2009 presented a great harvest to all kinds of audience. Some bands brilliantly showed their value, others tried to re-gain credit and others just made us get bored and spend our precious time.
Here are my 5 favourite records for 2009.

5-Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
Released late in the year still came in time to make this an even greater year. The mix of melancholy and beauty wrapped in Jonas Renske's soft, warm voice is a total must hear.


4-Minsk - With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone
Now this is what I call original music. A blend of psych, stoner, sludge, sometimes with a bit of black and death and most certainly with tribal rhythm. They slay live!


3-Altar Of Plagues - White Tomb
After two promising EPs (Sol and Through The Cracks Of The Earth), Altar Of Plagues release a full length of landscaping and atmospheric black metal, showing that Ireland has more to give than the great Primordial.


2-Converge - Axe To Fall
I was not a big fan of Converge. The core genre was never appealing to me until... Until Axe To Fall. What a bomb! What a bomb! Just hear it.


1-Liturgy - Renihilation
I wrote about this album in the zine and all I can say is: wow. It's not a word, I know, but it's the only thing that comes to my mind when I remember their songs. Unique, fucking unique.



Still, 2009 wasn't - obviously - this short on music. With no particular order, you must hear Drudkh (Microcosmos), Shrinebuilder (s/t), Them Crooked Vultures (s/t), Thy Catafalque (Roká Hasa Rádió), Ancestors (Of Sound Mind), Blut Aus Nord (Memoria Vetusta II) and Celan (Halo).

And 2010 already began. I now eagerly await the records from the following bands:

Deftones - Eros
This working title is everything we know about the next 'Tones record.

The Firstborn - Lions Among Men
This will probably be the name of the new Firstborn album. The band will record it in Wales (again) and will surely try to make even better than the awesome The Noble Search.


ThanatoSchizo
The schizophrenic sounds of TSO will become acoustic, in an album that's being recorded in Vila Real and will be entirely produced by the band itself. With a still unknown title, it will consist of acoustic versions of the band's songs that were played in a series of concerts throughout 2009.

Concealment
The Portuguese tech-death outfit already recorded the songs for their long awaited new full length. After mind-blowing everybody with Leak, they won't sure let anybody indifferent.

Devin Townsend
Ki and Addicted are already past tense, and Townsend prepares to release two more albums in 2010. No stops in Planet Dev.

Limp Bizkit - Gold Cobra
Half kidding, half serious, I do want to hear their new record. Yes, I spent my whole adolescence time listening to these guys and even watched their Download 09 performance online. Between the audience titties, I also listened to some old fashioned nu-metal which made me want to go back to my 15 years old.

Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Ways of OrwarriOr
Six years to release this eagerly awaited album. January 27th is the definite release date of an album which already seemed another Chinese Democracy. Middle East death-metal anyone?



Of course 2010 will have many other great records. And for those, Scratch The Surface will always be there.

António Matos Silva
Read More »

1- Mastodon – Crack the Skye
Touted as the ‘next Metallica’ and ‘Metal saviours’, Mastodon are clearly the most important metal band of this decade. There is no other act in heavy and extreme music running today that manages to constantly push the envelope into new sonic directions with each album released without making some distressing miscalculations. ‘Crack the Skye’ sees the band further experimenting into a progressive-rock sound and is a must-have for any lover of heavy and well-crafted music.


2- Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue
Opinions may have been divided over Alice in Chains’ comeback album. While some were anxiously waiting to hear the outcome of the newly reincarnated group following the tragic death of vocalist Layne Staley seven years ago, others simply dismiss this as another half-assed attempt to capitalize on former glory. Truth is, although ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ is not an instant classic like ‘Dirt’ , it’s nonetheless a damn good record that grants a second lease of life to Jerry Cantrell and Co.


3-Megadeth - Endgame
David Mustaine sometimes sounds like a jealous prick, always bitching about the past and how he was kicked out of Metallica. Sure, Megadeth’s leader and mastermind might not be driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis or shopping at Dolce & Gabbana nowadays, but he has more than enough reasons to be proud of himself and get over the trauma. Simply, Mustaine and Co.’s new album ‘Endgame’ pisses all over ‘Death Magnetic’, a genuine and heartfelt thrash-metal masterpiece overhauled for the new millennium. ‘Endgame’ sees Megadeth doing what they do best, THRASH.


4- Baroness – Blue Record
‘Blue Record’ is the second full-length release from Savannah’s Baroness; the group have steadily climbed their way up the ranks of heavy music following in the footsteps of their comrades Mastodon. Falling somewhere between 70’s progressive rock and the intricacies of Mastodon, this new album stands on the shoulders of their debut ‘Red Album’ released in 2007. It builds on the characteristics of their established progressive, sludgy and crusty sound whilst bravely venturing into new musical territory.


5- Coalesce - OX
‘OX’ is Coalesce's first album in ten years, and fans will rejoice to find out that the band's predilection towards genre-defying experimentation remains intact. Boasting off-kilter rhythms and a complex math-core riffage, ‘OX’ is an engaging record displaying all the elements that made Coalesce so damn special from the very beginning.


6-Amorphis - Skyforger
Majestic and brooding, ‘Skyforger’ is the ninth studio album from the ever reliable Finns Amorphis and third featuring current vocalist Tomi Joutsen. Like Amorphis's previous two records, ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Silent Waters’, ‘Skyforger’ is a concept album chronicling the tales of mythological characters from the Kalevala, in particular the blacksmith Ilmarinen. The stunningly beautiful first single ‘Silver Bride’ is a definite standout on what is a tremendously good record.


7- Kylesa – Static Tensions
Must be something in the water or the air, because just like Mastodon and Baroness, Kylesa hail from Georgia and just like their comrades have made one of the most surprising and engaging records released this year. Since their self-titled debut released in 2002, their musical style and sound have been honed, progressed and perfected and Kylesa finally hit the mark with their fourth studio album. The tracks have the usual sludgy and psychedelic vibe, but this album is blessed with a particularly strong progressive-rock melodic sensibility.


8-A Storm of Light – Forgive Us Our Trespasses
On ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’, Josh Graham and Co. have brought in a number of guests and collaborators, including former Swans vocalist Jarboe, Primitive North’s vocalist Nerissa Campbell, singer, poet and author Lydia Lunch, and multi-instrumentalists Carla Kihlstedt (Book Of Knots, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) and Marika Hughes.
The results are creepy and eerie, with slow thumping funereal riffs coupled with mournful strings and the harrowing voice of the man responsible for Neurosis visuals, a cryptic ambience clearly not indicated for the feint of heart.


9-Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue with the Stars
Blut Aus Nord is an avant-garde black metal group from Mondeville, France. ‘Dialogue with the Stars’ is the sequel to their critically acclaimed 1996 album ‘Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers of the Icy Age’ and it sees the three-piece returning to a more traditional black-metal style after flirting with electronic and industrial elements on their most recent offerings. Epic and ethereal guitar melodies permeate a more caustic and dark black-metal soundscape, making Blut Aus Nord one of the most innovative and interesting bands in the genre.


10-Lamb of God – Wrath
‘Wrath’ is bursting with powerful, infectious riffs, vicious grooves and virtuosic performances. Some accuse Lamb of God of being repetitive and derivative, but the truth is, when it comes to bring out some straight-up, aggressive and solid metal in the tradition of Pantera and vintage Metallica no one does it better than these Virginia fellows. Much better than its somewhat lacklustre predecessor ‘Sacrament’ from 2006, ‘Wrath’ is an essential purchase for 2009.

David Alexandre
Read More »