My eye and ears are awash with light

To kick things off here is the best album of 2008. Quite a grand statement I know, but think of any other album made last year, any album you like. Got one? Ok, 'Vertebrae' shits on it, from the greatest of heights....trust me. I know a lot of 'tr00' and 'kvlt' metal fans out there think it's a pile of shit but that's just because they can't see past the blinkers they wear. For the love of all that is (un)holy, the second wave of Black Metal is over; Euronymous is dead and buried, Grishnackh plays a casio keyboard in jail and Darkthrone are playing punk. It's over, live with it.
Thankfully not all Black Metal fans are retrogressive an intransigent. Case in point; Enslaved.
This album marks the peak of their progressive, creative and experimental Black Metal creations. The work on this album is the apex of a curve evident on 'Ruun' and 'Isa', but to simply call this a Black Metal album would be an insult and a tragedy. Of course the band uses BM as a frame work but over this they weave a rich golden tapestry of progressive psychedelia that it transcends simple classification.
The inability to clearly define and classify music is a recurring problem with much of the metal music I like nowadays (something I believe I touched upon in an earlier, equally unread post) and that's the way I like it. If a band can be too easily pigeon holed they have to do something truly remarkable with their genre to interest me.
Enslaved have eyes to the future for they have seen the stagnation of the present. The Black Metal scene has been dying ass upward for a long while now and it takes bands like Enslaved and Misery's Omen to revitalise it and bring faith to the masses.
Do not miss this album, it might just change your life....

REDEMPTION

My Cup Runneth Over

Yeah, so I've been lazy and I know no one ever checks this thing anyway so I guess this post is more for me to have an outlet for my musical ramblings. Either I need some friends who appreciate this sort of music or I just need some friends....either way.
Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to chronicle some of the greatest albums of this century. There's a lot of shit talked about the 'good ol' days' of music and I must admit I'm one of those guilty in the past of lamenting the loss of these times. The thing that gets me the most is the loss of musicians or bands that created some truly seminal work that we shall never hear from again; Chuck Schuldiner left us in the '90s, so no more Death or Control Denied. No more Alice In Chains (William Duvall can suck my balls) or Mad Season albums. Faith No More reuniting without Jim Martin.....travesties of all travesties. This isn't even beginning to touch upon the likes of Jaco Pastorius, Nick Drake, Roger Patterson....too many to name.

Meh, shit happens, people died, bands split up, potential opus' are never recorded due to fate, karma, God, the Devil or man's own folly. But, every cloud and all that, for every album that isn't made by these greats there is another band waiting in the wings to vie for your attention. There are some true works of sonic genius to have been produced in the 21st century, 9 years old as it is, that go some way to soothing the sense of loss and anger we all experience due to no more Zappa or Emperor.
So here goes my little homage to the century that has produced more mediocrity in music in less than a decade than was achieved since the first cave man banged a stick on a rock and performed the first drum solo; proof that there are diamonds amongst the shit storm of the worlds music markets.