For review, my 2008 list from last year...
My top 10 albums of 2009:
#1. Prometheus Burning - Plague Called Humanity: Proof positive there's still life in the Industrial genre, Pro Burn have produced a perfect blending of Rhythmic Noise, classic Electro-Industrial and pure sonic experimentation to create the best album of the year.
#2. Nitzer Ebb - Industrial Complex: The comeback album of the year (decade?). After a 14 year break NE have produced an album that manages to both update and expand their sound while still staying true to their roots, producing an album as good as any they've ever done.
#3. Project Pitchfork - Dream, Tiresias!: But for Nitzer Ebb this would have been the comeback of the year album. True, they never went away, but they went through nearly a decade of lackluster releases (Though in all fairness, like with FLA's run of lackluster albums in the late 90's/early 00's, they're still better than what most other groups have ever produced). But with Dream Tiresias! they've produced an album on par with their classic 90's releases, including my favorite song of the year, Nasty Habit.
#4. Faith & The Muse - :Ankoku Butoh: Returning after a 7 year break, F&TM have created an album that while still ostensibly Goth, ranges from Ethereal to Tribal to full on Punk fury, and is to my ears at least the best album they've ever done.
#5. Cervello Elettronico - Process of Elimination: I still don't know what to call CE genrewise, since it clearly ranges beyond the Industrial genre, so I'll just call it awesome.
#6. Life Cried - Banished Psalms: I like Aggrotech, and this is my favorite Aggrotech album this year, in large part because of it's broader range of sounds, tempos and atmosphere than most other releases in this sub-genre, and just enough vocal processing to give that distinctive sound yet leave the lyrics intelligible, a big pet peeve of mine which many other such bands fail at.
#7. Rotersand - Random is Resistance: Probably the biggest surprise on my list, for those that know my musical tastes well. In short, I don't like Futurepop, Rotersand are most definitely Futurepop, yet I love this album. Go figure...
#8. Implant - Implantology: I'm not as familiar Implant as I should be, but after the excellent 32CRASH album I had to pick this one up, and I'm glad I did, as it's a stomper fully in the EBM tradition, but still modern, not sounding too retro or dated.
#9. Tonikom - The Sniper's Veil: Another cross-genre album, like CE's above but even more so, ranging from atmospheric soundscapes to driving beats in a most pleasing fashion.
#10. nolongerhuman - Antipathy: My other favorite Aggrotech album this year. Not quite as genre transcending as LC's album above, but a powerful and promising debut.
#11. Unwoman - The Keys: A digital only collection of cover songs, previews of tracks for her next official release and more, that despite its odds-n-sods nature is still a damn good fully realized album to my ears.
#12. Slayer - World Painted Blood: It's no Reign in Blood or God Hates Us All, but come on, SLAYER!!!
Two albums that should have been on my 2008 list:
Bahntier - Venal: I only heard of this band 2 months ago when Sharon suggested them for our special Noisescape Skinny Puppy episode, since SP drummer Justin Bennett is part of the group, and I'm glad she did because this band is amazing. While there's a definite SP influence they're by no means a clone band, with a sound all their own which was a nice change from so many of the cookie-cutter soundalike bands out there.
Left Spine Down - Fighting For Voltage: I have no excuse for not having gotten this album sooner, as I knew about it, and knew I'd probably like it, but better late than never. Simply said, this album is awesome, and along with Cyanotic they're leading a wave of post-coldwave/cyberpunk sonic madness.
Four EP's/teasers for 2010:
I:Scintilla - Prey on You
Grendel - Chemicals + Circuitry
C-Drone-Defect - Letters from Dystopia
C/A/T - We Are Still Alive
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chipper