I may have listened to my son’s various Children’s Music CDs more than anything else this year (the tribulations of a car-centric suburban life), but that has only made my personal ‘music time’ so much more valuable. My instructions from last year hold true… get all of these release into a playlist, hit shuffle, and play it loud.

Below this list:

James Hepplewhite’s 2009 Year In Review

Alex Harisiadis’ 2009 Year End Wrap-Up

25. THE_NETWORK – Bishop Kent Manning (Black Market Activities)
Ferocious, brooding metal/hardcore with a technical slant, and tucked in melody. Think of a collision between SKYCAMEFALLING and KEELHAUL with a whole lot of nasty temperament thrown in.

24. RAISED FIST – Veil of Ignorance (Burning Heart)
Sixteen years into their existence, and still, no one else plays hardcore in the same style of this band. Veil of Ignorance continues the band’s trajectory from youth-crew posicore to thick, groove based music with industrial and nu-metal influences. On paper it’s questionable, but one listen and you’ll be hooked.

23. RANCID – Let The Dominoes Fall (Hellcat)
Tim Armstrong’s passion as a storyteller is the spark that lights RANCID. The basic tenets of the band’s music have largely remained the same since And Out Come The Wolves, but slight deviations in each direction reflect a particular time and place. Let the Dominoes Fall is global-RANCID, a retrospective of their abilities and desires, once again driven by Armstrong’s world-weary observations.

22. BOB MOULD – Life and Times (Epitaph)
Opener and titled track “Life and Times,” just might be my favorite song of the year. Mould’s legendary songwriting is well documented, and in his third “guitar powered” full-length in four years, the near 50 year old musician shows no signs of going soft or letting slide the personal drama that has fueled his terrific solo run.

21. PRIZE COUNTRY – …With Love (Hex)
If they read their own press, PRIZE COUNTRY is going to be sick of seeing SNAPCASE comparisons, but hey, they’re the ones that decided to turn in the best post-End Transmission outing that anyone has heard since 2002. For all of it’s musical bombast, …With Love is lyrically ugly and caustic, and that makes this full-length all the more fulfilling.

20. PARAMORE – Brand New Eyes (Atlantic/Fueled by Ramen)
I’m not gonna come up with some kind of grasping at straws, psuedo-objective explanation to diagram the appeal of Hayley Williams and PARAMORE… I’m just smitten by her as a band leader and her tremendous voice on record. Brand New Eyes isn’t as overly catchy as Riot!, but there’s much more depth to the songwriting, and when Williams is unhinged from the three minute fifteen second radio-play framework, the results are illuminating.

19. CLOAK/DAGGER – Lost Art (Jade Tree)
Jade Tree’s sole full-length release of 2009 is a punk rock romper in Lost Art. It’s hard to believe that some of the brains behind CLOAK/DAGGER used to play in hardcore bands like COUNT ME OUT, TIME FLIES, and more recently, under-appreciated post-hardcore band RENEE HEARTFELT, but maybe that all provides subtext for the band’s present mashing of HOT SNAKES and BLACK FLAG influences. Lost Art simply gets better with every listen.

18. THE RED CHORD – Fed Through The Teeth Machine (Metal Blade)
Like CONVERGE, who appear elsewhere on this list, THE RED CHORD saturate the listener with a blizzard of angles, layers, and intricacies in their metal amalgamations, with the constant being that both bands have a foundational beginning in hardcore. It’s less of a signal on Fed Through The Teeth Machine, but the band’s restraint from technical overload must come from that grounding. A deafening 30 minute rush.

17. TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET – They Came From The Shadows (Fat)
If the pop-punk classics for kids who discovered punk rock in the 90s come from SCREECHING WEASEL, THE QUEERS, and (early) GREEN DAY, then this decade’s pantheon has to include ALKALINE TRIO, LAWRENCE ARMS, and TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET. There’s not a bad full-length to the Wyoming band’s repertoire, and They Came From The Shadows is an absolutely flawless take on a genre that has seen thousands of lesser bands come up short.

16. VICIOUS CYCLE – Pale Blue Dot (Deranged)
Snarling hardcore from Canada with a keen appreciation for early 80s American hardcore/punk. They run in similar circles to FUCKED UP, but without the latter’s turn to theatrical amusement (for better or worse).  The Carl Sagan theme that runs through Pale Blue Dot seals its unique footing.

15. BLACKLISTED – No One Belongs Here More Than Me (Deathwish)
Admittedly, I’ve only had this release for a couple of weeks before putting together this list, and we’ll see next year, if this was worth the placement, but right now, BLACKLISTED’s third full-length stands out as a beacon of “my rules, my way,” entertainment. Expressed as a mid-tempo post-hardcore/grunge outing, the band mostly abandons their earlier hardcore persuasions and takes a turn at the discordant. Without the chilling, on-the-verge of combustion lyrics by frontman George Hirsch, No One, doesn’t make the cut.

14. THURSDAY – Common Existence (Epitaph)
Liberated Existence might be a better title for THURSDAY’s fifth full-length, and first since leaving Island Records. Heavier and more thorough than their last two efforts, Common Existence channels the angst of a band wanting to get their bearings back, and being in the comfort of a supportive shepherds. Broad praising generalities aside, “Friends In The Armed Forces” is one beast of a song.

13. DARKEST HOUR – The Eternal Return (Victory)
Call it current hometown bias, but I couldn’t leave The Eternal Return out of earshot this year. It’s not as a stunning as 2007′s Deliver Us, but with Brian McTernan recording the band for the first time in nearly a decade, there’s a different kind of swagger to the group this time around, and the loss of guitarist Kris Norris isn’t the end all to band’s guitar leadership. Less thrash and more texture, DARKEST HOUR continue to mature without losing the threads that have made them DC’s finest metal band.

12. BRAND NEW – Daisy (DCG)
What a strange duck of a full-length… We’ve bought into BRAND NEW being some kind of enigmatic, media-scarred band, particularly with their rejection of being a part of the social media rat race. Does that mystery make their music seem more intense? Maybe. I can’t quantify that… but it’s sinewy, sometimes loud and sometimes awkward, and melodic enough to make you remember why this band grew into its own behemoth with little conventional action.

11. LEWD ACTS – Black Eye Blues (Deathwish)
Kurt Ballou’s producer magic took San Diego’s LEWD ACTS from being a fast, rippin’ hardcore/punk band, into being something downright scary. Gripping, forceful music with a scowl that’s a mile wide. Things really heat up when the band flirts with elements of grind, crust, and thrash, and up the brutality while never letting go of stellar musicianship. It’s not too late to help this band lose their perpetual status of being underrated.

10. POLAR BEAR CLUB – Chasing Hamburg (Bridge Nine)
Breaking further from the band’s early HOT WATER MUSIC influence, Chasing Hamburg is a tuneful presentation of mostly inward looking post-hardcore and rock that sits in lukewarm waters. I love the uneasiness that this record creates, especially after the glowing, chugging power of opener “See The Wind” wears off. POLAR BEAR CLUB sound like a conflicted band on this record, but it’s not to their detriment, with each directional tangent reinforcing the strength of the band’s core qualities.

9. PROPAGANDHI – Supporting Caste (Smallman)
Ho-hum… another blazin’ full-length from one of the masters of metal-leaning melodicore (with top-notch political/social lyrics to boot). What else is there to be said about PROPAGANDHI at this point… the band just does their thing with considerable skill and it’s a tough deal for fans that they only get around to putting out new music every four or so years.

8. SHOOK ONES – The Unquotable A.M.H. (Paper + Plastick)
Like POLAR BEAR CLUB, this was the SHOOK ONES’ release that cut apart the peg that they had been hanging off of since their inception. Sprawling, rambunctious melodic punk rock that blows through at full tilt, doing away with mundane songwriting devices, and most importantly, turning the band’s previously so-obvious LIFETIME and KID DYNAMITE influences into complimentary factors to the overall score.

7. REIGN SUPREME – Testing the Limits of Infinite (Deathwish)
With MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD’s fourth full-length temporarily shelved, REIGN SUPREME aptly filled the void this year with their decimating debut full-length. A metallic hardcore band in the truest ordering of genres, Testing the Limits is like taking a cinder block to the forehead, with the breakdown in “Apostle” coming in as one of the hardest in the genre since HOPE CONSPIRACY’s “Truth and Purpose.” More than being food for the dance-floor minded, the Philly band feeds the mind too. REIGN SUPREME may not be long for this world but let no one say they didn’t get the best out of themselves with this release.

6. STRUNG OUT – Agents of the Underground (Fat)
Since 1998, STRUNG OUT fans have been looking for the Holy Grail of STRUNG OUT, that is, the next release from the band that matches up to their classic Twisted by Design. Eleven years later, fans were made whole with Agents of the Underground, a full-length without a drop of filler, and one that has the band’s metal influence heartily kneaded into their melodicore blueprint. Supersonic stretches of Agents invigorate while crisp melodies create another batch of fan favorites. The circle has been completed.

5. NEW FOUND GLORY – Not Without A Fight (Epitaph)
Coming Home featured NEW FOUND GLORY’s trademark poignancy and musical calibration, but it lacked the punchiness that made this band so damn likable. Not Without A Fight returns to the pantry and comes back with all of the bread and butter that it could muster. Playing out like a snapshot of the band’s first five full-lengths, Fight embraces the band’s pop-punk with hardcore elements with arms wide open. Catchy, bouncy, tightly played, and not forcing a single thing, NEW FOUND GLORY ironically have come home.

4. THRICE – Beggars (Vagrant)
With The Alchemy Index out of their system, THRICE refocused their ambition and energy on assembling complete songs with many moving parts and gears shifting in sync. Several years ago the band abandoned heaviness for richness, and Beggars is the fruition of that transition, succinctly displayed in fortified three to four minute rounds of aching emotion. Most remarkable through all of THRICE’s changes (and imitators along the way) is that their sound is still instantly recognizable in whatever permutation.

3. CONVERGE – Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
The first four songs (roughly 10 minutes) of Axe To Fall are like the audio equivalent of being in an intense car accident – that incredible feeling that happens after being caught in the crossfire of the unwanted merging of two and half ton steel projectiles and the subsequent mental reaction of hoooooollllllllly shiiiiiiit. After your brain processes the total mindfuck and your own internal check engine light comes on, a wave of burning pain ripples through your extremities. CONVERGE have approached this level of outright metal/hardcore terror multiple times during and since Jane Doe, but Axe to Fall goes next level and you’ll know it on first listen.

2. BROADWAY CALLS – Good Views, Bad News (SideOneDummy)
I was a fan of the first couple of BROADWAY CALLS releases, and appreciated their JAWBREAKER/GREEN DAY/ALKALINE TRIO sentiments, but never expected them to bottle those up and use them as a launching pad for their own individual massaging of pop-punk with broader musical visions. Good Views is just huge… an arena-sized record of sterling vocal melodies, furious beats, and a rhythmic pulse that could power an entire nation. Sometimes everything just comes together in perfect form.

1. SET YOUR GOALS – This Will Be The Death of Us (Epitaph)
If the preceding entry is a collection of disciplined, architecturally sound rock tunes, SET YOUR GOALS’ second full-length is the exact opposite — a frenetic hardcore and punk rock record that runs away from every trace of ordinary songwriting. Death of Us is music made for kids with short attention spans, who somehow need to have satiated the desire to have every songwriting element stuffed into a single song and make it all work. Guest vocal spots, gratuitous mosh, rampaging sing-alongs, gang vocals, anthem-blaring mission statements of a band’s existence… it’s all here in one ADD-addled 38 minute trip. Death of Us passes the “run around the Pastepunk office and go apeshit” standard. Closer “Our Ethos: A Legacy To Pass On,” puts me on my feet, shouting to no one in particular the truest of words, Our ethos, it’s all we know, we can’t let go. I’m not letting go.

Honorable Mention

• AFI – Crash Love (DCG)
• AFTER THE FALL – Fort Orange (Raise Your Fist)
• ANOTHER BREATH – The God Complex (Panic)
• AUGUST BURNS RED – Constellations (Solid State)
• BARONESS – Blue Record (Relapse)
• BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME – The Great Misdirect (Victory)
• BURNT BY THE SUN – Heart of Darkness (Relapse)
• EARTH CRISIS – To The Death (Century Media)
• FOUNDATION – Hang Your Head (Six Feet Under)
• GALLOWS – Grey Britain (Reprise)
• GOATWHORE – Carving Out The Eyes of God (Metal Blade)
• GOD FORBID – Earthsblood (Century Media)
• GOES CUBE – Another Day Has Passed (The End)
• HATEBREED – S/T (E1)
• ISIS – Wavering Radiant (Ipecac)
• JELLO BIAFRA AND THE GUANTANAMO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE – The Audacity of Hype (Alternative Tentacles)
• JON SNODGRASS – Visitor’s Band (Suburban Home)
• KILLSWITCH ENGAGE S/T (2009) (Roadrunner)
• LAMB OF GOD – Wrath (Epic)
• LIVING WITH LIONS – Make Your Mark (Adeline)
• YOUR DEMIZE – Ignorance Never Dies (Earache)
• STRIKE ANYWHERE – Iron Front (Bridge Nine)
• MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA – Mean Everything To Nothing (CBS)
• MASTODON – Crack The Skye (Reprise)
• MILLIONS – Gather Scatter (Seventh Rule)
• MY HEART TO JOY – Seasons in Verse (Top Shelf)
• NAKATOMI PLAZA – Ghosts (Self Released)
• NEKO CASE – Middle Cyclone (Anti)
• NOFX – Coaster (Fat)
• EVERGREEN TERRACE – Almost Home (Metal Blade)
• POISON THE WELL – The Tropic Rot (Ferret)
• REHASHER – High Speed Access To My Brain (Paper + Plastick)
• RELIENT K – Forget and Not Slow Down (Jive)
• RUINER – Hell Is Empty
• SETTLE – At Home We Are Tourists (Epitaph)
• SOUL CONTROL – Cycles (Bridge Nine)
• TAKING BACK SUNDAY – New Again (Warner)
• THE GOLDEN AGE – Unlock Yourself (Panic)
• THEREFORE I AM – The Sound of Human Lives (Equal Vision)
• THIS TIME NEXT YEAR – Road Maps and Hand Grenades (Equal Vision)
• TRAPPED UNDER ICE – Secrets of the World (Reaper)

Favorite EPs of the Year

• LIPONA – Pigeonholed (Self Released)
• NATIONS AFIRE – The Uprising (Self Released / Think Fast)
• A WILHELM SCREAM – S/T (Paper + Plastick)
• TRANSIT – Stay Home (Run For Cover)
• DEFEATER – Lost Ground (Bridge Nine)
• DAYLIGHT – Sinking (Get This Right)
• BANE – “World Series” of 7″s (A bunch of labels)
• ESPIRIT DE CORPS – Under Constant Influence (Self Released)
• MAKE DO AND MEND – Bodies of Water (Panic)
• PAINT IT BLACK – Amnesia/Surrender (Bridge Nine / Fat)
• NACHTMYSTIUM – Doomsday Derelict (Century Media)
• THIS IS HELL – Warbirds (Think Fast!)

Favorite Collections/Rarities/Compilations of the Year

• DEEP SLEEP – Three In One (Grave Mistake)
• TITLE FIGHT – The Last Thing Your Forget (Run For Cover)
• MOUTHPIECE – Can’t Kill What’s Inside (Revelation)
• STRUNG OUT – Prototypes and Painkillers (Fat)
• CIV – Complete Discography (Equal Vision)
• V/A – “Wrecktrospective” (Fat)
• V/A – BYO 25th Anniversary Compilation “Let Them Know” (BYO)

I Can’t Believe It’s Been 10 Years Since I Bought:

NEW FOUND GLORY – “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (Eulogy / Drive Thru)

Pros:

1. Pastepunk gets its seventh serious redesign in its eleventh year of existence. Big thanks to Sean @ The New Language

2. Paper + Plastick Records hits the ground running as a digital/vinyl label only and immediately builds a respectable roster.

3. Washington Capitals hockey. Unleash the fury!

4. MP3 download cards for vinyl releases

Cons:

1. Anyone want to buy a banner ad? Anyone?

2. The Mets were a disaster this year.

3. SAOSIN’s In Search of Solid Ground was a typical major label bloated disappointment. History repeats.

4. HAVE HEART called it quits a full-length too soon.

Oooooh… another list!

JAMES HEPPLEWHITE’S 2009 YEAR IN REVIEW

This being America, 2009 was the year of Obama. Using Henry Rollins’ words: You could argue the point, but you’d be wrong. The story in the beginning was that he was a transformative figure. The story in the middle of the year was that, yes, he is a human being and by the end of the year, the story was that people who were going to disagree with his decisions disagree with his decisions. You go, mainstream media.

But aside from the President and the country, there’s music. The absences (from this genre’s pond) are notable. I’m still waiting for CIRCLE TAKES THE SQUARE’S Ritual Of Names, which, let’s be honest, is probably never going to happen. CRIME IN STEREO’s I Was Describing You To Someone is due to be released in two months (I trust this is actually going to happen because the record is out of their hands) and we’re due for another DESCENDENTS disc in about two years. It’s the first year that PLANES MISTAKEN FOR STARS have really been absent from recording and that’s disappointing. THE ERGS, whom I have been lucky enough to see three times, also aren’t around anymore and it’s live where I’ll miss them the most. HAVE HEART broke up in October, but there’s a live CD/DVD and another seven inch coming out via Bridge Nine in 2010, so it doesn’t feel too bad.

There’s milestones, though. Battlestar Galactica and the Wire finished. I finally got out to DC and met Jordan in person for lunch. (In retrospect, I wish I had shaved). I graduated from college. Punknews turned 10. Issue Oriented released their 50th podcast. Deathwish released their DWI100.

I’m not sure what context for this year (or for that matter, this decade) makes sense. Maybe it’s entirely pointless. On the internet, I see context removed from music now more than ever. I can find a FUGAZI torrent with a text file appended to “support the band”, for god’s sake. How about you don’t undercut Dischord, a 20+ year old record label, with a history of treating its artists and buyers equitably by putting their shit on a tracker? Everything is in flux.

Speaking of context: The ability to be hyper-specific and give a snap judgment on anything (a peculiar outgrowth of message boards) regardless of context or larger picture is becoming increasingly pervasive, I think. I’m coming to believe that at a macro level, the ability to be accurate outweighs the desire to be truthful, at least on message boards, comment threads and Facebook.

And if I try to take anything out of this decade (I feel a little bit silly using the word post-millennial), the big question is what can we walk away from? How do we choose to use the technology available to us? And those are the decisions made in the moment to moment and “hey, there’s a mediafire or torrent” link.

The big story I think that was missed was Magic Bullet Records offering more and more of its discography on gimmesound.com (though I’m waiting for CAVE IN singles) a website where somehow, the label makes money off of the free (for the user) download. I don’t think it’s sustainable for everybody in the business, but for the peculiar stuff that lives and dies on hundreds of purchases, as unstreamlined as the website is, it could be a powerful tool and I don’t know that it got the attention I think it merits. The numbers will tell an important tale. Maybe this is the vehicle to finally harness the download and dump paradigm.

Also, I’m looking at pictures of Dan Yemin’s daughter on Facebook (more on this in a second) and my first thought was that’s the most adorable impediment to PAINT IT BLACK tours ever. Clearly, something is wrong. I don’t know Mr./Dr. Yemin. At all. Well, okay, I say good things about his songs and I’m a huge fan, but I’m not on a first name basis (or any basis) with him, and suddenly I can see pictures of his daughter?

(This doesn’t have to be about the doctor specifically, it can be about anyone that you’re a fan of and have friends of friends.)

I feel like I’m sneaking in some kind of backroom window to gain access to an intimate moment. Yeah, every newly minted parent rightfully wants to show pictures of their children to anyone within earshot, but despite there being a precedent for intimate reveals, it feels off. I wouldn’t normally be within earshot, but now I am? Facebook says yes, but something inside keeps telling me no…

Back to the music, which is why I’m here. One thing before we begin, dear reader: If you’re actually going keep score as to the countdown, the only number I’m going to give you is that I liked the P.O.S. disc the most and the rest of the CDs I’ve enjoyed for reasons I hope I’m clear about enumerating, are in no top-down or bottom-up order. The list starts (or ends) with P.O.S. and the rest is up to you.

Above everything else I listened to, I crown P.O.S.’ Never Better as my favorite disc this year. The first printing of the CD was really fun, from a packaging perspective. I connected with the rhymes and frankly, I wasn’t expecting it to be so dense and abrasive. It was, which made it a perfect fit for a winter spent in the cold, pitiless snow. The scene and perspective is set with a single line: “We ain’t got bodegas, we got gas stations.”

I listened to the Unquoteable AMH by SHOOK ONES non-stop on trains coming back from concerts at 1:30 a.m. Despite that, it should not be mistaken for a headphones record. It’s straight LIFETIME worship, down to the fact that the vocalist does not enunciate shit.

BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!’s Scrambles was cemented in my listening regimen after I saw the band perform most of the record in a dive bar in the summer. It’s a growing up record and sees Jeff Rockenstock finding his way in a New York City that is far too expensive and uptight for him. BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY! is a band that makes me believe in the drunken, sweat-soaked promise of punk rock again and Scrambles is the latest addition to the PBR-stained hymnal.

I wrote a brief defense of OWL EYES’s Ocean City on Issue Oriented, based mostly on the idea that Ocean Eyes was an unthreatening poppy, mildly electronic disc that sounds an awful lot like THE POSTAL SERVICE. I have nothing to add to that.

Ocean Eyes’ opposite number, BLACKLISTED’s No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me is on the list for the exact opposite reason Ocean Eyes is. It’s challenging, complicated, frustrated and bracing. People might say they want to dance with devils, but if No One Deserves is any indication, that entire band has been cheek to cheek with Mephisto for far too long.

A gimme in the list, I admit, but I’ve been a STRIKE ANYWHERE evangelical for years, so another full length (this one called Iron Front) is always welcome in the House of Hepplewhite.

A band that sets up its own continuity is usually interesting enough for a cursory listen. It’s rare then, that it’s worthy of more than that passing listen, but DEFEATER makes it’s case and wins. Even if you can ignore overarching story to Lost Ground (but why would you want to?), what cannot be denied is the tension coiled up and discharged in the six songs. And to think, I wanted six acoustic songs….

I don’t normally go for “adult contemporary”, but there’s something universal about VIENNA TENG’s Inland Territory that slips under the armor. Final track “St. Stephen’s Cross” just kills me every time I hear it, with the ending feeling like an epiphany.

A WILHELM SCREAM put out a self-titled EP recorded by their live sound guy, which is more music from the top tier of punk bands, always a good thing, but not a Bill Stevenson produced full length. After the genre-defining Career Suicide, I’m beginning to think my expectations for their new material outreach their songwriting ability. Then I remember I didn’t write “These Dead Streets” and I shut my blaspheming mouth.

Since It’s Crazy, I’ve always kind of liked DRAG THE RIVER. I’m not as infatuated as Virgil or as smitten by the band as Jordan, but the songs stick around, even after I move on to another record. Bad At Breaking Up gave me 20 recent DRAG songs I wouldn’t hear otherwise for a bargain basement price. Like playing Modern Warfare 2 with one of those teleporting stabby builds, you can’t argue with results like that.

A welcome entry from the Chicago based Red Scare Records: It’s not flawless, but I’m liking American Rubicon more than individual elements of it now, which means the COBRA SKULLS record is only going to improve from here on out.

Fluent In Stroll makes no sense. BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE gets more serious, less serious, more fun, less fun and the inconsistencies make no difference. This is BIG D’s Nixon goes to China moment, where only that band could make a record that’s not based around partying and it works.

Recording two sessions broken up into seven inches (Amnesia and Surrender) seemed like a more of a news story than it actually turned out to be. I wonder if those discs will be re-pressed, and that might be the bigger story. Either way, the nine songs that make up PAINT IT BLACK’s session with Kurt Ballou shred.

I initially kept my distance from It’s Great To Be Alive, on the belief that the record couldn’t possibly match up to the MINERAL-esque emoting in the final track, “Heart BPM” and I was right, it doesn’t. But while the other 11 songs aren’t as good, all told, together, they still earn FAKE PROBLEMS a spot on the list.

The second of the two collections, No Past, No Present, No Future by LAST LIGHTS is here on its merits and not on the post-death hype. Yes, the death of Dominic Mallary overshadows this release, but if you let the light in, you’d find a band that had something pretty neat going, notwithstanding the posthumous merchandising opportunities.

Ever since learning that Rob from RUINER said the last track is about a friend who lost his brother, his single good influence, I see Hell Is Empty is an entirely different light. It speaks volumes that the character in the final song doesn’t ever beat his demons, but that the demons can’t find him to beset him. No victory, just, maybe, an escape that is constantly under siege.

Records I didn’t enjoy quite as much, but were also real good:

• MARIACHI EL BRONX-S/T
• END OF A YEAR-S/T
• CASTEVET-Summer Fences
• HAWKS AND DOVES-Hush Money
• YOUTHVIOLENCE-II
• MOVING MOUNTAINS-Foreword
• TENSION GENERATION-Youth Destroyer
• DAYLIGHT-Sinking
• DISAPPEARER-The Clearing

But wait… there’s more!

Alex Harisiadis’ 2009 Year End Wrap-Up

2009 was an interesting year of ups and downs for me, but the one constant was that a lot of interesting records came out, and certainly more than last year’s relative drought. It’s difficult to say that the albums listed below are the best because of the subjectivity involved with listening to music. However, the following 11 records (more on that below) – ranked in order of relative preference – are certainly some of my favorites and some of the most interesting records on the heavier side of the spectrum that were released in 2009. Rather than give you a write up for each record, I’ll let a live performance of a song(s) from each record do the talking for me.

1. KYLESA – Static Tensions

“Scapegoat” (starts at 1:10 — also, interestingly, this video is from the annual Rockwave festival in Greece. Motherland pride!)

2. CONVERGE – Axe to Fall

“Worms Will Feed / Reap What You Sow / Cutter” (“Cutter” is easily my favorite song from Axe to Fall, but this video has the crushing song “Reap What You Sow” as well for extra br00tality.)

3. BARONESS – Blue Record

“Steel That Sleeps The Eye / Swollen and Halo”

4. PARAMORE – Brand New Eyes

“Brick By Boring Brick”

5. SAVIOURS – Accelerated Living

“Slave to the Hex” (the video is incorrectly titled)

6. NILE – Those Whom The Gods Detest

“4th Arra of Dagon”

7. GOES CUBE – Another Day Has Passed

“Song 30”

8. ISIS – Wavering Radiant

“Threshold of Transformation”

9. PORTAL – Swarth

I couldn’t find any live videos of material from Swarth, so you’ll have to settle for this sweet picture of PORTAL’s vocalist:

10. Tie: MAGRUDERGRIND – S/T | KRALLICE – Dimensional Bleedthrough

This is the first time that I can recall where two albums have tied for a certain spot, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t appropriately honor both of them. These two records are so fascinating that to exclude one in favor of the other would be ignorant.

MAGRUDERGRIND – “The Protocols of Anti-Sound / Pulverizing Hate Mongers / ???”

KRALLICE – “Dimensional Bleedthrough”