Top 12 Albums of 2007, Part II

OK. So I know that I haven't been posting very much in the past few weeks, but freelancing has picked up! Fortunately, I still have 12 things that might interest you, even though they're metal (save for two of them). I just did these alphabetically so my brain didn't explode.





Aeon - Rise to Dominate / Metal Blade

Aeon - "Godless" (Metal Blade 2007)

Sure, their anti-Christian lyrics are broken (they're from Sweden, OK?) and a little childish, but that, mixed with clever songwriting and an overall feeling of dread makes for a great listen. Basically Deicide updated for the 21st century, the vocals range from the throaty, almost-hardcore bellow to the typical death-metal screech. Fans looking for an excellent combination of low-end mixed with interesting arrangements and supreme musicianship should look no further than Aeon. These guys, even with their slightly-slick production, are at the top of the modern death-metal game. Did I mention they love Satan?





Animosity - Animal / Metal Blade

Animosity - "Progression in Defeat" (Metal Blade 2007)

With so many bands relying on studio trickery to get their music across in a flawless manner, it's good to hear a band that has the chops and style to make this precision-recording style sound awesome. Way more on the death side of things in the deathcore tag this band often gets stuck with (you can just tell there's some hardcore influence in there), California's Animosity are fucking pissed, fast, brutal, and complete controlled chaos. Think Origin but for hardcore kids crossing over into death metal. Kurt Ballou (Converge) does an excellent job of adding a little grime to this bands formerly over-polished sound, but doesn't mire them down in static or tons of distortion. Animal is mega-pummeling and almost difficult to listen to because of its density. That's good!




Between the Buried and Me - Colors / Victory

Between the Buried and Me - "Prequel to the Sequel (Victory 2007)

Yeah, this is on Victory, which doesn't have the best reputation these days due to releasing a lot of music marketed towards 15-year-old girls, but they'll still pull a great release out every once and a while, and this is one of them. Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM) may have a name that screams metalcore, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Their impressive (to say the least) melding of metal, hardcore, and space-rock are enough to set them apart from others with similarly long band names, but it's the incredible execution that's really noteworthy. I guess it's at this point I should mention that this 65-minute album may be broken up into tracks, but it's arranged as one long piece.





Cephalic Carnage - Xenosapien / Relapse

Cephalic Carnage - "Vaporized" (Relapse 2007)

Yeah, another Relapse title . . . what can I say? This band is fucking ridiculous both in the studio and live. I've yet to see another death-metal band go as insane as these guys do live, while as high as they are. Yeah, another weed-loving band . . . what can I say? I guess it opens the mind, maaaaan. While a lot of people shat upon Cephalic's last album, Anomalies (which I loved), it seems like they just kept on doing what they do best, which is write super out-there death metal for the open-minded fan. It's not all gore and blast beats, nor is it all chugging and guttural vocals (although there are plenty of those). These guys write about the everything from priests um, corrupting children ("Touched By An Angel") to a great way to smoke weed ("Vaporized") to some sort of undersea battle story ("Megacosm of the Aquaphobics"). It's hard to keep things fresh in any genre, but Cephalic Carnage have managed to do it again and again, and Xenosapien is no exception.





Crowbar - Crowbar, Live + 1, Time Heals Nothing, Odd Fellows Rest, & Equilibrium (reissues) / Crash/Snapper

Crowbar - "All I Had I Gave" (Crash/Snapper 2007)

I'm not sure what the deal with the Crowbar back catalog is, as the latter two releases listed above were packaged in a twofer on Snapper, while the other three were issued as single discs on Crash, and Broken Glass remains on Candlelight Records. HUH?! Any way you look at it, though, 2007 brought these reissues to the masses (most likely due to guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein's involvement with Down) with little publicity. One of the heaviest band's ever, New Orleans' Crowbar sound like their name. Dark, punishing, but useful for, um, venting purposes. Take a dash of melancholy, mix it with severely-swampy riffs, and an average tempo of below 60 BPM and you've got Crowbar. No new release in 2007 from these guys, but five reissues rules just as much.





Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works / Relapse

Dillinger Escape Plan - "82588" (Relapse 2007)

As someone who's followed this band from nearly day one (one of my earliest unpaid writing gigs was to review the Under the Running Board 7"), I had some pretty low expectations for this album, mainly due to the direction they were headed after the disappointing Miss Machine. Alas, the Dillinger Escape Plan managed to pull through the shit like they always do (after losing their incredible and original drummer to lame-o's Coheed and Cambria) and released an amazing piece of work. There's plenty of insane technical grind freakouts to satisfy Calculating Infinity purists, but also enough excellent songwriting and hooks to turn the heads of Faith No More fans. This is a band that needs to be listened to with fresh ears every time, and this time around it was really rewarding.





Down - Down III: Over the Under / Independent Label Group (Warner)

Down - "The Path" (Warner 2007)

Third (duh) release from this New Orleans supergroup (with members of Pantera, Eyehategod, Corrosion of Conformity, and the always underrated Crowbar) is much more focused than their second effort from a few years back, which is largely in part to Hurricane Katrina fucking up their hometown and channeling their anger into a positive place. There's riffs galore, the songs are arranged incredibly well, and Phil Anselmo's voice couldn't be better suited for a band. His smoked-out croon fits the sludgey style of this '70s rock-loving band way better than it does in any of his other side bands (or maybe even Pantera), and even the artwork is killer. Fans tired of metalcore or any other style of metal should check this out for a breath of fresh air . . . from the past. Pickup truck owners should especially pay attention to this record.





Exit-13 - High Life! / Relapse

Exit-13 - "Open Season (The Story of Hunter Slaughter)" (Relapse 2007)

Another Relapse winner comes in the form of an almost-complete discography from one of metal's least-heard and under-appreciated bands. Hailing from Pennsylvania on the Philly side of the state, these guys had a rotating door of musicians file through the ranks, with such metal luminaries as Dan Lilker, Dave Witte, Scott Lewis, and Rich Hoak stop by at one point or another (although Hoak's only contribution isn't included on this release). Let me also say for the record that it's no secret that this band loved their marijuana. The lyrics are mostly grounded in love for the environment, hatred of mankind, weed, or whatever other ramblings they decided to put to tape. High Life's two discs compile both the Green Is Good and Ethos Musick full-lengths, as well as a handful of split 7-inches, solo 7-inches, and a CDEP. Fans of sloppy, Carcass/Earth-loving grind with a bizarre twist from time to time should check this out. And, if that musical description doesn't pique your interest, seek out their final release, Smoking Songs, which was an all-covers jazz album featuring songs about - you guessed it - marijuana.





Ben Lee - Ripe / New West

Ben Lee - "Numb" (New West 2007)

OK, this is decidedly non-metal. After being turned on to Ben Lee by an ex-girlfriend, I've followed his music-making career fairly closely. This album came out with minimal publicity in the states in September, marking Ben's sixth solo album since 1995. He's not quite as quirky or clever as he once was, but I'll be damned if he can't write a decent to great pop song. It doesn't look like Ben's going to break out of his mid-level success any time soon, but I'll take a modest-selling Ben Lee album over a multi-platinum Maroon 5 album any day of the week. Ripe continues down the slick-production path Ben's been traveling since 1999's Breathing Tornadoes introduced some synth action along with more musical layers, but it's OK . . . you can't get caught up in the past!





Machine Head - The Blackening / Roadrunner

Machine Head - "Beautiful Mourning" (Roadrunner 2007)

For a band that's gone through so many changes over the course of only six albums, Oakland's Machine Head (now featuring two members of Vio-lence!) has finally hit their stride. I suspect that the title of this record is a nod to Metallica's . . . And Justice for All (first song: Blackened), and although that could be the Justice uber-fan in me speaking, I find it odd that both albums begin with similar intros, to boot. Never heard Justice? For shame. Machine Head's 2007 effort is a sprawling album with all songs topping four minutes, and four of the nine tracks passing the nine-minute mark . . . but it feels like this record whizzes by in about 20 minutes due to the excellent songwriting, catchy hooks, amazing guitar work, and straight-up fucking pissed-offedness of the whole ordeal. Quite possibly the most well-rounded metal album from this year.





Madlib & Talib Kweli - Liberation / Blacksmith

Madlib & Talib Kweli - "Funny Money" (Blacksmith 2007)

I wanted to get some hip hop in here, so this one eked in, having been officially released on January 1, 2007! Available as a free download from the Stones Throw site a few months before that, this hit store shelves with alternate artwork and is Kweli's best work for some time. A great guest, Kweli hasn't been able to hold down an album on his own since the Reflection Eternal record with him on the mic and Hi-Tek on the beats. Similarly, Madlib holds down the production on Liberation, and Kweli kills the mic with seemingly minimal effort. Kweli has lyrics for days, but definitely needs solid beats to back him up, which Madlib provides in spades.





The Red Chord - Prey For Eyes / Metal Blade

The Red Chord - "Send the Death Storm" (Metal Blade 2007)

Yet another long-running band that has released another quality album! Really, the Red Chord haven't released a bad album to date (three for three!), and Prey For Eyes kills from front to back. Unfortunately, this is another band that gets lumped in with this metalcore bullshit, simply because their first record (Fused Together in Revolving Doors) was released on the cusp of metal somehow becoming vaguely popular amongst kids who just couldn't hang with the Insane Clown Posse or Kid Rock anymore. DAMN THEM. Anyway, this album is a great example of how to be flashy without being a moron or a blatant showoff, and how to keep it heavy at the same time. This album, above all else, is interesting to listen to, which is saying a lot in the metal world. The vocals, drums, guitars, and bass are somehow all over the place but work incredibly well together.