Time for my annual best albums list. Not unusually for me I guess, there is a lot of material here from artists I grew up with. Some of them produced great comebacks, others sank in their own mediocrity.
It was a year of comebacks of a sort.
Fifteen years in the making, Axl Rose… sorry… ‘Guns ‘N Roses’ released Chinese Democracy. The questions were abundant – how could the songs be good if they took fifteen years to be recorded? Without a stable recording line-up, wouldn’t it be a complete mishmash? Not surprisingly, Chinese Democracy is uninspiring, boring, and just plain dull. Though most people had lost any hint excitement at the pending release about a decade ago, it would have been nice for it to have worked. Axl’s only hope is a reunion with his former partners who now make up Velvet Revolver.
Iced Earth forsook Tim Owens and recalled Matt Barlow to the fold for The Crucible Of Man – Something Wicked Part 2, and found that the change in vocalist still doesn’t help ordinary songwriting. Jon Schaeffer needs to go back to 1998 and remember what Iced Earth songs are supposed to sound like.
Brian May, Roger Taylor, Paul Rodgers and company finally released their awaited-for album of new material under the banner Queen + Paul Rodgers. Unfortunately, The Cosmos Rocks is a sad mix of 1970’s pop-rock and slower ballads that lack the inspiration and power of either Queen or Rodgers’ former bands. Perhaps it is not surprising given the nostalgia trip the band has been on for the past five years, but there was hope of something special. No such luck.
Def Leppard forced a new selection of sugar coated crap down our throats with Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. They were great live in November, but their new material is still just awful. Whitesnake also returned with Good To Be Bad and proved that the title was inaccurate. This should have been something special but fell down in almost every department.
All was not completely lost. Alice Cooper brought out another solid release with Along Came A Spider proving he is almost incapable of putting out bad albums. Michael Schenker brought vocalist Gary Barden back into the fold to release In The Midst Of Beauty, and though not able to recapture the magic of their initial partnership 20-odd years ago, it still makes for good listening.
Almost the release of the year, but not actually included on my list, is Exodus’ re-recording of their debut classic Bonded By Blood. Renamed here as Let There Be Blood, it was recorded to allow today’s modern recording techniques give it the power it deserves. Controversial in parts, I think it is a triumph, and shows Exodus are as relevant today as they ever were. However, I didn’t include it in my list, as it is just a re-release. It would have ranked very high had I used it!
So that’s the preliminaries. Here’s this year’s Top Ten.
10. Motorizer / MOTORHEADAnother year, another Motorhead album. And like every other release they have made, you know exactly what it is going to sound like. OK, a couple of the songs are really cheesy, even for Lemmy. But overall, the good thing about this album is that it feels familiar even though it is new. Easy to put on and listen to.
9. Lonely Are The Brave / JORN
Jorn Lande left Masterplan two years ago, and this is his first solo album since that split. With vocal chords like his, it was only a matter of what direction his song writing was going to go in. Fortunately for me, his inistincts kept him in the metal genre, and this is a great effort. Easy to spot the Whitesnake and Dio influences too. The cover of Deep Purple’s “Stormbringer” is stunning.
8. Shogun / TRIVIUMAnother solid release from one of the leaders in the current metal crop. Very interesting to me is the fact that there is a lot less growling on this album and a lot more clear vocals from Matt Heafy. Is that a response, perhaps to lengthen the band’s longevity. I don’t know. A good album that to me still lacks the killer punch to make it a bellringer.
7. The Man Who Would Not Die / BLAZE BAYLEYBlaze is back, and while this mightn’t quite reach the heights of his previous three albums, there is still enough here to make it a great release. With a whole new band it must have been difficult to pull together in the writing process, but overall it works like a dream. This guy deserves a higher profile in the metal world that he currently holds.
6. Death Magnetic / METALLICA
The fact that I am able to put this in my Top Ten albums of the year is a win in itself – the first time since the black album I have been able to do so. A much better feel to this album, and with about half the songs I can put on and listen to at any time. Still has some rubbish – “The Unforgiven III” is the standout – but at least they have gone in the right direction for the first time in almost two decades.
5. Perpetual Flame / YNGWIE MALMSTEEN’S RISING FORCEAs good as Unleash The Fury was, this is a brilliant return to form for Yngwie. Having recruited Tim Owens on vocals, this reminds me so much of Trilogy it’s not funny. Great singing from Ripper, who succeeds by not over-extending himself. Yngwie’s licks and riffs are still killer. This was a surprise in the good way.
4. Killing Season / DEATH ANGELAnother great release from the reformed San Francisco thrash merchants. Not quite the same fury that they produced on their previous album, but this still shows off their best qualities – good vocals, awesome guitaring, blinding drumming. Now tour Australia you bastards!
3. The Formation of Damnation / TESTAMENTThis led the way for most of the year as the best album of the year. The return grouping of Alex Skolnick, Eric Petersen, Greg Christian and Chuck Billy, with Nick Barker on drums, brings the full force of Testament to the fore, and they don’t let anyone down. Heavy metal has returned, and the five members all make sure that Testament is here for the long haul.
2. Saints of Los Angeles / MOTLEY CRUEI personally would never have believed they could have done it, but Motley Crue have righted the ship, and produced an album that ranks with their best from the 1980’s. Based on their autobiography “The Dirt”, they have told their story in the songs and also resurrected their sound from that era to produce an absolutely brilliant album. Vintage Crue.
1. Hell Yeah! The Awesome Foursome Live in Montreal / GAMMA RAYBack at their rightful place at Number 1 after finishing second last year. This live album (which is also on DVD) contains the absolute best that this band can produce, covering all era’s, and especially the recent era with lots of their newer stuff live. This proves once again why they are one of, if not, the premier metal band in the universe.
So there you go. My annual contribution. Feel free to discuss.
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