CaliberTV ‘Best Of 2014’: Album Of The Year

2. Slipknot – ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’

Perhaps the most heralded comeback of the year is Slipknot, who we haven’t heard from since 2009 when all hope seemed to be depleted for the band with the passing of Paul Gray. As matters only seemed to get worse with lineup changes it felt as though we may have to wait an eternity for new material. ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’, to put it simply, is a musical miracle. Showing that a band can crawl back from tragedy with power and a flame burning so bright it can and will ignite the world, ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’ is the diary of a band who have been through hell and back. There should be no doubts that the band is angrier than ever though, and if you don’t believe me unclean cuts like “Sarcastrophe” and “The Negative One” will gladly do the talking in my place. But what should not be taken for granted is that this is another Slipknot record, a record that beneath the surface is full of dark passages and sinister textures but also full of vulneribility and beauty. If “Goodbye” or “Skeptic” don’t bring a single tear to your eyes, I’d check your chest to see if you have a beating heart. Slipknot surely do – The heart of a lion that certainly doesn’t mind baring its teeth as shown in “Custer”. Quite possibly the deepest and most affecting record that 2014 brought forth, and a record to rejoice about just the same, for fans of Slipknot, recent and established.

1. Crosses – ‘Crosses’

Every year always seems to contain an underdog, an unlikely candidate that sweeps me from under my feet and serenades the shit out of me. Last year it was Twelve Foot Ninja’s ‘Silent Machine’. This year it is Crosses, a band so sensual and expressive that I hardly can word what SHOULD be said about their music. For starters, the band is an electronic rock hybrid that could have blended in well with the 90’s industrial crowd and possibly led that same crowd. Chino Moreno, God bless his soul, was kind enough to provide the vocals for this band and in turn embue them with the encapsulating voice that this band deserves. Each song on this record is a vast gratifying ride through the human romantic condition that just wouldn’t be possible without Chino guiding it along. That is not to discredit the other 2 members, as talented as they are and as much as they truly add to the atmosphere, but the addictive qualities that this record contains are brought forth by the combination of the 3, making for the tightest musical unit I heard this year. Crosses combines the 2 previous independent EPs the band released along with 5 new tracks. They’re randomly placed but for some reason the order of the songs seems to flow coherently and begs to be listened to in the designated order. “This Is A Trick” sets the stage quite well for what the rest of the record brings – Gothic Electropop – but there’s not a song on the record I’d say lags the experience and doesn’t deliver. If you’re looking for something outside the norms of mainstream radio and the established outcast nature of the rock/metal scene Crosses are the fine line between both, with their feet firmly planted in the deep, dark underground.