| 2008 |
| Grails Doomsdayer's Holiday | 2.5 |
| Ra Black Sun | 1.0 |
| Intronaut Prehistoricisms | 4.0 |
| Red Sparowes Aphorism | 3.5 |
| Nahvalr Nahvalr | 3.5 |
| Opeth Watershed | 2.5 |
| Snowman The Horse, the Rat and the Swan | 4.5 |
| Enter the first important and relevant album of the year: Snowman’s The Horse, the Rat and the Swan. Indeed, this is a band so in touch with our times, it’ll force most people to turn away in discomfort. It’s a record in touch with its own absurdity and so soaked in existential postmodernism that it almost never even escapes the pull of the very black hole it’s spawned from. Luckily for us, it does, and for that fact alone we should be grateful. |
| Deterior Antimonument | 3.0 |
| No-Man Schoolyard Ghosts | 2.5 |
| Kayo Dot Blue Lambency Downward | 4.0 |
| Six Organs Of Admittance Goatflower | 4.0 |
| Blue Sky Black Death Late Night Cinema | 3.0 |
| Thrice The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV | 3.0 |
| Nadja Desire in Uneasiness | 3.5 |
| Sun Kil Moon April | 2.5 |
| In Flames A Sense of Purpose | 4.0 |
| Sunset Bright Blue Dream | 4.0 |
Bright Blue Dream never makes any apologies for its anachronistic approach to psych-pop, but instead draws from a wider palette to catalyze new directions in sound. While the hypnotic nature of the songwriting rightly implies a repetitive theme in many or all of the songs, it is the sonic inventiveness and subtleties that keep the album from being negatively affected by this approach. While the album has a lot of fun throughout its course, it is never afraid to strip itself naked and show some real earnest vulnerability and it is in these moments that the album lets its guard down and transcends itself. It is the intermingling of a wide variety of sonic ideas into a cohesive and emotional package that makes the Bright Blue Dream a worthwhile listen, and one to mark down for 2008’s early successes.
|
| Leviathan Massive Conspiracy Against All Life | 4.0 |
| Jarboe/Justin K. Broadrick J2 | 3.5 |
| Fuck Buttons Street Horrrsing | 3.5 |
| Meshuggah obZen | 3.0 |
| Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons | 4.0 |
| Valet Naked Acid | 2.5 |
| Jack Rose I Do Play Rock and Roll | 3.5 |
| Agalloch The White | 2.0 |
| The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride | 2.5 |
| Porcupine Tree We Lost the Skyline | 2.5 |
| Porcupine Tree Nil Recurring | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath | 3.0 |
| Have a Nice Life Deathconsciousness | 4.5 |
| So the Story Goes As We March With Victims | 1.0 |
| Celestia Frigidiis Apotheosia | 3.5 |
| Queen Elephantine Yatra | 3.5 |
