2017 was an interesting year for music. Sure, major bands made a comeback, At the Drive-In drowned in a sea of their own legacy and the less said about the new self-titled AFI album the better. But overall, it was a year dominated by smaller bands who took the downtime from our scenes biggest and brightest to propel themselves into the limelight and hopefully into better things in 2018.
It goes without saying it was also a troubling time with regards to ongoing sexual abuse allegations towards bands within our scene. I would like to take this moment to thank these victims for coming forward and telling their stories to the world.
Your strength has touched me and many others on a profound level.
Top 20 Albums of 2017
1. Code Orange - Forever
This album is the definition of art. Taking everything from their previous release and turning it into an even more jarring mixture of electronic passages, hardcore and spoken word. It can only be described as one of the most beautifully uncomfortable experiences you will have this year.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ9JVxQVQy4&w=640&h=360]
2. Converge - The Dusk In Us
What to say other than it’s fucking Converge? Jacob Bannon and his merry band of hardcore superstars have been twisting and shaping this genre for the last two decades and this album finds them at the top of their game with one of their most emotional albums in a long time.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKqOp2YHfhI&w=640&h=360]
- Pallbearer - Heartless4. Grave Pleasures - Motherblood5. Marilyn Manson - Heaven Upside Down6. Trivium - The Sin and the Sentence7. Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Finisterre8. SikTh - The Future in Whose Eyes?
9. King Woman - Created in the Image Of Suffering
10. Blood Command - Cult Drugs
11. While She Sleeps - You Are We
12. Godflesh - Post Self
13. Wolves In The Throne Room - Thrice Wove
14. Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
- Kendrick Lamar - Damn16. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand17. Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms18. Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes - Modern Ruin19. Amenra - Mass VI20. Wintersun - The Forest Seasons
Top 10 Songs of 2017
1. KendrickLamar - ‘Humble'
2. Rolo Tomassi - ‘Rituals’
3. Watain - ‘ChemicalHolocaust’
4. Conjurer - ‘Mire’
5. Weezer - ‘The Beach Boys’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvTRZJ-4EyI&w=640&h=360]
- Myrkur - ‘Måneblôt’
- Bjork - ‘Future Forever’
- The Bloody Beetroots feat. Jason Aalon Butler - ‘Crash’
- Endur - ‘White Noise’
- Nine Inch Nails - ‘The Background World’[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=halfqzmslMM&w=640&h=360]
- Top 5 Music Videos of 2017
- Inheaven - ‘Treats’
- [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNfopdRyZ5k&w=640&h=360]
- Rolo Tomassi - ‘Balance The Dark'
- [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdyg8k5qZFM&w=640&h=360]
- The Used - ‘Over and Over Again'
- [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHDJ4EAnLgk&w=640&h=360]
- The Killers - ‘The Man'
- [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3xcybdis1k&w=640&h=360]
- PVRIS - ‘What’s Wrong’
- [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj4iQItsJSY&w=640&h=360]
- Top 5 Gigs of 2017
1. Touché Amoré - July 6th @ The Triffid, Bris (Review & Gallery Here) 📷: Alison Northway
[gallery ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017-Touche-Amore-4.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/touche-amore-australian-tour.jpg|" type="rectangular"]
2. The Black Dahlia Murder - May 11th @ Max Watts, Bris (Review & Gallery Here) 📷: Gethin Hill
[gallery ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/black-dahlia-25.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/black-dah.jpg|" type="rectangular"]
3. Wednesday 13 - March 23rd @ The Brightside, Bris (Gig Review Here)
4. Melvins - November 10th @ Crowbar (Review & Gallery Here) 📷: Benji Alldridge
[gallery ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Melvins-5.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/19238189_10154863924680939_880736526211219406_o.jpg|" type="rectangular"]
5. Paradise Lost - December 14th @ The Triffid (Review & Gallery Here) 📷: Gethin Hill
[gallery ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/paradise-lost-12.jpg|,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/image003.jpg|" type="rectangular"]
Next Big Australian Act of 2018?
I’m honestly placing all my bets for Cursed Earth to drop one of the most devastatingly epic albums of the year. Their current EP’s are just the floodgates opening, but their full length is going to kill everybody.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF5u4sDaJRw&w=640&h=360]
What Am I Most Looking Forward To In 2018?
Oh man, 2018 is going to be another great year for music. Behemoth is going to drop an album heavy enough to split the world, meanwhile we’ve got Youth Code, another Nine Inch Nails EP, A Perfect Circle and even Dimmu Borgir are rumoured to drop an album. So it’s looking to be another great year and hey, even Tool might release an album? When hell freezes over.
Kaydan Howison
Writer (Brisbane)
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