Lachlan’s top 10 albums of 2008 (and biggest disappointments)

As promised, here is my narcissism:

1. Cult of Luna – Eternal Kingdom: A fantastic sludge influenced post-metal album with absolutely CRUSHING production. Cult of Luna has emerged as one of my favourite bands of 2008, and while I slightly prefer Somewhere Along the Highway over Eternal Kingdom, this is nothing less than another outstanding album from the consistent Finnish band.

One of the things I am most looking forward to for 2009 is being able to see these guys live.

2. Secret Chiefs 3 – Xaphan: What can be said about the brilliant Secret Chiefs 3? They are a collection of immensely talented musician with a penchant for exploring Eastern influenced polyrhythmic music. I saw these guys in 2007 at The Factory without having heard any of their material and without a doubt it was one of my favourite live shows to date.

In my opinion this is the album where they finally found their own unique sound; it represents the culmination of everything they’ve done to date and far outstrips their previous albums – solid though they may be. The production is fantastic and the rhythms and instrumentation mind-bending. There is not a dull moment or a dud song. This is simply awe-inspiring.

3. This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You: I got into post-rock pretty heavily this year too. Without a doubt the stand out for me for the genre was This Will Destroy You: warm synth-driven rolling post-rock with some nice electronic elements. I can remember the first time I put this on my stereo down the coast under the influence of MDMA. My mind has never been the same.

4. Gridlink - Amber Gray: This is fucking grindcore. In a year where I was finding it hard and harder to be inspired by grind, Gridlink single handedly reinvigorated my love for the genre. Totally unedited, relentless, break-neck, hyper-violent, throat-ripping, guitar-shredding, face-raping, skull-fucking aggressive grindcore. This may be the single most intense piece of music I have ever heard – and it’s achieved by a fucking three-piece.

If the likes of Napalm Death and Terrorizer had heard this back in the day, they would’ve probably packed up and gone home. This has raised the bar in terms of aural aggression; fuck all of that technical death metal retarded triggered bullshit – this is the real deal. All the violence of the world in an 11:48 minute MCD, and I wouldn’t want it a second longer.

5. Venetian Snares – Detrimentalist: I’m an absolutely huge fan of Venetian Snares and his retardedly complex 7/4 breakbeat mash-up insanity. This album sees Aaron Funk cycle through a large number of the various sounds and styles he has used over his career. The result is an absolutely killer release that manages to avoid sounding stale or monotonous. This album comes a close third to his two classical-breakcore releases.

If you’re a grind head and haven’t heard breakcore, get out there and hear yourself some Venetian Snares. Try My Downfall. The music is as intense as it gets, and it’s no coincidence that all the breakcore fans and producers I’ve spoken to typically enjoy extreme grind.

6. Meshuggah – Obzen: Thank God. A new Meshuggah album. This album is more aggressive and up-tempo than Nothing and Catch 33 – just what so many old school fans had been pining for. These guys can really do no wrong, and while I didn’t enjoy this as much as I, Chaosphere or Catch 33, it’s still one hell of a fucking trip to psychedelic mind fucking metallic mayhem.

7. The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath: No, it’s no Deloused or Francis the Mute. No my favourite drummer in the world Jon Theodore does not play on it. This album may lack a few of the elements that made me fall in love with this band – such as extended passages of ambient and the ability for them to simply sit on a killer groove – but this stands out as a very solid up-tempo rock album.

The new drummer certainly has obscene drumming skills, but I’d like to see him try and play with a bit more feel and groove on the next album. I noticed the 2 times I’ve seen him play live he really lacks the ability to play with dynamics. He simply cannot build up songs or segments from ultra-soft to loud-as-fuck. He has too levels: fucking loud and not quite so fucking loud. Still this is a solid album with some memorable songs and deserves praise.

8. A Storm of Light – And We Wept the Black Ocean Within: A slow, dark, depressing and suffocating piece of sludge, drone and doom – in fact this is so fucking dark is could probably pull you into a black whole. Very Neurosis inspired (since it has Neurosis and Red Sparrows members in it) and that’s just the way I like it.

9. Kill the Client – Cleptocracy: There are essentially two bands playing old-school grindcore and obliterating the shit out of the originators: Insect Warfare and Kill the Client. Kill the Client have amazingly upped their already overwhelming aggression on their second full lengths while still managing to deliver memorable songs. I hope to see these guys down in Australia some day.

10. Ef - I Am Responsible: To be honest I’m not 100% sure this deserves to be here since I only heard this album a week ago. It’s soft, ambient post-rock with plenty of piano and impressive orchestration.

The Biggest Disappointments of 2008

Fuck these goddamn safe-playing pandering shitheads - especially bands as fucking innovative and original as the first two. Way to ruin a good thing.

1. Genghis Tron – Board Up The House: So guys, how about instead of playing that fun and unique mash-up electro-grind breakbeat crazy genre-hopping insanity we called music on our first EP we become a Converge clone band? Better yet – let’s totally water down all the electronic elements and make the drums sound like real drums. Wont THAT make us stand out?

This is in my opinion a total fucking bullshit cash-grab for Converge fans. If Cloak of Love deserves 100% and Dead Mountain Mouth possibly around 80%, this probably lands at 35%. Pathetic guys. Just pathetic.

2. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works: Well I guess it was inevitable when you lose 2 key song-writers. Still, Dillinger showed that they essentially have no new ideas whats so ever. They rehashed Miss Machine and throw in two really shitty pop/rock songs to build up some cash and some 16 year olds in their fan base. Having seem them this year the change in crowd was remarkable. No one had a clue about most the Miss Machine songs, let alone anything earlier.

The one redeeming song on the album is the final one, which I actually quite enjoy. He’s hoping that Gil can input something fresh into the writing process this time around. I’m not asking for Calculating Infinity, I just want to hear something fucking new – not just a rehash.

3. Gronibard – We Are French, Fukk You: What shitheads man. I didn’t even hear that this album was coming out. Their self titled debut is one of my favourite grind albums every. It’s catchy as fuck, has enormous production values and the least serious thing on earth. In short it is a candidate for the most awesome grind album ever.

This album is almost identical – if you removed all the fun, humour, catchy riffs, blast beats and break downs and instead replaced all of that with boring mid-paced gore (not even gore/grind). Dudes, if this is what you have to offer after fucking 6 years, hang it up.