10. Projected Twin - Earth Vs. World
Genre: Ambient Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-Rock
Sounds Like: Karnivool, Pink Floyd, Anathema, Matthew Good Band
A lot of impressive recordings came out of Australia's proggier rock scene this year. We had new offerings from Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, Caligula's Horse, and many others...and in all honesty, there's nary a bad song between the lot of them. And yet the Australian artist who ended up crafting the best rock/metal LP came under the radar this year before any of these bigger players, letting loose upon us the second chapter in a story about the end of life on Earth as we know it. That artist is musical DIY entrepreneur Shaun Holton under the moniker Projected Twin, and the record in question is Earth Vs. World. To put it mildly, it is the geocentric apocalypse brought to life as a pure sonic spectacle...and it is majesty incarnate.
In the same way that some of the great bands in metal out there (such as Opeth or Porcupine Tree) take great care when making use of contrast in their sound, Mr. Holton takes a slightly different twist to the idea: he turns on a dime between acoustic guitar ripostes and a more melodic, cinematic take on doom metal, walking the thin line of coherency with his powerful voice as the guiding light to unite seemingly opposite dynamics. Lots of lyrically striking moments to derive as well...but I suppose when you are detailing Mother Earth's violent rejection of humanity on a song-by-song basis, its hard not to get drawn in by the sheer power of it all.
Key tracks for me include opening cut 'You Threw The Stone', Armageddon monsterpiece 'The Ritual' and the catchy 'Grab On Please', but there's no missteps to be had no matter which songs end up finding a place in your soul to stick to. I'm still in awe of it even now...