Something that you should do right now

Go to soundweave, perhaps the best music blog on the interbutts, and read the top 50 of 2008 list. I'm not much of a list-maker myself, but I always enjoy reading others, and his is perhaps the best.

I realize that most of the traffic on this site comes from there, but those few of you who haven't followed that route to get here should go check it out now.

Fredrik Thordendal -- Sol Niger Within

Solo album from Meshuggah's guitarist that is, in my opinion, better than anything Meshuggah has done. I don't always enjoy music when you can practically hear the musicians counting due to the weird time changes and whatnot, but this one succeeds despite the mathiness. I really dig the vocals, too. Maybe Meshuggah should let him sing instead of the other guy, who sounds like a meathead.

192 kbps

Voivod -- Nothingface

There was a period of about 6 months, perhaps more, during which I listened to this album every day. That was quite a while ago, but I just listened again, and the magic has not faded. I'm still amazed that a cover song, Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine, fits in so well with such an elaborate concept album. There something naive and sweet here, and I'm not sure that I could enjoy an album as much today as did this one back then. Sigh.

320 kbps (re-fixed)

Last of the Juanitas -- In the Dirt

Really digging these guys lately. This is their latest, and while it's short, it packs a punch. I could make some sort of snide reference here, but I'd pay for it later. That's the best I could do on the cover image, sorry.

.m4a, so who knows (fixed corrupt .rar file)

Duobetic Homunkulus -- Části a Mechanismy Strojů

As promised, here's what 2 of the members of !T.O.O.H.! are up to, post-!T.O.O.H.! The .mp3's are a mixture of 128 kbps and 192 kbps, which is weird and a little annoying, but they came straight from the band's website, and I wasn't able to find better copies.

get it

Obituary -- Slowly We Rot

I fucking love this record. Obituary got more accolades for Cause of Death, but in my opinion that is far weaker than this. They were much more raw on this one, more punk, whereas on Cause they had Scott Burns in the studio making them sound like Morbid Angel and all the other Florida DM bands of that era. Not that that's a bad thing, exactly, but on this one they have their own thing going on. I can't fucking believe that this album is 20 years old now either. Egad.

320 kbps

Hail of Bullets -- Of Frost and War

Speaking of Martin van Drunen, here's his new band, although they definitely have an old school sound, too.

VBR @ 256+ kbps

Pestilence -- Consuming Impulse

Old-school DM from Holland. These guys have apparently reformed and are planning a mini-tour later this year, minus Martin van Drunen (the lead singer on this album). I saw these guys open for Death at the Reseda Country Club in 1990 -- my first death metal show. At the time this stuff sounded like the harshest, most misanthropic music imaginable. Now it sounds kinda quaint. And how can you not love the album cover? Of all the cheesy artwork produced during this era, it has to be one of my favorites. I guess the ants are the ones with the impvlse to consvme? So scary.

192 kbps

Eibon -- Eibon

French (or is it Freedom?) doom/sludge/post-metal. Sounds a bit like Indian to me. 2 tracks of delicious heaviosity.

VBR @ 240+ kbps

Steel Pole Bath Tub -- Butterfly Love

More golden-era-of-college-radio nostalgia for me. This one came out in 1989, and I think I played the song Heaven on Dirt on my radio show every week for a year. Or a month, or something. I was shocked to learn that these guys released an album as recently as 2002. They're from Bozeman, MT of all places.

192 kbps

Buried at Sea -- Migration

Along with Dopethrone, this is one of the 2 heaviest albums ever recorded. I go back and forth about which I prefer. This one is less tuneful, but I'm not sure if that's a pro or a con. You obviously should have them both. If there's any other album missing from this discussion, let me know.

VBR @ 220+ kbps

!T.O.O.H.! -- Řád a Trest (Order and Punishment)

Criminally underappreciated techgrind band from the Czech Republic. These guys manage to combine bizarre time changes and disparate musical influences in a way that isn't annoying. The name stands for The Obliteration Of Humanity, which matches the cheesiness of the cover art rather well. Although they've broken up, two of the members are still chugging along as Duobetic Homunkulus, whose debut EP is even more chaotic and weird. (It's also available free on their website -- maybe I'll save you all the trouble of finding it by posting it here in the days to come.)

192 kbps

Electric Wizard -- Dopethrone

Happy new year, fruits. Here's an essential album that most of you probably already have. This is the remastered version with a bonus track released a few years back. If I'm ever in the market for a high-end stereo system, I'm bringing this with me.

320 kbps