Probably Smug.

It’s been nothing short of a fantastic year for music, and compiling a list of merely ten of the hundreds of awesome albums that dropped thus far was a Herculean task, but here we are. Thanks to Mr. Smug himself for kindly allowing subpar writers to ride his coattails on his website; hatemail/fierce love —> sunwalker@gmail.com.

The following are my favorite albums of the year, in no particular order (save that of Burial’s Untrue taking the number one slot):

Burial
Untrue (Hyperdub)

01.
02. Archangel
03. Near Dark
04. Ghost Hardware
05. Endorphin
06. Etched Headplate
07. In McDonalds
08. Untrue
09. Shell Of Light
10. Dog Shelter
11. Homeless
12. UK
13. Raver

My undisputed personal favorite album of 2007, Burial’s Untrue not only shatters the myth of the “sophomore slump”, it makes me wonder why I ever thought he’d have trouble living up to the incredible promise of his debut. A hypnotic mix of impossibly plaintive vocals, woodblock rhythms and of course the skittery dubstep framework from which he hails, Burial has succeeded in conjuring exactly what he said he would: an atmosphere of nostalgia and “dismal euphoria.”

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Near Dark”, “Etched Headplate”, “Untrue”, “Homeless”, “Raver”

Burial MySpace

Abigor
Fractal Possession (End All Life)

01. Warning
02. Project: Shadow
03. Cold Void Choir
04. Lair Of Infinite Desperation
05. 3D Blasphemy
06. The Fire Syndrome
07. Injection Satan
08. Liberty Rises A Diagonal Flame
09. Vapourized Tears
10. Heaven Unveiled

Abigor has always been one of those difficult bands that I felt was not much more than the sum of their parts, despite their potential for excellence, but with their latest offering they’ve managed to create something truly amazing. Leaps and bounds ahead of their previous material, Fractal Possession sees longtime drummer TT returning to the fold to devastating effect. The album sounds like it was run through a computer with all the knobs cranked to “evil”; strange electronic flourishes abound, vying for space between the surgical storms of guitar riffs, inhuman drum fills, and strangely uplifting Satanic poetry. It’s an album that raises the bar of technicality while still retaining an eminent listenability with its triumphant melodies and soaring leads.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Lair Of Infinite Desperation”, “Injection Satan”, “Liberty Rises A Diagonal Flame”

Abigor MySpace
Abigor Official Site

Akercocke
Antichrist (Earache)

01. Black Messiah
02. Summon The Antichrist
03. Axiom
04. The Promise
05. My Apterous Angel
06. Distant Fires Reflect In The Eyes Of Satan
07. Man Without Faith Or Trust
08. The Dark Inside
09. Footsteps Resound In An Empty Chapel
10. Epode

My favorite group of pretentious British wankers return with their best album to date in Antichrist. Largely shedding their penchant for epic song structures that revealed itself in Choronzon and Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone, the lads have kept it short and sweet this time around, preferring to riff and solo at ever-increasing speeds, and leaning ever more toward death (rather than black) metal. Never a band to play by the rules, however, they pleasantly surprise with the track “The Dark Inside”, with a chorus sounding like something barely removed from Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation (an album cited by the band itself as a favorite). And who could forgot the *ahem* orally-fixated lyrics of “Man Without Faith Or Trust”? Minus points for the god-awful album artwork (what is this, a Cold Meat release?) and for reusing lyrics for a song title (”Footsteps Resound In An Empty Chapel” is suspiciously similar to the lyrics “…hooves upon the flagstones/Resound in the darkness” from Goat Of Mendes), but overall an extremely solid album from a technically flawless band, certain to get the head banging.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Summon The Antichrist”, “My Apterous Angel”, “The Dark Inside”

Akercocke MySpace
Akercocke Official Site

Bergraven
Dödsvisioner (Hydra Head)

01. Döende
02. Av Saknad Släcker Jag Ljuset
03. Ondkall
04. Känsla Av Livets Nästa Skede
05. Den Svarta Angstens Essens
06. Det Man Med Själen…
07. Ekot Av Bikt
08. Döende (En Avslutning)

An extremely surprising album from Swedish (relative) newcomer Bergraven, Dödsvisioner blends doomy atmospheres, black metal attitude and a feeling of general gloom and murk to redefine the term “avant-garde”. Described by mainman Pår Gustafsson as a conceptual journey through death, from the instants just after demise to the journey beyond, this album is certainly a difficult one to accurately describe, recalling as it does everything from Shining to Azrael to late-period Armagedda. Bass is very prominent in the mix, as are the ubiquitous serpentine, mid-tempo guitar riffs and huge sounding drums. My first couple of times through this album were marked every few minutes by shock as a slinky clean solo would creep in, or a post-rock jam would flare up in the most bizarre of place. One of the most “chill” (post-?)doom albums I’ve ever heard.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Ekot Av Bikt”, “Döende (En Avslutning)”

Bergraven MySpace

Dälek
Abandoned Language (Ipecac)

01. Abandoned Language
02. Bricks Crumble
03. Paragraphs Relentless
04. Content To Play Villain
05. Lynch
06. Stagnant Waters
07. Starved For Truth
08. Isolated Stare
09. Corrupt (Knuckle Up)
10. Tarnished
11. (Subversive Script)

Let me be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about hip-hop, but if I’m missing acts like Dälek as a result of that, it’s something that I need to brush up on. Something comes over me when I listen to Abandoned Language, a feeling of isolation, of leaving the rest of the world outside while the beats and lyrics take over. It feels like I am indeed listening to an abandoned language of sorts: both the socially & racially conscious lyrics of hip-hop and the language of language itself, the pure, undadulterated pleasure (and importance) of words and their delivery. There is a refusal to back down inherent in Dälek, a marriage of messege and method that’s impossible to downplay. Their beats are quite unorthodox in the way they make use of noise textures, instead of rhythm (although there’s plenty of that) to drive their songs. And the bass, holy hell, the BASS… definitely an album to convert open-minded metalheads to hip-hop.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Bricks Crumble”, “Paragraphs Relentless”, “(Subversive Script)”

Dälek MySpace
Dälek Official Site

PJ Harvey
White Chalk (Island)

01. The Devil
02. Dear Darkness
03. Grow Grow Grow
04. When Under Ether
05. White Chalk
06. Broken Harp
07. Silence
08. To Talk To You
09. The Piano
10. Before Departure
11. The Mountain

Premier ubran völva PJ Harvey returns with her best and bleakest album yet, White Chalk. Everything she sings about speaks of often bitter world experience and, like others on this list, a denial of limitations, especially those placed arbitrarily on women. She is simultaneously mother, lover, friend and judge, and in my eyes is perhaps the best example of Woman in music today (with her only competition being Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde): self-possessed, defiant, emotional, strong. Proving that this reputation is well-deserved, White Chalk is rife with extremely personal, dark songs — although many of them are short enough to qualify as vignettes — and fantastic, quiet instrumentation. The use of zither and piano bring the sounds close to the listener, and the whole ensemble is wrapped in a beautifully understated production that evokes the silence of memory rather than the punchy artificiality of the studio. File under Life: Soundtrack.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “When Under Ether”, “White Chalk”, “Silence”, “The Piano” (check out the Cannibal Corpse-esque lyrics on this one!)

PJ Harvey MySpace
PJ Harvey Official Site

Mayhem
Ordo Ad Chao (Season Of Mist)

01. A Wise Birthgiver
02. Wall Of Water
03. Great Work Of Ages
04. Deconsecrate
05. Illuminate/Eliminate
06. Psychic Horns
07. Key To The Storms
08. Anti

Black metal drama-mamas Mayhem finally release a worthy followup to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas after the abysmal (no pun intended) Wolf’s Lair Abyss, Grand Declaration Of War and Chimera. Proving that he’s the best throat in black metal, Atilla Csihar marks his triumphant return with Ordo Ad Chao, a twisted piece of work that is exactly the album Mayhem needed to release to remain relevent. Csihar has said that most of the vocal lines were recorded in one take, which, if true, is beyond impressive (as his minute-long inhaled growl on “Anti” and weird, sucking shrieks on “Deconsecrate” would suggest). He’s not the only one working overtime, however; Hellhammer blasts his way through a bunch of weird time signatures (and shows his love of the dome ride) and Blasphemer displays his creative guitar skills on almost every track. Mayhem have finally released a “true” black metal album: one that’s scary, intelligent, and unknowable in equal measure.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Wall Of Water”, “Great Work Of Ages”, “Illuminate/Eliminate”, “Anti”

Mayhem MySpace
Mayhem Official Site

Nine Inch Nails
Year Zero (Interscope)

01. HYPERPOWER!
02. The Beginning Of The End
03. Survivalism (feat. Saul Williams)
04. The Good Soldier
05. Vessel
06. Me, I’m Not
07. Capital G
08. My Violent Heart
09. The Warning
10. God Given
11. Meet Your Master
12. The Greater Good
13. The Great Destroyer
14. Another Version Of The Truth
15. In This Twilight
16. Zero-Sum

Nine Inch Nails has forever been my favorite band, but lately Trent Reznor has been making it hard for me to stick by him with the abortion that was With Teeth (not to mention his live butcherings of old staples). However, after reading a very eloquent interview with the man himself in Terrorizer, I decided to give his latest another shot, and I’m glad I did. Rarely does a “pop” album actually embrace the opportunity and responsibility that comes with such wide exposure, but that’s exactly what Year Zero does, by couching a message of individuality and protest in a story of apocalypse and invasion that’s chillingly close to the USA’s current political climate. The record is full of carefully-cheoreographed flecks of noise and electronics (the machine-jam at the end of “Vessel” springs to mind) tucked amidst the incredibly hooky songs themselves. Mention must also be made of the ingenious, even visionary advertising campaign that went along with the release of this album, including viral marketing and strategic placement of “lost” flash drives in the bathrooms of Nine Inch Nails concerts (to facilitate online debate, distribution and discussion). Trent Reznor is on top of his game on this, his best album since The Downward Spiral.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “The Beginning Of The End”, “Vessel”, “Me, I’m Not”, “God Given”, “The Great Destroyer”

Nine Inch Nails MySpace
Nine Inch Nails Official Site

Murcof
Cosmos (Leaf)

01. Cuerpo Celeste
02. Cielo
03. Cosmos I
04. Cometa
05. Cosmos II
06. Oort

It’s impossible to understate the impact Murcof made on me the first time I heard his work. It was literally an explosion of new sound for me, the discovery of a new genre of music: the melding of classical instrumentation and minimal electronic glitch. Cosmos is a dark journey into sparse beats and precisely placed squelches and pops that recall the visceral heft of Pan Sonic as much as they do the deliberateness of Richie Hawtin or Pole. Huge, fat swells of strings will fade into murky soundscapes of bleeps, static and fuzz that evoke nothing so much as a journey into the supreme, crushing darkness of the deep sea. Rhythms are carefully constructed around negative space while 303 lines, twisted almost beyond recognition, bob and bounce like baby squid around the kelpy strings and piano, sharing space with the whalesong of the brass & woodwinds. The cover of Cosmos depicts a dark, abandoned lab that could very well be lost beneath the waves; perhaps the last refuge of the scientists who studied this strange, otherworldly pulse, at once so fragile and yet so robust.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Cielo”, “Cometa”, “Oort”

Murcof MySpace
Murcof Official Site

Rotting Christ
Theogonia (Season Of Mist)

01. Χαος Γενετο (The Sign Of Prime Creation)
02. Keravnos Kivernitos
03. Nemecic
04. Enuma Elish
05. Phobos’ Synagogue
06. Gaia Tellus
07. Rege Diabolicus
08. He, The Aethyr
09. Helios Hyperion
10. Threnody

It’s taken Rotting Christ ten albums to finally get the formula right, but when they’re on, they’re on. Theogonia is a celebration of all that is Greek, and Sakis‘ decision to include folk instruments in his compositions was inspired. Each and every song on this album is simply stellar, and they’re all linked together by the same slightly slower than tremolo riffing that’s crystal clear and unmistakably powerful (so much so that Krohm lifted it for his latest album, as well). The solos are what really set this one apart, however. Sakis reveals himself and his emotions far more clearly through his solos on this album than he ever could in words. Each time he places fingers to strings, it’s like little falling stars cascading onto the fretboard, or birds alighting there. Emotion is the name of the game here, and Rotting Christ prove that Greece doesn’t have a reputation for creativity and theatricality in metal for nothing.

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Enuma Elish”, “He, The Aethyr”, “Helios Hyperion”, “Threnody”

Rotting Christ MySpace
Rotting Christ Official Site

There were many, many albums that I wanted to include on this list but didn’t due to space constraints. Honorable mention to the following:

Nile - Ithyphallic (songs about dongs)
Tulus - Biography Obscene (ex-Khold members go heavy on experimentation & pay tribute to Swedish DM in the process)
Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, In Ignem Aeternum (causing my brain to implode one album at a time)
Various Artists - Box Of Dub II: Dubstep & Future Dub (want to “get” dubstep? check this great collection out)
Acrimonious - Perdition Gospel (Greeks fuse heavy & black metal, lay waste to listeners)
Armin Van Buuren - A State Of Trance 2007 (pure vocal trance bliss)
Drudkh - Estrangement (toiling plows and soaring spirits put to music)
Forgotten Woods - Race Of Cain (BM weirdos keep it simple & hypnotize with repetition)
Boxcutter - Glyphic (woodwind IDM/dubstep)
Deadbeat - Journeyman’s Annual (runner-up for hip-hop album of the year)
The Tuss - Rushup Edge (Richard D. James has some fun with acid lines and Drukqs B-sides)
Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters (continuing Weakling’s legacy, twenty minutes at a time)
Pinch - Underwater Dancehall (Yolanda!)

That’s it! Here’s hoping next year is as good as this one for music.