The Red Circle

7. American Nightmare – Background Music (2001)
One of hardcore music’s best kept secrets for the last ten years has been American Nightmare lyricist and vocalist Wes Eisold. Though that now-classic act only recorded a total of ninety minutes of music, the impact of Eisold’s stunning poetry and sometimes-electric presence has left its mark on the genre. The album begins with the rather melodramatic assertion that “This is the soundtrack to saying goodbye” but by the end of the opener, you’re in for an emotionally draining experience not unlike a My So-Called Life marathon on hard drugs. The absolute manner in which Eisold makes “love” and “hate” interchangeable terms without the ham-handedness and pathetic self-loathing that one might expect. It’s not that the self-loathing isn’t there; In fact, it’s at the core of almost every song and many of Eisold’s other published works. Rather, Background Music‘s music is so aggressive that it proves the lyrics aren’t sad-sack sappiness, they just needed to find the right context. Equally important for fans of more aggressive music is the band’s style and sound that revived many of hardcore’s most obvious cliches as legitimate songwriting tools.

6. Boris with Michio Kurihara – Rainbow (2006)
Japan’s stoner chameleons followed up their highly acclaimed Pink with Rainbow, a collaboration with psychedelic guitar legend Michio Kurihara of Ghost. Never an artist to rest on one sound for too long, this album finds them exploring both the acid rock stylings of their collaborator and the dreamy/abrasive rock of Sonic Youth or Blonde Redhead. There are a few mellow cuts and even a Pink-styled barnburner, but the real joy of Rainbow lies in discovering just how the layers and layers of distortion and sonic manipulation build upon one another to stunning crescendos or unfold to reveal the band’s more delicate touches. Searing leads are both pushed to the forefront and dragged underneath the rest of the band in the album mix, lending the entire affair a genuine psychedelic edge in an age where artists attempting the style are a dime a dozen.

5. Mastodon – Remission (2002)
It’s extremely difficult for a legitimate metal band to become bona fide rock stars but Mastodon has done just that over the last decade. While Leviathan might have delivered the crossover mainstream success, Remission laid the groundwork that established them as an epic metal band. So ambitious that it defies definition, Mastodon’s marriage of sludgy stoner doom, prog and southern rock and thrash is still among the most original and unique sounds in all metal. Virtuoso play from each of the band’s members appears throughout the album but the drum work is as immediately identifiable as that of Rush’s Neil Peart. Dailor’s ability to adapt beats on the fly is the glue that holds together each disparate concept of the band’s style, best evidenced here throughout the song “Ol’e Nessie” as the guitars waver between soft and loud. This record made an artistic leap so profound from the metal status quo that it was instantly recognized as a classic. Remission was without a doubt the defining metal album of this decade.

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