Top Albums Of 2009 40-31

40. Kreator - Hordes of Chaos
Hordes of Chaos = EVERYONE AGAINST EVERYONE!

39. Voivod – Infini
Leave it to these French Canadien neuro-thrashers to make their most accessible album ever as their swansong. Infini is the final album to feature Voivod’s brilliantly creative lead guitarist, Piggy. These visionary metal scientists assembled Infini from Piggy’s final recordings in tribute to their fallen member, who succumbed to cancer last year. It’s not as though “God Phones” is going to be a hit or anything, but it’s a far cry from “Fuck off and Die.” Voivod are different, always have been. Not straying too far from the template set out on previous Newsted-era albums, Infini features lots of Voivod’s trademark off-kilter thrashers in between some more straight ahead heavy death ‘n’ roll, all featuring Piggy’s singular guitar attack over and around Newstead and Away’s blistering grooves. Snake uses clean vocals more than ever before, to great effect. You might even find yourself screaming along. Here’s to the career of one of the greatest experimental heavy metal bands ever.

38. DOOM - Born Like This
Surely there are better hip-hop albums than the Blueprint 3 out there? Here’s one at least. DOOM, or whatever he’s calling himself these days, has delivered another hilariously over-the-top super villain fantasy. Not that I’m really in a position to write intelligently about this kind of thing, but to my dilettante ears, these beasts are hard and raw, similar in to those of his Wu Tang collaborators, and DOOM’s bizarre personality and low key delivery are way more compelling than whatever auto-tuned bullshit Lil' Wayne is shoveling.

37. Atlas Sound – Logos
As good as Deerhunter’s last album Microcastle was, I found that its momentum waned during the slower numbers in the middle. Not that Logos doesn’t have a few duds as well, but I’m willing to forgive a little more of Bradford Cox when he’s in an experimental mood, simply because what he does make is so brain-shakingly relevant to forward-thinking mutherfuckers like ourselves. Tape loops and krautrock jams are the new signifier of indie cred anyways. Lots of people can write songs, but very few ever break the mold in a way that’s wholly original.

36. Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem One
Do people still talk about that “new Weird America” thing? Though they might fall on the fringes of acid folk, I think these guys are too brain fried, and too enthralled by scorched earth guitar fuzz to win fans of Joanna Newsome or Animal Collective over. But if you ever thought Sunburned Hand of the Man were like, totally awesome, then this should be your cup of incense.

35. Prefuse 73 – Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Glitch-hop? Guess I’ll have to throw that handy appellation out the door. Sounds more like schizophrenia to me. Like Sun Ra meets Aphex Twin, with beats going in a hundred directions at once, and some of the most beautiful sound textures you’ll ever hear. And not a rapper in sight. Call it a reinvention if you want, but it’s mostly just music that sounds like it’s from the future. A really cool version of the future.

34. Booker T. Jones – Potato Hole
Yeah, that Booker T. Trust me, this is the last record I would have expected to love this year. But the ancient organist brought some friends to party with, namely Neil Young on lead guitar and the Drive by Truckers pounding it out. The result is a supremely satisfying and laid back rock record featuring a healthy combination of guitar fuzz, soul organ and impassioned performances from all present. No vocals here, but when musicians this good get a chance to let it rip, who cares? Listen and be rewarded.

33. Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Who would have thought that at this late date, the Flaming lips still had it in them to make the kind of grand psychedelic art rock albums that Harvest-era Pink Floyd made? Certainly not yours truly. While Yoshimi was certainly a masterpiece, it was about as far from Finally the Punks Are Taking Acid as you could get. I had pretty much written them off as purveyors of brain damaged indie pop on At War With the Mystics, and now they turn around and record their noisiest freakouts since they were trying to put one album on four CD’s! Good on them, I says.

32. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
“Singing is okay, but playing guitar is way better.” – J Mascis.

Amen to that, brother.

31. Megadeth – Endgame
I guess Dave Mustaine finally realized that no one ever listened to Megadeth to hear him sing. Endgame dispenses with the distracting production flourishes that marred the otherwise-strong United Abominations and focuses on what Megadeth does best – fucking shred. Although there are still some regrettable themes running through Mustines’s pseudo-political commentary, it just doesn’t seem to matter too much, because with about nine guitar solos in every song, there’s not a whole lot of room for the words to get in the way. At a time when thrash is enjoying a comeback in a big way, it’s nice to know that Mustaine and his ever-revolving crew of sidemen are still releasing ferocious technical thrash metal of this quality. Probably their best record since the first Bush was president.