The end is upon us. And it is time to look back and reflect on what hath been wrought. This year brought tidings of many things I had anticipated since the previous year. It brings my heart joy to look back and see all the good things I have been blessed with. Let me share my joy with you…
Presenting Leviathan’s LoudRock Top 10 in 2010
1. Powerglove Saturday Morning Apocalypse – Powerglove is finally back with another full release. These guy just bring back the things that made me feel warm as a kid in a way no one else does. This time they went with popular shows and movies of the 90s. Every song a great take on a song I already know. It’s not just a cover, it’s a reinvention of great catchy tunes from my childhood. If you were born in the 80s or 90s and like metal music, then this album should appeal to you. I love it, it’s so much fun.
2. Periphery Periphery - I have been listening to Periphery for at least two years. This will probably all sound very elitist. Get over it. I loved ‘bulb’s soundclick page. I had it bookmarked and used firefox’s downthemall to download every soundclip Misha Mansoor put out. I was in love with all of it. In fact exploration of Bulb and Misha led me to one of my favorite bands of all time, Animals as Leaders. Anyways, I loved all of it, and it was all instrumental as there was no vocalist for the little project. When they signed to Sumerian for a one record deal and they came out with their first teaser, it had vocals and I flipped a lid. They sounded horrible. It seemed to ruin the sound to me. To this day, I can’t find any of the old demos or teasers, and I have no idea if that was what they went with. Either I got used to it, or they changed it, or something. But I’m ok with the vocals now, and I love the ‘differentness’ of the album in the engineering and all other aspects.
3. Cloudkicker Beacons - Ben M. Sharp. This man is a genius. In the ranks of Misha Mansoor, and Tosin Abasi. But he is also a really odd fellow.
See this exclusive interview with Metal Injection
http://www.metalinjection.net/interviews/interview-cloudkicker
Anyways, this dude doesn’t want to make a living off of his awesome music. Which is fine. He probably makes enough money off of his bandcamp account to pay for his house and cars. But his music is awesome. Not always hardcore, but when he brings it, he brings it. He always has very easy to follow ideas, but hard to grasp concepts going on within. Just the names of the tracks on Beacons gives me goosebumps. And the music follows the story they seem to present. (In my head its old school fighter planes fighting off some aliens and they are hit, crash and obliterated.)
4. Exivious Exivious - The guitar and bass player of Cynic, and the drummer ofTextures. Both other bands that I love. So Exivious caught my eye. At first they only had the Waves of Thought single released. And I waited in agony for the rest of the album. All the while hoping it would not disappoint. And they certainly didn’t. Another instruMETAL album for the ages, this album had me in a trance. Colorful textures (lol) and complex patterns and ideas. Very stimulating stuff.
5. Cynic Re-Traced – I literally listened to this for the first time last night. How the hell could I wait so long?! I love Cynic, especially after seeing them in concert. I knew this was coming out and didn’t know what to expect. I loved Traced in Air, but what was I to expect from this ‘Re-Tracing’? Epicness. It’s so awesome. It flows together, and is totally different than Traced. The music is different, even the lyrics are different at times. It took only a night to win me over. I fell asleep to it on loop.
About the author
Loud Rock Director - Punk dude with Metal and Hardcore undertones. Constantly stage diving and high fiving!
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