Best of 2007 - from #85 to #81

85. helrunar - 'baldr ok íss'
Enslaved have long moved on to grander and more all-encompassing things, but if you still long for some straight-up viking black metal in the vein of Bathory and, indeed, old Enslaved, Helrunar, along with bands like Helheim or Kampfar, are one of the best prospects available right now. 'Baldr Ok Íss' works great especially because it's a very balanced record - although these Germans never go all widdly on us, even offering some harsh and more traditional black metal like in the ferocious 'Schwarzer Frost' or 'Íss', they do know when to get down to acoustics and old-man-storyteller mode ('Winter'). The rest of the album is the typical chest-beating epic style, and the whole mix is yet another perfect soundtrack to some conquering and pillaging while wearing a horned helmet. Not terribly original, but it sounds great anyway.

Helrunar - 'Schwarzer Frost'



84. gravetemple - 'the holy down'
Take Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))), Khanate, Burning Witch, you name it), Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, Aborym, and indeed Sunn O))) sometimes) and experimental multi-instrumentalist Oren Ambarchi, and you have one of the most musically warped-out trios that you can conceive already. Now, ship the lot of them off to unstable, war-torn Israel in the summer of 2006, and have them perform screwed-up dark ambient droning doom improvisations. Are you scared yet? You should be, because the result of all that insanity is captured in this one-track, 60-minute disc and it's not an easy ride at all. The atmosphere is always unsettling, sometimes drawing you into a state of almost calm, with slow-burning hisses and bleeps, only to lash out at you when you least expect it into bursts of sonic violence, with chanting, growling, electronics, drumming and guitar feedback going at each other like a pack of rabid wolves, or as if Mayhem, Khanate, Sunn O))) and Whitehouse were all playing at the same time. My first listen of 'The Holy Down' happened during a 200km road trip with a friend, and I can tell you that our state when we arrived felt more like we had driven 20000km than 200. Mindfuck at its best.



83. amber asylum - 'still point'
There's a reason why Kris Force, Amber Asylum's frontwoman, has collaborated with my official Best Bands In The World, Like, Ever, which are Neurosis and Swans. In all Amber Asylum releases, there is the same underlying sense of earth movement, of some deeper, bigger thing than all of us that is being touched upon with these sounds. Not that the music itself is in any way similar in form, as Amber Asylum operate within a neo-classical framework, with Kris' remarkable soprano voice being a constant presence, but the images evoked by each artist's work is entirely similar. Although 'Still Point' is mostly operatic, sometimes even bombastic, the use of flutes and cellos and the entirely non-obvious nature of the compositions make it sound like one of those records to put on, on that day when they will say on the news that this is it, folks, the apocalypse is coming and tomorrow will never come. On that day, you will sit on your porch looking at the red horizon, and you will have Neurosis' 'Through Silver In Blood', Swans' 'Soundtracks For The Blind' and maybe 'Still Point' playing on repeat, and somehow, everything will feel meant to be.



82. blood of the black owl - 'blood of the black owl'
[review published on issue #159 of Terrorizer magazine]
Blood Of The Black Owl’s self-titled debut starts out rather misleadingly, as the first track ‘Kills The Timber’ firmly sets expectations for a slow-paced ride through harsh Darkthrone territory. Sole member Chet Scott must enjoy surprises, because that’s what you get as soon as the following song, ‘The Thunderous Hooves Of Two Goats In The Sky’, kicks in. Well, it slithers in more than kicks, as the sound of the rain and the spooky atmosphere start to envelop and consume you. When you least expect it, some dirty, gritty guitar has started to permeate through this gloom, settling into a repeating, hypnotic riff. The album see-saws like this throughout, impressively seamless in its transitions and changing dynamics, offering its fair share of pitch-black highlights after a few listens, the most fascinating one being the tribal horror of ‘Uwwalo’. Negură Bunget for the spiritual approach and Orthodox for the ritualistic feel are two good comparisons, but Blood Of The Black Owl is promisingly original.



81. akercocke - 'antichrist'
Considering the devastating live show that Akercocke put on and the totally individual personality that each of their records so far have shown, 'Antichrist' is a difficult album to tackle at first. Even before you start to listen to it, there's that terribly cliché title to contend with, and after the first couple of listens the whole thing seems to pass you by somewhat, very bland by comparison with the savage 'The Goat Of Mendes' or with the rich and complex tapestry of 'Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone'. Let it settle, however, and the dark pleasures of Akercocke will unveil themselves to you. The face-pounding violence of ''Footsteps Resound In An Empty Chapel', the gloriously ambitions 'My Apterous Angel' and a lot of subtle little innovations in the band's sound such as the jazzy elements of 'Axiom' or the unexpected electronic work in 'The Dark Inside'. Although it doesn't have the same impact as some of their previous, revolutionary work, 'Antichrist' is the sound of a band in constant evolution, and it becomes so catchy as you listen to it more and more that it might well end up as one of the Akercocke records that you will listen to more often.

Akercocke - 'Axiom'

Best of 2007 - from #90 to #86

90. [beforetherain] - '...one day less'
The long awaited debut full length of these Portuguese doomsters is vast and contemplative to the point of feeling like a journey. In fact, it feels like several journeys in one - both a journey to the most dramatic of human emotions and also a musical journey to a time when Anathema were putting out albums like 'Serenades'. Darren-period Anathema is indeed the main reference point here, especially for Carlos D'Água's mournful vocals, but in a genre in which it's hard to innovate, it's the work of riffmeisters Valter Cunha and Hugo Santos (who is also in the gigantic post-doom band Process Of Guilt) in particular that lifts '...One Day Less' above the usual norm. The pair weave a perfectly balanced tapestry of sorrow without being mushy, of melancholy without being wimps. Those seventeen minutes (count 'em!) of the closing title track must rank very highly on the song of the year category.

[BeforeTheRain] - 'You... My Ruin'



89. wormwood - 'starvation'
A very hard record to analyze, because of the highly unusual mix of elements that it contains. On any given song, this Seattle band can be building up a downcast riff worthy of My Dying Bride, only to have it mutate into five minutes of Neurosis atmosphere build-up, and have it climax on a female-vocal symphonic bit worthy of Peccatum. It sounds a mess, but it strangely works, and in case you're worried, the one theme running through the album is the murky darkness that envelops it all, so those cleaner atmospheric and symphonic parts don't really sound like artsy-fartsy meanderings and actually help to enrich the entire experience. Of course, the musical concept behind this album is so ambitious that it doesn't grab you completely for the entire duration, but in the wide majority of songs it does and as such it ranks as one of the very positive surprises in originality of 2007. The press release that came with the promo called it 'Panic-stricken Terrified Woebegone Metal of Hell' and, for once, it might be on to something.

Wormwood - 'Release From Expectation'



88. ravencult - 'temples of torment'
I was pretty excited about this record a few weeks ago, and my opinion still holds up!



87. bergraven - 'dödsvisioner'
[review published on the July 2007 issue of Rock-a-rolla magazine]
Don’t commit the mistake of raising the volume during the deceptively quiet beginning of this strange album. You would regret it three minutes or so later, when the black clouds are fully formed and finally descend upon you. Single member Pär (plus session drummer) single-handedly creates a black, hellish miasma, a mix of suicidal doom and ambient black metal as if Shining were playing ‘Dunkelheit’, expressing nihilistic self-hatred throughout the eight painful songs. Some interludes like those first three minutes come and break the overall thick fog now and then, although the album never meanders too far into ambient territory, and even the quieter parts feel somewhat alien and intangible, adding eeriness to the ensemble in a way similar to Ved Buens Ende. A few clean guitar leads also make their presence known and they are the disc’s weak point, as besides not being anything fantastic on a musical level, they detract from the very real black mood ‘Dödsvisioner’ is capable of creating. Otherwise Bergraven offer here an oblique approach to black metal that is very refreshing indeed. In a fetid kind of way, of course.

Bergraven - 'Ondkall'



86. boris with michio kurihara - 'rainbow' (michio) (boris)
[review published on issue #157 of Terrorizer magazine]
Something on Boris’ ‘Pink’ it didn’t quite fit the rock-out of the rest of the album - that opening atmospheric track, ‘Farewell’. This collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara picks up precisely from there, as opener ‘Rafflesia’ sounds like ‘Farewell’s missing 5 minutes, except greatly enriched by Kurihara’s endless-sounding leads. Such is their mesmerizing quality that they bring to mind the similarly infinite guitarwork of Katatonia’s ‘Brave Murder Day’. Given Boris’ increasing exposition, it’s easy to relegate Michio’s participation to secondary status, but nothing could be more unfair. Having shown consistent touches of genius in several bands, of which psychedelic rockers Ghost are probably the best known, he lifts some of these songs to brilliant status. Good examples are ‘You Laughed Like A Water Mark’, on which his swooping, swirling guitar contrasts with the laidback stoner vibe of the song, or the bluesy sounds that twist the otherwise shoegazing ‘Starship Narrator’ into something quite different.. Boris don’t lie back and watch, either. Showing no wear from the wealth of releases of the past few months, they push limits and explore new ground, always sounding exciting and otherworldly. The loud/quiet dynamics on ‘Sweet No. 1’ are pure Boris, as is the hazy cloud of ‘Fuzzy Reactor’. Just like ‘Altar’, ‘Rainbow’ is a consistent, tight collaboration that is much greater than the sum of its already excellent parts.

Boris with Michio Kurihara - 'Sweet nº1'

Best of 2007 - from #95 to #91

95. down - 'iii: over the under'
Never try / You either do it or don't waste your time, croons Phil Anselmo hoarsely on 'Never Try', one of the standout tracks from the third Down album. It shows the determination that's behind this album, a determination that's fueled by very real factors, especially for the former Pantera frontman - his battles with addiction, Dime's death and everything that happened up to that point, Phil is a man with demons and he's not afraid to look them in the eyes, and his vocal performance is intense, soulful and one of the best of his career. Katrina is also a theme hanging over the music created by all these New Orleans natives (Phil, Pepper from Corrosion Of Conformity, Kirk from Crowbar, Rex the ex-Pantera bassist and drummer Jimmy Bower who's been in nearly every known local band), and all these hardships give the hard rockin' blues of 'Over The Under' a very real and very gritty feeling. The music is right up there, too - from the 70s rock of 'N.O.D.' the the monstrous groove of 'I Scream', this is Down through and through and won't disappoint anyone looking for some honest, fat-groovin', heavy southern rock.

Down - 'Never Try'



94. nadja - 'touched'
It's drone, Jim, but not as we know it. Nadja's main man, Adrian Baker, has hit upon a formula that is nothing short of revolutionary, and will be more so once he develops it more. And he does get chances to, as his flow of releases is steady and fast-paced! But 'Touched' has been rather special among everything else Adrian has done recently. Withing the doom-applied-to-drone framework of Nadja, it's probably where you should start if you want to discover this band, or even a whole new genre. 'Touched' is drone for people who aren't into it (yet?), the swathes of saturated noisy textures always 'saved' by a sense of motion and of atmosphere that makes them listenable. Once these things start to settle through repeated listens, you start to perceive the enormous motion that's going on in these tracks, the underlying dynamics that build up tension and anxiety and then release them in huge cycles of sinister moods. To crown this achievement, there's 'Flowers Of Flesh', a total mindfuck of a 'song' that will be your best bet whenever you need to clear a room. Pay attention to Nadja in the future.



93. nifelheim - 'envoy of lucifer'
The Bröderna Hårdrock are back! The most famous evil twins of extreme metal, guitarist/bassist Tyrant and vocalist Hellbutcher, have returned along with the rest of Nifelheim which now includes former Entombed drummer Peter Stjärnvind, rechristened Insulter Of Jesus Christ! after his entrance into the Nifelheim kingdom. During this seven year gap, they did release a couple of split albums, tributes and a best-of, but not a proper full-length, which is what we really want from Nifelheim. The wait was long but worth it - 'Envoy Of Lucifer' is the most exciting record the band has done so far. A filthy, no-holds-barred blackthrashing attack (the mouldy crypt-like feel of 'Evil Is Eternal' has to be heard to be believed), it does nevertheless show an impressive level of musicality. Beneath the apparent simplicity and crudeness of the sound, there are real riffs and real structuring holding the songs together, something that is easily explained by the twins' love of hard rock and classic heavy metal, namely their obsession with Iron Maiden. At Wacken 2008, there'll be a chance to catch both Maiden and Nifelheim live, so let's all go and raise horns!

Nifelheim - 'Evil Is Eternal'



92. swallow the sun - 'hope'
After two sublime albums of Opeth-esque, growling doom metal, 'The Morning Never Came' and 'Ghosts Of Loss', these Finns have opened up their sound to let in a more fragile kind of melancholy. The crushing, hopeless doom riffs are still there, but now a little pale light is let in now and then with quieter passages and surprisingly delicate clean singing by vocalist Mikko Kotamäki. The appearance of Katatonia's Jonas Renkse on the song 'The Justice Of Suffering' speaks volumes, as they are one of the closest reference points to the hypnotic sadness that songs like the mesmerizing 'Don't Fall Asleep' are capable of creating. An elegant and subtle way to be doomed.

Swallow The Sun - 'Don't Fall Asleep'



91. type o negative - 'dead again'
Peter Steele and his cohorts' attitude on stage might be going a bit way too overboard with the don't-give-a-shit thing, but the fact is that, decadent (in a good or bad way, depends how you look at it) as they might look in that context, Type O Negative's albums have never wavered in quality. 'Dead Again' is yet another huge, hazy trip through the warped mind of Type O, with the by-now trademark overly long skip-me-if-you-dare song ('These Three Things'), the doomed-out rocker that always makes it to the airwaves (the apocalyptic 'The Profits Of Doom') and plenty of other drugged&doomed-Beatles sort of excursions in black humour, like 'Some Stupid Tomorrow' or 'September Sun'. Business as usual, and business is good.

Type O Negative - 'The Profits Of Doom'

Best of 2007 - The action is go!

I've been obsessively dedicated to music since I was a wee lad, and being extra anal about it I have naturally compiled every kind of list possible about music. But my most meaningful lists have always been the end of year ones, to the point that my, erm, liberal updating of this space has been greatly saved by these lists. It's that time again (ie, January), and during the painful task of compiling 2007's list I realized that this has been of the best years for good music, in the sheer amount of quality releases, in recent memory. Doing those top20s that the magazines I write for have asked me was hellish. Stretching it to top50 for too.many.records. alleviated a bit but was still unthinkable in terms of what it would still leave out. Therefore, dear friends, I present you my insane top100 of 2007. And you know what? There's still a bunch of unmentioned ones that I hate to leave out. That's how cool 2007 was.

Onward!

100. seahorse - 'i'll be new'
'I'll Be New' feels like a genuine musical experience just like they used to make 'em in the old days. A voice and a guitar recorded live in the studio, a backing piano and a little bit of electronics which really add to the atmosphere, and you have a record that feels like that old pair of sneakers that you won't wear out anymore but still keep to wear around the house because they're so comfortable and friendly. There is pain and heartbreak in these lyrics, of course, as there usually is in the music that comes straight from the heart, but the soft hush of the remarkably sharp and evocative lyrics and the occasional foot-tapping moment like the wonderful 'The Devil & I' make for a truly enjoyable experience and an album you'll return to more times than you might think at first.

Seahorse - 'The Devil & I'



99. in vain - 'the latter rain'
Getting people like Jan K. Transeth from the legendary In The Woods... and Kjetil Nordhus from, curiously enough, In The Woods... sort-of-follow-up-band Green Carnation, is a bold step for a band as young as In Vain. Yes, they are both amazing vocalists who greatly enrich the tracks they contribute to in 'The Latter Rain', but they also bring their baggage with them and all the drooly obsessive fans of those bands (including me, especially of In The Woods...) expecting huge things. That's the one thing you have to get over when facing this album, and it's not easy, especially since it sounds so bland on the first couple of listens. Once you do stick to it, however, the depth and subtlety of songs like 'In The Midnight Hour' or 'As I Wither' become apparent, and In Vain emerge as a sort of mix between Opeth's less flamboyant moments and those typically Finnish dark metal bands like Dark The Suns, for example. The quality of this debut is not always constant, but there is such a wealth of riches and potential in these guys that they will surely be on the must-watch radar in the next few years.

In Vain - 'In The Midnight Hour'



98. mithras - 'behind the shadows lie madness'
It doesn't have the same impact as their previous album did (which was not their debut, but since 'Forever Advancing ...... Legions' went by largely unnoticed it almost feels as if it was), but 'Behind The Shadows Lie Madness' is still a gigantic piece of work by the Leon Macey/Rayner Coss duo. If anything, the lesser impact is that because this new album doesn't stray too much from the path carved by its predecessor, but that's by no means a bad thing. First, because it's not a path well-traveled. Mithras' take on death metal is rather unique, a sort of Morbid Angel out in space, expansive, with crazy time signatures and a stellar technical level that allows them to turn beasts like 'The Twisted Tower' or 'To Fall From The Heavens' into mind-expanding rollercoasters of spaced-out brutality.

Mithras - 'The Twisted Tower'



97. paradise lost - 'in requiem'
Some will argue that this approach to the spirit of 'Icon' that has been going on since the last self-titled album is a sign that the Yorkshire gloomsters are running out of experimentation ideas, but a) with Paradise Lost, some will always argue and b) it's refreshing to see these guys not going all exploratory on us. Not that it was a bad thing - it's horrible to refer to this new phase of Paradise Lost as a 'return to form'. If you are just a bit open-minded in your tastes, it's easy to see that they have never really not been on form, if you kindly ignore the one bland and uneventful album of their career, 'Believe In Nothing'. 'In Requiem' doesn't reach the heights of the Paradise Lost classics of the early and mid-nineties, but that's not really the point, and times have changed anyway. It is a much better effort than the last album, however, and it's a great sign that the band is getting this vibe down much better. Melancholic and surprisingly hard in places, 'In Requiem' marks yet another valid step in the illustrious career of Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost - 'Prelude To Descent'



96. elend - 'a world in their screams'
This French/Austrian trio keep releasing material that shows that you don't have to do faster-than-thou hard-as-fuck satan-metal to still produce harrowing, scary and downright intense music, and 'A World In Their Screams' is the latest example of that. They would infinitely deserve more recognition, but it's a hard middle-space to be in - Elend are too dark and too scary for the 'regular' audiences and too guitar-less for the 'regular' metalhead. The few lucky ones who manage to get their heads round this, though, are in for one hell of a ride. With over twenty musicians contributing to the work of the core three members, 'A World In Their Screams' is an unsettling experience, bombastic, orchestrated, with choirs and spoken passages clashing quite violently with shrieking violins, pounding percussive elements and pure noise, but somehow it all manages to fit together in one big, spooky world of darkness.

Elend - 'La Carrière D'Ombre'

Red and raw

crooked fingers - 'red devil dawn'
released: january 2003
merge records

songs:
1. big darkness 2. don't say a word 3. you can never leave 4. bad man coming 5. you threw a spark 6. boy with (100) hands 7. sweet marie 8. angelina 9. disappear 10. carrion doves

Some records are better enjoyed in a certain state of mind. Despite its consistent quality that has made 'Red Devil Dawn' a weekly revisited record of mine since its release in 2003, it's clearly an album for the brokenhearted. Not that Eric Bachmann's band (now performing solo, after an outrageously beautiful first album, 'To The Races') have ever been a bundle of laughs, but there's a strangely euphoric quality about this album's sadness, an almost resigned, contemplative weight of the spirit that can suddenly break into song for a little while just because a pretty bird passed overhead.

It's the storytelling that does it, too. Bachmann can sound deeply personal in his lyrics, going to the point of naming names (Angelina in, well, 'Angelina', Cary in 'Disappear'), but nevertheless all the stories manage to hit you straight through the heart. It's not an easy ride. There's loss, like in 'Don't Say A Word': There ain't no easy way to lose the heart you call your home, Bachmann's raspy but warm and honest voice softly proclaims over the acoustic background. There's the coming to terms with that loss and even finding redemption, like in the mentioned 'Disappear' and this shattering chorus: Cary don't cry I'm gonna disappear /And take this sorrow far away /So you can live your life /No need to ride through salt tracks of sad tears /There's beauty in an ugly thing /Redemption in demise. There are sad people, there are broken people and mistreated people, like the mysterious girl whom the boy with (100) hands tries to reach. There's even a bit of creepy menace in the oddly beautiful 'Bad Man Coming'.

None of this would matter if the music did not keep these moods, but it does so brilliantly. Bachmann's voice is seemingly fragile and vulnerable but never goes past the breaking point and he delivers his lines with a rare emotional poignancy. You get the feeling that these sombre acoustic songs, with the occasional flourish like the Spanish feeling of 'You Threw A Spark' or the rocking 'Big Darkness', would get the messages across even without those lyrics.

Suitably enough, it ends with 'Carrion Doves', an elegant and elegiac song, apparently about someone hanging on a decision that could change the course of love. There are victims to be made / Decisions to be weighed / You're guilty now but in your heart / There soon could be a change.

Change your heart. Go get this record.


the good: almost palpable emotion, elegant heartbroken songs that remain with you for years
the bad: nothing, really, but stay away if you want something jolly to listen to on a sunny afternoon

song of the day:
'Boy With (100) Hands'