Interesting to hear from a guy who used to give them some flak a short-while ago.
The new Pestilence tracks (the ones on myspce, haven't heard the album yet) were quite a surprise to me, considering how Mameli is a two-tongued hypocrite....
You know, while I kinda like Spheres - other bands like Atheist did the whole early tech-death thingy a lot better. IMO Pestilence were at their best with Van Drunen... and yeah, it seems like this is more in the vain of "Consuming Impulse". I shall restrain final judgement until I heard that thing...
War Machine didn't surprise me, nor did it let me down. It was exactly what I thought it would be - badass from start to finish with no tracks that I ever skip.
I'd have to say Mastodon for one (that's a gimmie, I guess). But besides that faggotry, I don't think I can be surprised by what I am waiting for. WAIT! Hold da phone. I'll make a new thread about what surprised me.