See “Best of 2008” for a general introduction, but
otherwise…what a year 2006 was! And 2005 before it! I can’t remember without
looking, which I haven’t done yet, whether 2004 and earlier can be added to
make a several-year block, but I’ll find out soon enough. Some of my favourite
albums ever were released in these
years. I would have been in my second and third years of university so perhaps
these were formative years – while I was 20/21 and this may seem a tad late I
think perhaps my formative years were a bit later than a lot of people’s. But
anyway, get a load of these gems.
Converge
– No Heroes
One of my favourite records ever, and in my opinion the
Salem, Massachusetts hardcore kings’ second greatest, after Jane Doe. I gather
many would pick You Fail Me for this accolade but for me No Heroes has more to
offer. I recall Jeremy Bolm from Touche Amore picking this record as one of his
favourites, and saying the first five tracks were all classics. Agreed,
certainly, but then I think it doesn’t dip - Grim Heart / Black Rose which
comes later is one of their greatest ballads and Orphaned which follows that
track is one of the best examples of Converge being Converge, the kind of song
that sounds like they bashed it out in five minutes, but of course in a Picasso
“no Madam, this took me my entire life” sort of way. Converge are at their
greatest doing quick and going slow, but not often in between, but there’s
plenty of the first two and not much of the third on this incredible album.
Cult
of Luna – Somewhere Along the Highway
One of my favourite records ever, and possibly the
Swedish post-metal kings’ finest hour. When I’m feeling especially arrogant,
snobby, superior, or music nazi-ish I like to contemplate how one of my
favourite bands ever is only a part time band and the members all have day jobs
(there are probably a few of these, like 36 Crazyfists, Rolo Tomassi and
undoubtedly at load of jazz artists). While the great thing about that should
be that they have to keep putting out records (unlike successful artists who
can retire for years on end, like, say, I dunno, Tool. Or Adele), I guess with
the day jobs they don’t have to be all that prolific. Anyway, SATH, yes what an
album. I think they know it’s special too, as they toured its tenth anniversary
a few years ago. While it takes its time and has a fair bit of filler in the
first half (which I wouldn’t have any other way), it’s one of those records
where just when you think the album’s hit its peak, the next track comes along
and it’s even better. I think at the time I was just getting into this band,
and still wasn’t totally into growly vocals (at this point I wasn’t listening
to Converge yet), but I remember getting the niggling feeling that maybe, just
maybe, this record is better than Tool’s offering of the same year. I mention
that because at the time I was soiling myself in anticipation for 10,000 Days’
release, and on said release day I got on the bus to Birmingham to watch Cult
of Luna play a show. Might have been Bossk supporting too. Just goes to show
how too much hype can ruin something, but of course as I type this the hype train
for Tool’s follow-up (Cult of Luna have released three albums in the 13 years
after 2006) is only going to get faster.
ISIS
(the band) – In the Absence of Truth
Post-metal again, this one. This was the third out of
three classic records from these chaps, and while many folk prefer the first
two this was the first one I got into and I think it managed to be melodic and
well produced and still powerful, a balance they didn’t always get right on 2009’s
Wavering Radiant. Particularly fantastic drumming throughout.
Lacuna
Coil – Karmacode
A real guilty pleasure, this band, for me. It’s
mid-tempo pop metal but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Cristina
Scabbia is an incredible vocalist and she elevates this music from being
generic middle of the road stuff. That said, the songs are particularly good on
this album, and the cover of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence is an especially
good choice.
Laura
– Radio Swan Is Down
Another tiny band (I.Am.So.Hip), this one is an
Australian post-rock band that makes the kind of music you would not think to.
An absolute gem of a find, I can’t quite recall how I discovered it. Some sort
of Apple Genius recommendation maybe. I generally think that, for better or
worse, if you like one post-rock band you’ll like them all, so no surprise
really.
Mastodon
– Blood Mountain
I think a friend had tried to get me in to preceding
record Leviathan, which I didn’t pay much attention to at the time, but then
revisited later on after getting into Mastodon fully and properly with this album.
I think the two Mars Volta guest appearances on the final track helped too,
although neither contribution all that memorable really. Mastodon made a point
of changing their sound every record, for a time, and this was slicker and more
proggy than what had come before, but not really yet showing signs of the
classic rock that would come later. Brann Dailor’s drum performance earned him
his comparison to an octopus, and some of the guitar work is face-meltingly
quick. It’s all epic, brilliant stuff.
Mono
– You Are There
One of my favourite records ever, and possibly the Japanese symphonic post-rock savants’ finest greatest work. (Are you seeing a theme here?) While nearly
everything these guys do is wonderful, I think on You Are There it was all just
a little better, and consistently and stunningly beautiful throughout.
The
Pineapple Thief – Little Man
This was Bruce Soord and friends' fifth pop-prog
outing, and I’m going to say it’s their best record, containing the highest good
song/filler ratio and several of their finest moments, not least fan favourite
live show clap-along (sophisticated of course darling, not just 1-2-3-4)
Snowdrops.
Sikth
– Death of a Dead Day
I tend to think that American entertainment is often happy to follow a pattern, whereas British art can take some risks. And they don’t come
more idiosyncratic than Watford’s dual-vocalist progressive metal oddballs
Sikth. It doesn’t all work of course, some of it is just downright daft,
particularly some of the spoken word stuff, but it was genuinely original at a
time when that was getting harder to come by, and it was a shame we didn’t hear
from them again for a decade after this (still shorter than the wait for the
next Tool album, though).
Suns
of the Tundra – Tunguska
Criminally underrated, this band (only just over a
thousand likes on Facebook). I suspect they all have day-jobs, or family money.
Anyway, they sound kind of like a British Tool, with saxophone, except in their
previous incarnation, Peach, they were doing it first. And then lost their
bassist to fore-mentioned art metal overlords. I’ve never quite worked out
whether this album, their second, was named after the X-files episode of the
same name or the original place in Russia.
Thom
Yorke – The Eraser
I can see how Radiohead’s Yorke can be incredibly
divisive, but if you fall into the wonderful rather than irritating camp then
you would have loved his first solo record. Not a million miles away from
Radiohead’s sound, granted, but still pretty lovely all the same.
Tool
– 10,000 Days
Yes OK, here it is. Probably the weakest moment in Tool’s
small but mighty catalogue, but that isn’t saying a lot. Unlike Aenima and
Lateralus (and Undertow, but there the songs were shorter), you could almost
certainly cut out twenty minutes of this and be none the wiser. I also didn’t
like the clearer sound and general production, save for the title track which
features Lustmord (first name Brian)’s seamlessly interwoven thunder and rain noises
(could be a horrible cliché, but here it’s perfect). When The Mars Volta’s Amputechture
came out later in the year, it made this sound like a three chord pop record,
but then the good things about 10,000 Days, and there are plenty of those, have stood the test of time. Most of
Amputechture has not.
OK somehow that’s 12 records. I thought it was going to
be 10 but then I can’t count (worrying for an actuary). It could easily have
been 20 though. Some of the albums that don’t feature above have songs that
feature below. Note that of course Tool (although this looks like it’s about to
change soon), but also most of Suns of the Tundra, and also Head Automatica’s
second album, Popaganda, don’t appear on Spotify.
A
playlist. An absolute beast of a playlist. If I was 2006 I’d be weeping with
joy at the quality of my playlist.
https://open.spotify.com/user/angesthebull/playlist/4fTPi3ZEh8DftYk22k66s1?si=rkdJeSeMT1K_YML4cY-0xA
- AFI – 37mm (no matter what AFI do to their sound, there will always be a good song or two on their records)
- Bob Dylan – Ain’t Talkin'
- Converge – Grim Heart / Black Rose
- Cult of Luna – Dark City Dead Man
- Damien Rice – Rootless Tree
- David Gilmour – Take a Breath
- Deftones – Combat (I think Saturday Night Wrist gets a bad rep. Here’s one reason why)
- Head Automatica – Nowhere Fast
- Hell is for Heroes - Folded Paper Figures
- Incubus – Anna Molly (most of Light Grenades was dross. This was fun)
- Iron Maiden - For the Greater Good of God
- ISIS – Garden of Light
- Jakob - Malachite
- Keane – Is It Any Wonder?
- Killswitch Engage – My Curse
- Lacuna Coil – Fragile
- Laura – Is There No Help For The Widow’s Son?
- Lily Allen – Everything’s Just Wonderful
- The Mars Volta – Vermicide
- Mastodon – Capillarian Crest
- Melvins – The Talking Horse
- Mogwai – We’re No Here
- MONO – A Heart Has Asked For The Pleasure
- Morrissey – I Will See You In Far-Off Places
- Pearl Jam – Army Reserve
- The Pineapple Thief – Snowdrops
- Placebo – Song to Say Goodbye
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – 21st Century
- Rodrigo y Gabriela – Orion (Metallica cover)
- Sikth – Bland Street Bloom
- Stone Sour – 30/30-150
- Stuart McCallum – Austin Flowers
- Suns of the Tundra – Monkey Dance
- Thom Yorke – The Eraser
- Thursday – Into The Blinding Light
- Tool – Right in Two
- 36 Crazyfists – I’ll Go Until My Heart Stops
