MY TOP 3 ALBUM RELEASES OF THE YEAR:
#3: Norma Jean - MeridonialA 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 LeftA 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 - ReturnersDon'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 2Why 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 2Not 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 - MAGYou 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.
Those wacky Japanese in Fact.
Canadian hardcore legends Comeback Kid.
A Day To Remember, becoming a band to forget.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.
Another band I've re-discovered are chaotic, melodic, tech-ie metalcore band This or the Apocalypse. It's a similar story as my discovery of The Ghost Inside; recommended to me through last.fm, I check out some of their music. I am somewhat impressed, if not pass it off with a mildly-interested "meh". The weeks go on, when suddenly out of the blue I have a "what the crap is this heaven-sent music and how did it get into my library?!" moment. 
It all starts with Windmill's Puddle City Racing Lights. This happened a year or so ago, having recently begun an off-root into post-rock and the general turning point of my musical taste into one more... open-minded, I suppose. I'm on another one of my Real Groovy ridiculous alternative sale section excursions (from which I commonly emerge with little gems), nearing the end of my journey as I near the end of browsing the alphabet, when I come across an album with intriguing cover art. The artist, album and track names don't drop any hints, I've no idea what to expect.
Next comes New Zealand's very own the Naked and Famous, with their album Passive Me + Aggressive You. This band became impossible to avoid earlier this year, with their single "Young Blood" flooding the airwaves, to the point of being over-played and despised. At first, the song went right over my head. As the weeks went on, the song stuck, and I started to enjoy it along with the rest of their music.
Shortly following was a dive into the poppier side with Ellie Goulding's Lights. It was basically the same deal here as with TNAF, except Ellie's single "Starry Eyed" aired much less frequently. During the height of her popularity I may have heard or seen the single once a day on the radio or television, and I wouldn't have been surprised to not see head or tail of her at all. She still emerged every now and then and the single grew on me, not quite as infectiously or dramatically as TNAF, but enough to spark interest and check out her full album. Why Starry Eyed was chosen as a single in beyond me, as certainly it's one of her weaker songs.
The finale in my journey of discovery so far is The Family Jewels by Marina & the Diamonds. Another entry into the poppier side of this music, possibly more so than Ellie Goulding (I'd also guess she's even more into the glitz & glitter side too, if that's possible). Yet I'm hesitant to say that because, well, her music is... odd. A little inconsistent. Incredibly experimental and strange for something that was last.fm's #15 most played artist this year. Perhaps her eclecticism describes the incredible absence of her music down here, perhaps too avant-garde for New Zealands' relatively musically uneducated ears. I've heard her music twice this year; both times on C4 (NZ's music television), on shows past-or-borderline midnight. 
A recent re-discovery of mine has been that of a parodic experimental deathcore band named, as you'd probably have gathered from the title, Arsonists Get All The Girls. Instantly their name implies a tongue-in-cheek mentality, which is precisely what AGATG deliver. Get standard run-of-the-mill deathcore and deck it out with as many zany, wacky, near-progressive elements to take it as over the top as possible, and you have an accurate description of their sound. The band has apparently made the effort to state their somewhat joke-band status; they don't take themselves seriously, and don't expect to take them seriously. Despite existing for what appears to be the laughs, they create some quality, fun, unpredictable music, and I've hardly been able to get enough. Seriously, that's why there's 4 videos. They're actually different, original and catchy enough to merit 4 videos. Check it out.
If you're anything like me, you'll approach Fight Club with all the wrong ideas and assumptions. If you're anything like me, you'll have heard the various stories on the news over the last 10 years; all the youths caught beating each other, citing the film as the main influence for their actions. It was even advertised simply as a film about underground boxing, helping reinforce an undesirable reputation for the film. If you're anything like me, you'll approach Fight Club expecting a film, as the name and reputation suggest, about men slugging it out against each other - a festival of mindless violence, possibly littered with vague themes of masculinity. And if you're anything like me, after watching it, Fight Club will blow your mind wide open.
Continuing on with my art design schoolwork for the year, a sandwich board for the fictional restaurant Konaya. I'm trying mix in elements of the traditional, through the parchment-esque colour and a traditional print; with a modern approach through the highly-contrasting white; all whilst trying to adhere to the minimalist and simple nature the Japanese are known to favor.
Yenno, just in case you ever wondered.
The Acacia Strain are one of those bands I've always been a bit "meh" about. My listening of TAS goes back to when I was a new kid to the whole hardcore scene; it was 2008, and I'd been to my first ever small-scale hardcore show with an international band, Blacklisted. Another show had been announced at the same venue for the end of the year with A Day To Remember and none other than TAS, and though I'd never heard either of the bands I was still excited and gave both a listen. 
By no means did I totally disregard the band, however, and I have since given the occasional listen. So when I saw Wormwood had been released, I figured I might as well give it a try. If I didn't like it so much, it would collect dust in my library similarly to the previous albums. Perhaps TAS had done something new and I'd really enjoy it - it wasn't like there was anything to lose. I checked out some reviews and was a little deterred; they often commented on the repetitive nature of the album, and how it feels like one long song; particularly since this is their longest album to date, at over 45 minutes. It basically sounded like typical, run-of-the-mill Acacia Strain to me. I didn't get my hopes up. In fact, I might have lowered by expectations to the "this is going to be 45 bad minutes of crap" zone. However, upon giving the album a listen, I was pleasantly surprised. The first song came and went, and it was okay. The second song came along, and it got better. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth... they all held distinguishing features, and they all held my interest. The album got me in the zone and managed to keep me there for it's entire duration. I came away from the first listen pumped and alert, not something I can say for many albums. Even the sludgy, ever-slowing 5-minute-breakdown outro track titled "Tactical Nuke" had a certain level of appeal.
As with many people who spend a lot of time in a workplace, I'm exposed to a lot of radio. Most of the time I just shut it out by ignoring it's existence or plugging in the earphones. Now & then they play something good like the Naked and Famous, and occasionally they play something I'm indifferent about like Ellie's single Starry Eyed. With enough exposure, this indifference developed into mild interest, and then eventually into appreciation. Sweet monkeycrapping Jesus Christ, a pop artist with a nice voice with unique and well-written songs! Pop music seems to usually just jump out of the radio and begin an incessant and intrusive assault on my ears, but Ellie's music whispered softly and sweetly and floated it's way straight through my high-security anti-pop music mental barrier.
GOTHA ELITE
TAMSEN MK2
M31 CIR
KINMARK SRS
RUBAKHO SVR
SENTINEL M421
KP21
ARIET SFW
M245
Their only album Gain Control really is a shining example of New Zealand talent. They had a brief moment of small-scale national popularity, infrequently appearing on pop and rock music programming here (internationally I bet they're unheard of). Their music of course was not suited for the ears of our public, whose airwaves consist of either the pop garbage big enough in the UK and USA to sell here or our own poor talent. The music of Stylus was hard to categorize and still remains so: a sort of funk rock, punk, indie-esque, hip-hoppish body with catchy choruses and subtle dark tones bordering metal, which leads them to only really be captured under the term "alternative rock" (though that does them no justice). Despite varying their music and constantly mixing it up the music manages to retain a sense of consistency that separates them from being identified as progressive or experimental. I know that a member went on to play bass for 
One thing I've managed to get plenty of is MAG. After playing it for 250+ hours I realised how close I am to my first Playstation platinum trophy, so the last few days have been grinding in an attempt to get a large portion of the in-game medals and ribbons out of the way: for repairing. Sweet Jesus, I have huge respect for the players who by will grasp their repair kit in hand and zap the magical welding flashy stick every day. Seriously, I've never been so bored, frustrated and distressed whilst gaming. Especially whilst getting the harder medals - though I did find a great method of obtaining the AAA repair medal. For those who play Valor, first platoon defending Domination. Sneak past enemy lines, repair the AAA, then hide in the red shack by the attacker's bridge or in the bushes surrounding it. I managed to get 8 repairs into one match this way, repairing it, hiding, and watching from the bushes as squad after squad of pissed-off soldiers stormed by grumbling about the magical self-repairing AAA. It's also great to top it off by blowing up the bridge to further delay their assault when the AAA is back up & fending them back. During my repairing stint I must say I've also formulated the perfect Field Support/Commando loadout. Shotgun, silenced Pistol, Sensor Jammer, Medical Kit and Repair Kit with improved light armor. Flawless for the whole support business. Now onto LMG and AR ribbons!
Another thing I've done with my time off is to arrive to a shocking verdict on an issue with my music listening habits: I'm going to stop using last.fm. I've been scrobbling to last.fm for about a year and a half now and I keep finding myself in positions of musical desensitization, ie. I just can't enjoy listening to music at times. I traced the issue to it's source by accident one day when I pondered playing my iPod on shuffle but I dismissed it because I thought "no, it might play something like Collective Soul and I don't want people to think I really actually to them". Then it hit me, the amount of times I've not listened to an artist because I want more plays for another or because it wouldn't look good on my profile. I, like most people, would like to claim that they don't care what others think about them. But I'd be lying to myself, it's just who I am as a person. I tend to often think about people's impressions of me and I try my best to avoid situations of being observed. But that's what last.fm was doing: throwing out me and my private listening habits on public display. And though it was self-inflicted and seemingly harmless, it's harmed the way I enjoy music.
Those of you who aren't hardcore savvy won't have noticed this post's nod to 
A great find recently has been 
Another great find, and possibly one of the greatest I will ever document, is that of 
Okay. So I'm not the much the kind of person to download music from an incredibly talented band, but The Ghost Inside promised us, the fans, an early 2010 release for their new album Returners. What did they do? With a fully recorded and completed album, what's the next step? Hey, let's just delay the release until June! To build hype? Who knows! Sorry guys, Fact released an album in April '09, announced a new full-length in October '09, and had it released by January '10. That's the kind of efficiency in delivery that bands can learn from. Bitterness aside, I was left a stunned frullet upon giving the album a listen. And I can confirm that I will, without a doubt, even having downloaded a high-quality leak, DEFINITELY be purchasing the album (and some merch).