Top 25 Albums of 2011 (#10-6)
10.) Mountain Man - Grief
This album rips! First time I heard it, I knew it was going to have a nice place on this list. Easily my favorite Hardcore release of 2011. Grief is a concept album based around the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Though, if you aren’t paying attention, you’d think they were just all about being angry. Every song here is high speed Hardcore Punk, that just spits venom. There is absolutely no bull shit on this album. I consider these guys the East Coast equivalent of the mighty Dangers, and like the East Coast, these guys have a bad attitude. Grief is fucking intense!
9.) Samiam - Trips
When a band has been around as long as Samiam has, they tend to enter the “Greatest Hits” era of their career. This usually means just playing festivals, a set that features the fan favorites, and occasionally an album every few years that is merely enough to encourage labels to continue funding them. Samiam does two of those three things, and they are the lesser offenses. I get it, you have jobs and families, so touring isn’t the best idea. And of course you’re going to play the favorite songs, because that’s why people are there to see you. But these guys were not content with crapping out a forgettable album just as an excuse to tour. Trips is arguably the best album they’ve ever put out. Astray and You Are Freaking Me Out were legendary. Every song on this album is memorable. For a band that started in 1989, this is a hard feat to accomplish. But Trips is so good it almost seems effortless. I can proudly say that Samiam are one of my all time favorite bands, and this album proves how good they can be.
8.) Dan P. & the Bricks - Watch Where You Walk
Ska is a genre that is in dire need of revival. The 90’s third wave was massive, and it has tainted a lot of peoples opinion of the genre. I’ll admit there were plenty of terrible bands playing Ska-Punk, but MU330 were one of the greats. Dan Potthast made MU330 stand out with his excellent songwriter who manged to write funny and meaningful songs. For the last few years, Dan has been doing the solo musician thing and put out a few stellar acoustic albums. As good as Eyeballs and Sweets and Meats were, they were sorely missing a horn section to give those songs the full Ska treatment. In 2009 Dan formed a new band where he was the front man, and the backing band was none other than the infamous Slow Gherkin. Thus Dan P. & the Bricks were formed. Watch Where You Walk isn’t doesn’t feature many third wave elements. Instead it’s a fantastic rock-steady ska album. The cool thing about this album is older songs like “Set Sail” and “Fan” were originally acoustic have been reworked with a full band. I’m a sucker for Ska, and there really hasn’t been much in the last few years that really got me excited, but Watch Where You Walk is something I can see myself coming back to over and over again.
7.) The Slow Death - Born Ugly Got Worse
“Ticks of the Clock” confused me the first time I heard it, because the album starts things off with a female vocalist who clearly isn’t in The Slow Death. I thought I had downloaded the wrong album and was going to get pretty pissed. Luckily Jesse Thorson comes in and eases my mind. Now I really liked Turnstile Comix, their Demo, and the split with Ssssnakes, but Born Ugly Got Worse tops everything they’ve done before. With a revitalized lineup featuring Paddy from Dillinger Four, and Mikey Erg from every band ever, the pedigree of musicians might be what makes Born Ugly Got Worse so good. All the instruments on this album come through loud and clear, and Jesse’s voice is as powerful as ever. The Mid-West is home of the most important Punk bands in the last ten years, and The Slow Death need to add their names to those ranks.
6.) Direct Hit! - Domesplitter
“FUCK YOU! GET PUMPED!” It’s not a recommendation, it’s a command! Domesplitter is an unrelenting fun time. Every single song is full of so much energy you can’t help but be excited. I can’t think of a better opening track than “Snickers or Reese’s (Pick Up the Pieces)”. I was worried that the rest of the album would be a let down, but the energy does not stop. Before I had listened to the band, my friend told me to check them out. He said it was like The Misfits wrote Latterman songs. I wouldn’t say that is the most accurate desciption, but I can see how it applies. Songs about werewolves and monsters in gruff Pop Punk, except there is more to it. Instead of the mid-pace of Latterman, these songs are fast! And there are songs about eating pizza and hanging out with your friends. Most of these songs came from a series of EPs Direct Released over the years, so some of these songs should be familiar to fans of the band, but the recording quality is so much better. I can only name one more album this year as fun as this one, but you’ll have to stay tuned for the big reveal.
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