日志

Los mejores (internacional) / The best (non-spanish):


1 - Mastodon – Crack The Skye



Superar aquella obra maestra que sacaron de la manga en el 2004 llamada “Leviathan” se antojaba harto difícil, pero el cuarteto de Atlanta lo ha conseguido. Y siguen fieles a su tendencia de ofrecer un sonido que nada tiene que ver con sus obras pasadas pero que a la vez suenan a “ellos mismos”. Un disco mas melódico y progresivo que los anteriores (con pasajes más propios del rock progresivo espacial setentero, que para nada suena a las bestias pardas que son en sus anteriores trabajos), pero también más retorcido y enmarañado que nunca, que con cada escucha descubres matices nuevos. Imprescindible.


2- Diablo Swing Orchestra – Sing Along Songs for the Damned & Delirious



El colmo de la extravagancia y la creatividad, que no contentos con sorprender hace dos años a propios y extraños con su gran debut, se superan a si mismos y nos ofrecen un segundo disco todavía mejor y más retorcido. Meted en una coctelera un poco de metal, un poco de ópera, un poco de swing, otro tanto de jazz, una pizca de flamenco, y un sinfín de estilos musicales. El resultado: Diablo Swing Orchestra. Quien diga que ya se ha inventado todo en el mundo (o negocio) de la música, miente.


3- KISS – Sonic Boom



Los fans de la banda más caliente del planeta estamos de enhorabuena. Disco que me aterraba, ya que temía la posibilidad de que, al igual que hicieron el año pasado AC/DC, sacaran una castaña de disco. Psycho Circus del 98 hubiera sido un digno final a su discografía. Pero los señores Stanley y Simmons han demostrado que aún tienen mucho que decir. Disco trallero y fiestero 100% Kiss, pero que en ningún momento suena a refrito (aunque si puede que algunos temas recuerden demasiado a algún que otro clásico), donde no se echan nada de menos a Ace Frehley ni Peter Criss, donde sus sustitutos hacen un excelente trabajo. Posiblemente, su mejor disco desde el ya mítico Love Gun del 77.


4- My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire



A la altura de lo que se espera de Andrew Craighan y los suyos. O sea, un discazo del mejor death-doom metal, como casi todo lo que han sacado. La vuelta del violín les ha sentado de maravilla.


5- Riverside – Anno Domini High Definition



Otros que nunca defraudan. Nueva obra maestra de los polacos. En esta ocasión, posiblemente, su disco mas duro, más complejo, mejor ensamblado... y sin demostraciones gratuitas y absurdas de técnica, lo que para mi es la gran lacra del metal progresivo.


6- Amogh Symphony – Abolishing the obsolete system



Increíble debut el de este gran músico indio que atiende al nombre de Vishaljit Singh. Este buen hombre nos ofrece un disco prácticamente instrumental (solo un par de frases sueltas en el sexto tema) en el que mezcla estilos tan dispares como el death metal, el rock progresivo y la música electrónica entre otros. Y si le añadimos una producción que quita el hipo, el resultado es una obra maestra digna de admiración.


7- Alestorm – Black Sails at Midnight



Una muy necesaria bocanada de aire fresco a la anquilosada escena del folk / viking metal. Alestorm podrían ser el resultado de darle instrumentos a la tripulación de la Perla Negra y poner de cantante al capitán Barbossa (el disco viene con homenaje a la BSO de Piratas Del Caribe incluida). Folk metal original, divertido, y de calidad; que da como resultado al que sin duda es la más grata sorpresa del 2009. ¡Yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!


8- Karl Sanders – Saurian Exorcisms



El enorme hombre de Carolina del sur demuestra, de nuevo, que es un autentico genio, tanto como guitarrista como compositor. Por segunda vez, deja el brutal death de Nile a un lado para ofrecernos un trabajo mas cercano al dark ambient y a hacernos viajar al mismo centro de las pirámides egipcias.


9- Mono – Hymn To The Immortal Wind



Nueva obra de este cuarteto japonés, que este año han parido el que más de un experto lo califica como el mejor disco de post-rock en años, que se ha acabado convirtiendo en mi opción predilecta cuando me apetece tumbarme en la cama, relajarme, y ver pasar el tiempo.


10- maudlin of the Well – Part the Second



Excelente retorno de Toby Driver y los suyos. Disco que contiene 5 canciones del mejor rock progresivo psicodélico con toques jazz. Y además, disponible en descarga directa y gratuita en su propia web oficial.


Los mejores (nacional) / The Best (spanish)


1- Skunk D.F. – El Crisol



Debo de ser un bicho muy raro, ya que opino radicalmente distinto del 99% de la gente. Y mira que le he dado escuchas para ver si con el tiempo encontraba lo malo que le ve la gente, pero el resultado ha sido el contrario, cada vez me gusta más. Para mi, estamos ante una total y jodida obra maestra, propia de un genio como lo es Pepe Harriols, que bien ha hecho abandonando el horroroso proyecto de su hermano Hev, DeLamarca, para centrarse en su banda de toda la vida. Continúan con su evolución, y siguen fieles a su propósito de no encasillarse y en hacer lo que les apetece sin tener en cuenta las opiniones del resto. Más melódico y más "comercial" que el resto, pero no por ello con menos garra y con menos calidad. Un trabajo arriesgado, variado, al que no le sobra ni un solo segundo, y en el que tanto Germán como Pepe están mejor que nunca. Personalmente, el mejor de toda su carrera.


2- Vidres a la Sang – Som



Desde poco después de escucharles por primera vez, pensé que estábamos ante el mejor grupo de metal extremo que ha salido nunca en territorio nacional. Este Som no hace sino reafirmarme ante mis declaraciones. Un álbum increíble y original, donde se incorporan elementos de doom metal a su black / death metal tan característico.


3- Berri Txarrak – Payola



Cuando, aún sin ser su mejor disco, nos ofrecen semejante maravilla, uno no puede sino lamentarse de no haberlos conocido antes. Le pese a quien le pese, de lo mejor que ha salido en este país en muchos años.


4- Estirpe – Buenos días Voluntad



Estos chicos lo han vuelto a hacer... Después de sacar uno de los discos más grandes que se han editado nunca al sur de los pirineos (Inventarse El Mundo), vuelven a darle una vuelta de tuerca a su inclasificable sonido y a traernos todo un señor discazo.


5- Nahemah – a new costellation



¿Los Opeth españoles? Muy desencaminados no iriamos al asegurarlo. Estamos ante una banda que poco tiene que envidiar a los de Suecia. Y siendo Opeth una banda que juega en una división superior, se puede intuir que estamos ante un señor discazo.


6- The Viper Sound – Beyond The Sky



Un chaval de veintipocos años, fan enfermizo de Mike Oldfield, grabando en sus ratos libres en su propio estudio. Así, a bote pronto, la cosa no pinta demasiado bien, ¿verdad? Nada más lejos de la realidad. Con pocos medios y con melodías que no son del otro mundo, este buen hombre ha conseguido parir un trabajo de ensueño y realmente mágico. Casi dos horas de música, con pasajes ambientales e intimistas que invitan a viajar a mundos de ensueño; junto con otros de influencia “popera” propia de las obras del señor Oldfield en los 80; y otros mas cercanos a los sonidos electrónicos de Vangelis. Y además disponible para descarga directa en su propio myspace. ¿Que más se puede pedir? Recomendadísimo para los amantes de la música new age y/o electrónica.


7- Noctem – Divinity



La banda revelación de este 2009, que están pegando fortísimo con su excelente debut tanto dentro como fuera del país. Y que, como no, como suele pasar cuando una banda triunfa de esta manera y se aleja un poco de los patrones establecidos, es fruto de las criticas y los ladridos sin sentido de los mas puristas y los mas resentidos. Black / death metal ¿sinfónico? con ciertos aires a lo Dimmu Borgir, y con un directo bizarro y potentísimo. Una banda que se lo ha currado como nadie, y que ha sabido usar de forma muy acertada las nuevas tecnologías para darse a conocer. Mi más sincera enhorabuena, tienen su éxito bien merecido.


8- Dark Moor – Autumnal



Pocos, muy pocos son los grupos de power metal que no han incorporado elementos hard rockeros y/o progresivos por que el power ya no se lleva, y no han seguido haciendo lo mismo disco trás disco generando con ello un olor a rancio insoportable. Dark Moor es de esas pocas bandas que siguen haciendo power tal cual, y que siguen estrujándose las meninges para intentar ofrecer algo de calidad y fresco. De no ser por la voz de Alfred, que no es ni la sombra de lo que fue tan solo dos discos atrás, este disco estaría en un puesto más alto.


9- Eldar - Sapere Aude



Una apuesta diferente y arriesgada. Podríamos calificarlo como un grupo de música ambiental, pero que de relajante no tiene nada. Al contrario. Melodías y sonidos angustiosos y sobrecogedores, creadores de una atmósfera propia de una película de miedo (de las buenas) que nunca antes había experimentado. Todo ello, fusionado con tintes de música industrial y ritmos marciales.


10- Obispo Fornicado – Él tiene el poder



Lo incluyo en la lista por motivos mas subjetivos que objetivos. Si, el grupo es bueno, indudablemente. Pero los había bastante mejores y mas merecedores de este décimo puesto, como podrian haber sido Aggression o Gothmog. Pero la originalidad del grupo, sus letras cachondas, su imagen provocativa; y en definitiva, lo increíblemente divertido que es el disco (a la vista esta en la portada que no estamos ante un grupo corriente); ha hecho que finalmente decida incluirlos en este top 10.


Los peores (tanto nacional como internacional) / The worst (from any country):


1- Cultes Des Goules – The story of Dagon



Insufrible, infumable, desesperante... no consigo encontrar la palabra adecuada para calificar a semejante mierda. Una especie de gothic / industrial metal intimista, que como idea está muy bien, pero que en la práctica es la cosa más rallante e insoportable que he escuchado jamás. Un disco que tiene la “habilidad” de ponerme nervioso, y que he sido incapaz de acabar la segunda canción. Por vuestro bien, manteneos alejad@s.


2- Marilyn Manson – The High End of Low



Por favor, señor Hugh Warner, retírese ya. Da usted pena, tanto en estudio como en directo. Ha pasado a ser uno de las mayores promesas y uno de los artistas mas provocadores de los 90; a sacar varios de los peores cds de los dosmiles y a no asustar ni a los niños. No siga mancillando el recuerdo de aquellos gloriosos cds tales como Antichrist Superstar y aquellos memorables directos que usted ofreció hace 10 años.


3- Sauze – El Mejor Momento



Una de las cosas mas malas, asquerosas, salchicheras y chungas que he oído en años. Calificarlo de vomitivo es echarle un piropo. Peor incluso que su ya de por si penoso debut. Si su “mejor momento” es este, prefiero no imaginarme como será el peor.


4- Vision Divine – 9 Degrees West Of The Moon



Hace muy pocos años que estos italianos podían presumir de ser santo y seña del power europeo, con algún disco absolutamente enorme, como lo fué aquel infravaloradísimo Stream of Consciousness. Ahora son un grupo del montón, soso, anodino, predecible, muy alejado de aquellos discazos grabados solo unos pocos años atrás. Y por si fuera poco, Fabio Lione vuelve a la banda. Puede que en Rhapsody lo hiciera bien, pero en Vision Divine no da la talla ni poniéndole un cirio a la virgen. Por mucho que tenga voz de tia (que de hecho he pensado en serio durante años que su vocalista era una mujer), Michele Luppi es claramente superior.


5- Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know:



Si este año ha habido una decepción muy gorda, musicalmente hablando, esa es la que me han dado Iommi y sus chicos. Por lo visto, con aquel glorioso e increíblemente infravalorado “Tyr” del 1990, se le agotó la inspiración, pues cada disco nuevo que ha ido sacando es peor que el anterior. Y este en particular, anodino hasta niveles insospechados.


6- HammerFall – No Sacrifice, no Glory



¿Que ha sido de la que fuera una de las bandas más prometedoras de la escena power metalera? ¿Que ha sido de la que era una de mis 5 bandas favoritas? ¿Que ha sido de ese grupo con semejantes discazos como Legacy of Kings o Crimson Thunder? Por que, mare mía, menudo truñazo de disco. No hay por donde cojerlo. Ese “algo” que tenia el grupo ha desaparecido por completo. Y si a eso añadimos que HammerFall nunca se ha caracterizado por la evolución de su sonido, lo que tenemos aquí es algo que has oído millones de veces, pero que además no engancha ni entretiene ni queriendo.


7- Amadeüs – Caminos del alma



La mayoría de las opiniones que he leído dicen que ven en estos chicos una de las bandas más prometedoras de la actualidad. Sin embargo, yo veo un plagio barato de Avalanch en todos los sentidos posibles salvo en la calidad, y un disco muy muy mediocre.


8- Leo – Títere con cabeza



El de Fuenlabrada vuelve, con el rabo entre las piernas, y tras la traumática experiencia de que no le saluden en el Carrefour, al mismo estilo del que hace apenas dos años renegó. Y con un trabajo, descartes de Saratoga; dirigido a un público específico: quinceañeras a las que les chorrean el coño viendo la portada y que lo más extremo que han oido nunca es el “gutural” del cover de Hijo De La Luna de Stravaganzza; y el metalero principiante cuya máxima es “Heavy= bueno, no heavy=malo”. Y, como no, con mas grititos y agudos que nunca, intentando impresionar al tiempo que tapar su absoluta y total falta de versatilidad vocal; y para intentar disimular que, musicalmente, este disco roza el plagio barato del Tierra de Lobos de su anterior banda.


9- Chickenfoot – Chickenfoot



Por que juntar a muchas estrellas no es sinónimo de calidad (ahí tenemos al Real Madrid, por ejemplo). Que vale, que todos y cada uno de sus miembros son (o fueron) de lo mejorcito en lo suyo. Y su ejecución es excelente. Y la producción inmejorable. Pero el disco es aburrido con ganas, con absolutamente ningún retazo de originalidad y/o sorpresa.


10- Ace Frehley – Anomaly



Me duele incluir este disco aquí, por que adoro al señor Frehley. Tengo a su primer disco en solitario como uno de mis 5 discos preferidos dentro del hard rock. Considero a los dos discos que sacó con su grupo Frehley´s Comet como dos sendas obras maestras... pero este "Anomaly" tiene muy pocas cosas aprovechables. Si acaso el primer tema, "Foxy & Free", y muy poco más. Si en 20 años que han pasado desde su anterior álbum solo ha conseguido ofrecer esto, muy mal vamos...

Well here is the list of best albums of 2009. Hope you like it!

34. Sirenia– The 13th Floor

Some good gothic/symphonic metal here from Morten and co. It is definitely an improvement from Nine Destinies and a Downfall being heavier, but unfortunately not as good as At Sixes and Sevens. Still there are great vocals from Morten as always and it is worth checking out.

33. the aeonic order of vacuity – Nether
This is a demo I heard on Myspace and its absolutely fantastic considering that. It is very good slow heavy, brooding funeral doom metal. If you like funeral doom I command you to give this a try.

32. Absu – Absu
fantastic blackened thrash, and their best album to date. Recommended.

31. Exivious – Exivious instrumental progressive metal, really excellent with lots of changes and styles. Recommended to any prog rockers.

30. Paradise Lost – Drown in Dakrness - the early demos
I hadn’t ever heard anything by them before, but this is excellent! Really good death doom, quite badly produced but excellent quality in the musicianship. If you’re looking for something raw, rather than the very well produced stuff like Swallow the Sun, then look no further than this.

29. Stream of Passion – The Flame Within
This is another very good symphonic metal album from Marcela Bovio and co. but after Arjen Anthony Lucassen left, they were left to make this one on their own. They do an amirable follow up to Embrace the Storm, but the songs are less memorable than the first album.

28. Kreator- Hordes of Chaos
Good melodic thrash metal, Hordes Of Chaos is a catchy song that would be good live. It has nice riffs and solos. Not as good as Enemy of God, but highly recommended.

27. Napalm Death - Time Waits For No Slave
The grindcore kings do it again, just as well as on previous releases.

26. Wyrd – Kalivagi
More folky black metal, this time with a few more hard rock elements, this band is just as good as ever!

25. Ashes You Leave – Songs For The Lost
Nearly all doom metal elements are gone; this is solely a gothic metal album, but a very well done one. Their cover of Placebo’s Every You Every Me (which I hate, I can’t stand them) is excellent, and amazingly is the highlight of the album. If you like female fronted gothic metal, then this is for you.

24. Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague
Not as good as Kill, but still a very good death metal album.

23. Within Temptation – An Acoustic Night At The Theatre
Those waiting for a new album may be slightly annoyed at getting another live album, though it is extremely good. It’s completely different from black symphony, being mainly acoustic, but the vocal performance from Sharon Den Adelis breathtaking as ever. Utopia is a very nice new song, but they are straying further and further from the metal genre with this one.

22. Lethian Dreams – Bleak Silver Streams
Good atmospheric doom metal that sounds a bit like Amederia. Excellent vocals, and very heavy. Recommended

21. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Not as good as Leviathan, but more of a progression away, this is still a very good album with lots of very good ideas. If you want some metal that’s a bit different then give this a listen.

20. Ahab – The Divinity of Oceans
The most depressing album I have ever heard, this is such a monolithic album, heavy and slow, but excellent. My favourite funeral doom album of all time!

19. Alestorm – Black Sails at Midnight
The most fun album of the year! This is not just a gimmick by some idiots wearing pirate hats, it is actually well written heavy metal, and the keyboardist is just excellent.

18. Fen – The Malediction Fields
Seems that most British black metal these days has elements of post rock in it, and this is no exception. Its very good atmospheric black metal with some clean vocals now and again. If you like Negura Bunget, then give this a try.

17. 3 Inches of Blood – Here Waits Thy Doom
An excellent heavy metal album, taking influence from lots of different places, from Led Zeppelin, to Judas Priest, to Iron Maiden, but still maintaining their excellent vocal style prevalent in previous albums. Their best yet by far!

16. Dream Theater – Black Clouds and Silver Linings
A really good progressive metal album and their best for several years. Listen out for the cover of Queens Tenement Funster/Flick Of The Wrist/Lily Of The Valley on the bonus disc; this is one of the best covers ever!

15. Epica – [album artist=epica]]design your universe[/album]
Their best yet, Simone is at top notch, and it is possibly the heaviest album they have done to date. A real surprise and a very enjoyable listen.

14. My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire
The violins are back! Every bit as good as the previous releases and the vocals are absolutely to die for!

13. Wolves in the Throne Room – Black Cascade
More of the same, but a bit more atmospheric and experimental, with clean female vocals scattered in it. This, as well as Malevolent Grain are a must hear for any fans of atmospheric black metal.

12. Wodensthrone – Loss
Good organic black metal in the vein of Drudkh. Excellently performed, with a few post rock elements too. Superb atmosphere shows again how good British Black Metal is becoming. If you like Drudkh or Negura Bunget, then you owe it to yourself to give this a try.

11. Leaves Eyes – Njord
Unbelievably this is a step up from the excellent Vinland Saga; both vocalists have improved (although in the case of Alexander Krull it wasn’t hard, he is actually listenable now!). This is a really good symphonic metal album, with the guitaring at top notch, as well as the bassist. There are a lot of folk elements again on this one.

10. Wolves in the Throne Room – Malevolent Grain
This is excellent. It comprises of just two tracks, the first A Looming Resonance is a rather relaxed atmospheric black metal song with clean vocals. It is 13 minutes long, but it’s so good you could listen to it over and over again. Hate Crystal is more of the usual Wolves in the Throne Room we know and love.

9. Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars
Even better than Memoria Vetusta I, this album has less of a fuzz and more melodic beauty. Fantastic.

8. Drudkh – Microcosmos
Drudkh do it again, this is another excellent pagan influenced black metal album, with beautiful melodies, but still retaining the harsh vocals from the previous albums. Even better than Estrangement[album], this is one of the best black metal albums of the year.

7. Sunn O))) – [album artist=sunn O)))]Monoliths and Dimensions
Never heard anything by them before, but this is an excellent work. It is unbelievably heavy and icy cold. Attila’s vocals are fantastic, and all the brass instruments on Alice (best track on the album) just make it. If you have any interest in either doom metal or experimental music you need to hear this. Truly a Monolithic Effort!

6. The Gathering – The West Pole
Anneke has left, but you didn’t expect them to stop rocking did you? This is such an amazing album by all accounts, and Silje Wergeland (previously of Octavia Sperati) is just excellent. She is a really dreamy vocalist; her voice is just a joy to listen to. All the instruments are played very well, creating beautiful atmospheres throughout. The first 3 songs make you want to run about in the sunshine, just really happy songs to put you in a good mood, but after this the atmosphere changes to one of a hopeless desperation. It is still quite experimental, but not as much as Home or Souvenirs. A special mention must go to the bassist Marjolein Kooijman who does a fantastic job.

5. Nox Aurea – Via Gnosis
Absolutely mind blowing. I heard a track on Myspace and was instantly hooked. They play gothic doom and are influenced by Draconian, but are a bit more atmospheric than this, at times sounding like Lethian Dreams and Shape of Despair. If you like Draconian you will go crazy for this.

4. Emperor – Live Inferno
This is the best live black metal album ever. Anyone who has ever seen them live (I haven’t :( ) or heard/watched Emperial Live Ceremony knows just how good they are live, its just a fantastic CD with all their best songs played in stunning fashion

3. Heaven and Hell – The Devil You Know
What a surprise this was. I never really expected any new Black Sabbath material under any pseudonym, but this is fantastic. Its unbelievably heavy, Tony Iommi is on form (when is he not) and every riff is heavy. This is the heaviest album that they have made, and Dio is an absolute god on the vocals. He is 69 and this is still the best vocals all year!

2. Slayer – World Painted Blood
A lot of people like to hate on Slayer for God Hates Us All, but I don’t see why at all. I love that album, as well as everything else they have released. World Painted Blood is a step up from the last two though; it’s a solid thrash metal album and heavy as fuck. It’s easily the best since Seasons in the Abyss, although there is one thing I have noticed. It doesn’t sound great through headphones, or low quality speakers, but when I play it through the excellent ones I have in the house it sounds amazing. Hate Worldwide and Psychopathy Red are two of the best tracks I have ever hard, and easily in my top ten Slayer songs. A lot of people (again for reasons I don’t understand) complain about Tom Araya’s vocals, but I think they are excellent, you can hear all the malice, hatred and venom intended to be put forward.

1. Anaal Nathrakh – In the Constellation of the Black Widow
This is such an incredible album. After The Codex Necro, which is the most extreme album I have ever heard in my life, their later releases were somewhat lacklustre, with only 2 or 3 great tracks. But this one brings back the intensity of the The Codex Necro, and combines with it the melodies and clean vocals present on Eschaton and Hell Is Empty, and All the Devils Are Here. This album is fucking heavy, with great riffs and some of the best black metal vocals I have ever heard. The clean vocals are epic, there are piercing screams, amazing shouting, and seriously there are about 15 different vocal styles present here. From start to finish this album kicks serious butt and I am proud to call it my album of the year.

Dissapointing albums, because not everyone can create the best

Xasthur – All Reflections Drained
This is just shitty ambient noise with no good musicianship whatsoever. Malefic just seems to have given up because this is boring as hell. Avoid at all costs, worst album I have heard all year.

Lacuna Coil – Shallow Life
Bland and commercial nonsense, this is just sugary sweet pop music. Shame because I seem to be in the minority who enjoyed Karmacode. Spellbound was a fantastic single and I thought this would be good, but no. It’s just plain awful, avoid completely unless you would like to hear Britney Spears with some poor guitars.

Edenbridge – Live Earth Dream
Good songs performed well but the quality of the recordings is awful and on some of the songs they don’t even record the whole thing. Wild Chase is superb and better than the album, but I was expecting more considering how good A Livetime in Eden is.

Epica – The Classical Conspiracy
Ok, so I don’t have a problem with the performance of their own material, in fact I think it is a rather good performance, and I would have really liked it had it just been their own material. But it’s the "classical" stuff that annoys me. It is so patronising! Instead of real classical music (which several metalheads like) we get Pirates of the carribean, Darth Vaders theme tune, and the one from Spiderman. I actually felt slightly insulted by that, after expecting some real classical music.

Delain – April Rain
Not as commercial and bland as Lacuna Coil’s Shallow Life, but its not that good. On Lucidity they had a lot of guests, and they made it all seem like an excellent album. Now that they are down to their own talents it shows that they aren’t really very good. Charlotte is a decent singer though.

Nightwish – Made In Hong Kong
A very poor live album, and not even a whole concert because of some sort of dispute with record labels regarding being able to play pre-Annette songs. The Escapist is a fantastic bonus song though, but it still feels like a cash grab.

1349 – Revelations of the Black Flame
All the intensity present in Hellfire that made it such a good album has completely gone, replaced with some attempt at making intelligent progressive black metal. Instead we are left with a boring album with hardly any good ideas, and a rasped cover of Pink Floyd’s Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, which is a disgrace to those mighty prog rockers. Avoid, particularly if you liked Hellfire.

Belphegor – Walpurgis rites – hexenwahn
Probably my most highly anticipated album of the year, as Belphegor have been one of my favourite bands for years. Unfortuantely it just sounds bland, as if the well of ideas has dried up, and all that was left was some songs rejected while recording Bondage Goat Zombie. That said Veneratio Diaboli – I am Sin, is among their best songs ever.

Muse – The Resistance
Ok, so until about October when I discovered The Gathering I thought that Muse were the only good rock band left on the planet. Rock to me is just dead, with hardly any good bands, but Muse seemed to be the only one I really liked, even loved. But [a;bum artist=muse]the Resistance[/album] fell far short of expectations. They have always had a lot of influence from romantic era classical music, but on this album they actually just become a clone of their influences rather than using them to create something unique. United States of Eurasia just sounds exactly like a Queen Song, with no originality, and on the end they just use a piece from Chopin. Laziness much? Overall it isn’t an awful album, but there is no originality, and instead of using influences they just steal from them.

Anyway thats just my take on the years music. There is a lot of dtuff I haven't gotten round to hearing yet, so it won't have everything. If anyone wants to comment and suggest bands or albums that I may like judging from this journal that would be appreciated!

It's the winter solstice today, and that means autumn is officially over! So I thought it was a good time to look back and see which are my most played albums over the last three months:

(Sorry if some of the pictures don't work, the server isn't always that reliable.)

os_teriyaki's top albums (3 months) 1. Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays (679) 2. Sonata Arctica - Unia (421) 3. Elias Viljanen - Fire-Hearted (268) 4. Sonata Arctica - Silence (220) 5. Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica (198) 6. Sydänpuu - Sydänpuu (196) 7. Sonata Arctica - Winterheart's Guild (174) 8. Sonata Arctica - Reckoning Night (173) 9. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (169) 10. Nicholas Hooper - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (165) 11. Dir en grey - UROBOROS (165) 12. Versailles - Noble (146) 13. Dir en grey - VULGAR (138) 14. Dir en grey - Withering to death. (133) 15. Pain - Cynic Paradise (116) 16. Tarot - Suffer Our Pleasures (101) 17. Versailles - Lyrical Sympathy (99) 18. Nightwish - Wishmaster (99) 19. Finntroll - Nattfödd (95) 20. Tarja - My Winter Storm (94) 21. Nightwish - Oceanborn (93) 22. John Williams - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (82) 23. Sonata Arctica - Takatalvi (80) 24. Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays [Orchestral CD] (78) 25. Danny Elfman - Corpse Bride (76) 26. Nightwish - Century Child (68) 27. Nightwish - Once (67) 28. My Dying Bride - Songs of Darkness, Words of Light (65) 29. Stewart Copeland - Spyro The Dragon Ost - Disc 2 (65) 30. Stewart Copeland - Spyro The Dragon OST - Disc 1 (64) 31. Nightwish - Angels Fall First (58) 32. Tarot - Crows Fly Black (57) 33. My Dying Bride - Like Gods of the Sun (56) 34. Sonata Arctica - Don't Say a Word (53) 35. Nightwish - Over The Hills And Far Away (52) 36. Machinae Supremacy - Overworld (50) 37. Machinae Supremacy - Deus Ex Machinae (50) 38. Sonata Arctica - Successor (46) 39. Delain - Lucidity (46) 40. Pain - Psalms of Extinction (45) 41. Versailles - ASCENDEAD MASTER (45) 42. Michael Kamen - Band of Brothers (45) 43. Versailles - PRINCE & PRINCESS (44) 44. Patrick Doyle - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (43) 45. Dark Moor - The Hall of the Olden Dreams (43) 46. Kamelot - The Black Halo (40) 47. Brother Firetribe - Heart Full of Fire (40) 48. Finntroll - Trollhammaren EP (39) 49. Dark Moor - The Gates of Oblivion (38) 50. Kamelot - Ghost Opera (38)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! \:D/

In alphabetical order:

Ahab - The Divinity of Oceans
Altar Of Oblivion - Sinews Of Anguish
Altar of Plagues - White Tomb
Arcana Coelestia - Le Mirage de L'Idéal
Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ
Argus - Argus
Artillery - When Death Comes
Asphyx - Death... The Brutal Way
Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
Autumnia - O'Funeralia
Avenger - Feast of Anger - Joy of Despair
Azarath - Diabolic Impious Evil
Behemoth - Evangelion
Blood Red Throne - Souls of Damnation
Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars
Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
Carcariass - E-xtinction
ChthoniC - Mirror of Retribution
Code - Resplendent Grotesque
Count Raven - Mammons War
Crystal Viper - Metal Nation
Denial - Catacombs of the Grotesque
Deströyer 666 - Defiance
Doomenicus - Sacred
Drudkh - Microcosmos
Ea - Ea ll
Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Children Of The Dark Waters
Excoriate - On Pestilent Winds...
Exivious - Exivious
Fatum Elisum - Fatum Elisum
Fen - The Malediction Fields
Fjoergyn - Jahreszeiten
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
Fool's Game - Reality Divine
Forsaken - After the Fall
Funebrarum - The Sleep of Morbid Dreams
Geïst - Galeere
God Dethroned - Passiondale
Gorod - Process of a New Decline
Grave Miasma - Exalted Emanation
Graveyard - One With The Dead
Griftegård - Solemn.Sacred.Severe
Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
Iron Man - I Have Returned
Isole - Silent Ruins
Kalisia - Cybion
Kathaarsys - Anonymous Ballad
Klabautamann - Merkur
Krallice - Dimensional Bleedthrough
Lethian Dreams - Bleak Silver Streams
Lost Soul - Immerse In Infinity
Mantic Ritual - Executioner
maudlin of the Well - Part the Second
Megadeth - Endgame
Miseration - The Mirroring Shadow
Miserere Luminis - Miserere Luminis
Mournful Congregation - The June Frost
Mourning Dawn - For the Fallen
My Dying Bride - The Lies I Sire
My Lament - Broken Leaf
Nahemah - A New Constellation
Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
Njiqahdda - Yrg Alms
Obscura - Cosmogenesis
Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu
Persefone - Shin-Ken
Portal - Swarth
Process of Guilt - Erosion
Procession - The Cult Of Disease
Razor of Occam - Homage to Martyrs
Redemption - Snowfall On Judgment Day
Revelation - For the Sake of No One
Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
Rudra - Brahmavidya: Transcendental I
Secrets of the Moon - Privilegivm
Semlah - Semlah
Shadow Gallery - Digital Ghosts
Shining - VI - Klagopsalmer
Silent Lapse - Birthright
Skagos - Ást
Skeletonwitch - Breathing The Fire
Spiritus Mortis - The God Behind the God
Swallow the Sun - New Moon
Teitanblood - Seven Chalices
The Chasm - Farseeing The Paranormal Abysm
The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Ape Uprising!
The Prophecy - Into The Light
The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
Thunderstone - Dirt Metal
Time's Forgotten - Dandelion
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Night Castle
Tribulation - The Horror
Ulcerate - Everything Is Fire
Unanimated- In the Light of Darkness
Urna - Iter ad Lucem
Vader - Necropolis
W.A.S.P. - Babylon
Weapon - Drakonian Paradigm
While Heaven Wept - Vast Oceans Lachrymose
Wodensthrone - Loss
Wolves in the Throne Room - Black Cascade

Sanguine_Sky's top albums (7 days) 1. Betray-Ed - An Everlasting Drift (55) 2. Empyrium - Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays (45) 3. Avrigus - The Secret Kingdom (30) 4. Estatic Fear - A Sombre Dance (30) 5. Uaral - Lamentos A Poema Muerto (21) 6. Betray-Ed - Woods of Eternity (20) 7. Ensiferum - Dragonheads (18) 8. Empyrium - Songs of Moors & Misty Fields (18) 9. On Thorns I Lay - Crystal Tears (17) 10. Swallow the Sun - New Moon (16) 11. Synthesia - The Time Travellers (15) 12. Orphanage - Driven (14) 13. Kerion - Holy Creatures Quest (14) 14. Björk - Volta (13) 15. Paradise Lost - In Requiem (13) 16. Ebony Ark - When The City Is Quiet (13) 17. Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows - The Inexperienced Spiral Traveller (13) 18. Angellore - Les Promesses De L'Aube (13) 19. Dejafuse - DejaFuse (12) 20. Saturnus - Martyre (12) 21. Nemesea - Mana (12) 22. Arkona - Ot Serdtsa K Nebu (12) 23. Liv Kristine - Enter My Religion (12) 24. Coronatus - Fabula Magna (12) 25. Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (12) 26. Septic Flesh - Ophidian Wheel (11) 27. Ghost Brigade - Isolation Songs (11) 28. Gojira - The Link (11) 29. Battlelore - The Last Alliance (11) 30. Ador Dorath - bestiari (11) 31. Samael - Solar Soul (11) 32. Angra - Fireworks (11) 33. Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup (11) 34. Moonspell - Night Eternal (11) 35. The Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always (11) 36. Deadlock - Wolves (11) 37. The Provenance - Red Flags (10) 38. Ambeon - Fate of a Dreamer (10) 39. Macbeth - Superangelic Hate Bringers (10) 40. Catafalque - Dialectique (10) 41. Crematory - Crematory (10) 42. Collide - Chasing the Ghost (10) 43. Immortal - Battles in the North (10) 44. End of You - Mimesis (10) 45. Ashes You Leave - Songs For The Lost (9) 46. Ram-Zet - Intra (9) 47. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hyaena (9) 48. Draconian - Turning Season Within (9) 49. Septic Flesh - Communion (9) 50. My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours (8)

Well 2009's not quite over yet, but I probably won't get a chance closer to New Year's to do this, so here ya go. And yes, this took forever. I don't mind though ^__^ Means I had something to do whilst scrobbling! \:D/

So here we go, my top 40 most scrobbled artists of the year, accompanied by their most scrobbled albums and tracks. Knock yourselves out xD


DNC = "Did not chart"
NTY = "New this year"
IC = "Incomplete" i.e. I don't have the full album yet. This is usually because I've downloaded two or three songs so that I can listen to them a fair few times before deciding whether or not to buy the full album. If I just research on youtube, I wouldn't be giving a band enough time to grow on me (or to grow old, in fact!)

Chart positions determined 5:30 p.m., Thursday 17th December 2009. As if that matters xDD


=#40 - Circa Survive (103 plays)
> One of the best bands I've listened to. They're just not my genre xD
Top Album of 2009: On Letting Go (#75, 57 plays)
> An almost flawless album
Top Track of 2009: DNC

=#40 - Genesis (103 plays)
> Grew up with these guys, one of the only bands that both my parents like xD
Top Album of 2009: We Can't Dance (#136, 28 plays)
> The final track, Fading Lights, is just pure amazingness
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#39 - Depeche Mode (112 plays)
> They seem to have inspired everyone somewhere along the lines, and for good reason xD DM are one of the main reasons for English pride!
Top Album of 2009: Playing The Angel IC (#101, 38 plays)
> A superb album, really superb :)
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#38 - Amorphis NTY (114 plays)
> Initially interested, I slowly realised that it all sounded the same ¬__¬
Top Album of 2009: Silent Waters NTY (#84, 49 plays)
> What a disappointment. It's so mediocre, easily my worst buy of 2009.
Top Track of 2009: House of Sleep NTY (#105, 36 plays)
> See, this was interesting. It's just that the rest is either boring or a boring clone >__>

#37 - 下村陽子 NTY (121 plays)
> Because I like the Kingdom Hearts game >w<
Top Album of 2009: KINGDOM HEARTS Original Soundtrack COMPLETE [Disc 1] NTY (#121, 31 plays)
> Same as above, really xD
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#36 - Metallica (130 plays)
> The influence of the great 'Tallica just can't be ignored, nor escaped :)
Top Album of 2009: S&M (#97, 41 plays)
> The first time I heard a proper orchestra used in metal - in other words, the set-up for Nightwish ;)
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#35 - Korpiklaani NTY (135 plays)
> A pure last.fm discovery, this was. My first taste of folk metal too, I think.
Top Album of 2009: Korven Kuningas NTY, IC (#62, 76 plays)
> I still want to buy this at some point...
Top Track of 2009: Kipumylly NTY (#94, 38 plays)
> I love this song! I even learned the Finnish lyrics, though I forgot them before too long... xD

#34 - Indica NTY (138 plays)
> I got into Indica because they were one of the support bands for the Nightwish gig. They're a pretty fun little group ^__^
Top Album of 2009: Valoissa NTY, IC (#71, 60 plays)
> Ah, the infamous Tuomas-produced album. If I ever buy an Indica album, it won't be this one xD
Top Track of 2009: Vuorien taa NTY (#100, 37 plays)
> Easily the best out of the few I know. Jonsu's fiddle *makes* it :)

=#32 - Deadlock (144 plays)
> I've known about them for ages but last.fm rekindled my drive to investigate their music :) and MAN they're good! :D
Top Album of 2009: Manifesto NTY, IC (#82, 52 plays)
> Getting this album for Christmas :D It was a hard choice which to get, though, this or Wolves...
Top Track of 2009: Martyr To Science NTY (#206, 25 plays)
> What a great track @__@ I'm not sure you can get much better than this, the guitars are great and Sabine's voice... wuaaah!

=#32 - Evanescence (144 plays)
> This artist had the single greatest influence on my musical (and personal, thinking about it) life. Evanescence showed me that I liked rock/metal combined with classical styles, which has paved the way for the vast majority of what I listen to today. And they're still fun to listen to occasionally, even after six years x) (Feels like longer...!)
Top Album of 2009: The Open Door (#108, 36 plays)
I actually prefer this to Fallen, I really do. Fallen is too boring and samey - there's some fail on The Open Door but there's much more win too to make up for that.
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#31 - Kate Bush (157 plays)
> Probably one of the greatest solo artists ever. She's just amazing @__@
Top Album of 2009: Aerial: A Sky of Honey NTY (#130, 29 plays)
> Easily, *easily* my favourite Kate Bush album. The way it just flows as if it's just one massive, chaptered song... amazing, and so calming to listen to ^__^
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#30 - For My Pain... NTY (162 plays)
> I listened to these guys because of Tuomas being in the band and to be fair, I do like their music, but... it's just so incredibly emo!! @___@ And emo in a very unemotional way, which is... just weird xD
Top Album of 2009: Fallen NTY, IC (#42, 129 plays)
> I nearly bought this. I'm glad I didn't xD Though maybe one days... *shrugs*
Top Track of 2009: My Wound Is Deeper Than Yours NTY (#214, 24 plays)
> Not my favourite FMP song xD It's good, but not the best :P

#29 - Green Day (165 plays)
> I got really fond of these guys again during the summer x)
Top Album of 2009: International Superhits! (#89, 46 plays)
> It's my top album mostly because it has the most tracks xDD
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#28 - Eluveitie NTY (172 plays)
> Another last.fm discovery. I really love their brand of folk metal, especially since they're not afraid to put down their guitars and stuff and just play pure folk.
Top Album of 2009: Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion NTY, IC (#69, 62 plays)
> This is probably the album I'd buy, if I get round to it. Like I said, the "pure folk" element is what makes me respect Eluveitie the most...
Top Track of 2009: Bloodstained Ground NTY (#177, 27 plays)
> ...even though what made me fall for them was the combination of metal and folk on this here track x) Bloodstained Ground is pretty close to perfect :P

#27 - Galneryus (173 plays)
> Shock horror! A Japanese band that I discovered, not my sister! xD I really want to buy some albums of theirs but you know... postage from Japan is a killer T^T
Top Album of 2009: One For All - All For One NTY, IC (#82, 52 plays)
> When I eventually buy a Galneryus album, this is the one I want most!
Top Track of 2009: Cause Disarray (#118, 33 plays)
> My first Garu track :3 It struck me as similar to Sonata, and that was enough to investigate them further x3

#26 - Jamiroquai (182 plays)
> Aww, Jamiroquai :D *smiles at them in fondness* They were my favourites for a long, long time back at school and college, and I'll always have a soft spot for them :)
Top Album of 2009: The Return of the Space Cowboy (#97, 41 plays)
> THE best Jamiroquai album. There's no question - greatest sound, greatest consistency, just a great funk album :)
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#25 - The Gathering NTY (191 plays)
> They make very nice, calm music, but that's the problem xD It's so nice and calm that I got bored of it very quickly ^__^;; Still, it's good for relaxing every now and then :)
Top Album of 2009: The West Pole NTY (#31, 179 plays)
> A good solid album, if you don't mind music that doesn't really pack a punch.
Top Track of 2009: The West Pole NTY (#94, 38 plays)
> The song that made me pay attention to The Gathering, and probably still my favourite. It just transports you to another world~~

#24 - Sydänpuu NTY (192 plays)
> *flails arms in totally fangirly way* I love Sydänpuu!! \:D/ I got into them because I found out that Jani Liimatainen (ex-guitarist of Sonata, of course) does everything but drums for this project. I listened, not seriously expecting anything of Jani's voice, and OH MY GOD. BLOWN AWAY @___@ Jani, stop messing around with Cain's Offering and get your butt back to Sydänpuu! This project shows so much promise!!
Top Album of 2009: Sydänpuu NTY (#29, 192 plays)
> Well, it's not really an album xD It's six demo tracks, the only Sydänpuu stuff we have ;____; In a way that makes it more precious but at the same time I WANT MORE DANGIT!
Top Track of 2009: Hautaa Minut Tänään NTY (#33, 53 plays)
> The first track I listened to, the one that made me fall in love with Jani's voice, and I still can't get enough of it. REPEATREPEAT.

#23 - Michael Jackson (204 plays)
> Believe it or not, most of those scrobbles were from before his death. I've always loved this guy, for my whole life; a great man and a great musician. Rest in peace, dearest, rest in peace. *moonwalks*
Top Album of 2009: HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I Disc 2 (#84, 49 plays)
> Bad is actually my favourite album, but this one has more tracks so it gets more scrobbles :P
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#22 - Finntroll NTY (250 plays)
> Got into these guys because of the Nightwish-Tapio Wilska-Finntroll connection x3 Just gotta love the sound they create, trolls partying into the night x)
Top Album of 2009: Nattfödd NTY (#52, 94 plays)
> I finally bought this at Halloween, and it's absolutely perfect for that time of year x) And, oddly, Christmas xDD (don't know how that works... O.o)
Top Track of 2009: Hel Vete NTY (#108, 35 plays)
> This was my self-righteous anger song at some point, and I really don't know how I got that from the song xD It's great, in spite of my odd usage of it :P

#21- Elias Viljanen NTY (259 plays)
> Yeap, Sonata Arctica's current guitarist! I've only discovered his solo stuff really recently but OH MY GODD I absolutely adore his work!! @__@ Ahh, so amazing... Elias' music is just so great to listen to, because even though he's a fantastic guitarist, the album isn't just one long solo - he really thinks about the music. It's so heartfelt, and so uplifting, there's almost nothing that's better to listen to! :P
Top Album of 2009: Fire-Hearted NTY (#20, 259 plays)
> Got this for my birthday just over a week ago and it's already my third favourite album for this year :3 I could listen to it all day and night; I know I wouldn't get tired of that warm fuzzy feeling ^w^ And it doesn't hurt at all that this album features my two favourite male singers of all time, Tony Kakko and Marco Hietala :P
Top Track of 2009: Kiss of Rain NTY (#2, 101 plays)
> The song that features Tony Kakko x) For about a month or two, this was the first song I listened to when I woke up and the last song I listened to before I went to sleep. My god, it just doesn't get better than this. This is my official song of 2009 :)

#20 - Dark Moor NTY (295 plays)
> Since my sister's friend Harry is addicted to Dark Moor, I ended up inheriting seven albums at once xD It was pretty difficult to get my head around at first, and I was very scathing for a long time, but I'm at last enjoying and appreciating their somewhat... "not-perfect" style of symphonic power metal xD
Top Album of 2009: The Gates of Oblivion NTY (#76, 56 plays)
> Definitely one of my favourites. Elisa's great here, and the instrumentation is better than on post-Elisa albums, I think.
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#19 - Machinae Supremacy NTY (297 plays)
> I got these beauties from Chris x) They're good fun but to be honest the guy's voice kind of bugs me, which is why I'm not listening to them as much as I used to.
Top Album of 2009: Overworld NTY (#28, 194 plays)
> I actually like this pretty much the same as Deus Ex Machinae, but I got Overworld earlier.
Top Track of 2009: Violator NTY (#206, 25 plays)
> I still love this song :D It's one of those where the guy's voice doesn't annoy me, and I love the lyrical content >w<

#18 - Patrick Doyle (317 plays)
> Paddy! \:D/ Actually I'm in a bit of a rut with him - at one point he was my favourite Harry Potter composer and now he's my least favourite ^__^;; His themes are okay, but... not *Harry* enough I guess :P
Top Album of 2009: Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (#16, 317 plays)
> Correction: ONLY album of 2009 xDD
Top Track of 2009: Harry in Winter (#177, 27 plays)
> I do still love this one :) Learned to play it on the piano, too!

#17 - 北出菜奈 (327 plays)
> Yay for Nana! \:D/ Probably my favourite solo singer (we'll have to see how Anette can do, hmm? x3) although I don't listen to her so much.. She was also the first step into the world of Japanese music for me and Chrissi, so we'll always be grateful to her for that :)
Top Album of 2009: BONDAGE NTY (#52, 94 plays)
> This new album is easily Nana's best. Sophisticated but fun at the same time. Hopefully if Loveless (her new project) sounds like any of her solo albums, it'll sound like this one :)
Top Track of 2009: 鏡の国のアリア NTY (#409, 16 plays)
> Easily, easily the best song Nana has produced. Now why the hell didn't you put it on an album, eh? This is too good for a b-side!!

#16 - Tarja (338 plays)
> The bitch is back! \:D/ Okay, I don't really mean that, it's a reference to a Sinergy song, but the point is that Tarja's back in my good books again (about time!). In fact, right now, she's my favourite female singer to listen to, which is JUST WEIRD xD (I phase with her like you wouldn't believe!! @__@) Looking forward to What Lies Beneath anyways! :3
Top Album of 2009: My Winter Storm (#19, 260 plays)
> Such a hit-and-miss album, and again I phase with it constantly, but I'm enjoying it for now :)
Top Track of 2009: Our Great Divide (#230, 23 plays)
> Yey! \:D/ My favourite song, at least from MWS - "sounds of waves" indeed, and I can't help but think it's about the friendship lost between her and Tuomas... It feels like we're actually seeing *Tarja*, rather than her "brave face" or her "ice queen" mask.

#15 - Stewart Copeland NTY (339 plays)
> HELL YEAH!! >8D Well, it says "new this year" but that's only in terms of scrobbles. I've actually been listening to Stewart Copeland for about two-thirds of my life since he made the.greatest.soundtrack.of.all.time for the original Spyro the Dragon game :P It's still my favourite game and the music has a huge part to play in that :3 And unlike most soundtrack music, it actually passes for popular music too, instrumental-style. The only reason he's not my highest soundtrack artist is because the Harry Potter OSTs are Harry Potter, I mean, what do you expect? ;D
Top Album of 2009: Spyro The Dragon OST - Disc 1 NTY (#32, 176 plays)
> ... which just means that I play the first half of the OST more than the second, which I guess makes sense. After all, Magic Crafters homeland is in the first half, and ALL the Magic Crafters levels have good music :D
Top Track of 2009: Ice Cavern NTY (#290, 20 plays)
> You can't really pick a favourite track from this OST but this is definitely one of the strongest ones :3

#14 - My Dying Bride NTY (342 plays)
> Oooh, dour and gloomy! I went and found MDB because Tuomas loves them, and I'm glad I took the effort. They're easily one of the most mature bands I've listened to. Their music is elegant and yet very rough at the same time. I can't listen to them for long periods of time, not because they're depressing but because I get a little bored, and that's why they don't have more scrobbles. (Plus that their songs are ridiculously long @__@)
Top Album of 2009: Like Gods of the Sun NTY (#40, 145 plays)
> The first of the two albums I've bought so far. There are a handful of really great tracks but the rest I can kind of overlook without even the slightest feeling of guilt .___.
Top Track of 2009: Catherine Blake NTY (#127, 32 plays)
> It would probably actually have been For You if it wasn't for the fact that For You was mistagged originally. But Catherine Blake deserves this spot, because it was the song that made me fall for MDB. And Aaron's voice @__@ Aaron's VOICE!

#13 - In Flames (343 plays)
> I listened to these guys loads when I first came to last.fm, I think because I wanted to boost scrobbles of such a non-mainstream band. I lol at my innocence back then xD I don't listen to them so much these days simply because they're a little *too* heavy for my tastes.
Top Album of 2009: A Sense of Purpose (#29, 192 plays)
> Of course, the trve fans hate this album. I care not. It's good ^w^
Top Track of 2009: The Chosen Pessimist (#167, 28 plays)
> Easily the best In Flames song. It shows such maturity, skill and emotion.

#12 - John Williams (359 plays)
> And the magic that is Harry Potter returns! :3 Johnny is the classic sound of HP :) I have mixed feelings about this guy coming back for the last two movies, though... on the one hand, Philosopher's Stone is my favourite HP score, but on the other, Prisoner of Azkaban was just two and a half hours of WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!
Top Album of 2009: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone NTY (#25, 213 plays)
> *The* Christmas album :D I love this so much, and it would be higher in the charts but the scrobbles are split because I had it mistagged initially ;____;
Top Track of 2009: Leaving Hogwarts (#177, 27 plays)
> This track always makes me want to cry xD Seriously, if they end the final movie with this piece, I will absolutely fall apart in the cinema. I promise ;D

#11 - HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR (379 plays)
> I am AMAZED that Haikara got that many scrobbles this year @__@ I've been a fan of them for a long time but I really hit a wall with them this year; I haven't got anything out of listening to them for ages now. They put on a good live show, though, I enjoyed watching the latest DVD :)
Top Album of 2009: ROCK PIT (#54, 89 plays)
> Yeah, this is my favourite, I think. I mean, it has MEKIMEKI. What more do you want? \:D/
Top Track of 2009: DNC

#10 - Nicholas Hooper NTY (392 plays)
> And thus completing the Harry Trinity of composers! \:D/ Nicky did the score for the most recent two movies, and whilst I was unimpressed by Order, Half-Blood was AMAZINGsauce. One of my favourite movie scores of all time! \:D/
Top Album of 2009: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince NTY (#12, 367 plays)
> Freakin' love this xD It's so good. I could listen to it for years but I'd miss my other music xD
Top Track of 2009: Fireworks NTY (#214, 24 plays)
> Ironic, then, that my most played track is not from Half-Blood xD Well, actually it is, because they re-used it but didn't put it on the HBP OST. So there! :P

#9 - Pain NTY (444 plays)
> These guys also supported Nightwish and man were they amazing! \:D/ Such a good live band, and I totally fell in love with Peter's voice. I plan to go right through the back catalogue eventually :)
Top Album of 2009: Cynic Paradise NTY (#22, 256 plays)
> A good, solid album :) For some reason it's really good music to listen to when you're cleaning ovens O_o Anyway, it's the only album I have at the moment but that'll change! :D
Top Track of 2009: Play Dead NTY (#23, 62 plays)
> This is easily, easily my favourite Pain track. In fact, it's one of my favourite songs everever! :D I was so surprised when I found out it was a cover, but both this and the original are amazing pieces of music, and the way that Peter altered it to suit his own voice and style whilst keeping all the best parts of the original... just perfect evidence of his genius! \:D/

#8 - Versailles NTY (519 plays)
> Definitely my favourite new discovery this year :D No thanks to me though ^__^;; I got the free download from last.fm and didn't really think much of it... THANK GOD Chrissi picked it up herself and decided to investigate them further or we would have missed out on one of the greatest bands of all time @__@ They haven't put a foot wrong so far so I can't wait to see what comes next with Jubilee. And it's important to mention the sad loss of Jasmine You (rest in peace, you crazy witch, rest in peace ;___;) and the unbelievable strength the other members have shown in the wake of his passing. I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for those guys T^T
Top Album of 2009: Noble NTY (#17, 294 plays)
> The only full-length album so far. I actually prefer Lyrical Sympathy, but hell no am I complaining, because Noble is awesome as well :D
Top Track of 2009: SUZERAIN NTY (#118, 33 plays)
> This ends up being quite random because when a Versailles song comes up, I just can't skip it, ever xD They're just all so good and we have so terribly few! @__@

#7 - Dir en grey NTY (734 plays)
> The second-best new discovery of the year, and again it's thanks to Chrissi :D I used to think Diru were a complete waste of space before she came across the DOZING GREEN PV on youtube. Now I absolutely love this band! Kyo may be a bit (a lot xD) masochistic but if he wasn't, we wouldn't have Dir en grey. He's like a martyr for the exorcism of our darkest feelings >3
Top Album of 2009: UROBOROS NTY (#11, 378 plays)
> By far and away my favourite Diru album so far. It's pretty much perfect (aside from STUCK MAN and the incomprehensible decision to make the album versions of GLASS SKIN and DOZING GREEN in English) and it's my third favourite album by anyone at the moment :)
Top Track of 2009: GAIKA, CHINMOKU GA NEMURU KORO NTY (#88, 39 plays)
> This was the song that really made me fall in love with Dir en grey, and it's still one of my favourites ^__^ Although it's hard to pick favourites with Diru... they're just not a "this is my favourite song!" kind of band! ^__^;;

#6 - Kamelot NTY (746 plays)
> It's thanks to Cerefi that I went and looked up this band, and I'm glad I did. I was wayy over-obsessed with them when I bought my first albums from them, but thankfully a period of really not liking them calmed all that down, and now I'm enjoying them at levels I consider appropriate xD Musically, I love 'em, but Khan, not so much. I seem to be the only person who thinks this besides my sister, however @__@ (Also: Boo at Glenn leaving! :( I loved Glenn...)
Top Album of 2009: The Black Halo NTY (#14, 326 plays)
> Hands down the best. Best quality, best consistency, best album feel. And Khan's voice is sometimes very nice. O.o
Top Track of 2009: When the Lights Are Down NTY (#52, 47 plays)
> Not my *favourite* (that's Serenade) but one of my "preview" songs for Kamelot, which is why it's so dominant in the charts.

#5 - Tarot NTY (749 plays)
> I literally looked these guys up the very first day I got last.fm :D I actually love Marco more in Tarot at the moment than in Nightwish, he just seems more at home here. And I'm really getting fond of Zachary too, which is cool :)
Top Album of 2009: Suffer Our Pleasures NTY (#9, 390 plays)
> One of my favourite albums ever (it's just full of so much win) which leads me to wonder what the hell went wrong when they made that hit-and-miss oddity, Crows Fly Black o_O
Top Track of 2009: Tides NTY (#7, 76 plays)
> Haha xD Shall I tell the story of its dominance? I think I shall. It was one of my preview songs but more than that I listened to it about 30 times in one night when I was writing my Marco/Tuomas fanfic :P It really helped get the mood for that last scene, and also helped me get into Marco's head more. Add that to the fact that it is, of course, one of the greatest Tarot songs. Marco's voice is truly beautiful on it *__*

#4 - Fightstar (776 plays)
> In my opinion Fightstar is the one of the best English bands we have right now :) I really haven't listened to them that much recently (about half these plays probably came from the new album and when I wrote my Fightstar fanfic) I guess because they're not heavy enough, but I'll always support these guys. I love 'em so much, I shall always be a fan! >w</~~
Top Album of 2009: Alternate Endings (#27, 197 plays)
> I kind of wish my top album wasn't a collection of b-sides, but hey xD It can't be denied that many of the best Fightstar songs come from this collection :)
Top Track of 2009: The English Way NTY (#118, 33 plays)
> ENGLISH PRIDE!! \:D/ This song appeals to my patriotism and it is just raw awesome anyways :)

#3 - Within Temptation (802 plays)
> It's a miracle these guys hung onto third place, what with the fact that I'm... well... completely and utterly bored of them at the moment @__@ They're good (that's why they were my third favourite for about half the year) but there's just not enough substance to them. However, I'll always stay fond of them since they were part of my original eurometal trinity that started everything x)
Top Album of 2009: The Heart of Everything NTY (#24, 222 plays)
> The scrobbles for this are actually split because I had the album mistagged for ages before I actually did something about it and fixed it :P It's technically the best WT album in my opinion, but not always the most enjoyable to listen to.
Top Track of 2009: Sounds of Freedom NTY (#136, 31 plays)
> Mwahaha, I am unusual! \:D/ I just loved this song when I first got it, listened to it over and over again ^^ It made me feel like I could do anything >w<

#2 - Sonata Arctica (3,457 plays)
> Holy.... right, I'm going to have to be really careful not to talk forever about these guys. Because, over the course of this year, Sonata Arctica have truly earned the right to be called my favourite band :D Along with WT and Nightwish, they formed my original eurometal trinity but they always played second fiddle to Nightwish. Living in their shadow, they gradually grew on me more and more. Earlier this year I fell in love with them properly, but it was only with the release of Flag in the Ground video and the anticipation of The Days of Grays album that I realised the truth - Sonata were displacing Nightwish as my favourite band. I resisted the change at first, claiming they were equal favourites, but now Sonata is so far ahead Nightwish doesn't even figure. The simple fact is that I enjoy Sonata's music over and above everyone else's! And of course seeing them live earlier this month merely intensified my love for Sonata Arctica :) Five magnificent musicians (eight, including old members) and a ridiculously impressive back-catalogue of sensational music covering the whole spectrum of life... for me, right now, it just doesn't get better :)
(I didn't do very well at not writing much xD)
Top Album of 2009: Unia NTY (#2, 775 plays)
> This is the album that really made me fall in love with Sonata :) I was ridiculously late buying it but I'm actually really glad I waited. If I hadn't, I might have reacted like a lot of other Sonata fans and hated it. Instead, it became my favourite on the first listen :) It's second favourite now, after The Days of Grays, but seriously, by about *this* much *demonstrates tinytiny distance with fingers*
Top Track of 2009: In Black and White NTY (#6, 80 plays)
> Holy crap @__@ Could there *be* a more deserving top Sonata track? This song is the reason I bought Unia and thus really it's this song that made me fall in love with Sonata properly. When I first heard it my only thought was, "Why the hell do people hate Unia so much? THIS IS FUCKING GENIUS!!!" I listened it over and over again before I got my paws on the album and it still hasn't been beaten from the top spot :) Add to that that they used it as an encore song at our gig and oh my days, I can't help but say that this is one of my favourite songs of all time! :3

#1 - Nightwish (3,670 plays)
> What a surprise to see you here! */sarcasm* Until these last few months when Sonata displaced them, Nightwish were my most favouritest and bestest band of all time from the moment I first heard them :D That means two solid years at the top of my favourites list which, for someone as fickle as me, is really saying something @__@ I had a low with them recently, poking them and shouting at them, "WHY AREN'T YOU BETTER? DX" Mostly I was annoyed with Tuomas (he's suffered from negative comparison with Tony Kakko :P) which obviously meant that I was unable to help passing that annoyance on to the music. But thankfully (partly due to getting From Wishes to Eternity DVD for my birthday! thanks Chrissi! \:D/) I recovered my love and affection for that most magnificent of bands, Nightwish - I just don't love them *quite* as much as I did before. But you know what? I'm cool with that :) It was high time things changed around here :)
Top Album of 2009: Dark Passion Play (#1, 900 plays)
> The whole time that Nightwish were my favourite band of all time, this was my favourite album of all time. Now that Nightwish are less stable, so is DPP (Wishmaster and Oceanborn are fighting with it for first place) but all things told, I think I will still say that Dark Passion Play is my album of the decade. It just changed so much of the way I thought about music and really, despite currently boring me in places, it's a masterpiece of modern popular music. Let's see how the next album fares!
Top Track of 2009: The Poet and the Pendulum (#1, 110 plays)
> And all the time Nightwish were my all-time favourite band, Poet was my all-time favourite song. And just like DPP, with Nightwish being less stable, Poet has been displaced by Last of the Wilds and Over the Hills and Far Away. Nonetheless this is still one of the greatest songs ever written. This musical acheivement is something that I'll always, always respect Tuomas for :)


Finally, some predictions for 2010:
> Sonata Arctica for #1
> less symphonic metal, more power metal
> older Nightwish albums to become more dominant
> less listenings of old favourites and "classic" bands
> less listenings of British and American bands
> an even higher bias in favour of Finland xD
> fewer new discoveries. I'm taking a well-earned break ;)



If you read all that you deserve a medal @__@ And unfortunately I don't have any medals so you'll just have to make do with this virtual cookie. Don't eat it all at once now! \:D/

This is just a list I've been adding to (and not taking away from) for ages now, of bands I've decided at the time deserved a place on it. Looking at some of them now, there are a few I hardly like at all any more, so it's not 100% representative of my taste, but neither are my overall charts. Perhaps they balance eachother.


3 Inches of Blood
The 69 Eyes
A Perfect Circle
A Skylit Drive
AC/DC
Acid Bath
After Forever
Agents of Oblivion
Alesana
Alexisonfire
Alice Cooper
Alice in Chains
all:my:faults
Aphex Twin
Apocalyptica
Apoptygma Berzerk
Arcade Fire
Arch Enemy
As I Lay Dying
Avril Lavigne
Bauhaus
The Beatles
Bella Morte
Beto Vázquez Infinity
Billy Idol
The Birthday Massacre
Black Sabbath
Blind Guardian
Bloc Party
Blur
Boards of Canada
Bullet For My Valentine
Cascada
Cathedral
Children of Bodom
Chiodos
Chumbawamba
The Clash
Coheed and Cambria
Coldplay
Corrosion of Conformity
Cradle of Filth
The Crüxshadows
The Cure
Daft Punk
Dark Moor
Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Deathstars
Delain
Demons & Wizards
Derek and the Dominos
Devendra Banhart
Dimmu Borgir
Dir en grey
The Doors
Draconian
DragonForce
Dreadful Shadows
The Dresden Dolls
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Wizard
Elvenking
Ensiferum
Epica
Escape the Fate
Evanescence
The Fall of Troy
The Feeling
Finntroll
The Flaming Lips
Four Tet
Franz Ferdinand
The Fratellis
Freternia
Funker Vogt
Gackt
Gamma Ray
The Go! Team
Gorillaz
Hard-Fi
Hawthorne Heights
Hellogoodbye
The Holloways
I Am Ghost
IAMX
Iced Earth
In Flames
Infected Mushroom
Inkubus Sukkubus
Iron Maiden
It Dies Today
Jack Off Jill
The Jam
Jason Mraz
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Joss Stone
Katatonia
Keane
Klaxons
The KLF
KOTOKO
Kraftwerk
La Roux
Lacuna Coil
Lady GaGa
Leaves' Eyes
Led Zeppelin
Linkin Park
Little Man Tate
Lostprophets
Lunatica
Madness
MALICE MIZER
Manic Street Preachers
Metallica
Mind.In.A.Box
Mindless Self Indulgence
Misfits
Moonspell
Muse
My Dying Bride
The New Radicals
Nightwish
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana
Oasis
ohGr
Ozzy Osbourne
P!nk
Panic! At the Disco
Pierce the Veil
Pink Floyd
Placebo
The Police
The Postal Service
Power Quest
Primal Scream
Queen
Queens of the Stone Age
R.E.M.
Rammstein
Rascal Flatts
Razorlight
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Rob Zombie
The Rolling Stones
Rotersand
Röyksopp
Scissor Sisters
Seabound
Silverstein
Sinergy
The Sisters of Mercy
Skillet
Skinny Puppy
The Smiths
Snow Patrol
Sonata Arctica
Squarepusher
Stewart Copeland
The Stone Roses
Stone Sour
The Style Council
Suede
System of a Down
Tarot
Terrorvision
Thirteen Senses
Tool
Tristania
U2
The Upper Room
Vashti Bunyan
The Velvet Underground
The White Stripes
White Zombie
The Who
Wintersun
Within Temptation
:wumpscut:
Xandria
X JAPAN
Yes

So, before I rush headlong into my top ten tracks of 2009 (and then albums next week, gigs the week after), a quick mention of a few acts that have wowed me, bored me, surprised me or otherwise this year. Some of these may be in the other lists, others won't be.

So let's start with the good stuff. Perhaps more than in recent years I actually got into new music this year. So what is there to note? The post-metal thrill of And So I Watch You From Afar, for starters - not as serious as many of their peers, and they are awesome live, too. Well worth picking up the album. Also: Urceus Exit (the North American Seabound, perhaps? Similarly intelligent and effusive lyrical themes coupled with sleek electro-industrial-pop), The Big Pink (where shoegaze met pop and a smattering of industrial electronics to make an intriguing band), Necrotek (old-school industrial infused impressively with sheer hate), HEALTH (noisy-rock, electronics, some truly staggering technical ability, etc), and The Twilight Sad (shoegaze meets indie-pop, and they get along famously).

There were some surprises, too, this year - like the unexpected comebacks of Sunna and Imminent, both of which were great for very different reasons. And then there were the brilliant returns of Alice in Chains and The Prodigy, neither of which were mere exercises in nostalgia, much to my relief. A sign perhaps that I didn't have my ear to the ground as much as I should was the fact that I was totally surprised to find The PCP Principle signing to Hands Productions, and releasing a fantastic album. Also of note for this year was finding I liked Mesh after all...

Not every release was great this year, though, and a few really did disappointment me. In particular the new 16Voltwasn't as great, for me, as many others made out - more, er, organic than FullBlackHabit, there were some fleeting moments of brilliance on American Porn Songs but nowhere near enough. The new Behemoth album Evangelion suffered, like 16v, from the shadow of it's predecessor for me, too, while IAMX's third album, Kingdom of Welcome Addiction, was something of a damp squib. In fact, it was the sound of a long, ecstatic party that had come to an end - i.e. the bit where the dull people are left. It resulted in a patchy and frustrating album.

In other disappointments, not having time to do all the great music I've heard this year justice was a big minus. This will be sorted soon, I promise. Although not having my time wasted by expensive, overly long and poorly compiled compilations - Endzeit Bunkertracks Act IV being a particularly guilty party here. If this was a snapshot of the future of the electro/industrial/whatever scene, it's fucked. Also worth noting, as I finally leave the city for good this week, is that Sheffield is left with little more than HMV, Record Collector and the supermarkets to purchase music from, with the closure of Jack's Records last summer.

Two final things: in this year's guilty pleasures, there is only really the one - the oh-so-kitsch and fun Little Boots - no idea why, I just love her stuff. There is a longer list of irritations, as you might expect. Headed by two of the "great white hopes" this year: Florence and The Machine - whiny, irritating Alison Goldfrapp wannabe. Oh, and that godawful cover of You've Got The Love really gets my goat, too. Next. La Roux - if I want eighties synthpop, I'll listen to the real thing, rather than infuriating, over-produced facsimilies.

And as 19 million watch the winner of X-Factor, there is the continuing death of music television. How much longer before someone does a music video channel online? Properly, I don't mean like Youtube. Something interactive, with a decent resolution and a better selection. It's possible, I'm sure, my cynical mind suspects that the labels would never allow it, sadly. Also fucking me off is the continuing upward spiral of gig ticket prices, and of course their "booking fees". This would appear, despite it being a blatant case of ripping the punters off, to have no political will behind it to sort the situation, either. Me no understand...

So, back to good things: here are my top ten tracks of 2009, a list that has taken a while to collate.

10
Nachtmahr
Code:red
Alle Lust will Ewigkeit

Aimed squarely at the dancefloor, Nachtmahr's heavily sexualised and military imagery has grated a little to me, but musically they deliver the goods time and again - Thomas Rainer seems to simply want people to dance, and that's what his latest project do very well. Needless to say there are some belting tracks to slay dancefloors with, and this one is my favourite by miles. Beats turned up to eleven? Check. Harsh-sounding samples simply to give a couple of seconds breather? Check. Doesn't waste a second? Check. An object lesson in how to do dancefloor industrial (and I hear the live show is good fun, too).

09
16Volt
Alkali
American Porn Songs

Yeah, so I didn't like all the album, but the opening track - and also the first promo track I got - is still utterly fantastic. In fact, one of the best 16v songs ever released, in my opinion. A slower, bruising rock track that opens up into a bright, buzzing chorus from out of nowhere, and also a reminder that 16v are, at their best, a lot more accessible than some might make out.

08
Alter der Ruine
Relax And Ride It (Be My Enemy Remix)
Beating A Dead Horse

The most immediate song on ADR's superb third album, it was no surprise to see it remixed by various people and it was quickly a dancefloor hit, too. While Memmaker's remix was a more straightforward dancefloor take, this one was fantastic fun. Be My Enemy, if you missed my previous mentions, is Phil Barry (ex-Cubanate), and if this remix was a way to get some attention to his new project, then job done. He turns the track into galloping industrial rock that is the perfect pace for the dancefloor, while keeping the best bits of the original intact too.

07
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
Trouble
Through The Devil Softly

Hope Sandoval is likely to get a lot of coverage in the music press soon with her collaboration on Massive Attack's forthcoming album having a likely-to-be controversial video (and the ongoing possibility of a new Mazzy Star album after fourteen years), but she deserves rather more for her long-awaited return with this album. Or, at least, this song, in my eyes, as I can't stop playing it. It's gorgeous, her warm, bluesy vocals taking centre stage as they should, with a sparse accompaniment. A song for dark nights staying in with your lover.

06
Left Spine Down
Prozac Nation - Retro Radio Radutron Mix By the Rabid Whole
Smartbomb 2.3: The Underground Mixes
An astoundingly inventive remix by a seemingly up-and-coming Canadian industrial rock band, rather than just sticking a faster beat under the original (as far too many remixes do), The Rabid Whole's idea was to keep the vocals as they were, but bury them in radio static, with lots of "old" radio samples, with the track coming in and out of clarity like an old shortwave radio transmission - and the titled aim of a "retro" mix is complete. A great idea, and it gets full marks for execution, too - a fresh and unusual take on the remix norm that would get tiresome if endlessly repeated, but a blast in this instance.

05
KMFDM
Davai
Blitz

KMFDM's best album in years - appropriately marking their twenty-fifth birthday, too - had a whole host of storming tracks (in fact, I can't think of any filler at all other than the closer), but it was this, their first foray into using Russian in their lyrics, that was the unassailable peak. A pounding, anthemic industrial-metal track that harked back to the classic nineties KMFDM, but without merely relying on the past to make it great. A reminder that you can look forward too and still sound fantastic.

04
HEALTH
Die Slow
Get Color

I'm still not exactly sure how I'm supposed to describe this - industrial shoegaze, perhaps - but whatever, it was something of a red-herring for the rest of the album, which while more focussed than their debut, was still miles from the mainstream. This track, though, underpinned by a hulking, quasi-industrial beat and some impressive guitar treatments, sounded like nothing else upon release and still doesn't now. The video is, er, interesting, too.

03
My Dying Bride
Failure
Bring Me Victory EP

I could, and probably will, go on and on about this song for ever more, but this cover is so good it deserves it's place here. A faithful re-reading of the majestic Swans ode to the crushing inevitability of failing time and again in life, MDB were pretty much the only band I could think of who could do justice to the sheer emotional weight of this track, and so it proves - Aaron Stainthorpe's vocals are perfect for it, and musically little is changed other than the band joining in later in the track. One version of this will play at my funeral.

02
Necro Facility
Do you feel the same
Septic VIII

I love it when a band finally shows the promise they've had all the long. A band I'd previously thought were an interesting industrial act, but too close perhaps in style to Skinny Puppy, their first taster of new material in a while was this, which was put at the front of Septic VIII, and with good reason - they've finally gained something of their own sound, and it's strikingly brilliant. The SP-influence is still there, but with melodic vocals, a thumping, powerful production and a killer chorus. When the only complaint is that the song is too short, you know it's good.

01
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Zero
It's Blitz!

I wasn't really all that bothered about this New York band previously - sure, they'd made a couple of good singles but I wasn't really caught by them, until I heard this. Eschewing the guitar-rock for a synth-based rock instead, it takes it's time to get it's claws in, but once the chorus ramps up, before the track literally explodes into life for the second verse...Honestly, this is fucking glorious, the sound of a band at the peak of their powers and in full knowledge that they have a song of pure pop genius on their hands.