Every year, we do the customary best albums of the year, where we kiss ass and fawn over what was the best of this particular year. Don’t worry, that list is coming and it’s just fine. Also, most people end up doing the worst albums of the year as well, but in the age of internet haters- that’s about as common as another Kardashian reality show on E!.
So, this year- I’m going to forgo the worst of list for 2011, but go off on some rants about some of the albums that just made it shake my head. They may have not been the worst album of the years, except for one I will discuss, but you will get my take on these polarizing albums.
Some of the albums will be just full on hate, others will have me playing devil’s advocate and trying to find some of the good out of the albums this year that made people scratch their heads and wonder “what the hell were they thinking” when recording these albums.
These are in alphabetical order and not in order of how they confused me:
Jasta- “Jasta”- You’re Jamey Jasta, you’re in one of the most popular hardcore bands of all time. You’ve got a decent side project in Kingdom of Sorrow. What’s your next move? Putting out an album full of cameos, which ends up sounding like a very watered down version of Hatebreed. I don’t know if Jasta thought with this would finally be his big breakthrough to the mainstream rock crowd or not. Either way, Jasta always has a lot going on and having his hand in a lot of things in metal, but this album should have been left on the cutting room floor.
The Haunted- “Unseen”- Before the Morbid Angel album came out, the blogosphere’s venom was pointed directly at this album right here. If you had enjoyed the Swedish death metal band’s earlier stuff up through “Revolver” and “The Dead Eye”, the move towards more melodic mainstream metal seemed a bit forced. The pedigree of this band has always been amazing, but was this album borne out of a feeling of getting lost in the shuffle in the metal world and trying to keep up? I just hope the Haunted right the ship with their next album, because “Unseen” has gone unheard- and that’s probably a good thing.
Metallica w/ Lou Reed- “Lulu”- Ok, this is the one that I can’t even defend. Someone on the net hit the nail on the head when they said that “Lulu makes “St. Anger” look like “Master of Puppets”, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. The sessions with Metallica and Lou Reed should have been just kept to that- jam sessions. No one needs to hear an over-inflated double album on the writings of a German playwright from the turn of the 20th century. When Reed isn’t talking over Metallica’s riffs (which aren’t all that terrible if it was strictly an instrumental album), the lyrics based on those plays seem so antiquated and awkward that they make absolutely no sense. I seriously thought I was gonna to give my laptop a whirl down flights of stairs while hearing “Pumping Blood” and “The View”. I resisted temptation on hurling my laptop, but I can’t get Reed’s droll voice saying “Pumping Blood” over and over in my head. I hear it in my sleep, even after several sleeping pills. When I’m in the looney bin in a few years, I’ll still hear this in my head. Please, for the f---ing love of God, make it stop!
Morbid Angel- “Illud Divinum Insanus”- Of the list of these albums, this album might allow me to play devil’s advocate the most. Over their 20+ years, fans expect a certain sound and intensity when it comes to Morbid Angel albums. So, it was easy to think with the return of David Vincent that the classic sound would be firmly intact for their album. But most fans were stunned at the industrial metal lean on the album. My reaction was one more out of curiousity than hatred for it. As a fan of a lot of industrial leaning metal, some of the songs aren’t necessarily that bad. Sure, “Too Extreme” and “Radikult” are goofy as hell and should have been scrapped. But when the band sticks with small doses of the electronic side of things, but let the metal do the talking on “Existo Vulgore”, “Nevermore” and “I Am Morbid”, the album does work. This is one of those albums that if it didn’t have the Morbid Angel name on it or was done by another band, the venom from fans would not have been anywhere near as severe. But fans waited a long time for the band’s return to their early 90’s glory- guess they’ll have to wait a bit longer.
Queensyrche- “Dedicated to Chaos”- The prog-rock heroes have had great albums: “Operation: Mindcrime”, “Empire” and so on. But things have progressively nose-diving over the past few albums. But with their experimentation into cabaret/jazz rock was not what the fans had in mind. The album is slow, dull and better suited for coffee houses than theaters or clubs. We expect more out of Queensryche; better storytelling, more dynamic musicianship and so on. If this is “Chaos” for the band these days, then let’s “Rage For Order” for the next album. An experiment that just didn’t even come close to working.
Wayne Static- “Pighammer”- Static-X has always been one of those industrial hard rock/metal bands that I probably shouldn’t get into, but I do. They are never going to reach Ministry-early 90’s style heights, but it was good music to crank in the car during rush hour. But with Static-X on some hiatus for several rumored reasons, Static tried his hand at a solo album. But like Jasta’s album, Static’s album is just a watered down version of the material from the late 90’s height of Static-X. “Assassins Of Youth” and “Static Killer” are just ok, but could have been beefed up a bit if he, you know….just did another Static-X record.
These though these albums have their moderate to major flaws or just suck all together, I’d still rather listen to Lulu and Lou Reed sing “Pumping Blood” than most of the Top 40 auto-tuned crapfest on the radio today. That is all.
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