The Short List: My Favorite Albums of 2007

You know i'm a music junkie. This should come as no surprise. Though this list in no way represents all the things i listened to in the past year, it is just a quick and dirty list of some of the releases that have stuck with me the most.

First off, the good:

Yakuza - Transmutations:

I first saw these guys about a year ago when they opened for Misery Index, and I've been a fan ever since. It's really hard to describe these guys. I could tell you they sound like a deranged beast-offspring of Jane's Addiction, Napalm Death and John Zorn, but that wouldn't do them justice at all.

It's psychedelic, ambient and moody while at the same time being pretty damn heavy and vicious. It has blast beats, jazz horns and occasional Tuvan throat singing. It really has to be heard.


Ministry, The Last Sucker

I'll be honest. I didn't even know Ministry was still around when I first heard of this one. I've always been a bit of a fan, so when I heard this was going to be their last album, I felt obligated to give it a shot. I'm sure glad I did.

Musically, it's a very solid album and a bit of a return to form to the older days of more thrash oriented writing (think Psalm 69), as opposed to the more experimental and sludgy sound of the Filthpig era.

Thematically, the album is a giant fuck you aimed at the Bush administration. As somebody who isn't particularly fond of W and his boys, I find no small bit of amusement in the fact that Ministry, as a band, have been around long enough to such musical middle fingers not only to Dubya, but his daddy during his administration as well.

Obituary, Xecutioner's Return

Allow me to start off by saying something. I have no small love for Obituary. They're easily one of my favorite bands. When I was a teenage lad, taking those first few cautious steps into my own musical preferences, Obituary was there. The dude who was my parter in chemistry lab lent me a copy of Back from the Dead, and that was all she wrote.

Obituary is almost like the AC/DC of the heavy metal world. They haven't really changed their sound in twenty odd years. Between John Tardy's screeching vocals, and Allen West's signature style of simple, yet unbelievably catchy guitar riffs, once you hear an Obituary song, you'll be able to recognize them forever more.

Obituary is one of the granddaddies of death metal, and this album is very much an old school disc, hearkening back to the days when death metal still very much influenced by punk and thrash. There's use of monkey beats, pinch harmonics, shredding solos, and near excessive use of the whammy bar. I love it so.

Cephalic Carnage, Xenosapien

Up until this album, I'd always been of two minds when it came to Cephalic Carnage: that of a musician, and that of a listener.

The muscian side of me always appreciated them. There's a hell of a lot of creativity and skill that goes into making the very intricate, jazz-oriented grindcore these guys put out.

The part of me that just enjoys listening to music, though, was never crazy about them. While the individual parts of songs were awesome, it seemed like all the awesome parts were just kind of haphazardly thrown together into one big mush of a song. There was no flow, for lack of a better term, from one part of a song to the next.

But this album, this one fucking nails it. It goes from a full bore, blasting grind, to a very sludgy almost crowbar vibe in a heartbeat, and you notice nothing aside from how awesome that last transition was.

And now, the bad. The two biggest musical disappointments for me last year:


Leng T'che, Marasmus

I hate to sound like one of those guys who goes around saying "I listened to this band before they were cool", but it's true in this case.

Once upon a time, Leng T'che was a very intense band. Musically, it was some grade-A, rip-off-your-face-and-shit-down-your-neck grind, combined with some rather tongue in cheek lyrics. For example, they wrote a song about Wes Craven called "I know What you Shit Last Summer"

Their first three albums were as such, and were good. They even started gaining some well deserved praise with their third album. Then, they released Marasmus. It's just another overproduced, breakdown oriented shitbird for the MySpace scene.

I hear they're working on another album. It's going to have to be something really good to bring me back into the fold.


Dying Fetus, War of Attrition

The good news about this album, is that it's everything you'd expect from a Dying Fetus album. The bad news, is that it's everything you would expect from a Dying Fetus album.

If you're remotely familiar with anything Fetus has done after Killing on Adrenaline, you've heard this album. I suppose if you're a die hard fan, then you'd be happy with it. Or, i suppose if you've never heard Dying Fetus before, this would be a decent starter album. After all, if they're entirely new to you, how are you supposed to know this one sounds exactly like the three previous albums?

If you want this album, fine by me. I'll be over in the corner listening to and Grotesque Impalement and Killing on Adrenaline.

And now, looking to the future, here are some musical things I'm looking forward to in 2008:

NEW BRUTAL TRUTH ALBUM. Yes, it deserves all caps.

When I first heard Brutal Truth reunited last year to play the Maryland Deathfest, I almost dropped everything I was doing and started hitchhiking.

If I had to name a band as the single most influential on me as a musician, Brutal Truth would be it. Keven Sharp's vocals are what made me pick up a mic.

The new album's tenetive release date is February, 2008.

Also coming out in February, is the debut of KINGDOM OF SORROW, which consists of members of Hatebreed and Crowbar. The teaser songs they've released are enough to make a man salivate.