Five finger feedback

To chase out the last ghosts of 2010 and then focus on the present instead of the past I want to give you my personal poll for the previous year.
Just to get it out of my head. You see best what´s directly in front of our eyes so I gave my poor old brain some demonic mnemonic and remembered 2010 with the five fingers of my hand. This may sound confusing now but I bet you will get the picture pretty quickly. And no, my lips don´t move when I read...

THUMB:

Up
Everything Bombodrom
Historic summer                        
Hello Finland
Expanding horizons
Strong bonds

Down
All the goodbyes
The rat race
R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio, Peter Steele...the gods are dying



INDEX FINGER:

I have listened to this one till my years bled and I still can´t get enough of it!
SMOKE BLOW maintain a high quality level on almost all their albums but The Record is a perfect mixture of what´s great in hardcore, metal and even some light cream topping of black metal without the bullshit. Schleswig-Holstein HC rules!

Broken Bonds of Friendship
Summer of Betrayal 

If you follow this blog regularly, then you might have expected this: KILLING JOKE´s Absolute Dissent is an amazing album and was worth the wait in ´10! They manage to offer a wide range of styles from harsh metal riffs via Europop to dub/reggae without losing track. The band reinvents itself while remaining true to their signature sound in their 30tieth year of existence. He who laughs last didn´t get the joke!

Endgame
European Superstate

BLESSURE GRAVE didn´t survive 2010 and I almost only witnessed the supernova of this troubled goth outfits´ demise. Hated by some, loved by many they had a crush on Joy Division, Death in June and all things Darkpop from the 80ties. Nothing new, but very charming. This 7" In The First Place shall be just an example for their entire opus. The link leads you to the song and a review of their LP Judged by 12, carried by 6 by Dusted Magazine. I agree with the author that it´s a strong but not their best release. BG mastermind T. Graves fronts now both Soft Kill and Group Hex. Look out!

Keith Morris is back with a bang! 55 years and he still sounds pissed off as in 1978 with Black Flag and then the Circle Jerks. While the first went on with other singers before their passing (even Garfield was on the mic), the latter was on a trip into oblivion for the last 15 years. Forget about all that ´cause the aptly titled First Four EPs 7" box set by Morris´ new band OFF! is a time warp into the cradle of American Hardcore before things got ugly. 1 - 2, fuck you!

Black Thoughts
I Don´t Belong

After a demo the DEADMEN released this bulldozer of a 7", then went on a (maybe eternal) hiatus due to a member moving away (reminds me a bit of my own musical path). It´s really a downer because this stuff really kills! Possession Of The Void combines Celtic Frost ferocity with Motörhead rawness and D-beat attitude. Had a short but really nice Email contact with axeman Carl, who informed me that the rest of the band plans something new and that he also plays in Coffinworm. The Deadmen were so kind to put all the ripping tracks from their 45 on their blog. Highly recommended!




MIDDLE FINGER:

NEON FORMLICHT, Düsseldorf
Partitiivi singular and plural, Finland
Fucked up red tape everywhere



RING FINGER:

Nils & Silke



PINKY:

Olli Herman (urgh!)


That was my five finger feedback for 2010.
Now I can clench my fist and show it to 2011.