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Year End Blah 2008. Pt3

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 December 17 2008 at 01:53:12 AM



My memory for the most part is horrible. So making a 'best of 2008' list was a bit of a struggle. I was given, as well as purchased, a ton of CDs this year. Not to mention the vinyl that came through my door too. Oh yeah, I can't forget the wonders of the internet either. So with a shit memory and a shit ton of music, it's somewhat easy for me to lose track of what's been released this year to include on this list.

But before I break out the list, I have to give thanks to Stew, Todd, Pat and especially my brother, Justin, for making all of this a reality. A few years back I was doing A Blaze in the NJ Sky blog and it was a blast. Buying new music and wanting to talk about it was the means for the blog. Subsequently it spread the word as to why you should drain your pockets for new and exciting, round pieces of plastic and vinyl. It was fun while it lasted but with a new job, a desire to save money and lack of creative energy, it was time to put it to bed.

When Stew contacted me about creating LHP I was both humbled and a bit curious. I've read his and Todd's writing for Stylus and the fact they appreciated what I wrote and wanted to do a venture together was somewhat baffling. Why ask me? Both, in my opinion, are wordsmiths of the highest caliber (and it seems that Stew is also an excellent chef) with the gift of enamoring some while disgruntling others (as witnessed in some comments throughout.) Me and my writing style on the other hand... I describe it as that fat kid in gym class trying to keep up with rest of the class doing laps around the track. No matter, I was stoked. I'm not one to shy away from an opportunity such as this so I was in and a few months later we made it happen. 2008 was great and I'm sure 2009 will usher in even more madness.

Now with all the Kleenex moments out of the way, here were some of my bright spots of 2008.

The Best:
NECROVATION, Breed Deadness Blood

The Rest:
THE HELLACOPTERS, Head Off
CAVES, Caves
SUNN O))), Dømkirke and 00void & Flight of the Behemoth [reissues]
BURNING WITCH, Crippled Lucifer [reissue]
ROME, Masse Mensch Material
DAMAAR, Triumph Through Spears Of Sacrilege
ASVA, What You Don't Know Is Frontier
MGLA, Groza
ANNIHILATION TIME, III: Tales of the Ancient Age
JACK ROSE, Dr. Ragtime and His Pals
V/A, Weltenfeind [Absurd, Grand Belial's Key, Sigrblot]

Non-tangibles:
HEAVEN & HELL, Live
CARCASS, Live
ABSOLUTION, Live
HAMMER SMASHED JAZZ, Blog

Simply put, NECROVATION received and receives some serious plays at home and at work. The entire album is perfect... from the artwork, to the song writing to the production. It just pummels and there's good reason why it scored a hat trick here on our 'Year End' lists. It's a must own.

THE HELLACOPTERS released their very last studio album and subsequently played their very last shows all in the same year. While The Hellacopters may not really be of interest to LHP readers, they happen to be one of my favorite all time rock bands. 'Head Off' was met with apprehension but after repeated listens, it won me over big time. It bums me out they put the band to rest.

I may get ribbed from my fellow LHP co-conspirators, but I'm a huge, self-admitted, SUNN O))) fan-boy. Something about them just clicked when I purchased 'The Grimmrobe Demos' in '99. 2008 saw some Daymare re-releases and the extra content delivered. However, the extra material on both '00void' and 'Flight of the Behemoth' are dense and immense (you kinda can't go wrong with Merzbow or Nurse with Wound.) Closing things out with SUNN O))) is the epic 'Dømkirke' album. Csihar's vocals make what may have been a good live album truly a thing of beauty.

'Triumph Through Spears Of Sacrilege' is a piece of absurdly violent beauty. Imagine, if one will, a harsher, noisier, fucked up version of Blasphemy. With beauty of a different kind, ROME's 'Masse Mensch Material' delivered a sweeter version of Death In June inspired neo-folk. CAVES brought something new to the BM underworld with it's unpretentious mix of noise and stifling guitar passages. Listening to the album, one could interpret it as being buried alive. Shame on me however, for still not listening to his latest output yet.

Finally, any material from GRAND BELIAL'S KEY is good great material and the Weltenfeind 3-way split is a nice encore of Kosherat era tracks. Hell, they even cover Negative Approach.

As far as disappointments go: 'The Grimmrobe Demos' reissue extra material was crap. The Hellacopters broke up. Torche's 'Meanderthal' felt way too contrived. Knowing I'll be missing the Sleep reunion show in the UK.

Until next year...

[-c]

Comments (2)

  • 1 comment
    Fishskull
    8:52 AM on Dec 17, 2008 // reply »
    Caves were a major revelation. Thanks for the tip. The new CDR is a step above the first, so drop whatever else you are doing and give a listen. I'm expecting great things to come.
  • 35 comments
    -c
    9:01 AM on Dec 17, 2008 // reply »
    i plan on listening to it really soon. it got lost in the shuffle but i have some holiday time off and it'll get spun. i kinda wish i brought it to work today, haha.
 

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