Current mood:	accomplished
Current music:	Saylor Lake - Drop Dead, Gorgeous

Top Ten Albums of 2007 (Fucking Finally!)
Ok, here's the deal: In order not to spam your friend's page I'm going to put the albums in order here with fake cuts to my reviews of the albums. If you have the time to actually read the reviews, please do. I did work quite hard on this, and I know it's a few days past 2007, but I'm satisfied with what I have. So without further delay:

10. Once Soundtrack

So my list was only going to be nine albums long this year. I thought and thought and thought and just couldn’t come up with a tenth album. But then, a few days ago I watched the film, Once. And, holy shit, was it good. The film was hailed as one of the best music films of the generation by the Chicago Tribune.
The film follows a young vacuum repair man who plays guitar on the streets of Ireland for a bit of extra cash. He meets a young girl who can sing and play piano as well as he sings and plays guitar, and over a single weekend they book a recording studio, hire a band and produce an incredible record. Their lives go separate ways after the album is complete, yet the impact they have on each other’s lives is immense.
The music on the record is mainly performed and sung by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the main characters in the film. The acoustic guitar and piano-laden tracks speak of lost loves and heartbreak. Irglova’s soft voice compliments Hansard’s gentle and passionate words perfectly. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, add it to your must see list immediately.


9. Eat Me Drink Me - Marilyn Manson

There’s no doubt about it, Manson has put out better albums than Eat Me Drink Me. But, by default, Manson is incredible. Manson is no stranger to entertainment news – his girlfriend is almost half his age, his video for “Heart-Shaped Glasses” is a glorified pornographic scene under a sky raining blood, he allegedly recently purchased a human skeleton and Nazi memorabilia.
Whether he’s burning Bibles onstage, pissing on security guards or dragging naked women around on leashes onstage, Manson never fails to shock the world.
Eat Me Drink Me is pretty straight-forward Manson. His signature rasps and growls are there. He offends other people. (“Mutilation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery” is a knife straight to Gerard Way’s chest. Manson claims My Chemical Romance is shallow and sad, ripping off things he did bigger and much better. What is it with people ripping on the elder Way this year?) He uses plenty of expletives. Yep, Manson is in full-form on EMDM.


8. Public Warning - Lady Sovereign (Technically this was released in 2006 in the U.S, but it was released in 2007 in U.K. so…)

Lousie Harman is her birth name, but the twenty-two year old British rapper prefers the name Lady Sovereign. With her quick tongue, snappy insults (to herself and others) and her cute-as-a-button image the “S-O-V” has stolen the hearts of many.
She’s officially the “biggest midget in the game” and her single “Love Me or Hate Me” rocketed her to the top. She’s a bit immature, and she’ll probably burp in your face. She obviously doesn’t like girls (and boys) that fake tan – “Bitch, did you know that you’re orange?” She makes fun of the American accent in “Random” yet her British roots are clearly audible in all of the tracks. Her songs are generally fun and free – “Put on your dancing shoes/And get loose.” And with her album Public Warning, Lady Sovereign is the second young British woman to make my list.


7. Worse Than a Fairy Tale - Drop Dead, Gorgeous

The minds of serial killers are something psychiatrists are still trying to decipher. Drop Dead, Gorgeous, a quintet from Denver, Colorado, not only wrote a brilliant sophomore album, but they created the killer of Saylor Lake, a deranged murderer who stalked the small, quiet town of Saylor Lake over a year, killing 12 young women, leaving a trail of clues behind. The website displays a map of the fictitious Saylor Lake, and the sites of the murders are marked. Sleuths and fans alike can look at the police reports, bodies and clues and attempt to figure out who the killer is.
At the first, second and maybe even the tenth listening of Worse Than a Fairy Tale, the words may be unintelligible. Yet the instrumentals and screams meld into a horrific tale. Danny Stillman’s raw vocals – full verses screamed out that give way to scratchy and wonderfully whiny (the good kind of whining; read: sexy, helpless begging) choruses. The sheer creativity of DDG – whose members are only a few years out of high school – makes WTAFT number seven on my top ten albums of 2007.


6. Don't You Fake It - Red Jumpstuit Apparatus

“Go!” screams Ronnie Winters with the opening strains of “In Fate’s Hands,” the first track off Don’t You Fake It. The first time I ever heard of RJA, I honestly thought, “Wow, what a stupid name for a band.” And I resolved to dislike them. It wasn’t until sometime in 2007 that I first heard anything by them. If I had known the song, “Face Down,” was a RJA song, I probably wouldn’t have even gave it a chance – and yes, I am able to admit my unfortunate music prejudices and acknowledge that it makes no sense to judge a band by their name, look or even their single. But, the first time I experience Red Jumpsuit’s lesson in morality with “Face Down” I was intrigued. With so much hip-shit-hop out there degrading women, RJA’s single really drew me in. “Face down in the dirt/She said this doesn’t hurt.”
Red Jumpsuit definitely has its poppy moments. They basically exploded onto the scene from nowhere, and gathered a large fan base, which seemed to be comprised solely of those shut-the-fuck-up-you’re-no-way-no-how-more-hardcore-than-me fangirls that you are sure to encounter at almost any concert nowadays. But if you dare to listen to more than “Face Down” and “False Pretense” you’ll understand that “poppy” definitely isn’t a good adjective for RJA.


5. Dark Passion Play - Nightwish

So there are plenty of goth and rock bands with female lead singers. Worth mentioning, of course, are Evanescence and Lacuna Coil, both of which have been around for a good number of years. More recently, Paramore and Flyleaf emerged onto the scene fronted by barely legal yet extremely talented young women. Nightwish, however, deserves credit for beginning the trend of this era. The Norwegian goth/opera/orchestra/metal band has been melting faces for over a decade.
With their own orchestra; soaring vocals that span multiple octaves; Metallica-worthy riffs; massive choirs that sing for their records and a seductive crew comprised of Annette, the dangerously beautiful singer and the rest of her band who look just like Northern European men should: pale, mysterious and drop dead gorgeous – Nightwish delivers more than just a good album with Dark Passion Play. In fact, just as the name infers, the music is dark and passionate; every song tells a story as if each word was an actor in an epic play.
“The Poet and the Pendulum” starts the album off with haunting vocals and orchestrations comparable to Danny Elfman’s. With “The Islander” Nightwish explores Irish and gypsy sounds. Back-up vocalist Marco Hietala showcases his previously suppressed (in the Tarja Turunen’s – former lead singer – days) voice. And the video for “Bye Bye Beautiful” is pretty fucking awesome.


4. Untitled - Korn

Jonathan Davis never fails to deliver coarse, brutally honest vocals when it comes to Korn. With the loss of Brian “Head” Welch and David Silveria on what seems to be a permanent hiatus, Korn is down to three of it’s original members. While Welch was “finding God”, the remainder of Korn – Davis, Munky (guitar) and Fieldy (bass) were busy creating their eighth album, Untitled. Despite the absence of Head and David, signature Korn is still there. Davis wails, whispers and growls; Fieldy’s slap-bass techniques create the backdrop for the lyrics and the hip-hop rhythms and beats are still going strong.
The tracks “Evolution” and “Hold On” have been made into videos, and in true Korn style, they are respectively thought provoking and elaborate. Watch J.D. get thrown off a bull then trampled to death in “Hold On.” And decide if man is evolving or ‘devolving’ based on the facts presented in “Evolution.”
Even without two core members of the band, Korn managed to produce another great album. Davis and Fieldy are both working on solo projects while Head and Silveria are M.I.A. Is Untitled the end of Korn? Or will the remaining members stick together to produce a couple more kick-ass albums? If the former is the case, then they definitely left an incredible legacy behind, and Untitled fits perfectly as the final piece.


3. Alright, Still - Lily Allen

She’s young; she’s sarcastic; she’s British. And her music sounds cute and poppy, but “if you’re gonna play with fire/You’re gonna get burned.” She hasn’t shaved her head in 2007 like Britney, and she doesn’t walk around outside in her bra with coke residue dusting her nose like Amy Winehouse, but she’s had her share of celebrity gossip (twenty-two and pregnant, size 12 to size eight in a month and a half).
Her music is delightfully upbeat and light, but the lyrics are the exact opposite. She ridicules cheating boyfriends and “blokes” just looking for a lay. She sings about beautiful London-town where everything is just so happy and perfect, but “if you look twice/You can see it’s all lies.”
Her adorable, innocent accent shines through in Alright, Still, yet this British pop princess has quite the mouth on her. I wouldn’t ever want to cross her for fear of being flayed alive by her clever lyrics, which are hidden behind a choir-girl’s lilt. Even better, she doesn’t sugar-coat anything. Her little brother smokes a lot of pot. She wants nothing to do with that whiny git at the pub who wants her number. “What the fuck do you know?” Oh, and she makes fun of her grandmother…
Warning: Lily Allen’s Alright, Still may cause you to groove to the beat in your car, at the club, in the shower or even sitting in bed.


2. Lies For the Liars - The Used

Utah hasn’t produced very many notable music acts. Maybe a handful of honorably mentionable Mormons, but no bands. That was until The Used burst onto the scene. In their third, highly anticipated album, the quartet, turned trio, turned quartet makes it clear why so many teenagers around the world praise The Used. After firing their founding drummer, Brandon Steineckert in September 2006, many fans were broken-hearted, thinking the worst. But it wasn’t long before they found the perfect substitute, Dan Whitesides. With Whitesides’ frenzied, perpetually never-ending drumming; McCracken’s screaming, vomiting, orgasming and slamming of My Chem’s Gerard Way; Howard’s heavy, all-encompassing bass lines and Allman’s strong, and unfortunately clothed, riffs – The Used blows away any and all competition this year with Lies for the Liars. Frontman Bert McCracken, modeling Cobain-esqe locks, used LFTL as a platform to bash Way’s (and My Chem’s) take-over of the emo genre and fangirls’ (and boys’) hearts. While it may be a bit childish, and McCracken should just get over it already, it’s clear this feud won’t be over any time soon. Up yours Gerard!
Lies For the Liars isn’t all about Gerard. Come on now, lover’s tiff or not, no one can write an entire album about one person… can they? “The Bird and the Worm” was a surprising single from The Used. Not only does is open with cellos and violins bowing and plucking a sinister rhythm, but it quickly becomes a sweeping, epic chorus. All of The Used’s albums have been incredible, but none have been so put-together and cohesive as LFTL. As always, there is a slow, sweet song guaranteed to melt the hearts of kohl-wearing, razor-haired, skinny-jean-modeling boys and girls who can’t get enough of the emocore sounds The Used never fails to produce. Ok, so “Pretty Handsome Awkward” has to be about Gerard Way, and do I detect a not-so-subtle insinuation to the raven-haired goth singer in “Find a Way?” Way’s and McCracken’s relationship aside, The Used satisfies completely with LFTL.


1. Bone Palace Ballet - Chiodos

If you had asked me last year which bands and singers I thought would end up on my top ten list of 2007, I wouldn’t have given Chiodos a moment’s thought. When I first heard of the band, I was eager to listen; their singer was described to me as having a high-pitched voice comparable to Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria or Johnny Whitney of The Blood Brothers. Both these men have incredible ranges and unique voices, and I was excited to hear about another band with a lead singer who had a higher-than-normal range. Then I listened to the band, and I’m pretty sure my ears bled. I was NOT a fan of Chiodos in any way, shape or form. Then, one of my best friends burned me a copy of their new CD Bone Palace Ballet. I was expecting the same shit I’d hated from the previous CD, but I was delightfully surprised, and BPB stayed in my car’s CD player for days on end (a feat that is near impossible considering my ADD with CDs).
From the rhythmic breathing at the opening of “Is it Progression if a Cannibal Uses a Fork” to the epitomized emo cliché Owens utters at the end of “The Undertaker’s Thirst for Revenge,” Bone Palace Ballet captivates and mesmerizes unlike any other album I have ever experienced.
Owens’ lyrics only could have been written by a highly cynical person. Cynicism isn’t so hard to come by in the twenty-first century, but Owens’ version is so good I’m forced to quote a middle-aged woman’s words at the end of a roller coaster ride. “Damn! That was better than sex!” Yes, Chiodos is definitely better than sex.
The Michigan natives’ sophomore album delivers just the right dose of high-pitched wailing, ‘hxc’ screaming and heavy drum beats. The orchestral accompaniments mix perfectly with the songs, resulting in an album worthy of the top spot in my top ten albums of 2007 – if not in my top ten albums of all time.