Sharing Lungs - Deftones Online Community

Top Ten Non-Metal Albums of 2007
01. Shining: Grindstone
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This was one of the first releases I acquired from 2007, but for some reason that escapes me, I didn't listen to it until almost half way though the year. My mistake. From the very first measures of the first track, I was enthralled, entranced, completely and utterly mesmerized. It's hard to even find the correct words to describe what happens on this album, there's so much genre-bending goodness all-throughout. With elements of jazz, prog-rock, post-rock, and an overall experimental and avant-garde nature, this album will keep me coming back for more, and more, and more. I always try to be level headed when writing reviews, because nobody trusts a fanatic, but this album transcends mere fanaticism. This album is a keystone of existence.

02. Ulver: Shadows of the Sun
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Ulver makes gorgeous music. Whether it's traditional Norwegian folk, electronically enhanced trip-hop, dark ambient or sludge metal, and their ninth full-length offering is true to form. Going back to their Silence... era sound, the blueprint is expanded into a more lush, minimalist framework of sounds, soothing and comforting while remaining entirely morose and melancholic. Thought-provoking and reflective, this is a record for dark nights and a glass of wine.

03. Tegan & Sara: The Con
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I had very high expectations for this cd, as I loved the album that preceded it, So Jealous. Thankfully, these Canadian twins were up to the task. Not only up to the task, but far and away beyond the task. Whereas So Jealous was a fun collection of upbeat indie pop-rock tracks, The Con is a dark and intimate electro-folk masterpiece. My one and only complaint with So Jealous was it's length, it was about four songs and twelve minutes too long, it just sort of tapered off and released me attention. The Con seems  like it's over before it starts. The fourteen tracks flow seamlessly together, and at the end of your 37 minute journey, the only thing to do is start it over. I listened to this cd nearly non-stop for almost a month before I bought it on release day, and it was probably another month after that before it left my cd player. Not a single track is superfluous, not a single second is wasted. It's amazing how far they've come in nine years.

04. Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
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If you are not aware of the Alternate Reality Game this album spawned, immediately go to www.ninwiki.com and read up on it, as it's one of the coolest things I've ever taken part in. The album also makes a lot more since when put in context with ARG. To be honest, I was not a big fan of the album at first. It took me several months of listening for it to really click, but click it did. The album follows people living in a  distopian future-world where the government and the church are essentially one entity, where global warming has made most of the world unlivable, and the government is putting sedatives in the water and chips in it's "citizens". Again, to full appreciate and understand the album, you need to follow the ARG from start to finish to put everything in perspective. There are rumors of a Year Zero movie, which would be quite an undertaking (David Lynch, perhaps?), and a follow up album both being in the works, so keep your eyes peeled.

05. Oceansize: Frames
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I had mixed expectations for this release, having really enjoyed the 2004 EP Music For Nurses, and been a bit let down by 2005's  full-length Everyone Into Position. My concerns were unwarranted. This album is brilliantly orchestrated, with strings, bells and piano scattered throughout musical arrangements that are at times subdued and at other times as poly-rhythmically aggressive as bands like Meshuggah and Obsidian. Balance is the key, and here they hit all the right chords at all the right times. Vocalist Mike Vennart has also kicked things up a notch in his department, showing confidence and versatility like never before, and rounding out this wonderful album.

06. Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity
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This band makes me so happy. It's hard for me to imagine anyone listening to them and not feeling better about themselves and the world in general. With odd lyrics, adorably cute vocals, and music so quirky it'll make you laugh, it's impossible to listen to them without smiling at least a couple times. I'd have to say that this is their best record to date.

07. The Angelic Process: Weighing Souls With Sand
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I first heard this record at the beginning of January last year, and it really took me by surprise. They're making music I would call doomgaze, a combination of doom and shoegaze. Which sounds weird, but works actually very well. The muddy production fits perfectly with what they're doing, and the vocals are buried under the music, giving them a celestial quality. I wish there were more bands doing this, because it's stunning.

08 M83: Digital Shades Volume I
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Not a "typical" M83 album, but the first in a series of electronic ambient albums to be released under the moniker. Imagine Philip Glass collaborating with A Lily. Very warm, glitchy, relaxing, reassuring, soothing...need I go on?

09 Marissa Nadler: Songs III: Bird on the Water
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I kept coming back to this album throughout the year, and it always struck me as inherently beautiful. Miss Nadler's voice has a timeless quality to it that is simply enthralling, and reminds me of Vashti Bunyan. Couple that with well-written, dark, and simple folk music and the result is irresistible.

10 Battles: Mirrored
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This band knows how to rock Full of energy and spunk, their refreshing knack for strangeness is what really sets them apart from the crowd. They do things that you simply wouldn't expect, and keep you coming back for more.

Best EP:
Jesu: Sun Down/ Sun Rise
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Harkening back to the ambient drone days of Heart Ache, this is Justin Broderick once again at his best. Too bad it's barely thirty minutes long.


Biggest Surprise:
Hilary Duff: Dignity
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The surprise? Half the tracks on this album are superb. The other half are what you would expect, fluff and drivel, but the other seven tracks are absolutely steller dance pop tracks with catchy beats and meaningful lyrics. Don't miss out on this, because if you ignore it just because it's Hilary Duff, the jokes on you.


Biggest Disappointment:
Bright Eyes: Cassadaga
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I love Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes is one of my top three all time favorite bands. And this album let me down big time. I fear the cause is the classic "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario, with Nate Walcott, M. Ward, Mike Mogis and a host of others sharing time on the mic, and helping with the song-writing. The cd comes off too clean and polished, digressing from the classic Bright Eyes sound of rough and raw production. I can't say I won't one day love this record, as music has a tendency to grow on me, but right now, I am devastatingly disappointed.


Honorable Mentions (A-Z):

*shels: Sea of the Dying Dhow
Alcest: Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde
Caina: Mourner
Dalek: Abandoned Language
Dntel: Dumb Luck
Elend: A World in Their Screams
Eluvium: Copia
Explosions in the Sky: All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Grayceon: Grayceon
Justice: †
Kaddisfly: Set Sail the Prarie
Radiohead: In Rainbows

Top Ten Metal Albums of 2007

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01 Virgin Black: Requiem – Mezzo Forte
Virgin Black has been my favorite band since the very first time I heard them in 2002. This is actually the second installment of a three part series entitled Requiem, however The End records chose to release this first, as it's the closest to previous releases out of the three. Mezzo Forte was recorded, along with Pianissimo and Fortissimo, with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, making this at once the most ambitious, dense and multi-faceted Virgin Black release to date. With soaring operatic vocals (both male and female) and crushing growls, the album takes you for a tumultuous and emotional ride. The orchestration meshes seamlessly with Virgin Black's brand of gothic doom metal, which comes as no surprise if you're familiar with past releases. It's no less than you would expect. Listening to this album, for me at least, is an experience I find difficult to put in to words. To put it simply, Virgin Black resonates within my soul.

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02 Swallow the Sun: Hope
I had heard of this band several years back, but their music was always so hard to track down that I finally gave up. Well 2007 changed that, with hope being one of the first albums I acquired in January. In a few short months of listening, Swallow the Sun has joined the ranks of artists such as Virgin Black, Opeth, Ulver and Meshuggah as one of my favorite bands of all time. They're unique blend of death and doom make for some of the most destroyingly catchy music I've ever heard. I have no complaints, not a single one. Brutal growls and beautiful cleans at all the right moments, perfectly fitting every arrangement. Do yourself a favor and get in to this band, you will not regret it.

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03 Blotted Science: Machinations of Dementia
As a testament to it's greatness, I didn't hear this album until October, and it was almost immediately not just in my favorites of the year, but counted as one of the best instrumental albums I've ever heard. If I had to make a comparison, I would describe this album as the result of James Malone from Arsis suffering from extreme sleep deprivation and listening to nothing but Meshuggah for days until finally passing out. If you are familiar with Spastic Ink and other Jarzombeck projects,  you probably already know about this record, and it's probably in your headphones right now.

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04 Between the Buried and Me: Colors
Colors is a huge step forward in the evolution of this band. As polarizing as it is addicting. You still have intense technicality, but it's more mature, seasoned. This album is like an eight piece puzzle that fits together perfectly, with dozens of smaller puzzles contained within the songs themselves, going from beautiful piano parts, to blistering guitar-work, to off kilter Patton-esque vocal parts overtop honky-tonk piano, to a drunken bar sing-along. It will take you by surprise, it might make you a bit uneasy, but it all fits together. However, my favorite part of the whole production is the song transitions. They're perfect. Seamless. A Work of Art. I was not prepared for the transition from Informal Gluttony into Sun of Nothing, and I almost wrecked my car when I heard it. One of my favorite parts of music ever written. Also, Blake Richardson deserves a special mention, because the drumming on this album is spectacular, far beyond any expectations. This album will age much better than any of their previous albums, I can already tell.

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05 Rwake: Voices of Omen
I just discovered this band in 2007, even though they've released four albums previous to this one. That's alright with me though, because they've hit their stride here, with crushingly heavy riffs, vocals ranging from terrifying screams to brutal yells, and so much groove you don't know what to do with it all. This is southern sludge at it's nastiest. At it's finest.

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06 The Psyke Project: Apnea
Another new blip on my radar. I avoided listening to this album for months and months, because I couldn't get over their dumb moniker and cheesy artwork. But when I finally did, I regretted my shallow behavior immensely.  Because these guys kill. Hailing from Denmark, they rise above the some-what muddled slew of mediocre sludge bands spawned over the past few years. This is an easy band to get in to, because they really convey emotion well, and also their songs are short compared to many in the genre. With most songs being between 3 and 7 minutes long, they're a good choice for someone who likes the sound of bands such as ISIS and Neurosis, but doesn't care to invest so much time per listen.

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07 The Ocean: Precambrian
Another "sludge metal" album, but with a twist. These Germans utilize an array of instruments not usually found on such an album. This variance allows  them to step beyond the bounds of what you might expect. The xylophone, violin, piano, bells, et cetera add dynamic and beautiful textures layered above and beneath some of the heaviest tracks I heard all year. Albums with themes have always attracted me for the extra depth involved, and this two disc set is a timeline of sorts, with each track title coinciding with a different prehistoric age, delivers. And delivers. And delivers.

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08 Kongh: Counting Heartbeats
Another late in the year discovery for me. A beautifully crafted disc, with five epic tracks containing some seriously groovy sludge-laden doom goodness. Not sure what else to say. Not sure what else needs to be said.

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09 Minsk: Ritual Fires of Abandonment
A lot of thought went into the making of this record, that's very evident. A Very deep album, with many many layers to dig into. Very satisfying to listen to when you're alone and can just sit, listen, and let your mind play over the sound waves crashing over you. Crushingly heavy.

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10 Evoken: A Caress of the Void
Funeral doom has never been a more applicable description. Seared of hope, bereft of light, this disc has nothing to offer but hopelessness. You feel it in your soul. If you don't see the beauty in that, steer clear of this album. It holds nothing for you but despair.

Best Metal EP:
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A Swarm of the Sun: The King of Everything
The first release from this band, and it's very promising. Very heavy, and very accessible simultaneously. Good clean vocals backed up with good yells round it out. Looking forward to future releases.

Biggest Metal Disappointment:
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The Dillinger Escape Plan: Ire Works
After an album of such magnitude as Miss Machine, I was very nervous about how they would fare with their next go at things. And rightly so. Ire Works is a bizarre mash-up of their previous two albums (with, it seems, riffs lifted directly from both), and an odd new style that I would honestly love if it were a side-project of some sort. But it's dirty pop flavor simply does not mesh well at all. I expect Dillinger to be inventive and fresh, and I expect Dillinger to do new things and piss people off. But with this effort they have left me wanting. I feel they've fallen flat on their collective face, and i truly hope they do not drown in a pool of their own urine from the piss-take they called Ire Works. Apparently, it dosen't.


Biggest Metal Surprise:
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Wolves in the Throne Room: Two Hunters
Having never been a fan of black metal, I was completely blown away by this release. It's atmospheric, dark, brooding and strangely enough, beautiful. I checked this band out because of their amazing moniker, and also because I read one of the coolest interviews ever, that intrigued me to no end. These guys are the real deal, living on, and working, a farm in the wilderness of Washington State. They've opened my eyes to the realm of black metal that I actually enjoy, and will be actively searching for this year.

Honorable Mentions (A-Z):
Dark Tranquillity: Fiction
The End: Elementary
HORSE the Band: A Natural Death
Ion Dissonance: Minus the Heard
Middian: Age Eternal
Nadja: Radiance of Shadows
Nadja: Thaumogenesis
Neurosis: Given to the Rising
Rosetta: Wake/Lift
Sun of Nothing: ...In the Weak and Wounded
Terhen: Eyes Unfolded
Year of No Light: Nord