Gig Reviews
Hamferð
Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, DEN - 24/4
Album Reviews
Best Music Of 2017
Previous Nextauthor PP date 10/01/18
2016 was rightly dubbed as the year of the comeback, where almost every major band you didn't think would ever release records again returned with a bang. In contrast, 2017 was much less eventful. Fewer spectacular reunion releases, fewer stylistic breakthroughs in terms of genres rising their profile massively from previous years, and fewer surprises overall. Instead, 2017 it was largely characterized by fulfilled expectations by household names, which is what is also reflected in our sum up of the highlights below.
Bands like Converge, Anti-Flag, Hot Water Music, The National, Comeback Kid and others released albums that were perhaps not their career masterpieces but nonetheless among the highlights in their respective discographies, whereas smaller bands like Sorority Noise and Code Orange made some serious noise suggesting they will be contenders for years to come.
2017 was also a year where some of our longtime editors decided to hang up the writing gloves for good. We will sorely miss TL and BV for their countless contributions and invaluable insight into their respective genres.
The remainder of our writers were given the usual task: pick and mix your favorite records from 2017 and combine them into an ordered list of sorts. No particular minimum or maximum limit for each list. The only catch? They had to be releases you'd reflect back on three to five years from now, thinking along the lines of "damn, that album was good" , or ones that you'd keep returning to as they pass the test of time, thus cementing their place among the highlights in their given genre when we look back at the decade gone by at some point in the future.
Thus whatever you take interest in from below, you can rest assured that we have listened to it many times over and ultimately found that these records satisfy from the first track to the last. PP
PP is the Editor In Chief for Rockfreaks.net, primarily covering punk, hardcore, and related genres with occasional ventures into other genres as well. With between one and two hundred album reviews a year for more than a decade straight, you can be sure that if an album is on this list, it's still worth a listen a few years down the line.
- 1. Rise Against - WOLVES (punk)
- 2. Hot Water Music - Light It Up (Midwestern punk)
- 3. Sorority Noise - You're Not As ______ As You Think (emo / indie)
- 4. Iron Chic - You Can't Stay Here (Midwestern punk)
- 5. F.O.D - Harvest (skate punk)
- 6. While She Sleeps - You Are We (metalcore)
- 7. Converge - The Dusk In Us (hardcore)
- 8. Blood Command - Cult Drugs (post-hardcore)
- 9. Body Count - Bloodlust (rap metal)
- 10. Saviour - Let Me Leave (post-hardcore)
- 11. Propagandhi - Victory Lap (technical punk)
- 12. Comeback Kid - Outsider (melodic hardcore)
- 13. Anti-Flag - American Fall (punk)
- 14. Hotel Books - Equivalency (spoken word / emo)
- 15. Northlane - Mesmer (post-hardcore)
- 16. Stick To Your Guns - True View (melodic hardcore)
- 17. Citizen - As You Please (alternative / shoegaze)
- 18. Ghost Iris - Blind World (djent / metalcore)
- 19. Palisades - Palisades (metalcore)
- 20. The Flatliners - Inviting Light (punk / alternative)
- 21. Rancid - Trouble Maker (punk)
- 22. Crusades - This Is A Sickness And Sickness Will End (progressive punk)
- 23. At The Drive-In - in•ter a•li•a (post-hardcore)
- 24. Frenzal Rhomb - Hi-Vis High Tea (skate punk)
- 25. The Menzingers - After The Party (punk / pop-punk)
- 26. Wavves - You're Welcome (indie / punk)
- 27. Bush - Black And White Rainbows (post-grunge)
- 28. Incubus - 8 (alternative rock)
- 29. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Damage And Joy (alternative rock)
- 30. Deforesters - Leonard (Midwestern punk)
- 31. The Slow Death - Punishers (Midwestern punk)
Disappointing releases:
- Dropkick Murphys - 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory
- All That Remains - Madness
- Goldfinger - The Knife
AP revels in the riff, and as such his tastes often find a match within doom, prog, stoner and all things ‘post-‘. On top of that, he has an affinity for the more deviant and atmospheric forms of extreme metal and is also an avid connoisseur of punk-rock.
- 1. Converge - The Dusk In Us (hardcore)
- 2. While She Sleeps - You Are We (metalcore)
- 3. Code Orange - Forever (hardcore)
- 4. Ufomammut - 8 (psychedelic doom)
- 5. ORM - Orm (atmospheric black metal)
- 6. Power Trip - Nightmare Logic (crossover hardcore)
- 7. Anti-Flag - American Fall (punk)
- 8. Pillorian - Obsidian Arc (post-black metal)
- 9. Slægt - Domus Mysterium (blackened heavy metal)
- 10. All Them Witches - Sleeping Through The War (’psychedelta blues’)
Honorable mentions:
- De Forbandede - Den Evige Nat (psychedelic / stoner rock)
- Elder - Reflections Of A Floating World (progressive / stoner / post-rock)
- Kadavar - Rough Times (‘70s rock / stoner rock)
- Pallbearer - Heartless (doom / progressive metal)
- Solbrud - Vemod (atmospheric black metal)
LF is usually intrigued by bands that fall within the genres of indie/emo rock, pop punk, or anything progressive or post-. This year has seen her delve further into indie and melodic punk at the cost of the more classic post-rock releases which shows on her list.
- 1. The Menzingers - After The Party (punk rock / pop punk)
- 2. Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound (indie / noise rock)
- 3. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights (indie rock)
- 4. Kellermensch - Goliath (alternative / art rock)
- 5. Converge - The Dusk In Us (hardcore)
- 6. Elder - Reflections Of A Floating World (progressive / stoner / post-rock)
- 7. A Will Away - Here Again (pop punk / emo rock)
- 8. Fugleflugten - Bølgevækker EP (shoegaze / post-punk)
- 9. Enter Shikari - The Spark (electronic / indie rock)
- 10. The National - Sleep Well Beast (indie rock / experimental)
Honorable mentions:
- Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms (horror punk / alternative rock)
- Leprous - Malina (progressive metal)
- As It Is - okay. (pop punk)
- Forever Unclean - Float EP (punk rock / pop punk)
- Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me (indie folk)
- Gang of Youths - Go Farther in Lightness (indie / alternative / punk rock)
- Slowdive - Slowdive (shoegaze / dream pop)
- Siamese - Shameless (alternative rock / RnB)
MAK dabbles in all sorts of alternative music, commonly covering ska and punk as his main tastes, though often touching on metal and hardcore too. 2017 even saw him leave his comfort zone to check out some acts that are a bit more extreme than he’s used to.
- 1. Bolshy – Reap The Storm (ska punk)
- 2. While She Sleeps – You Are We (metalcore)
- 3. Body Count - Bloodlust (rap metal)
- 4. Stray From The Path – Only Death Is Real (hardcore)
- 5. Comeback Kid - Outsider (melodic hardcore)
- 6. Darko – Bonsai Mammoth (hardcore punk)
- 7. August Burns Red – Phantom Anthem (metalcore)
- 8. 88 Fingers Louie – Thank You For Being A Friend (skate punk)
- 9. Anti-Flag – American Fall (punk)
- 10. Grand Collapse – Along The Dew (Hardcore Punk)
Honorable mentions:
- Just Say Nay – Shit Out Of Luck (ska punk)
- Just Say Nay – Logistical Nightmares (ska punk)
- Matildas Scoundrels – As The Tide Turns(folk punk)
- The Charm The Fury – The Sick, Dumb & Happy (groove metal)
- King Leviathan – Paean Heretica (blackened thrash metal)
MIN will cover most genres and love it, whether it be peculiar indie-rock, bludgeoning hardcore or expansive metal excursions – as long as the music’s genuine, passionate and/or innovative.
International records:
- 1. Gang of Youths - Go Farther in Lightness (indie rock / alternative rock / punk rock)
- 2. Pallbearer – Heartless (doom / progressive metal)
- 3. Converge – The Dusk in Us (hardcore)
- 4. The National – Sleep Well Beast (indie-rock / experimental)
- 5. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me (indie / folk)
- 6. Full of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstasy (grind / death metal)
- 7. The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding (indie rock / alternative rock)
- 8. ’68 – Two Parts Viper (noise rock / hardcore / experimental)
- 9. Mastodon – Emperor of Sand (progressive metal)
- 10. God Mother - Vilseledd (hardcore / metal)
- 11. The Menzingers – After the Party (punk / pop-punk)
- 12. Power Trip – Nightmare Logic (crossover hardcore)
- 13. The Smith Street Band – More Scared of You Than You Are of Me (punk rock / folk punk)
- 14. Slowdive - Slowdive (shoegaze / dream pop)
- 15. Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms (horror punk / alternative rock)
Danish records:
- 1. Slægt – Domus Mysterium (blackened heavy metal)
- 2. Solbrud - Vemod (atmospheric black metal)
- 3. De Forbandede – Den Evige Nat (psychedelic / stoner rock)
- 4. Kellermensch - Goliath (alternative rock / art-rock)
- 5. ORM - Orm (atmospheric black metal)
And with that note, dear readers, we invite you to list your favorite records of the year below in the comments section. Feel free to argue, praise, or defame if you so wish, but please do provide your own 'best of' list that consists primarily of records you know you'll be listening to in years to come as well.