The year of 2007 brought us a total of 16 listenable albums (including Opeth's The Roundhouse Tapes live album). Check back to my Top 7 'o 07 journal for a round-up of 2007
4. Portishead - Third
The first offering from the Somerset trio in eleven years, Portishead (more-or-less) pick-up from where they left off with their 1997 selftitled effort. The first real significant change to the listener is the production; a real clean sound is present throughout the album, sounding nearly as lush as Radiohead's in rainbows. The track's
3. Mike Patton - A Perfect Place OST
Mike's third official solo album, serves as a soundtrack to the film of the same name, A Perfect Place. The album seems to be centered around one lick/riff, (Main Title), and is featured in various places throughout the film and CD. This review focusses predominatly on the music, however, because I was "neither here nor there" regarding the film itself. Aside from the subtle, jazzy overtones, the CD is quite samey in places, but occasionl tracks shine above the others, such as A Little Poker Tomorrow Night? and Catholic Tribe which both provide top class musucal entertainment. In all fairness, the album is a collction of songs featured on a film - it is not a unitary movement. Overall, the songs serve the purpose well enough, even on an audio-only basis. 3/5
2. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge
How many albums can you think of where every single track is a sing-a-long? Let me rephrase... how many albums can you think of where every single track is a sing-a-long, and HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A GOOD ALBUM? I'm struggling to think of any, besides Alestorm's debut Captain Morgan's Revenge.
On the face of it, "true Scottish Pirate metal" doesn't sound entirely appealing - one conjures up dreadful images of over-dressed clowns prancing around on stage "ARR!"ing a lot.
Wrong.
Alestorm are a metal band. There's nothing else to it. Lyrically, they aren't pirate cliche's - they sing about getting drunk and battling at sea, but it sounds MANLY! The opening track Over the Seas is one of the most exciting album openers I can even think of, boasting a chorus which any concert attendee will be singing a long to by the end of it, and some of the best metal drumming Britain has heard for WAY too long. The second track, the selftitled Captain Morgan's Revenge is arguably the most epic song of the last few years. Thrash metal with folky textures, this is probably their anthem. Their electric performance at Bloodstock Open Air concluded with this track.
I could sit here babbling on about each song and why they're awesome (see also Death Before The Mast and Terror on the High Seas), but I'll leave you with this: pirates can thrash too.
The only fault is the album's length, clocking in at only forty minutes. 4/5
1. Opeth - Watershed
Opeth's first studio outing since 2003(?)'s epic Ghost Reveries saw them, in all honesty, writing probably their heaviest and most diverse album all in one. I used to be a listener frightened of the prospect of a 'new album' from one of my favourite bands. "What if it's not as good as the others?" "I probably won't have time to like it" etc... but once I shedded that immature attitude three or four years back I've welcomed album releases with open arms.
I'm not one for downloading. I love holding my purchase in my hand, reading the booklet and figuring out the artwork - avoiding the temptation of listening to downloadable albums. I continued this trend with Waershed. Despite last.fm being jampacked with reviews, likes/dislikes of Waershed, I refused to listen to the album until it was officially released and I had it in my hand. There's nothing more satisfying than hearing a brand new album for the first time in a CD PLAYER!!!!!
On the first listen, I thought Watershed was "pretty good, but not up there" (basically, I rated it a long with Deliverance) but the third and fourth listens can be crucial. You begin to pick up on bits you didn't necessarily notice the firs time - and the bits you loved on the first two listens sound even better to you now. Arguably the album's single best track, Heir Apparent, didn't cry out to me and say "Hey, Shaun - I'm awesome." until about the fourth listen... at first the obvious Coil along with the beautiful
This album is strong enough to be in Opeth's top 5 albums list, so the album gets 5/5