The Mosh Pit 12.28.07: Top 10 Metal Albums Of 2007

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 12.28.2007

The Mosh Pit closes 2007 with a look back at the best in metal from a year of great releases. From Megadeth to Machine Head, from Candlemass to Type O Negative; did your band make the grade? The answer is one click away!





This is it, the end of the year my friends, time to live it up this weekend and kiss 2007 goodbye. Off to the dust-bin of history with you!

But before we jump into all of the exciting music on the horizon in 2008, it's time to take one last look at some of the great music that came out in 2007. So without a lot of fanfare or further ado, here are the metal gems to grace the crown of the best this year. Some well known, others small labels and underground, all good. When I can, I've provided a video for your enjoyment and a myspace page if you would like to hear some music from the band.

Also, and most importantly, the best part of what makes a best of list is your input as well. So read mine, and then sound off with your own as well! Blow mine up and out, or just add where needed, its all good and maybe all of us (the readers and I) will catch a few additional cool bands to check out!

That my friends, is the definition of keeping it real.




Tonight's Show: Top 10 Metal Albums of 2007



10. Centurions Ghost - The Great Work

The Supreme Moment
Let Sleeping Corpses Die
Only The Strong Can Survive
Black Hearts Will Break
The Great Work
Bedbound (In The House Of Doom)
Specimen No. 7
In Defiance
Walking Through Walls
I Am God, You Are Denied










To sample the bands music, click HERE

Wow. First album in and I'm already springing an underground band on you. Regular readers will recall me singing the praises of this sludge metal act. And when I mean sludge, I mean a doomed out trudging slog that takes you through harsh rusted lands, Celtic Frost riffs crushed against distorted thrash and whatever else crawled out from the back feed. Let me see if I can describe this band properly… Type O Negative takes a riff and makes it low and distorted in a fuzzy way, while Centurions Ghost takes the distorted fuzz and beats a riff out of it. Basically, they give purgatory a soundtrack.

This is not the kind of metal for everyone, because sludge is not a wall sound built for everyone. It's a harsh realm of distorted sounds that ripple with depth for those who can stand against the storm. Obviously, you know my position on it!






9. Type O Negative - Dead Again

Peter Steele – Lead vocals & bass guitar
Kenny Hickey – Guitars, vocals
Josh Silver – Keyboards, synth and effects, vocals
Johnny Kelly – Drums and percussion, vocals

"Dead Again" – 4:15
"Tripping a Blind Man" – 7:04
"The Profits of Doom" – 10:47
"September Sun" – 9:46
"Halloween in Heaven (With Tara Vanflower)" – 4:50
"These Three Things" – 14:21
"She Burned Me Down" – 7:54
"Some Stupid Tomorrow" – 4:20
"An Ode to Locksmiths" – 5:15
"Hail and Farewell to Britain" – 8:55





To sample the bands music, click HERE

What can be said for the drab-four (self proclaimed) that you probably don't already know. Either you like their eclectic style of fuzzy green drenched goth-doom or you don't. Well, for me, I'm happy to see metals vocal answer to Nosferatu rumble his way through dirges and punk-moshers. A famous Groucho Marx quote sits on the back cover and it says it all: "No matter what it is – We're against it."

The interesting thing about Type O, and Peter (singer and band founder for you uninitiated) is that the band's carnal dirge of sorrow known as World Coming Down marked a turning point in the bands career. The band is now back onto a label and have picked up the music's pace (relatively speaking) a bit. Fuzzy sludge dripped riffs actually move enough to nod your head too again, the band more lighthearted in it's assassination of their green filtered view of reality. Hell, "Dead Again" is quite the fun little speed metal song while "September Sun" has been described as Lily Munster meets the Beatles. Not what I expected, but the fun mix kept finding its way into the player this year, so here we go. I don't think the Type-O machine can punch out a lemon at this point, and I now fully expect Peter will just keep on rumbling until Armageddon, then just sit back and say "See… I told you so."



Type O Negative – "Profit of Doom"







8. Dark Tranquillity - Fiction

Mikael Stanne − vocals
Niklas Sundin − guitars
Martin Henriksson − guitars
Martin Brändström − keyboards and electronics
Michael Nicklasson − bass guitar
Anders Jivarp − drums
Nell Sigland − guest vocals on "The Mundane and the Magic"

"Nothing to No One" – 4:10
"The Lesser Faith" – 4:37
"Terminus (Where Death is Most Alive)" – 4:24
"Blind at Heart" – 4:21
"Icipher" – 4:39
"Inside the Particle Storm" – 5:29
"Empty Me" – 4:59
"Misery's Crown" – 4:14
"Focus Shift" – 3:36
"The Mundane and the Magic" – 5:17





To sample the bands music, click HERE

I'll be honest, this one fell flat on me the first time I heard it. Melodic death metal either works or it doesn't for me, and I was convinced the boys put out a pooch this time. But as always, I give an album time to breathe a bit and return to it later (just in case it was a mood) and am I glad I did. This dense wall of technical if melodic passages began to unravel into an amazing display of soundscapes. Did I say dense, yes, very dense. The music a wall of sounds to unlock and unleash, all passages containing fine song-craft and mysteries that make you want to hear it again in the hopes of gaining more. The band was on the cutting edge of the Gothenburg sound for a reason after all. American nu-metal and screamo bands could take a lesson from these Swedish death metalers on how to put together a metal riff and make it stick, turning a rhythm into a feast instead of a simple groove that plays itself out before the week is done.





Dark Tranquillity – "Focus Shift"








7. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

Anette Olzon - Vocals
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar
Marco Hietala - Bass, Vocals
Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards, Growling (On Master Passion Greed)
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums, Bodhran

"The Poet and the Pendulum" – 13:54
"Bye Bye Beautiful" – 4:14
"Amaranth" – 3:51
"Cadence of Her Last Breath" – 4:14
"Master Passion Greed" – 6:02
"Eva" – 4:24
"Sahara" – 5:47
"Whoever Brings the Night" (Vuorinen) – 4:17
"For the Heart I Once Had" – 3:55
"The Islander" (Hietala) – 5:05
"Last of the Wilds" – 5:40
"7 Days to the Wolves" (Hietala, Holopainen) – 7:03
"Meadows of Heaven" – 7:10







To sample the bands music, click HERE

Finnish symphonic metal powerhouse Nightwish is back with a new singer, and a mark did they leave. Tarja who? I'm sure I'll cheese some of the traditional Nightwish fans off, but I'm digging new voice Olzon. The former lead lady had quite the throat on her, but Anette delivers some emotion that makes it work better for me. And color me crazy, but I'd swear the band sounds more motivated as well. This one is a heaping slap of muse to absorb, clocking on at almost 80 freak'n minutes, so it has taken a while to sink in. But with songs like the progressive epic "Poet and the Pendulum", the kick'n "Bye Bye Beautiful" and even the poppy "Amaranth" with its annoying "IT" factor, the crazy mess keeps jumping into the car deck.

Passionate vocals pour over guitar power cords (and riffs even if they are harder to find at times) fronted by symphonic epic turbines to delver a rollercoaster ride of fast and soft landscapes, growls to ballads, progressive to power, all a wonderfully odd mix that jumps back and forth and eventually onto this list.




Nightwish – "Amaranth"








6. Arch Enemy - Rise Of The Tyrant

Angela Nathalie Gossow - Vocals
Michael Amott - Guitar
Christopher Amott - Guitars
Sharlee D'Angelo - Bass
Daniel Erlandsson - Drums

1. Blood on Your Hands 04:41
2. The Last Enemy 04:15
3. I Will Live Again 03:32
4. In This Shallow Grave 04:54
5. Revolution Begins 04:11
6. Rise of the Tyrant 04:33
7. The Day You Died 04:52
8. Intermezzo Libertè
9. Night Falls Fast 03:18
10. The Great Darkness 04:46
11. Vultures 06:35
Total playing time 48:32






To sample the bands music, click HERE

One part blood-curdling growls and another (two) part double-barrel twin lead assault courtesy of the Amott brothers, Arch Enemy serves what can be best described as an amalgamation of their previous three albums churned through a no-nonsense filter of straight-up in your face performance. Angela has claimed the point was a return to basics, and it shows with her single tracked voice (no multi-track studio magic here!), and the melodic death metal axe work straight out of Gothenburg; the beauty is in the fact it works, the band being more than post-production, years of touring paying dividends in the studio.

Once the album opens, you are repeatedly sent through halls of riffs, a never ending smorgasbord of guitar work in fight for first with assailant drum work. The guitars win the race, veering between repeated blows and ripping swings of melody. Put this over Angela's vocal fury and you end up having to play the whole damn thing again just to absorb the totality of the album. It's amazing something so simple can become so much, a true testament to talent over pro-tools.



Arch Enemy – "Revolution Begins"








5. Machine Head - The Blackening

Robb Flynn - Vocals, Guitar
Phil Demmel - Guitar
Adam Duce - Bass
Dave McClain - Drums

1. Clenching the Fists of Dissent 10:35
2. Beautiful Mourning 04:49
3. Aesthetics of Hate 06:34
4. Now I Lay Thee Down 05:34
5. Slanderous 05:17
6. Halo 09:03
7. Wolves 09:04
8. A Farewell to Arms 10:12
Total playing time 01:01:08






To sample the bands music, click HERE

This is one that really surprises my friends a bit. I'm the doom/sludge/classic metal dude in the group - Right? Wrong. Just because I dump on some forms of modern metal like nu-metal, metalcore, mall-core, brat-core, emo-shit, etc. doesn't mean I don't like modern bands. This is a great example, as Machine Head has adopted modern metal sounds and classics into one fucking metal gauntlet of destruction. Yea and verily, I can attest because I have bore witness to Machine Head live and have had my vital organs splattered against the back wall thanks to the sonic assault that is Robb Flynn and Co. But oh no, while Robb is a great voice and one passionate assailant on the stage, I would be remise if I didn't also mention Phil Demmel and Adam Duce's signature performance. I'm sure their sound has moved from measuring beyond decibels and into something more appropriate like zip-codes. Finally, there is Dave McClain who will be revealed some day as an escaped government weapon, whose precise percussion attack could be categorized as a weapon of mass destruction. The dude can play!

Each song is a testament to a creative muse that becomes a journey into itself; each a signature statement. It would be tempting to call prog elements because of this, but the gut wrenching purposefulness of the whole affair belies the lengthy wankery that can be associated with that genre. And this comes from me, I guy who likes and collects classic prog! Eight jewels, 8 testaments to a muse that has the art of a shrapnel grenade but the soul of a poet. Yea, I dig this album a lot. This one took some time to ingest, but Pandora's Box of Holocausts revealed a beauty within its bruising depths and now it's one of the 2007 albums that continually find its way into the CD player. What better praise can really be given than that?


Machine Head – "Aesthetics of Hate (Live)"

I included this live version due to the introduction on what this song is about.
Learn it, live it, and love it.
This is the band Disney stopped from playing at the House of Blues because they are too controversial…








4. Trouble - Simple Mind Condition

Goin' Home
Mindbender
Seven
Pictures Of Life
After The Rain
Trouble Maker
Arthur Brown's Whiskey Bar
Simple Mind Condition
Ride The Sky
If I Only Had A Reason
The Beginning Of Sorrows









To sample the bands music, click HERE

I've made no bones about my love of this band, as those who have been with this column from it's beginnings already know, Chicago's Trouble being one of the twin pillars of doom, the band producing some of the greatest tradition metal crunches to storm by headphones. Part doom, part stoner rock, a lot of passion poured over Eric's wail of trials and tribulations. It's my opinion (even if biased) that Trouble is one of the great underappreciated bands in music history, metal or otherwise.

Simple Mind Condition crunches less than early outings, but still thumps mightily, doing what doom does best – Deliver a continuous parade of riffs that chug through melodies and rhythms that command notice. Whether it's the ter-riff-ic ambience of "Goin' Home", the thump of "Mindbender", the loyal pounding cover of Lucifer's Friend's "Ride the Sky" or the haunting closer "The Beginning of Sorrows". If you haven't heard of this stuff yet, click the link above already! This is purely distilled traditional metal and everything that makes rock great, past or present.



3. Candlemass - King of the Grey Islands

Robert Lowe - vocals
Mats Mappe Björkman - rhythm guitar
Lars Johansson - lead guitars
Leif Edling - bass
Jan Lindh - drums

"Prologue" - 0:56
"Emperor of the Void" - 4:29
"Devil Seed" - 5:44
"Of Stars and Smoke" - 5:50
"Demonia 6" - 6:23
"Destroyer" - 7:52
"Man of Shadows" - 6:17
"Clearsight" - 6:52
"The Opal City" - 1:13
"Embracing the Styx" - 8:19
"Solitude" - 5:58 *
"At the Gallows End" - 5:22 *
* Digi-Pak Bonus Songs





To sample the bands music, click HERE

Speaking of the twin pillars of doom, this year saw the return of another doom institution in Candlemass. The mad monk might have made his finally exit with the band, but this group is just to damn formidable to slow down, with Robert Lowe of Solitude Aeturnus joining the guys as frontman to take the show into new catacombs. Dark, foreboding, a crunchy mash through forlorn landscapes set into the dark corners of your mind. Leif Edling is Candlemass, and brings the goods every time out no matter who fronts the music.

And while the soaring vocals are truly a wonder to behold, it's the bone crunching riffs and rhythms that define Candlemass. Blazing a steady dirge of relentless axe swings a mile wide, I can think of no places to go where the subgenre is done better. Pounding, grinding, jamming six feet under while Lowe laments to the storm riddled heavens. The music suggests they will never answer, but the voice suggests a futile hope that they will. Either way, the winner is clear – Us for being blessed with another offering from this cornerstone of doom.




Candlemass – "Emperor of the Void (Live)"







2. Megadeth - United Abominations

Dave Mustaine - Guitars, Vocals
Glen Drover - Guitars
James Lomenzo - Bass
Shawn Drover - Drums

1. Sleepwalker 05:53
2. Washington Is Next! 05:19
3. Never Walk Alone... A Call To Arms 03:54
4. United Abominations 05:35
5. Gears of War 04:25
6. Blessed Are the Dead 04:02
7. Play for Blood 03:49
8. À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free) 04:11
9. Amerikhastan 03:43
10. You're Dead 03:18
11. Burnt Ice 03:47
Total playing time 47:56






To sample the bands music, click HERE

It's been a long road for big Dave, but Megadeth in 2007 is an animal worthy of its icon status as one of the original big four of thrash. Slowly earning back the fans the old fashion way, by touring, meeting the fans, playing there asses off each year over increasingly successful forays into metal mayhem. I was literally thinking of writing the guys off back at the end of the 90's, but no one is more glad to be wrong than me. The man is back, he's kicking ass, taking names, and sneering all the way to the bank; amazing how keeping it real can and does coincide with success – Someone get the pop-princesses on the phone and tell them their life really is pointless!

James Lomenzo (once of White Lion fame), is a real find, and in his element compared to past work. Not that his previous work was bad, only herein he has the chance to really shine – The dude can go! Speaking of going, the other stroke of genius from Mustaine is recruiting the Drover brothers (of Eidolon fame), both Glen and Shawn completing the group and with Lomenzo turning Megadeth into a complete band; I couldn't shake the impression of session players in some of the last couple of albums (even if The System Has Failed still rocked), and now the new lineup has toured, recorded, and performed their way into a tight force of destruction.

What really takes this album and lifts it to lofty heights, and claims of a return to the early 90's (only partially true), is Dave and Glen's continual trading for twin leads and solos, a number of tracks recalling the hallowed glory of Rust In Piece with massive axe assaults – case in point, "Burnt Ice" is practically nothing but the two exchanging leads and solos!

About my only real complaint, and if you've read my column from the beginning you've heard this several times, is the odd track out "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)". A remake that didn't need to happen, it is not as good as the original (why did they have to track in the duet or change the pace?), and I'm virtually convinced it was a label idea to generate a single (A Led Zeppelin cover was originally marked and replaced at the last minute). Not that it sucks, only that it is average and doesn't fit the rest of the album. Despite that, however, the rest of the album smokes from front to back, Megadeth delivering up not only their best album in 15 years, but one of the best metal albums of 2007.


Megadeth – "Sleepwalker (Live)"







1. Dimmu Borgir -In Sorte Diaboli

Shagrath (Stian Thoresen) - Vocals
Erkekjetter Silenoz (Sven Atle Kopperud) - Guitars (also vocals)
Galder (Thomas Rune Andersen) - Guitars
ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs) - Bass/Clean Vocals
Mustis (�yvind Johan Mustaparta) - Keyboards
Hellhammer – Drums

1. The Serpentine Offering 05:09
2. The Chosen Legacy 04:17
3. The Conspiracy Unfolds 05:24
4. The Sacrilegious Scorn 03:58
5. The Fallen Arise 02:59
6. The Sinister Awakening 05:09
7. The Fundamental Alienation 05:17
8. The Invaluable Darkness 04:44
9. The Foreshadowing Furnace 05:49
Total playing time 42:46




For music and videos, you can visit HERE.

Smoking of fire and brimstone, and not necessarily on the positive end of that imagery, In Sorte Diaboli is everything you would expect from a black metal outfit turned extreme symphonic – A brazen loud trip through roaring riffs, screeching (and the surprising occasional clean) vocals, and the mighty Hellhammer's pounding percussive attack; all so much detail at once it takes many listens through it's damned tracks to extract the nuances of each unholy song.

Can I stretch a sentence or what?

Dimmu Bogir hits you with so much OTT at every chance they can, all delivered with such a straight face that the whole ordeal risks becoming a caricature, but this is so in your face serious that you just sit there forced to digest the reality of its vision. These guys really mean this, and that is what ultimately delivers the bloodstained muse of fallen ideals. You really got to hand it to the band; they're too extreme for the mainstream, too mainstream for the grim cvlt black metal fan, and too controversial for 90% of everyone else. Talk about sticking to your guns. But whatever, it's all about the album in the end.

And the album delivers, each track an assault on music and philosophic conventions, a pounding story of ripping riffs set telling the tale of a priest falling from grace, musical mayhem unleashed into a tight form of controlled chaos. From the forbidding grim symphony heralding "The Serpentine Offering" all the way to the horrifying sound of burning flames ending "The Foreshadowing Furnace", this thing doesn't stop save for the interlude of "The Fallen Arise", and I'm not sure if the dark ambience of that would qualify. Put it in and enjoy, but be warned, this is not for everyone. Leave conventions at the door or be prepared to have them ripped from you.


Dimmu Borgir – "The Serpentine Offering"

Warning: This has religious imagery that may be offensive to certain people…





Final Thoughts

Right below this column is the great new comments feature... Now don't be shy - Lets hear from you on the great albums that made your list this year!

Oh yea, and before I forget, for the last time this year. Keep it real… Play it loud… Blah, blah, blah…

Hell, just get smashed, have fun, and be safe will ya!