Best albums of 2012

Many great albums released this year and making a list of the best of them wasn't again all too easy.

The honorable mentions (the albums that were close but no cigar)

Huoratron - Cryptocracy

This guy makes aggressive electronic music apparently using only Gameboys (or at least he used to). His few EP releases have been awesome stuff but sadly I didn't love his full album as much. Still it's a solid album where all tracks work together very well. There are also stand out tracks like the title track and Bug Party but where are the real killer tracks? More effort please. Though I still highly recommend you to check out this release.

Fear of Domination - Create.Control.Exterminate

This bands first album proved that they had skills but the album was kind of lacking when talking about stand out tracks. It's a great pleasure to notice the band pushing things to the next level on their second album. Now there are several stand out tracks like New World, Pandemonium, Destroy and Dominate and Tool of God for example. Enjoyable album but I hope the band can improve themselves even over this release.

Black Light Discipline - Against Each Other

Black Light Discipline offers really danceable industrial metal with dominant keyboard leads. Their second album Against Each Other continues what begun on the debut album Empire. Empire was a good effort all around but I think the second album manages to raise the stakes. The album feels more varied and the band seems to have developed as artists.

I personally slightly prefer this album over Fear of Dominations Create.Control.Exterminate but I feel the albums are nearly same level great pieces of work. Some stand out tracks here: Against Each Other, Walls Inside Us, Serene, Aggressor and a great industrial metal version of Laura Branigans Self Control.

Morian - Ashen Empire

Like bands like Entwine and HIM? Like melodic metal? Then I highly recommend you to check out the Finnish band Morian. Great gothic style vocals and often great instinct for killer choruses and melodies. Just check out Dawn Brigade and the single The World Ends With You. Ashen Empire works better as a whole than the bands debut album Sentinels of the Sun. Here catchy but aggressive tracks give way to softer melodic songs. Some songs lean more to the guitar riffs and the title track grows progressively in a dark atmosphere. 

Unlike with the debut album I actually remember what each song sounds like. Still I really hope the band would get courage to try even more different things with their music. With that I believe they could achieve even bigger success...

Stam1na - Nocebo

Stam1na is one of my favorite bands but this years effort Nocebo didn't exactly blow my mind. That's not to say it's a bad album. Just on Stam1na's standards it's not one of their best. The first half of the album is great work and Puolikas Ihminen is one of the best songs they have written. Sadly the second half of the album lacks a bit with the boring Lepositeet song. Nomad is kind of dreadful and the half English, half Finnish lyrics don't help at all. Fortunately Ei Encorea is a good song and the album closing track Arveton On Arvoton is again some really great Stam1na song writing. 

On their previous album (the great Viimeinen Atlantis) the band brought along keyboards to the music. On this album the synths have a more dominant role than on Viimeinen Atlantis where they were only a small detail in the music. I'm glad to say they work really well with the bands music and I hope to hear more...

Die Antwoord - Ten$ion

I rarely like rap music but I have become a fan of Die Antwoord. This glorious combination of South African insanity, rave and rap music is something truly original and new. Also the voice of the female singer Yolandi is very unique. On their second album there is even more "rave" and electronic stuff and that makes me happy. 

Their debut album $O$ included some great tracks but was also very uneven. Ten$ion improves on all accounts. It's a more solid album and there are more good tracks than on the debut but I still can't really get into the albums first single Fok Julie Naaiers. Also some interludes are just unnecessary and annoying. Fortunately tracks like I Fink U Freeky and Hey Sexy are instant hits. Baby's On Fire is a total club anthem and Fatty Boom Boom has some real next level beats.

  
Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Color

Enter Shikari's debut album Take to the Skies got me interested about them.  Their second album Common Dreads was very uneven piece of work and it felt like the band was confused about which direction they wanted to go in. None the less the album included some amazing songs. The bands third album A Flash Flood of Color sounds like their best and most proper album yet. Finally the band feels ready and seems to know and realize what they want to do.

The band got some critique from adding dubstep sounds to their music but I think it works really well. Meltdown and Sssnakepit are some of the best songs that the band has ever written. There are however in my opinion too many slow and not so amazing songs on this album. There really isn't a bad track here but I can only ponder why they didn't include the awesome singles Destabilize and Quelle Surprise to the album (I heard something about them not being good enough. Rubbish.) Those singles would have made the album a lot more enjoyable experience as a whole.. Oh well. We are still left waiting for that totally amazing Enter Shikari album but the guys are slowly but surely getting there.

     
Top 10 albums of the year 2012 according to Machine Animal

10. Tracedawn - Lizard Dusk

I was always impressed by the playing skills of young musicians in Tracedawn. It was just that their music didn't captivate me. That was until Lizard Dusk. The bands old but good vocalist left and the guitarist stood up to replace the clean vocals. Ex-Amoral singer joined to perform the growling vocals. The previous albums of Tracedawn are not bad but here in songs like Arabian Nights, Breed Insane, Sick Fire and Machine they seem to reach levels they have not reached before. Those four songs are the albums highlights but there is really no bad song on this release. If you like melodic (death) metal be sure to check out Tracedawn.

9. Mors Principium Est - ...And Death Said Live

I have had hard time getting into previous albums of Mors Principium Est. I seemed to always get bored in the middle of the album because of too similar songs. The band always just wants to go really fast and execute the listener with fast melodic riffs. After a five year pause the band returns with two new guitarists. They are unfortunately still slightly plagued by the same old problem.  

I probably would have hard time identifying which song is which from this album. The difference is I can listen through this album and then play it again without getting bored. Sign of a great album right there. The guitar work and melodies are really exceptional and the band seems to play with even more intensity than before. Check this out even if you have not enjoyed the band too much before. 

8. Kuroshio - Biomechanic

After the great Finnish EBM/industrial act Kuroshio Current disbanded, the band leader aQi decided to form this new act named just simply Kuroshio. Now after few years of work the debut album came out at the end of 2012. The music sounds quite much like old Kuroshio Current but just without the electric guitars.

The album is composed of ten catchy club tracks which should please all the old Kuroshio Current fans. One of the best tracks is Sunburn with it's great atmosphere, melodies and great samples in the beginning to set the mood. There is not a weak moment on this album and it's possibly the best EBM release that came out in 2012. Like 2011's Necro Facility - Wintermute (Not in my 2011 top ten because I only heard the album in 2012) I highly recommend to check this out!

7. Velvet Acid Christ - Maldire

The previous VAC album The Art of Breaking Apart got a mixed reaction from fans and critics. I personally loved the acoustic Cure flavored tracks with clean vocals. Apparently not everyone did. Still for me too the album was far from perfect. Not a bad release but again you have learned to expect more from a great artist like Bryan Erickson.

Maldire is for VAC a return to the roots, to the distorted vocals and more typical industrial style. A lot of people compare VAC to old Skinny Puppy and claim he is a copy of them. I never understood that. I feel VAC has it's own style and I've never been a fan of Skinny Puppy.

Maldire sounds slightly like Calling ov the Dead album mixed with Fun With Knives album. No really big surprises except maybe the occasional cool use of clean vocals like in the track Bend the Sky. There are few weaker tracks but mostly the album is great work throughout. Something I've come to expect from Bryan. Bend the Sky, Ominous Rattle, Inhale Blood and Christ Whore contain the atmosphere what I look for when I listen to VAC. Maybe not his best album but another great one to add to the collection. He deserves to be more successful.

   

6. Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol

Paradise Lost continues with it's return to the roots style on Tragic Idol possibly growing to be even heavier than on the two previous records. I have always liked Paradise Lost. No matter what the style they perform in. Be it Depeche Mode style synth pop rock or dark and heavy gothic metal (Exception maybe for the really early guttural death metal stuff).

The album begins with quite soft (For the albums standards) song Solitary One which reminds me of In Requiem album. We are off to a good start which is improved upon by heavy tracks Crucify (Took several listens to open up), Fear of Impending Hell and Honesty In Death. The second half of the album is not as good as the first but is all around solid work similar to Faith Divides Us album. I must raise In This We Dwell to be possibly the best song on the album with Honesty In Death. Great work like always from a legendary band.     

5. Embassy Of Silence - Antler Velvet

Finnish (gothic?) melodic metal with a female singer. They already caught my attention with their debut album Euphorialight but the second album Antler Velvet improves almost on all regards. Several great songs like the opener track Trickster Queen, The Gemini Ascendant, Conundrum and Touch the Zenith follow. None can however compare with the songs Unconverted and Through Unknown Gateways (except maybe the debut albums song Soul Broken).

Catchy but also progressive metal with some great lyrics and in my opinion the best female metal vocalist in Finland. This band deserves to be more famous and Antler Velvet deserves it's place from the top ten albums of 2012 list.

4. Tenacious D - Rize of the Phoenix

Like I have said before good humor music is funny music which is also good musically. The D has not disappointed before and Rize of the Phoenix doesn't either. Their debut album contains so many classic tracks it's hard to defeat but Rize certainly puts up a good fight. The album pumps out great songs after another where funny interludes melt together with the music. Highly enjoyable stuff even as pure rock n roll.

 

3. Infected Mushroom - Army of Mushrooms

Infected Mushroom going dubstep worried me because I hated the single track U R So Fucked. However after hearing some of the album tracks live I calmed down and my worry turned to curiosity. On Army of Mushrooms Infected Mushroom seem a bit more inspired than on the previous album Legend of the Black Shuwarma.

Infected Mushroom usually start their albums with a really impressive and catchy fast track to show they mean business. This time it's a midtempo track that took few listens to open up for me. Same thing with the rest of the album.

The album combines dubstep, electro and drum n bass to the psychedelic vibe of Infected Mushroom. Sadly this time there is not much trance on offer except on the highlight of the album which is surprisingly a Foo Fighters cover. The Pretender mixes energetic trance and rock and is simply irresistible. Infected Mushrooms Duvdev is no Dave Grohl as a front man or a rock singer but otherwise the cover even improves on the original song. Responsible of this are mostly the amazing keyboard melodies by Erez. The track is crowned with awesome C-64 style bleeps at the end.

In the end after several listens even U R So Fucked has opened up and sounds good (The track works great live and in DJ sets). For me Army of Mushrooms feels like a small step up from Legend of the Black Shuwarma where some of the tracks felt a bit uninspired and not up to the standard usually expected from the Mushrooms. Army of Mushrooms is mostly very enjoyable from beginning to end, inspired and varied in style. Just more trance next time, please.

2. Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar

Klayton effortlessly combines industrial, techno, metal and now dubstep to create what is called Celldweller. He plays most of the instruments on his albums and has a great singing voice. What a man. Wish Upon A Blackstar finally rises to the sky after about nine years of work since the bands self titled debut album (Which was easily five star material and surely one of the best albums of the year 2003).

Wish Upon A Blackstar doesn't disappoint and is as amazing as you would hope. Different songs flow together seamlessly, the production is marvelous, all the songs seem to have hundreds of small details in them and all the while the songs remain progressive and catchy.

Few things have changed since 2003. The band is less metal and more electronic now which essentially means less guitars and no growling vocals (No songs like One Good Reason on this album). Celldweller had previewed many songs of the album on EP's during the years. There was also a live album with different versions of some of the new songs. I think on that release were the worst versions of the new songs and that got me slightly worried about Wish Upon a Blackstar. Everything sounded too much like some bad Pendulum rip off on that release. 

I was extremely happy to find out the album contains best versions of these songs. It really is a masterful work which doesn't get boring in any point and more than satisfied my expectations. Though in the end I must say that I hope Celldweller doesn't completely abandon it's heavy industrial metal roots. I want to hear more of that and less dubstep.

1. Machinae Supremacy - Rise of a Digital Nation

I had to actually think for a few minutes which would be the album of the year 2012 for me. Celldwellers Wish Upon a Blackstar is a amazing album but so is Rise of a Digital Nation by Machinae Supremacy. In the end it all comes down to the lyrics. While by no means bad, the lyrics of Klayton just can't compare to the deep, clever and awesome lyrics of Machinae Supremacy's Robert Stjärnström.

Too few critics give the bands great lyrics the credit they so much deserve. Though pretty much all fans value and love them. They can cheer you up and be positive without being cheesy but they can also be political. They have multiple layers and meanings with some references to gaming and internet culture as a wink of an eye.

Besides great lyrics Rise of a Digital Nation is also musically a great album. Returning from the darker tones of View From the End of the World to the more lighter sound of Overworld. However the song writing is even better on this release than on Overworld.

The album begins with Overworld style quite typical MaSu song All of My Angels. Things get better on the second song, Laser Speed Force, which is truly intense with a great keyboard riff and additional vocals from the guitarist Ghibli. Mid-tempo song Transgenic charms with it's catchy SID arp. However the best songs of the album are still to come. The title track of the album is one of the best with epic guitar work, catchy chorus and some more superb SID. Next is very melodic song Pieces, again catchy and heartfelt, not forgetting the bands trademark SID melodies. Cyber Warfare is a short instrumental, reminding of the bands early days leading to Republic of Gamers. Very typical Machinae anthem but again it's catchy as hell. Battlecry has a short dubstep part and some acoustic guitar. One of the best tracks on the album with those great lyrics in place. 99 is one of the bands best slow songs. Of course it's about the 1% and how they view the world. Great lyrics, amazing chorus and some SID to seal the deal. As a last track of the album is a remake of their old song Hero. More polished and professional, cheerful and powerful song. What Machinae Supremacy is all about.

For me the bands best work is still the epic and a bit darker View From the End of the World. However Rise of the Digital Nation comes next. It feels like an upgraded version of their Overworld album. Can't wait for more from my favorite band.

So that was it. My favorite albums of 2012. Another great year for music behind us. Let's see what 2013 has in store...

Renegade Winter Festival

Almost one year without any posts.. Anyway here is my report from Renegade Winter Festival in Jyväskylä, Finland. Decided to go to Renegade Winter Festival (Indoor electronic music festival). Got there during Proteus vs Muffler DJ set. Great drum n bass and dubstep. Was already almost worth the 35€ tickets. Also the venue had great sound and lots of videoscreens on stage and around it.

Next however played Orkidea. I danced for a while but I wasn't so into it, so I left to hang out in the cafe area. He played for ages and I think the next DJ Elliott Ness never came on stage.

Infected Mushroom had a great gig like always. They played lots of new songs. Most of it was dubstep but at least one new trance track was also there. The high points were Deeply Disturbed (Remix) which closed the gig, Saeed, I Wish (Remix) and The Pretender cover from Foo Fighters. The hit tracks also worked well, Becoming Insane, Cities of the Future, Muse Breaks, U R So Fucked and quite surprisingly Serve My Thirst from the newest album. 

I would have liked to hear full version of Pink Nightmares instead of some very short clip. Also I think they should have replaced Suliman with some really old shit or at least something like the Bust A Move (Remix). One thing I love about Infected Mushroom is how much they play the stuff live. Drummer plays most of the drums live although it's a electronic band and Erez plays lot of the keyboards and melodies live. Love his keyboard solos, they are intense. Duvdev worked the audience to a non-stop exercise frenzy. Quite tiring and draining for me. Had to skip over half of Pendulums DJ set by sitting and just drinking water at the cafe...

When I returned the people were going insane over Pendulums old hits. Great animations on screen, the MC was surprisingly good and on fire and the DJ stage dived to the audience. Quite epic stuff!

Gotta love Huoratrons deep, heavy and original sound. The melodies remind me sometimes of minimalistic techno. Somehow was expecting more intensity from his show and from the screen animations. Still not bad at all. I enjoyed it and the 45 minute set was way too short!

I drank some more water and returned to dance to Calvatrons dubstep set for 10 minutes. Good stuff and some great anime animations on screen. I wish I could have stayed I while longer but had to hurry for the bus home..

A great evening and a great festival.

(Had some problems editing the text of this blog. Dunno what is the problem with the colors. Also expect a blog about my fave albums of 2012 soon.)

Top 10 best albums of 2011 Part II: The Top-5

Finally the top-5 ...


                                           5# Machine Head - Unto The Locust

I am not a big Machine Head fan. They have made some songs I could enjoy but none of the albums grabbed my attention like "Unto The Locust". With this album they seem to have finally found a perfect balance of heaviness and melody. The songs are long and progressive but highly enjoyable and not boring. Many critics have said the album is hard to get into at first. I got hooked on the first listen but needless to say some songs grew on me even more with further listens. "Pearls Before The Swine" is probably the weakest song from the official albums tracks. The rest are all diamonds. From the bonus tracks the Judas Priest cover "Sentinel" is great. I have to say "Unto The Locust" is probably the best thrash metal album since Metallica's Master Of Puppets. It's just that good.

                                                                     "Locust"




                                          #4 Atari Teenage Riot - Is This Hyperreal?

Atari Teenage Riot create a combination of hardcore techno, punk and noise known as digital hardcore. The lyrics are more political, relevant and in your face than ever on their comeback album "Is This Hyperreal?". Criticizing government control, the elites illegal activities and talking about the freedom of the internet, the lyrics are more this day than anybody elses. The songs themselves might not be the best compositions of the year but "Is This Hyperreal?" is still easily one of the most important albums that came out in 2011. Hell, it is one of the most important albums of this century, so far. 


Most of the songs on the album are enjoyable to listen to if you like your electronic music hard and noisy. One of the most energetic songs is the opening track "Activate". "Black Flags" gives a taste of their political lyrics. The rest of the albums tracks give similar food for thought. The only track I'm not so hot about is "The Only Slight Glimmer Of Hope". The rest is good stuff, making the album enjoyable if you like your music with a message. This is real riot music, not something pretending that.

                                                               "Black Flags"

                                                               "Activate (Live)"




                                                 #3 Turmion Kätilöt - Perstechnique

I don't know why the album of Turmion Kätilöt was so ignored on all the best albums of the year lists. I guess it's because of their image and that some of the lyrics are humorous. This industrial metal act shouldn't be ignored because in my opinion they are the best band of the scene. Besides industrial metal you could call them "dance metal" as the synthesizer melodies and beats are clearly rave and dance music inspired and very dominant element in their music.


Perstechnique is the bands 4th and best album. Their debut album was all killer and no filler but here their sound is clearly evolved with their skills. Many songs are easily the bands best work like "Suolainen Kapteeni", "Hanska" and especially "Vedetäänkö Vai Ei?" which is possibly the catchiest and best metal song of the year 2011. Turmion Kätilöt make the best party metal and their music works great also in my DJ sets. Truly metal you can dance to like I said before. 


Turmion Kätilöt is also great in that sense that they can write serious lyrics and still combine amusing humor to them without sounding awkward or stupid. In that sense you could compare the lyrics a bit to Rammstein's lyrics. Though Kätilö lyrics work so much better for me as the best ones from them are of course in Finnish. There are few "not as mind blowing as the rest" tracks like "Hellbound Earth", "Verta Sataa" and the interlude "Herran Toinen Tuleminen" on the album but they are also solid songs and would be praised if the rest of the album wouldn't kick so much ass. The mentioned tracks are also a bit more traditional and familiar work from TK that we have already heard before.


All I can wonder is why no praise for this absolutely marvelous dance metal album. Great band that make Rammstein sometimes look like a bunch of sissies.

                                        "IhmiSixSixSix" (Warning for male nudity in the video)




                                                   #2 Nightwish - Imaginaerum

One thing is for certain, "Imaginaerum" is easily the most epic and soundtrack like Nightwish album ever made. That in itself is worthy of praise in my opinion and I happen to think this album along with "Once" is the bands best work. It's hard for me to understand why some fans were confused or put off by this development of the band. It has been a clear path since "Once". Anyway "Imaginaerum" is where the new singer Anette Olzon and the band really shine. 


Songs like "Scaretale" and especially "Song Of Myself" have very interesting structures and great depth.. Also the single "Storytime" is nothing more than the best Nightwish single ever made. You can disagree if you want. I still haven't managed to get myself bored with that song (Glad that I don't listen to much radio). "Ghost River" reminds me slightly of "Planet Hell" and manages to almost get to that songs level of awesomeness.


Sadly I can't hail the new album being easily the bands best work. The ballads and slow songs is where "Dark Passion Play" does so much better than this album. "Eva" and "The Islander" totally own "Turn Loose The Mermaids" and "The Crow, The Owl and The Dove". "Rest Calm" tries to be another great and epic track but sadly fails. Fortunately "I Want My Tears Back" and "Last Ride Of The Day" are successful power metal flavored songs. "Slow, Love, Slow" is jazz which confused a lot of fans, however the track works great and I love it when bands experiment a bit. Also it's a "theme album" accompanied by a full length movie out later this year, so you'd expect there to be different moods, styles and themes. The title track "Imaginaerum" ends the album with a enjoyable instrumental soundtrack piece. 


I love it when bands try to better themselves and develop as musicians and that is the path Nightwish has walked since the beginning. Trying to improve and not repeat themselves. I'm happy to say they succeed in this. "Imaginaerum" is another great example of this.


                                                             


                                                         #1 Emil Bulls - Oceanic

I love this band. Sadly many metal fans will be put off by the fact they play alternative metal or nu-metal. Whatever you want to call it. The softest songs get close to pop rock and heaviest ones are close to modern metalcore. Unlike most bands in this genre, these guys try new things on every album and develop their sound, in addition to being skilled musicians with unmistakeable sense for great pop hooks.  Already on their second major label album "Porcelain" they showcased they could write incredibly catchy nu-metal with some electro samples thrown in for the flavor. Too bad it was when the nu-metal trend was already dying. Unlike hundreds of bands of that genre instead of giving up and disappearing these guys kept playing and started moving their sound towards more traditional heavy rock and metalcore.


I was in the beginning disappointed with "Oceanic". Unlike their previous albums this new gem took few listening sessions before opening up to it's full glory. "Oceanic" combines pretty much everything the band has done before with some new things. The intro track grows into the song "Epiphany" that rocks you with the band at their heaviest. The single "Jaws Of Oblivion" and "Lessons From Losses" showcase their pop rock talent. "Knight In Shining Armour" even adds some disco vibes and becomes one of the catchiest and best songs on the album. "I Bow To You" and "The Saddest Man In The World Is The Boy Who Never Weeps" are good ballads without being too sugary. "Not Tonight Josephine" is quite heavy and incredibly catchy at the same time. The cherry on top is a c-part to die for. "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" is mid-tempo metalcore song with some electro sounds thrown in. "Battle Royal" and "All Systems Go" are also five star gems in nu-metal or metalcore category. Where ever you want to put them they'd hold their own.


If anything "Oceanic" should prove Emil Bulls are not a one trick pony and although the album has so many different styles and genres in one package the band manages to make them work together in harmony. If that's not skill then what is? Sadly the last two songs of the album get nowhere near the level of greatness the other tracks showcase. The two bonus tracks of the album include the use of saxophones and vocoders which makes them much more interesting than these two mediocre rock songs. Surprised the bonus tracks weren't included instead.

In the end "Oceanic" is the bands most varied album and includes some of the best songs they have ever written. That's why it's sad the last two official album songs don't cut it. Anyway even with this slight error the album wipes the floor with the competition. The album has all I could ask from the album of the year. Most songs are incredible, lots of variety and the band has progressed and developed with this release. Congratulations Emil Bulls. You have made my favorite album of the year 2011. Hope to hear as great releases from you in the future. Keep trying to better yourselves!

                                                                      "Epiphany"

                                                     "The Knight In Shining Armour"









                                                                         

Top 10 best albums of 2011 (Part I)

This was supposed to be a top-10 list but then I realized I forgot several albums from the honorable mentions post.


                                                      #14 Amaranthe - Amaranthe

This band came pretty much out of nowhere and managed to surprise with the mega catchy hybrid of modern metal, pop and even some dance music vibes. The band also has three great vocalists. The debut album is amazingly catchy from start to finish but on the next album I would hope for more variety in the songs.. Also the guy who growls needs more vocal parts.

                                                               "Hunger"


                                #13 Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa

I'm not too familiar with the whole discography of Moonsorrow but I have listened their latest few albums and EP's. "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa" continues this respected pagan metal bands career with another epic, dark and heavy album. The previous album "Viides Luku - Hävitetty" was very dark and at parts even ambient like album. "Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa" is a somewhat similar journey but heavier and more metal. There is not much time for ambient soundscapes except in the interludes between the four long songs. The album paints a vision of a dead and cold world where there is no hope for the survivor.

                                                        #12 MyGrain - MyGrain

MyGrain plays melodic death metal with a flavor of industrial and sci-fi elements. The self titled album is their third album and since the debut they have evolved into more progressive direction with the bands song writing also improving and their singers delivery becoming even more impressive.


The album is pretty much one great song after another with the exception of "Shadow People" which is a bit too straightforward song for my taste. It would have been a hit on the first album. Not anymore. MyGrain's third album is great but I would hope for even more variety on their next album as it seems they have now perfected their own style.

                                                      "Trapped In An Hourglass"


                                                #11 Blood Stain Child - Epsilon

In the beginning Blood Stain Child was pretty much a Children Of Bodom clone. Since then they have evolved to become a completely different band. In their last two albums they sounded like In Flames mixed with trance. After their previous album several members of Blood Stain Child left the band including the bands singer. Because of this there was a lot of doubt would the next album be any good.


There was no reason to worry. Epsilon is their best album so far. Now in addition to growling vocals the band has a great female vocalist Sophia and they seem to have finally found their own sound. Two good vocalists, variety and some really great songs. Although towards the end of the album there are some filler tracks. For me "Stargazer" is one of the best songs of the year 2011.

                                                            "Stargazer"


                                                     #10 Left Spine Down - Caution

Left Spine Down is a industrial rock band from Canada and Caution is their second album. At first listen I was disappointed to Caution. I was expecting an album more like their debut "Fighting For Voltage". 


After few more listens something clicked. I really like the album and actually think it's as a whole better than their debut. Though it lacks a total killer track like "U Can't Stop The Bomb" the song "From 30 To Zero" gets close. The opening track "Troubleshoot" really gets you in the atmosphere of this album. Great piece of work. Not a single song is bad on this record and the songs work really well together.

                                                     "From 30 To Zero"


                                                 #9 Blue Stahli - Blue Stahli

Blue Stahli is the guy who hangs out with Celldweller and they make great music together. You could describe Blue Stahli to be a fusion of metal and several electronic genres including drum n bass, techno and industrial. Blue Stahli's self titled is his first "proper" album after the all instrumental "Antisleep". Excluding the dragging "Throw Away" the album is all killer and no filler. Highly recommended for industrial, metal and electronic music fans alike. Check it out.

                                                          "ULTRAnumb


                                                      #8 VNV Nation - Automatic

They are a legendary EBM/Future pop band from the UK now residing in Germany. I was really disappointed to VNV Nations previous album "Of Faith, Power and Glory". It lacked those anthemic, catchy tracks the band is known for. It wasn't all bad but kind of disappointing none the less after the clearly superior "Judgement" album. I wasn't expecting much from "Automatic" but after seeing live clips of the songs "Control" and "Nova" in Youtube I got excited. 


When the album came out it didn't disappoint. It includes some of the best songs they have ever written. I'm talking about "Space & Time" and even more about "Streamline". Everything from these two songs shines perfection from the basslines to the lyrics and to the great synth hooks. Hell, "Streamline" in it's positivity and praise of human accomplishment and evolution might be my favorite song of the whole year. The rest is not bad either with "Resolution" and "Gratitude" being enjoyable tracks. "Nova" has no chance to defeat "Illusion" as the best VNV Nation ballad but it's a good effort. "Automatic" is one of the best VNV Nation albums or possibly even the best.

                                       
                                                                 "Streamline"


                                       #7 Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction

I'm not even a Devin Townsend fan. The metal world seems to be all over this guy. Me, not so much. Strapping Young Lad was more to my taste than his solo albums until I heard "Deconstruction". 


The album begins with "Praise The Lowered" that slightly hints from the heaviness and madness to come as it grows slowly. Third track "Juular" gets the train moving and "Planet Of The Apes" starts the madness. By "Sumeria" we are in metal chaos which is then perfected by "The Mighty Masturbator", "Pandemic" and the albums title track. The final metal burst "Poltergeist" feels slightly anticlimatic here. Wonderful journey that slowly let's it's madness to grow and the albums progressive, heavy and insane structure keeps atleast me constantly entertained and paying attention to what comes next. Just what the mad doctor ordered.

                                                              "Sumeria"


                                          #6 Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

Within Temptation plays symphonic pop metal. Their fifth album is a "theme album" with a story. It was nice to hear them trying something new and inspiring. There were even short films and comics published with the album. Nightwish decided to go even further by making a movie. We'll see how that turns out later this year. 


Anyway back to Within Temptation. I have not been so happy seeing the band going musically towards more pop and mainstream direction during the last few years. However the band seem to be doing what they love and have their heart very much in it. "The Unforgiving" doesn't disappoint with the hits. "Faster", "A Demon's Fate", "In The Middle Of The Night", "Sinead" and "Iron" are all up there with the bands best work. There are however some more mediocre tracks that sadly drop the album from the top 3 of the year.

                                                                      "Iron"


That's the first half of the top-10 albums of 2011. Soon I will publish my top-5..

Best albums of 2011: Honorable mentions

Inspired by A Rambling Fox I decided to start this blog and as my first post write about my favorite albums of the year 2011. These are the albums that I liked a lot but didn't quite make it on the "best of" list for one reason or another. From best to worst, the honorable mentions:

                                                     Korn - The Path Of Totality

Mixing their alternative metal with dubstep has made their fans react with mixed emotions. Some absolutely hate the new album but many seem to also love it. I am one of those who gladly welcome this development in their sound. For the last 10 years Korn has sounded more boring by each new album. Their attempt to return to the roots "Korn III: Remember who you are" was also an album that divided opinion and I personally disliked it a lot. It was plain boring. So inward turned effort without barely anything catchy. When I heard "Narcissistic Cannibal" it was confirmed to me they were doing the right thing and heading to a new direction. 

I loved "Narcissistic Cannibal" so expectations were quite high for the upcoming album and in a sense it failed to deliver. The song writing could have been better and only few songs glimmer as diamonds. The highlights being pretty much the first two singles. Other tracks worth mentioning being the opening track "Chaos Lives In Everything" and "Way Too Far". What saves the album from mediocrity are the great electronics delivered by cream of the crop modern dubstep artists. The electro makes the album a delightful listening experience combined with the metal and vocals by Jonathan Davis. Although only few tracks manage to be hits, the album is enjoyable as a whole. The bonus tracks could have replaced some of the more boring album tracks as they are pretty good. I have few times in some polls voted Korn's album as the best album of the year, although I now realize the album is not worthy of that title. I was impressed that they manage to rise from complete mediocrity and dullness to become an interesting act once more. In my opinion "The Path Of Totality" is the best Korn album since 2002's Untouchables. I always liked when Korn were going towards industrial metal sound and this is as close to electro metal Korn as you are ever going to get. It's not a perfect album but it's sound is great and I was impressed by what they managed to do.

                                                         "Narcissistic Cannibal"

                                          Aesthetic Perfection - All Beauty Destroyed

All Beauty Destroyed is melodic and poppy but also aggressive at the same time. From what I have heard of the bands previous work it was good but rather generic. With this album they head towards more poppy direction which in my opinion is a very good move for them. The album is danceable, filled with catchy melodies. The vocals are mostly clean but when necessary they are aggressive, giving good variety and a nice adrenaline boost. A great combination. The album doesn't include any best songs of the year but the first seven songs of the album are highly enjoyable. One of the catchiest ones is the single "Inhuman" which however took few listens for me to enjoy. The rest are not bad but not up to the same standard as the first seven tracks. The last song which is the title track is worthy of mentioning though as it's a beautiful slow song and a great outro for the album.

                                                                 "Inhuman"

                                                    Dismantled - The War Inside Me

When I first heard "The War Inside Me" I had not heard many songs by Dismantled. I found out this album is very different from the previous ones. From more generic EBM, Future pop and dark electro Gary Zon has transformed his band into one completely evil, insane and aggressive creation. At it's best it gives me an adrenaline fueled aggression orgasm. I love it. Two songs which are among the best of the year are "Insecthead" and "Disease". The first song is more aggressive, the second song more mellow but the dark, nihilistic and evil mood remains through both. "Dead On Impact" is also so good it makes me tingle inside. Otherwise the album is a mixed bag. I don't feel the slower tracks so much from which "Scrape The Bullets" is probably the best one. My boyfriend bought this album from Germany and we blast it in our car often as we drive through the night.. Not a perfect album but it holds a very special place in my heart.

                                                               "Insecthead"

                                           In Flames - Sounds Of A Playground Fading

The album before "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" was the worst In Flames album ever and after their main song writer left the band, the expectations weren't very high for this newest album. "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" didn't convince all the fans but it convinced me that the band could still write great songs and even great albums. "Deliver Us" is a great single and the whole album is a solid wholeness. A good listening experience. There are some weaker tracks but nothing I would have left out, though I don't personally enjoy interludes like "The Attic" and "Jester's Door". The last three proper tracks are all killer with "Liberation", the album finale, being maybe the most pop metal In Flames song ever. The albums title track is also good stuff. I'm impressed. Not the best In Flames album but a good entry in their discography.

                                                               "Deliver Us"

                                        Iwrestledabearonce - Ruining It For Everybody

You could ignore Iwrestledabearonce as one of those bands that try to hide lack of talent by being weird, different and "funny" but doing that would be underestimating this band. Iwrestledabearonce is weird as hell but they have talent. They combine metalcore that goes all over the place with electro sounds and weird samples. It's a music purists nightmare but somehow they manage to make their songs quite enjoyable. This is more evident on their second album "Ruining It For Everybody". Their debut album "It's All Happening" was possibly more progressive and "epic" but on their second full length they head towards what is more important: Good songs. Better melodic parts and beautiful clean vocals define the songs much more this time around and increased amount of keyboards and electro samples is a clear plus point for me. I must say I fucking love Krysta Camerons vocals. I find myself spinning this album a lot more than their debut, although I still feel they could develop more as a band. I hope that on their next album they would include even more beautiful choruses next to the rampant metalcore, with more defined strong structures ..but I wouldn't count on them doing just that.

                                         "You Know That Ain't Them Dogs Real Voices"

                                                       Knorkator - Es Werde Nicht

Knorkator, The self proclaimed "Most Band in The World". Makes sense? This band doesn't and that's one of the main reasons which makes them awesome. They are a dadaistic parody of industrial metal bands like Rammstein but at the same time still a great metal/heavy rock band. How awesome is that? They don't have pyrotechnics like Rammstein but their live shows are atleast as impressive with all kinds of different helmets, breaking objects with axes, shredding vegetables and shooting pies at the audience (This is true). What's more, their lead singer is a big muscular bald gay man that has half of his body covered in tattoos and he sings in soprano.

During the years their albums have been getting progressively worse (from being totally awesome). They even went to a hiatus in 2008 but returned as there was nobody that could replace them and the fans demanded it. Still their newest album is surely worthy of a place in the honorable mentions of the years best albums. Besides high baritone vocals from Stumpen and growls from the composer Alf Ator, on the new album some songs are sung by some kid. Heavy metal being sung by a kid? Works surprisingly well and he is a good singer. Again something you have not heard before. It's comedy/fun metal but even I can sometimes get the joke though I don't speak deutsch. Knorkator make great cover songs. This album again has good efforts in that category. That "Ain't nobody, does it better" song is covered as a groovy majestic metal version and Scooter's "Faster, Harder, Scooter" gets a good sounding slow version treatment. (The band always covers fast songs as slow and soft versions and slow songs as fast and heavy versions). Many of the new songs are enjoyable but there are some quite clear fillers. Also the Scooter cover and the song "Kinderlied" were already released long before the album as singles. Like the previous album "Das Nächste Album Aller Zeiten" the special edition of the new album comes with a full length live DVD which makes it's purchase a must for fans.

                                     

                                                         Introducing: Knorkator

                                    

                                                     "Du Nich" feat. Till Lindemann

                                                Scar Symmetry - The Unseen Empire   

           

                         

I remember when I first heard Scar Symmetry. I was really impressed by the bands skills. The song I heard was "The Illusionist" and especially the bands previous singer Christian Älvestam blew me away with his vocal delivery. The bands song writing was great too and I fell in love. Some medias praised "The Unseen Empire" as the bands greatest album yet. I tend to disagree but it's by no means a bad album. The albums theme which is conspiracies like The Illuminati and reptilian aliens is something which I find interesting. Sadly musically I don't find the bands new album in the same league as the bands first three albums. The two new vocalists however do a great job and I don't find myself missing Christian at all. The opener track "The Anomaly" is quite melodic and I find myself liking more the aggressive tracks like "Seers Of The Eschaton" and "Rise Of The Reptilian Regime". However there are several good songs here. The biggest problem is there is not a single true killer track on the album. I'm left longing for atleast one "Chaosweaver" or "Mind Machine" to blow me to the orbit but songs like that are not to be found. Still a good album. Looking forward to more!

                                     

                                                           "Seers Of Eschaton" 

                                                           Unzyme - Brainforest

New up and coming electro pop band from Jyväskylä. They released their self published debut album "Brainforest" in 2011. The album includes slow and soft electro pop and faster tracks that appeal to me a lot more. Besides friends of electronic pop I would recommend fans of EBM and future pop to check them out. The opener track "Lose Your Place" is much better than the demo version and quite enjoyable electro pop piece with rap style vocals, but the true hits of the album for me are "Jesus In My Trunk", "Excuses Ran Dry" and "Anniversaries". The songs are catchy and don't apologize for it. "Jesus" is already a hit but "Excuses Ran Dry" improves upon it and is one of my fave tracks for 2011. "Anniversaries" in the beginning sounds almost like electro-industrial before blasting into one incredibly catchy chorus. "Another Crossing" seems to be a popular song from this album but I haven't found it's appeal.. Atleast yet. The biggest issue for me on this album is that it includes too many slow, soft and kind of boring songs. However the songs that Unzyme get right are highly enjoyable for me. They are now working on their second album which I hope will blow me away! Check them out.. 

                                      

                                                        "Excuses Ran Dry (Live)"

http://soundcloud.com/unzyme

http://www.unzyme.com/

They also allowed ME to remix their song "Excuses Ran Dry"

                                      

                                          "Excuses Ran Dry (Machine Animal Remix)"

In my next post I will go to the true top 10 albums of the year 2011..