Raider, 1993-2010

Goodbye. I miss you.



(Read a kind of stream-of-consciousness post I wrote about him several years ago by clicking here.)

The Top 50 Albums of the Last Decade: 2002

Once again, the ground rules: each band can only be on the list once. Each year is allotted five albums, i.e., 5 for 2000, 5 for 2001, and so on. I do not attempt to rank them from 1 to 50, or even 1 to 5 within a year, because they are all excellent. Ranking them would be a pointless endeavor.

Also, instead of filling out all 50 slots, I actually have only picked 3 for each year, because, as I learned with my last top X list, I don't know everything about metal (though I do know a lot more than I did then). I probably am unaware of at least two other great metal albums in each of these years, and I want to encourage you to add the rest by commenting.

So, on to the list for 2002.

Isis: Oceanic

Probably the first great album in the post-metal genre, it inspired many imitators, and with good reason. The slowly-developing songs completely eschew conventional song structure, and demand your full attention in order to truly appreciate them. It would be folly to try to pick out the best tracks, because it can't be fully understood without listening to the recording all the way through, an experience which feels, well, oceanic, as if you are drifting along on a ship in the high seas.

Meshuggah: Nothing

This is the band that opened the door to death metal for me, and they practically invented my favorite subgenre, technical death metal. And this is one of the experimental quintet's finest hours (or at least 53 minutes). This is despite having mixed it in two days and mastering it in one. The polyrhythmic beats the band is known for are definitely present, as well as their odd, counter-intuitive solos and harsh vocals, and as always it is relentless throughout the recording. Top picks include "Rational Gaze," "Closed Eye Visuals," and "Spasm."

Nile: In Their Darkened Shrines

Yes, 2002 was a great year for technical death metal, and these Egyptian mythology-obsessed guys delivered one of the defining statements of the genre with this album. "Unas Slayer of the Gods" is probably the best track on the album, but the four-part title song is really the core of the album. I don't think I can say it any better than Allmusic's John Serba:

Shrines is an utterly convincing realization of Nile's passion and intelligence, incorporating jarring tempo changes -- from downtuned doom/sludge metal to concise hyper-blasts -- laser-precise riffing and guttural grindcore vocals into the bowel-twisting, and occasionally startlingly melodic, structures of "Sarcophagus," "Unas Slayer of Gods," and "Wind of Horus." But the album's crowning achievement is a four-part suite "In Their Darkened Shrines," a truly epic masterpiece in both concept and execution, seamlessly incorporating majestic, sweeping keyboards, chanting choirs, tribal drumming, and battle horns into the mix, with recurring melodic themes marking what is easily the band's most ambitious and effective composition to date -- a pseudo-symphonic death metal soundtrack that conjures up visions of tyranny, slavery, rebellion, and sacrifice to cruel gods. While other acts in the genre are content to create the musical equivalent of slasher flicks, Nile aspires to Lawrence of Arabia heights, essentially beating old tyrants Morbid Angel at their own game.

Be sure to add your own picks for the remaining two albums for 2002 in the comments, and check back next Friday for the list for 2003. When they're all posted, you can see the whole list by clicking here.

No. 2139

The Godmakers by Frank Herbert (1972)

I recently read The Godmakers, by legendary Dune author Frank Herbert.

The novel explores a distant-future society which had been devastated by a galactic war, resulting in many planets becoming isolated. The protagonist begins the novel as a member of an organization charged with teaching and observing the people of re-discovered planets. If any sign of a war-like history is uncovered, the planet is "occupied," rendering the population harmless but damaging its culture and people permanently in the process. The protagonist is quickly identified as a very gifted individual, and is promoted and then given successively more difficult tasks. Eventually, the book degenerates into one of Herbert's ideological-religious-philosophical digressions, which are almost invariably indulgent, a trend which is true here as well.

I was shocked at how disjointed the whole book was. It didn't feel like a novel at all. Then I looked it up on Wikipedia and found out why: It was expanded from four short stories which had previously been unpublished. Hey, it worked for Asimov's Foundation, right? Well, in that novel it worked because the stories were only loosely connected, separated by decades or centuries of time in between. With The Godmakers, it all seems more or less sequential, and centers on two main characters, so it feels like it should hang together, but doesn't. Also, the theme from one story arc, which explores a non-human civilization, doesn't seem to fit the themes of the book. And the last story arc is the dreadful, pretentious, and faux intellectual digression into religion.

As short stories, I would have liked the first three--including the one about the aliens. I would have hated the last one. As a novel, it's barely worth the small investment of time. [The following edited to conform to my new rating scale:] I don't hate the book, which would result in a 0 star rating, but I don't like it, so I give it 1 out of 5 stars.

The Top 50 Albums of the Last Decade: 2001

Once again, the ground rules: each band can only be on the list once. Each year is allotted five albums, i.e., 5 for 2000, 5 for 2001, and so on. I do not attempt to rank them from 1 to 50, or even 1 to 5 within a year, because they are all excellent. Ranking them would be a pointless endeavor.

Also, instead of filling out all 50 slots, I actually have only picked 3 for each year, because, as I learned with my last top X list, I don't know everything about metal (though I do know a lot more than I did then). I probably am unaware of at least two other great metal albums in each of these years, and I want to encourage you to add the rest by commenting.

So, on to the list for 2001, a year when three important bands really figured out who they were and what they wanted to do.

Opeth: Blackwater Park

I had a hell of a time with the rule I set up that each band could only be on the list once, because Opeth could have made the list in 2008, 2005, and even 2002 on top of this one. But this is where I decided to put them, with a phenomenal progressive death metal album which combines the brutality of death metal with melodic passages and even--gasp!--major chords as emphasis. This album marks Opeth's finding their real voice, and is certainly the first album to pick up if you're unfamiliar with these metal geniuses. The best track is likely "The Drapery Falls," but other top picks include "Bleak," "The Funeral Portrait," and the title track (though all the tracks are great).

Slipknot: Iowa

Again, an album I will probably catch flak for including. However, this is a masterpiece any way you look at it. I'm not sure what it is about nu metal that makes "true" metalheads hate it, but whatever that is, surely it should not apply to this band and certainly not this album. The whole thing is as brutal as the most brutal thrash metal albums out there. As this professional review notes, this is a serious metal band, and I quote:

Every genre needs its defining record, its high watermark, and this 66-minute tantrum is nu-metal's gift to history. A classic, terrifyingly.

Another source has this to say:

[I]f Slipknot act as a gateway drug for a few thousand future death metallers, well, all the better. Slipknot might be the biggest band in metal that no metalhead should actually feel ashamed for enjoying.

I agree completely. The best track is "Left Behind," but the whole thing is great (except, perhaps, for the title track).

Therion: Secret of the Runes

This album is where Therion perfected their brand of symphonic metal, on this nearly hour-long exploration of Norse cosmology. Combining pure heavy metal (and the traditional metal vocals) with a complete symphony and operatic vocals (in several languages), this disc delivers on the promise many saw in the combination of the two most dramatic forms of music. Standouts include "Ginnungagap," "Asgård," "Schwarzalbenheim," "Vanaheim," and the title track.

As before, I encourage you to leave a comment and let me know what other two metal albums deserve to be on this list, and be sure to check back next Friday for the list from 2002. When they're all posted, you can see the whole list by clicking here.

No. 2006

You can buy this shot of hay bales at ArtistRising.

District 9 (2009)

I recently watched the movie District 9, and I thought it would be worthwhile to share my thoughts about it. The movie explores themes of racism, apartheid (hence the setting in South Africa), and corporate greed/corruption, among other things. The film provides an interesting take on the racially-based themes, because it has never before been attempted (to my knowledge) with the premise of racism-against-aliens.

A few of the central characters are explored fairly well, particularly the main character; however, I didn't like him at first, so investing myself emotionally in his plight didn't come naturally at first. Yet, his situation is so compelling that it draws you in nonetheless. I especially like the exploration of some of the alien personalities and their interaction with humans.

There were some downsides to the movie. A few major plot points didn't make sense. From what I know of biology, I doubt an egg-laying species would have any sense of family. Strategically speaking, I don't understand why the paramilitary force kept trying to use small-caliber weapons (and dying in the process) when obviously they weren't working. And one major plot point didn't make sense to me, though I can't reveal what it is without providing spoilers. If it was just a mindless action movie, I could deal with these problems. But it invites you to start thinking, at least about the social issues, and then disappoints when you start to think about plot holes.

Overall, the movie provides a unique take on an issue I thought had been explored completely. The positives outweigh the negatives, and I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Top 50 Albums of the Last Decade: 2000

Yes, I am aware that the decade doesn't technically end until a year from now, but with music people tend to think of decades as being, for example, 1970-1979. So, for your pleasure, I will be discussing the top 50 metal albums of the last ten years.

The 2000's were a great decade for metal. They saw the ascent of sludge metal, the maturation of black metal, the genesis of post metal, the veritable arms race toward the most technical of death metal, and (for good or ill) the decline of nu metal.

Here are the ground rules I set up: each band can only be on the list once. Each year is allotted five albums, i.e., 5 for 2000, 5 for 2001, and so on. I do not attempt to rank them from 1 to 50, or even 1 to 5 within a year, because they are all excellent. Ranking them would be a pointless endeavor.

Also, instead of filling out all 50 slots, I actually have only picked 3 for each year (for a total of 30, for you English literature types), because, as I learned with my last top X list, I don't know everything about metal (though I do know a lot more than I did then). I probably am unaware of at least two other great metal albums in each of these years, and I want to encourage you to add the rest by commenting.

So, without further ado, on to the list.

Nevermore: Dead Heart in a Dead World

This album is a true triumph of pure heavy metal. The vocals and guitar are both superb on nearly every track. Highlights include opener "Narcosynthesis" with its catchy chorus, the title track, the very interesting cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence," and, well, just about every other track on the album. My personal favorite is the shredding "The River Dragon Has Come," with its numerous guitar embellishments.

Mudvayne: L.D. 50

I'm sure I will probably catch some flak for including a nu metal album on this list (it isn't the only one, either), but this album is truly brilliant. Mudvayne has never been able to match their debut in terms of rawness or heart. The bass guitar is the real star on this one, driving every track through this seamless opus which explores human nature and evolution along with madness and drug abuse. The best track is "Nothing to Gein," which explores the thought processes, sexual frustrations, and mommy issues of murderer/grave robber Ed Gein, has brutal and funk/metal passages and lyrics which somehow manage to be both sensitive and sensational at the same time. Other standouts include "Dig" and "Death Blooms."

King Diamond: House of God

A concept album which both tells a story and manages to keep the music interesting throughout, this album is everything it was intended to be. Even great bands can be hit and miss when it comes to them, but King and the rest have over two decades of experience consistently making great concept albums. The story is told in vivid detail, scene by scene, with appropriate music accompanying--but the music obviously comes first. King's vocals go from scary falsetto to scary growl, and could be the focus of the album if the guitars didn't have such a great, loping rhythm and excellent solos. The best track is the title track, but other standouts are "Follow the Wolf" and "Black Devil."

As I noted above, I've only picked three out of the five best albums for 2000. I encourage you to comment and add the other two. And be sure to drop back in next Friday for 2001. When they're all posted, you can see the whole list by clicking here.