Ozone's Best of '07... musically speaking

[Ozone]

2007 was an odd year for music in my opinion. Things seem to be reverting to the way they used to be. I remember commenting on the fact that in 2006 there were a lot of just good metal and rock albums and only a few gems, but this year seems to be a few gems then loads of garbage loaded on top of them.

Overall I have to say that Nine Inch Nails, Candlemass, Porcupine Tree, Between the Buried and Me, and Explosions in the Sky came out with the main attractions for this year, unfortunately there was little else, and I consider 2007 to have been a drought year.

My top five go something like this:
1. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Industrial)
2. Porcupine Tree - Fear of A Blank Planet (Progressive Rock)
3. Candlemass - King of the Grey Islands (Doom Metal)
4. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (Adult Contemporary Progressive Metal)
5. Explosions In the Sky - All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Post Rock)

Runners up:
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (Ambient)
Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters (Jazz)
The Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal (Death Metal)

I know that Radiohead came out with an album, but it failed to be as well constructed as OKC, Kid A or even HTTT for me. When I heard The Pretender, the first single from the Foo Fighters' latest effort, it initially got my hopes up that they regrew their balls, but that failed to be the case (and it shocked me that they got nominated for Album of the Year with Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace). I can't honestly say that I have ever liked Nightwish (though Nemo is a pretty sweet song), but their new album, Dark Passion Play, was simply disappointing. Opeth did release a brilliant live performance in Live At the Roundhouse, but I don't think that live albums count considering that there's typically no new material on them.

I guess the year looked really good to pop fans though. It seems like the cocaine addicted Amy Winehouse will run off with a multitude of awards, and Kanye West has been nominated for something like eight Grammys. Feist seems to be the dark horse of the year, even I liked 1, 2, 3, 4, but never really got into the rest of the album. Rhianna grabbed her first of (probably) many nominations for the absolutely catchy Umbrella.

On one side note: It's good to see Bruce Springsteen at least trying to sound like himself again.

Here's to 2008 being a better year. I'm looking forward to new Porcupine Tree, new Opeth, and new Agalloch. Mr. Reznor claimed that Year Zero part two would be released this year, and I look forward to that as well considering how amazing Year Zero was.