December 14, 2008

Top 11 Metal Albums of 2008

2008 was a big year in metal. Numerous highly anticipated metal releases finally saw the light of day (we’re not just talking about Chinese Democracy here), and a bunch of young bucks made their mark on the scene. Metal is back. See which albums made our year-end list.
Korpiklaani - Korven Kuningas
11. Korpiklaani - Korven Kuningas [Nuclear Blast]

Remember the unforgettable scene in This is Spinal Tap, when Spinal Tap is playing the epic “Stonehenge,” and the two dancing dwarves almost crush the tiny Stonehenge replica on stage? If you can recall the folky part of the song that accompanies the dwarves’ dance, it is pretty much the building block for the style that Korpiklaani specializes in. One of the first-ever bands to focus entirely on what is now known as ‘folk metal,’ this Finnish six-piece somehow manages to rock just as hard as their metallic counterparts throughout their latest release, Korven Kuningas. And another reason why Korpiklaani’s music is so appealing is that there is an element on display throughout that is often sorely missed from other metal acts - it sounds like they’re having fun. This is especially evident on such songs as “Paljon on Koskessa Kiviä [The Rapids Has Many Rocks]” - a song that’s custom-made for drunken barroom sing-a-longs. And for those select few who aren’t fluent in Finnish, Korpiklaani means “Forest Clan.”

Boris - Smile
10. Boris - Smile [Diwphalanx/Southern Lord]

You’ve got to love any band that not only lists the Melvins as a prime influence, but also goes as far as to name their band after a Melvins song! The Japanese ‘experimental metal’ trio, Boris, has been issuing albums at a rapid fire pace since 1996 (every so often, going so far as to issue several within a year), and they continue to push metal’s sonic boundaries on their latest, Smile. Picking up an important piece of advice from metal godfathers Sabbath and Zeppelin, not all metal albums have to be ‘cranked to ten’ from beginning to end - in fact, soft detours only build anticipation towards the next riff monger. And Boris has learned well - for every metallic rocker ("Buzz-In," “Laser Beam"), there is a psychedelic detour ("My Neighbor Satan,” “You Were Holding an Umbrella"). With the arrival of Smile, Boris is officially the most rocking Japanese outfit since Loudness.

Along Came a Spider
9. Alice Cooper - Along Came a Spider [SPV]

Let’s face it - while he still puts on impressive live shows, Alice Cooper has had quite a tough time issuing an album that stands up to his early-mid ‘70s winning streak (after which the Alice Cooper Band dissolved). And while it’s not exactly going to replace Killer, Billion Dollar Babies, or Welcome to my Nightmare as the greatest-ever Alice studio album, this year’s Along Came a Spider is a step in the right direction. Like Judas Priest’s Nostradamus, Alice’s latest is a concept album - which tells the grizzly tale of a serial killer named ‘Spider’ who goes around hacking off people’s legs. And although the storyline possesses more than a passing similarity to season one of Showtime’s Dexter, the concept album route works well for the Coop, and the production-duo of Greg Hampton and Danny Saber creates a sound that harkens back to the days of Billion Dollar Babies, especially on such standouts as “Wake the Dead” and “I’m Hungry.”

Cheat the Gallows
8. Bigelf - Cheat the Gallows [Custard]

Is Bigelf prog, metal, or retro rock? Well, as evidenced by their latest release, Cheat the Gallows, the answer is all of the above, my friend. While they may not be exactly ‘reinventing the musical wheel,’ Bigelf proudly wear their influences on their sleeve. For instance, “Gravest Show on Earth,” may be the most bombastic album-opening track since the days of when Queen’s Freddie Mercury proudly displayed his black nail polish and white ballet suit. And you can even find a nod to the early electric organ-heavy daze of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow on “Hydra.” But Bigelf’s metallic tour de force is unquestionably “The Evils of Rock & Roll,” which features unmistakable Iommi-esque guitar riffing and Ozzy-like vocals, before wrapping things up with a musical bit lifted directly from the Diamond Head classic “Am I Evil?” (as popularized by Metallica). Although not a pure metal release from front to back, Cheat the Gallows should please fans of the aforementioned classic metal bands.

Gods of the Earth
7. The Sword - Gods of the Earth [Kemado]

Since the beginning of time, one of the most important - and instantly identifiable - sonic prerequisites for a good metal song is the almighty guitar riff. And The Sword certainly obeys this rule throughout Gods of the Earth. On their second full length overall, these stoner/doom metal-loving Texans have offered another set of mammoth riffs, Thunder God vocals, and song titles that would make any meat-hungry warrior proud - “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter,” “How Heavy the Axe,” and especially, the greatest metal song title of 2008, “Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians.” Expectedly, the music matches the striking song titles, especially “Hyperzephyrians” and “The Black River,” both of which come off sounding like a meatier Blue Cheer. And the metal masses are starting to take notice, as Gods of the Earth was the first album by The Sword to crack the Billboard 200, while an opening slot has been confirmed on Metallica’s just-launched U.S. tour.

L'Autrichienne
6. Jucifer - L’Autrichienne [Relapse]

How does a band comprised of just two people sound as massive as Jucifer? That’s sure to be a common question among metalheads after giving L’Autrichienne a spin or two. While heavy metal is the style that singer/guitarist Amber Valentine and drummer Edgar Livengood return to time and time again on the album, Jucifer is one of most musically varied bands of the scene, as they tip toe between Sabbath power riffing ("Blackpowder"), death metal ("Thermidor"), noisecore ("Fall of the Bastille"), and even non-metal elements, such as P.J. Harvey ("Champ de Mars") and psychedelia… sung in French ("To the End"). And through all the musical shapeshifting, Valentine proves to be quite a versatile singer - there are few vocalists in the world of metal that can handle just about any musical style thrown their way. L’Autrichienne is highly recommended to those who like their heavy metal with a hefty dose of variety mixed in.

Nude with Boots
5. Melvins - Nude with Boots [Ipecac]

One of the first bands to slow down punk’s rapid fire pace to a slow-as-a-tortoise crawl, the Melvins have been terrorizing unsuspecting audiences for over a quarter century. And they continue to offer prime cuts of metallic sludge, especially on Nude with Boots. The second studio album to feature the expanded line-up of longtime Melvins members Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover with a pair of chaps who also issue albums on their own under the Big Business moniker (Jared Warren and Coady Willis), Nude with Boots just may feature the most succinct songwriting from the band since their 1993 classic, Houdini. And thank goodness the Melvins’ penchant for coming up with gloriously absurd song titles remains very much intact, as evidenced by the arrival “The Kicking Machine” and “The Stupid Creep.” And oh yes, musically, the Melvins are as riff-happy as ever on “Dog Island,” and get downright melodic on the title track.

Motörizer
4. Motörhead - Motörizer [SPV]

It’s a modern day miracle of health that Motörhead‘s unmistakable lead croaker/bassist Lemmy Kilmister is not only still above ground, but also continues to front the group and issue albums as ferociously rocking as Motörizer. Joined once more by long-time cohorts Phil Campbell (guitar) and Mikkey Dee (drums), Motörhead continues to rack up impressive albums decades past what many critics initially predicted would be the band’s shelf life. Forget all the other wishy washy veteran hard rock/metal acts that have to rely on outside songwriters in hopes of winning over a young audience - Motörhead still turns a blind eye to outside trends, and as a result, have an album full of tunes that would sound absolutely scintillating being blasted on a concert stage - “When the Eagle Screams,” “Buried Alive,” “The Thousand Names of God,” etc. Want a nice, tidy and polite little rock record? You’ve come to the wrong place with Motörizer.

Black Ice
3. AC/DC - Black Ice [Columbia]

It was eight long years between 2000’s Stiff Upper Lip and this year’s Black Ice - the longest AC/DC have ever taken between studio albums. Which is puzzling, as part of what makes AC/DC so darn appealing in the first place is that you can always count on the lads to come up with an album that sounds almost identical to the previous one (in other words, it’s not like there was any chance of a complete stylistic overhaul). Hooking up with super producer Brendan O’Brien, Black Ice certainly harkens back at various points to the heady Back in Black period, especially on “Big Jack,” which compositionally and sonically could have easily fit on the aforementioned 1980 classic. Elsewhere, you’ll find some tasty patented ‘DC boogie on the title track, while the lead-off single, “Rock n’ Roll Train,” is the album’s prerequisite ‘night out with the boys’ anthem. An eight-year lay-off is a tad too long to say Black Ice was worth the wait, but by this point, any reemergence of these dirty old men is a most welcomed one.

Nostradamus
2. Judas Priest - Nostradamus [Epic/Sony]

A double disc, heavy metal concept album that chronicles the life and times of a 16th century French prophet. Sounds like a perfect blueprint for the next Spinal Tap album, eh? Well, everyone’s favorite leather-ized British metal band, Judas Priest, has beaten David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls to the punch with this year’s Nostradamus. Long in the making (news of the album first broke in early 2006), the album is everything you could ask for from a Priest album - K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton’s fierce leads, Rob Halford’s Metal God vocals, Scott Travis’ superhuman drumming, and Ian Hill’s non-existent bass. And although guitar synthesizers, keyboards, and string sections rear their head throughout, no need to fret metalheads, this is not Turbo II, as such standouts as “Prophecy,” “Visions,” and especially the title track, prove. The wait was certainly worth it, as Nostradamus is easily the most musically all-encompassing releases of Judas Priest’s entire career.

Death Magnetic
1. Metallica - Death Magnetic [Warner Bros.]

Each new Metallica studio album is greeted with perhaps more scrutiny than any other metal band nowadays - especially after the St. Anger stink bomb. So who knew what Metallica ‘08 was going to end up sounding like? But with the arrival of Death Magnetic, the group accomplished the damn near impossible - they issued the first Metallica album in nearly a decade that you won’t be ashamed to admit you own. Hooking up with producer Rick Rubin and the studio debut by new bassist Robert Trujillo has worked wonders for the band, as they sound the most focused and ferocious since 1991’s Black Album. Standout cuts are a plenty, as evidenced by “That Was Just Your Life,” “Cyanide,” “The Judas Kiss,” and the group’s first instrumental in a dog’s age, “Suicide & Redemption,” with very little filler detected (OK, OK - besides “The Unforgiven III"). Death Magnetic is the sound of Metallica reborn.

Interview: Alex Lifeson (Rush)


It’s no secret that over the years Rush has had its fair share of detractors - namely, in the music press. But the veteran Canadian group - which has long consisted of singer/bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart - certainly has gotten the last laugh, as they are still scoring hit albums and selling out arenas worldwide, nearly 35 years after the release of their self-titled debut. Recently, Rush has issued their latest live DVD, Snakes & Arrows Live, which chronicles a pair of sold-out shows at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on October 16 and 17, 2007, and features a heaping helping of classics, album cuts not played in eons, and newer material. Lifeson recently gave UGO the scoop about the DVD, as well as Rush’s future plans.

Let’s start with the new DVD, Snakes & Arrows Live...

Alex Lifeson: Well, towards the end of the [2007 European] tour, in Rotterdam, we had two days there - we had a day off before and a day off after. So it allowed us to get in on a set-up date, and having the second date, gave us the opportunity to get some really cool long shots and crowd shots. I think we had a fourteen-camera set-up - shot all in HD. It sounds really, really good. It’s funny with us - we always wait until the last minute to do these things, and I don’t know why we do that. We would probably be better off to think about doing something earlier in the tour. But it always turns out this way. Actually, one of the advantages is we’re pretty confident with our playing and the set feels pretty good. We’re quite pleased with it.

Why didn’t the DVD come out at the same time as the Snakes & Arrows CD (which was released in April)?

Alex Lifeson: The CD came out just prior to us going back out on the road - it gave us a little boost I think, in terms of making everybody aware that we were going back out for the second half of the tour. But these things take a while. To do the 5.1 mix is always time-consuming. So, we were able to get a stereo mix out quite easily.

How would you say that particular tour compared to others - as far as the band’s playing?

Alex Lifeson: I think we played the best we’ve ever played. As we get older - as we “mature” - there is a newfound confidence in our playing and the way we approach what we do. I thought we were really settled night-to-night - tempos were very consistent throughout the whole tour. You’re always making little improvements sonically. And there was a really good crispness and clarity to the sound - both out in the house as well as in internally in our monitors. And that always gets you playing a lot better. It was really night-to-night very settled - not often do I feel that way, or any of us feel that way. You come off a tour, and you figure you’ve done a dozen shows where you feel you played really well. This was night-to-night - we felt really confident and really good about the shows.

What about standout memories of that particular performance that night in Rotterdam?

Alex Lifeson: It was a very relaxed night - which is unusual, for that kind of “pressure” night. Whenever we’re recording, there’s always a sense of tension on stage. But we were really relaxed that night, and I think it was because we had the two nights. We were in the European portion - halfway through it - and we really enjoy traveling through Europe, so we were all in a pretty good headspace and relaxed. And I think it shows - there are moments throughout the DVD where there is interplay between the three of us and the audience - and you sense that we’re having fun.

Over the past few tours, Rush has brought back songs that have rarely been played live. How was it playing songs such as “Digital Man,” “Entre Nous,” and “Mission” again?

Alex Lifeson: It was fantastic. To play those songs that we hadn’t played before - or in a long time - was really nice. And the reaction from the crowd was great. I think Rush fans really enjoyed hearing some of those things that you don’t normally hear. On the second half of the tour, we switched things around a little bit and brought in some other ones - “Ghost of a Chance,” for example, and that exists on the DVD, as well. It’s almost like a bootleg session on the DVD, so there’s a nice variety there. And then all the “comedy stuff” that we try to do between the songs and at the opening and closing of the show is really fun, and there are some outtakes from those film sessions. It gives a whole different perspective on us and the individuals in the band.

Any obscure songs that you’d like to see make their way into the set in the future?

Alex Lifeson: I’m always toying with that idea - of really doing a tour, or a set, of more obscure stuff. Kind of stay away from “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio,” and explore some more obscure songs. I think the thing with us is, it’s “An Evening With,” and these are Rush fans that are there to see us play, and I think we can play just about anything we’ve written, and it would be accepted and there would be great interested in it. It would be really great to play those songs - for us to go on tour and play material that we haven’t played in 20 or 30 years...or ever. It would be a different tour, and something I hope we’ll consider seriously. It would be really interesting for us, I think. Playing “Ghost of a Chance” live, I felt like the song was reborn. There was a power, intensity, and dynamics to the song, that don’t come across quite the same as the recorded version. And when you play it now - or any of these older songs - we attack it differently. It’s kind of cool.

Looking back on the early years, I’ve read that Rush toured with Kiss in 1975.

Alex Lifeson: That was our first kind of “big tour.” We had started touring in ‘74 - we were opening for a few different bands. But the Kiss tour...and this was the start of their career, as well. The tour that we did with them, we opened for them, and we were playing 3,000-5,000 seat halls. They were a new band, and no one had really heard of them. So we did a lot of work with them - we probably toured with them for 60 or 70 shows. Back in those days, we were doing 200 to 250 shows a year anyways. But we toured with them over a fairly long period of time. We were very close and we had a lot of fun. We were both young bands, and quite different from each other - I think that was a nice compliment playing together. But like a lot of things, you sort of drift apart over the years. We stayed in touch for a while, but not so much in the past ten years or so.

Any specific memories of that tour?

Alex Lifeson: It was always a crazy scene at the end of tours - they’d plaster us with cream pies, there was always some sort of surprise lurking around a corner! And certainly, there were some fun nights - parties and things like that. They lived a little more of a “rock n’ roll lifestyle” than we did.

I’ve noticed in recent years, you’ve made the jump back to Gibson guitars - what prompted that switch?

Alex Lifeson: I just felt like a change, to be honest - it came down to that. I didn’t have any problem with what I was using - I was using primarily Paul Reed Smith guitars before - and I’ve always said that I love those guitars, they’re so beautifully built. But there’s something about a Les Paul in particular that’s so classic and traditional. I just felt that I wanted to go back to that place. I started working with Gibson, and they were very open and helpful - in developing the things I wanted, and worked very closely with Pat Foley at Gibson. I’ve been very happy with that relationship. We’ve been working on some models that have been inspired that some of the guitars that I have and some of the needs that I have. So it’s been a pretty good relationship with them of late.

I’ve also heard that you’re a big fan of the TV show ‘Family Guy.’ Is this true, and which other shows are your favorites?

Alex Lifeson: Oh, everybody watches ‘Family Guy’! It’s become so popular. What else do I watch… jeez, my wife and I started watching ‘Boston Legal’ for some reason - the first season, and really liked the writing. So we got the whole series and we’ve been watching it. ‘Dexter’ I enjoy quite a bit. I just got a Blu-ray player, so I’m building up my collection of Blu-ray discs, and watching a lot of that stuff. I got that ‘Planet Earth’ series - it’s just so stunning! And I got a series on dinosaurs that I watch with my grandson. ‘When We Left Earth,’ some IMAX stuff.

Recently, Rolling Stone featured the band in its magazine - how does it feel to be embraced all these years later by magazines and media that were once not so kind to the band?

Alex Lifeson: That’s nice, it’s a nice compliment. It was nice to do the interview for that - the writer was really a very pleasant guy and smart. We spent the better part of a week during rehearsals, and Chris [Norris] got into different aspects of our lives - I thought he did quite a good job. We didn’t have a very good relationship with Rolling Stone for a long time, so it was nice to be over that, and we couldn’t even remember why it was like that in the first place. Maybe it’s because we’ve been around for as long as we’ve been, and we’re still at it, and we like to think of ourselves as a “vital” kind of a band. We don’t do these nostalgia tours - there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not for us. I think begrudgingly, a lot of these non-supporters give us a little bit of respect for sticking around for so long.

What are Rush’s future plans? A new studio album?

Alex Lifeson: We finished the tour in July, and we were exhausted. We had been working hard for the last seven or eight years - I think we’d done four tours, four albums, and a bunch of DVD’s. Constantly working. And we all just need to get away from it. So our plan for the next year is to not even think about the band. And then jump into it fresh. I mean, there’s a bunch of stuff that we have coming out - the DVD, and we were part of a film called ‘I Love You, Man,’ that is coming out in the new year. A couple of other film things. There’s lots to keep us “plugged in” for the next little while, but we just want to clear our minds of the whole business for a little bit, and jump into it with a renewed energy. Maybe not this late next year, but sometime in the fall of next year, I think we’ll get together. Having said that, Ged and I have this habit of getting together sooner than later, and casually starting to do some work. So if we get bored in the new year, we might advance that schedule a little bit. But right now, we’re thinking about next fall.

"Cosmic Universal Fashion" - Sammy Hagar

SLIPKNOT 13 MINUTE VIDEO INTERVIEW IN SCOTLAND!

"We don't compromise."

"We don't give [the fans] anything less than the best of what we expect from ourselves."

"Making records is alright, making video's is alright, doing interviews are alright, all that shit is alright; but where it's at is live. That's the living experience. "

To watch the interview go HERE!

Jazz Music

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