When asked why AC/DC doesn’t sell their albums digitally, frontman Brian Johnson said, “We don’t make singles, we make albums.” That is, or should be true for most bands in the music scene today (excluding rappers and top 40 pop stars). Singles are fun to listen to, but in the end an album can hold its own against almost anything. An album is a collection of good songs; a single is one good song. Who comes out on top here?
2008 was just another year in music. It wasn’t a great year, I can tell you that; but decent nonetheless. Two things were notable, however:
1) Reunions. I can’t tell you how many 80’s bands released an album this year. Many of their “comeback” albums went unnoticed, except for three lucky contenders: AC/DC, Metallica, and Guns N’ Roses. AC/DC hadn’t released an album since Stiff Upper Lip in 2000 so this was a fortunate thing. Metallica’s last album was 2003’s horrible St. Anger, so whether or not you like their latest effort, Death Magnetic, there’s no doubt it’s better than St. Anger. Guns N’ Roses finally released their 17-years in the making Chinese Democracy, which has been selling very badly.
2) Free albums. You may remember Radiohead’s impressive decision to sell their album, In Rainbows, exclusively on their website as a pay-what-you-want deal in late 2007. Nine Inch Nails followed up with that and released two albums in 2008. The first one, Ghosts I-IV was an all-instrumental album. You could download the first 9 tracks for free, the entire album for 5 bucks, or get it on an actual audio CD for 10 bucks, 75 bucks, or 300 bucks. A couple months later they released The Slip, which was a basic NIN album, for free.
These past few days I have been overloading my head with music, some good and some bad. I tried my best not to let metal dominate the list, and I proved successful: only 5 albums on the list can be considered metal. Hurray for me.
Without further ado, I present to you the ten best albums of 2008, which I did not put in top-ten order. Boohoo.
Be sure to stuff your stockings with this shit, ladies and gentlemen.
BYZANTINE- OBLIVION BECKONS
Oblivion Beckons is truly mind-bending, a complex metal release which fuses many heavy metal sub-genres together. The album has elements of metalcore, prog, and groove metal, with superb technicality and a thrash base. Byzantine, a band from West Virginia, is named after the Byzantine Empire, which was separated from the Roman Empire in A.D. 395. It’s too bad that the band broke up only a few days after the release. They would be great live.
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE- NARROW STAIRS
Wikipedia tends to disagree with me, but essentially Narrow Stairs is a mellow rock album. It leans towards indie rock and alternative, yes, but try comparing this to The Raconteurs. Narrow Stairs has a bunch of catchy songs, including “I Will Possess Your Heart.” The 8-minute song has a 4-minute long intro; fortunately, Death Cab supplies us with a radio edit. This is a good album to chill to, or listen to if you’re having issues with your love life, because almost every song is a love song.
GOJIRA- THE WAY OF ALL FLESH
Look at any top-ten list for heavy metal albums in 2008, and it’s almost guaranteed that The Way of All Flesh will be in it. When the French metalheads known as Gojira released this album, it took the heavy metal community by storm. The Way of All Flesh is, roughly, a mix of progressive metal and technical death metal. At times, it is heavier than hell itself. The lyrics are largely environmental-themed, as well. It’s a bit long (75 minutes!) but well worth (almost) every second. The best track in my opinion is “Toxic Garbage Island,” an insane headbanger. If you like metal, you ought to check this out. Hell, if you haven’t heard/heard about this album yet, I don’t know what to say.
THE KNUX- REMIND ME IN THREE DAYS…
I only had to listen to about 9 tracks from this 17-track album to know that it was beast. And, hell, 9 tracks were more than I had to listen to. I don’t know if what I’m actually saying is that every track sounds the same, but if that’s true, well every song sounds like heaven. This New Orleans duo blends old-school hip-hop with rock riffs. They even compare themselves to The Strokes. ‘Nuff said.
METALLICA- DEATH MAGNETIC
Let me start off by saying I kind of regret putting this on here. I assume all of you read the internet, so you must be aware of the negativity towards Death Magnetic. Apparently, it has sound quality issues. Huh. Imagine that! Well, I’m here to confirm that, no, you don’t have to be an audiophile to notice the problems. Okay, I’ll admit, I didn’t notice the absence of the dynamic range (maybe because I don’t know what those are), but I did notice another problem. It’s too goddamn loud! Maybe the sound mixers cranked up the volume or something, but one thing’s for certain: the drums are as loud, if not louder than the guitar. And no, that’s not a good thing.
Forget those problems, however, and you’ve got yourselves a brilliant album. Is it as good as Master of Puppets? No, and if you think so, you have serious problems. But it’s a good return-to-form for Metallica, especially after 2003’s down-tuned St. Anger. The first half of the album is better than the second half, thought the ten-minute-long instrumental “Suicide and Redemption” is sweet. If you have Guitar Hero, download Death Magnetic for gameplay; it sounds better there. All in all, Death Magnetic is a good, heavy album, it’s just unfortunate that it has poor sound quality.
MY MORNING JACKET- EVIL URGES
I assume that I wouldn’t be going off on a limb if I said that Evil Urges is one of the most diverse rock albums this year. Evil Urges has prog songs, indie rock songs, mellow songs, southern rock songs, country-like songs, and even a funk song. And they all work. Dammit, My Morning Jacket would be awesome live (I’ve heard their live show is incredible).
NINE INCH NAILS- THE SLIP
The Slip isn’t Nine Inch Nail’s best work. Nope. But it’s refreshing to be reminded of their greatness (Year Zero didn’t do much for me). The first few tracks are pretty catchy, including “Letting Go” and “Discipline.” Some of the songs bore, but that’s Nine Inch Nails for you. Anyway, who’s to complain when they gave the the thing out for free? As said by a reviewer in Revolver magazine, there’s no doubt it’s worth more than what we paid.
P.S. Download it free at their website.
OPIATE FOR THE MASSES- MANIFESTO
Okay, I admit it, Manifesto is probably not one of the best albums this year. But, dammit, it’s one of the coolest albums I’ve heard all year. Manifesto is industrial rock, but don’t expect a Nine Inch Nails album. Almost every song on this record is vulnerable to being stuck in one’s head, including the sick cover of Portishead’s “Wandering Star.” This album is definitely not for everybody, but at least give it a shot.
SLIPKNOT- ALL HOPE IS GONE
Like Manifesto, All Hope is Gone is probably not one of the best albums this year (There’s far better metal albums out this year). But it’s a great effort from my favorite band, so hell yes it’s going to be on here. Deal with it. The intro is weird, as always, but leads into “Gematria (The Killing Name),” maybe their heaviest track since Iowa. They tone it down just a bit for the sorta-melodic “Sulfur,” but then back up for their single “Psychosocial.” Then it’s time for “Vendetta,” where Slipknot doesn’t stick to just one genre. The second half of the album awaits now, and although it’s not as strong as the first half, it’s got a surprise or two. Most of the songs are dark and experimental. They even include an acoustic track, which actually kicks ass. But, oh no, they don’t close it on such a depressing note, they finish off with “All Hope is Gone,” which rivals “Gematria” in heaviness. Some people love this album, some people hate it. My thoughts: not their best, but very close to it.
TESTAMENT- THE FORMATION OF DAMNATION
The thrash titans return! Testament was one of the reuniting bands this year that went almost unnoticed, even in the metal community. Testament was one of the few great thrash bands in the 80’s. They’re similar to Metallica and Exodus. In any case, they’re one of the pioneering Bay Area trash bands. In Formation, they’re just as heavy as ever. “More than Meets The Eye” is one of the better tracks, although every track is just insane. It’s not anything revolutionary, so if you liked them before, you’ll like ‘em now, and if you hated them before, this isn’t going to convert you. If you consider yourself a thrash fan, you’ve GOT to have this in your collection.
