Top 5 On Friday – 5 Underrated Albums From 2004-2008 That You Should Hear (again!)

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · October 25, 2024

Welcome to another installment of the Top 5 on Friday. This week, I will be discussing five albums that were released between 2004-2008 that were excellent, in my opinion, but overlooked or simply forgotten. Again, the order of the five is difficult to place but I believe my number one spot is solid. These are albums that are not really discussed that much, or at least I haven’t heard people talk about them, that I feel deserve some praise. I love all of these albums! Three of the five bands listed are from Canada, which was a mere coincidence. I hope you enjoy this and I encourage everyone to check these out on YouTube or wherever. Thanks again for reading!

5. NITROSEED – Molt

Nitroseed, from Laurel, Maryland, is a heavy riff rocking instrumental band featuring Rob Hampshire on bass, Shane Balloun on guitars, Tucker Orr on guitars, and Phil Adler on drums. The band produced one album in 2006 called Molt. It’s a kick ass record that delivers the heavy riffs-a-plenty! The style of music could be compared to the late great, Karma To Burn (review here), but Nitroseed has two guitar players, which directs the music differently. Molt packs a mean punch and executes ten songs around thirty seven minutes in total. I feel this album didn’t get enough credit on how good it was. There were a plethora of riff centric heavy instrumental rock bands showing up back in the mid 2000’s, thanks to Karma To Burn, but Nitroseed was one that stood out for me. The music was very cool and interesting and I thought the band had something special going on with this record. The rumor is that the band is still active and may release a new album (with some vocals too!)

Some great songs on Molt include: “Barbarian Test Tube”, “Creeper”, “Ship From Up North”, “Power The Sun”, “Combined Forces”, “Saturday Night Palsy” and “Gut But”. The whole record is impressive! I do revisit this album from time to time, when I’m not feasting on K2B. I would love to hear another release from Nitroseed but this one is a classic for sure.

https://nitroseed.bandcamp.com/album/molt

4. THE MIGHTY NIMBUS – Self Titled

The Mighty Nimbus was a side project/ super group comprised of Dan Soren (Sixty Watt Shaman) on vocals, “Minnesota” Pete Campbell ( drummer of Sixty Watt Shaman/ Pentagram) on guitars, Erik Larson (Alabama Thunder Pussy) on guitars, Dinis de Carvalho on bass, and Andy Campbell on drums. The band assembled in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the fall of 2003, and released their debut, Self Titled album in 2004. The music is a mix of heavy sludge, doom. and stoner rock infused with some swampy death metal. The Mighty Nimbus created a one of a kind slab of down tuned destruction with this album.

Lead off track “Everything I See” is a killer stoner doom classic with the brutal riffing and the awesome Acid Bath-ish vocals of Soren. The guitars are heavy and the drums are thunderous throughout this recording. “I’ll Never Weep” is a doomy blitzkrieg of heaviness. The songs get more diabolical from there on. “Broken Hoof”, “Drinking On A Pile Of Skulls”, and “Impose My Will” will leave you dying in a pool of blood. This album was incredible and still holds up twenty years later! There was supposed to be a second album with Alex “The Yeti” Petrovic on vocals but that never came about.

https://m.facebook.com/themightynimbus

3. IRON GIANT – Creator Of Scars

Iron Giant from Moncton, New Brunswick in Canada is a lesser known band in the stoner rock genre. I first discovered the band from MySpace way back in the day. Their debut album was released in 2002 entitled, No Longer Sleeping. Moncton is special to me because a lot of my family lives there. I used to visit once a year or so. I really enjoyed the No Longer Sleeping songs I heard from MySpace and went to a cool record store in Moncton, that my cousin recommended. I asked the guy working if he had ever heard of Iron Giant. He gave me a strange look and said that he was the guitarist for the band. They didn’t carry Iron Giant but he told me to come back the next day and he would hook me up. So when I returned, he gave me a CD of No Longer Sleeping and an unmixed CD recording of what would become their sophomore album, Creator Of Scars. I was floored! In 2008, Creator Of Scars was finally released. I love that record! The lineup for Iron Giant consisted of: Chris Lewis on vocals, Derek Robichaud on guitars, P.J. Dunphy on bass, and Jon Flanagan on drums.

Creator Of Scars features twelve rocking songs of heavy riff-centric stoner metal. Their sound could be described as a mix between Deliverance era Corrosion Of Conformity and Motörhead. The guitar riffs are thick and dense and the thunderous drumming has some good double bass action on the songs. Some highlight tracks are the distorted bass starting, fast rocking, Motörhead-esc, “Blind By Midnight”, the drum opening, riff machine of “Fuel On The Fire”, and heavy grooving “Black Hides The Sin”. Other standout songs include “I Bleed”, “Ain’t So Bad”, and the double bass drumming attack intro of the closure “One Million Times”. The music is heavy with a metallic rocking groove throughout and Chris Lewis has a pretty unique voice that fit the songs so well. I still revisit this album from time to time and for me, it never gets old.

https://m.facebook.com/irongiantecwt

2. BIONIC – Black Blood

Bionic was an alternative hard rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band was active between 1998-2007 and released three albums. Their Self Titled album was released in 1998 and reissued in Europe in 2001. The second sophomore album Deliverance was released in 2002. The lineup during that time period was: Jonathan Cummins on guitar and vocals, Paul Julius on bass, Tim Dwyer on drums, and Ian Blurton on guitars. Bionic released their third and final album in 2007 called Black Blood.

Black Blood is a fantastic album from start to finish! I was a big fan of 2002’s Deliverance before this one came along, and really dig the style of the band. They deliver some hard rocking punk infused metal with stoner rock tendencies throughout. Bionic has catchy choruses and big musical hooks in their songwriting. Black Blood pushed the envelope more and delivered some great tracks like: “I Got Skin”, “Learn To Love The Government “, “Sister Dynamite”, Silver Jet Plane” and the excellent title track, “Black Blood.” The band dish out some fun and rocking tunes with blistering guitar leads and noisy punk fueled metal bliss. “Soft Like Margarine”, “Freedom Now Baby!”, and the awesome closure “Theme For A Young Lion” are all top notch songs. Bionic went out with a smash and it’s a shame more people didn’t hear this record or band.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_(band)

https://g.co/kgs/CxmB5UX

1. PUDDY (Red Elite) – Endustry

When I discovered Toronto, Canada’s Puddy in the early 2000’s, I was an immediate fan. Their debut album Sweetspot (review here) was my introduction to the band, and they blew me away. The songs were heavy and catchy, with hooks that would make fans of QOTSA smile. They had that Kyussy sound with a sprinkle and splash of grunge, reggae and indie rock all mixed in. The band members consist of: Paolo Rizzo (songwriter, guitar, lead vocal), J.V.Bonhomme (guitar), Tim Reesor (bass) and Eric Cohen (drums.)

The story has it that Puddy got signed to a major label (Sony Records) in Canada. The band recorded these songs for what was supposed to be their major label debut. However, something happened and problems arose with the label and the record was ultimately shelved. The band was under some legal binding contract with the label and couldn’t release the songs they had written and recorded. Some years later, Puddy was forced to change their name, deciding to use the Red Elite moniker, in order to release their songs. I’m not sure if these are the actual songs or if the band had to re-record everything but the message is clear, a disdain for the record company and the tangled situation. Either way, these eight tracks represent a band in raw and rabid form, hell bent on carrying on, with no more compromises. The title of the album, Endustry says a lot about the strife that the band was going through. The twenty seven minute album is flawless, in my mind. I love this record and all of these songs! I believe this band should have been huge with the quality of this music.

Lead off song “Burn The Radio” makes a huge statement on Puddy’s circumstances. “Sign The Line” is a remake of one of their tracks entitled “It’s Funny ‘Cause It’s Happening To You” from the band’s five song, Drive EP. The band re-wrote the lyrics and altered the music up a bit too. It’s an ass kicking rocker that delivers the message loud and clear. “Working With Our Hands” incorporates the reggae vibe and cranks out a sick grove. Super dynamics from light to heavy crafted brilliantly. Puddy is on fire with this whole damn record! The fifth song proves to be the most devastating and very catchy. I get goosebumps every time I hear this one. Entitled “If The Guilt Don’t Eat You, The Parasites Will”, it’s the band’s most relentless and angry of the batch. “Winter Home” is another rager with vicious riffing and excellent Queens Of The Stone Age style melodies and vocals on parts. Absolutely stunning! Endustry closes with an acoustic anthem called “Crash”. Rizzo’s singing is absolutely beautiful.