Tag Archives: 2009

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Posted on by
20

It’s that time of the year again, where I bore you with the highlights of 2009, based on my shitty taste in things in general!  Disagree with me?  Did I miss something I really shouldn’t have?  Let me know!  Eventually we’ll have a survey so that we can all vote on this kind of stuff.

Music

The year was probably a reasonably quiet year for music I thought.  According to my media player, I listened to 92 different albums released in 2009, and I managed to pick a top 10 out, but not a convincing one.  None of the albums were amazing from beginning to end, and a couple had a few duds on them.  Anyway, in no particular order:

Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers

This is a British band which I imagine doesn’t have a huge profile in the US.  From what I understand, this album was written based on the journals kept by one of the members of the band who’s been missing (presumed dead) for a number of years now.  Not that it really makes a difference, the album is more or less a straight up alternative rock album, and a good one at that.  I’ve never been a huge Manic Street Preachers fan, but this album converted me, so it must be a good one…

Living Colour – The Chair In The Doorway

Probably my favorite album of 2009, which is a surprise, as I really didn’t like it after a couple of listens. I persisted though, and it paid off – rewarding me with one of the best rock albums of the year.  Those fans of Living Colour’s older work shouldn’t expect to see a regression here – this album is a continuation of the path they took with Collideoscope.  Having said that, where Collidoscope was a sprawling range of sounds and styles, TCITD is a far more cohesive experience, and much better for it.

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Pearl Jam recordings have been hit and miss for a while now, and while Backspacer isn’t as good as their older work, it’s still probably the best they’ve done in 10 years or so.  Get Some and Amongst The Waves are probably two of my favorite songs from this year.

Magrudergrind – Magrudergrind

Magrudergrind are probably one of the best grindcore bands around these days, and their self titled release this year is probably as good a grind album as I’ve heard in several years.  Fans of the genre should definitely be checking this out.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Agorapocalypse

Brutal album, this drum machine propelled grind/metal band kicked serious ass with this album.  Features some of the best female vocals I’ve ever heard – more women in metal need to take note of this album.

Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue

AIC’s comeback album was a good one, though while I wrote this list I though it was lucky to make the top 10.  Sure it had some great tracks, but it also had a few songs I couldn’t stand.  Overall, a good album though, and I hope to see these guys live sometime in the next year or so!

Zu – Carboniferous

Probably one of the surprises of the year for me.  This band makes wierd metal influences jazz type songs, mainly instrumental (though there’s one track with Mike Patton).  Dub Trio fans will probably enjoy this album.

Isis – Wavering Radiant

Isis are a band that have frustrated me over the years.  Their albums I’ve found have been good in parts, but largely a little too longwinded for my liking.  In 2009 they released Wavering Radiant, and for whatever reason I quite like it.  I’m sure if I can put a finger on why I prefer it over their other work, but I do.  Looking forward to seeing these guys at Soundwave in a couple of months.

Behold! The Monolith – Behold! The Monolith

Behold! The Monolith made last years list with an EP that they released.. The released a full length this year, and in no real surprise to me – it’s quite good.  These guys do basically progressive stoner metal, and in my opinion are probably one of the most overlooked in the genre.  Make sure you check them out.

Propagandhi – Supporting Caste

Propagandhi are probably my favorite punk band.  This album follows on in the same direction as their last album, and while not being amazing, is a solid album, and probably one of the most listened too this year.

Honourable mentions

The following didn’t make this list, but are worth checking out:

  • Fistfuck – Rock n Roll Nightmare
  • Between The Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect
  • Clutch – Strange Cousins From The West
  • Converge – Axe To Fall
  • He Is Legend – It Hates You
  • Mastodon – Crack The Skye
  • Nile – Those Whom The Gods Detest
  • Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da
No I didn’t forget Them Crooked Vultures – with the exception of two songs I thought it was quite boring.

Live

I didn’t see a massive amount of live music this year, something I hope to rectify in 2010.  Highlights of the year were Alice In Chains at Soundwave 2009, Pearl Jam at Adelaide Oval, Propagandhi back in Oz for the first time in years, and The Who with my Dad. 

2010 looks promising already, with Soundwave bringing Faith No More, Isis and Meshuggah, and Converge, Between The Buried and Me, Nile, Origin and Misery Signals touring early in the year.

Gaming

I play a whole stack of games, and I’d say I’m mainly a RPG and/or FPS player.  My favorite game this year is probably a dead heat between Dragon Age and Torchlight.  Both RPG games but in very different styles.  Torchlight really caught me by surprise – it’s a great Diablo remake, and a game that has kept me coming back for weeks now.  Dragon Age has been awesome as well though, it’s probably one of the better hard RPGs I’ve played in years.

As far as FPS games go, I enjoyed the single player Modern Warfare 2, despite it’s short length.  Personally I think short FPS games are great (Portal is a great example), however I was extremely disappointed with MW2 contempt of the PC market, and the way it was over priced.  Borderlands was great as well, though I found it a little repetitive.  I need to play more of this in the new year though.

I play a fair few indie games, favorites this year include Spelunky, Mount & Blade, Armageddon Empires and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Spelunky is a platformer with an Indiana Jones type theme.  It features randomly generated levels, and is probably one of the coolest and most fun platform games I’ve played in a while.

Mount & Blade is a action RPG where you play the role of an adventurer in a medieval world.  Features horseback combat in an open world.  A game I’ve been following for a few years now and it was nice to play this again as the completed version.

Armageddon Empires is a post-apocalyptic turn based strategy game.  Well designed and good fun.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is a very polished rogue-like, featuring proper tiles for those that don’t like using an ASCII interface.  Fans of rogue-likes and those wanted to give this genre a try should definitely give this free game a download.

This year should be a good one for gaming – I’m already looking forward to Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Fallout Vegas, Alpha Protocol, Red Dead Redemption and probably more I can’t think of right now.  Diablo 3 would be awesome, but I can’t see that coming out this year sadly…

2010

2010 is the start of a new decade, and hopefully one that should be fruitful for Tool fans.  It seems likely that Tool will at lest start writing and recording this year, and there’s always a chance we may see a release late in the year, and possibly some tour dates.  Of course there’s always talk of “Big Things” and such, hopefully some kind of DVD or video might make it’s way out there.

I’m sure Maynard will continue to work hard with Puscifer, though at the same time I hope after the tour next year he begins to change focus back to the band we really love.  However far be it for me to try and tell the guys from Tool how to do things, they have delivered in the past despite long gaps between drinks and I’m expecting they’ll deliver again.

As far as Fourtheye goes, I hope to continue to make this a great site for all Tool fans to visit.  I’m always open to suggestions on how to make things better, so don’t be shy – message me and let me know what you really think.  Hopefully I can put a little more love into the technical side of Fourtheye in the next year.

For me, I’m starting a new job in 2010, starting tomorrow in fact.  I don’t expect this will interfere with Fourtheye much, but if I’m a little quiet in the next few weeks then you’ll know why!

I hope all my readers have a great 2010, and thanks for taking the time to consume the site– Fourtheye is only ever as good as it’s readers!

2008

Posted on by
1

Now that 2008 has been an gone, I thought I’d just highlight the main events that shaped Fourtheye over the year, and also share with you my favorite musical releases from the year.

Statistically, the biggest story of the year was Tool‘s involvement in  Guitar Hero: World Tour. Many argued that Tool were selling out, while others (myself included) just relished the idea of having some fun with some Tool tracks.  Being that several members of the band are avid gamers, Guitar Hero seemed like a pretty logical step for the band.  Who knows what the future will be here.  Perhaps after the Metallica version of Guitar Hero we’ll see a Tool one…

Tool featured in a dedicated issue of Revolver Magazine this year, and articles related to this issue generated almost as many hits as the Guitar Hero news.  For those who were able to get a copy of this magazine, it was a pretty interesting read, though much of the content had been published before.  Still it was a great way for collectors to get a range of good interviews all in the one place.  Those with the cash can still obtain these magazines from around the place, including signed copies that are available from CoSM.

Also a large talking point throughout the year was Maynard‘s work, both as Puscifer and as Caduceus.  Puscifer released two albums and numerous videos and merchandise this year, as well as announcing three shows in Las Vegas in February 2009.  It’ll be interesting to see what goes down at these concerts.  Maynard was also quite busy with his wine, doing many signings at Whole Food Markets, and producing several wines over the year.  I’d love to try some one day, but getting a bottle down here to Australia is a costly exercise.  Maybe one day I’ll get back over to the US and visit Arizona.  It sounds like a nice place!

The last piece of big news for the year was the limited Signed Salival that was released to Toolarmy members just before Xmas.  33 lucky Tool fans spent $200 a piece to grab these pieces of rare merchandise.

Other Fourtheye related news this year included a new Melvins album, Meshuggah finally touring Australia and much speculation over the next big thing (despite being told not to).

Outside of the world of Tool, my favorite albums of 2008 were:

  • Behold! The Monolith EP
  • Dr Dooom – Dr Dooom 2
  • Dub Trio – Another Sound Is Dying
  • Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
  • Gridlink - Amber Grey
  • Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation – Self Titled
  • John Zorn – The Crucible
  • Kill The Client - Cleptocracy
  • Mammal - The Majority
  • Meshuggah - obZen
  • Origin - Antithesis
  • The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath
  • The Melvins – Nude With Boots

Other albums/bands I’ve (re)discovered this year that I’ve really enjoyed include:

  • The Austerity Program – Black Madonna
  • Beanflipper - Total Dysfunctional Collapse and Garden Variety Manic Depressant
  • Between the Buried and Me - Colours
  • The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
  • Insect Warfare – World Extermination
  • Propagandhi - Live from Occupied Territory
  • U.S.S.A. - The Spoils
  • Other bands I’ve generally enjoyed include Big Black, Discordance Axis, Failure, Fudge Tunnel & TISM.

As far as movies go, I haven’t seen many this year, but the films I’ve enjoyed the most in 2008 have the There Will Be Blood and The Dark Knight.

As usual I did a lot of gaming this year too.The game of the year for me was Fallout 3, being every bit as good as I hoped it would be.  I also really enjoyed Fable 2 and Far Cry 2, and was pleased to see Mount & Blade finally made it to release.  I never did get around to playing Guitar Her: World Tour though…

So what’s happening in 2009?  As far as Tool goes, who knows.  But I’d suspect the following:

  • Writing and then recording sometime around August-September
  • Release new record at the end of the year, or early 2010.
  • Tour to follow album release, but I’d say unlikely in 2009.

I’d also expect some other Tool bits and pieces to emerge, such as a couple of projects Maynard has been working on, possibly another DVD from 10,000 Days, as well as the website updates Blair has mentioned.  Hopefully Toolarmy will get some love!

Also, I hope we’ll see The Melvins do a proper Australian tour.  Considering Mastodon have a new album out early 2009 I’d hope they’d tour as well.  The Soundwave Festival with Nine Inch Nails is happening in February, and I’ll be at the Adelaide show.  I’m still in two minds about the Big Day Out, Fantomas are very appealing but not very much else is.  Not sure I can justify the ticket price for a band I’ve seen three times already.  My favorite punk band Propagandhi are touring early 2009 as well, and they have a new album coming out as well, so I’m excited about that.

As far as Fourtheye goes – it’ll be business as usual here.  I was going to create a new theme over the holidays, but never quite got around to that.  Look out for one sometime in the next few months.  I’m also going to see if I can organise some Fourtheye merchandise this year as part of a fund raising drive later on this year.  Stay tuned!

If any of you have any great bands, albums, films, games or anything you’d like to let us know about, then feel free to post below.  Personally I read every comment this site gets, so am always interested in hear what you guys and girls enjoy.  If I get enough comments, I’ll even throw them all together as a Best of 2008 by Fourtheye Readers post.

Hope you all had a great 2008, and have an even better 2009.  This site is nothing without the readers, so thanks for your support over the last 12 months.

Tool Touring 2009?

Posted on by
3

According to a recent post on Toolshed:

Though all has been quiet on the Tool front for some time, a promoter wrote in today to say he’s heard rumblings of possible Tool shows in 2009. We’ll keep an eye on this and keep you all posted.

Personally, I could maybe see a late 2009 tour, but that would be about it.  Presuming they maybe hit the recording studio soon, or early next year, then i could see a tour after a late 2009 release of an album.

Thanks to Scott, Tevin & Ganjalf for the tip.