2007 Album Of The Year

Well 2007 came and went, and I figured now would be the time to give my pick for album of the year. A little disclaimer before I reveal my decision, my opinion of what was the best album of 2007 will likely change as I listen to more albums that came out in the past year. This past year the majority of the Cd's I purchased were originally released in 2007, being a cheapskate I usually buy albums which I know I will likely enjoy, and in many cases this means picking up copies of a bands back catalog, instead of taking a chance on something brand new. I considered doing what Fat Mike did and make a list of my top 10 purchases of 2007, but have decided against it for formality's sake. So with that said my choice for 2007 album of the year is...


New Maps Of Hell- Bad Religion

After all these years Bad Religion has proven that they're still at the top of their game, they're not doing anything revolutionary, just following the same pattern of playing songs about government and religion. While we've seen a sea of these types of songs from a number of bands Bad Religion sets themselves apart of the pack. Bands like NOFX will write songs like this while mixing it with humor, and bands like Leftover Crack will mix it with anger and radicalism, but Bad Religion is different from their contemporaries in that the songs have a level of intellectualism that is unmatched. A lot of people will fault them for this, I met a kid who said he would always have to look in to a dictionary while listening to Bad Religion because Greg Graffin seems to love using big words. A lot of people have labelled him and the band as elitists, and I can kind of see where they are coming from. The thing is the man has a PhD from Cornell, and he's a professor at UCLA, with that resume you can kind of expect the lyrics to be what they are. I enjoy it, I'm also a political geek, and have read a number of books on world religions, so it's my cup of tea. New Maps Of Hell is what you'd expect from a BR album, and for me that makes it a damn good album.

Honorable Mentions:

Sitting Army- Cobra Skulls

My decision for album of the year came down to the last day of the year. It was between two choices, and after listening yesterday to both Sitting Army and New Maps Of Hell, I came to the conclusion that NMOH was the better album. Still I would like to give this disc it's props. The Cobra Skulls really came out of nowhere, they were a band who had released an EP on a no-name label when they were signed to Redscare Industries back in August. I actually first heard of them right after the signing when Toby Jeg, the owner of Redscare posted the news on a message board. I figured I'd give their myspace page a listen and was blown away by how good they were. While they're easily classified as a punk rock band, their sound has somewhat of a rockabilly sound that draws comparison to The Clash, without being a ripoff. Like The Clash their lyrics are also politically tinged, song subjects range from Iraq to Ted Haggard. My only complaint is that they thought it would be a good idea to include the word "Cobra" in to every song title (is that really necessary?). All in all though, Sitting Army is an excellent album, and I expect big things to come from the Cobra Skulls.


Orchestra Of Wolves- Gallows

When I decided to make an entry on album of the year a week or so ago, this album was one that I was considering along with the other two. However after doing some research I found out that this was originally released in the U.K. in 2006, and was released in America in 2007, with the addition of some tracks including covers of Black Flag and The Ruts. I guess this disqualifies it from being named 2007 album of the year, but it's a great album and deserves mention. The Gallows are probably the best punk band to come out of England in a long long time. At first I was kind of apprehensive about them because they were signed to Epitaph, and seemed to have heavy media coverage from shitty music magazines. After listening to them my doubts were erased, and I was further convinced that these guys kick ass after hearing the singer (who is a professional tattoo artist) plans on getting a tattoo saying "Fuck The NME" after the band was named in NME's 2007 "cool list".