2000: CAVE IN - JUPITER. Ranks up there with my favourite albums of all time of any genre. This is perfect to have on at anytime, day or night. I put it on while doing stuff around the house, me and my sister must have played it a million times when we were playing NES. Where to start. I had just heard their first proper full length "Until Your Heart Stops" is was a great piece of metal with above average musicianship, all the stereotypical sayings apply. By the time the second half of the album rolled around they started showing where their next album was headed (parituclarily in the superb "Bottom Feeder"), and even more-so with the spacy "Creative Eclipses" EP. So, 2000 comes along and Cave In drops their second album (third if you count "Beyond Hypothermia"). Gone are the screamed vocals (omit about 8 words in "Big Riff"), the chugging riffs and the double kick drum. They make way for Steve Brodsky's much improved vocals, layers of effects laced guitar and a stunning musical landscape throughout. The opening title track is arguably as loud as the band gets on the disc, but the tracks two-six is the meat and potatoes of the album. "In the Stream of Commerce" and "Big Riff" are long spacy rockers and would not out of place anywhere in Failure catalog. "Innuendo and Out the Other" is an absolute classic, Brodsky has never sounded better. "Brain Candle" is a short little burst of Brit-pop, but make it uniquely their own. They follow it up with another long space rocker "Requiem" which builds for about 6 minutes before exploding, only to bring everything back to Earth in the haunting denouement. Recommended for any music fan of any age. Oh, and currently at the Hydra Head Records store on 180 gram vinyl!
Honourable Mention: Juliana Theory - Emotion Is Dead. Great Southern rock jams. Sometimes mellow, sometimes no so much. Got labelled as 'emo' but don't want to call it that since it would do it quite the disservice.
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2001: CONVERGE - JANE DOE. Furious! The opening 1-2 punch of "Concubine" and "Fault and Fracture" is the aural equivalent of having your jaw broken then your ribs broken one minute and nineteen seconds later. They calm it down on the next couple tracks, particularly "Hell To Pay" which has a repetitive bass riff that almost puts you in a trance. Those bass string sound loose. "Phoenix In Flight" and "Phoenix In Flames" are also a little mellower, sounding a little more like Neurosis or ISIS than themselves, omit Jacob Bannon's vocals. His vocals, by the way, are quite diverse. At times he sounds like a dog barking while other times he has pretty decent croon. While Bannon mellows out here and there… the band does not. "Phoenix In Flames" is followed up by one of the angriest songs on the record ("Concubine" still gets that honour) "Thaw" which sounds like a hellish nightmare, Bannon's bark is perfect (listen to the last 45 seconds of the song). By far my favourite Converge album, followed by "You Fail Me." Perfect mix of chaos and metal…
Honourable Mention: Saves the Day - Stay What You Are. Much more mature than "Through Being Cool," it is their best record. After they grew up a bit, but before "In Reverie," the record that made me tune out. Fast.
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2002: PIEBALD - WE ARE THE ONLY FRIENDS WE HAVE. Boston's Piebald had long been putting out great post-hardcore/indie rock by the time they put out "We Are the Only Friends That We Have." A continuation of their much more refined style first explored on their album prior, "If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curtains For Us All." The band starts off with "King Of the Road," an excellent introduction to the album. Travis Shettel, vocalist/guitarist can really turn a phrase, and has a very distinctive voice. He also teaches young kids in some capacity and they help him lead into the single "(Just a) Simple Plan," not to be confused the with nightmare of a band from Quebec. They cleaned up the track "American Hearts," which was on their "Barely Legal/All Ages" b-side and compilation album, and it sounds much better than the original. One of my favourites on the record is "Fear & Loathing On Cape Cod" which chronicles the lyricist (Travis?) going on a camping adventure in Cape Cod, tripping on drugs and driving golf balls into the ocean like Kramer. "The Monkey Vs the Robot" is another single from the record and a lyrics from the song is used as the name of a documentary about the band. "Rich People Can Breed" is an oddball track, but works so well right on the last of the second half of the record. "The Stalker" sounds like a Cars song, and Piebald may actually do it better. The song even features a reference to a "crimper," maybe the worst hair abomination that ever entered the market. Really poppy stuff, but not appealing enough to a mass audience I suppose, even though I think they did at least one tour opening for the Foo Fighters.
Honourable Mention: No Warning - Ill Blood. Angry, tough as nails New York style hardcore done by Toronto's own No Warning. One of the best hardcore records from Toronto.
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2003: EVERY TIME I DIE - HOT DAMN!. The band's debut "Last Night In Town" was pretty solid but I didn't get into it as much until I heard "Hot Damn!" Ten songs delivered in about a half hour finds the band on top of their game (or as on top as five booze cans from Buffalo can get). Keith Buckley toned down his scream a touch and shows some great glam style (or cock rock) Southern tinged album. Great mixture of sing alongs and screams, chugging riffs and breakdowns. "Romeo-a-Go-Go" is a furious anger but they always seem to end songs much better than they start them.. songs starting off so chaotic you can't catch your breath. "Off Broadway," "She's My Rushmore," "Floater," all are gems. "Godspeed Us To Sea" is my favourite ETID track off all time. Music doesn't get music catchier/heavier than that. "Ebolarama" is the only single/video from the album and the video is filmed at a roller skate, something none of the band members appeared to practice before the shoot. Too much singing on their new albums to make them essential.. I listen to them sometimes, but they just make me want to put on this album.
Honourable Mention: Lucero - That Much Further West. Just a solid band all around. I'm not even sure anything bad can be said about them. Let Ben Nichols' gruff voice take you home...
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2004: MASTODON - LEVIATHAN. Definitely the best record the New Yorker magazine has ever given a four star rating to. Mastodon started turning heads in 2002 with the release and ridiculous amount of touring in support of their album "Remission." I saw them play at the Rockit in Toronto on that tour with Daughters and Ion Dissonance. While the opening bands may be heavier and more chaotic, they didn't get the crowd going like Mastodon. "Blood and Thunder" starts off with a menacing guitar riff before the drums come in and vocalist (one of three members who contribute vocals) Brent Hinds growls "I think that someone is trying to kill me. Infecting my blood and destroying my mind.." Pretty stellar opening track. Another standout is "Seabeast," mellower in vocals but certainly not in axework! Outstanding drumming, triply guitars and great scream/sing dynamic throughout. The album is based on the story of Moby Dick, and while the story can be indecipherable at times, when the lead riff for "Iron Tusk" kicks in you feel like you are ripping through a storm in the middle of the ocean at the mercy of the powers that be. Much better than that other concept record that was such a huge hit in 2004, "American Idiot" or something like that. Although the story gets lost in the musical shuffle sometimes, the songwriting and musicianship is there in spades.
Honourable Mention: Descendents - Cool To Be You. Last Descendents record to date ranks up with their best. The inventors of the genre come back to show the kids how it's done.
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2005: PROPAGANDHI - POTEMKIN CITY LIMITS. Propagandhi have been a favourite of mine of a long time. And they seem to grow up with you. When I was 14, I swore "How To Clean Everything" was one of the greatest records ever made. There was lots of swear words, it was really fast and, despite the perceived vulgarity was fairly intelligent. Like me? Their second album 1996's "Less Talk, More Rock" was a significant step-up from their debut. Great songs, and despite a little light on the length (26 minutes), the band seemed to slow everything down. Then, bassist John K Samson leaves, and forms the Weakerthans and tours the world ten times over. How do Propagandhi respond? By releasing their most brilliant album to date, 2001's "Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes." I was floored when it came out and did think they would become so good while getting angrier. "Potemkin City Limits" continues in the tradition of "Today Empires…" with the strongest collection of songs their have put out. "A Speculative Fiction" opens the album and is arguably the best Propagandhi song ever recorded. It deals with a war between the US and Canada that hasn't happened yet. But could… bonus points for the reference to the laser puck. "Cut Into the Earth" is one of bassist Todd Kowalski's best offerings as a vocalist, and the only song on the album that isn't at a blistering speed. "Rock For Sustainable Capitalism" is a poke at every over coiffed, black make up wearing punk kid out there, quite poignantly I might add. "Name and Address Withheld" has a killer break right in the middle and gets even more bonus points for referencing Star Wars: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back in the same song. The following album "Supporting Caste" is great, as is the newly released "Failed States" but this might be THE Propagandhi record.
Honourable Mention: Cursed - II. Heavy. Where crust punk and metal meet.
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2006: YOUNG WIDOWS - SETTLE DOWN CITY. Louisville, Kentucky's Breather Resist weren't for everyone. I wasn't a big fan. The bands singer left the group so guitarist Evan Patterson and bassist Nick Thieneman took over vocal duties and found their sound had changed so much that they felt a name change was in order. Not sure how they settled on Young Widows but no matter… Their debut as Young Widows sounds somewhere between their old band and the Jesus Lizard (the song "Gladiator" is almost a direct lift from the song "Gladiator" by the Lizard). "Small Talk" starts off calmly enough with a great bass and drum line, in fact, bass and drums are the predominant instruments throughout the record, not unlike Big Business. "Mirrorfucker" is a song that was released on a 7" as Breather Resist, and stands out as one of the albums best tracks in its revamped form. "The Charmers" is the first song I heard from the album. It was a pre-release on their myspace page and I probably played it fifty times. Great song overall, but does lose it's momentum in the middle a bit.. but it was the song that turned me onto the band so I can't help but love it.
Honourable Mention: Daughters - Hell Songs. Daughters' start singing (kind of) and put out one of the most challenging and gratifying albums in a while.
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