Awesomest & Opposite of Awesomest of 2008

I may be a little late to the list-party, but I wanted to add my two cents before it's obnoxiously too late. There was a good amount of music released in 2008 and some of them were diamonds in the rough while others were unanimous turds...epic failures if you will. So I'm sitting at my desk surrounded by literal stacks of CDs and have sorted through them to pull out the ones from 08 and after spending TENS of minutes digging through liner notes looking for copyright/release dates I've come to the following conclusion:

2007 was way better.

2007 saw the release of some of my favorite CDs. Poison the Well released Versions which proved to be, in my own humble opinion, one of the most progressive records to hit the "hardcore" scene since its inception. There was also Silent Treatment by The Bled, a monument to hardcore that only The Bled can create. Wolfbiker by Evergreen Terrace...don't have to say anything more about that one... The newest edition of the Adam D wave of face-bashing-metal, Horizons by Parkway Drive which in my brother's words, "sounds just like everything else, and I love it." Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape plan came out too. You have to have a beautiful mind to understand that one, but once you figure it out, it's like the first time you taste Mexican food. Man...who else had outstanding records come out...Foo Fighters, August Burns Red, Underminded, Darkest Hour, As I Lay Dying, Every Time I Die.

Welp, no use dwelling on the past. On to 2008...which has also come to pass...

So even though 07 seemed to be more consistently good, there were a few CLUTCH records from this past year. In no order with the exception of numero uno, my top five for 2008 are (band - record title - song of note):

The Bronx - The Bronx (III) - "Knifeman" - This cd, well, this band, is a bit of a throwback to days of a simpler format of music. 2 distorted guitars, 1 bass with some fuzz, drums, and a spastic frontman-singer. I'll be posting something about these guys in the coming months...but long story short, they are some rock and damn roll! It's hard not to want to sing along with these songs. It's eerie how familiar these songs sound without ever having heard them before. www.myspace.com/thebronx

Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure - "Chorus of the Dissimilar" - On their first release after signing to Metal Blade (a significant metal indie label), Shai Hulud proved to be quite the little quartet of mathematicians. This CD is just stupidly complex, fast, intense, and heavy. I pretty much laughed my way through the first five tracks because it was like getting sucker-punched by Popeye. It kinda hurts at first, but then you realize how funny his squinty little eyes and corncob pipe are. The tone of the record is pretty nuts too. The drums are VERY up front as the rhythm drives much of their music. Whatever mix of amps they used for the guitars gave the sweetest, cleanest sounding distortion...if that makes sense...the note definition is not lost to distortion. This allows the mathiness of the songs to come out. Plus they have three guys named Matt in their band and that's just plain silly. www.myspace.com/profoundhatred

Bleeding Through - Declaration - "Declaration" - Hell ya Devin Townshend! Definitely a post on this genius coming up in the very near future. He's the mad scientist who produced/engineered/mixed this disk. Unbelievable. Bleeding Through is kind of a typical angry sounding metal band, but their keyboardist, Marta, really stepped it up on this record. She doesn't necessarily piano-shred so much as the compose the various orchestra, choir, and scary-noise parts...they added a rad dimension to this CD that set it apart from a lot of the other releases in this genre. www.myspace.com/bleedingthrough

Protest the Hero - Fortress - "Sequoia Throne" - The sophomore release for these Canadians turns my mind inside out. Apparently, if you're snowed in for like, 7 months of the year, and all you do is sit around and play guitar, play dungeons and dragons, and roll around in free healthcare this is what happens. Their bass player makes 4-finger-bass-tapping look stupidly easy (it's not), their guitar players' fingers move faster than I can think, and how their drummer keeps their mathed-out structure straight blows my mind. Then there's Rody, their singer...he's...well, Canadian. It's really worth listening to...I have trouble putting into words the things these guys do with their instruments... www.myspace.com/protestthehero

AAAAnd number one of 2008 would have to go to Misery Signals - Controller - "Parallels" - First, the tone. The guitars are equally crunchy and delicate. They're right in your face and ambient at the same time. It's a damn anomaly. The drums have the perfect amount of attack and resonance. The cymbals are glassy but not washed out and the room sound fills out the mix. Misery Signals combine heaviness with an ambient/spacey element that separates them from everyone else. Just past a minute into "Parallels" the song contrasts the heaviness by breaking into an acoustic passage that seamlessly blends right back into the forcefulness that began the song. Beyond being able to switch between these polar sounds, they blend the two. Controller is an incredible record that sounds like it was made just for me...sigh…they understand me. www.myspace.com/miserysignals

So that’s that. Although I’ve gotta give an honorable mention to Chromeo for Fancy Footwork. Buy this CD…now...and start a dance revolution.

Oh ya…and Guns’n’Roses new CD is terrible.