For the Fallen Dreams -- Great Melodic Hardcore

I realize that it's already 2010 and that it would probably be wise to stick to 2010 releases but I happened to stumble on this the other day and really felt the need to write about it. Recently signed to Rise Records in 2007, For the Fallen Dreams has already released two albums and done a considerable amount of touring. Their second album Relentless, sparked my interest because of its similarity to some of my favorite melodic hardcore acts. I do enjoy some heavy chugging from time to time, but with the slew of every god damn hardcore band just jam-packing their albums with it, it just gets old and uninteresting.

Anyway, FTFD caught my attention after listening to their stuff on their myspace because they sound A LOT like old Bury Your Dead (pre-It's Nothing Personal) and If Hope Dies (Life In Ruin, basically one of the best melodic hardcore/metalcore albums I own, it's a shame they threw in the towel). There may be some sections of those heavy chugs and slow generic drum breakdowns, but they're mostly scattered and not drawn out for more than 30 seconds. Their songs are super atmospheric with a continuous array of alternating guitar chugging with energetic guitar licks careening over the surface of everything. Sometimes they even throw in some clean vocals, but mostly stick with the gutteral growling. Songs like "The Call of Perceptions", "A Plethora Of", "Defiance", and "The Pain Loss" are easily their strongest tracks as they combine passionate riffing and severe anger, with the minimum amount of bland chugging and breakdowns. I originally didn't like "Nightmare", but after a few listens it appeared to be a mix of material from Bury Your Dead's Cover Your Tracks and Still Remains' The Serpent because there are gutteral growls mixed with clean singing and an almost electronic feel to the overlapping chorus.

I like the sound. It feels energetic. I like when bands are able to incorporate energy into songs that might otherwise be considered dead and lifeless. And I don't me the type of energy they portray on stage, I'd expect that from any band, but more of an energizing feel that gets you on your feet and makes you physically move to the music. FOFD accomplishes this very well.

Focus Tracks:
Nightmare, The Call of Perceptions, A Plethora Of, Defiance

Top 16 Metal Albums of 2009

1. Between the Buried and Me -- The Great Misdirect
Oh man prog! Hooray for full-length albums with 6 songs and 17min+ tracks. Anyway, I'm totally digging the clean vocals interspersed throughout the album as well as the keyboard/random totally not metal instrument interludes, haha. The album plays like a symphony of chaos, which is really cool. One minute you're listening to dueling guitar solos, then you're relaxing with melancholy clean vocals, and then you're thrust back into heavy duty growling layered with complex drum rhythms, bass solos and classic rock guitar leads. It's a very fun album to say the least.

2. The Black Dahlia Murder -- Deflorate
This is one of those albums I can just put on shuffle and every song on the album is just as insanely awesome as the last. They're making death metal like the stuff they grew up with, even the god damn album artwork is like oldschool death metal. It's faster, cleaner, and just better than anything they've done thus far (and that's saying a lot considering I thought "Nocturnal" was flawless).

3. Sylosis -- Conclusion of an Age
This band simply cannot be put into one subgenre of metal. They create a fusion of thrash, melodic death, metalcore, and prog to create this ridiculously awesome blend of metal I cannot stop listening to. And this is their god damn debut album too!

4. God Forbid -- Earthsblood
Even with the departure of Dallas Coyle, this album is utterly genre defining. The mix of clean vocals and harsh gutteral growls works really well with the neo-thrash oriented sound that they're pushing towards. I also waited so freakin' long for them to release this and it was very much worth the wait.

5. Mastodon -- Crack the Skye
I actually have no idea why this album is so awesome and so far up on my list. I literally cannot put it into words. It just is what it is and that's all I can say. Great album.

6. Lamb of God -- Wrath
I HATED this record when it came out originally. However, after several listens it really grew on me, even Randy Blythe's weird hollering vocals in "In Your Words". I mean they managed to do blast-beats while still maintaining that southern dirt-bag feel of their previous records. I'll still say that NOTHING will ever be as good as Ashes of the Wake, but this came damn close.

7. Goatwhore -- Carving Out the Eyes of God
The title of this record alone could win it a place on my list! It's like pure evil! I like this album a lot mainly because Goatwhore made sure to keep their blackened death metal roots intact, but concentrated on a more thrashy metal album than a blacker one with less production value. Blast beats and grinding guitars a plenty, this album is mixed well and makes me want a goblet of blood to sip while I quietly headbang along to "Razor Flesh Devoured".

8. Sacred Mother Tongue -- The Ruin of Man
I was thinking about this album throughout the writing this list, but I really thought this came out in 2008. Anyway, this is Andy James' melodic metalcore band from the UK and it is a testament to the fact that James is capable of writing and crafting good supporting riffs as well as ultimate guitar wankery. The riffs are beefy and original, the vocalist is very energetic, and of course the solos are top notch. Not to mention that they're a fairly new metal act (formed in 2005) and yet it sounds like they've already found their own sound and perfected it.

9. Megadeth -- Endgame
Okay, fine, I'll put Megadeth in here even though I've heard "Headcrusher" enough god damn times on Liquid Metal that I could shoot myself. That aside, this is a really good album surprisingly. 2007's Sleepwalker was such a forgettable album, other than the "Sleepwalker" single, that I was kind of just assuming that was it for Mr. Mustaine. However, he comes back with something like this and I'm already like, Okay Dave, what else do you have up your sleeve, I'm ready! Kind of like the Lamb of God thing, this album was really good, but of course NOTHING tops Rust in Peace.

10. Animals As Leaders -- Animals As Leaders
What can I say, I'm a sucker for shreddy prog metal. In a nutshell: Tosin Abasi is a maniac on guitar and Navene Koperweis is a monster on drums. It also gives me the chills when I listen to it. That is all.

11. Dying Fetus -- Descend Into Depravity
I posted awhile ago that Dying Fetus made it onto the Billboard 200 charts and for good reason. This album is extremely well done, especially for a technically death metal/grindcore band. It's still technical as all hell, but it feels more moshable and slam danceable. Granted, I get metal-neck in about 2 seconds after trying to keep up with the unforgiving tempos, but it's soooooooo worth the effort.

12. Steel Panther -- Feel the Steel
I have this guilty pleasure for really gay hair metal, but an even bigger one for satirized/comical hair metal. I love comedy and metal, so there's no doubt I would LOVE these guys. Steel Panther's lyrics continue to make me laugh, even after the 10th time I've heard them. "Turn out the lights before you suck my dick / someone must have hit you with an ugly stick / I wanna fuck but you make me sick / turn out the lights!" or "50 cent's a fag and so is Kanye West / shooting hot sperm on each others' chest." I think 2 examples will suffice.

13. Lazarus A.D. -- The Onslaught
Probably some of the most energetic new-school thrash I've heard in a long time. It's a classic 4-piece with searing guitar solos and some righteous drumming that adds the necessary double-bass ferocity to the mix. It's also important that these guys aren't just making rehashed Kreator/Metallica songs, everything is very original and I believe they're pushing thrash to new heights.

14. Divine Heresy -- Bringer of Plagues
I hate Dino Cazares with a fiery passion, but I can't deny that Divine Heresy is one of my favorite bands due to Tim Yeung's unreal drumming technique. After 2007's "Bleed the Fifth" (which for the longest time I thought was Bleed the Filth) I didn't think these guys could get any faster. I guess I was wrong.

15. Cannibal Corpse -- Evisceration Plague
The song "Evisceration Plague" is incredibly catchy, which I find hilarious when talking about Cannibal Corpse. I was kind of sad to see that none of the song titles are ridiculously violent sounding, other than "Skewered from Ear to Eye". Other than that though, the music really varies from track to track and actually has some hints of tech death sprinkled here and there. Very headbangable too, like where there's an actual rhythm to it that you just have to hear to understand. "Evisceration Plague" and "To Decompose" are great examples of those.

16. Job For A Cowboy -- Ruination
JFAC's Doom EP got me into the deathcore genre like 4 years ago, so I was actually really surprised to find that Ruination isn't deathcore at all! It's actually full fledged death metal with hints of The Black Dahlia Murder and Decapitated. I hate saying this because it's a stupid overused phrase, but I truly believe this is a very mature release from these young dudes. It shows how far they've come in terms of song structure, lyrical content, and overall brutality.

*I really hate lists because I can never decide what's truly the best.

**I also might have included Dream Theater on this list, but I still don't have the patience to sit through Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

***Feel free to add your thoughts. If you say Slayer I will stab you in the jaw.