Top Albums Of 2009 20-11

20. A Place to Bury Strangers – Exploding Head
Great title. These guys still kick up a furious din, but this time out there’s some serious songwriting chops too. Taking the endless climax of their debut’s showstopper “Ocean” as a starting point, the band stretches out on several numbers, giving the jams more room to breathe. Although maybe not quite the revelation their debut was, Exploding Head is as good as advertised.

19. Boxcutter - Arecibo Message
I don’t really know much about dubstep, grime, or any one of the other billions of electronic subgenres that are out there, but I know what I like. Boxcutter’s brand of dubstep is heavy and dark, but Arecibo Message incorporates new tricks into the English DJ’s tried and true formula. Rhodes keyboards bring a funky vibe that keeps the proceedings fun, and there’s more than enough sub bass to keep a metal head like me coming back for more.


18. Nadja - When I See the Sun Always Shines On TV
A collection of covers slowed down to interminable lengths and fried in so much fuzz that they are barely recognizable. The artists covered here range from Elliott Smith to Slayer, all of them shot through Nadja’s unique post metal (metalgaze?) prism. If you ever thought Loveless would have been a better record if My Bloody Valentine had just used more distortion, this should be right up your alley.

17. YOB – The Great Cessation
After a four year hiatus, the mighty YOB has returned once again, and their newest opus was worth the wait. The Great Cessation is not only their heaviest record, but it’s also their darkest. Gone are the stoner metal flourishes of The Unreal Never Lived. In their place are deliberate, monolithic dirges made for bongs the size of asteroids. This is the kind of doom that weighs on your soul and crushes any hope out of existence. And if that sounds like something you’d want to listen to, you probably need help.

16. Gates of Slumber - Hymns of Blood & Thunder
Mighty Conan rock from Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above. Riffs aplenty, with tasty fuzzed-out leads throughout. Gates of Slumber alternate between clean and growled vocals, and bring the kind of operatic heavy doom that hasn’t been done this well since Candlemass. Hymns of Blood & Thunder is a more agile monster than one may expect upon first encounter, and it moves with single-minded purpose. There’s a shade of early `90’s Cathedral on the slower numbers, but Gates of Slumber know how to up the tempos when necessary to bring things to an explosive peak. It’s a monument, an obelisk, A GIANT FUCKING HEAVY THING, and it crushes everything in its path.

15. Pink Mountaintops – Outside Love
I should have liked Outside Love more than I did, but seeing as I haven’t actually had to go through any heartbreak recently, I’ve had little need for any solipsistic break-up records. It’s a testament to Stephen McBean’s genius that this collection of sonic comfort food was good enough to keep me coming back to it this year despite that fact. The Pink Mountaintops frequently function as an idea dump for McBean, which causes their albums to frequently be scattershot in terms of style and consistency. Fortunately this is the best Pink Mountaintops album yet, full of great, emotionally resonant songs. Even if you don’t have a need for something like that right now, Outside Love will always be there for when you do.

14. Isis – Wavering Radiant
Wavering Radiant is a far more interesting and memorable affair then the uninspired In the Absence of Truth. Isis’ efforts to evolve their sound by incorporating ethereal atmospherics on that record were laudable, but somehow it just didn’t seem to click. Fortunately, Wavering Radiant redeems them completely. Glacial heaviness has always been Isis’ forte, but now the oceanic grooves and layers of guitars have been further thickened with a glorious organ tone which unobtrusively adds colour and warmth. Some absolutely gorgeous guitar phrases dot the landscape throughout, especially on standouts “Ghost Key” and “20 Minutes/40 Years” Although Isis will never return to their sludgy roots, Wavering Radiant ensures that there’s plenty of gas left in the tank for these post-metal stalwarts.

13. Future of the Left - Travels With Myself and Another
It’s good to have a world where Andy Falkous is angry and telling people about it, even if us norms can’t really even figure out what’s got him so riled up. Future of The Left’s pile-driving musical attack is more straight ahead than Mclusky’s demented post-punk was, but really the differences between the two bands are minimal. As you might expect then, this is an ultra-dense, tight as fuck and completely hilarious rock and roll record, crammed full of catchy songs about stupid shit. Travels with Myself and Another is a rock album made to be listened to while hurling bricks at trains.

12. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport
I liked Street Horrrsing better at first because it sounded more like an experimental noise rock band than a reclusive electronic collective. That doesn’t mean I can’t also bow down and worship at the altar of this massive statement. Tarot Sport is more of everything that made me like them in the first place. More noise. Heavier sub bass lines. Longer grooves. Who says I have to choose anyways?

11. Shrinebuilder – Shrinebuilder
Al Cisneros. Dale Crover. Scott Kelly. Wino.