A Quietus Musical Gallery Of 2008

I hate myself sometimes for forcing myself to sit through albums I know I’ll throw away (delete) but I’m sure people do the same thing with films. No one skipped Avatar, but there were many varied opinions. I don’t see the same sprawl occurring in the music world, but I take it upon myself because I feel that music should have that same draw, just for the extraordinary possibility you open your mind to new things that you thought you wouldn’t enjoy before. So, there’s that disclaimer.

The music of 2008 was a continuation of what was started in the beginning of the decade, that being the spawning of genre splicing (in more radical ways), and in turn the creation of new styles/sounds, as well as the predictable constant of radio-friendly music going nowhere dignity-wise. Just as the 60s and 70s recreated music as we knew it then, I do believe a similar amorphousness is in process, albeit mostly unnoticed by many considering the lack of general respect for the underground in present times. Thankfully to those unaltered by the media paradigm, it still survives and thus is progressing. The year had no theme really, outside of new composers trying to break out of genre shells, making the end of the decade orally wondrous.

20) Ours - Mercy


I remember seeing these guys live with Circa Survive, and their music completely tranced me. I was crushed when people were booing them, it was so uncalled for. With Mercy, Ours have stepped up from being just a darker Jeff Buckley and became unto their own, experimenting a lot more than any other band in the alternative world, allowing for a mighty refreshing listen. Also, this dude’s voice is incredible.

19) ColdWorld - Melancholie


One of the more wonderfully dismal/beautiful personifications of winter in the audible world. Violins and bleak, frostbitten black metal mixed with ambient instrumentals and meditative drums rank this album higher than it would be if it followed the usual suite.

18) Draconian - Turning Season Within


The beauty and the beast vocals of Anders and Lisa make this band. Musically, Johan Ericson’s unique writing style of Pentagram-esque rhythm and violin-like, sorrowful leads makes this band stand infinitely apart from any other band that ripped them off, of which there are many. This album shows Draconian growing (for the better) away from their other albums with bits of filler.

17) Return To Forever - Returns


Return To Forever, the 70s fusion band, released probably their last album, which was a live album, thankfully with Chick Corea. It features pretty much all their best tracks, and since it’s live they’re played completely different, so it’s basically a new album, and a VERY good live album. After 32 years of silence, this is a swan song well endowed.

16) Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale



A two-disc doom concept album. Immense, dirge-like, behemoth, etc. and more adjectives. The point is that Esoteric challenge the genre with an album of this girth in this style, which thankfully exchanges the funeral-like tempos with raging, chaotic ones, but never loses focus. A very impressive release with a trippy album booklet.

15) Defeater - Travels


This unapologetic powerhouse from brand new hardcore outfit Defeater tells me the genre didn’t die with Integrity and Black Flag. Music this honest and catchy is bound to take them places, even nowadays. They can even get away with using some Bob Dylan lyrics here and there, but hey it’s a concept record anything goes.

14) Enslaved - Vertebrae


One of the pioneers in the black metal movement in the early 90s turns prog. The album is fantastic but poorly produced, especially vocal-wise (turning many-a people off), but while that’s a major hang-up I still feel the songs are worthy of being enjoyed since they’re still really good at their blackened prog/metal/folk style, and their progression throughout their career is just as interesting as Opeth’s or The Cure’s.

13) Avishai Cohen - Gently Disturbed


Cohen is my personal favorite bassist because he, like Jeff Beck, makes you forget he’s playing an instrument and uses his compositions to rick roll any contemporary jazz artist around. This album, along with Continuo, showcases him as a versatile and challenging artist. His backup is no slouch either. Shai Maestro (piano) and Mark Guiliana (drums) are both highly inventive and take the songs outside time signatures to boundless creatively rhythmic sessions while never showboating. The album title is a hint.

12) Agalloch - The White EP


Agalloch is possibly the only American band that doesn’t tour America (but they tour Europe). If their albums weren’t so good I would hate them for that. Stepping completely away from all metal elements their LPs contain, they produced this folk/ambient album featuring samples from The Wicker Man and yet another hint towards one more thing they can do as a band that follows no genre. Sowilo Rune is godly.

11) Moonspell - Night Eternal


The gothic daemonarch from Portugal rarely upsets. Their career has been amorphous, going from true Sisters Of Mercy gothic-influenced metal, to goth rock, to just gothic, and crescendo back to the point where their music is at its darkest, most profound, and all around powerful. They utilize a real female choir (erasing any chance of cheese) and finally find an equilibrium with harsh and clean vocals, but the main thing that sets them apart from any other metal band is their awareness and inclination of implementing their direct personality into what they play to further the impact of how they play.

10) Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness


Shoegaze has made a comeback in the latter end of the decade in two ways. Black metal began implementing its style, and this double-album. If My Bloody Valentine had a baby with Scott Walker this might be the result.

9) The Flashbulb - Soundtrack To A Vacant Life


Hailing from Chicago, Benn Jordan’s new album under his Flashbulb moniker is…eclectic, to say the least. You can hear anything from Spanish guitars, tribal drums, electronic spastic jazz kits, to the usual EBM (Electronic Body Music) style. It’s nice to know he cares more about quality and delivering what the album requires than limiting himself, because even though the branches out a lot here (as well on his other releases) it never sounds pretentious.

8) Skepticism - Alloy


Twas a good year for doom metal. Organ-based outfit Skepticism is against being presumptuous when it comes to their writing, and Antimony, a fluctuating track of progressive proportions, shines this notion through. The band is all about atmosphere and pushes the level of quality that doom metal has been deflating in the rise of its popularity. A band this genuine shouldn’t be ignored, plus they can still use their production as an instrument.

7) Dahlia's Tear - Under Seven Skies


Ambient concept album about constellations (I interpret), and one of my personal favorite ambient artists. This album musically personifies space in ways I’ve never heard, and if that wasn’t enough, is just a wonderful listen on any given starry summer night. Featuring a mesmerizing use of samples mixed with sparse percussion, immense amounts of layering, and a mixing job that makes Rick Ross blush, improvement is all I’m witnessing here.

6) Warning - Watching From A Distance


One of the most discouraged albums I’ve ever heard. Also very powerful music for a 3-piece, which I’m sure is due to the very thick guitar tone and concert-hall-reverberated drums. The lyrics aren’t the most profound, but rather stark, clearly contemplated, and refuse to overuse metaphors, which comes across pure. Those against slow tempos beware. This is dense.

5) Arcana - Raspail


I love darkwave and always will. I love the atmosphere and the world instruments and the organic perception I get. This is an album I could listen to in a fog-filled forest, lay inside a tree trunk, and be spellbound. Any fan of Dead Can Dance can find solace in this unique Swedish band.

4) Opeth - Watershed


Whether people care to admit it or not, Opeth are brilliant. Being one of the pioneers of mixing prog (70s elements and all) with metal, their career is just exciting, but with Watershed (and multiple line-up changes), their 9th album, they have leaped over the hump in the road for 20 year old bands by releasing one of their best records yet. They masterfully mix dark and light, acoustic and abrasive, all while retaining cohesion throughout the album, that being a summer-felt nostalgic, fluctuating atmosphere. Also comes with a Robin Trower cover of Bridge Of Sighs.

3) Virgin Black - Requiem Fortissimo


I can’t recall the last time a true Requiem was composed. Virgin Black, the enigmatic operatic dark metal band from Australia, decided ambition was child’s play and even though their following is small and their record label is independent, they’re going to compose a 3-album requiem trilogy with the Adelaide Symphony. The first of the trilogy is all classical, the second is an even mix of classical and the band, and this behemoth is mostly the band but with classical instruments still present. Supremely emotional doom metal and low, low death growls juxtaposed with a female soprano makes me extremely proud that I’ve met them, but this is depressing music so

2) Anathema - Hindsight


Anathema has been around forever, beginning as 1/3 of Britian’s Unholy Trinity with Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, but have since been trying to find who they are. In the seven year gap from 2003’s A Natural Disaster to their 2010 album, they released Hindsight, an all-acoustic recording of their own songs re-arranged (mostly for the better), as well as one new track. This solidified the idea that Anathema was harkening towards a much more mature and experimental endeavor, clearly exhibited on the new album, and also produced the re-written Are You There, possibly the most beautiful song of the year.

1) Les Fragments de la Nuit - Musique du Crepuscule


A brand new French classical septet playing a literal soundtrack to the night. It’s very visual instrumental music with many emotional dynamics, quite moody, holding obvious influences from Debussy, Satie, Holst, and Arvo Part, but by no means imitate. The album is extremely spatial and minimalist, but like all great minimalism is ever-growing and never prodding. Je l’adore. Also, the vinyl artwork is absolutely majestic.

Nice.. Only heard of Opeth from this list.

Well, obviously I would recommend all the others, but I don't know/remember your views on metal. Or any of these other genres for that matter

I am always willing to try new bands. I am fine with metal as long as the vocals are soft.
But sometimes even that's fine, if the music is good.

At the moment trying out some Psych-Folk bands.

In that case let's go with 20, 18, 17, 13, 12, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4 (if you haven't heard it yet), 2, and 1


Also, I have lots more to this list, none of which I did write-ups on, but there's a list nonetheless, should I post it?

Also, I did a list of 10 disappointments and 10 blasphemies, should I post them?

More people should participate in the music thread

Post your lists, I'd love to have a look at them.
But don't forget the write-ups.. It helps to read an insight.

Very few people love to discuss music here..
You want to start a thread on Justin Bieber & see what the response is going to be like.
Or maybe some other artist, we wouldn't care for..

Well I thought Paris Hilton's album was great but WHATEVER anyways:

Albums 4/5:

21) Benn Jordan - Pale Blue Dot

Beautiful ambient tribute to the late Carl Sagan. This year's second outer-space-influenced soundscape by The Flashbulb's solo project.

22) Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows - Sanatorium Altrosa: Musical Therapy for Spiritual Dysfunction

Highly inaccessible darkwave/renaissance-sounding project. This album is an accompaniment to 2007's Les Fleurs Du Mal, and came with a 52-page booklet...and a custom condom.

23) Leviathan - Massive Conspiracy Against All Life

I believe the title should speak for itself. This record is pretty deranged, just from a compositional standpoint, but still wild to listen to while playing God Of War.

24) Lunar Aurora - Andacht

Lunar Aurora is a very dense, progressive black metal band from Germany that used this album to step out of their all-too-comfortable style the rest of their albums held to make something quite dark. I see each song as one island of a bigger collective, an element that brings everything full circle, something this type of album really requires after draining you.

25) Diamanda Galas - Guilty Guilty Guilty

One of the most talented vocalists basically ever, but her music is so hard for many people to approach. This album is no different. Utterly unnerving avant-garde.

26) John Murphy - Sunshine OST

Sadly the only film score here. John Murphy is an up and comer that, if he continues with this quality and attentiveness, can only excel.

27) Deathspell Omega - Mass Grave Aesthetics

One 20-minute maelstrom of madness in progressive black metal form, similar in ways to Leviathan.

28) The Sound Of Animals Fighting - The Ocean And The Sun

What I believe to be another swan song has infinitely surpassed their first two albums in quality and cohesion. This supergroup, made up of Anthony Green (Circa Survive), Matt Embree (RX Bandits), and Rich Balling (ex-RX Bandits), experiments with all sorts of rock, time signatures, and vocal styles. It's fun and intelligent to say the least.

29) Jesu/Battle Of Mice Split

An odd pairing. Jesu is a sort of shoegaze/experimental rock while Battle Of Mice is a female-led, chaotic post-metal horrorshow (the good kind). This is also Battle Of Mice's last release before breaking up on bad terms

30) Asheni - Butterfly Survival Kit

Fun, unadulterated trip hop. Yes, something not even partially enveloped in darkness has finally appeared on the list.

Albums 4/5

31) SIG:AR:TYR - Beyond The North Winds

Canadian folk/metal project led by one man with a great singing voice and wonderful acoustic production. It should be implied that it's epic but there you go.

32) Arditi - Omne Ensis Impera

Classical darkwave concept album about WWII. Very unique and atmospheric, but sometimes a bit repetitive. The name comes from the Italian's elite army meaning "to dare".

33) American Music Club - The Golden Age

Singer-Songwriter kind of stuff but with 4 people. It's lyrically rich and the lead guitar is quite inventive, really helping to take the songs to higher places. These guys are so underrated.

34) Prolyphic/Reanimator - The Ugly Truth

Hey a hip-hop album. Reanimator makes the beats (best of both worlds of the old and new school) and Prolyphic is the whitey rapping over it. You don't even need to be in the mood for hip-hop to enjoy this I don't think.

35) Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker

The perfect splice of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, musically, vocally, and lyrically, but with a lot of acoustic guitar effects.

36) William Ackerman - Meditations

All-acoustic project, but just lush playing. Relaxing, contemplative, and yeah, very cool from a guitar player's point of view.

Albums 3.5/5

37) Melencholia Estatica - Letum

Italian black metal. Only one female member. Mmmmm. Rich in sensual aggression.

38) Swallow The Sun - Plague Of Butterflies EP

35-minute concept album written for a ballet performance about a hermit in the woods seeing the ghost of his lost loved one. The key player really sets the mood, as he always has in this band.

39) An Endless Sporadic - Ameliorate EP

This quirky little prog rock band was featured in a Tony Hawk game. You can hear how young these guys are, but it's still completely original.

40) Sigur Ros - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

Icelandic experimental band. This album is so happy, but never annoying. Perfect for making memories I suppose.

Albums 3.5/5

41) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig

Yes, they're still around and still awesome. With their 14th album, they implement the story of Lazarus into some bizarre stage-show type of music. These guys never run out of ideas.

42) Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Dolores

Doom jazz (slow jazz) that could be put to an art film with no difficulty. Veeeeery chill but very moody.

43) Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Singer-songwriter folk. Justin Vernon locks himself away in some far-off cabin and writes an album after a few months. That's one way to Walden it up.

44) Fvcked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life

I never thought I'd say this but..progressive punk? It has come. And it is wonderful. These guys are super funny live also.

45) United Nations - United Nations

Supergroup made up of the singer from Thursday and the rest are unknowns. Pretty chaotic/jazzy. Post-music? Sure why not. The original album art was Abby Road but the Beatles were on fire. Needless to say it was out of print fast.

46) Xihilisk - EPTwo

Very original guitar-based electronica. I talked to the guy, he's a swell cat as well.

47) Starofash - The Thread

The beautiful wife of Emperor's Ihsahn has her own experimental electronica project produced by the geniuses from Ulver. Kinda strange, but familiar, which is always good.

48) Meshuggah - Obzen

The name means "crazy" in Yiddish. Rightfully so, the poly-rhythms imposed here are insane. Very calculated/mathematically based.

49) Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery

Super-group made up of Katatonia members and vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth. Groovy death metal, but a lot more filler than I'd like. Still, At The Behest Of Their Death and Hades Rising (beautiful outro) are worth it being two of their best songs.

50) Coldplay - Viva La Vida

It's good to see a band with this kind of popularity try out new things. The problem is they only put one foot in the water, and a lot of this album could be better.

Honourable Mentions: All 3.5/5

The Airborne Toxic Event - The Airborne Toxic Event
Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Asmegin – Arv
Люди Осени (Autumn People) – Люди Осени
Blue Sky Black Death – Late Night Cinema
Caina – Temporary Antennae
Conifer – Crown Fire
Darkspace – III
Dead Congregation – Graves Of The Archangels
Hammock – Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow
Isthmus – Land Bridge
Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
Moonsorrow – Tulimyrsky EP
Morker – Hostmakter
Nachtmystium – Assassins Pt. 1
Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts
Past Lives – Strange Symmetry
Todesbonden – Sleep Now Quiet Forest
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Zimmers Hole – While You Were Shouting At The Devil, We Were In League With Satan

Disappointments

Kashiwa Daisuke - 5 Dec - 3/5

This is hugely disappointing since his first two records are amazing, but Daisuke’s electronica experimentation has finally hit a brick wall. Writer’s block this sounds like.

Steven Wilson - Insurgents - 2.5/5

I enjoy Porcupine Tree for the most part, but this just didn’t sit right. The album doesn’t feel like it has purpose and doesn’t really go anywhere, and even with a couple good songs, 70 minutes is too long for an album this uneventful.

Ihsahn - Angl - 2.5/5

After leaving Emperor, an unmatched classical black metal band, Ihsahn headed for a solo career with The Adversary, which had its flaws but certainly had some worthwhile sections as well. In Angl, he loses focus and tends to plod on with a new riff here and there just because, and comes across as tedious.

Thrice - Alchemy Index III & IV (Air & Earth) - 2.5/5

When you write a concept/themed album, the first thing you must avoid is being predictable. Thrice ****ed that up immediately with their Water & Fire release by thinking the Water side only needed their usual songs but with more delay and the Fire side just needed to be heavy. They make a similar mistake here but for some reason it’s not as annoying, however it’s not much better either.

Sun Kil Moon - April - 2.5/5

After loving Red House Painters’ whole career, I’ve tried to get into Sun Kil Moon at least 4 times, but to no avail. This album didn’t help matters. Other people love it though, so good for them.

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins - 2.5/5

I heard so many good things about this apparent indie gem, I really wanted to like this, but there’s nothing here that connected and it rarely felt human to me.

The Damned - So Who's Paranoid - 2.5/5

Legendary and prolific punk(ish) band The Damned have actually had some success in their later years, but this album doesn’t have any of their energy, as if they wrote a record because the record company told them to. If that’s not the case, then it’s just a bit too lazy.

Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling - 2/5

Mogwai was a great post-rock band. This is Mogwai mimicking themselves. Poorly.

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs - 2/5

The only good part about this album is the dreamlike intro to the single. The rest is garbage. What happened from Plans to this? At least Plans had fervor.

Protest The Hero - Fortress - 2/5

I didn’t expect to like this, but it’s just disappointing to see yet another band in this genre follow the crowd of "technicality = quality", which is an easy ideology to ignore. Take this album for instance.

Bastard Abortions: Albums I Hate In '08

Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy - 2/5

There is no soul on this album. There is only the faux-artistry of The Axl Rose Experience and his wannabe radio hits.

Rise Against - Appeal To Reason - 2/5

Rise Against has been dead for some time now. There are some bands that feel the need to just fade away when they think they can still make relevant music (Linkin Park), and this is certainly one of the sadder cases.

Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe - 1.5/5

Melodic death metal is 20 years old. Move on.

The Human Abstract - Midheaven - 1/5

Technical death metal with no point and no talent. I question its existence.

Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown - 1/5

Ultra waste of time. Progress is the antithesis of this band’s career.

In Flames - A Sense Of Purpose - 1/5

Going from a pioneer of melodic metal in the 90’s to this indolent, bastard third-nephew of such is an insult to my time. This band needs a revamp, and this album title is ironic.

City And Colour - Bring Me Your Love - 1/5

Bring Me Your Love is what happens when you want to be accessible and forget about the dignity music should have. Also, this is what happens when you rip off folk artists and make their sound watered down and superficial.

Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire - 1/5

Generic metal to the umpteenth exponent. Of course it’s popular.

Black Tide - ****** Sh1t - 0/5

The fact that this thrash hash band was signed is terrifying. Even if this came out in the 80’s I would hate it all the same for I only hear things this redundant so often.

Soulja Boy - isouljaboytellem - 0/5

This was purchased by humans…I don’t even

Doing 2009 in Nov/Dec and 2010 in January

2008 must have been a very busy month for you.

The only Sigur Ros I heard is Ágætis Byrjun.
I want to check out Nick Cave, I have a feeling I might like his work.

Great job BTW.

Thanks a lot man, I really wasn't expecting anyone to look at this haha. I think you'd like that Sigur Ros album, it's a lot different than the one you heard. And if you check out Nick Cave I would start with Henry's Dream or The Good Son. His discography is all over the place though, so throw a dart and see what you find.

(assuming you mean year) I'm just as involved in music as movies, so I arrange my time to make it work. As I said earlier, I just like to know what's going on in every genre during the year, same with film.

TOO MUCH TOO SOON

Jesus... wtf's happening in this thread?!/!?!/1!???/!?!??!!

>> The Sound Of Animals Fighting is a sweet band, but I have only heard their first two albums, which I really liked.

>> I'm not too big a fan of The Flashbulb'sstuff or that album, unfortunately.

>> Sigur Ros is one of the best bands ever, but I have yet to hear that album.

>> Apart from Mogwai, Death Cab, and Guns N Roses, I basically have no idea what the others are. I mean, I literally have never heard the names.

>> So yeah, I wish I could talk about some of your picks, but I can't. All you've done here is given me another huge to do list.

>> Much thanks for your efforts, bra! If there's one person who's musical taste I look up to, it's you.

__________________
"Loves them? They need them, like they need the air."

You'll love both of those albums then.
Thank you, I do what I can

Wow. Just wow. Thank you for your darkwave essay!

Impressive introduction to a fascinating genre-f*ck genre. And yes, it is my first time having heard the term; embarrassing considering how you seem to be familiar with just about every work in its lifespan.

I just finished Dead Can Dance a few minutes ago, and was not disappointed. My favorite tracks are the more "eclectic" tracks like "Ocean" and "Flowers Of The Sea". The former track---especially the unique vocal melody---is my favorite off the album by far as of having listened to all the tracks once or twice. I think it probably most encapsulates the union between New Age/world and post-punk. That is, much more so than something like "Frontier" which feels a bit like it's trying to hard and still failing to be "world". I still really like the "plain" post-punk in the album too, especially "A Passage in Time", which just has that really great classic sound with the bass and the synth. Same with "The Trial" and others.

I'm moving on Within the Realm of a Dying Sun now with some excitement having read that you consider it to be one of the defining albums of the genre. The first track sounds quite different from what they were doing in Dead Can Dance.

So yeah. Sweet post; sweet music; much, much thanks! ^___^