As promised, here now is my list of the 10 albums I fond to be the most disappointing of 2008. I want to preface this list by saying that while I find these disappointing that isn’t to say all 10 are awful albums. Some are bad albums plan and simple, while others just fall very short of my own expectations for the bands.

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10) Abe Vigoda – Skeleton (PPM)

I really wanted to like this album because I like Abe Vigoda, but it’s like being tired because you didn’t sleep the night before, and you can’t get to sleep because the sun is just too bright, so you end up having ten cups of coffee to get yourself awake, but all the caffeine does is make you feel like you’re coming down from acid, and all you really want is for all of it to stop and to just get some sleep! That’s what this album felt like after about three songs. If that was Abe Vigoda’s intention, well job well done! But the album (which has it’s moments) is almost unlistenable in one sitting.

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9) Dragonforce – Ultimate Beatdown (Roadrunner)

This is another band who I whole-heatedly like. The whole theatric, tongue-in-cheek nature of the band is very enjoyable to me. Ultra Beatdown, however, feels like the continuation of  a handjob, long after you came. It may be silly of me to hope for some growth from Dragonforce, and as good of a song as “My Spirit Will Go On” is, I can’t take another two albums of it over and over and over and over again. The band is relying on the same fast-paced guitar trickery as it always has, but it feels like they are simply rearranging the same notes on every song. I’m not looking for Dragonforce to be Iron Maiden, but some progression towards Iced Earth or something would be a welcome change.

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8) The Faint - Fasciinatiion (Blank.Wav)

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I was really, really hoping Wet From Birth was some hiccup on the way to another great album. Sadly, it wasn’t. It seems all the pandering in Wet From Birth to their own creative impulses was a little too hard to overcome. The Faint were always a bit cheesy and nerdy, but they pulled it off really well with great beats and production. On Fasciinatiion, they drop the electro-tinkering, but fail to realize they’re not talented enough to reach their own grandiose aspirations in song and in lyrics. Trying to get into this is like trying to get into OMD albums released after the 80′s… yeah, exactly!

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7) Weezer – Weezer (The Red Album) (Geffen)

Speaking of the mighty falling… I don’t know why I was disappointed. Weezer hasn’t made a good album in such a long time why would I expect anything more from this? Maybe it’s that this album was yet another self-titled release, and that got my hopes up! Because, while not great, at least the Green Album was still very enjoyable and had its moments. I’m just at the point now that I can’t believe this is the same band that made Pinkerton. They’re just an empty cocoon, going through the motions. Where used to be heartfelt earnestness that’s now been replaced by silliness. More and more it’s becoming apparent that Rivers Cuomo just isn’t “Rivers Cuomo” without Matt Sharp.

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6) Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)

Wolf Parade are the first of a few bands on this list whose own success has gotten so into their heads that they’re overindulging in their own overindulgence. While it followed the same paint-by-numbers scheme to a successful indie album already established by Arcade Fire, I still enjoyed their debut, Apologies To the Queen Mary. However, At Mount Zoomer is like plodding through a winter wonderland, with only socks on your feet. How can you stop and enjoy the scenery if you’re worried that you’re about to get pneumonia? At Mount Zoomer feels like an album made without any thought to the listeners, whatsoever. The years spent working on side projects in between their debut and this album seem to have resulted in treating Wolf Parade like a side-project.

Stay tuned for part 2, the top 5 most disappointing albums of 2008!

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For the Top 40 Albums of 2008 please visit the following links below!

• For albums 5-1 on the list click here!

• For albums 10-6 on the list click here!

• For albums 15-11 on the list click here!

• For albums 20-16 on the list click here!

• For albums 25-21 on the list click here!

• For albums 30-26 on the list click here!

• For albums 35-31 on the list click here!

• For albums 40-36 on the list click here!

- My Pal the Crook