The Best Albums of 2004 as Picked by the
Utter Trash Writers
Note: Where possible, "Best of" picks have been linked
to their review on Utter Trash. However, not all reviews are
necessarily written by the person(s) who picked them for the list.
I thought 2004 was a real good year for music. For me, the
first ten albums on this list are damn near neck and neck. There's a lot of
other albums I liked a that didn't quite make this list, too.
Man...2004 was one GREAT year for music! I've been working
on this list for a while. And, in the grand tradition of writing way too much
(just ask our fearless editor...I've written three times as much for Utter Trash
than he's been able to use!), I had to tell you why I put each album where.
Also, being the resident Pagan Witch, I had to include 13 selections. I wrote
it backwards, in a grand count-down style, so read each album in order and NO
PEEKING! Heh...enjoy this list. I know I enjoyed the albums!
13.
Behemoth – ‘Demigod’ (Century Media): You know it was a great year for music
when something I gave a 4 1/2 out of five rating to just squeaks into my "best
of" list at number 13. This album deserves to be in there, though. Brutal,
grinding, and thoroughly original, Behemoth's latest offering is a Black Metal
delight.
12. Velvet Revolver – ‘Contraband’ (RCA): This, the remnants of Stone Temple
Pilots and Guns N Roses, was one of the year's big surprises for me. The album
rocks, and it's a lot of fun.
11. Seven Witches – ‘Year of the Witch’ (Noise/Navarre): This, the latest from
Seven Witches, is a Heavy Metal fan's delight. No hyphenated sub-genre needed,
this is good old fashioned HM in the Judas Priest and Iron Maiden vein.
DEFINITELY one to check out!
10. U2 – ‘How To Dismantle
an Atomic Bomb’ (Interscope): For anyone who grew up in the 80's, U2 was an
important band. Even when they were doing goofy love songs, they had an air of
importance about them. The 90's annihilated this, and their music started to
suck, too. This album is, then, a refreshing return to form.
9. Necrophagist – ‘Epitaph’
(Relapse): The only reason I ever heard this band is because Bob, our
fearless editor, sent me the CD to review...and I was damn glad he did! This
album rocks with a musical intelligence that's often lost these days, and it
reminded me that extreme music was more than just cathartic.
8. 1349 – ‘Beyond the
Apocalypse’ (Candlelight): One of the best Black Metal albums of the decade
so far. Period.
7. Fates Warning – ‘X’
(Metal Blade): One of the most under-rated progressive metal bands of any
era returned with a great effort, reminding us why they're still around after
all these years.
6. Borknagar – ‘Epic’
(Century Media): I predicted back in August that this might make my top
picks of the year, and I was right. Following the extreme progressive path set
by Opeth, this album left me thirsty for what's still to come.
5. Dio – ‘Master of the
Moon’ (Sanctuary): To be the "Godfather of Heavy Metal" might be enough for
some, but not Sir Ronnie. He just HAS to keep cranking out stunning metal
masterpieces like this latest effort. Wickedly great!
4. Heart – ‘Jupiter’s Darling’ (Sovereign Artists): This album suprised the
bloody hell out of me! It's like the big-hair era for Heart in the 80's never
happened, and the band that rocked out on "Little Queen" came out of hibernation
to give us something to rock the new century. This is the most recent album on
this list, and yet it jumped to #4...that should tell you something.
3. W.A.S.P. – ‘The Neon
God’ parts 1 and 2 (Metal-Is): So what if it was technically two
albums...then call it a tie. Part one was released early in the year, and part
two late in the year, but they're really one great double-album (and really, how
many times in rock history can you say THAT?)! Most bloody impressive!
2. Beseech – ‘Drama’
(Napalm): The fact that many of you out there have never heard this band is
a true bloody shame. This album has been stuck in my CD player all year, and
would have been number one save for the historic album that DID make it. Listen
to Beseech now...you won't be disappointed.
1. Nightwish – ‘Once’
(Roadrunner): Every once in a while, an album comes out that completely
skews your whole take on music. They are rare, to severely understate the
point. Quite often, one really never realizes just how great an album is until
you've had it for a while, and it integrates itself into your psyche. Then one
day you wake up and realize that this CD you've been digging has become one of
your favorite for all time. In my Utter Trash review I called this album "sheer
bloody excellence". Those words don't even begin to describe this awesome
masterpiece. If this album doesn't move you, then you must not have a pulse.
This could very well make it into my best 3 of the DECADE list in five years.
My rating? 3 billion out of five stars.
Pretty damn tough to narrow things down to a top ten in a
year with a lot of great music, and even harder to compare them to each other.
So I've copped out and come up my top five in no order - comparing them seems
irrelevant considering how different they are from each other. So in alphabetic
order, here goes.
Tyrades
– “I Am Homicide” (Shit Sandwich) and “Incarcerated” (Die Slaughterhaus) -
My top two picks here both from the same band....great band that's at their best
in the 7" format.
Other top singles:
10-4 Backdoor – “I Fucked A Prostitute” (Solid Sex Lovie
Doll)
Antiseen – “Thee From Parts Unknown” (Scarey)
Carbonas – “Frothing At The Mouth” (Douche Master)
Fatals – “Stereo-No-Phonic” (P. Trash)
Fatals – “Slave My Soul” (Yakisakana)
Feelers – “Fuehers New Miniskirt” (Death By Noise/Contaminated)
Final Solutions – “Eye Don't Like You” (Shit Sandwich)
Kajun SS – “$40 Quartet” (Die Slaughterhaus)
Real Losers – “Don't Leave Me Now” (Bancroft)
Tokyo Electron – “Make Me Bleed” (Solid Sex Lovie Doll)
Top Collection: The Spits – ‘19 Million AC’ (Dirtnap)
Top Local: Upstab – ‘The Old Fag’ CDR (self-released)
Top Reissue: Mentally Ill – ‘Gacy's Place: The Undiscovered Corpses’
(Alternative Tentacles)
1. Ulrich Schnauss – ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ (Domino)
2. Matthew Dear – ‘Backstroke’ and ‘Leave Luck to Heaven’ (Spectral Sound)
3. Album Leaf – ‘In A Safe Place’ (Sub Pop)
4. RJD2 – ‘Since We Last Spoke’ (Definitive Jux)
5. Tom Waits – ‘Real Gone’
(Anti/Epitaph)
6. Matthew Good – ‘White Light Rock N' Roll Review’ (Universal International)
7. Elliott Smith – ‘From a Basement on a Hill’ (Anit/Epitaph)
8. TV on the Radio –
‘Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes’ (Touch N Go)
9. Rilo Kiley – ‘More Adventerous’ (Brute/Beaute) 10.
The Cure – ‘The Cure’
(Geffen) or Hayden – ‘Elk-Lake Serenade’ (Badman Records)
