Best of 2007 - reaching halfway! From #50 to #46

50. behemoth - 'the apostasy'
[review published on issue #162 of Terrorizer magazine]
Behemoth have been worryingly average for a while now, and the fact that this less inspired (by their standards) period has coincided with a rise in their commercial status, especially in the United States, is a very valid cause of concern for fans of these Polish giants. ‘Demigod’ was a step further into their definitive affirmation as a death metal band, as opposed to their blackened earlier output, but it was a bland, uninspired step which left several question marks on what would be the ideal direction to follow on the next release. Their commercial future might be relatively secure, with the kind of popularity they seem to hold now, but purely musically speaking, a lot hangs on ‘The Apostasy’. So it’s good that ‘Slaying The Prophets Ov Isa’, the first track proper after the moody intro, will kick any lingering doubts and anxieties from your mind with all the violence you could wish for. A clinically precise yet very pleasantly gritty and above all very heavy slab of proper death metal, it nevertheless shoots off in several other directions that elevate it from very good to brilliant status, and sets the norm for what comes next. In a month where I feel like I’ve used the word ‘ethnic’ on every single review, Behemoth show everyone how it’s really done. Much like Rotting Christ’s ‘Theogonia’ or any Nile album, all those influences are entangled in the songwriting itself, instead of someone just plucking a sitar when the drums go quiet. Coupled with frequent tempo changes and the best, most twisted and fiery drumming of Inferno’s career, this melting pot of ultra-brutal death metal, shit-scary vocal layering, Middle-Eastern chanting and tribalism turns a song like ‘At The Left Hand Ov God’ into something very close to a masterpiece. Even better, if that’s possible, is ’Inner Sanctum’, where none other than Warrel Dane wails all over some sick black metal riffing and jazz piano (!), his characteristic voice a perfect and surprising match to Nergal’s deeply resonant growls. ‘The Apostasy’ isn’t catchy, and all the kids who picked up on the band recently will have trouble getting to grips with its complexity and density, but the top-notch songwriting, the sheer weight of the atmosphere and the grinding relentlessness of the whole album make it one of the top death metal releases of the year so far.

Behemoth - 'Inner Sanctum'



49. antimatter - 'leaving eden'
Saddest band in the world, proclaims the sticker on the cd case, but that might be misleading. In fact, the first feeling that you get from 'Leaving Eden' isn't really of overbearing sadness, but of quiet, of solitude and contemplation. This record actually sounds a bit like the more pensive bits of Anathema, which is funny since it's the first Antimatter album to not feature ex-Anathema bassist and songwriter Duncan Patterson, leaving Mick Moss as the remaining founder. It does still have a tie to the Liverpool band though, as Danny Cavanagh guests with a few guitar parts. Somewhat like Ulver's 'Shadows Of The Sun' (coming up later... much later!), 'Leaving Eden' is the perfect album for a silent, dark evening, and even to put on just before you fall asleep. There's the same kind of quiet melancholy in the singer/songwriter-like simplicty of 'Ghosts', the breezy, 70s-like 'Another Face In The Window' or the beautiful instrumental 'The Immaculate Misconception'. I must admit I feared Anitmatter would fade away without Duncan, but that might have actually been a good thing. Wonderful as Antimatter's previous albums where, there always seemed to be a conflict of styles between the two men, and with 'Leaving Eden', Mick Moss has managed to create the most cohesive and coherent Antimatter album to date.

Antimatter - 'Ghosts'



48. fall of the leafe - 'aerolithe'
Sadly, Fall Of The Leafe split up shortly after the release of 'Aerolithe', but at least they left another great album so that we won't grieve too much. Long-time fans of the band will grieve anyway, because there was something special to Fall Of The Leafe. Whether it's Tuomas Tuominen's unique, labyrinthine vocals or the never obvious but nevertheless infinitely catchy song structures and hooks, you can't really find a comparison point for these guys. Mixing all kinds of melodic metal elements and even, why not, a few poppy bits now and then (mostly in feeling), Fall Of The Leafe's songs were often memorable, launching into choruses molded by Tuominen's voice meanderings and coloured by his cryptic, unusual lyrics. If previous album 'Vantage' was where he totally let loose with all his vocal talent, 'Aerolithe' is a more controlled affair, where the music is given space to breathe (ie, he shuts up now and then) and therefore work much better as a whole. Although there isn't a stand-out million-dollar song like 'The Fresco' on 'Aerolithe', the whole album feels more like a complete effort, and still offers a few highlights of incomparable melody, like 'Sink Teeth Here' for example. Sink your teeth on it down there and you'll know what I mean.

Fall Of The Leafe - 'Sink Teeth Here'



47. reverend bizarre - 'iii: so long suckers'
That title is well revealing - Reverend Bizarre are no more. What the hell happened to Finnish doomsters in 2007? Two of the finest, most brilliant bands in the entire genre of traditional doom, Reverend Bizarre and Minotauri, have called it quits last year, apparently just because they could. At least they both left monuments to their memory, 'II' in the case of Minotauri (later on this list...) and this little monster in the case of the Reverend. Basically, 'III: So Long Suckers' is two hours (yeah, it's a double) of The Riff. The ghosts of Black Sabbath or Candlemass are summoned to the seance, and all the spirits join together to spew forth mammoth doom riff after mammoth doom riff. And that's it, really. Reverend Bizarre have always kept it simple, you want doom, you get doomed, with Albert Witchfinder crooning all over the slow paced of the beasts that are these seven (for two hours, I repeat!) songs. A worthy funeral for the Reverend.



46. l'acephale - 'mord und totsclag'
Holy shit. One of the major headfucks of the year, 'Mord Und Totsclag' will require some getting used to, even by people who listen to abrasive music daily. L'Acephale combine the atavistic primitivism of old Darkthrone with a viciousness worthy of Funeral Mist to create a severely bruising wall of hellish black metal fury. The vocals are some of the most intense, paint-peeling shrieks heard this side of Dead, and the music reaches Burzumic levels of repetition and creepiness often. The most amazing thing about this record is the creeping unease that permeates it, from the most direct stuff like 'The Book Of Lies' to the unbearable 21 minutes of centerpiece 'Against A Weeping Sea Of Sleep'. That's the best description for 'Mord Und Totsclag - it's unbearable. All props to you if you can listen to it all the way through in one sitting, because sometimes even the music on this album seems to be unable to keep up with itself, like on the insane 'Terror Is Our Tenderness', where the instrumental part sometimes goes down in volume during vocalist's Set Sothis Nox Law shrieking. Phew.

L'Acephale - 'Terror Is Our Tenderness'

Best of 2007 - from #55 to #51

55. entombed - 'serpent saints'
Seventeen years, nine full length albums. Time flies, doesn't it? I'm not aware of the demographics of my readership, but I assume that some of you guys were toddlers when 'Left Hand Path' came out. Man, do I feel old. Entombed, however, don't - 'Serpent Saints' is yet another slab of dirty, heavy Entombed-metal that fits perfectly alongside their past discography. Entombed's career, like almost every band that has had a massive influence towards a genre, has always been marked by those first albums, up until 'Wolverine Blues' more or less. Unlike many of those bands, though, and even if every fan seems to have a different album to pick on, the fact is that Entombed have never released a bad album, not even an average one, if you look at it unbiased by your own expectations. 'Serpent Saints' even sidesteps the more-of-the-same issue (although it's a very wonderful same!) that might have been valid on some other albums, because they're rockier, Motörhead-er than ever and at the same time doomier and creepier and Black Sabbath-er than ever too, with their typical way of not taking themselves too seriously ('Masters Of Death' is very tongue-in-cheek, for example) but still grinding you down with shit-heavy stuff, like the mammoth 'The Dead, The Dying And The Dying To Be Dead'. A metal staple, Entombed are. Here's to the next two decades.

Entombed - The Dead,The Dying, And The Dying To Be Dead'



54. dark tranquillity - 'fiction'
If you happened to have visited my last.fm page, you will notice that I listen to these guys a lot. Quite a lot. As much as I love At The Gates (and I do - I will travel to a couple of countries this summer with the express purpose of seeing them live) and Entombed (see above!), among others, Dark Tranquillity will always be the epitome of what Swedish death metal means and of its importance towards metal and extreme music as a whole. Their intricate lyrics, their catchy but pounding songs, their musical and emotional intelligence, everything is great about this band. So what is the new album doing at #54? Well, this might be the less positive review you will read in this top 100, but when a vaguely disappointing album still makes it halfway up the list, then it's because my expectations are sky high for the band in question, which is the case. Don't get me wrong, 'Fiction' is fabulous, but it's just not enough of a leap from 'Character', as that album was from 'Damage Done' (much more expansive and almost space-like feel), or as that was from 'Haven' (more aggressive and to the point), or as 'Haven' itself was from 'Projector' (creepy electronics, no clean vocals) and... you catch my drift. I have to admit that 'Projector' is still my favourite DT album, and those much-missed Mikael Stanne clean vocals make a return here on one of the songs ('Misery's Crown'), but 'Fiction' doesn't have the same individual album feel as all the other albums from 'The Gallery' until now. However, several brilliant moments like that wonderful last song, the aformentioned 'Misery's Crown' or the typical DT 'Nothing To No One' still make it a highly recommended album. Let's just hope the guys try a bit harder next time so that the record makes it to where it belongs - in the top 5 at least.

Dark Tranquillity - 'Misery's Crown'



53. doomsword - 'my name will live on'
[review also published on issue #78 of LOUD! magazine, translated and adapted for too.many.records.]
'My Name Will Live On' is the perfect power metal (well, sort of) album for people who dislike the genre, with no super-high-pitched vocals and cinematic delusions that are characteristic of some of the bands that those who don't like the genre hate the most. With DoomSword, you get the essence of epic, the notion of the enormity and the glory of past battles. After a rather lengthy absence, these Italians show that the sort of form that produced the masterpiece that is 'Resound The Horn' is still intact. Despite the rather tradicionalist look, DoomSword is a bit of an unique band. The seriousness and the sobriety with which they tackle the historical events that their songs are based on leave no doubts regarding their dedication and integrity, and it also injects in their music a believable feeling that is remarkable. For all that, 'My Name Will Live On' is huge in scope - a devoted, focused listen to a song like 'Gergovia' will make us feel in the battlefield itself, led by Vercingétorix (him on the album cover), resisting stoically and heroically to the Roman invasion. The environment around these songs is very heavy, from the sonic destruction of 'Steel Of My Axe' to the irresistibly inspiring 'Once Glorious'. The balance between power, excitement and even beauty is very good. The final cherry is Deathmaster's excellent vocals, sounding like a true leader of men, summoning them into battle. Get your swords ready.

DoomSword - 'Once Glorious'



52. deathchain - 'cult of death'
The loss of former vocalist Rotten, who did a great job on this Finnish band's two first albums, was a blow that some of the fans haven't been able to get over even now, but if they would try to look a bit beneath the surface they would realize that 'Cult Of Death' is actually a great progression for the band. Much more death metal than before, this album will take some getting used to if you were expecting a thrashy affair like their previous efforts, but once you get used to it you'll find a cavernous, brutal death metal album like they used to make 'em in the old days. K.J. Khaos, who also growls for Deathbound and The Duskfall, really goes low end here, and it gives heavy songs like 'Serpent Of The Deep' or 'Necrophiliac Lust' a remarkable potency. For the geeks among us (I know you're out there!), the album feels like a collection of monsters of the week, with each page of the booklet depicting the death hammer (for, erm, 'Deathammer'), that serpent of the deep or the mad exorcist in 'Hour Of The Exorcist'. Kickass album, and great fun.

Deathchain - 'Serpent Of The Deep'



51. pantheon i - 'the wanderer and his shadow'
Pantheon I might feature both Andrè Kvebek and Tor Risdal 'Seidemann' Stavenes, former members of 1349, but take that only as a quality reference point, because there is little of 1349 here, and if this was what the pair wanted to do, then it's great that they left their former band and dedicated themselves to this. Pantheon I practises a polished, complex kind of black metal - note how i used 'complex' as a lame way to actually mean 'symphonic', because that word has become so dirty in black metal circles that I'm afraid you'll just skip to the next review if I mention it. Rest assured, however, that this is symphonic like it should be. There's no ham-fisted sub-Hammer Horror crap here like in the latest Cradle Of Filth efforts or in all of Dimmu Borgir's unbelievably overrated career, in fact the band closest to the way Pantheon I develop their sound is probably Emperor, with all differences duly remembered. To be more accurate, the vast spacey feeling of Emperor with a bit of the rawer aggression of Old Man's Child almost gets us there, but Pantheon I are strong enough to stand on their own merits, and there are a lot of neat little touches, like a few surprising thrash parts, the odd Hestnaes-like clean vocal part or some moments where the fury really steps up, like in the great 'Cyanide Storm'. An enormously classy release of modern Norwegian black metal.

Pantheon I - 'Cyanide Storm'

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'