2006年 Dec 11日 Monday, 16:56

http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/1/4/7/6/756741_356x237.jpg

1 Napalm Death 36
Again, I have to say that the week should start on Monday instead of Sunday because I'm essentially writing about stuff I listened to two weeks ago. Anyway, I must say that I really enjoy both The Code is Red and Smear Campaign. The middle period of ND can get a little sketchy, but I'm really quite pleased with this current direction. Order of the Leech, I think, is even a tad underappreciated, especially since it almost foreshadowed this dramatic boost in intensity.

2 Pestilence 34
Man, it had been a long time since I jammed some Pestilence. Always excellent, especially Testimony of the Ancients. Check out In Sorrow and try and tell me that it doesn't sound like Poison the Well and Hopesfall, haha. I just noticed that the other day. Pestilence: melodic hardcore influence.

3 mumakil 31
Eh, I liked the short demo they put out, but I wasn't really feeling their work across this new album. I think it's partly due to the fact that I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to grindcore and 32 tracks is really pushing it. As much as I hate paying full length prices for albums that barely reach over ten minutes, I understand why a lot of grind bands (Antigama, looking at you) make those records so short; so they remain digestible. I could listen to Customized Warfare in chunks, but when I tried to take on the whole album, I was plain bored by the halfway point.

4 Fredrik Thordendal's Special Defects 26
Impressive musicianship for sure, but I never got into the album beyond that. Morgan Argen is a bad ass on the drums (of course, he'd have to be to play for Frank Zappa), and Thordendal's Allan Holdsworth-esque soloing on Missing Time is a highlight, but they don't do it for me in the same way that Meshuggah does it for me. Sol Niger Within is something I pull out once a year and I give it a deep listen before sticking it back on the shelf.

5 Clogs 24
I had no idea that these were former members of The National. I don't know if that makes me think less of Clogs or more of The National.

6 Funkadelic 21
Well, I have to say that you can't go wrong with most of their discography. I'd take One Nation Under A Groove over Maggot Brain though, because One Nation has the best song that James Brown never did (the title track) and the best song that Sly never did (Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!). Pure gold. Plus, depending on which version you get, you get a bonus live cut of Maggot Brain which is damn good.

7 Colleen 19
Guess who was sleeping? Again.

8 Borknagar 18
I've managed to be awake for Origin once out of all the times I've played it. I like it, I think it's a worthy addition to their discography. I'm digging the fact that more metal bands are "reimagining" their sound within the confines of acoustic instruments. I always found the textures that acoustic guitars can create to be really freaking cool. Case in point, I almost always like the "acoustic experiment" album more than the rest of the band's material. That holds true for Ulver, Nostromo, and Frostmoon Eclipse. I'm not quite sure I'm there yet with Origin, but it's up there for sure.

9 Cannibal Corpse 13
Kill. Buy it.

9 Martyr 13
This has been a pretty decent year for prog metal with Martyr's Feeding the Abscess being released around the same time as Twisted into Form's Then Comes Affliction To Awaken The Dreamer and Zero Hour's Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond. One thing all these albums feature? Fantastic bass playing.