Highlights of 2010

Heck, did one last year, figured I may as well give my mentions to the things released this year that impressed me enough to merit a post of appreciation!

MY TOP 3 ALBUM RELEASES OF THE YEAR:

#3: Norma Jean - Meridonial
A band whose career crashed & burned long ago in my eyes. Beginning years ago with the classic release Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child, the band progressively began to lose their flair. The next couple releases presented a few stand-out tracks as the band dived further from their purely chaotic math roots into a more experimental realm. It was 2008's vs. The Anti Mother that hammered the final nail in their coffin. Undeniably a powerful effort deep with emotion, it was just plagued with a leniency towards the same-old, same-old. It was at this point I thought that Norma Jean had finally hit their creative rut.

Hearing of a new release, I was all but stoked. I expected them to continue their downhill ride with Meridonial, it took me a few months to get around to giving it a good listening. I was blown away. Finally, the sound they'd been trying to develop with previous efforts had surfaced. The band had taken these once bland experimental tones that dotted their mathcore mess and refined them into a spine-chillingly atmospheric & melodic element. The result is an album that scales the heights of chaotic, chugging metalcore; and combines it with the strange mix of minimalism & complexity of post-metal, with the very slightest pinches of sludge, doom and progressive metal. A truly haunting experience, and though it doesn't match the ingenuity of their first album, it's on-par in terms of intensity.

#2: This or the Apocalypse - Haunt What's Left
A much needed breath or fresh air, and undeniably incredible leap onto the metalcore scene. A band that musically leans more closely towards their melodic death metal influence, but still managing to retain the honesty, sincerity and unity locked into the spirit of hardcore music. There's little to ramble about with this album; it's just a straight-up good release, basically flawless. Save for the weak track or two, it's a solidly & consistently epic, cathartic, sensory journey; fast-paced ride through the most soaring of shreds and crushing of chugs in modern metalcore.

#1: The Ghost Inside - Returners
Don't tell me you couldn't see this coming! It was easily my most anticipated release for the year, and managed to exceed all expectations. After 2008's Fury & the Fallen Ones, which blew everybody away as it was, most didn't expect anything better from The Ghost Inside. In fact many expected the album to fall short of the standards set by the previous album. Month after month passed beyond when the album was expected. Was it for mastering? Hype? Who knows. The wait was agonizing, but either way it made the album all the more sweet in the end.

The band dropped tracks as a sneak peek. Then full album leaked. Before the album had been physically released it had already been heralded by many as the album of the year, lyrics memorized and last.fm scrobbles through the roof. The band had successfully managed an album that was faster, heavier, slower, more melodic, more solid, more epic and more heartfelt. An album to go down in the annals of hardcore history. A masterpiece in every way. An album I'm sure I'm never to forget; even when CDs are abolished and all the latest music is projected by laser beams into your eyes, I'll still sit back and think "it's good, but it's no Returners".


MY TOP 3 GAME RELEASES OF THE YEAR:

#3 - Just Cause 2
Why JC2? Just 'cause! Oh c'mon, it had to be done. In all seriousness, the game lacks mission depth or a gripping storyline, but what it does present to us, the gamer, is fun. And it's a game, isn't that what it's about? Fact is, this game isn't just great, it's jaw-droppingly impressive. Set in the fictional Panau in south-east Asia, after a few orientation mission it lets you loose on the large expanse of the group of islands, free to roam, with nothing but an arm-mounted grappling hook and the world's supply of parachutes in your backpack.

Sure you could do that mission... or you could climb that mountain. Hijack a speedboat. Create trouble with the military. Get lost in a jungle. The pure size and detail of the map alone is enough to merit appreciation, Avalanche have created something worth a hearty handshake and a pat on the back.

#2 - Lost Planet 2
Not having played the first game, what little expectations I had of this game had been presented by a reasonably bare multiplayer demo released earlier in the year. It presented challenging fun but didn't draw more than a couple plays by myself, with the requirement of playing online not meriting the enjoyment of the demo (nor giving the game justice in my internet's case). The game itself is incredible fun, essentially taking the form of your average dark, gritty Third-Person Shooter and combining it with the fun (and quite tongue-in-cheek & humorous) platform/arcade style Capcom is so famous for.

A campaign mode (though the story isn't complex, it gets the thumbs up for originality) that can be played solo with AI or cooperatively online with friends or other players, a online multiplayer mode consisting of numerous games, a training mode alongside AI battles, and customization by the metric butt-crapton (always a plus in my books) as progress your cross-mode character... this game offers plenty of replay value, through the sheer variety of things that can changed and ways it can be played. A solid release that I struggle to find any flaws with; it's just simple fun.

#1 - MAG
You all saw it coming. Despite having not even been out for a year, it's the game I've dedicated the most amount of time to in my entire life. Hundreds of hours, devoted to participating an awe-inspiringly immense war across the 3 factions. A game that as it stands is perfect, let down only by the negative element of the community and the obvious issues encountered by online gameplay. Perhaps a vision too lofty for games of this current generation, the game has experience hefty shortcomings by no fault of the developers. No, Zipper have kept the game churning admirably, making some great changes (mostly of their own accord), and some terrible (mostly instigated by the previously mentioned community). Fact is it's impossible to have a game like this be perfect taking into consideration the demographic and common behavioral tendencies of the players, and the heavy technical difficulties.

Despite all of these issues standing staunchly in MAG's opposition, the game has still provided me with the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. It turned the FPS genre (with all it's cookie-cutter repetitive games) and tried to do something outlandish and brave. And though here it sits, many patches later and still with it's odd flaws... I wouldn't have it any other way, or play any other game.


2010 IN REFLECTION: TIPS OF THE HAT, WAGS OF THE FINGER

Indie pop star Ellie Goulding.

A congratulations for making it big with her unique and beautiful sound in an area of music generally occupied by the blandest, most over-produced and marketable drivel we as humans can offer. Ellie showed me that pop music doesn't have to be all that bad, and can actually be executed with a degree of musical talent (in both performance and composition) and a flair of originality & complexity. A girl with the gently warbling voice of an angel and the hands and mind to write and play heartfelt and interesting music. Definitely admirable characteristics, and certainly welcome on my radio and TV. Bright Lights is genius. Did I mention she's great? She's great.

Those wacky Japanese in Fact.

They received a mention here last year after announcing & recording a full-length album barely 8 months since the release of their previous. The album release came and went much earlier this year, but was such a great release it certainly deserves a mention here nearly a year later. In my opinion probably their best to date, it's astounding they managed to create such a brilliant album in such a short time frame, having dropped jaws once already earlier that year. Many a kudos was deserved.

Canadian hardcore legends Comeback Kid.

For the past 5 years or so, I've not been able to pick a favorite CBK album. Each album over the span of their career has been equally as amazing, with their respective stand-out tracks and unique style to each. Finally though, with the release of Symptoms + Cures mid/late this year, they finally released the album to overshadow anything previous. A solid sing-along, fist-pumping anthem from start to finish, each song as spine-tinglingly intense and adrenalin-pumping as the last. Certainly a band that's matured with age, and in their case it's a maturing for the better.

A Day To Remember, becoming a band to forget.

Last year I hurled the insults at ADTR for releasing what I believed to be the let-down of a lifetime. Homesick was generic, repetitive, with very few stand-out tracks. Nowhere near on the same caliber as previous releases. I take it back. It took the band an ever FURTHER step backward, a steeper slip downhill, to realise that Homesick really isn't that bad. There are worse things in this world, more dangerous things that should cause us to fear for the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.

This year's What Separates Me From You has got to be one of the downright worst albums I have ever heard from a band of such huge promise. Words I use frequently surface describing this album... bland, repetitive, same-old, cookie-cutter... never before have such terms rang so true. The first time I sat down to give the album a good listen, well, I didn't. Half an hour and it all went completely over my head. And the next listen, and the next listen... it's just boring, substanceless, sugar-coated crap; even my Homesick (and general cheesy & happy pop/alternative) adoring girlfriend couldn't stand What Separates Me From You. You know your post-hardcore band's hit rock-bottom when even teenage girls think you're terrible.


All in all, a pretty dece year. No "Best Of" compilation tis year, go listen to the music for yourselves you lazy good-for-nothings.