than they usually are. The lyrics are also better than they usually are, but are still far short from adequate. It's enough to give me some hope for the future of the band, but I'm not exactly holding my breath, especially if they pull a Disturbed and decide that "A Little Bit Off" represents the band's future.
18) Odyssey, Kaleida
After the fantastic Think EP, I really wanted to like Tear the Roots, but the album just didn't work for me at all. Three years later, Kaleida are back with their sophomore effort, Odyssey. Going in, I was expecting this to be largely the same as Tear the Roots – chill vibes, echoed voices and a sparse soundscape, but just too lethargic for its own good. Luckily, Odyssey is quick to demonstrate that it is not just more of the same. I mean, their distinctive style is still there, but they've just built on it by bringing in some new influences from pop, electronic and jazz. In the songs where they do try to experiment a bit more with their distinctive sound, like "Other Side", "Feed Us Some" and "No Computer", Kaleida gain a lot more energy to their music. The title track and "Josephine" also take the Kaleida sound and do something different and enjoyable with it, with "Josephine" building up a defiant tension throughout its playtime (although I wish they had capitalized on this and really set it loose). Unfortunately, there's still a bunch of tracks which have the same sort of energy as background music at a mall, but they're outweighed by the more interesting stuff here. I think Kaleida still have a ways go to before they really knock it out of the park, but Odyssey is a promising next step in their evolution and I can only hope that their next album sees them venturing out even further.
17) S&M2, Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
S&M2, clocking in at nearly two and a half hours in length, is a roller coaster to parse through with soaring highs and crushing lows. Part celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the original S&M (which is, in my opinion, one of the best live albums ever), part celebration of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and part true sequel, S&M2 is a far less focused experience than its predecessor. I have to give Metallica some props for clearly trying to do something a bit different, but part of me wishes that they had just stuck to the formula of the original S&M instead. S&M worked so well because it was wall-to-wall bombast, giving lesser-known Metallica tracks just as much time to shine as the heavy-hitters like "One" and "Enter Sandman". S&M2 opens nearly identically to its predecessor for over ten minutes, going through "The Ecstasy of Gold" and then into "The Call of Ktulu" before moving to "For Whom the Bell Tolls". From there, the rest of disc 1 focuses a lot on latter-day Metallica tracks, which gives a new lease on life to some unappreciated bangers, with particular highlights being Death Magnetic's "The Day That Never Comes" and Hardwired… to Self-Destruct's "Halo on Fire". Unfortunately, this part of the album is threaded with several tracks from the original S&M, meaning that we only actually get four brand new orchestral tracks before moving onto the second disc.
While familiar at least these returning tracks are good (particularly the fantastic "No Leaf Clover"). The same can't be said when disc two opens with a five minute history lesson before going into two tracks which put the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra front and center. It's undoubtedly a nice gesture to give the orchestra more attention here and let them choose their own songs to play, but it grinds the momentum of the album to a standstill for a full fifteen minutes. Like I said before, S&M worked so well because of the relentless bombast of it all. This part of the album makes for a decent curiosity on a single listen, but I can guarantee you that this part of the album is going to be skipped over every single time on future replays. Unfortunately, that's not the end of S&M2's woes, because when the Metallica tracks start up again, we get very low-key renditions of "The Unforgiven III" and "All Within My Hands", which do very little to get the energy going again. Instrumental track "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth" also gets treated with what I believe is a full-on cello solo. It is at least an interesting curiosity compared to the original track, but this also takes a long time to get going. The album finally gets back on track with the final five tracks, but these are a double-edged sword as well – they're the band's major hits, but they were all on the original S&M, and of these only "One" sounds noticeably different (improved, even!).
So, if you break it all down, we've got 11/22 tracks which are repeated from the original S&M, only one of which is noticeably different and improved. Then, of the new tracks, four are history lessons and full orchestra arrangements, while only four or five of the truly new tracks are worthwhile. It's really too bad, this album is at its absolute best when it is giving the orchestral treatment to Metallica tracks we haven't heard from them before and there isn't anywhere near enough of that here. Meanwhile, the repeated tracks are enjoyable but they're nothing I couldn't have gotten on the original S&M. S&M2 just tries to be too much and fails to capitalize on what it does right. Drop the symphony-focused bits, swap out a couple of the repeated tracks for maybe five or six new tracks (I would have died if they played "Dreaming No More" after "The Call of Ktulu") and then this could have easily been on-par with the original S&M. As it is, I'm probably just going to take a few tracks from it and bolt them onto the original album to make one even more epic concert experience.
16) Medium Rarities, Mastodon
I've stated in the past that Mastodon tend to operate on a two year album cycle, but here we are three years out from Emperor of Sand with no follow-up in sight. Instead, Mastodon are choosing to whet our appetites with Medium Rarities, a compilation of B-sides, live recordings and assorted oddities, clocking in at over an hour and ten minutes. Listeners looking for the band's next great epic will probably be disappointed, but for fans Medium Rarities is a bizarre, scatter-shot treasure trove of curiosities. The tracklist is made up of four instrumentals, five live recordings, four covers, two B-sides and one new track. Of these, the covers, B-sides and new track were by far the most exciting content for me. While the new track "Fallen Torches" is heavy, sounding like classic, Leviathan-era Mastodon, the covers are all very different from the band's usual sound in exciting ways. "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" was particularly enjoyable and surprising and Bran Dailor's vocals are perfect for the song. It sounds exactly like The Flaming Lips' original before turning into something heavier as it goes along. The other covers are similarly interesting, although "Atlanta" might be just a bit too weird and distorted for its own good. The B-sides are similarly diverse. "Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife" was written for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie as a pre-movie "warning" to the audience, so you can probably guess what to expect from that. I found myself laughing at the lyrics (which include such gems as "If I see you videotaping this movie/Satan will rain down your throat with hot acid/And dissolve your testicle/And turn your guts into snakes"), but it's not the sort of song I'd listen to on its own merits. On the other side of the coin is "White Walker", which was written for Game of Thrones. It's a very solemn, haunting track, sounding more neolithic or medieval than metal, but it's one of my favourites on this compilation.
As for the instrumentals and the live recordings, these mostly feel like filler. The instrumentals in particular feel like little more than curiosities, given that they are literally just the studio recordings of the songs without the vocal track. None of them are bad by any means (in fact, it's really cool hearing "Jaguar God" as an instrumental track), but they're probably the least exciting content on this release. That said, I got into Mastodon in the first place after hearing instrumental versions of "Crack the Skye" and "Oblivion" in Brutal Legend, so maybe these will draw more people in, who knows? As for the live tracks, I wasn't particularly interested because Mastodon's vocals aren't great live and because we already got live recordings of "Circle of Cysquatch" and "Blood & Thunder" on Live at the Aragon. However, when I realized that at least some of these live tracks were recordings made before their respective albums were released I sat bolt upright. That is how you make a live filler track interesting, give it some historical importance! It also helps that the band's live vocals are better here than they usually are.
All-in-all, Medium Rarities sets expectations well – it's half-baked and it's not going to suit all tastes. There's maybe a bit too much filler and it can get a bit too weird for its own good at times, but there's a plenty here to be enjoyed. I just hope that Mastodon are enjoying their extended break and using it to get their creative juices flowing once again. If "Fallen Torches" is anything to go off of, then Mastodon may just be preparing us for the main course.
15) Re-Stitch These Wounds, Black Veil Brides
So apparently Re-Stitch These Wounds is a re-recording of Black Veil Brides' debut album We Stitch These Wounds. Having never listened to the debut before, I can't tell you whether this is wildly divergence from the original or just a re-recorded version with better production, so just be aware that I'm judging Re-Stitch on its own merits. I've heard a few Black Veil Brides' tracks previously and they seem to be all over the place, musically. Like, they have an emo/metal aesthetic, but the pompously-titled Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones sounds like freaking Nickelback of all things. Thankfully Re-Stitch These Wounds is closer to what I expected of Black Veil Brides, sounding strikingly similar to heyday-Bullet For My Valentine but without the overwhelming emo angst. Most of the music sounds good, being enjoyable heavy rock that you can happily headbang to, but there's nothing particularly revolutionary about it. The one big sore spot is the overblown "The Mortician's Daughter (Overture III)", which brings the album's momentum to a grinding halt right in the middle and which goes on for an agonizing three and a half minutes. I thought it was a joke intro at first, but then it just kept going and going. It's actually bad enough that it soured my experience with the album as a whole. All-in-all, Re-Stitch These Wounds is fine, but it wasn't enough to make me rush out to hear the rest of Black Veil Brides' music.
14) Brand New Vision, Point North
We all have that one friend who we share new music recommendations with on the reg. Well, one day they recommended me this album and said it was a R&B/rock fusion. It wasn't really the sort of thing I'm into, but I decided to check it out anyway (plus, y'know, that album cover is dope). As I kind of expected, Brand New Vision isn't really the sort of thing I would choose to listen to, but it's fairly solid. It definitely leans closer to R&B than it does to rock, although tracks like "Heartbeat" feel like they could be on rock radio. The other nice thing about Brand New Vision is that Point North are doing there own thing to fuse the two genres together instead of just replicating the sound of Imagine Dragons like most commercial rock bands struggling for relevance seem to do these days. If I was more of a pop fan then I might have liked Brand New Vision more, but as is it was a nice little diversion from my usual barrage of depressing metal.
13) Inner Universe EP, Words of Farewell
I say this a lot but I often find new music by browsing Spotify, seeing what it recommends to me, and then leaning towards music with striking album art. Well, the Inner Universe EP is by far the coolest goddamn album art of the year and instantly had me rushing to check Words of Farewell out. Like… look at that damn thing, it's gorgeous and evocative! It's also obviously in my wheelhouse because the artist has definitely been playing a lot of FromSoftware games. Beyond the general aesthetic, the woman is the spitting image of the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls 3, while the skeletal figure's massive sword hilt has the mark of sacrifice from Berserk, the obvious inspiration for the Hunter rune from Bloodborne.
So obviously the band's visual art is on-point, but how's the music? Well, I'd say that Words of Farewell are pretty good. They aren't doing anything particularly revolutionary or different, but they do it solidly. The Internet tells me that they're a melodic death metal band but I'd say they're closer to progressive metalcore with some light death metal elements. Opening track "Chronotopos" is probably the heaviest track on offer with a very fast tempo. The other three tracks operate at a far slower pace, but offer plenty of heaviness and up the use of electronic synthesizer elements… again, nothing I haven't heard before, but the band executes it well enough that it's an enjoyable listen. That said, Inner Universe is a sparse 18 minutes, is over far too quickly and leaves me feeling hungry for more. Hopefully it's just the prelude to something more substantial because I can guarantee that I'll be keeping my eyes on Words of Farewell.
12) The Sinner, Kill the Lights
Yet another Spotify recommendation that caught my interest, Kill the Lights further intrigued me because the band is a supergroup featuring the current drummer for Bullet For My Valentine, a band which I've been on a nostalgic kick for this past year. Plus, just look at that album cover – it's no Words of Farewell, but it's still freaking awesome. I've seen Kill the Lights be described as a metalcore act and I'd agree that that's part of their sound, but I'd argue that they lean closer to a progressive metal sound (tracks like "The Faceless" sound like heavier versions of classic Judas Priest or Iron Maiden). The tracks here tend to be high energy and very heavy, with tracks such as "Watch You Fall" and "Plagues" instantly managing to get my head banging. Kill the Lights also dabble with slowed-down tracks, interspersed evenly throughout the tracklist. Of these tracks, "Rest" is by far the best, reminiscent of Bullet For My Valentine's more introspective tracks and is just begging for radio airplay. That said, while I enjoyed The Sinner and would say that it's worth a listen, there's nothing about it that particularly stands out (other than "Rest", that track is great). Kill the Lights are clearly industry veterans with a lot of talent to back them up, but I just feel like they need a bit more time to hone their craft before they're really going to blow my socks off.
11) Kindred: Act I, Red Cain
Red Cain know how to pique my interest – the album art for their singles is incredible (especially for "Kindred", holy shit that looks like something out of Bloodborne). That's all well-and-good, but how do Red Cain sound? Well, I'd say that the best way to describe their sound is "epic fantasy power metal". The band's vocals are exaggerated and theatrical, similar to power metal bands like Powerwolf or Manowar and the fast and packed full of guitar solos. It makes for an enjoyable mixture, but whether you'll enjoy Red Cain will come down to your taste for power metal. Opening track "Guillotine" kicks the album off in bombastic style, but it's arguably too excessive – I feel like the mix is so much that it feels like you're getting blasted with a wall of sounds all at once. It also doesn't help that this track has electronic effects on it which get close to shrill at times. Luckily, this is an isolated issue because the rest of Kindred: Act I is much more enjoyable, albeit conventional, power metal. "Wing of the Crow" is a particular highlight though, with the band's soaring vocals harmonizing beautifully with guest singer Kobra Paige. All-in-all, Kindred: Act I is enjoyable and fans of power metal should definitely give it a listen.
10) Firelink, Firelink
The Dark Souls-inspired black metal band Firelink are back on ICS2 already, with their sophomore effort releasing just over a year after their enjoyable first album, The Inveterate Fire. This self-titled album largely follows the template set by The Inveterate Fire, giving us more punishing, atmospheric and technically accomplished black metal. However, the main thing that sets Firelink apart is that the album tells a story this time, covering the second half of Dark Souls' plot. It opens with the epic and moody "Cerulean Athenaeum", which is just a fancy way of saying "blue library", aka the Duke's Archives. From there it moves into the haunting "Where Demons Bore", an obvious reference to the realm of the demons, lost Izalith. "Cloak of Marrow" (another obvious reference, this time to the Tomb of Giants and Gravelord Nito's literal bone cloak) then pushes the album into a more direct, heavy and punishing black metal sound. "Kingseeker" brings back the haunting atmosphere, which is appropriate because while the title is a reference to Kingseeker Frampt, the lyrics make it clear that this song is about the ghost-infested New Londo and the Four Kings. Finally, the album closes on "End of Piety", which opens on a reflective tone before going into the typical black metal sound, flitting between heavy and sombre as it goes. The lyrics here reflect the choice the player is given when they defeat Gwyn – link the fire or become the ruler of the darkness? It makes for a fitting end for the album and it's nice to see the album telling a story to tie it all together. You don't even have to be a fan of the games to appreciate the music or the story, although obviously it helps. Musically, it's still more of the same quality black metal, so while I do find the genre itself to be a bit too indistinct for its own good, I do find myself enjoying Firelink's albums when the mood strikes me.
9) Aurora, Breaking Benjamin
Breaking Benjamin are notorious for just putting out the exact same music over and over again (that said, the "one song" they keep putting out is so damn good), so when it was announced that their newest album would be an acoustic reimagining of past hits I couldn't help but laugh. Naturally, there's also one brand new track so that completionists can't just sit this one out. Luckily, Aurora doesn't feels like a half-assed release meant to squeeze a few more dollars out of fans. Featuring a bevy of guest appearances from the likes of Red's Michael Barnes, Three Day's Grace's Adam Gontier, Flyleaf's Lacey Sturm, Underoath's Spencer Chamberlain and Cold's Scooter Ward, Aurora is a real treat for fans to appreciate old favourites in a new way. Tracks that I already thought were fantastic, such as "Failure", "Angels Fall" and "Red Cold River" are given new dimensions by their arrangements. "Red Cold River" in particular sounds quite nice without the obvious auto-tuning which was present on the original recording. Other tracks, like "So Cold", "Never Again" and "Torn In Two" are functionally similar to their original arrangements, but with electronic elements swapped out for acoustic ones in a way that just makes it feel like a slightly different, toned-down version of the original. The real highlights of the album though are the two big inspirational anthems, the reimagined "Dear Agony" and the new track "Far Away". "Dear Agony" was already basically an acoustic track, but Lacey Sturm's vocals compliment Benjamin Burley's so well that it sends an already great song to even greater heights. Meanwhile, "Far Away" also makes the most of its guest collaborator, playing Scooter Ward's baritone vocals against Benjamin Burley's soaring singing. It's easily one of my favourite tracks of the year, a song that just begs to be sung along to. The album is enjoyable in whole, but these two songs in particular propel it beyond a curiosity to a must-own for fans of the band.
8) Fracture, Bleed From Within
Like most new music I find, Fracture showed up in my Spotify recommendations and the album art was so cool that I had to give it a shot. What I got was fast tempo, high-intensity metalcore in the vein of As I Lay Dying, with primarily screamed vocals. If you're into this kind of heavy music, then Fracture will likely be very enjoyable. I love to headbang along to tracks like "The End of All We Know" and scream "This is not a war it's a victory!" along to "Into Nothing". The only real issue is that Bleed From Within never let up the intensity, which causes the tracks to bleed together after a while. Still makes for a great album to rage or get pumped up to (or, in my case, do menial office work to), but a little bit more variety might have pushed Fracture that much higher.
7) Under a Godless Veil, Draconian
I checked out Draconian on a bored whim during lockdown this year and was instantly impressed by what I heard. As I've said in the past, I've been looking for a band to scratch the itch that Agalloch left me in their dissolution and Draconian are the closest I've come to recapturing that atmospheric doom metal feeling, while also crafting their own unique style. Draconian put out moody, atmospheric, gothic doom metal which really stands out due to the interplay between its two vocalists – the death growling Anders Jacobsson and the operatic female vocals of Heike Langhans (I have heard this dynamic referred to, hilariously, as an angel vs the cookie monster). It's a great dynamic and Draconian make it work fantastically.
Anyway, after listening through all of Draconian's music I found out that they had a new album slated for 2020 and so I eagerly awaited it. Under a Godless Veil is another solid effort from the band but it doesn't really shake up their sound all that much, emphasizing melancholic, atmospheric soundscapes over a more traditionally heavy metal sound. That can make the album feel sluggish at times, but that's not to say that Under a Godless Veil doesn't have its heavy moments – "The Sethian" should get your head banging during the chorus and "Lustrous Heart" is a rock-solid doom metal track, easily my favourite on the album. Under a Godless Veil is good, but whether you'll enjoy it will largely depend on your taste in metal. I don't think I'd say it's among Draconian's best, but it's a quality effort and worth listening to if you've never experienced the band's sound before.
6) The Sun and the Cold, Oceans
The Sun and the Cold might just be the biggest surprise of the year for me – and remember, this is coming in a year where I had some praise for the newest Five Finger Death Punch album. This album showed up in my recommended list on Spotify and I decided to give it a shot, despite the fact that "Oceans" sounded like the sort of band name that a pop or soft-rock outfit would have. Imagine my surprise then when I am immediately met with a very interesting mixture of grunge, industrial and various styles of metal (on various tracks you can hear influences from doom metal, death metal, sludge metal and metalcore, among others). It also helps that the production is spot-on, every track sounds fantastic and there are some really great songs on here – in fact, The Sun and the Cold is probably the album I most replayed on this list. "We Are the Storm" is easily one of my favourite tracks of the year, it makes you want to sing along and headbang at the same time, while "Dark" turns things in a relentlessly heavy direction and the title track makes for a solid opener. There's even a bluesy track, "Water Rising", which I didn't appreciate at first but on repeat listens has become on of the highlights of the album. I also found it interesting that there's a thematic throughline in the album relating to water and the dark unknown of the depths, lending the band's name some unexpected significance. All-in-all, I like "The Sun and the Cold" quite a bit, it's a really enjoyable album. I went in with zero expectations when it showed up in my Spotify recommendations and found myself pleasantly surprised, to the point that I bought a copy the next day. I'm more than happy with what's on display here and am excited to see where Oceans go in the future.
5) The Reckoning Dawn, Winterfylleth
After putting out the unconventional The Hallowing of Heirdom back in 2018, Winterfylleth are back to their usual tricks with The Reckoning Dawn. Winterfylleth have a history of putting out punishing but indistinct black metal. I hoped that Winterfylleth would expand on the territory they covered in 2016's The Dark Hereafter, where they changed up their sound by adding more epic, atmospheric and contemplative sounds which gave each song its own distinct identity. The Reckoning Dawn draws a little bit from this template, but unfortunately it goes back to Winterfylleth as usual, only with some choir parts and better production quality. While it's disappointing that the band decides to settle back into their comfort zone, they still manage to put out some high-quality, atmospheric black metal here and it's hard to deny the craftsmanship on display. That said, you have to be in the mood for black metal to really get the most out of it – it's an album you need to listen to in one sitting to really appreciate. While I admire just how good it sounds, it isn't one that I'm going to put on very often.
4) Valley of Kings, The Wise Man's Fear
The Wise Man's Fear return to the IC2S albums ranking, closing out their "Codex trilogy" with another round of fantasy-inspired metalcore. Given how good Castle in the Clouds and The Lost City were, this was easily one of my most hyped albums of the year. While I was expecting Valley of Kings to be good, I wasn't expecting The Wise Man's Fear to be nearly as ambitious or experimental as they are on this album.
The album opens on a very heavy note with "The Relics of Nihlux", showing off the strength of their duelling vocals, swapping between near-deathcore growls and soaring clean vocals. It's something I've always loved in metalcore and The Wise Man's Fear are masters of it. "The Relics of Nihlux" flows seamlessly into "Breath of the Wild" (what can I say, The Wise Man's Fear have always worn their influences on their sleeve), which flows seamlessly into "The Tree of Life", with each song shifting the tone of the album. "Breath of the Wild" brings this very epic, wide-open soundscape, while "The Tree of Life" slows things down a bit and even features a freaking pan-flute solo at one point! It only lasts for a single line (not even a whole verse), but it's a cool bit of experimentation that I wish they had allowed a bit more time to shine because it never comes back again on the album. "The Forest of Illusions" marks the start of the album's second act, ending the seamless transitions between songs, but keeps up the experimentation, incorporating what I believe is a mandolin into its epic soundscape. "The Cave" then moves the album into a darker place, opening with distant, echoed wailing before blasting into aggressive deathcore and sharp, synthesized strings. From there, the album takes a bit of an angsty and introspective turn with "What Went Wrong" and "The River and the Rock", providing us with probably the most "standard" songs on the album before moving back into the heavy third act. The third act is an assault of deathcore with "The Sands of Time" and "The Door to Nowhere" really punctuating how dire the story has gotten. "Firefall" takes it to a whole new level though, this song get brutal and demands that you headbang along to it. There's even a sword-slicing sound effect which punctuates the song's brutality and just makes it feel that much nastier. Then, as per The Wise Man's Fear tradition, the album takes a very sudden turn back into more standard, positive metalcore fare with the closing title track. After how dark and brutal the third act had been, it's a bit of a tonal whiplash, but it's a very enjoyable outro that you just want to sing along to. It even manages to be surprisingly nostalgic, ending with a distant, echoey version of the opening from Castle in the Clouds, tempting you to go back and start the trilogy all over again.
Valley of Kings is easily the most ambitious album from The Wise Man's Fear, demonstrating that they aren't content to just make the song music over and over again. The Wise Man's Fear flirted with deathcore sounds on The Lost City, but Valley of Kings makes them a core part of their sound that they can carry forward with them. It's also a testament to The Wise Man's Fear's compositions that I can get a good sense of the story beats of the album without having to dive into all the extended plot that they have developed for the really hardcore fans to get into. Valley of Kings takes multiple listens to really appreciate it, but it's undeniably an extremely well-crafted album and I can't wait to see where The Wise Man's Fear are going to take us from here.
3) WE ARE CHAOS, Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson has had a very up-and-down career. Despite being more renown for their shock tactics, the band put out some legitimately good music with Antichrist Superstar, Mechanical Animals and Holy-Wood, only to seemingly buy into their own hype and put out several dreary albums throughout the 2000s. It wasn't until 2015's The Pale Emperor that the band came surging back to prominence. While refreshing and featuring a bold new sound, I personally felt like The Pale Emperor was half of a fantastic album weighed down by a mediocre second half. It's follow-up Heaven Upside Down was also lauded by critics, I personally found it disappointing. With all of this in mind, you can understand why I went into We Are Chaos (sorry… WE ARE CHAOS, because everything in this album is in all caps) with some trepidation.
After a fairly standard post-The Pale Emperor opening in "RED BLACK AND BLUE", Manson pulls off a big surprise – thanks to his collaboration with co-producer Shooter Jennings, the first half of the album is loaded with acoustic guitar and piano-driven pieces. It harkens WE ARE CHAOS back to the David Bowie-inspired sounds of Mechanical Animals. This part of the album houses some of the best songs on here, including the great title track and the emotive but disturbing "PAINT YOU WITH MY LOVE". The second half of the album then goes back into the more standard industrial metal and bluesy sounds that Marilyn Manson have made a career off of and all the tracks here are enjoyable enough. WE ARE CHAOS finishes with another acoustic track, "BROKEN NEEDLE", a song that just keeps building on itself and makes for a really powerful way to end the album.
It also helps that, like in The Pale Emperor, Marilyn Manson dials back his bad habit of being a provocateur, instead allowing his songs to make an artistic statement on their own merits (although "KEEP MY HEAD TOGETHER" feels a bit gratuitous in its vulgarity). Probably the most important element of WE ARE CHAOS though is that Marilyn Manson really knows how to write a lyrical hook. So many times during my first listen-through I was making notes of interesting lines that Manson would repeat and get stuck in my head: "We are sick, fucked up and complicated, we are chaos" ("WE ARE CHAOS"), "Don't chase the dead or they'll end up chasing you" ("DON'T CHASE THE DEAD"), "You're dead longer than you're alive" ("INFINITE DARKNESS") and "I'm not special, I'm just broken and I don't want to be fixed" ("SOLVE COAGULA"). I had my reservations going into WE ARE CHAOS, but I'm happy to see that Marilyn Mansion isn't up to his usual, tired tricks. Who would have thought that focusing on making good music instead of focusing on your reputation would pay dividends?
2) Mother, In This Moment
Going into Mother, the lead single "The In-Between" primed me to expect it to carry on the heavy sound and occult tone of Ritual. I probably should have known better though – In This Moment have always done something wildly different on every single album and while it does carry over some of the witch aesthetics those expecting another Ritual or even Blood are going to be disappointed. In fact, Mother has proven to be somewhat divisive amongst fans as it is far less heavy than previous In This Moment albums and incorporates more electronic elements into its sound, similar to Black Widow. Those who write the album off for not sounding the same as what's come before are going to be missing out though because, as far as I'm concerned, Mother is one of the best-crafted and touching In This Moment albums ever.
The album gets the heavy stuff out of the way early, opening with a surprising but amazing cover of "Fly Like an Eagle". Having seen In This Moment in concert, I can just imagine how much this song would slay live, it makes for a shockingly good opening track. From there we go into "The In-Between", which I already loved when it was a pre-release single. It's a top-tier In This Moment track, like something off Blood but with the spirituality of Ritual… it's also the last particularly heavy track we get on the album for a long time. "Legacy" then comes in as a slower, powerful, more electronically-laden track – it's really good! From there we get another surprising cover, particularly from a band that isn't known for them, with "We Will Rock You". Lzzy Hale and Taylor Momsen getting their own verses, turning this song into an overt GIRL POWER anthem. It doesn't do much different from the Queen original, but it's hard not to enjoy listening to the girls having the time of their life on this track, especially given the marginalized status of female vocalists in rock and metal music.
From there we move into what is, in my opinion, the best track on the album: the title track, "Mother". Maria Brink's powerful vocals and songwriting are on full display on this track, which serves as the thematic statement for the whole album: an appreciation of mothers. The theme runs through nearly the entire album. The inclusion of "Fly Like an Eagle" makes more sense when you realize the album's theme, as Maria is careful to emphasize this line:
"Feed the babies/Who don't have enough to eat/Shoe the children/With no shoes on their feet/House the people/Livin' in the street/Oh, oh, there's a solution"
Similarly, "The In-Between" opens with the line:
"My mother said that I was holy/My father said that I would burn/My mother said I was an angel/My father said that I would turn/So I believed these words and I turned on myself/'Cause maybe he's right, maybe I'm worthless/Or maybe he's wrong and my mother was right/I got a killer in me to give me purpose"
Meanwhile, the entire point of "Legacy" can be summed up in the chorus, "We are one, we run free/I am you and you are me/You sacrificed everything/I am and will always be your legacy". The girl power of "We Will Rock You" is obvious already, but when you realize the album's themes it just gives it that much more gravitas.
Of course, once the motherhood theme gets punctuated with the title track, the album takes a detour into entirely unrelated territory with "As Above, So Below". It's so out of place that it makes me wonder if In This Moment initially set out to make an album a bit more akin to Ritual, but the theme of motherhood emerged halfway and subsumed the rest of the album. The album begins to drag just a little bit at this point – while "Born in Flames", "God is She" and "Holy Man" (the obligatory "Sure this album's about mothers, but what about us men?" track) aren't bad songs, they just don't hold a candle to the strength of the first half of the album. Things start to get back on track though with "Hunting Grounds", the last heavy song on the album. It has a weird, haunting atmosphere to it as Maria Brink and Joe Cotela of DED (Maria's current partner) harmonize together. This also marks the point where the album drops the motherhood throughline, as "Lay Me Down" and yet another cover, "Into Dust", close out the album sounding like something from Blood (not a bad thing at all, considering that's their best album). I kind of wish that Mother maintained its theme throughout the entire album, it would have been nice if the second half was just a bit stronger (seriously, just drop "Holy Man" and you've got a tighter album right there) and maybe a little bit more heaviness wouldn't have hurt, but these are fairly nitpicky. In This Moment clearly put out the album they wanted to and I feel like it's one of their most thoughtful and mature releases yet.
1) Declaration, Red
I've said it many times in the past, but Red are a really inconsistent band. They're just a likely to put out a "meh" album as they are to put out one of my favourite albums of the decade. It makes every new release a roulette wheel, but you can tell that there's something different about Declaration. This is the first album where Red has gone fully independent and, as the title suggests, the band is keen to make a statement. Red gave us a sneak peak of the direction they were heading last year with The Evening Hate EP. I had said back then that I liked what I heard and hoped that it would be indicative of the quality of the band's next album, but I was really not expecting Declaration to be this good.
Simply put, Red aren't doing anything particularly revolutionary on Declaration – it's very much their usual sound, if a bit heavier than usual. The difference maker is that they bring their A-game, delivering a rock-solid album of ferocious, catchy hard rock from start to finish. The rock-solid tracks from The Evening Hate EP appear here and are just as good as they were a year ago, but brand new tracks like "Infidel", "Cauterize" and "Sever" confidently stand toe to toe with them. The only issue with Declaration is a glaring one – "Only Fight". This track shows up near the end of the album and sticks out like a sore thumb, sounding like something from one of Red's weaker albums and being of considerably lower quality than any other track on Declaration. It straight-up sucks and is literally the only thing holding Declaration back from being the uncontested best Red album. Seriously, listening through this album I was agonizing over whether I liked it more than of Beauty and Rage, but the second "Only Fight" started I thought "welp, well second place is still good". That one blemish aside, Declaration is a fantastic album, enough so that I would say that it's a strong contender for my future "Best of the 2020s" list in ten years time. If you like this sort of heavy music, you owe it to yourself to check Declaration out!
December 17, 2019 September 8, 2020 ~ Barloq ~ Leave a comment
It's that time of year once again, when I look back on all of the random-ass, new music I've listened to in 2019! I've been slowly curating this article all year as there have been plenty of new albums by my favourite bands, which has given me plenty of time to parse my feelings on them. Also, if you're curious about last year's picks, you can read that list here.
Anyway, with that out of the way, let's get to the rankings!
23) Jesus Is King, Kanye West
If you've checked out any of my previous annual album rankings then you'll probably know that I skew towards rock and metal rather than rap or RNB, so perhaps it wouldn't be all that surprising that my white, heathen ass would rank a Kanye West album so lowly. However, I did enjoy My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and some of my all-time favourite albums are pure gospel music (Worship and Worship Again by Michael W. Smith are just inspiring to listen to back-to-back), so suffice to say I was pretty intrigued by the hype surrounding the release of Kanye West's big Christian music debut. It's undeniable that Kanye West is an asshole, but the guy has a way of crafting really interesting music so I was very curious to see what he could come up as an outsider in the Christian music scene. However, the results are pretty disappointing. With 11 tracks and clocking in at only 27 minutes long, this album just feels half-baked, like Kanye put out a bunch of demos instead of taking the time to actually craft something satisfying. Only 3 tracks manage to get over the 3 minute mark, "God Is", "Hands On" and "Use This Gospel", and these are clearly the most enjoyable and well-crafted tracks on the whole album. There are some potentially interesting aspects to "Selah" and "Follow God" as well, but these tracks are so brief and incomplete that they leave you very unsatisfied. I also got a bit of a kick out of the gospel choir opener "Every Hour", although it is little more than an enthusiastic mood-setter. Most of the tracks are just lacking in substance. All this said, the only track on this album that I actually liked and would listen to on its own is "God Is", a fantastic gospel choir and RNB fusion which is helped immensely by Kanye West's sincere singing and declarations of faith and praise to God. It's actually moving, has something to say and is easily the best track of the bunch. However, this is just one well-crafted song on an entire album and it's not enough to justify how scattershot, incomplete and uninteresting the rest of Jesus Is King is. Now, if Kanye would gimme a whole album of gospel tracks similar to "God Is"? I'd be all over that, but as it stands Jesus is King just feels like Kanye is dumping his half-completed homework on us.
22) The Change, Awake At Last
I did a post several months ago about bands who had followed me on social media, one of which was Awake At Last. I didn't really have much to say about them though – their debut EP was distinct with theatrical, enthusiastic hard rock, but it didn't make much of an impression on me. I figured it was worth giving them another shot with their first full-length album, The Change, but this album ultimately just told me that Awake At Last aren't for me. Awake At Last certainly have their own style, especially because of lead singer Vincent Torres' theatrical (perhaps even overwrought at times) vocals. It's not like they're playing the same music over and over again either, they sprinkle their hard rock with electronics and vocal effects, although they don't tend to get too heavy. When it comes down to whether or not I enjoy their music though, I really can't bring myself to care about it too much. Usually when I listen through an album for the first time for these countdowns, I'll write some notes about each song and put down any first impressions I have about whether I like it. For The Change, I did this for about the first five songs but just stopped because I wasn't really into it at all. In fact, my notes ended up being just me trying to figure out which bands Awake At Last reminded me of, and I realized that they most remind me of Papa Roach… so take that how you will. I dunno if it's just because this is positive hard rock (I like to wallow in my misery, thank you very much!), but it just didn't work for me at all. I'd still recommend checking them out if you're into bands like Shinedown, Saliva or Papa Roach, but for me at least I don't imagine I'll be checking back for their next album.
21) Armageddon, Art of Dying
I saw Art of Dying opening for Disturbed years ago… oh God, I was still in high school, it must have been around 2008 or 2009. Anyway, I was pretty impressed with their self-titled debut album, it was a solid post-grunge which gave me a lot of promise for the band going forward. Their follow-up, Vices and Virtues, was decent as well, but clearly not as good as their debut. I felt like they were drifting towards more of a mediocre radio-rock sound and so I kind of stopped paying attention to them. Since then Art of Dying has put out three more albums so I figured that I might as well check out their latest release and see if I've been missing anything in the meantime. I have to say that, if their other albums are anything like Armageddon, then I haven't really missed much. The uneasiness which drove me away from Art of Dying in the first place has definitely manifested to reality, because the band is very clearly chasing radio trends here. That's not to say that radio-friendly music is bad by any means, but there's a difference between putting out music that you want people to hear and putting out music which is supposed to get mass-appeal radio play. Art of Dying are talented enough that Armageddon isn't exactly "bad", but at least in terms of the songwriting it feels like a band that's several albums deep going through the motions and trying to pay the bills.
The album opens in irritating fashion right off the bat with the title track which is clearly ripping off the pop-rock sound of Imagine Dragons. While your mileage is certainly going to vary, I find Imagine Dragons' sound annoying, especially because their popularity has led to several other bands mimicking it (spoiler alert: this is far from the only band on this list which has been riffing on Imagine Dragons). Taste-aside, frontman Johnny Hetherington's vocals sound really strained on this track for some inexplicable reason. The guy has a pretty good voice so I'm not sure why he's stretching himself so far here. The lyrics here are also typical of the whole album, in that they're generic and uninspired. Even reasonably decent songs like "Cut It All Away", "Rearview Mirror" or "Shatterproof" are let down by the lyrics, which is especially unfortunate when it deflates the impact of the enjoyable guitar solos in tracks like "Rearview Mirror" and "I Believe". This culminates in a real disaster with "Unoriginal". Look, if you're a band like Art of Dying and you decide to put a song on your album called "Unoriginal", you need to make sure that that song is amazing or you're just setting yourself up to get pilloried. So what do Art of Dying do? They basically come right out and admit that they're just going through the motions. I mean, check out these lyrics:
"I'm so fucking bored / Keep coming back for more / It's all been done before yeah"
"It's just the same old / Is this really where we're at right now / Are we so, are we so unoriginal"
"I'm so sick and tired / Of being uninspired / Nothing ever changes"
Wow… I wouldn't have expected the band to just come out and say that they just don't give a shit, but there you have it. Sure, they probably aren't actually intending for the song to be taken as a serious declaration, but in the context of such a limp album it's hard to interpret it any other way.
20) Live From Alexandria Palace, London, UK, Disturbed
Oh look, Disturbed are once again bringing up the low end of the album rankings this year, although I can say that at least this live EP is better than Evolution. The main reason this ranks so low is that I really don't understand why they decided to put out a bite-sized live EP at all. The band put out their full live album, Live at Red Rocks, only a couple years ago and 3 of the 5 tracks on this EP appeared there in essentially the same form (and, in my humble opinion, their live recordings don't sound as good as their studio recordings). That leaves us with only two new live tracks from Evolution. Luckily, "A Reason to Fight" is far more effective when sang live than it is in studio. While the studio recording just came across as melodramatic, the live version really gets to show off how well David Draiman can sing. It doesn't solve the issue that the lyrics are uninspired, but it is definitely the superior way to experience this song. It also helps that David then goes into a speech for almost 5 minutes about not falling prey to addiction, depression and suicide, which is honestly more raw and moving than the song itself. Cutting from this sombre moment into "Inside the Fire" is a pretty inspired move in my opinion, but the rest of the tracklist is strangely erratic. "Inside the Fire" was clearly the last song on the setlist when this was recorded, and all subsequent tracks on the EP are just faded into and out of haphazardly. The lowlight is, in my opinion, the second song from Evolution, "No More". I already didn't like this song, but it's not improved any in a live setting. It's just the same sort of protest song about greed, government and war that we've already heard more effectively thousands of times, not only from other bands, but Disturbed themselves too. Other than that, tracks like "Inside the Fire" and "Ten Thousand Fists" which sound fantastic in studio and great in a live setting are robbed of much of their effectiveness when they're recorded live, since David Draiman has to sing at a higher pitch to avoid ruining his voice. The best track on the EP though is the closer, "The Game", which manages to make the live transition without losing any of its energy. I've always enjoyed this song, although the message certainly makes me uncomfortable. I like to assume that there's an unreliable narrator thing going on and that this song is actually about how much men suck, although I seriously doubt that that was the intent. Anyway, like I said at the outset, this is a pretty limp EP which doesn't really have much to offer to anyone. Even bigger Disturbed fans than me will probably be disappointed that there's only 2 newer songs on here and I wouldn't say that either of them make it worth a purchase or more than a cursory listen.
19) Victorious, Skillet
Throughout this past decade if you asked a mainstream rock music fan if there were any good Christian bands, odds are the most common answer you'd get would be "Skillet". While their fame has always bothered me, I can kind of understand why it happened. After experimenting with weird industrial/electronic rock and straight-up worship albums, Skillet finally hit their stride with Collide and Comatose, a one-two punch of hard rock albums that really resonated with me back in 2006. The thing is though, I was an angsty high schooler at the time and have grown up since then. Meanwhile, Skillet have released 4 albums in the last 10 years and each one is clearly just trying to rehash Comatose. Like… John Cooper is 44 years old. Hearing him angst about parents who don't understand and girls not paying attention to him was contrived enough when he was 31 years old (and married to one of his bandmates, I may add), but at 44 it's hard to imagine that he really has much connection to "kids these days". At least Victorious has shifted lyrically from angst to encouragement for its teenage target audience, although as I said on The Change that doesn't tend to be my cup of tea either.
Anyway, Skillet come swinging right out of the gates with "Legendary", clearly intended to be their big radio single. What does it sound like? FUCKING IMAGINE DRAGONS, UGH. I get that they're going for a completely different audience than me, but holy shit there are so many bands aping this same sound right now because it's popular (and shows up on several songs on the album). Guys, trendsetters don't follow, they lead… As I've said for a lot of these bands so far on this list, the songwriting on this album is just so rote and uninspired (sidenote, I came across this image from the lyric video for "Legendary" and it made me laugh). Unlike some of the other albums on the list up to this point though, Skillet are at least talented enough that they can serve up some decent songs every once in a while. The title track is appropriately triumphant and inspiring, "Terrify the Dark" has a fantastical air about it and "Anchor" is like a straight-up worship track. Fans of the band's past few albums will probably dig Victorious regardless, but Skillet clearly aren't making their music for me anymore and I can only really speak to my own feelings on the album.
18) Breathe in Colours, Forever Still
Like Awake at Last, Forever Still were on the list of bands that followed me on social media. However, Forever Still's debut album, Tied Down, had actually impressed me and so I was excited to see what their 2019 album would be like. Unfortunately, their sophomore album Breathe in Colours didn't impress me nearly as much as their debut. The band's greatest asset remains lead vocalist Maja Shining's vocals (also, holy shit, what a name!!!), which are able to range from screams to operatic melodies. I made this comparison in the social media bands post, but she definitely reminds me of Sleeping Romance's Frederica Lanna, although Forever Still hew more towards "vanilla" metal than symphonic metal (although there are a few songs which dabble with symphonic elements). The main issue with Breathe in Colours is that, other than Maja's voice, nothing really stands out. The music is fine, but it's treading firmly in typical metal/symphonic territory and is nothing special. The songwriting is also just fine, only a few tracks really stood out to me, such as the title track and "Pieces". Perhaps the best track though is the acoustic version of "Is It Gone?", which strips back Forever Still's weaker elements and puts everything down on Maja Shining's vocal talents. It makes the song far more enjoyable in my opinion. Hopefully Breathe in Colours is just a sophomore slump which will help Forever Still to figure out where to take their music in the future, because I believe they still have the talent to really stand out as a female-fronted metal band.
17) Stairway to Nick John, Mastodon
As I said in my 2017 album rankings, Mastodon have a pretty reliable album cycle, putting out a new one approximately every 2-3 years. Knowing this, I expected that we might get a Mastodon release in 2018, but imagine my surprise when I open up Spotify and see that the band has put out a surprise cover of "Stairway to Heaven". It was a weird turn of events for me, but when you look into the story behind it, it's actually quite poignant – Mastodon's longtime manager, Nick John, died and as a tribute the band played an emotional cover of "Stairway to Heaven" at his funeral. Unexpectedly, someone recorded the performance on their phone at the time and so the band decided to re-record it in studio as a record store day release.
So, with that bit of background out of the way, how is Stairway to Nick John? It's… fine. If you're looking for a very straightforward cover of "Stairway to Heaven", then Mastodon has a studio and a live recording just for you. Mastodon's Brann Dailor usually has very questionable vocals in a live setting (as anyone who has heard their Live From the Aragon record can attest), but he does a fantastic job on "Stairway to Heaven" in both of the recordings. His vocals here are unlike any other work they have done, to the point where it's kind of unfortunate that we haven't heard this side of him before. There aren't really any frills going on here, the vocal melody and the music hew closely to Led Zeppelin's original composition, with some very light hints of Mastodon's flavour worked in. This is no Johnny Cash's "Hurt" or Disturbed's "The Sound of Silence", where they aim to recreate the song their own way, it's just straightforward cover. It's also worth reiterating that the live version of the song was recorded on a phone, so the audio is a tad rough, clearly being picked up from far away in an echoey hall. It's impressive just how well it turned out, but it's worth knowing that it's not really captured in professional quality, if that bothers you. All-in-all, Stairway to Nick John is fine, although the story behind it is far more compelling than the release itself. It's not the 2019 Mastodon release I was expecting, but a bit of a creative break is probably better for the band overall.
16) This Is Not the End, Manafest
Growing up as a small town church kid, Manafest was considered the cool Christian rapper in our youth group. At the time I was mainly into Christian hard rock/metal, so his rap-rock fusion worked well for me. It also didn't hurt that his two albums, Epiphany and Glory, were both really solid releases. However, with each subsequent release, Manafest just lost more and more lustre to me. Each new album was just nowhere near as good as Glory was – they all retread the same sounds and themes, while being weaker and less inspired (although there were usually at least a couple good songs). This all came to head around the time Manafest crowdfunded his seventh album, The Moment and promised big things. At this point I said "Fine, this is your last chance to impress me"… and, lo and behold, it was probably my least-favourite album of his to date. Suffice to say, that was it for me. However, here were are now 5 years later and the guy has pumped out another 3 albums, so I was curious to see if he had improved any since 2014…
…but if This Is Not the End is anything to go by, he hasn't really. I mean, he has diversified his sound somewhat: the title track shows off electronic elements that he has incorporated into the rap-rock fusion, while "Kamikaze" demonstrates a different style of rapping than he ever did on previous tracks. That said, he's still just putting out the same sorts of music meant to appeal to white Christian teens despite the fact that the guy is now 40 years old, although there is a surprising amount of cheekiness, such as faking out F-bombs on the title track (as innocent as this sounds, it's a move which is sure to piss off parents and Christian music reviewers alike). The track "Kamikaze" also has a really awkward chorus which features Manafest saying "I love the way you suck my… energy"… it definitely does not sound like he wants to say "energy" though, unless that's the nickname has has for his dick.
But then there's "Plan For Me". When this started playing with its piano opening my initial thought was "oh, this is this EP's 'Mockingbird'", which was actually pretty spot-on in some ways. However, then he starts singing to an unborn baby who's been dead for 5 years and who they even had names picked out for before Manafest's real-life wife starts singing the chorus and I was truly surprised. Shit, when I walked away from his music, did Manafest and his wife have a miscarriage and here they are airing their continued grief? It was pretty heartfelt, and then he goes into the second verse as the child, telling their parents that it's okay, they don't have to feel guilty anymore, they can move on because this child they never knew will still love them and see them in heaven someday. By this point, I was actually getting emotional – my son was born just over a year ago and my fiance and I both thought that we were going to lose him on two separate occasions, so the fear of losing a child welled up raw emotions in me. I was actually impressed – a Christian rap song about a real experience of struggle with guilt and pain, learning to move past it and accepting that even loss like this is in God's hands? Even if it wasn't a true story, it speaks true to so many real-life experiences. I listened to it three times in a row.
…and then I realized it was an anti-abortion song and my enthusiasm was deflated so quickly. Like… goddammit. It makes less sense as an anti-abortion song! Why are they picking out names if they're not planning on keeping the baby? If he was so keen on having a baby and so cut up about it now, why did they even go through with it? The only reasons we're given is that the parents were young and not ready, which are fine reasons actually, but it's like Manafest can't imagine why someone would really feel that an abortion is justified. Like, did the relationship fall apart because of the abortion and now he regrets that? We don't even get the mother's perspective at all during this, which is frustrating – it's entirely from a man's perspective, including having him extrapolate that perspective to an imagined unborn child. It's just another reason why it's so deflating that this is an anti-abortion song instead of a song about experiencing a miscarriage, it just perpetuates so many frustrating pro-life tropes (often from a male's perspective). Instead of being some real, lived experience, the song is like a youth pastor's anti-abortion skit – a moralizing, melodramatic, theoretical scenario of someone regretting their abortion and being unable to move past it, robbed of the nuance of most peoples' real experiences. I know people who have gone through abortions and, looking back, they know that they made the right decision, but most of the guilt then comes from religious family members calling them "baby murderer" or other people making them feel like they should be ashamed about it. I'll give the song some credit, it does at least suggest that the abortion was part of "God's plan" all along and therefore not some abomination. It also tries to be as loving to the parents as possible, but it's unavoidable that a song with half of its verses from the perspective of an unborn baby in heaven is going to try to guilt you into birthing that little bastard next time. Like, despite effectively saying it was God's plan to have things go this way, it's still very judgy about the parents' decision and that the unborn child's potential is never realized.
It's just frustrating to me that Manafest wrote the song this way. When I mistakenly thought it was a song about a miscarriage it was so good… Sigh. While it deflated my enthusiasm for the song significantly, I still have to say that it's a really good sounding song, easily one of Manafest's best, so I've got to give him some credit for making one banger on this EP… even if it really, really sucks that it's an anti-abortion song and which will totally invalidate it in other, more unforgiving, peoples' eyes.
15) Patterns of Mythology, Falls of Rauros
I've been dabbling in the black metal subgenre over the last few years, and while I enjoy bands like Winterfylleth, I find that a lot of this kind of music blends together indistinctly. That said, when I was trolling Spotify one day and saw a black metal band named "Falls of Rauros" (named after the place where Boromir meets his end in The Lord of the Rings) had a new album out in 2019 I knew I had to give them a look. Patterns of Mythology is unmistakably a black metal album (the screamed/growled vocals should make that immediately obvious), although it is at a much slower tempo than, say, Winterfylleth. That said, Falls of Rauros change up the tempo multiple times throughout each song – one minute a song could be slow, moody and contemplative and then it can suddenly ramp up into a punishing wall of metal. That said, while they clearly have their own flavour, there really wasn't much here to really make Falls of Rauros stand out enough to me. Like all the other black metal I listen to, none of the songs really stand out on their own for me and I can't see myself playing this album as anything other than background music. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but it isn't something I'd come back to repeatedly.
14) Peace, Demon Hunter
Demon Hunter tend to put out solid music. I actually backed their last album, Outlive, on PledgeMusic (and got the big, beautiful deluxe box set!) and enjoyed it quite a bit, although the aggressive, hard edge to their music typified best by The Triptych has long since been eroded away. However, when it was announced that their double album would be titled War and Peace, I was tentatively excited. Based on the titles, it was pretty clear that they were going to give us the best of both worlds: War would be the heavy album, whereas Peace would be on the lighter side, a theory which turned out to be true when the albums dropped.
Peace is certainly lighter than any previous Demon Hunter album, but that actually makes it feel a bit fresher than if they had just watered-down their normal sound. Demon Hunter actually get a chance to experiment and do things we've never heard from them before, such as the western-inspired "When the Devil Come" or the full-on piano ballad, "Fear is Not My Guide". We also get some solid, melodic tracks which show off Ryan Clark's singing voice, particularly "More Than Bones" and "Recuse Myself" (which I'd definitely say is the track which has stuck with me most on this album). Unfortunately, Peace starts to drag very quickly. The lighter tone isn't the issue at all, if anything it's the tempo that's the issue – it feels like most of the songs have been slowed down in order to facilitate the lighter tone, which ends up making most of the tracks feel sluggish. This sluggishness means that most of the tracks drag, lack any energy and become instantly forgettable. The lyrics throughout the album aren't great either, particularly on the title track, although even tracks I like, like "More Than Bones", are very simple and repetitive. Most of the tracks are sub-par, very few stick out to me at all, and even the best tracks are only around the baseline of quality I'd expect from Demon Hunter anyway. Again, Peace gave Demon Hunter a great opportunity to try something fresh, but I just don't think that they succeeded at all. In fact, mainly due to how forgettable it is, I'd argue that Peace is probably their worst album ever, which is just unfortunate.
13) War, Demon Hunter
Man… Demon Hunter really didn't do it for me this year. I had heard good things about War around its release, but I was left a bit underwhelmed. I was kind of expecting them to move their sound in a heavier direction on War. While it's certainly heavier than Peace, it's far from a return to the aggressive edge of old-school Demon Hunter, coming across more like a next step from Outlive, where lighter tracks outweigh the heavier tracks (and even the heavy tracks will have lighter bits interspersed, such as the choruses for "Cut to Fit" and "On My Side"). I enjoy songs like "Cut to Fit", "On My Side" and "Grey Matter", but they're interspersed with mediocre tracks like "The Negative", "Unbound" and "No Place for You Here". The only truly great track is the album closer "Lesser Gods", a really heavy, epic track unlike anything Demon Hunter have put out before. It's the sort of shot in the arm that makes you wish that the band had done more like this on War, but having it as the closer just hammers home how mediocre most of the album is. On the other hand, the only particularly bad track on the album is "Ash", which has this really weirdly-pronounced chant of the title which makes it sound like they're saying "ASS!" each time. Suffice to say, it ruins the song and makes it impossible to take seriously when all you can hear is "Suffer the ASS!"
All-in-all, War and Peace just did not work for me. About half of War is mediocre and brings down the overall quality of the album. I really think that Demon Hunter would have been better off taking the best tracks from these two albums and putting them on one album, with the rest as harmless B-sides on a deluxe edition. It may not have made for their best release ever, but it certainly would have felt more satisfying and on par with their usual level of quality. For what it's worth, War has a bit more energy to it which helps it come out on top, but both albums are just mediocre releases from a band which usually does much better.
12) Kiss of the Cobra King, Powerwolf
It was pretty surprising when Powerwolf announced a new version of "Kiss of the Cobra King", one of their favourite tracks from their debut album. I expected to just get a cleaner version of the song, but Powerwolf have actually gone and rewritten the song from the ground up, only retaining the iconic chorus from the original song. The resulting song is immediately more epic, showing off the polished production quality you can expect from a Powerwolf track in 2019, akin to something from The Sacrament of Sin. It was a nice surprise to hear and I'd say that this new version of the song is easily as good as the original, if not better.
Instead of just releasing this by itself though, Powerwolf also threw a live version of "Army of the Night" onto the release. This feels like a bit of a pointless move to me though, because we've already gotten a live version of the song on The Metal Mass a couple years ago and it hasn't changed much in the interim. Still, it can be looked at as a bonus track, because most people are just going to be interested in the solid "Kiss of the Cobra King" anyway.
11) Secrets, Written By Wolves
I was going through my Daily Mix on Spotify when I decided to check out a song called "Let It Burn" by Written By Wolves… and holy crap, it was awesome! It was a really solid metalcore track, energetic, well-written and with just the right amount of angst. Suffice to say, it caused me to track down the rest of Written By Wolves' material and, lo and behold, it turns out that they had just put out their debut album, Secrets. "Let It Burn" was the opener and it really got me hyped for the rest of what Written By Wolves had to offer.
…and, uh, well let's just say that "Let It Burn" is NOT indicative of what Written By Wolves' sound is like. Hell, I'm not entirely sure that they even have a distinct sound, based on what we've gotten from Secrets anyway. Like, immediately after the heavy, metalcore sound of "Let It Burn", we get a couple indie/alternative tracks, then we get EDM on the title track and "Demons", then "Something to Save" mixes in some gospel of all things, then a heartfelt ballad in "Lucky Stars"… the band is all over the place, throwing everything they can at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's impressive, but also exhausting to experience and especially disappointing because they never really return to the heavy sound that sold me on the band in the first place. That said, Written By Wolves have some clear talent on display and, unlike many of the bands on this list, they're clearly giving it their all and not just going through the motions. There's so much variety here that odds are you're going to like at least one track, but you're also just as likely to not care for half of the songs on here. It's a bit of a crapshoot in that regard but I have to give Written By Wolves some credit for going for it regardless, I just hope that they can focus themselves a bit more in the future.
10) The Inveterate Fire, Firelink
Several months ago I stumbled across an article about a band producing Dark Souls-inspired metal. As a pretty big fan of the franchise and of metal in general, I knew that I had to check this band out for myself as the Souls franchise is just so rich for artistic adaptation (and they're not even the first Souls-inspired metal band I've come across). The album cover and the song titles were all getting me to geek out and there's even an audio sample from Dark Souls III of (I believe) Prince Lothric on one of the tracks. However, you don't necessarily have to be a big fan of the series to enjoy Firelink, because the music they've crafted is interesting in its own right. In some ways they remind me of Winterfylleth, with metal that can be slow, ambient and introspective, and then suddenly rev up into fast, punishing black metal with howled vocals (although, regrettably perhaps, these vocals do make it hard to appreciate the lyrics, which is another reason why you don't necessarily have to be a fan of the franchise to enjoy the band).
"Vessel of the Primordial Serpent" kicks things off in brutal fashion, with very fast and aggressive black metal. "Kindled" opens a little closer to the traditional soundscape of Dark Souls, with a strong bassline and plucked, echoing guitar giving the song a more moody, thoughtful and lonely tone. Just as it's starting to drag, it kicks into the punishing metal sound which typifies this album (one could say that the song is kindled itself, much like the bonfires in the game). Interestingly enough, Firelink sound almost like Dragonforce at times, they have the same sort of wailing-guitar sound which isn't so common in the bleaker tone of black metal. The album pinnacles with "Manus", which shows off some of that very impressive Dragonforce-style guitar work. It's easily one of the most distinct and enjoyable black metal tracks I've ever heard. Unfortunately, "Beckoning Sun" then feels scattershot, like the band recorded themselves improvising an ambient tune – it doesn't feel like there's any sort of intentional craft behind this track and it makes it feel super forgettable. The album then closes on "The First Sin", which just continues more of the heavy and fast black metal we've already gotten to this point. All-in-all, The Inveterate Fire is worth checking out for fans of black metal, the Dark Souls links are fun but the music certainly stands on its own.
9) When the World Becomes Undone, A Pale Horse Named Death
My God, just look at that album cover. Just look at that title. Just look at that band's name! Yeah, I was sold on this album the moment I saw it, it's clearly My Shit™. I've seen A Pale Horse Named Death being classified as "doom metal" and "gothic metal", but at least based on this album I would have to say that they also have a distinctly grunge sound, very reminiscent of Alice in Chains (y'know, if Alice in Chains' music was all about despair and the death of the world). This actually gives When the World Becomes Undone a shocking amount of potential crossover appeal, as tracks like "Love the Ones You Hate" and "Fell in My Hole" are solid enough that I could potentially see them getting radio airplay. That said, as much as I enjoyed this album, there are a couple glaring weaknesses. First of all, vocalist Sal Abruscato's singing is not great, it sounds like he's putting on an affectation and mumbling the lyrics half the time. Listening to him, I can't help but imagine how much better these songs would sound if they were sung by Alice in Chains' Layne Staley or William DuVall, or even if they were screamed or growled. The second big weakness with this album is that there isn't much diversity to the songs. When you consider that the album is over an hour long, it really starts to drag as it goes on. Still, I really liked what I heard here and will definitely be checking out A Pale Horse Named Death's back catalogue.
8) Rewind, Replay, Rebound, Volbeat
Volbeat are one of my favourite bands and usually they can be depended on to put out really good albums, especially since they have a longer release cycle than many bands. They have a very distinct sound that you don't really get anywhere else in popular music (I call it "hard rockabilly") and Michael Poulsen's wonderfully illegible vocals which make nearly every release feel special. They also rarely rest on their laurels, usually going for a different "feel" on each album (eg, Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood feels like turn of the century saloon tunes, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies has a country-western theme, etc). Suffice to say, I was expecting good things from Rewind, Replay, Rebound.
The album starts out at its highest point with "Last Day Under the Sun", an infectious (if slightly repetitive) rock tune which has gone down as one of my favourite and most memorable tracks of the year. The only other other track that comes anywhere close to that level of quality is "Rewind the Exit", although that's not to say that the rest are bad. In fact, the first half of the album is pretty enjoyable, especially the Elvis-like swagger of "Pelvis on Fire" and the surging energy of "Die to Live", but there are two big issues with Rewind, Replay, Rebound. First of all, the album feels very bloated. I like that Volbeat put out hour-long albums, but the music has to be consistently high-quality for it to work. Normally, I'd say that Volbeat manage to clear that barrier easily, with maybe one or two tracks at most that don't really stand out, but in this case at least half of the tracks feel pretty mediocre by Volbeat's standard. This is especially the case in the second half of the album, where a lot of the songs are so indistinct that they just start to blend together. This is especially egregious in the case of the closing track "7:24", just comes and goes so uneventfully that you go "oh wait, that's the end of the album?" It's too bad too because the earlier track "Maybe I Believe" felt like a more natural and satisfying closer.
The second big issue is that the album feels very familiar. It starts at just the second track on the album, "Pelvis on Fire". I like the song quite a bit, but the song is unmistakably ripping whole sections off from an earlier Volbeat song, "Sad Man's Tongue" (they also name-drop the song in the lyrics, so obviously this wasn't unintentional). Hell, even the lyrics in both songs match up at times and as someone who is familiar with Volbeat's catalogue I just can't not hear this, it always takes me out of the song at least a bit. Then only two songs later we have "Die to Live", which would almost certainly be named "Let It Burn", except that Volbeat already named a song that on their last album. Obviously, that's less of an issue, but it continues the feel that Volbeat are just recycling the same ideas. This still wouldn't be much of an issue if not for yet another obvious recycled song, this time on the track "Cheapside Sloggers" which not only sounds similar to "We" on the verses, but very clearly rips off the opening guitar riff from "Hallelujah Goat" and a bit of "Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza" for good measure. Again, these are just the instances which are unmissable if you're familiar with Volbeat's work. There are a few other tracks which have a niggling air of familiarity to them, but I wouldn't even care if there weren't so many obvious instances already of them plundering their back catalogue here. It would be one thing if it was a theme for the album overall, but instead it just feels like they're trying to reintroduce elements from deep cuts to new audiences who haven't heard the rest of their music. Maybe there's some merit to that idea, but it takes me out of the album with how obvious it is.
There's also a Deluxe Edition release with 2 B-sides, an alternate version of "Die to Live" without guest vocals, and a bunch of demos. The B-sides are solid and basically all that makes the deluxe edition worthwhile, since the demos sound virtually indistinguishable from their slightly more polished versions and the alternate version of "Die to Live" is basically a less-interesting version of the standard track. All-in-all, if you like Volbeat already then the Deluxe Edition is basically a no-brainer anyway, but considering that 6 of the 8 tracks on it are basically more filler on an album which feels bloated with filler already, it doesn't exactly help the overall feeling about the album. I enjoyed Rewind, Replay, Rebound well enough, but it's very clearly on the lower end of Volbeat's catalogue. I'm sure I'll continue to give it listen-throughs into the future, but I can already tell that it's not going to get nearly as much replays as their past classics. I just hope that the band doesn't rest on their laurels when the next album cycle rolls around.
7) The Evening Hate EP, Red
I went over a bit of my history with Red in my 2017 album rankings – suffice to say, we've had a rough relationship. I've gone from loving Red, to being sick of them, to loving them again and then back to trepidation, all due to the inconsistent quality of their releases and balancing between different parts of their fanbase. So you can understand if I was a bit cautious going into The Evening Hate EP, but luckily for me the band was firing on all cylinders with this release. This is classic Red – the music is heavy (especially "From the Ashes"), the backing strings are beautiful and the electronic elements that permeated Release the Panic are almost entirely absent. The fight between using electronic elements versus strings seem to have been dogging Red for years, but I'm hoping that The Evening Hate EP is showing us a glimpse of the future, because everything on here sounds great. The title track has some unique elements for a Red song, while also managing to sound epic like something from their best album, of Beauty and Rage. It's a great way to start the album. The next track, "From the Ashes", is a very heavy and solid track, and while it is more typical Red fare than "The Evening Hate", it doesn't really hurt it any. "Hemorrhage" slows things down significantly and has wildly different vocals than anything Red has ever done, but this is in part due to it being a cover of a Fuel song. It's very different for this band and I like the vocal style they used here. The album then closes out with an alternate version of "The Evening Hate" and an acoustic version of "From the Ashes". The acoustic version of "From the Ashes" isn't really anything special, but the alternate version of the title track is awesome. It slows the song down, making it more ethereal and puts more emphasis on the backing strings. It completely changes the song, to the point where both versions easily stand on their own. It even starts to build when the chorus kicks in, keeping it from stagnating like so many slowed-down, alternate versions of songs do. All-in-all, The Evening Hate makes for a very solid EP, to the point where it would be nice if it wasn't so bite-sized! I just hope that this is a glimpse of where the band is heading because I definitely like this direction.
6) N.A.T.I.O.N., Bad Wolves
Bad Wolves' Disobey was one of my favourite albums of 2018, but I was surprised when I found out that they were following it up with another full album just over a year later. I was also pretty surprised when I saw the album cover for it – an underwear-clad and tattoo-covered model was a pretty far cry from the imposing riot cop that adorned Disobey and perhaps signified a shift towards Five Finger Death Punch's brand of bro metal. However, I've kind of turned around on this album art since my first impression – I actually like how deeply contrasted the colour of the model's underwear is to her skin and tattoos, it looks striking. I've seen people say that the fact that there's a woman in underwear here at all is "tasteless", but I don't feel like it's overly-sexualized, especially considering that they're intentionally covering up the model's underboob.
Enough about the album art though, what about the music? Well, I can't say that I like it nearly as much as Disobey, but N.A.T.I.O.N. is a solid-enough follow-up, especially considering that it was pumped out only a year later (and is 42 minutes long at that, some bands can barely manage 30 minutes in 3 years). There are some delightfully heavy and aggressive tracks on here, particularly "I'll Be There", "L.A. Song" and the brutal "The Consumerist". When Bad Wolves are unleashed like this they're at their absolute best, but they can still restrain themselves somewhat and put out a solid, radio-friendly rock tune. "Killing Me Slowly" is a great example of this, managing to be clearly written as a single while also being one of the best tracks on the album. Unfortunately, there are also several songs which were clearly written to be singles which just suck in comparison to the rest of the album because they make Bad Wolves sound so defanged. "Better Off This Way" is the first sign of this, a slowed-down, heartfelt breakup song right in the middle of an album full of blistering metal. It feels more like the cliche, emotional album closer rather than the start of the middle of the album. It's a masterpiece though compared to "Sober". Here I was hoping for a Tool cover, but what I got instead was another breakup song (this time with addiction added in!) that sounds exactly like an Imagine Dragons song, complete with claps and the layered vocal harmonies. It sucks and is clearly intended to get more of that radio airplay after the success of "Zombie" on their last album. Personally, I hope it bombs because I do not want Bad Wolves carrying on in this direction in the future. That's the thing though – when they're sticking with the heavy, aggressive stuff Bad Wolves sound fantastic. It's these transparent attempts at radio friendliness which suck a lot of the life out of this album though – up until "Better Off This Way", this album was shaping up to be in my top 3 of the year, but the quality of the tracks becomes extremely inconsistent from that point onward. As a result, I can't say that it's a step up from Disobey, but it's a good enough release that I'm certainly going to be listening to it into the future many more times.
5) Fear Inoculum, Tool
Holy shit, it's finally here! It's been over 13 years, but the long-awaited Tool album finally saw release in 2019. For what it's worth, Fear Inoculum sounds like Tool haven't skipped a beat in the last 13 years, with the only real change in their sound being that frontman James Maynard Keenan sounds more like he did on last year's A Perfect Circle album, Eat the Elephant, than he normally does on Tool tracks (which works for me, his voice sounds better this way in my opinion). However, the music landscape has changed drastically since 2006 and having such a blatantly esoteric, technically-ambitious and non-commercial album come out is, somewhat ironically, a major selling-point. While this gives Fear Inoculum a definite novelty factor, it's hard to argue that it was worth the 13 year wait. Previous Tool albums always had their own distinct flavour, but Fear Inoculum sounds very much like their psychedelic, mystical tour de force, Lateralus. The problem with this though is that, while you can appreciate the craftsmanship and commitment to just being simply weird, the songs here aren't as enjoyable as the ones on Lateralus. That's not to say that there aren't enjoyable tracks – the title track and "Descending" are really solid, but there's nothing quite as impactful as Lateralus' "Schism" or "The Grudge". Luckily, the latter half of the album starts shedding some of the trappings of Lateralus and we get interesting tracks like "Chocolate Chip Trip" (which sounds like something Iron Butterfly might craft) and the absolutely epic "7empest" (easily the best and most easily-enjoyable track on the album, even if it is almost 16 minutes long).
Oh and like The Great War, there are two versions of this album you can get, the physical edition and digital edition, which actually comes with 3 additional instrumental tracks. Normally I'd say to go for the additional songs… but man, I thought that all three of these bonus tracks were by far the worst music on the whole album. They're just weird interludes for the sake of being weird and just get in the way of enjoying the actual good tracks in my opinion. Worst of all is "Mockingbeat", which channels some of that old trolling energy the band used to display on Ænima and gives us a bunch of unbearable screeching for 2 minutes. I get it, ha ha, you're literally mocking us Tool, but no one is going to want to listen to that shit. Just do yourself a favour, buy the album on CD or vinyl, you're not missing out on anything good in doing so.
4) The Great War, Sabaton
Since finding their sound after a few rough, early albums, Sabaton have been one of the most consistently reliable bands in heavy metal. Their music doesn't change very much from album to album, but they are always of a high quality, reinvented just enough that it doesn't feel like they're doing the bare minimum each time. If you've never heard Sabaton before, their music is all about war history, with their last three albums all having a central theme (the Swedish Empire in Carolus Rex, war heroes in Heroes and final stands in The Last Stand). With their newest release, Sabaton look to World War I with The Great War, which sees them putting more emphasis on the history of their subject than ever. In fact, they're so dedicated to education that this time they've released a special edition of the album called the "History Edition", which has short voice overs before each track. I actually bought this version of the album and while it does provide some very interesting context for each song I'm not sure I'd say it's the recommended version to buy. Having to listen to the same introductions to each song every time is kind of annoying and some of them aren't that informative anyway (eg, Verdun's intro is about 5 seconds long). It's worth a listen at least once, but I kind of wish that I had just gone with the standard edition, since you can glean the history from the lyrics anyway.
In the past, Sabaton have towed a fine line between glorifying war versus honouring the soldiers who fight in it, but The Great War probably strikes the most clear position on it. As is appropriate for an album about World War I, several songs decry the brutality and pointlessness of the war and there is a sombre tone to the whole affair, such as the doom-laced title track or "The End of the War to End All Wars". This sombre tone is most clearly seen in the closing track with a choir rendition of "In Flander's Fields", which sees Sabaton dropping their entire sound in favour of a sober reflection to show how serious a tragedy WWI was.
Of course, it's not all melancholy and seriousness; Sabaton have some awesome tracks which pump you up. Right out of the gate, "The Future of Warfare" is a killer opening track with an energetic chorus which makes you want to shout along with it, while also hammering home the idea that World War I was a conflict which changed the world. Other than the anti-war tracks, the rest of the tracks could have easily made their way onto Heroes, as Sabaton recounts various heroic soldiers' actions during the war. All of the tracks are very solid, but they're also just "more of the same". If you're into Sabaton already, this will certainly be fine, but it's not likely to change any minds. The Great War is another solid album from Sabaton, but it's a little unfortunate that they can't evolve their sound much. The injection of sombreness at least gives The Great War a slightly different tone than previous releases, but at this point I just expect the band to rest on their laurels whenever a new album comes out.
3) Volume III, September Mourning
This list was supposed to come out about a week ago, I had it all ready to publish, when September Mourning dropped the news that their newest EP was coming out December 13. September Mourning are easily the best band I've discovered in this past year, so the opportunity to give them some more exposure was one that I wasn't going to pass up. Even if their music wasn't great (and it is), and even if frontwoman Emily Lazar wasn't gorgeous (she seriously is), September Mourning are also a Gorillaz-style transmedia project. This means that every song is advancing a this deliciously-nerdy story about a half-human half-reaper character who tries to give people a second chance, played up by Emily Lazar's elaborate costumes in live shows, along with a whole graphic novel line if you want to really dig into the lore. I love the whole project and Volume III was easily one of the releases I was most looking forward to this year.
Volume III features four songs, all of which have their own kind of flavour. "Unholy" strikes a rather sultry tone with the way Emily Lazar sings, very reminiscent of Maria Brink of In This Moment. Of course, I love In This Moment, so this works well for me although that's not to say that September Mourning are just a clone of a more successful band – on the contrary, they have their own flavour. Most female-fronted metal bands, such as Evanescence, Sleeping Romance or the aforementioned Forever Still will end up in the symphonic or operatic metal subgenre, but September Mourning end up somewhere in between those are more "traditional" metal. "Hiding From Heaven" was released as a single earlier this year and is a fantastic demonstration of the band's entire shtick, with their nerdy subject matter, empowering vocals and excellent songwriting. It's a catchy song that will stick with you long after you hear it. The latter-half of the EP gets a bit heavier too, with "Madness" and "Overdose" being some of the heaviest music that September Mourning has produced thus far. That said, "Overdose" gets a bit repetitive on the chorus and may be the weakest track on the EP because of that… not that that's a huge criticism though, because everything on here is solid. Easily the most frustrating part of Volume III is that it is just so bite-sized, it's less than 15 minutes long in total! That's way too short to be satisfying, but considering how good everything on here is I really can't hold it against them. I love September Mourning and I really hope that I get a chance to see them live sometime in 2020!
2) The Nothing, Korn
Few bands have been through the wringer quite as badly as Korn. After helping to establish a whole subgenre with "nu-metal" and several successful albums in the 90s, the band became a punch line and put out terrible album after terrible album for the better part of a decade. It wasn't until 2013 when original guitarist Brian "Head" Welch returned to the band that there were glimmers of a resurgence with The Paradigm Shift. 3 years later, The Serenity of Suffering was easily their best album since their heyday and this year's The Nothing is unquestionably one of the band's best albums ever, putting the band back at the forefront of the metal scene in tragic fashion. There's a rawness to The Nothing that this band hasn't seen in quite some time and this obviously is a result of the death of frontman Jonathan Davis' wife to an accidental overdose. You can hear the pain and guilt in Davis' words and voice, most explictly on album closer "Surrender to Failure". It's some of the darkest material the band has ever put out, but the band has gained a maturity over their 25 year career that keeps it from becoming too overwhelming. Songwriting was always a weakness of Korn in their heyday, with the band relying on emotion to carry them through rather than the lyrics, but the writing here has matured significantly. Tracks like "H@rd3r", "This Loss", "You'll Never Find Me" and even the extremely dark "The Seduction of Indulgence" are really solidly-written and don't come across as insincere or undeservedly angsty. I'm particularly impressed that this album remains rock solid throughout – I often complain that an album dips halfway through (or vice-versa), but The Nothing retains a consistently-high quality from start to finish. I'm happy to see that Korn have definitely gotten themselves back on track and are putting out the best music of their entire career now, it's just unfortunate that it had to come from such pain. Here's hoping that the future holds some joy for Jonathan Davis and company.
1) We Are Not Your Kind, Slipknot
Who would have thought even 15 years ago that the icons of nu-metal would be putting out some of the biggest and best rock albums in 2019? That said, Slipknot have always been viewed as the critical darlings of the subgenre but they don't always get the respect they deserve, perhaps because they are such a brutal band. I like how CagyCylinder describes Slipknot's place in the metal scene: "the heavier parts are still more brutal than anything any other 'mainstream' metal band will ever serve up". I like this description – there are certainly heavier bands, but among the bands in the mainstream, they're almost certainly the most brutal, almost approaching death metal levels of brutality at times. Coming off of The Gray Chapter, which synthesized the heaviest parts of early-Slipknot with the more mainstream-minded work of their third and fourth albums, we now get We Are Not Your Kind which picks up from their and sees the band experimenting with their sound more than ever. Hell, no two songs on this album feel quite the same and the band has clearly worked to make every track on this album stand out on its own. This is particularly impressive since, while there are individual songs on previous Slipknot albums that I like more than some of the songs here, as an overall package this is the first Slipknot album I'll happily listen to from start to finish every time without skipping over anything.
The first half of the album sounds like classic Slipknot, with all the aggression and heaviness you'd expect, but things really start getting interesting with "Spiders", a piano-led track that sounds kind of like the Halloween theme. It gives it an air of creepiness which is appropriately-Slipknot despite sounding unlike anything they've ever done before. Even more unusual is "My Pain", which is equally-creepy and has an incredibly sparse and unusual soundscape to it. Like… the music in this track makes me think of the sound of a grandfather clock at night when you're lying alone in your bed. Somehow I don't think that that's an accident that it brings back those same sorts of childhood anxieties. We also get a bit of a return to the norm with "Orphan" (one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album), but the last two tracks, "Not Long for This World" and "Solway Firth", fuse a bit more of this experimentation with Slipknot's usual sound, closing out the album on something familiar yet different. The experimentation in the latter-half of the album works and clearly comes from a desire to try new things rather than get more mass appeal.
The songwriting is also on-point and matured in this album. It's basically just a lot of facing personal demons and battling depression, but that resonates with me. I complained about bands with positive hard rock earlier and that's partly because, as someone who goes through anxiety and bouts of depression, those sorts of music don't make me feel any better, stuff like this does. I can channel the emotion of "Unsainted" and use that to express what I'm feeling in a cathartic manner. It's also nice to note that, unlike say Five Finger Death Punch, Slipknot's aggression isn't directed at random nobodies who piss them off or women who dare break up with them, it's more introspective and, consequently, justified. We Are Not Your Kind is probably the most consistently-even Slipknot album they've ever put out and there is very little fault I can find with it, hence why it landed on the top of the rankings this year.
My 10 Favourite Albums of the 2010s
November 29, 2019 September 8, 2020 ~ Barloq ~ Leave a comment
Man, I really left myself a lot of work for the end of this year. Not only did I do my "Best of 2019" albums ranking, but it's also the end of a decade, which means that it's also the time for "Best of the 2010s" lists. We're going to start out today with my favourite albums of the 2010s. Standard caveats apply here – music is not only incredibly subjective, but there is so much of it and my tastes are somewhat niche, so I wouldn't be arrogant enough to declare that these are "the best" albums of the decade. That said, they're all great and have affected me in one way or another, so I would certainly recommend checking them out if you have not!
Honourable Mentions:
Asylum, Disturbed (August 31, 2010)
I waffle between Asylum or Ten Thousand Fists being Disturbed's best album, but it's pretty much unquestioned that this was the last time they were such a self-assured band. Whatever your thoughts about their last couple albums are, the post-Asylum hiatus changed the band significantly and I don't predict that we're going to get another album from Disturbed that I'm going to like nearly as much as Asylum.
Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies, Volbeat (April 5, 2013)
They say there's nothing quite like your first… Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies was the album where I decided to give Volbeat a chance and I fell in love with their style. Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie would also have a pretty good shot at being one of my favourite albums of the decade, but they both fell just short of the top 10. Still, I love the band so much that I had to at least give them an honourable mention.
10) We're Just Really Excited to Be Here, Countless Thousands (June 4, 2011)
Countless Thousands' debut album is such a joy to listen to. Their brand of enthusiastic nerd rock is infectious and energetic from the outset and there is so much variety and experimentation that it never gets boring. Want a pirate rock song? Try "A Pirate's Shanty". Want something political? You'll love "The Patriot". How about a version of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", but rewritten to be about bassist Davey Munch battling Satan? Try "The Devil and Davey Munch", it's amazing. There's even stuff like "No Contest", where there is no instrumentation, only vocal layering which gives the song an interesting and haunting feel. On top of all of this, the songwriting is all top-notch, with one exception – personally, I just can't stand "The Asskickers' Union", a sickly-sweet love song which is just too goddamn happy for my tastes. It's not like that's a major blemish though on a 16 track album and there are plenty of other styles and standout tracks that it's easily washed away.
9) of Beauty and Rage, Red (February 24, 2015)
Red were a band that I got into with their first two albums, but gave up on after their next two albums were very disappointing. Imagine my joy then when they managed to not only course correct and return to form on their fifth album, but they actually managed to put out their best album yet. of Beauty and Rage sees Red firing on all cylinders, putting out an album which is equal parts heavy, haunting, epic and beautiful in various measures. It certainly feels like a Red album, but there's a maturity to it and everything has clearly been crafted painstakingly. At this point, I'd consider of Beauty and Rage to be Red's magnum opus. They have set the bar very high for themselves going forward, but they've shown that they know what it takes to come back. If Red ever manage to put out something that can match this album I would be delightfully surprised.
8) Dark Before Dawn, Breaking Benjamin (June 23, 2015)
In my opinion, Dark Before Dawn is Breaking Benjamin's best album. Perhaps this is because I got into the band pretty late into their career, but as far as I'm concerned it is by far their best overall. You'd be justified in saying that Breaking Benjamin just cover the same ground over and over again, but Dark Before Dawn is the best execution of this by far. All of their previous albums were uneven at best, even ones I genuinely like such as Dear Agony or Phobia. However, Dark Before Dawn is great from start to finish, with no track being weak or feeling like filler (other than the mood-setting, instrumental opening and closing tracks, but they're harmless in my opinion). On the contrary, there are so many standout tracks here, from "Failure", to "Angel's Fall", to "Close to Heaven" and "Ashes of Eden", all of which show off Benjamin Burnley's fantastic voice and make you want to sing along.
7) Carolus Rex, Sabaton (May 22, 2012)
While Heroes might be the point when Sabaton hit the peak of their popularity, its predecessor Carolus Rex is still the height of the band's talents. It's perhaps their most focused and personal work ever, detailing the rise and fall of the Swedish empire. In fact, it's so interesting and compelling that it has taught me more about this period of time in Europe than any history class I've ever taken. THe songs straight into history. A particular highlight in this regard is "A Lifetime of War", which make you feel how awful a decade-long war is, and then pulls the rug out and reveals that this war would go on for another two decades. Songs like "The Carolean's Prayer", "Carolus Rex" and "Ruina Imperii" all demonstrate the religious fanaticism of the time, how it was used to control men and dehumanize others. "The Carolean's Prayer" in particular is easily one of the best songs of Sabaton's career. Oh and I would be remiss to forget that Carolus Rex also has some amazing B-sides, most notably a cover of Amon Amarth's "Twilight of the Thunder God". When I was in university and this song came out, I would play it on repeat over and over again and try to death growl along. It's so good and the fact that it's a B-side better than what most bands can manage to put onto full albums is insane.
6) Marrow of the Spirit, Agalloch (November 23, 2010)
Most of the albums on this list are my favourite by their respective bands. With that said, I feel it's worth emphasizing that Marrow of the Spirit is actually only my third favourite Agalloch album – seriously, if you haven't listened to them before, do it. Agalloch tend to dabble in atmospheric doom metal with clear nature- and pagan-inspirations to each of their songs. Marrow of the Spirit is perhaps their rawest album in that regard. Having come off of two fairly polished albums, Agalloch were looking for a grittier sound and so opted to record Marrow of the Spirit on vintage analog equipment. The difference in production quality is immediately obvious when you compare Marrow of the Spirit to The Mantle or Ashes Against the Grain, but it works very well within Agalloch's sound. The album immediately sets the tone with "They Escaped the Weight of Darkness", a sombre mood-setter which is almost entirely composed of a cello and a recording of water running. From there, each of the remaining 5 tracks is just incredibly well-composed doom metal, equal parts sombre and epic, ranging in lengths from 9:40 to a staggering 17:34 on "Black Lake Niðstång". "Black Lake Niðstång" is a particular highlight for me – it certainly feels like a 17 minute song, but it goes through so many changes throughout that it never stagnates. Marrow of the Spirit might not be Agalloc's most accessible album, but it's certainly one that gets better the more you listen to it.
5) Through Glass Eyes, At Dawn's Edge (September 30, 2017)
Oh hey, the first pick from one of my annual album rankings! As I said back then, Through Glass Eyes is ambitious, diverse, mature and has impeccable production values, all of which are even more impressive when you consider that this is not only a debut album but also an independent release! They also don't fit into cliches – many female-fronted, symphonic/melodic metal bands can get dismissed for sounding like Evanescence-wannabes, but At Dawn's Edge have more maturity to their songwriting and singing which gives them their own unique flavour. It's a fantastic debut album and I've been eagerly awaiting its follow-up ever since. Owing to the independent nature of this band, I would implore you to check them out if you have not yet, they're seriously this good.
4) Blood, In This Moment (August 14, 2012)
In This Moment are unquestionably one of my favourite bands right now. Every album they put out has its own unique flavour, but in my opinion Blood is clearly their best overall. It maintains the band's metalcore edge while dipping into more experimentation to make the album feel a bit more unique than its more standard-metal predecessor, A Star-Crossed Wasteland. Of course, experimentation doesn't mean much if the music isn't great, but luckily Blood has so many good songs that it's practically a greatest hits album. "Blood", "Adrenalize" and "Whore" are all top-notch and kick the album into high gear right out of the gate. They're not the only highlights though, there's also the fantastic "Burn" which shows off Maria Brink's ability to go from melodic vocals to blistering screams. Tracks like "Beast Within", "The Blood Legion" and the haunting "11:11" also bear mentioning and, like Carolus Rex, the B-side cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Closer" is also an absolute treat. My fiance loves it… and I'll let you fill in the blanks from there. Blood is also notable for "sexing up" In This Moment (to the point where they would feel the need to address it on their next album in the song "Sex Metal Barbie"). The album deals with themes of abuse and manipulation, but it always reclaims sex and turns it into something empowering. It gives this album a bit of a sultry, even kinky, edge that I really enjoy and gives it a much different vibe than any other metal band I listen to.
3) Wait for the Siren, Project 86 (August 21, 2012)
Wait for the Siren came out at a time when it looked like Project 86 were about to implode – after 7 very solid albums, their guitarist, drummer and bassist all quit the band, only leaving frontman Andrew Schwab to continue on. Luckily for us, Andrew Schwab was always the primary, most dominant creative force in the band, so the loss of the other band members didn't completely sink Project 86 (that said, Schwab's overbearing control might actually have been why the other band members quit, they wanted to experiment more and he wouldn't let them, or so the rumours say). Having also quit Tooth and Nail Records in favour of crowdfunding, Schwab was free to rebuild the band in whatever way he saw fit, and Wait for the Siren is a fantastic mixture of old and new. Right off the bat, the band shows off some of this new creative expression with "Fall, Goliath, Fall", which features such distinctive instruments as uillean pipes, mandolin and hammer dulcimer. That said, these additions to Project 86's sound are just that – additions. The band is still as heavy as they ever were, as shown off in tracks such as "The Crossfire Gambit". Songwriting has always been Project 86's greatest strength and Wait for the Siren is no exception, with every track being diverse and interesting in their own regard. My personal favourite track on the album is the rousing "Take the Hill", easily one of the best tracks in Project 86's history. While Drawing Black Lines will probably always be my favourite Project 86 album, Wait for the Siren is easily my second favourite, which is pretty incredible considering that they haven't had a bad album in their lengthy career.
2) Eat the Elephant, A Perfect Circle (April 20, 2018)
Oh hey, another pick from my annual album rankings! Eat the Elephant really impressed me last year. Nearly every track is expertly crafted and has something to say, from the hopeful title track, to political and social commentary in tracks such as "The Contrarian", "The Doomed" and "TalkTalk". The particular highlight though is "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" a song which is apocalyptic and beautiful at the same time (to the point where it's probably going to end up getting played at my wedding… seriously). While the second half of the album is weaker than the first half, the fact that this album still managed to take the spot of my 2nd favourite album of the decade should go to show that that doesn't lower it in my estimation too much. The stuff that's here is just too damn good to pass up.
1) Devotion, Anberlin (October 15, 2013)
I love Anberlin. When they released their 6th album, Vital, I thought that it was almost as good as the band's fan favourite, Cities. However, just over a year later, the band reissued the album as Devotion, adding 3 new tracks and 4 B-sides to the original album and retooling the tracklist somewhat. This was, in my opinion, enough to put Devotion over the top to be the clear best album in the band's history. Vital already boasted some great music, such as the aptly-titled opener "Self-Starter", "Other Side", "Orpheum" and the absolutely fantastic "God, Drugs & Sex". You'd think that throwing a bunch of new songs and B-sides into an already-completed album might mess with the flow of the music, but the new additions are all solid and more than good enough to stand side-by-side with the existing tracks, although the best is definitely "IJSW". Devotion was by far my favourite album of the 2010s, I knew for sure going into this list that it was going to be my #1.
And that's it for my favourite albums of the 2010s. Tune in soon when I go through the best movies of the 2010s!
My Favourite Albums of 2017
December 6, 2017 September 10, 2020 ~ Barloq ~ 4 Comments
Hey… it's been a super long time since I made a post. Considering that I left shortly before all the bullshit with Trump started, that might have been for the best, but I'll make an update on what has gone on in my life sometime soon… because damn it has been quite a year.
But anyway, I was thinking back on the music I've been listening to this year and it caused me to realize just how many albums I've checked out since January. Then, before I knew it, I suddenly had half an IC2S list hashed out and knew that I had to finally get back into the blogging game. So, here I present to you, the albums I listened to in 2017, ranked from worst to best. Naturally, I'll note that music is super subjective, my list is nowhere near comprehensive, and I'd be shocked if you had listened to more than a couple of the albums on it. Just consider this some random loser on the Internet's list of albums he listened to this year, if nothing else.
13) Tear the Roots, Kaleida
After the very promising Think EP and its mesmerizing title track, I was very intrigued to see what Kaleida would come up with in their debut album. The results are, unfortunately, very mediocre. "Think" reappears completely unchanged and is the one shot of adrenaline in the whole album, which doesn't speak well to the new material. Tear the Roots is a competent release, but very mediocre and forgettable. I can't ever see myself listening to it in full again, which should be about all you need to know about it really.
12) Pretzel Champions, Countless Thousands
As the album's Bandcamp description states, Pretzel Champions was "written and recorded in the eye of a storm in only 24 hours. We like to tempt fate." That more-or-less should give you an idea of what you're in for, featuring 4 lean songs with questionable recording quality. It doesn't hold a candle to the rest of Countless Thousands' catalogue, although the obviously experimental nature and time-crunch that birthed it makes it certainly intriguing. "An Umbrella for the Golden Shower" and "Sunday Best" are really solid songs which I would love to hear in a bit more refined form sometime in the future. It's not exactly a bad album, but the poor audio quality definitely holds it back.
11) Gone, Red
Red and I have a bit of a troubled history. End of Silence was a great debut and Innocence & Instinct was a great follow-up. However, cracks began to show with the forgettable Until We Have Faces, but it wasn't until the bland, chart-seeking Release the Panic that I decided that I was sick of Red. However, the band seemed to realize that they had screwed up and made amends in fantastic fashion with, in my opinion their best album, of Beauty and Rage. So, going into Gone I was left wondering which direction Red was going to head – were they going to try to recapture that quality again? Or were they going to try to aim for that blander rock sound again? The answer is… well, a little bit of everything. In terms of sound, Gone feels like something of an amalgamation of all of Red's albums thus far, for better or worse. The album's at its best when it's hewing towards those first 2 albums ("Step Inside, The Violence" "Still Alive", "Chasing Your Echo") or of Beauty and Rage ("A.I."). However, it's also gets questionable when it hews towards Release the Panic's electronic synthesizers and radio-rock sound. The title track is a good example of this – it's a serviceable radio rock track, but then at the height of the chorus, it will suddenly switch into this electronic music which literally sounds like a generic top 40 backing track, and I don't like how this gels together. On the other hand, "Unstoppable" is just awkward – it feels like Red want an anthemic crowd-pleasing rock track, but the chorus in particular feels half-baked and I'd feel really silly screaming that at a concert with any sort of sincerity. The closing track, "Singularity", is the one track that feels quite different from what they've done and maybe points towards the future, with some eerie sampling and slow build-up towards its heavy ending. I have a feeling that Red has a diverse fanbase at this point, and in trying to give everyone something to enjoy, they can't help but alienate others in the process. Gone isn't bad, but it didn't really reignite my passion for this band like I was hoping it would.
10) Humanz, Gorillaz
I would maintain that Demon Days is one of the best soundtracks to the post-9/11 and early War on Terror era, so I was really hoping that Humanz would be the Trump-era equivalent. While Humanz seems to have the aspirations to hit that lofty goal (further suggested by the various album covers which are reminiscent of the iconic Demon Days art), the results are unlikely to stand the test of time. Humanz is, simply put, a bit of a mess. There are some standout tracks, such as "Saturnz Barz", "Busted and Blue" and "Halleujah Money", but there are so many strange and sometimes forgettable tracks which just feels like they took absolutely everything from the studio and then threw it at the wall to see what would stick. Damon Albarn also takes a backseat on most of the tracks, which just further makes this feel like a mixtape rather than a cohesive album. It gets more enjoyable the more you listen to it, but it's hard to shake the feeling that this might be less "self titled debut" and more "The Fall".
9) Cold Dark Place EP, Mastodon
The surprise second release by Mastodon in 2017, Cold Dark Place attempts to harken back to the band's sludgier roots which they have left behind since 2009's Crack the Skye, at which point the band moved more towards progressive metal. That's not to say that Cold Dark Place is particularly heavy – it's reminiscent of the slower parts of Blood Mountain (think "Pendulous Skin") or The Hunter perhaps. The 4 songs here have a melodic and melancholic feed to them, making the album's title and art actually quite effective for describing the feel you get listening to it. There are only 4 tracks, but they're all solid and reasonably lengthy, so it lasts longer than you might otherwise expect. At this point, I'm just curious to see if this is just an experiment from Mastodon, or a sign of things to come going forward. I guess we'll see in a couple years time.
8) No Grave But the Sea, Alestorm
Alestorm jokingly declared that they were scraping the barrel with their pirate metal antics 2 albums ago, but No Grave But the Sea further goes to demonstrate that they can continue to spin gold out of a seemingly finite concept. Part of the reason for this is because Alestorm does not take themselves seriously in the slightest, so every album is a reminiscent of a rowdy and rousing bar concert (like something out of Tangled). Tracks like "Mexico", "Fucked With an Anchor" and "Man the Pumps" leave me simultaneously laughing and wanting to sing along at the same time, and that's before you even factor in the bonus CD which replaces all the lyrics with dogs barking (…no seriously, that is not a joke, that actually exists). That's not to say that there are no more serious tracks here – the title track and "To The End of the World" are quite badass and help to keep the album from going too far and becoming a total farce.
7) Outlive, Demon Hunter
Outlive has my favourite opening of the year with the badass "Trying Times" hyping you for what's to come, and then leading into the blistering "Jesus Wept". It's then a bit of a minor tragedy that Outlive peaks immediately and doesn't come close to matching that intensity again. All of the tracks are solid, but there are some forgettable stretches and only a few tracks really stand out from the pack, particularly the aforementioned opening duo and "Raining Down" (which has gone on to become a bit of an anthem for me this past year). The relative softening of Demon Hunter's signature intense metalcore sound is also slightly disappointing, but the music is good enough that this isn't too serious an issue. Outlive is a good release by Demon Hunter, maybe not as strong as their last album, Extremist, but certainly a worthy addition to their catalogue.
6) Alba, Sleeping Romance
Sleeping Romance's previous release, Enlighten, was a rather standard symphonic metal release which was buoyed by the unexpectedly heavy and intense closing track, "Devil's Cave". My worry going into Alba was that Sleeping Romance wouldn't be able to match that high point, but the album quickly put those fears to rest. The opening overture is appropriately gothic, operatic and theatrical, showing the band's greater ambition and matured musicianship before transitioning into the familiar Sleeping Romance sound (strings, piano, heavy guitars and Federica Lanna's dreamlike voice and particular Italian accent). There are also two tracks which very much rival "Devil's Cave", the first being "Forgiveness" with a very heavy opening and some fantastic solos in the latter half, and the second being the title track, which is clearly intended to harken back to "Devil's Cave" before spinning off into its own thing. The album isn't just trying to match previous beats though, as tracks like "Touch the Sun" and "Everything Behind" also stand out in ways that previous efforts never really did. In many ways, Alba could be said to be like a much more refined version of Enlighten, in that it treads similar ground, but in a much stronger package. I really wasn't sure what I was going to think of this album, but I was left pleasantly surprised by how good it ended up being.
5) The Lost City, The Wise Man's Fear
A friend of mine got me into Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle a little over a year ago. Shortly after finishing the second book in the series, The Wise Man's Fear, I accidentally stumbled onto a fantasty-based metalcore outfit with the same name which was clearly drawing inspiration from Rothfuss. Suffice to say, I was intrigued and very quickly discovered an exciting new band that I have been listening to regularly ever since. While their previous release, Castle in the Clouds, hewed closer to Rothfuss, The Lost City sees The Wise Man's Fear branching out more into their own fantasy creations. The fantastical elements lend the band a rather unique space in the metalcore genre, where the angst and intensity is not just the band getting out their own issues, but rather they're telling the stories of a character and a world. The band's vocal and sonic diversity are also impressive and help to distinguish the tone of each song – one minute they might be singing melodically before switching over to shouts, screams and death growls… and dammit it sounds so freaking good (hell, "Bloodlust" even has doom metal-style "bree bree" vocals at certain points). Particular standouts for me include "Grey King", "What Time Brings", "Codex" and the title track, but nearly the entire damn album is fantastic.
4) Sheep Among Wolves, Project 86
For a very long time, I considered Project 86 to be my second favourite band, so hopefully that helps to illustrate how disappointed I was in their last release, Knives to the Future, that I was quite hesitant about how their newest album was going to turn out. Thankfully, Sheep Among Wolves is Project 86 back in true form. While Knives suffered from being far too light, Sheep goes in the other direction (overcompensating even) and dials the band's hardcore sound back up to 11. This album is relentlessly intense, moreso than any other Project 86 album before, and barely easing up until the final track (although it doesn't reach the level of heaviness and darkness that their first few albums did either). Andrew Schwab's songwriting has always helped Project 86 to stand out from the pack, and the lyrics here are as fantastic as ever, bringing a poetic side to seemingly straightforward headbanging hardcore rock. The album art is also really cool, probably my favourite cover of the year. If there's one hesitation I have about Sheep Among Wolves, it would be a bit of unease about the closing track "Metempsychosis". It's as good a song as any on the album, but it tackles the idea of changing one's self through surgery to try to solve deeper issues. Obviously, this is attempting to enter into to the conversation about transgender individuals, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I'm not sure that I agree with Schwab's assertion that there's a spiritual issue at the core of these people seeking surgery, but at the very least he comes across to me as stating his position in a respectful way. If you're dead-set on any sort of questioning of gender reassignment surgery then you're probably going to be disappointed with this song, but it's conveyed in a respectful enough manner that I at least think it deserves its place.
3) Ritual, In This Moment
I was a bit hesitant going into Ritual. Similarly to Project 86, In This Moment's last album, Black Widow, was a major departure from their usual sound, taking on more pop vibes and losing some of its edge, and it could have easily represented a complete shift in how the band would operate going forward. However, In This Moment proved me wrong in spectacular fashion. I still feel like Blood is their best album, but Ritual is solid from start to finish. It also experiments with their sound in some interesting ways. Blood and Black Widow had both played up a level of gothic, transgressive sexuality which I had quite enjoyed. Ritual quite intentionally jettisons that tone, but is none the weaker for it, proving that, contrary to some opinions on the matter, sex may sell but talent speaks for itself. Instead, Ritual plays more towards In This Moment's stage theatrics, weaving occultic tapestries which will also make for a fantastic live show (and I sure as hell hope so, I'm planning on catching them in Detroit with P.O.D. in the new year). However, unlike say, The Wall, the tracks here are all just as listenable without a live stage show to go along with them. "Black Wedding" in particular is a hell of a song, riffing on a classic while spinning it in its own direction. I've listened to it multiple times in a row on more than one occasion. "Twin Flames", "Half God Half Devil" and "Roots" are also real standouts. Ritual is, all-in-all, a great album and thankfully puts In This Moment back on track and makes me excited to see where they go in the future.
2) Emperor of Sand, Mastodon
Maybe you're starting to notice a trend, but I was initially concerned going into Emperor of Sand, because Once More 'Round the Sun was unquestionably Mastodon's weakest album to date. Hell, the title even referenced the workman-like nature of it, meaning that another year will pass and therefore another album and touring cycle for the band. Ever since their initial elemental quadrilogy ended, Mastodon have been spinning their wheels a bit, trying to figure out where they will go next. However, when it became clear that Mastodon were going to be going back to a style reminiscent of Crack the Skye (my personal favourite album of theirs), I got excited. Thankfully, Emperor of Sand does not disappoint. In fact, I'd put it on par with Blood Mountain, near the upper-half of their catalogue (which, to contextualize, are popularly considered some of the best metal albums since the 2000s). The album also focuses very strongly on the inevitability of death, and this brings an appropriately sombre tone to the proceedings. There isn't a weak track on the album, but particular highlights include "Sultan's Curse", "Ancient Kingdom", "Jaguar God" and especially "Steambreather", which is most reminiscent of their sludgier roots. Between Emperor of Sand and the Cold Dark Place EP, Mastodon has had quite the year, and I'm very curious to see how they progress going forward. Perhaps we're looking at the start of another thematic quadrilogy? One can only hope that Mastodon continues to challenge themselves and don't ease back into a comfortable cycle.
1) Through Glass Eyes, At Dawn's Edge
Two years ago I saw Sovereign Council in concert for the album debut celebration for Laniakea. The opening act that night was a band called At Dawn's Edge, whose symphonic/power metal style instantly had me intrigued. I purchased their EP, First Contact, but was disappointed that most of their setlist wasn't actually on the EP… and so began the long wait for their debut album to drop. However, nothing prepared me for just how impressive Through Glass Eyes was going to be, and HOLY SHIT is it ever good. For a small outfit, the production values are impeccable, the songs are ambitious and diverse and the band members all display a level of talent and maturity which are frankly insane for a debut album.
My only complaint is really just a nitpick – I vastly prefer the recording of "Utter" on First Contact over the version on Through Glass Eyes. This is a sore point for me, because "Utter" was by far my favourite track on First Contact. The contrast between the vocals of Tamara Filipovic and the male vocalist really made that song work fantastically, but in Through Glass Eyes, this contrast has been replaced with Tamara Filipovic's singing only. It doesn't sound nearly as good in comparison to me, and kind of ruins an otherwise good song. Like, I'm honestly at a point where I'm considering swapping in the First Contact version whenever I listen to "Utter" going forward, which would only make Through Glass Eyes that much better of an album to me. Really, this is a nitpick as I said, because Through Glass Eyes is a staggeringly good debut and makes me hope that At Dawn's Edge have a long and successful career ahead of them. I know that I'll be there to support them in it.
IC2S Playlist Update 10/06/2015 + Stannis Rant
June 10, 2015 September 12, 2020 ~ Barloq ~ Leave a comment
Normally I'd try to make this little intro as short as possible just out of obligation, but this week I'm going to rant a little bit about Game of Thrones… so SPOILERS if you haven't seen Season 5 Episode 9, in which case I'd recommend skipping down past the album art…
So, if you know me personally, then you'd know that I really like Stannis Baratheon. He's probably not the ideal ruler in Westeros, or even have a snowball's chance in hell to pull through to the end (because, believe it or not, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire tends to be rather predictable). However, he is a great character and the only one with a truly legitimate claim to the throne thanks to the right of a popularly-accepted conquest. He is the most righteous man in Westeros, and always tries to do the honourable thing (although Melisandre does cause his moral center to shift a bit on occasion).
However, Game of Thrones just screwed him up so spectacularly that it has me fuming at the show: with little provocation, Stannis went and burned his own daughter, Shireen, alive in order to offer her as a sacrifice to R'hllor. Don't get me wrong – I think everyone knew that Shireen was going to die this season (because, again, GoT is rather predictable). However, I take issue with how it was presented, because it made absolutely no sense, turned Stannis into a big idiot and basically made his storyline going forward almost pointless. The only way I could see him killing Shireen was if Ramsay's troops had fatally injured her, at which point Stannis would decide to make the most of an awful situation… but of course, this doesn't happen and he basically does it with little justification.
First of all, Stannis loves his daughter above all else, and she's basically the only person he actually feels any love for at all. That said, Stannis believes that he is Azor Ahai reborn, and a key part of that prophecy involves the hero sacrificing the person closest to him in order to save the world from eternal darkness. As a result, I'm not even opposed to the idea of Stannis sacrificing Shireen, because she obviously would have to be sacrificed if he wanted to follow the prophecy. Unfortunately, GoT tends to cut these sorts of contextual details out of the storyline, so in the show Stannis basically kills Shireen because he's in a bit of desperation. Book Stannis basically says "screw this snow" and forces his troops to march through it regardless, which is the Stannis-ethos in a nutshell (remember, he also refused to surrender during the Siege of Storm's End, even when all the food ran out and his troops were having to cannibalize each other to survive, and has been described as one who will "break before he bends"). Also, remember that he agonized about killing a bastard who he cared little for in order to acquire king's blood, so you're telling me that he'll suddenly make the decision to kill his own daughter, his only heir, on a whim? Why wouldn't he just take a bit of her blood like he did with Edric Storm/Gendry?
Furthermore, this move has basically made Stannis into a gigantic idiot. First of all, taking his wife and daughter with him on campaign was just an incredibly idiotic and contrived move in the first place. Book-Stannis leaves them with guards at Castle Black in the King's Tower, which just makes so much more sense (and also means that if she gets burned, there's a very good chance that Stannis will not give the order and be unaware of it). Secondly, he just lost his Hand of the King and probably a ton of soldiers with this act. The only reason Ser Davos has followed Stannis is because he sees him as the most righteous man in Westeros. Now that he has killed his own daughter (with a certain amount of deception directed towards Davos in the process), he basically has to kill Davos or he's going to end up getting betrayed for certain. Who knows how Stannis' troops are going to react to this, although I doubt that watching their lord's child get burned alive is going to galvanize their spirits all that much… It's just a stupid situation, and one in which the books handled things SO much better.
Anyway, enough of that, onto this week's first selection, "Imposter" by Red from their newest album of Beauty and Rage. I really liked Red's first two albums, but they got perceptibly weaker on their third album, Until We Have Faces. Their fourth album, Release the Panic, was basically generic crap with way too much dubstep influence. After Release the Panic, I basically swore off of following the band, but luckily they seem to have realized their mistakes and have gone back to their roots for of Beauty and Rage. "Imposter" is one of the best songs on the album in my opinion, it's just a really solid opening track with a very polished sound. It's nice to see Red getting back into the swing of things, and I hope that they can keep it up for any future endeavours… at which point I might consider myself a fan again.
Secondly, we have "The Game" by Disturbed, from their debut album, The Sickness. I really like Disturbed, having seen them in concert twice now. However, my enthusiasm for them has dulled somewhat since they have gone on hiatus 4 years ago. That said, if they announced tomorrow that they were releasing a new album, I'd be right back on the hype train in an instant. I think that "The Game" is one of their more interesting songs. I take the lyrics one of two ways. On the surface layer, it's about a girl who stupidly keeps cheating on her boyfriend until it drives him into a murderous rampage. My preferred interpretation (and probably the more likely of the two anyway) is that the boyfriend is an abusive and paranoid asshole who constantly freaks out at his girlfriend who he thinks is a cheating whore, until his insanity drives him to go on a murderous rampage. So, um, yeah… it's a pretty happy song. Oh, and that's not even mentioning that it just has a really catch sound to it.