2009 Music Wrap-Up

Detuned's fave de-tunes of 2009.



1. Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
- this was a literal "jaw dropper" album for me. I really do think Wilson is a genius now, this album is awe inspiring.


2. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
- here's another record where everything works: songs, arrangements, production. Mastodon jumps to the next level.


3. Black Sabbath (H&H inc.) - The Devil You Know
- a great hulking slab of doom from my all time favorite band. Over the hill my ass...


4. Porcupine Tree - The Incident
- a sprawling epic 50 minute song and 4 really good new tracks. It's a "mood" record, pretty dark, but very rewarding.


5. Robin Trower - What Lies Beneath
- the most un-noticed album of the year. Pity, because this is Trower's best solo album since 1980.


6. Pelican - What We All Come To Need
- Pelican's debut release for Southern Lord is a knockout. Heavy, outward reaching, beautiful & wonderfully melodic.


7. Slayer - World Painted Blood
- what can I say? It's Slayer, it's pissed, it's heavy, it's inspired and it rules.


8. yob - The Great Cessation
- the return of yob is well worth the wait. Avant Garde doom, the most evil sounding record of the year.


9 (tie). Shrinebuilder - Scott Wino Weinrich, Scott Kelly, Al Cisneros, Dale Crover
- this one took awhile to really sink in, but damn it's a killer once you give it a real listen. I especially like the ambient, Floyd-ish instrumental sections. Scott Kelly's vocal parts knocks it several notches down the list.
Wino - Punctuated Equilibrium
- Wino's first official "solo" album is a kick ass little album whose only downside is the short playing time. *Hint* - buy the LP, there is a bonus 10 inch album with 4 more tracks.


10. Voivod - Infini
- The last of the posthumous collaboration albums is the best of the bunch, Piggy is missed.

*honorable mentions*

Them Crooked Vultures
- a really really good record, which could have been a great record.


Masters Of Reality - Pine/Cross Dover
- one truly schizophrenic album, some killer moments, some incomprehensible moments...better sequencing and an outside producer would have helped this one.


Megadeth - Endgame
- one truly awesome sounding record while it's playing...the second it's over, it vanishes from your mind. Dave brought all the riffs and all the attitude, but he was sleepwalking through the songwriting process.

1. Meliah Rage - Masquerade
(the album of the decade for me)

2. Sacred Steel - Carnage Victory
(a real return to form, despite the childish lyrics)

3. Astra - The Weirding
(full of atmosphere and interesting passages)

4. Sathanas - Nightrealm Apocalypse
(Sathanas didn't invent the old school black metal wheel, they just perfected it)

5. W.A.S.P. - Babylon
(although it sounds like most other latter day WASP records, this one has a special spark to it)

6. Black Sabbath - The Devil You Know
(The best thing DIO has done since the 90's, and the best thing Sabbath has done since "Eternal Idol". Fantastic!)

7. Between The Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
(The most interesting album I have heard all year. Call it metalcore, I call it mathcore, and I also call it freakin' great!)

8. U.D.O. - Dominator
(Remember that one U.D.O. record you heard? This one is just like that. How does the man remain so consistent?)

9. Mortification - the evil addiction destroying machine
(Great Morty album Mick Jelinic is Steve best guitarist EVAH!)

10. House of Lords - Cartesian Dreams
(Like the 90's and 00's never happened. Christian is one of the best vocalists of all time)

11. Grave Digger - Ballads of a Hangman
(pretty average Grave Digger album, but even an average GD album is killer!)

12. God Forbid - Earthsblood
(talented group of guys that don't get the credit they deserve in their subgenre)

13. Count Raven - Mammon's War
(the best Ozzy fronted Sabbath album since Count Raven's 1996 effort)

14. Nebula - Heavy Psych
(another masterpiece from the kings of stoner rock)

15. Saga - The Human Condition
(new singer, heavier songwriting? Sign me up!)

16. Stryper - Murder by Pride
(maybe the band's most consistent and strong release)

17. Fu Manchu - Signs of Infinite Power
(see the description of the UDO album.)

18. Michael Phillips - Mirrors Within Mirrors
(amazing guitarist that should be part of the big boys' league of guitar playing)

19. Kreator - Hordes of Chaos
(it's Kreator. They HAD to make the list)

20. Sacrifice - The Ones I Condemn
(It's only so low on the list because I haven't heard it much, but it's a monster!)

Shawn have you heard that Astra album? I think you'd dig it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=77SV6B30

Enos The Penis wrote:

Shawn have you heard that Astra album? I think you'd dig it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=77SV6B30

Not yet, but I will now. Thanks!