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I've been watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force religiously for the six years or so of its existence and seasons two and three remain some of my favorite cartoons of all time. Sadly, the show has take a slight turn down hill with more and more episodes feeling lost for direction.
Due to my consistent inability to make decisions and my lack of a "rating system," creating these top [insert number here] lists proves harder almost every year...yet it remains a silly struggle that, for some reason or another, I can't help but put myself through.
25. Thrice - Beggars
24. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
23. Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave
22. Arms and Sleepers - Matador
21. Isis - Wavering Radient
20. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
19. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
18. Swallow the Sun - New Moon
17. Bergraven - Till Makabert Vasen
16. Rise and Fall - Our Circle is Vicious
15. mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's All Alright
14. Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
13. Zu - Carboniferous
12. maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
11. Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest
10. Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
09. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
08. Peste Noire - Ballade Cuntre Lo Anemi Francor
07. Doomriders - Darkness Come Alive
06. Katatonia - Night is the New Day
05. Cobalt - Gin
"So turn off your dusty stares because we're all alone out here, I couldn't even pretend to care (I prefer sex when it's an animal act). Beast...mammal...beast...mammal..."
I'm not going to expand too much beyond the above lyric: Self-described as 'extreme war metal,' this two piece has created one hell of a monster with their musical dedication to Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson. It's bleak, it's angry, it's atmospheric, and hot damn is it uncompromising - all in the best of ways.
04. Converge - Axe to Fall
What is there really left to say about Converge? For the past seven years (of the band's twenty) now I've been treated to the beauty of one of abrasive music's most incredible artists - a group whose only predictable element is sincerity. This album, while proving no different in its tight execution, showcases a palate as varied as it is intense. From the upbeat "Dark Horse," to the coarse "Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast," into the depressing but vast "Wretched World," the band proves over and over again, even with a list of guest appearances as long as the track list itself, why they're so important to extreme music.
03. Thursday - Common Existence
Thursday is one of those bands that took a long time to grow on me. It certainly wasn't for lack of exposure, though - between good friend's of mine performing in a Thursday cover band in high school, to attending quite a few live shows, to plenty of listening/re-listening on aimless car rides, I got my fair share of the New Jersey post-hardcore group. Still, something about Rickly's (then) off-key voice and the band's inability to put out a record that felt strong all the way through left me really longing for something more.
Well, one can tell based on their position on this list that, in my eyes of course, they finally found that "something more." Thursday has created their masterpiece to date with Common Existence, an album that features every great quality of their previous albums juxtaposed with a newly found certainty in direction and pacing.
02. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Much like Thursday, I wasn't heavily into Mastodon for some time. Their musicianship was always impressive, but I almost always found myself bored in the end. Sure, eventually something clicked and their discography (minus Blood Mountain) is consistently found on my playlists...but that "click" has nothing to do with why I adore Crack the Skye.
Being a fairly big prog fan (Camel, not Dream Theater folks), the musical stream of conscience that makes up each section on this record is but a nostalgic gift - and the band is simply at their best in every respect. Whether three minutes or thirteen, each song builds upon the previous' remnants while exploring both relevant and compelling aural dimension.
As with many other albums on this list, Mastodon's latest is indeed their greatest and highly recommended for progressive rock/metal fans.
01. Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor
When I was compiling this list, I could really only think of ten solid reasons why no other release could be number one...and those are the ten tracks making up Cattle Decapitation's unrelenting The Harvest Floor. The seemingly unstoppable California quartet has been bettering itself with each release over its twelve or so year existence, and this collection of songs simply destroys the rest of their already noteworthy catalogue. From the moment vocalist Travis Ryan spews across layered vocal tracks "leave no trace...eliminate the human race" in opener "The Gardeners of Eden" to the eruption of chaos that is "Regret and the Grave," listeners can be sure they are listening to pure captivating misanthropy.
What may be most remarkable about the group is their ability to craft complex songs in cohesive ways. Sure they perform in mind-boggling ways, but the songs are not only distinguishable, but memorable - a trait rarely found in the unfortunate sea of "brutal bands" found across the globe. Cattle Decapitation has found a niche in their gore/grind hybrid genre, a place where experimentation is usually ignored, and continues to create songs that are as challenging as they are rewarding.
Top Ten Honorable Mentions
The Atlas Moth - A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
Coalesce - Ox
Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
Mike Patton - Crank: High Voltage Soundtrack
Karl Sanders - Saurian Exorcisms
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories the World Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away
Narrows - New Distances
The Paper Chase - Someday This Could Be All Yours, Vol. 1
01. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
02. Coalesce - OXEP
03. Pulling Teeth - Paranoid Delusions Paradise Illusions
04. Arms and Sleepers - The Motorist
05. Emily Wells - Dirty
01. Porcupine Tree - The Incident (Limited Edition Box Set)
02. Mastodon - Crack the Skye (Limited Edition Tunnel Book)
03. Coalesce - OX
04. Converge - Axe to Fall
05. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
Blacklisted - No One Deserves to Be Here More Than Me
I wish I didn't get as bored as I do during a few songs on this album because I want to just love it. Here is the perfect example of a band creating the record they truly wanted to create. They may lose a few fans, but honesty has that price and for what it's worth (not much), I couldn't be happier for them.
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
Had this been an EP, removing the two "norm" TMV tracks (Cotapaxi, Luciforms), it'd be my favorite release since "De-Loused…"
Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Am I actually putting something on the list just because the lyrics annoy me? Sadly, I am. The disappointment here is not in the band but rather in the notion that I'll never really love an album from Dredg like "El Cielo."
The Number 12 Looks Like You - Worse Than Alone
For the most part, the music is fantastic and a worthy follow up to Mongrel, but unfortunately a few musical misdirections and quite obnoxious vocals ruin the experience. Perhaps if it wasn't self-produced?
01. Eyehategod/Pig Destroyer/Goatwhore
02. Thursday/Glassjaw/Dillinger Escape Plan/United Nations (hasn't even happened yet and it's number two)
03. Converge/Doomriders
04. Brutal Truth/Pig Destroyer/Repulsion
05. Gwar/Cattle Decapitation
06. Cave In/Narrows/Trap Them
07. Cursive
08. Wolves in the Throne Room/Krallice
09. Opeth/Enslaved
10. New England Metal & Hardcore Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYPuLnAscA
My posts on Deathtalk because I love that label so much:
Ah, definitely a Doomriders week.
Now Playing: Jealous God
-J.
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> Awesome, thanks.
>
> -J.
No, no, the thanks goes to you and Deathwish, Inc. for continuing to put out music with heart behind it.
For eight years now, you guys have pushed what it means to be a label, giving fans unique opportunities to experience some of the best extreme, and otherwise, aural statements around, helping to keep the communities alive and positive.
I don't need to make another thread about how fantastic this endeavor has been and continues to be, but believe me it wouldn't be overkill as you collectively deserve nothing but praise.
The musical world gets stale quite easily and it is up to purist of artists to forge new directions, complete exciting hybrids, and unite people in their unending strive for purpose and togetherness...but how those experiments reach people is up to the keen ears of true art lovers who wish to share the passion of said artists. At this, Deathwish is rather remarkable.
Hell, the recent signing of the incredible Starkweather shows not only your taste as a label (aforementioned "keen ears"), but the respect you gather from the artists around you.
Each and every year, at least one album put out on this here hits home quite hard, reminds me why I adore music as much as I do and, again, for that the thanks goes to you all.
We all need to start somewhere as you, Jake, said so well, and for those of us who weren't around for the beginnings of this punk and hardcore movement, it is labels like this one who continuously make the community worth its while.
A bukkake of gratitude and appreciation all over your wonderful faces, Deathwish; and the best of luck in all future endeavors.
With love,
another loyal and grateful fan
Saw Converge for what I believe was my fourteenth time tonight in New Hampshire. Great show and boy is the new album going to slay.
Over the past few days I've been acquainted with a lovely variety of aural obnoxious maximus displeasures.
- On Tuesday, a car alarm went off every fifteen minutes from the hours of 9 pm until 7 am.
- A neighbor played an acoustic cover of "Take On Me," which reverberated between three building buildings, for two hours (I believe he was trying to record it)
- A scooter that drenches itself in a mechanical crunchy and quite clunky hum buzzing through the streets at any given time of day
- Myself incessantly tapping out of exhaustion
I've long felt that upgrading every other software iteration keeps me both fiscally in check and current enough. Of course I try out new software, but I don't feel the itch to be on the bleeding edge 24/7. Never have.
- My car is still a mess, accelerating by itself whenever it feels like it
- My desire to get back into school is as high as ever
- Franz Wright still amazes me
- I'm going to see Pig Destroyer on a boat
- New Converge is going to destroy faces
- Halloween 2 had so much potential but is, indeed, a letdown
- ...but it meant I got to hang out with Jeff whom I missed dearly
- Cafénation is my favorite café at the moment
- Still excited for new Thrice, Rise & Fall, Doomriders, Porcupine Tree, Dying Fetus, Trap Them, and hopefully Deftones
- Writing is going well for I've been miserable for a few weeks and having terrible nightmares that I only vaguely remember
- I found my camera charger
- I'm damn broke and really need to get motivated to do some personal marketing
It's getting closer.
http://www.laweekly.com/advice/view/SavageLove/
Help me figure this one out: Why are men such douche-drizzling assholes?
— Wish I Ate Pussy Instead
The only reason you think men are assholes—douche-drizzlers at that—is because you fuck men, WIAPI, and so it's men who have hurt your feelings and fucked you over. If you ate pussy, you'd be fucking women and women would be stomping on your heart and you'd quickly come to hate women. And if you were a straight man, you'd be complaining about women; and if you were a fag, you'd be complaining about men; and if you were bisexual, you'd be complaining about everyone and everything.
So try to have some perspective and cut men some slack and hang in there, okay? They drizzle douche, for sure. But so do you—so do we all.
There are still a few releases that I'm really looking forward to, but here are my favorites for just over the first half of 2009.
- Cattle Decapitation - "The Harvest Floor"
- Thursday - "Common Existence"
- Cobalt - "Gin"
- Isis - "Wavering Radient"
- Sunn O))) - "Monoliths & Dimensions
- Grizzly Bear - "Veckatimest"
- Mastodon - "Crack the Skye"
- Napalm Death - "Time Waits for No Slave"
- Zu - "Carboniferous"
- Wolves in the Throne Room - "Black Cascade"
