An evaluation of 2004 that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with 2004 albums

[Black Winter Day]

3 questions:

1) Best band you discovered this year (doesn't have to be a new band).
2) Best band you re-discovered this year (as in, you'd loved them before but had lost touch with them).
3) Best band you'd heard before, but never had any impact on you until this year.


Discuss.

 

[lurch70]

1. blut aus nord
2. exodus
3. i rarely give bands second chances

 

[JayKeeley]

1) Hammers of Misfortune (come on...by miles and miles) + Skyclad (went out and bought five of their albums in one drop)
2) Megadeth (I was disgusted with Risk and The World Needs a Hero, so the redemption is sweet...)
3) Primordial (I had Spirit the Earth Aflame for a long while....and then one day, it just blew me to smithereens)

 

[NAD]

1) Hammers of Misfortune, Kyuss, and Swans.
2) Pearl Jam and Megadeth
3) Stevie Wonder

 

[J.]

1. Nokturnal Mortum
2. Fear Factory
3. Burzum (early this year or late last year; can't remember)

 

[Black Winter Day]

That's shocking that HoM are your #1, JayKeeley. I never would have imagined!

MY LIST:

1) Kayo Dot/maudlin of the Well. After being gay for a few years and expecting this band to be a bunch of Opeth clones, I finally saved my heterosexuality by falling lin love with all 4 excellent albums this band(s) has produced. Songs like "The Manifold Curiosity", "Birth Pains of Astral Projection" and "Gleam in Ranks" are examples of songs that are so goddamned good that I couldn't have imagined them actually existing.

2) Genesis, obviously. I was first introduced to them when I was about 8 and was always touched by and interested in their old material, which sort of scared that little chubby 3rd grader. When I bought "Selling England By the Pound" on CD earlier this year (I was previously relegated to cassettes, some dubbed from LPs), my love and nostalgia were re-awakened ten-fold.

3) Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- GYBE are one of those bands that tricks you. You buy a CD and say "Wow, that's really good, but I only need one of theirs... There's no need to buy any more when I have one representative album!" I fell into this trap with Yanqui UXO when it came out, but decided to buy a few more of their albums late this year. Fucking AMAZING stuff!

 

[lizard]

1. Easily, Explosions in the Sky and Mono. After spending 2003 absorbing the majestic MOTW/KD, and having that lead me to GYBE, I got the $5 sampler from Deadair's Indieworkshop.com. I didn't really have huge expectations but intended to merely support a fellow board member, but jesus, it hooked me up with Mono, which led me to Explosions (they share the same label, TemporaryResidence, who are aces at getting your orders out almost immediately). Thusly, this year has probably constituted the largest shift in my musical tastes since I fell off the jam band wagon years ago.

 

[Crimson Velvet]

1. Deathspell Omega, easily. All thanks to these boards.

2. Gorgoroth. I was such a huge fan of them when Antichrist was released, and I followed them closely for wuite some time. But then they lost me with Incipit Satan, and I sort of forgot about them. But then, about half a year ago, a guy that works in the IT department at a school I work at occasioanly wore a Twilight of the Idols shirt, and I thought I'd pick it up. And guess what, soon after I was all over all their releases again. (Except Incipit Satan, of course. Still don't like it.)

3. Hmmm, don't know really. I'm quite explicit about what I like and don't like, and my tastes haven't changed for almost a decade, so everything I hear, I know rather soon whether I like it or not. So, nothing worth mentioning, anyways...

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

1. Orphaned Land - thank goodness I found these guys
2. Exodus - yep, amazed at what they've been able to sound like this year
3. Widespread Panic - yes, fucking Panic. Now I just wish I could have heard them before Mike Schooley died 2 years ago. Ooops.

 

[spaffe]

1) Nokturnal Mortum, Funeral Mist, Deathspell Omega and Agalloch. Nechrist has become one of my favourite records ever, and I will explore their discography further in this comming year. Perhaps Hammers of Misfortune should be mentioned as well. Though I've only heard the mp3s availible at their homepage it's still some of the most striking stuff from this year.

2) Nothing really... perhaps Falkenbach's latest but now I only thought it was OK rahter than boring.

3) Hm... Mayhem perhaps, heard them when I first started getting into more extreme metal and was "OMG, it's only noice and screams!". I actually heard DMDS for the first time this year and it's good, that's fore sure, though I'm pretty far from sharing sorath/fotmbm's avid worship of it hehe.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

1) Nargaroth and Wyrd
2) Dusk and Morgion
3) Burzum, Esoteric, Skepticism, and (to some degree) Enslaved

 

[General Zod]

Orphaned Land - I think enough has been said about this band, and specifically about "Mabool". Suffice it to say, I agree with most of it.

Pantera - the tragedy of a few weeks ago got me to kick up some Pantera in tribute to our fallen brother. Good stuff... real good stuff.

Cradle of Filth - last time I bothered to go near these guys was when I first checked them out on "Vempire". Given that I listened to almost no Death vox at that time, I hated CoF. But I have to say, I really enjoy "Nymphetamine" and have been checking out some of their older stuff.

Zod

 

[JayKeeley]

1)Nechrist has become one of my favourite records ever, and I will explore their discography further in this comming year. Perhaps Hammers of Misfortune should be mentioned as well. Though I've only heard the mp3s availible at their homepage it's still some of the most striking stuff from this year.

Have you heard Taste of Victory yet? If you want CD-r of that or any Hammers, let me know. I'll send them over once the xmas rush has dropped.

I have a feeling that the next NM album will be the best one yet!

 

[Papa Josh]

1. Destinity. At least, right now it's the only one I can think of.

2. Like Zod, it would most definitely be Pantera. Also, I have to say Helmet.

3. And in conjunction with #2, my answer is Damageplan. When this came out, I was buried under other stuff, and just didn't give it time. And as a result, I opted to not go check them out when they came through town.

 

[spaffe]

Have you heard Taste of Victory yet? If you want CD-r of that or any Hammers, let me know. I'll send them over once the xmas rush has dropped.

I have a feeling that the next NM album will be the best one yet!

Nope, haven't heard that one yet, I'm planning on including it an upcoming THR order after christmas. Though it's very hard to resist ordering stuff that you know is in the same vein as Nechrist straight away.

A CDr of The August Engine would be much appreciated since I'm still somewhat hesitant about it, while The Bastard will be purchased as soon as those lazy slobs at Profound Lore manage to get that LP out.

 

[JayKeeley]

Nope, haven't heard that one yet, I'm planning on including it an upcoming THR order after christmas. Though it's very hard to resist ordering stuff that you know is in the same vein as Nechrist straight away.

Hmm, it really isn't that similar. Yes, they both use orchestral pieces with real instruments, but NeChrist still has a very harsh extreme edge to it, whereas ToV is much more folk-metal with clear production. It's like a natural progression from NeChrist, put it that way. I think you should enjoy it very much.

A CDr of The August Engine would be much appreciated since I'm still somewhat hesitant about it, while The Bastard will be purchased as soon as those lazy slobs at Profound Lore manage to get that LP out.

Oh ignore my PM about ripping you both CD's then - just TAE it is.

 

[speed]

1) Drudkh

2) Fear Factory

3) Reverand Bizarre

 

[spaffe]

I skimmed through Jay's review, nevermind then

 

[NAD]

I feel great sorrow for those who miss out on The August Engine, what a ridiculously awesome album. It's so awesome I have to go home for lunch RIGHT NOW just to listen to it!

 

[NAD]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

sorry, but this shit just rules