My blog hasn't seen much action the last few weeks. The reason behind that is that I recently joined the club of hardcore dads and the little man has taken up most of the time, as any first-time parents will probably testify to. Anyway, we have found sort of a rhythm and the days leave some more free time again. I still have some records lying around that I picked up in the last few weeks and I'll make sure to catch up with the backlog in the nearby future.
But for now, it's that time of the year again. I can't believe another has gone by already. It feels like I just typed the year's end post for 2016. Crazy. 2017 has been a year with more ups and downs than the years before. I've seen close friends and family experience serious illnesses, death has been around my circle of friends way too much, and there have been some personal issues that close friends and also I had to deal with. Then again, 2017 saw many new friends, some friends and I started a band project, my wife and I went to a bunch of awesome shows, we got to hang out with friends from all over Germany and the world, and a very important friendship was rekindled. Plus, my wife gave birth to our first kid, so all in all 2017 has been a good year I'd say. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.
As I said before, I still have some records lying around that I haven't posted about, so the post count should be a little higher than it is, but it still would have been lower than in the years before. I took it slow in late spring/summer, kind of like last year, but I didn't finish as strongly as in past years. Oh, well.
One projection I can make for 2018 is that the first half of the year is going to see few pick ups and posts on here because I'm going to be a stay-at-home dad for half a year, which means I get to spend some real quality time with my son, but it also means that money will be tighter and buying records on a regular basis won't be in the cards.
2017 has seen some great releases in my opinion. I have noticed a tendency to buy more releases by old bands I already know and like. However, staying up-to-date with newer bands feels more and more like work. That's probably the old man in m talking. I often tell him to shut up, but it's getting harder. Luckily, I have friends who are a fair bit younger than myself and they keep me somewhat in the loop. Still, looking back on the records I bought this year and seeing which bands made my Top 10 this year, there is definitely an imbalance. Anyway, here are my Top 10 for 2017. No particular order.
Record Of The Year
Spirits - Unrest
7" Of The Year
Abuse Of Power - When Then Becomes Now
Demo Of The Year
Split between Open Your Eyes and Stand Point. They're also the only two demo tapes I picked up this year if I remember correctly. Maybe I should include tapes into my blog activities to keep track of that... Both tapes are okay, but there have definitely been years that were way better as far as demo tapes go. I know that you can listen to demos online, but that's not really caught on with me.
Honorable Mention
Free - Ex Tenebris
I still haven't picked up a copy because I missed out on the pre-order and the 7" sells for like 8+€ in regular distros, so I couldn't bring myself to order a copy yet.
Bridge 9 - The First 10 Years Box
Beautifully done with lots of details from what I have seen at first glance. I got my copy only this week and haven't really had any chance to sit down and spend some time with it.
