This album may have been released digitally and on CD in 2008 (I know I was certainly listening to mp3s of the songs in 2008), but I recently picked up the vinyl version put out by Signed By Force and it says 2009 on it, so who am I to argue? Besides, this album is so insanely good (and straight-up insane) it deserves to make this list anyway, regardless what year it actually came out. Trigger Effect is a nasty kind of mayhem, a brutal force of punk rock fury so libelous that you’re likely to come away with bruises, both physically and mentally. Likewise, Dare to Ride the Heliocraft is 21 minutes of pure VENOM and the only thing crazier than the the album is Trigger Effect’s live show, which is highly volatile and inherently dangerous. This is one of my favourite Canadian bands right now and just like the patch on the back of my denim vest proclaims: Turbo Machine Ain’t Nothin’ To Fuck With.
Well, we’ve finally arrived! It’s the ten biggest, baddest, beardiest albums of the past year. If you were blown away by numbers eleven through thirty-nine (and I know you were), you’re gonna need a body bag by the time we reach number one. Hey! Ho! Let’s go!
#10 Pelican – What We All Come to Need
I really could have had Chicago’s Pelican on this list twice seeing as how they released the Ephemeral EP earlier in the year before they released What We All Come to Need, their fourth full-length album, but if I had to guess I’d say Pelican isn’t really a greedy band, so it’s all good. Well, hold on a minute now. Maybe I spoke too soon because when it comes to beautiful, heavy, instrumental post-whatever, Pelican is the greediest band there is. They OWN that shit and they’re not willing to give up one incredible riff of it. The fact is, Pelican has always swam deep and soared high, which basically means not many others comes close, and like their namesake, their momentous sound will swallow you whole.
As you may have already noticed with many of the entries I’ve included in the Top 39, I have a tendency to gravitate towards bands that, by their very nature, are an experience and, as such, create experiences with their music. I realize we’re all supposed to be suffering from A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. these days and that we’re supposed to consume our information and entertainment as quickly as possible and then move on to the next fashionable thing, but I don’t subscribe to that philosophy. That’s why I demand bands that demand my attention, and Ancestors demand my attention like few others. Their two-song debut, Neptune With Fire, was almost 40 minutes long, and this eight-song opus is over an hour long, yet, despite the length, it never bores. It’s full of texture, movement, depth, and power; a sweeping, sonic, attention-getting, attention-keeping journey of epic proportions. So take the time for this one, because it’s totally worth it.
As you can imagine, the songs on Of Sound Mind are long. Too long (or big) for me to upload here, so watch/listen to the first 10 minutes of the song, “The Trial”!
#8 Trigger Effect – Dare to Ride the Heliocraft
#10 Pelican – What We All Come to Need
#12 Ancestors – Of Sound Mind