Best of 2007 - from #60 to #56

60. manowar - 'gods of war'
'Gods Of War' has turned, surprisingly, into the most divisive album of Manowar's long career. Sure, they have always been a factor of contention within metal as a whole. On one side you have the people who think they're silly and dumb, on the other all the fans who realize that the over-the-top posturing is exactly the point of Manowar and are therefore free to enjoy the music, that has been of a superior quality very often, something which is often overlooked because of the whole image the band generates. Few casual listeners think that Manowar actually have written, among other things, a haunting, crushing doom song ('Hatred'), gorgeous metal ballads ('Master Of The Wind', 'Courage', 'Heart Of Steel'), rousing epic cavalcades ('Black Wind, Fire And Steel', 'The Power Of Thy Sword', 'March For Revenge'), not to mention the 30-minute epic 'Achilles, Agony And Ecstasy In Eight Parts'. The one decision that is arguable about 'Gods Of War' is that they have applied the 'Achilles' concept to a full album, a concept album about the god Odin, but this time without the constant metal rumble that the opening track from 'The Triumph Of Steel' had. Of these sixteen tracks, only eight are "proper" songs, and one of them is a bonus track that doesn't really belong in the whole concept. This makes 'Gods Of War' a very difficult album to sit through if you're not in the musical equivalent of a let's-watch-Lord Of The Rings-the-whole-way-through mood. Symphonic intros and orchestral passages are remarkably well done, and the entire album flows exactly like a movie, but after superb heavy and fast blasts like 'Sleipnir' or 'Loki God Of Fire', sometimes you wish they'd just get on with it. However, if you think about it, that's really your problem. The music here is awesomely put together as a cohesive whole, and it's remarkable that a band well on their way to their third decade of existence still has the balls to put out something like this in today's current musical climate. Oh, and that bonus track - it doesn't fit, but it's terribly exciting in a silly true metal kind of way. It's called 'Die For Metal'.

ManOwaR - 'Sleipnir'



59. horna - 'sotahuuto'
It's Horna. After the black plague album, they wrote 'Sotahuuto' as a tribute to the old school and Bathory. It's fucking grimm trve BM, cold, raw, entirely shrieked in Finnish, preferably to be listened on vinyl and not made to be liked, so fvkk off. \m/



58. end of level boss - 'inside the difference engine'
[review published on issue #24 of Underworld magazine, translated and adapted for too.many.records.]
The riff that opens the first song, 'Selfishnegativevibemerchant', shows right away what End Of Level Boss are all about. A textbook example of what a stoner riff is, it serves as a basis for the song's development, which doesn't limit itself to heavy and slow. Just like the rest of the album, in fact. The dynamics on display here are the best quality of 'Inside The Difference Engine', with surprising structures and frequent detours over dissonant territory in the vein of prime-era Voivod that give the album a sort of industrialized feel. For once, the press sheet comparisons are right - End Of Level Boss do sound like the missing link between Kyuss and Voivod. Two huge names to throw about, but these guys can take their weight perfectly. Throughout the record, both oppressive ('Instinktivitus', scary!) and urgent ('Reticence') atmospheres are created, always with a guitar athleticism worthy of someone like Stinking Lizaveta (with whom End Of Level Boss have played, actually). This cross-genre exploration is possible because this band is musically very solid - the rhythm section is huge, and the vocalist sounds either like a steroid-filled John Garcia or a less schizo Mike Patton. Therefore, the predisposition to make up stuff is enormous, as the two last songs show, from atop their bizarreness. Whether they show the band's future sound or not, this is in any case a band that gives guarantees for the future. And if the leap to the next album is as big as the leap from 'Prologue' to this one, you'd better watch out!

End Of Level Boss - 'Instinktivitus'



57. el hijo - 'las otras vidas'
[review also published on issue #24 of Underworld magazine, translated and adapted for too.many.records.]
Good music does funny things to you, to the point of bringing down irrational prejudices (not that there are any rational ones). I do admit a certain personal distaste for songs sung in Spanish, but it's a distaste that's mostly part of the past right now, and it's all Abel Hernandéz's fault. Migala's former vocalist, after this band broke up, decided to get together a new band and throw himself at this very personal project. With the precious help of multi-instrumentalist and producer Raül Fernandez, the result was the writing of nine irresistible songs. It's very difficult to try to explain the appeal of the simplicity of 'Las Otras Vidas'. Although the album doesn't have a glowing factor of originality or any fantastically arousing moment in particular, it's one of those that insinuate themselves, underneath your skin, slowly, until you realize that you listen to the thing almost every day, especially when you want to take a break from all the hellish metal of doom that most of my readers probably listen to all day long. Just like it happens with a record like Nick Cave's 'The Boatman's Call', for example. The stand-out note is entirely Abel's voice. Sober, accompanied by various acoustic instruments, it's one of those full and low voices, capable nevertheless of the softest melodies that seem to come out without any kind of effort, a bit like Robert Fisher (Willard Grant Conspiracy) or Matt Berninger (The National). Songs vary between pop-folk and something more atmospheric, that will appeal to anyone who likes Iron & Wine and other similar bands. The comparison is necessary but very reductive. An album of this class and feeling should appeal to anyone who likes good music, full stop. Even to those who didn't like to listen to Spanish singing.

El Hijo - 'Vals De Los Besos'



56. exodus - 'the atrocity exhibition - exhibit a'
The revival of Exodus is a wonderful thing. With so many troubles that have happened to this band, it's a small miracle that they're still together at all. That they're actually still thrashing the house down with powerhouse albums like 2005's 'Shovel-Headed Kill Machine' and now this little baby. Vocalist Rob Dukes is a big part of this, as he's probably the best vocalist the band has ever had (no disrespect to the much-missed Paul Baloff, but he is), and succeeds in injecting that final bit of bile that these tracks need to work. By "work", I mean "punching you in the face and leaving your broken and messy nose for the rats to pick on", of course. As a final piece of the puzzle, original drummer Tom Hunting also returns to the fold on this album, beating his kit like there's no tomorrow. Just like the awesome previous album, 'Atrocity Exhibition' is a simply a shred-fest that will make you thrash all around (acting like a maniac?) and headbang from beginning to end. Varied, incorporating several tempos for massive killing capacity. Funnily enough, in the middle of a thrash revival and bands like Municipal Waste, Evile and SSS catching all the attention, old-timers Exodus are still by far the best thrash band around.

Exodus - 'Riot Act'

Best of 2007 - from #65 to #61

65. the ocean - 'precambrian'
The scope of 'Precambrian' is simply staggering. An ambitious double album (comprised of a mini-CD, 'hadean/archaean' and a "full" disc, 'proterozoic'), entirely conceptualized (and metaphorized, too) around the creation of the Earth, created by a band that's not even a band, but an open collective of musicians (their official name is actually The Ocean Collective), how's that for starters? By all this you might expect a dreamy, drawn out record with 20-minute songs, but that's where the Berliners surprise you. The music that bellows forth from their apparently huge rehearsal space is the finishing move to this overwhelming ambition, and it's surprisingly intense - a rather unique mixture between post-rock, Cult Of Luna especially, and vicious metallic hardcore like Converge, all of it tempered by odd little details like left-field electronic bleepings and atmospheres. Enriched by some of the best packaging I've ever seen on a digipak, 'Precambrian' is an album that will hit hard from the beginning but will take a while to discover fully.

The Ocean - Orosirian (For The Great Blue Cold Now Reigns)'



64. hey colossus - 'project:death'
[review published on the April issue of Rock-A-Rolla magazine]
The prolific Hey Colossus are, musically speaking, part of the less-is-more school of thought (in terms of number of releases, though, they’re very much the-more-the-merrier!), as their downtuned, dirty beasts of songs stampede their way forward without any big frills or unnecessary filler. Hey Colussus’ aim is to rock you, and they do that shamelessly, under the haze of static and fuzzy feedback, as if Boris were playing Doomriders songs. The title-track from the Doomriders album in particular, one of the best songs in memory, has a worthy successor here, in the truly kickass ‘I Am The Chiswick Strangler’, a two-minute blast of energy that will conjure up images of legs-apart, full-on rocking stances. Elsewhere, other highlights include the vicious ‘On The Pleasure Of Hating’, a gnarly, filthy release of disgust, and the unbearably heavy ‘Rope Assassin’, in which the rumbling chaos almost drowns out the tortured screams of the vocalist. The predominantly slow pace feels menacing, which gives the listener a great rush when things start to pick up a bit of speed and extra bite. In fact, the whole album feels almost dangerous, a true reflection of the great cover image. ‘Project:Death’ is a mandatory release for anyone into ugly, bass-heavy music with serious attitude and aggression, and it manages the worthy feat of being Hey Colossus’ best work so far.

Hey Colossus - 'I Am The Chiswick Strangler'



63. decayed - 'hexagram'
[review published on issue #162 of Terrorizer magazine]
After a difficult period during which guitarist and founder JA was left as the only band member, Decayed has suffered a complete line-up overhaul. Now the 17-year-old Portuguese black metal institution returns with renewed strength and confidence, and it’s precisely that confidence and faith in themselves that elevates ‘Hexagram’ above the usual norm. Unlike many bands based in Central and especially Southern Europe, Decayed do not feel the need to pretend that the inspiration for the album came from a snowy Norwegian forest. Rock’n’roll, sacrifice your soul!, is the battle cry of powerful new vocalist W halfway through ‘Ceremonial Cleansing’, and that really sums it up - the black heart of ‘Hexagram’ beats to the punkish, devil-may-care rhythm of Venom. These genuine old-school vibes are enriched with a very modern sense of viciousness, showing that Decayed are not only rooted to the past, but also to the future. Black’n’roll might feel like a tired gimmick for tired black metallers of yore, but this is the genuine article.

Decayed - 'Ceremonial Cleansing'



62. jesu - 'conqueror'
According to Justin K. Broadrick, Jesu's aim from the beginning was to create the saddest music possible, and while that is quite a goal, it is also a very open one. This has allowed Jesu to evolve from the hypnotic bleakness of debut EP 'Heart Ache' and open up to other forms of expression. Although the dreamy, hazy quality of the music is still the main characteristic of Jesu's composition framework, 'Conqueror', a bit like what 'Silver' hinted at, is generally softer, sometimes coming close to a sort of floaty emo-gone-ambient atmosphere that's closer to My Bloody Valentine than anything else. The "pop" feel that many have complained about is misleading, however. 'Conqueror' is still so rich in layers and fine subtlety that you'll genuinely hear something new every time you play it.



61. dark the suns - 'in darkness comes beauty'
It's something in the water, or in the weather, or that they feed to babies, but there is an overall feeling to Finland's dark rock bands that no other country can really match. Not that they try much, since this kind of thing can really only be done in Suomi - you have nowhere else with bands like (post-'Amok') Sentenced, Entwine, Charon, Poisonblack, Cryhavoc or Eternal Tears of Sorrow, to name but a few. Dark The Suns is the newest addition to this illustrious bunch, and it features all the staples of this geographical sub-genre, there's the gravely vocals (slightly more gravely than most here), the melodic leads, the emotional subjects, the sexy and stylish sense of darkness. The main difference is the way Dark The Suns use their keyboards, as they are omni-present and carry the main melodies of the songs themselves, for extra dramatic factor. All this could be the set-up for a bad review, waiting for the 'so, heard it all before, cliché, wimp music, avoid.' punchline. Thing is, Dark The Suns songs work. They're insanely catchy, but there's quality underneath that allows them to survive the disposable factor, there's soul to them. Of course you'll hate it if you only dig extremebrutaldeathmetalgroaargh, but if you like melody and emotion in your music, check out these guys.

Dark The Suns - 'The Sleeping Beauty'

Best of 2007 - from #70 to #66(6)

70. viaje a 800 - 'estampida de trombones'
[review published on issue #159 of Terrorizer magazine]
After a long silence, Spaniards Viaje A 800 return with their unusual take on stoner rock. Despite the relative conventionality of their music, very clearly influenced by Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Kyuss, it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly sounds different about them. Indeed, the Spanish lyrics give it an air of exoticism that is rare in this sort of music, but the riffs are hypnotic enough for the language to be quickly forgotten after a couple of songs. Perhaps it’s the fact that Viaje A 800’s songs are more direct, less hazier, less stoned if you will, than your typical stoner rock. They not only avoid the drugged out, long repetitions common in some other bands of this kind, but there’s in fact an almost punk-like immediacy in the rockier songs like ‘Zé’ or ‘Patio Custodio’ that is very satisfying. ‘Estampida De Trombones’ is the chance to listen to an example of how to give a tired genre a new, subtle twist, while still rocking the house down.



69. yakuza - 'transmutations'
[review published on issue #163 of Terrorizer magazine]
Shape shifting isn’t the half of it, as each song on ‘Transmutations’ twists the album further into uncategorizable territory. There’s the dreamy jazzy structures of the sax-lead ‘Egocide’ exploding halfway into Patton-esque metal cabaret, the Neurosis worship of ‘Raus’, the pitch-black doom of ‘The Blinding’ or the devastating 2-minute death metal blast of ‘Steal The Fire’. Just to name a few. Call it a mess and give it 5/10, right? Well, wrong. It sounds crazy when write descriptions of each song like that, but when you’re actually listening to it, it doesn’t feel that insane. Yakuza aren’t a crazy grind band shooting in all genre directions just because they have ‘jazz influences’, and all the songs have the band’s very distinctive mark on them, regardless of their stylistic clothing. It will take some listens, but you’ll eventually discover a subtly structured record that knows when to chill out and when to go for your throat. A great record that is both brutal and intelligent.

Yakuza - 'Egocide'



68. unsane - 'visqueen'
The somewhat hard-to-define, vicious post-hardcore sound of Unsane has been slowly but surely developing, and all of their albums have been a challenge to fans, who don't expect anything less from this NY-based band. 'Visqueen', their first album for Mike Patton's Ipecac label, goes some way to taking the Unsane sound to a new extreme, as the creepy desolation that was always present on their past records is very emphasized here, but all without losing their trademark rumbling power. Take opener 'Against The Grain', where everything that makes Unsane great is represented - the song is intimidating in its relentless and incisive heaviness, but also releases a quantity of unease and razor-sharp angst that makes it feverishly intense. The rest of the album falls a few inches short of this genius opening blast, but stays close enough to make all of it mandatory both for Unsane fans and for those who like uneasy aggressive music. To top it all off, Unsane throw a last-gasp curveball with 'East Broadway', an eight-minute almost ambient piece that'll scare the shit out of you and makes the wait for the next album a very exciting one.

Unsane - 'Against The Grain'



67. trap them - 'sleepwell deconstructor'
No big review needed for this. 'Sleepwell Deconstructor' is the sound of the pissed off, the frustrated, the angry. It's what you put on when you've had enough of all the shit in the world and you want to start breaking things. It's no surprise that there are members of December Wolves in this ('Completely Dehumanized' is one of the most vicious albums ever) and that the original name of the project was Trap Them And Kill Them. The feeling of letting out aggression is nearly palpable because this isn't just random noise, it's uncontrolled aggression released in a controlled form, much like Pig Destroyer's awesome 'Phantom Limb' (more on that a bit further up the list...) it bashes your head in with minute-long death-crust-grind missiles. All of the songs are highlights, and then there's the equivalent to that last untitled song on 'Phantom Limb', or even Converge's 'Grim Heart / Black Rose', in the form of the five-minute long 'Deconstructioneer Extraordinaire', the one rest in pace in the middle of all this chaos, that nevertheless keeps the violence-inducing levels way up there anyway. A crazy album that'll tire you just by listening to it.

Trap Them - 'Swine Into Silk'



66(6). the howling wind - 'pestilence & peril'
[review published on issue #164 of Terrorizer magazine]
Killusion could have released ‘Pestilence & Peril’ under the guise of Thralldom still, and it wouldn’t shock anyone, since The Howling Wind is a direct progression from the oblique take on black metal that was the trademark of Thralldom. However, it also makes sense that this should be an entirely new project, since that progression leap is indeed a large one. ‘Pestilence & Peril’ is more obviously black metal than Killusion’s previous work in Thralldom, but not black metal in the orthodox kind of way. The spaced-out feel of the guitars actually recalls that dead stump in the genre’s evolutionary tree that is the late 90s Moonfog releases such as Thorns’ debut or Satyricon’s ‘Rebel Extravaganza’, but much dirtier and murkier. The closest comparison to ‘Pestilence & Peril’ is Aura Noir’s ‘Deep Tracts Of Hell’. There is the same alternating between quasi-doom (some Unearthly Trance there too!) stomping horror and faster songs, but always maintaining that greenish, menacing toxic haze. In what seems to be quickly becoming a norm in Profound Lore releases, this album feels dangerous. There is an underlying viciousness to all these songs that projects the intended atmosphere of terror with great effectiveness, but the main factor for that is the caveman-like muffled production. A bit like the label’s previous release, Portal’s ‘Outre’’, ‘Pestilence & Peril’ doesn’t sound either necro or crunchy – it sounds like you just put your ear to the ground and heard the bestial roar of an unknown beast miles beneath you. Animalistic it might be, but the album is also very well structured. Take a song like ‘Virulence 33’, for example, in which the relentless , abrasive pace that shreds your face for five minutes is abruptly cut short half a minute from the end, leaving you all alone with a few discordant sounds that segue into the spooky interlude, ‘Southaven’. When you’re finally feeling safe, the mid-paced hell of ‘Stealth Eugencis' wrecks your nerves all over again. You’ll be on edge for the duration and you’ll love every minute of it.

The Howling Wind - 'Stealth Eugencis'

Best of 2007 - from #75 to #71

75. mael mórdha - 'gealtacht mael mórdha'
It's not only Primordial doing the Irish epic thing - Mael Mórdha (which is the name of an ancient Irish king from the 11th century, in case you were wondering) also evoke images of standing on windswept moors beating your chest in the rain. While Primordial have transcended that and turned into something quite unique over the past few years, Mael Mórdha are younger and keep their music closer to the Irish folk-metal style of something like 'Journey's End', but there are a few twists to their style as well, namely their doom influences, which help turn this album into something a bit special too. The epic, mournful tales owe as much to the Bathory's viking heroics school as they do to Cathedral or Candlemass riff-of-doooom school, and all this mixed with the folk elements and the captivating historical storytelling makes 'Gealtacht Mael Mórdha' a mandatory release if you're into this sort of thing. What about a Mael Mórdha / Primordial gig, eh?

Mael Mórdha - 'A Window Of Madness'



74. ghost brigade - 'guided by fire'
'Guided By Fire' is one of those records that sound pleasant but unremarkable at first. Their dense Katatonia-esque melodic metal brings to mind a whole bunch of other Finnish bands that play the sort of dark metal one usually associates with the country, with traces of both the old (Amorphis) to the new (Dark The Suns) being clear on 'Guided By Fire'. The subtlety of the compositions, however, begins to unveil itself as the melodies get more and more familiar, and then 'Guided By Fire' opens up as something quite wonderful, especially considering this is a debut album. It's essentially the sobriety of the whole affair that does it, as the overall sadness of the songs doesn't sound overbearing or contrived but keeps the melancholic intensity, something that is much helped by Manne Ikonen's excellent, diverse vocals. One of the most promising debuts of 2007.

Ghost Brigade - 'Rails At The River'



73. sigh - 'hangman's hymn'
It's thrash this time! Sigh continue their own devil-may-care tortuous path, that has included black metal, psychedelia, classical music and many more genres, in a fusion unique to this Japanese troupe. 'Hangman's Hymn' is one of the most violent Sigh albums so far, as the classical-trained genius that is main-man Mirai saw it fit to pay hommage to his German thrash obsessions after the milder, stoned environment of the eerie 2005 effort 'Gallows Gallery'. The result is a bombastic cacophony of symphonic blackened thrash, divided in three acts, with tons of intricate details to discover. If you like wimp shit like Dimmu Borgir, then check out 'Dies Irae / The Master Malice' for an example of how symphonic elements should really be used in extreme music.

Sigh - 'Dies Irae / The Master Malice'



72. shining - 'v. halmstad'
No misleading anyone with that record cover, so no, Shining haven't lightened up yet. Suicide is still the main topic of the day for these Swedes, with the highly debated suicide rumour of vocalist Kvarforth (unfounded, by the way) surely adding some anticipation prior to this release. So this album is not a walk in the park, unless it's an abandoned part at 3am and you intend to go there to slash your veins open with a rusty razorblade, by the moonlight. The angst and the void of emptiness that emanate from this release feel real, even if the music itself has gotten progressively cleaner, from the gritty filth of the first album to the jazzy melodies that the icy terror is infused with on this, their fifth record. Overall, the predecessor 'IV. The Eerie Cold' was slightly stronger, musically, but for that feeling of black emptiness, all of Shining's records are essential.



71. scandinavian music group - 'missä olet laila'
Yeah, a pop album among all this darkness, but it's how pop should be done. Scandinavian Music Group are a band from Finland, formed in 2002 with a few people that used to play in Ultra Bra. Originally a four-piece, the line-up has expanded to seven people, which allows them to explore all the possibilities of harmonies with pianos, pedal steel guitars and vocals. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes SMG so appealing, but maybe because we're all so jaded with tremendous metaphorical explanations in reviews that sometimes we overlook the basics - brilliantly written, simple, melodic music that you remember and feel like listening again long after you put on the record for the first few times, all this achieved without any big fanfares or "easy listening" tricks that ruin mainstream pop music these days and turn it into the disposable crap that it is. Take a song like 'Itkevä Lintu', that consists of little more than piano, some effects and Terhi Kokkonen's beautiful, softly sung voice but manages to become enormous in your mind by the effect of the infectious melody, a bit like the best Azure Ray songs. The song structures aren't always verse-chorus-verse obvious but manage to keep all the hooks in place, and even the more conventional-sounding ones like 'Naurava Turskan Kallo' keep a strange, morose feeling to them, a bit like the environment you get from a Black Box Recorder song. If you can't understand Finnish, do find someone to translate some of the lyrics to you, because they're an integral part of the experience. On the wonderful 'Mustana, Maidolla, Kylmänä, Kuumana', the best song on the album, Terhi sings in her native Finnish you talk a lot / for such an early morning / I can listen carefully / but my memory is useless / I might call you tomorrow / ask if you'd like to meet up / do you want to kiss / my neck in the hallway / or then I'll make coffee like it's nothing / and forget / black, with milk, cold, hot / I drink it in whatever the way. If you only buy one pop album this year, make it this one.

Scandinavian Music Group - 'Mustana, Maidolla, Kylmänä, Kuumana'