Gig Reviews
Cult Leader
Stengade, Copenhagen, DEN - 15/4
Album Reviews
Decade In Review
Previous Nextauthor PP date 26/01/20
Looking back at the decade gone by, it's best to remind ourselves of the musical landscape we were dealing with as the fireworks went off ten years ago. It was the last surviving breaths of emo in its modern, Kerrang!-infused form, which had seen the genre painted as one wearing skinny jeans and eyeliner while sporting a multi-colored, funky haircut in the process throughout the decade. Bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, not to even mention My Chemical Romance had either written themselves into irrelevancy or were in severe decline at the very least, alongside the main emo platform, Myspace, which had been largely replaced by Facebook at this point.
In the meantime, the other big winner of the 2000s, metalcore, was in a similar state of identity crisis: the Victory and Rise Records-led push for more breakdowns at the cost of actual songwriting was risking turning the genre stale and cliché, proving in true metallers eyes that the genre was basically poser metal just as they had been saying all along.
Time was therefore ripe for change: emo, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, and hardcore were all in a varying state of identity crisis in the face of the surge of electronic music into the mainstream and the decline in their core appeal. The choice was simple: change or fade away back into the nichés. And looking through the records near the top of our lists from these genres, they're almost exclusively records that found a way to translate the energy and passion that's always defined these genres in a new, fresh manner to the audiences.
The emo/punk movement went basically in two directions: on one hand, The Menzingers and The Wonder Years blew the gates wide open by showing pop punk needn't be polished nor driven by cliché songs about girls; thus revealing a whole new, as of yet unseen side to the genre. In the meantime, bands like Title Fight introduced an indie-flavored, dreamy and shoegaze-influenced style of post-hardcore that dominated the first five years of the decade. Better yet, we saw other bands start to properly challenge their respective genre's defined boxes: bands like Torché, La Dispute, Japandroids, Fucked Up and Sonic Boom Six wrote innovative and unique records that to date have not been replicated by others.
This in turn allowed for the resurgence of the festival format: Groezrock had its glory days throughout the early 2010s, FEST became the main theme for any punk rock fans early on, both festivals followed by Slam Dunk and Manchester Punk Fest in the UK towards the second half of the decade.
And while this introduction has almost exclusively concentrated on emo/punk/hardcore and its subgenres, similar changes could be detected in the metal world, too, visible in the massive success of festivals like Hellfest and Roadburn, not to even mention Copenhell here at home.
So here's our view on the best records of the past ten years - show these lists to anyone who dares claim music went stale in the last decade. There's enough here to convince even the most hardened skeptic about just how much great music was released in the last ten years. PP
As the editor in chief for Rockfreaks.net, I spent the last decade in a deep-dive into punk, emo and hardcore, and all their related genres, dissecting through probably two to three thousand albums in the genres and discovering just how much great music is being put out there. Constructing this list was a nightmarish scenario; I had to leave another fifty or so fantastic albums out that deserved to be on this list. Check out, in particular, the records #1-#17 as these could each be nominees for the album of the year in their respective years. And boy, was 2012 a great fucking year for music or what? PP>
- 1. The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past (2012 - pop punk)
- 2. Crime In Stereo - I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone (2010 - emotional hardcore)
- 3. Title Fight - Floral Green (2012 - post-hardcore)
- 4. Torche - Harmonicraft (2012 - stoner rock)
- 5. Verse - Bitter Clarity, Uncommon Grace (2012 - hardcore)
- 6. Comeback Kid - Symptoms + Cures (2010 - melodic hardcore)
- 7. Pianos Become The Teeth - The Lack Long After (2011 - post-hardcore / screamo)
- 8. Have Mercy - The Earth Pushed Back (2013 - emo / indie)
- 9. The Ghost Inside - Get What You Give (2012 - melodic hardcore / metalcore)
- 10. Streetlight Manifesto - The Hands That Thieve (2013 - progressive / ska)
- 11. The Flatliners - Dead Language (2013 - punk rock)
- 12. Bane - Don't Wait Up (2014 - melodic hardcore)
- 13. The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All And Now I'm Nothing (2011 - pop punk)
- 14. Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling (2015 - hardcore / indie)
- 15. Fucked Up - Glass Boys (2014 - hardcore / post-punk)
- 16. Hopesfall - Arbiter (2018 - post-hardcore)
- 17. Japandroids - Celebration Rock (2012 - alternative rock)
- 18. La Dispute - Wildlife (2011 - spoken word / post-hardcore)
- 19. Lagwagon - Railer (2019 - skate punk)
- 20. Touché Amoré - Parting The Sea Between The Brightness & Me (2011 - post-hardcore)
- 21. Trophy Eyes - The American Dream (2018 - emo / indie)
- 22. Alkaline Trio - My Shame Is True (2013 - punk rock)
- 23. Hotel Books - Run Wild, Young Beauty (2015 - spoken word / post-hardcore)
- 24. Iron Chic - The Constant One (2013 - pop punk)
- 25. Angel Du$t - Rock The Fuck On Forever (2016 - stoner / pop punk)
- 26. Red City Radio - The Dangers Of Standing Still (2011 - punk rock)
- 27. Balance And Composure - The Things We Think We're Missing (2013 - alternative / post-hardcore)
- 28. Junior Battles - Idle Ages (2011 - pop punk / emo)
- 29. Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us (2015 - alternative / punk)
- 30. Sonic Boom Six - Sonic Boom Six (2012 - punk / drum'n'bass)
- 31. Basement - Colourmeindkindness(2012 - alternative / post-hardcore)
- 32. HIM - Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice (2010 - alternative rock)
- 33. Terror - Live By The Code (2013 - hardcore)
- 34. Boy Hits Car - All That Led Us Here (2014 - emo / post-hardcore)
- 35. Sorority Noise - You're Not As _____ As You Think (2017 - indie / emo)
- 36. Off With Their Heads - In Desolation (2010 - punk rock)
- 37. Daylight - Jar (2013 - alternative / post-hardcore)
- 38. Direct Hit! - Brainless God (2013 - pop punk)
- 39. Living With Lions - Holy Shit (2011 - emo / pop punk)
- 40. The Dangerous Summer - War Paint (2011 - alternative / indie)
- 41. The Flatliners - Cavalcade (2010 - punk rock)
- 42. Fear Factory - Mechanize (2010 - industrial metal)
- 43. Hot Water Music - Light It Up (2017 - punk rock)
- 44. No Trigger - Tycoon (2012 - punk rock)
- 45. Motion City Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life (2010 - pop punk)
- 46. Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz (2018 - pop punk)
- 47. Astpai - Burden Calls (2014 - punk rock)
- 48. Norma Jean - Meridional (2010 - metalcore)
- 49. The Bronx - IV (2013 - rock)
- 50. RVIVR - The Beauty Between (2013 - pop punk)
- 51. Thursday - No Devolución (2011 - post-hardcore)
- 52. Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014 - metalcore)
Our editor AP is a disciple of the riff, which means that you’ll most often find him scouring the realms of doom, prog, stoner and all things prefixed with post- for his fix. In general though, as long as the music creates bold fusions, pushes boundaries or leaves him perplexed, AP is probably the most genre-agnostic writer we have. What he abhors most are cheap tricks and clichés.
- 1. Kvelertak - Kvelertak (2010 - black'n'roll)
- 2. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner (2016 - post-metal)
- 3. Misþyrming - Algleymi (2019 - black metal)
- 4. Deafheaven - Sunbather (2013 - black metal)
- 5. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit (2018 - avant-garde / black metal / gospel)
- 6. Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction (2015 - death metal)
- 7. Alcest - Les Voyages de l’Âme (2012 - black metal)
- 8. Power Trip - Nightmare Logic (2017 - crossover thrash)
- 9. Touché Amoré - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me (2011 - post-hardcore)
- 10. Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend (2014 - sludge / doom metal)
Honourable mentions:
- Comeback Kid - Symptoms + Cures (2010 - melodic hardcore)
- envy - Recitation (2011 - post-hardcore)
- The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past (2012 - pop punk)
- Off With Their Heads - Home (2013 - punk rock)
- Opeth - Pale Communion (2014 - progressive rock)
- Between The Buried And Me - Coma Ecliptic (2015 - progressive metal)
- Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä (2016 - black metal)
- Code Orange - Forever (2017 - hardcore)
- Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz (2018 - pop punk)
- Gold - Why Aren’t You Laughing? (2019 - post-punk)
MAK joined the Rockfreaks team halfway through the decade, so quite a lot of his choices released prior to joining weren’t covered around the time of the release. What this list does show is the change in tastes MAK had as the decade went on, starting out more as a metalcore and hardcore fan and progressing to be more of a punk and ska fan for the most part as the years passed.
- 1. Call Me Malcolm – I Was Broken When You Got Here (2019 - ska punk)
- 2. Faintest Idea – Increasing the Minimum Rage (2016 - ska punk)
- 3. Popes of Chillitown – To The Moon (2015 - ska punk)
- 4. Bolshy – Reap The Storm (2017 - ska punk)
- 5. Down To Nothing – Life on the James (2013 - hardcore)
- 6. Rotting Out – The Wrong Way (2013 - hardcore)
- 7. Faintest Idea – The Voice of Treason (2012 - ska punk)
- 8. Just Say Nay – Maximum Effort (2019 - ska punk)
- 9. Trapped Under Ice – Big Kiss Goodnight (2011 - hardcore)
- 10. A Day to Remember – What Separates You From Me (2010 - easycore)
- 11. The Hostiles – Last Call (2016 - ska punk)
- 12. Casual Nausea – Demons (2019 - hardcore punk)
- 13. August Burns Red – Found In Far Away Places (2015 - metalcore)
- 14. Broken Teeth – The Seeker (2011 - hardcore)
- 15. Leftover Crack – Constructs of the State (2015 - ska / punk)
- 16. Popes Of Chillitown - Work Hard, Play Hard, See You In The Graveyard (2018 - ska punk)
- 17. Faintest Idea – Ignorance Is This (2010 - ska punk)
- 18. Brutal Youth – Sanguine (2016 - hardcore punk)
- 19. Darko – Bonsai Mammoth (2017 - technical skate punk)
- 20. Pizzatramp – Blowing Chunks (2016 - hardcore punk)
- 21. 88 Fingers Louie – Thank You For Being A Friend (2017 - punk)
- 22. The Bar Stool Preachers – Grazie Governo (2018 - punk rock)
- 23. Bring Me The Horizon - There Is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret (2010 - metalcore)
- 24. Beat The Red Light – Salt The Lands (2011 - skacore)
- 25. Random Hand – Hit Reset (2015 - ska punk / metal)
- 26. Adrenalized – Operation Exodus (2019 - technical punk)
- 27. Bodycount – Bloodlust (2017 - rap metal)
- 28. Rotting Out – Street Prowl (2011 - hardcore)
- 29. While She Sleeps – This Is The Six (2012 - metalcore)
- 30. Bring Me The Horizon – Sempiternal (2013 - metalcore)
- 31. Parkway Drive – Deep Blue (2010 - metalcore)
- 32. Abraskadabra – Welcome (2018 - ska punk)
- 33. Terror – Keepers of the Faith (2010 - hardcore)
- 34. Stick To Your Guns – Diamond (2012 - hardcore)
- 35. Four Year Strong – Enemy of the World (2010 - easycore)
- 36. August Burns Red – Phantom Anthem (2017 - metalcore)
- 37. Counting Coins – Counting Coins (2015 - ska punk)
- 38. Stand Out Riot – The Gentlemen Bandits (2011 - skacore)
- 39. The Decline – Are You Gonna Eat That? (2011 - skate punk)
- 40. Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016 - metalcore)
- 41. TRC – Bright Lights (2011 - hardcore)
- 42. The Interrupters – Say It Out Loud (2016 - ska punk)
- 43. Atrocity Solution – Lost Remedies (2013 - ska punk)
- 44. Architects – Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014 - metalcore)
- 45. Anti-Vigilante – Tempest (2012 - skacore)
- 46. Stray From The Path – Anonymous (2013 - hardcore)
- 47. Lamb of God – Resolution (2012 - metal)
- 48. Parkway Drive – Atlas (2012 - metalcore)
- 49. Authority Zero – Broadcasting to the Nations (2017 - punk rock)
- 50. Inner Terrestrials – Tales of Terror (2012 - punk / ska)
My only rule for this list has been this: one album per artist. I have probably forgotten a lot of fantastic records, but can at least vouch for every single entry in here being stunning records in their own right.
- 1. The Ocean - Pelagial (2013 - post-metal)
- 2. TesseracT - Altered State (2013 - djent)
- 3. Agent Fresco - A Long Time Listening (2011 - progressive rock)
- 4. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner (2016 - post-metal)
- 5. Vildhjarta - Måsstaden (2011 - djent)
- 6. Uneven Structure - Februus (2011 - djent)
- 7. Norma Jean - All Hail (2019 - metalcore)
- 8. Arcane Roots - Blood & Chemistry (2013 - alternative rock)
- 9. Insomnium - Winter’s Gate (2016 - melodic death metal)
- 10. Dvne - Asheran (2017 - progressive sludge metal)
- 11. pg.lost - Key (2012 - post-rock)
- 12. Leprous - Coal (2013 - progressive metal)
- 13. Black Peaks - Statues (2016 - alternative rock)
- 14. Amia Venera Landscape - The Long Procession (2010 - post-metal)
- 15. Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation) (2010 - post-hardcore)
- 16. Devil Sold His Soul - Empire of Light (2012 - post-metal / post-hardcore)
- 17. Holy Fawn - Death Spells (2018 - post-metal / post-rock)
- 18. Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Tree of Tongues (2012 - mathcore / post-harcore)
- 19. Deftones - Diamond Eyes (2010 - alternative metal)
- 20. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (2013 - progressive rock)
- 21. Meshuggah - Koloss (2012 - progressive metal)
- 22. Gojira - L’Entfant Sauvage (2012 - progressive metal)
- 23. Der Weg Einer Freiheit - Finisterre (2017 - atmospheric black metal)
- 24. Anathema - Weather Systems (2012 - progressive rock / post-rock)
- 25. Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal (2012 - djent)
- 26. Earthside - A Dream in Static (2015 - progressive metal)
- 27. Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014 - metalcore)
- 28. The Contortionist - Clairvoyant (2017 - progressive rock)
- 29. Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal (2013 - metalcore)
- 30. Deafheaven - Sunbather (2013 - black metal)
- 31. VOLA - Inmazes (2015 - progressive metal)
- 32. Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence (2012 - progressive metal)
- 33. Greyhaven - Empty Black (2018 - metalcore)
- 34. Behemoth - The Satanist (2014 - blackened death metal)
- 35. We Lost The Sea - Departure Songs (2015 - post-rock)
A daunting task as it may be, we would love to hear your thoughts on what were the best records of the past ten years. Leave them in the comments below for debate!