by Cosmo Lee

A final kiss-off to 2008 - my favorite metal songs that year. As I hear these for the umpteenth time, I can't help but wonder: why can't albums now be this wall-to-wall awesome? All these bands with all these chops - is it so hard to write a song? One with shape, meaning, and identity? Metallica did not become #1 by being the most intense or dexterous band. They just wrote the best songs. Good albums are around, but good songs are rare. Here are 14, totaling under an hour. They got me through 2008, that bear of a year.

by Cosmo Lee

So much music comes out now that it's impossible to have a bad year in anything. Take metal, for example. Approximately 234,827,358 metal records (give or take several degrees of magnitude) came out in 2008. If you couldn't find 10 to like among those 234,827,358, you weren't trying hard enough.

Though 234,827,358 records negates the notion of a bad year (and perhaps the very notion of a year), it also means that year-end lists now have basically infinite variation. 20 years ago, things were a lot simpler. In 1988, your year-end Top 10 list probably included some of these records: Megadeth's So Far, So Good...So What!, Metallica's ...And Justice for All, Slayer's South of Heaven, Testament's The New Order, Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime, and Voivod's Dimension Hatröss.

Dead Congregation - Morbid Paroxysm

Now the sky's the limit, as lists from various luminaries show below. (For more, see Pitchfork's year-end column, which includes my Top 10 in the form of haikus; Phil Freeman (Metal Edge); Adrien Begrand (Decibel, Metal Edge); The Left Hand Path.) Still, patterns emerge. People really liked the Nachtmystium and Torche records, though neither made a dent on me. The latest Leviathan and Origin records also got deserved props. But the name that popped up the most was Dead Congregation: Athenians doing death metal right. If one aggregated metal year-end lists across the Internet, Dead Congregation might be the surprise winner.

What were your favorite records/things of 2008?

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Aidan Baker (Nadja)
Andrew (Aversionline.com)
Chris Bruni (Profound Lore)
Cosmo Lee (Invisible Oranges, Decibel, Pitchfork)
Dave Adelson (20 Buck Spin)
Dave Haley (Psycroptic)
Dave Schalek (Metal Runs in My Veins, Live4Metal)
J. Bennett (Decibel)
Jess Blumensheid (Invisible Oranges)
Laurie Sue Shanaman (Ludicra)
Mel Mongeon (Fuck the Facts)
Nick Green (Decibel)
Rich Hoak (Brutal Truth, Total Fucking Destruction)
Rob Milley (Neuraxis)
Ryan Adams (from Filter magazine)
Wrath (Averse Sefira)

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Aidan Baker (Nadja)
Sun Kil Moon - April
Wovenhand - 10 Stones
Boris - Smile
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
Thisquietarmy - Blackhaunter
Jesu - Pale Sketches
Pyramids - s/t
Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
Retribution Gospel Choir - s/t
Genghis Tron - Board Up The House

Top 5 people I'd like to collaborate with
Caspar Brotzmann
Stina Nordenstam
PJ Harvey
James Plotkin
Warren Ellis

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Andrew (Aversionline.com)

ASRA "The Way of All Flesh" CD
22 minutes of totally pristine grindcore mayhem. This was their debut, and sadly they've already broken up. A damn shame!

Bison B.C. "Quiet Earth" CD
Incredibly energetic hardcore/punk-infused rock from a band that I had never heard of before. This one took me completely by surprise and really hooked me in. I love it when that happens...

Celestine "At the Borders of Arcadia" CD
Crushing debut from this Reykjaví­k, Iceland outfit. They'd be huge if they were from California or something like that. Way more people should be all over this one. Awesome.

Cynic "Traced in Air" CD
I hate everyone who claims that this album is better than "Focus" (probably my favorite album of all time), because to state such is completely ignorant. But that being said, it's fucking Cynic! The wait was all too long. Far from perfect, but a very solid album from one of the most amazing bands ever.

The Death of Her Money "Spirit of the Stairwell" CD
SuperFi Records drops some obscure gems here and there, and this UK group is one of 'em for sure. A wide range of influences swirl around here, and the results generally bash your head to the ground and then scrape it across the pavement... with care.

J. Bannon "The Blood of Thine Enemies" one-sided etched 7"
A lot of people seemed to be iffy on this one, but I was all over it from the first second. An utterly incredible song. Chillingly somber and powerfully moving.

The Joy Formidable "Austere" 7"
I still have no idea how you'd accurately classify this band, and it's way outside my normal realm with its poppy indie/new wave action, but the songs kick ass. They've yet to record a track that's not catchy as hell, and I'm always excited to hear more.

Make Do & Mend "We're All Just Living" CD
This might have come out in 2007, but I got a copy and wrote about it way back in January, so... it's on the list. I was sort of torn on this EP when I wrote it up, but now I'm 100% in love with it. "Insomniac Jams" is one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life, and by far my favorite song of 2008. No doubt.

Reign Supreme "American Violence" CD
The best 12 minutes of straight up, no bullshit metallic hardcore all year. Fact.

Subrosa "Strega" CD
Easily the most intriguing release of the year for me. Dark, weird, and highly effective. You've really got to check this band out for yourself to get a feel for the eerie types of sounds they're exploring, and that's pretty damn rare these days.

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Chris Bruni (Profound Lore)
01. NIGHTBRINGER – Death And The Black Work
02. BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE – Dolores
03. LIFELOVER – Konkurs
04. OCRILIM – Anwyn
05. LEVIATHAN – Massive Conspiracy Against All Life
06. NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
07. DEAD CONGREGATION – Graves Of The Archangels
08. AURA NOIR – Hades Rise
09. PORTISHEAD – 3
10. SKEPTICISM - Alloy

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Cosmo Lee (Invisible Oranges, Decibel, Pitchfork)
01. ASG - Win Us Over
02. Brave - Monuments
03. Grand Magus - Iron Will
04. Nasum - Doombringer
05. Austrian Death Machine - Total Brutal
06. Daylight Dies - Lost to the Living
07. The Rotted - Get Dead or Die Trying
08. Fuck the Facts - Disgorge Mexico
09. Byzantine - Oblivion Beckons
10. Dead Congregation - Graves of the Archangels

Best of the rest, alphabetically
Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax
Brown Jenkins - Angel Eyes
Cynic - Traced in Air
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
Keep of Kalessin - Kolossus
Khold - Hundre År Gammal
Meshuggah - ObZen
Neuraxis - The Thin Line Between
Origin - Antithesis
Trap Them - Seizures in Barren Praise

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