Top 20 of 2008

The year 2008 gave us some really great music. No, really. There were great records by great bands and a good number of newer bands that put out extremely good LP's. 36 Crazyfists killed it this year with a flawless album, while Zozobra and Cult of Luna had a serious go at it for the #1 spot. Buy these records. All of them. Now.There's a lot of great stuff in here. Check it out!

TOP 20 of 2008:

1. 36 Crazyfists- The Tide and its Takers (Ferret)
2. Zozobra- Birds of Prey (Hydra Head)
3. Cult of Luna- Eternal Kingdom (Earache)
4. In Flames- A Sense of Purpose (Koch)
5. Amon Amarth- Twilight of the Thunder God (Metal Blade)
6. Meshuggah- obZen (Nuclear Blast)
7. Opeth- Watershed (Roadrunner)
8. Intronaut- Prehistoricisms (Century Media)
9. Clouds- We Are Above You (Hydra Head)
10. King's X- IV (Inside Out)
11. Gojira- The Way of All Flesh (Prosthetic)
12. Jeff Ament- Tone (Monkeywrench)
13. Totimoshi- Milagrosa (Volcom)
14. Young Widows- Old Wounds (Temporary Residence)
15. Protest The Hero- Fortress (Vagrant)
16. Dub Trio- Another Sound Is Dying (Ipecac)
17. Burning Brides- Anhedonia (self-released)
18. Metallica- Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.)
19. Candiria- Kiss The Lie (unmastered) (Type A)
20. Torche- Meanderthal (Hydra Head)

Best EP's:

1. The Company Band- Sign Here, Here and Here (self-released)
2. Jesu- Why Are We Not Perfect? (Hydra Head)
3. Incisor- Trendshitter (Saw Her Ghost)
4. Swallow The Sun- Plague of Butterflies (Spinefarm)
5. Red Sparrowes- Aphorisms (self-released)

Best Live LP:

Matthew Good- Live at Massey Hall (UMusic Canada)

Other Great 2008 Releases:

Testament- The Formation of Damnation (Nuclear Blast)
Mouth of The Architect- Quietly (Translation Loss)
Burst- Lazarus Bird (Relapse)
Shawn Smith- The Diamond Hand (Sound vs. Silence)
Trap Them- Seizures In Barren Praise (Deathwish)
Rotten Sound- Cycles (Spinefarm)
Pro-Pain- No End In Sight (Regain)
Saviours- Into Abaddon (Kemado)
Sevendust- Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow (7Bros/Asylum)
Ours- Mercy...Dancing With Death of an Imaginary Enemy (American)
Warship- Supply and Depend (Vagrant)
Candlebox- Into The Sun (Silent Majority)
Thrice- The Alchemy Index Vol. 3 & 4 (Vagrant)
Cavalera Conspiracy- Inflikted (Roadrunner)
Mudcrutch- Mudcrutch (Warner Bros)
Unearth- The March (Metal Blade)
Brant Bjork- Punk Rock Guilt (Low Desert Punk)
The Sword- Gods of the Earth (Kemado)
Scars on Broadway- Scars on Broadway (Interscope)
Kingdom of Sorrow- Kingdom of Sorrow (Relapse)
Dead To Fall- Are You Serious? (Victory)
The Melvins- Nude With Boots (Ipecac)
The Famine- The Raven and The Reaping (Solid State)
From The North- From The North (Wammybox)
Liam Finn- I'll Be Lightning (Yep Roc)
Ligeia- Bad News (Ferret)
The Bronx- III (White Drugs)
Trivium- Shogun (Roadrunner)

Best Shows of 2008:

Pearl Jam- Hartford, CT
Crudo- San Francisco
Clouds- Berkeley, CA
36 Crazyfists/In Flames/Gojira/All The Remains- San Francisco
Eddie Vedder/Liam Finn- Santa Cruz, CA

Looking Forward To These In 2009...

Pearl Jam, Cave In, Converge, Zao, Earth Crisis, Lamb of God, Wino, ISIS, Mastodon, Dredg, Glassjaw, Deftones, Burnt By The Sun, Coalesce, Killswitch Engage, Poison The Well, Stuck Mojo, Chimaira, Katatonia, Clutch, Helmet, Crudo, Mondo Cane, Dream Theater, Anthrax and Sepultura.

So there it is. 2009 has some serious promise. Of course, Chris Cornell plans to unleash his abomination Scream on the world in February, so who knows.