Best of 2009

#9 - Process of Guilt - Erosion

This is the first of a few down-tempo death/doom albums that made it onto the list this year. I had not heard of Process of Guilt before, but i'm glad i finally discovered them. This is one hell of a dark album. The atmosphere conveys an unrelenting sense of devastation with waves of massive guitar riffs and forward driving percussion. These musicians have a very well honed sense of tension and release that keeps this album surprising at every turn. With guitar riffs based on bludgeoning heaviness, i expected them to get boring and redundant, but it's the accompaniment that keeps them from repetition, namely the drumming, which was the most refreshing aspect of this album for me. They maintain a slow methodical pace, but manage to stay interesting with tension building fills reliant on the coming riff to resolve them. Erosion is a great example of how relatively simple pieces can come together and create something really extraordinary. Erosion is patient, it's brooding, it's unsettling and easily one of the best albums of the year.