Year-end thoughts 2009: Jess

by Jess Blumensheid

1. Church of Misery – Houses of the Unholy
2. Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs
3. Wino – Punctuated Equilibrium
4. Magrudergrind – Magrudergrind
5. The Gates of Slumber – Hymns of Blood and Thunder
6. Deströyer 666 – Defiance
7. Archgoat – “Goat and the Moon”
8. Marduk – Wormwood
9. Teitanblood – Seven Chalices
10. Tribulation – The Horror

This list reflects my life this year. I established many fierce attachments in the last 12 months. Some were more frustrating than others, like living for yet another year in Columbia, Missouri, where metal doesn’t set foot. But these 10 albums spared my sanity.

Amesoeurs cried with me after spending an entire paycheck on rent, not records. (That won’t change anytime soon.)

Deströyer 666, Archgoat, and Marduk darkened skies as the rest of the collegiate world tailgated under drooping tents. (This helped wash away piles of puke the morning after.)

Teitanblood and Tribulation took the win for drowning out unforgiving neighbors. (Sometimes earplugs just don’t work.)

Magrudergrind pointed out that gentrification and genocide are more threatening than a credit crisis. (Hacked bank accounts recover, too.)

But better days are to come. Doom done right always puts a smile on my face. For that I thank Wino, The Gates of Slumber, and Church of Misery — three bands that always surpass expectations. Along with the rest of the world, I mourned jobs lost, lives ended, and climates ruined. But as long as our troubles make great music, I can bite.

Church of Misery – Shotgun Boogie (James Oliver Huberty)