Looking Back on The Year 2007
So it’s that time again. A time to look back and decide… was this a year to remember or one to forget? What happened to the music world in 2007… well more aged pop groups than you could possibly hurl shit at decided to reform and inflict themselves on the world again, My Chemical Romance somewhow got away with releasing what was basically a Satus Quo cover and Pete Doherty inexplicably FAILED to vanish off the face of earth. But some good music did come out of the year…
After being propelled on the back of the most intense hype machine the UK music scene has seen in years March finally saw the release of Enter Shikari’s Reach For The Skies. The album was good but unfortunately failed on some level to live up to the promise of earlier releases. Not on the basis of the tunes themselves or anything to with the band, but because of the ridiculously hefty level of production sheen polished over every track. Where the earlier releases were guttural, raw and felt like genres had genuinely been thrown together in a mixing pot, the album versions were high quality but far too smooth to carry exactly the same energy. Give them credit though, for putting getting a metal album of any form into the top 10 of the mainstream UK charts and the mainstream press, and live it’s still the best party atmosphere you’ll ever get outside of a Girls Aloud show on crack.
For UK music it was arguably the year of Gallows, a band that have split opinions like few others. I know metal and hardcore fans who hate them due to their live presence, easily mis-read as arrogant and agravating, I know black metal fans who love them for their fresh energy, and I know sensible people who can’t get over their popularity claiming their success is entirely due to industry hype. But one way or another most people ended the year with an opinion - even indie-rag the NME put Frank Carter at the top of their Coolest People list. For myself… I love them. Orchestra of Wolves is an album full of modern punk anthems played on the ragged edge, as if each member of the band was hanging onto a cliff for dear life during recording. Live on stage they’re an unassailably intense prospect with a fresh twist on solid, agro DIY punk, whilst reinforcing throughout a strong family ethic and a genuinely admirable bond between the band and the crowd. They also deserve respect for their work with Lethal Bizzle introducing punk and grime fans at the same venues - again it’s not to everyone’s taste but anything that crosses genre, and more importantly social, boundaries is good in my books.
Internationally it was almost without a doubt the year of Machine Head. I have to admit (shhh…) I’ve never really been a fan of their earlier albums. Sorry. But with The Blackening they’ve secured their place as metal royalty. It’s both immediately listenable and heavily layered, full of heavy-hitting tracks that effortlessly range from short, power shots to ten-minute epics, and for me they finally making modern guitar solos NOT tedious again. Now I Lay Thee Down and Halo are modern classics that should be on rotation at metal clubs worldwide for years to come, and if they aren’t headlining Download next year I’ll eat my own arse. Or something.
So what else was good about 2007… so much to choose from…
Devildriver proved once again that they are going to be around as an indominatable force for good, solid metal, improving a hunded fold on 2005’s The Fury Of Our Maker’s Hand with a more groove-filled sound, complexity of layering and even the odd hammond organ. If you’ve yet to witness them live get your fucking arse in gear, they’re my early tip for 2008’s Metal Hammer Best Live Act.
Playing on the same tour as Devildriver eariler in the year, Malefice showed that the UK is still producing quality new bands. Technically accomplished and furiously performed just check out album Entities opener ‘Risen Through The Ashes’ for a taster. They’re one of those bands that I genuinely hope get the plaudits they deserve as nicer people in the music industry you’d be hard pressed to find - each time they take to the stage they seem genuinely surprised at the enthusiastic crowd reaction when they coudn’t deserve it more.
Clutch returned with From Beale Street To Oblivion, taking a step even further into funk/blues territory with an album that I defy you not to shake the rudest bits of yourself to. Tracks like ‘Power Player’ and ‘Mr. Shiny Cadillackness’ ooze cool. This is a band that will almost probably never hit the big time, but I get the funny feeling that they, and probably their fans, prefer it that way. More please.
What else should you have checked out/downloaded/ripped by the turn of 2008… Caliban’s The Awakening wasn’t exactly a massive step forward but with a sound as tight as theirs it’s not really necessary with every album. Against Me’s New Wave is a rabble rousing, rowdy collection of rock anthems, Divine Heresy’s Bleed The Fifth marks the start of what could be a rise to VERY big things, and on a completely non-heavy tip Fiction Plane snuck through with the album Left Side Of The Brain featuring my new favourite hungover waking-up tune, ‘Drink’. Oh, and almost embarassingly an enjoyable new Nickelback tune in ‘Rock Star’. Guilty pleasures….
This was also a year for rediscovery: The Doors, early Deftones, Gomez, Reef and Led Zeppelin. I’d forgotten how good Dazed and Confused is and now I almost can’t get through a day without getting part of it stuck in my head.
Special mention goes to something that crept into stores toward the end of the year, something I’ve personally been waiting for with baited breath for, ooh, about half a lifetime… the return of Skindred. After touring and re-releasing 2002’s Babylon to death Newport’s finest raggapunks finally saw fit to drag themselves into the studio and lay down Roots Rock Riot. Benji and Co are on fine form mixing genres with ease and quality, with tracks ‘Ratrace’ and ‘Destroy The Dancefloor’ definite highlights. Bring on the tour.
And for new, up and coming bands…. The Ghost Of A Thousand, Solitude and Sylosis from the UK and Soldiers, Memphis May Fire, Engel, In This Moment all need to be on your radar.
You can’t really talk about the good without some mention of the bad… the end of the original Sikth line-up, the return of cock-rock with Buckcherry and the change in Atreyu’s sound, Raging Speedhorn trying to go prog, the Smashing Pumpkins’ overindulgent new release and Linkin Park’s drab offering, with a total of two good tracks.
Now, what should 2008 hold to look forward to… new Slipknot… new In Flames…Â maybe new Mastodon and Opeth… a better Download line-up…. Will Haven live in the UK again… This Is Menace live at all… and finally, finally that Devildriver DVD. I’m going to be sat with my best quiz-show finger on the pause button trying to spot myself at the Underworld and Islington Academy shows.
Right, enough. It’s been a long fucking year both in and out of work but I hope my ramblings have enlightened a few musical tastes, and if you don’t like them well… tough, go write your own. Hopefully more gigs, stupidity and insult hurling in the new year. Have a good one!
