The importance of being honest.

2008 was quite a year. Our country basically went bankrupt and no one really knows what´s going to happen or how things are going to work out. Our politicians keep feeding us the same lies and don´t seem to feel any remorse for the damage they´ve done. But that´s to be expected. Thankfully there were some people who stood up and fought. And still do. Those people will always have our deepest gratitude and respect.

Obviously there was a new president elected in the united states. I´m intrigued how that will work out. Hopefully he´ll do some good with the bad. Something the current president didn´t do a lot of.

For us as a band the year was quite eventful. Did some touring and traveling and went to the states to record our new album. When I think about it I still find it somewhat unbelievable that we did what we did. Seemed like such an unrealistic dream when we first got the idea to go to God City and record.

When it will come out no one knows. We´re aiming for spring.

After returning from Boston we got a visit from our friends Raein from Italy. They played a couple of shows that went great and were a lot of fun. A few weeks after that Die Young came over from the states to play some shows as well. It was a good time and we hope our paths will cross again.

2008 was a pretty amazing year for music though and here is a list of some of my favorite albums released. Of course these are my personal opinions and not the bands as a whole. But seeing as the guys are men of taste I´m sure they´ll agree for the most parts. Maybe they´ll even post a list of their own.

Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

Fucked Up made a great album. Not just a great Hardcore Punk album. Not even just a great Rock album. They made an incredible all around album that I am sure will be remembered for years to come. They pushed boundaries with their song writing , lyrics and sound. One of the most exciting and fun hardcore bands around these days and they have been for quite some time.

Harvey Milk - Life... The Best Game in Town

This is a band that has had direct influences on our band so most of us were very excited when we heard they had a new album coming out. This album is everything I expected it to be. It´s crushing, draining, terrifying and life affirming. It´s almost as if they intended to do a carrier retrospective as it has strong elements from all their albums. "Motown" is possibly the best song I heard all year.

Tentacles of Doom - Brimað á Dauðahafinu

I may be a bit biased as this band includes one of my best friends and some of the most wonderful people I know. But even so, this is probably the best Icelandic "demo" I have ever heard. Gothic post punk with a surf vibe to it. Very heavy on the Wipers influence but they wear it well. I can´t wait for their next release.

Krallice - Krallice

This was a good year for blackmetal if you ask me. With releases from bands like Storming Darkness, Orcivus, Leviathan, Nactimystium, Darkthrone and of course Krallice. This is the first album this project releases. There are some members from a bunch of bands in Krallice but none that make anything half as good as this.

Able Baker Fox - Voices

Members of Small Brown Bike and the Casket Lottery playing music that sounds somewhat like Small Brown Bike and The Casket Lottery. It´s good. It´s very good. And it includes some of the best vocal harmonies heard all year.


Besides these few there were a lot of great albums released by bands like The Bananas, Dillinger 4, Trap Them, Estranged, White Lung, Cursed, Trash Talk, Ceremony, World Burns to Death, Misery Index, Torche, Deerhunter, Xiu Xiu, No Age, Pygmylush, Beach House, Sunn 0))), Grouper, Earth, J. Bannon, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Reykjavík, Singapore Sling, Morðingjarnir, Celestine, Vivian Girls, Portishead and Jay Reatard to name a few. I strongly recommend you check them all out.