Generic Top 10

I see today that several magazines and webzines such as Decibel have released a list of their Top 10 albums of 2007. This is nothing new, it has been an annual feature in pretty much every music magazine in existence. However, whenever I look at these compilations I normally have to fight back a rising sense of irritation that sometimes results in me shouting, swearing, and hurling the mag in question away from me with all my might, so repulsed am I by what I've read. And of course, getting ordered off the bus for 'making a scene.'

What irritates me so much about these Magazine's Top 20 Albums of the Year, is they very rarely correspond with what was said about the albums in question in previous months, when first reviewed. And this can work both ways. Albums that in March were given 6/10 and described as 'an average return to form' can easily appear in the Top 5 of any end of year list, normally because the band is newsworthy due to the millionaire lead singer shacking up with Tinseltown bimbo .47 or more often than not, because the journalist cannot remember the 'awe inspiring' underground progressive death metallers who he awarded full marks to earlier in the year! "Who? Well they can't be that good! They're not in the charts!"

So many quality underground releases are completely ignored come Christmas time, primarily so the magazine won't have to fend off a sled of accusations along the lines of "If all these extreme metal acts are your best albums of the year, why have they only ever been given half a page of coverage?" The kind of accusations I find myself screaming at the glossy pages of Kerrang! (the main offender by miles) when it informs me that the creme de la creme of the past twelve months of metal are releases by My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, Lostprophets and Foo Fighters. Sometimes even if they haven't got an album out.

So beware when skimming down the miles of lists that will inevitably pop up like an out of control whack-a-mole game over the next few weeks. They will most likely be lies that make Baby Satan cry. Here, to get in on the act, is my 2007 Top 5.

1. As I Lay Dying - 'An Ocean Between Us'
2. Electric Wizard - 'Witchcult Today'
3. Down - 'III Over The Under'
4. Job For A Cowboy - 'Genesis'
5. The Dillinger Escape Plan - 'Ire Works'

Go out and buy all of these albums immediately. I'll be paying attention to the incoming lists, wonder how accuarte I'll be?