RM's BEST OF 2009 - The RM Verdict

Have a look at the albums that made our year....

Dan Jones sums up 2009, while the rest of RM give their verdict on the best of the year

2009 was a year dominated by the story of the death of the King of Pop. Although his private life had courted controversy throughout his lifetime and outraged Daily Mail columnists, his timeless pop hits delighted millions worldwide, with his posters gracing many a bedroom wall across the globe. Even after his mortal coil passed, the media still refused to let go such was his standing in the annals of music history, maliciously concocting a series of spurious rumours about the manner of his passing away. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Boyzone's Stephen Gately passed away in October. Oh yeah, so did some chap called Michael Jackson? Yeah, us neither.

In truth, the year didn't get off to the most auspicious start, with London's legendary Astoria venue closing down to make way for the government's Crossrail project, while we also said goodbye to a number of our favourite bands this year with The Steal, Dartz, Burn Down Rome, Have Heart and Verse all calling it quits, but on the plus side at least, Panic at the Disco lost poster boys Ryan Ross and Jon Walker much to the despair of teenage girls around the world much to our amusement.

As far as rock-flavoured behemoths were concerned, there was a distinct grunge twist to 2009, as Pearl Jam came up with their best album in years, Alice In Chain put out their first new studio album since 1995 and Chris Cornell amazed all with his latest stupendously shit solo album Scream, [Don't believe me? Well check out Phill Midget's horrified reaction here].

After American Idiot resuscitated their career, Green Day continued their resurgence with 21st Century Breakdown, Tom DeLonge decided he missed dick jokes too much so Blink-182 reformed, Weezer continued to delight/revolt [delete as applicable] with Raditude, while Paramore, the young pretenders to the pop-punk throne continued their relentless march to enormodomes around the world with the gazillion selling Brand New Eyes. Following months of rumours, the biggest supergroup in living memory, Them Crooked Vultures played Reading and Leeds and also found time to put out their debut record, with Mrs Homme, aka Brody Dalle finally returning to action with her new outfit Spinnerette. Alexisonfire produced arguably their finest work to date with Old Crows/Young Cardinals, whilst on the other hand Billy Talent and The Used came out with right stinkers.

Not content with ruling British airwaves, RM favourite Frank Turner set about conquering America thanks in no small part to his third album Poetry of the Deed and a surprise tour with The Offspring, Muse hit the nation's stadiums again with The Resistance and Biffy Clyro followed up their breakthrough 2007 album Puzzle with an even more radio friendly unit shifter in the form of Only Revolutions. Despite the hype surrounding it, Gallows didn't suffer from second album syndrome with the well-received Grey Britain, The Ghost of a Thousand surprised many with New Hopes, New Demonstrations' left-turns, while Enter Shikari continued to divide opinions like few others in recent history with their sophomore effort Common Dreads.

You want metal? Well 2009 gave us metal by the metaphorical truck load. After letting its standards slip recently, Download Festival delivered its best showing in years and managed to fight off new rival Sonisphere for the a hearts and wallets of metal fans in the UK. Not to mention albums from the likes of Mastodon, Coalesce, Megadeth, Doomriders, Slayer, Lamb Of God, August Burns Red, Sunn O))) and Baroness. On the hardcore front, storming albums from Converge, Dead Swans, Defeater, Trash Talk, Evergreen Terrace, Your Demise, Our Time Down Here, Soul Control and Every Time I Die meant it was an unforgettable twelve months.

Anyway, enough with the reminiscing jibba jaba, detailed below are a list of reasons why 2009 rocked our collective socks. To see the lists you can either take a leisurely scroll down the page, or simply click on the name of the contributor who's list you wish to peruse. Enjoy:

Ruth Midget	Dan Jones
Phill May	Jack Pop
Mitch Bain	Alex Nunn
Gaz Hughes	Ali Ryland
Jenna Lee	Chris Ward
Hollie Garraway	Gemma Shaw

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Ruth Midget
Editor

Favourite Album
Devin Townsend Project - Ki / Addicted

Amongst the multitude of brilliant upcoming bands that emerged this year, 2009 turned out to be something of a groundhog year for alt rock. A billion and one reunions thundered through the industry alongside them, whether tour-wise or announcement-wise, making this possibly the most golden year out of what has been a pretty shitty decade. Simultaneously, for more than a year now I've been thinking about what it is that makes music sustainable, that makes certain bands and certain records stand away from the rest of these flashes in the pan - in short, what (for me at least) makes a classic album.

With that in mind, Devin Townsend's four album project could not be better timed. I love music that makes me think. I love music that makes me think about the way I think even more. And music that makes me think about the way I'm thinking while providing smoothly-executed yet ecletic combinations of sound, arranged to create a real journey through the entire concept... well, it really makes me sound like a raging hippy. Great pair of albums, though.

For the next 30 seconds, my albums of the year are...

Top Albums Of The Year
1 / 2. Devin Townsend Project - Ki / Addicted [RM Review | RM Review]
3. Thursday - Common Existence [RM Review]
4. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious [RM Review]
5. Russian Circles - Geneva [RM Review]
6. Latitudes - Agonist [RM Review]
7. Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four Part Harmony [RM Review]
8. Sights & Sounds - Monolith [RM Review]
9. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day [RM Review]
10. Mastodon - Crack The Skye [RM Review]
11. Baroness - Blue Record [RM Review]
12. Shrinebuilder - S/T
13. The Fall Of Troy - In The Unlikely Event [RM Review]
14. Enter Shikari - Common Dreads [RM Review]
15. Marmaduke Duke - Duke Pandemonium [RM Review]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Puscifer - "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE)
2. Chickenhawk - A. Or Not? [RM Review]
3. Coalesce - OX EP [RM Review]
4. Auternus - Changing Seasons
5. Oceansize - Home & Minor [RM Review]
6. Evil Minded - Necrotizing Fasciitis [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Death Cab For Cutie - Meet Me On The Equinox [RM Review] [Video]
2. Crazy Arm - Broken By The Wheel [RM Review] [Video]
3. 30 Seconds To Mars - Kings & Queens [RM Review] [Video]
4. Pitchblend - Celcius [RM Review] [Video]
5. Enter Shikari - No Sleep Tonight [RM Review] [Video]
6. Alice In Chains - A Looking In View [RM Review] [Video]
7. Marmaduke Duke - Rubber Lover [RM Review]
8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Isis Unveiled [RM Review] [Video]
9. Underoath - Too Bright To See, Too Loud To Hear [RM Review] [Video]
10. 12 Stone Toddler - Under The Weather [RM Review] [Video]

Demo of the Year
Total dead heat between Mountains Among Us [RM Review], Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster [RM Review] and Brace - Brace [RM Review]... Wait, aren't two of those technically albums? The Izah demo thing was good too. Gah...

Best Live Act
Faith No More. Putting aside those great featival sets in the UK this Summer, for no other act this year would I have stayed up til 3am to listen to live sets from South America. Tight as hell. On this note, Zu deserve an honourable mention as a complete breath of fresh fucking air this year.

Disappointment of the Year
Hm, much as I don't want to spread bad vibes, Muse and Thrice have both gone in directions I haven't been keen on this year. Having said that, Beggars [RM Review] has grown on me considerably - which is more than I can say for The Resistance so far...

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Dan Jones
Senior Writer

Favourite Album
Converge - Axe To Fall

Wow. The noughties certainly went out with one helluva bang. Having to cut down a list of about thirty top quality albums to ten proved too difficult a task, so I sneakily opted for a top twenty [You're editing your own coding next year, sunshine - Ed.]. While some corking albums didn’t make the final cut, one album stood out head and shoulders above all others and has barely been off my iPod since it dropped in October. For practically any other band on the planet Axe To Fall would be a career defining masterpiece, for Converge it's another album in a long list of superlative releases.

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Converge - Axe To Fall [RM Review]
2. Defeater - Travels [RM Review]
3. Trash Talk - Shame [RM Review]
4. Dead Swans - Sleepwalkers [RM Review]
5. Mastodon - Crack the Skye [RM Review]
6. Blakfish - Champions [RM Review]
7. Our Time Down Here - Live, Love, Let Go [RM Review]
8. Fall of Troy - In the Unlikely Event [RM Review]
9. Russian Circles - Geneva [RM Review]
10. Future of the Left - Travels With Myself And Another [RM Review]
11. The Ghost of A Thousand - New Hopes, New Demonstrations [RM Review]
12. The Arteries - Blood, Sweat and Beers [RM Review]
13. Bats - Red in Tooth & Claw [RM Review]
14. Soul Control- Cycles [RM Review]
15. Tubelord - Our First American Friends [RM Review]
16. Bayonets - Wishes & Wishes [RM Review]
17. Maybeshewill - Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony [RM Review]
18. Kambodsja - Marionette You Are Mine [RM Review]
19. Crazy Arm - Born To Ruin [RM Review]
20. Every Time I Die - New Junk Aesthetic [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Pearl Jam – 'The Fixer' [RM Review] [Video]
2. Gallows – 'The Vulture [Act II]' [Search] [Video]
3. Tubelord – 'Propeller' [Search] [Video]
4. El Bronx – 'Cell Mates' [Video]
5. Mastodon – 'Oblivion' [RM Review] [Video]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Defeater - Lost Ground [RM Review]
2. Paint It Black - Surrender [RM Review]
3. Lavotchkin / Crocus - Split EP [RM Review]
4. Coalesce - OX EP [RM Review]
5. Chickenhawk - A. Or Not? [RM Review]

Demo of the Year
Brace - Brace [RM Review]

Best Live Act
Lavotchkin [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
The emergence of the equally dastardly crunkcore and crabcore.

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Phil May
Writer

Favourite Album
Gallows - Grey Britain

Dear music of 2009,

You have been, without a doubt, the finest year for music this reviewer has known. Choosing a favourite album from so many outstanding releases has been near impossible, but by a tiny margin I believe Gallows' Grey Britain belongs at the top of the pile through being the most passionate and ferocious onslaught in living memory. Following a corking début [some didn't think the band could top] with something superior in every way, their vision of this country is worryingly perceptive, an example of how 'the state of things' can be the catalyst for quality music. Thank you, music of 2009, for every band on this list, and for those who didn't quite make it [Sorry Franky T!]. 2010 is going to have its work cut out for it.

Regards,
Phill Midget

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Gallows - Grey Britain [RM Review]
2. The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die [Search]
3. Enter Shikari - Common Dreads [RM Review]
4. Telegraphs - We Were Ghosts [RM Review]
5. Placebo - Battle For The Sun [RM Review]
6. Every Time I Die - Junk Aesthetic [RM Review]
7. Dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
8. Mastodon - Crack The Skye [RM Review]
9. Long Distance Calling - Avoid the Light [RM Review]
10. Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another [RM Review]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Chickenhawk - A. Or Not [RM Review]
2. MC Rut - 25 Years [RM Review]
3. Oceansize - Home and Minor [RM Review]
4. Evil Minded - Necrotizing Fasciitis [RM Review]
5. Don Broco - Thug Workout [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Placebo – 'The Never Ending Why' [RM Review] [Video]
2. MC Rut – 'All Walks Of Life' [RM Review] [Video]
3. The Prodigy – 'Take Me To The Hospital' [Search] [Video]
4. Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden – 'Bonkers' [Video]
5. Bloc Party – 'One More Chance' [Video]
6. Skindred – 'Stand For Something' [RM Review] [Video]
7. Alexisonfire – 'Young Cardinals' [RM Review] [Video]
8. Every Time I Die – 'Wanderlust' [RM Review] [Video]
9. Skunk Anansie – 'Because Of You' [RM Review] [Video]
10. Lostprophets – 'It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here' [RM Review] [Video]

Demo of the Year
Izah - Finite Horizon/Crevice [RM Review]

Best Live Act
Rolo Tomassi [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
Muse – The Resistance. There's no denying the startling talent on show, unfortunately Muse disappeared too far up their own rear ends, making The Resistance a massive disappointment.

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Jack Pop
Columnist

Favourite Album
Sam Isaac - Bears

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Sam Isaac - Bears
2. Owl City - Ocean Eyes
3. Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone! [Search]
4. Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes & the Mystery of the Golden Medal
5. Andrew WK - Cadillac 55
6. Wolf Am I - Lead the Way
7. Portman - These Songs Were Written In Bedrooms & Village Halls [RM Review]
8. The Xcerts - In the Cold Wind We Smile [RM Review]
9. Kevin Devine - Brothers Blood [RM Review]
10. Weezer - Raditude [RM Review]

Demo Of The Year
Screaming Maldini

Top EPs Of The Year
1. iwrestledabearonce - iwrestledabearonce [Search]
2. Stagecoach - We Got Tazers [RM Review]
3. My First Tooth - My First Tooth and the Rubies
4. Mew - No more Stories
5. Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Best Live Act
Blur - The Hyde Park show was just phenomenal… That or Andrew WK's sensational London performance where he had to stop to vomit after getting cracked in the nose….

Disappointment of the Year
Swine flu during Truck Festival – Even The Wire series 5 couldn't alleviate the sadness…

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Mitch Bain
Writer

Favourite Album
Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part [RM Review]
2. Gallows - Grey Britain [RM Review]
3. Lights Action - Welcome to the New Cold World [RM Review]
4. Elliot Minor - Solaris [RM Review]
5. Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions [RM Review]
6. The Little Kicks - Boxing Clever
7. The Xcerts - In The Cold Wind We Smile [RM Review]
8. Idlewild - Post-Electric Blues [RM Review]>
9. Enter Shikari - Common Dreads [RM Review]
10. Fightstar - Be Human [Search]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Emmy the Great - Edward EP [Search]
2. Jamie T - Sticks and Stones [RM Review]
3. Broken Records - Out on the Water [Search]
4. The Form - Life on Film >
5. The Holloways - Sinners & Winners [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. The Xcerts – 'Nightschool' [RM Review] [Video]
2. 30 Seconds to Mars – 'Kings and Queens' [RM Review] [Video]
3. The Cave Singers – 'Beach House' [Search] [Video]
4. Steel Panther – 'Community Property' [Search] [Video]
5. FrankMusik – 'Confusion Girl' [Video]

Best Live Act
Bruce Springsteen [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
Extremely unremarkable records from Frank Turner and Muse.

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Alex Nunn
Writer

Favourite Album
The Dangerous Summer - Reach For The Sun

The Maryland natives' Hopeless Records debut recalls Drive-Thru-era The Starting Line, blending together big, bouncy choruses and drawn out, erstwhile melodies on the likes of 'Where I Want To Be' and 'Weathered'. Highly understated and reliant on more than just a good hook, Reach For The Sun achieves the admirable feat of not only being an absolutely brilliant album, but one that's managed - seemingly - to fly right under the mainstream radar. S'rather good, y'know.

Top Albums Of The Year
1. The Dangerous Summer - Reach For The Sun
2. mewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright [Search]
3. A Day To Remember - Homesick [Search]
4. Say Anything - Say Anything [RM Review]
5. New Found Glory - Not Without A Fight [RM Review]
6. Paramore - Brand New Eyes [Search]
7. The Swellers - Ups And Downsizing
8. As Cities Burn - Hell Or High Water
9. Alexisonfire - Old Crows/Young Cardinals [RM Review]
10. Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg [RM Review]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Not Advised - Fight For This [RM Review]
2. The Auteur - Nightcap EP [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. 30 Seconds To Mars – 'Kings & Queens' [RM Review] [Video]
2. Paramore – 'Brick By Boring Brick' [Search] [Video]
3. The Ghost Of A Thousand – 'Knees, Toes, Teeth' [RM Review] [Video]
4. Kids In Glass Houses – 'Youngblood [Let It Out]' [Search] [Video]
5. Death Cab For Cutie – 'Meet Me On The Equinox' [RM Review] [Video]

Best Live Act
Green Day [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
Saosin - In Search Of Solid Ground [RM Review]

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Gaz Hughes
Writer

Favourite Album
Gallows - Grey Britain

This writer's first two-time album of the year winner deserves the accolade. The release of Grey Britain was an event in the way few albums are these days, built up and hyped in the extreme. The album itself was deserving of the hype, a latecomer but nonetheless one of the decade's finest albums, expanding Gallows' brutal hardcore into strings ['Misery', 'Crucifucks'] and acoustic ballady ['The Vulture [Act I]']. It also has one of the heaviest riffs ever in 'The Riverbed'.

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Gallows - Grey Britain [RM Review]
2. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
3. Jamie T - Kings And Queens [Search]
4. Robbie Williams - Reality Killed The Video Star
5. Bob Dylan - Together Through Life [Search]
6. Weezer - Raditude [RM Review]
7. Eminem - Relapse
8. Mastodon - Crack The Skye [RM Review]>
9. Caught In Motion - On The Edge Of A Dream [RM Review]
10. Sonic Youth - The Eternal [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Gallows – 'The Vulture [Act II]' [Search] [Video]
2. Guns N' Roses – 'Better' [RM Review] [Video]
3. Weezer – '[If You're Wondering If I Want You To] I Want You To' [Search] [Video]
4. Billy Talent – 'Rusted From The Rain' [RM Review] [Video]
5. Eminem – '3am' [Video]

Best Live Act
Gallows [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
Wilco - Wilco - One of my favourite bands releasing one of the worst albums. Their new solidified line-up seems to have left them with no inspiration.

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Jenna Lee
Writer

Favourite Album
The Ghost of a Thousand - New Hopes, New Demonstrations

Top Albums Of The Year
1. The Ghost of a Thousand - New Hopes, New Demonstrations [RM Review]
2. Burning Love- EP
3. Trash Talk - Shame [RM Review]
4. Lil Wayne - The Carter 3
5. Converge - Axe To Fall [RM Review]

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Chris Ward
Writer

Favourite Album
The Resurrection Sorrow - Hour of the Wolf

The press release blurb stated the band weren't reinventing the wheel, but merely reinforcing it and this was true.  Doom, Bay Area thrash, a touch of stoner metal and a sprinkling of classic rock all fused to make a heavy and dynamic slab of modern metal that was simple in its approach to making you bang your head.  Trimming away the excesses that can pad out these types of albums, The Resurrection Sorrow have delivered an exciting and, quite simply, brilliant debut that shows great promise for the future. 

Top Albums Of The Year
1. The Resurrection Sorrow - Hour of the Wolf [RM Review]
2. Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us [RM Review]
3. Megadeth - Endgame
4. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
5. Cannibal Corpse - Evisceration Plague [RM Review]
6. Firebird - Grand Union
7. Iron Maiden - Flight 666 [Search]
8. Slayer - World Painted Blood [RM Review]
9. Devildriver - Pray For Villains [Search]
10. Katatonia - Night is the New Day [RM Review]

Top EP Of The Year
1. Neverborne - In Absense of Fear [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Paradise Lost – 'Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us' [Video]
2. Heaven & Hell – 'Bible Black' [Video]
3. DevilDriver – 'Pray For Villains' [Video]
4. Megadeth – 'Head Crusher' [Video]
5. Kiss – 'Modern Day Delilah' [Video]   

Best Live Act
Judas Priest 

Disappointment of the Year
No new Anthrax album

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Ali Ryland
Writer

Favourite Album
Enter Shikari - Common Dreads

Either 2009 was a big let down for music this year, or the usual array of emerging rough diamonds have passed me by and left me with the dreary diamantes of the music world; tacky rip-offs that no self-respecting person would associate themselves with.Luckily, we still have our affectionately steadfast favourites that we can rely on to always be somewhat talented. Interestingly, they all seem to be congregating in the southern regions of England. This includes our Hertford heroes Enter Shikari, who recently crawled back out of the woodwork to produce one of the finest, non-punk political albums to date. Creating an album that sends the cream of the core into raptures and allows us to marvel at its poetical merit should, by rights, be an oxymoron. Instead we're presented with something that challenges the norm- if only all bands could be so dismissive of musical barriers, without being as shite as BrokeNCYDE.

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Enter Shikari - Common Dreads [RM Review]
2. Random Hand - Inhale/Exhale [RM Review]
3. Muse - The Resistance [Search]
4. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown [RM Review]
5. Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone! [Search]
6. Bury Tomorrow - Portraits [RM Review]

Top EPs Of The Year
1. Don Broco - Thug Workout [RM Review]

Top Singles Of The Year
1. Exit Ten – 'Time Has Been Lost' [Search]
[No, it is not a released single per se, but a new MySpace song. In my opinion, it should be. It's better than most of the flimsy records that have been flung upon us this year.]
2. Fei Comodo – 'No Way Out' [As above.] [Search]
3. Enter Shikari – 'Zzzonked' [Search] [Video]
4. Snow Patrol – 'If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It' [RM Review] [Video]
5. New Found Glory – 'Don't Let Her Pull You Down' [Search] [Video]

Best Live Act
Fei Comodo [Search]

Disappointment of the Year
Streetlight Manifesto. What has happened to the 99 Songs of Revolution Project?! Other than that, still brilliant.

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Gemma Shaw
Photographer

Favourite Album
Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Top Albums Of The Year
1. Mastodon - Crack the Skye [RM Review]
2. Doomriders - Come Alive
3. Baroness - Blue Album [RM Review]
4. Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West [RM Review]
5. Converge - Axe To Fall [RM Review]
6. Coalesce - Ox [Search]
7. Isis - Wavering Radient [RM Review]
8. Cobalt - Gin
9. Minsk - With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone [RM Review]
10. Wolves In The Throne Room - Black Cascade

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Click here for RM's BEST OF 2009 - The Bands' Verdict for a second opinion from the creators of our favourite albums

by Dan Jones