Notable Mentions

The trouble with doing a "Best Of Decade So Far" list, is that things that deserve to be in there keep on getting released after you've already started counting down. Instead of revising the entire list every time I heard some music I liked, I'm just adding in ten albums that would have been in there if I'd heard them before I started in September...

#10: Blink-182 - Neighborhoods


I wasn't impressed with Blink-182's last album - in which they decided to grow up, and write music that did not centre around dick and fart jokes. The band's comeback album released earlier in the year is also a "mature" effort, but is much stronger all around.

#9: Korn - The Path Of Totality


Korn do a dub-step/metal crossover album and think they've invented something entirely new. Considering dub-step just sounds like industrial metal with the metal taken out, what they've really created is something that Nine Inch Nails were working on 20 years ago. Whilst not as groundbreaking as they'd like to believe, it still has some good music in there, though.

#8: Mastodon - The Hunter


One of the strangest bands to gain mainstream success, Mastodon return with more of their trademark prog metal.

#7: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds


The second of two albums released this year from new projects' featuring the recently departed Gallagher brothers. 'High Flying Birds' is the better of the two in almost every possible way.

#6: Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist


The first Jane's Addiction album since 2003, following their successful fourth reunion tour. I'd take the chance to see them live now, because you never know when they're going to get pissed off with each other again. The role of bass player is shared between Chris Chaney (who played on 'Strays' and the subsequent tour), and David Andrew Sitek, but three songs ('Broken People', 'Words Right Out Of My Mouth' and 'Ultimate Reason') were co-written by the bass player the band originally wanted to record with them... none other than the musician that has had the most words written about him on this blog of any other, Duff McKagan.

#5: Orianthi - Fire E.P.


After the pop-rock of her previous album 'Believe', Orianthi released this five track E.P. exclusively on iTunes earlier in the year as a taster for the album she's currently working on with Dave Stewart. This is far harder in style, and I'm hoping next year will see her emerge as more than just "the guitarist for Michael Jackson's shows that never happened".

#4: SuperHeavy - SuperHeavy


Speaking of Dave Stewart, here he is again with the band he formed after hearing all of the different styles of music being played in a street in Jamaica. His first phonecall was to Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones (dooming the band to be known as a Rolling Stones side-project), and they later brought in Damian (son of Bob) Marley, Indian pop/Bollywood composer legend A.R. Rahman (he wrote 'Jai Ho' which most people probably remember for the awful Pussycat Dolls version), and one of the greatest young female singers the world has to offer, Joss Stone (she's also gorgeous... just thought I'd mention that). Doesn't sound like it should work, does it... but make no mistake, SuperHeavy is one of the most inventive, original, catchy and surprising albums of 2011. The combination of styles, and the mixture of young and old artists actually perfectly compliment each other, so you get tracks like the single 'Miracle Worker', the ragga of 'Energy' and the very Indian 'Satyameva Jayathe' all in a row. It might not be my favourite album of the decade, or even the year... but it's certainly the most unexpected.

#3: Nas/Damian Marley - Distant Relatives


It was after listening to 'SuperHeavy' that I decided to look into the back-catalogue of Damian Marley, and found this gem from 2010. Taking their common African heritage as an inspiration, he and rapper Nas produced a collaborative album which showcases both of their particular talents in hip-hop and reggae. I should probably whisper it when I say this is better than Jay-Z and Kanye West, shouldn't I.

#2: Puscifer - Conditions Of My Parole


Maynard James Keenan and a long list of collaborators bring you 'Conditions Of My Parole', the second full length studio album from Puscifer (basically an outlet for any idea Maynard has that wouldn't fit onto a Tool or A Perfect Circle album). It's hard to actually pin down exactly what kind of music this is, but one thing's for sure, it's a great one. When checking out Puscifer, please bypass 'V Is For Vagina' completely and go straight for this (and the iTunes only E.P. - 'C Is For (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here)'.

#1: Evanescence - Evanescence


Amy Lee returns with the lastest incarnation of Evanescence (this time featuring Terry Balsamo, Tim McCord, Troy McLawhorn and Will Hunt), to release a self-titled album that's far more confident than either of it's two predecessors. Not as unashamedly commercial (or compromised) as 'Fallen', and not as experimental as 'The Open Door', they seem to have found an even balance between the two that lets them just get along with writing some great tunes. Back in 2003, no one would have guessed that not only would this band (a seemingly flash-in-the-pan answer to Linkin Park) still be successful in 2011, but they'll also be ten times better than they were then. Once band members started leaving and Amy gained the drivers seat, she took a "music first" approach that they really should have taken in the first place, and decided to release albums when they thought they had something good enough to release instead of saturating the market with clones of their first album. It's working for them for the most part - though 'What You Want' is notably, well... shit, the rest of the album more than makes up for it.

#1: Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

Nightmare
Welcome To The Family
Danger Line
Buried Alive
Natural Born Killer
So Far Away
God Hates Us
Victim
Tonight The World Dies
Fiction
Save Me

M. Shadows - vocals
Synyster Gates - guitar, backing vocals
Zacky Vengeance - guitar, backing vocals
Johnny Christ - bass
The Rev - vocals on 'Fiction' and 'Save Me', piano on 'Save Me', drum arrangements
Mike Portnoy - drums
Brian Haner, Sr. - guitar
Sharlotte Gibson - backing vocals
Jessi Collins - backing vocals
David Palmer - piano, keyboards
Stevie Blacke - strings, string arrangements
Stewart Cole - trumpet
Mike Elizondo - keyboards
The Whistler - whistling
Produced by Mike Elizondo

Well well well... how they've grown. The release of Avenged Sevenfold's second album, 'Waking The Fallen' in 2003 put them firmly on rock/metal fans' to watch list. People could hear that they had a lot of potential, even if they did rely too much on screaming. The track, 'I Won't See You Tonight Part One' showed a band that was capable of something truly great. Then 2005's 'City Of Evil' came along, with the band maturing their sound, pushing their ambition, and securing their place in rock n' roll's big leagues. Unfortunately, when they released their self-titled album in 2007 it seemed their reach had exceeded their grasp, with a few missteps - not least of which M. Shadows sounding like Cher in her robot incarnation on one track.

Tragedy however can sometimes inspire the greatest art, and at the end of 2009 tragedy hit with the death of the band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. All of the songs were written and in their demo stages at the time, but I can't help but feel the pain that the band felt when they entered the studio with Dream Theatre's Mike Portnoy behind the drums at the beginning of 2010 was transferred into the music granting them emotion and power that would not have been evident otherwise. Nowhere is this emotion more evident than 'Fiction', a song about dying that would have been spookily relevant to their situation on its own, but made even moreso thanks to the fact that The Rev himself sings half of the lead vocals (the last thing he ever recorded just days before his death).

Other than that song, tracks such as 'Buried Alive', 'Tonight The World Dies' and 'Save Me' rank as the greatest things ever recorded by Avenged Sevenfold (and some of the best metal music I've heard in some time). And whereas tracks such as 'Nightmare', 'Welcome To The Family' and 'Danger Line' fall down a little in the lyrical department, they are still recorded with a passion that makes them irresistable. Of the entire album, only 'God Hates Us' falls flat, but with the other ten tracks being so great it hardly detracts from the overall experience at all. So far, this decade without a doubt belongs to them... the only negative thing is that they had to lose one of their own before they could achieve it.

#2: Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy

Audio Secrecy
Mission Statement
Digital
Say You'll Haunt Me
Dying
Let's Be Honest
Unfinished
Hesitate
Nylon 6/6
Miracles
Pieces
The Bitter End
Imperfect
Threadbare

Corey Taylor - vocals, guitar, piano
James Root - guitar, keyboards
Josh Rand - guitar
Shawn Economaki - bass
Roy Mayorga - drums, percussion, piano on 'Say You'll Haunt Me' and 'Nylon 6/6'
Steve Blacke - strings, string arrangements
Produced by Nick Raskulinecz

Corey Taylor's band just keeps on getting better, and 'Audio Secrecy' counts among my favourite records ever made. Kicking off from the title track intro into the awesome 'Mission Statement', Stone Sour put you through the paces for a solid 55 minutes of modern metal.
Granted, there isn't anything on here that's a big departure from the material on their first two albums, but in 'Audio Secrecy' they've absolutely perfected their craft. In 2009 I'd have never thought Stone Sour would rank so high up in a list I've made like this, as much as I'd loved their previous work. In fact, the same goes for the album that gets ranked #1...

#3: Duff McKagan's Loaded - The Taking

Lords Of Abaddon
Executioner's Song
Dead Skin
We Win
Easier Lying
She's An Anchor
Indian Summer
Wrecking Ball
King Of The World
Cocaine
Your Name
Follow Me To Hell

Duff McKagan - vocals, guitar
Mike Squires - guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Rouse - bass, backing vocals
Isaac Carpenter - drums, percussion
Produced by Terry Date

I wrote an extensive review of this album at the time of release, that can be found here.

#4: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
A Matter Of Time
Miss The Misery
I Should Have Known
Walk

Dave Grohl - vocals, guitar
Chris Shiflett - guitar, backing vocals
Pat Smear - guitar
Nate Mendel - bass
Taylor Hawkins - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Bob Mould - guitar and backing vocals on 'Dear Rosemary'
Krist Novoselic - bass and accordion on 'I Should Have Known'
Rami Jaffee - keyboards on 'Bridge Burning' and 'Rope', mellotron on 'I Should Have Known', organ on 'Walk'
Jessy Greene - violin on 'I Should Have Known'
Fee Waybill - backing vocals on 'Miss The Misery'
Butch Vig - percussion on 'Back & Forth'
Drew Hester - percussion on 'Arlandria'
Produced by Butch Vig

Dave Grohl reunites with both original Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear, and 'Nevermind' produced Butch Vig for this follow-up to 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace'. Not content with those reunions, however, there's also a track featuring Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic.
The result of these reunions is the most complete, impressive and satisfying Foo Fighters album since 'The Colour And The Shape'. Its non-stop run of great song after great song right from the intro to 'Bridge Burning' until the final moments of album-closing 'Walk' could even surpass that modern classic. This is quite simply a rock 'n' roll masterpiece.

#5: Smashing Pumpkins - Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 2: The Solstice Bare

The Fellowship
Freak
Tom Tom
Spangled

Billy Corgan - vocals, guitar, keyboards, electric sitar
Mike Byrne - drums
Mark Tulin - bass
Kerry Brown - congas
Ysanne Spevack - violin, viola
Linda Strawberry - backing vocals
Produced by Billy Corgan, Kerry Brown and Bjorn Thorsrud

The second volume of the Teargarden By Kaleidyscope project shows Billy is getting a lot more comfortable with the way he's been doing things. The songs on 'The Solstice Bare' feel more like they belong in the same project than those that made it onto 'Songs For A Sailor'. The best tracks are easily 'Freak' and 'Tom Tom', but 'The Following' and 'Spangled' are also really strong.
Unfortunately, two songs into the recording of Volume 3, the full band (Billy and Mike along with bassist Nicole Fiorentino and guitarist Jeff Schroeder) stopped and instead began work on a full length album to be released commercially entitled 'Oceania'. Hopefully, when they are done with that they'll then go back to the 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' project, because it shows some great promise. Though the prospect of a full length album featuring the entire band (the first time this has happened since 'Machina II' in 2000) is an exciting prospect in itself.

As before, this and every other song in the project can be listened to and downloaded for free here: http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/pages/home

#6: Korn - Korn III: Remember Who You Are

Uber-time
Oildale (Leave Me Alone)
Pop A Pill
Fear Is A Place To Live
Move On
Lead The Parade
Let The Guilt Go
The Past
Never Around
Are You Ready To Live?
Holding All These Lies

Jonathan Davis - vocals
Munky - guitar, lap steel
Fieldy - bass
Ray Luzier - drums
Produced by Ross Robinson

Ever since 2002, Korn seem to be alternating between an attempt to try something different which has mixed results, followed by something a lot more traditional and commercial that is great... so we have the mediocrity of 'Take A Look In The Mirror', followed by the pop-metal awesomness of 'See You On The Other Side', followed by the odd, disjointed, not entirely awful untitled album, followed by this album, 'Korn III: Remember Who You Are'. A return to roots in both style, and the fact that they once again have Ross Robinson twiddling the knobs in the studio.
The result is as you'd expect... not only a return to roots, but a complete return to form, complete with some of the best songs the band has released since 'Untouchables'.

Of course, true to form, Korn have just released an album where they step away from their roots once again and play a bunch of metal/dub-step mash-ups that misses the point with a few tracks, but not as often as it hits. Still, nowhere near as good as their more traditional albums.

Listen Here: Korn – Korn III: Remember Who You Are

#7: Tommy Stinson - One Man Mutiny

Don't Deserve You (Stinson)
It's A Drag (Roberts, Stinson)
Meant To Be (Stinson)
All This Way For Nothing (Reed, Stinson)
Come To Hide (Stinson)
Seize The Moment (Stinson)
Zero To Stupid (Roberts, Stinson)
Match Made In Hell (Stinson)
Destroy Me (Stinson)
One Man Mutiny (Fortus, Reed, Stinson)
Produced by Phillip Broussard Jr.

Tommy Stinson - vocals, guitar, bass, drums
Frank Ferrer - drums
Richard Fortus - guitar on 'One Man Mutiny'
Joan Jones - trumpet
George Manney - drums
Dizzy Reed - piano
Chip Roberts - guitar, slide guitar
Emily Roberts - vocals

The second solo album from Replacements/Guns N' Roses bass player Tommy Stinson takes a more chilled-out, stripped-down approach to the output from his current day job. Taking the Dylanesque approach of his earlier effort, 'Village Gorilla Head' and giving it a much stronger production that compliments his playing and voice perfectly.
Another addition that richens the experience is Tommy's wife, Emily Roberts providing backing vocals on multiple tracks (and co-lead vocals on another track). For Replacements fans, there is 'Match Made In Hell', a song that Stinson worked with former bandmate Paul Westerberg on (though a mistake in formatting means that Paul's versions were unable to be included on the record), and for Guns N' Roses fans there's the ultra-laid back title track, co-written by Dizzy Reed and Richard Fortus whilst on tour in Europe after an "inner-band dispute". However, 'Don't Deserve You', 'Meant To Be', 'All This Way For Nothing', and 'Destroy Me' also stand out.

Listen Here: Tommy Stinson – One Man Mutiny

#8: Slash - Slash

Ghost
Crucify The Dead
Beautiful Dangerous
Back From Cali
Promise
By The Sword
Gotten
Doctor Alibi
Watch This
I Hold On
Nothing To Say
Starlight
Saint Is A Sinner Too
We're All Gonna Die

Slash - guitar
Chris Chaney - bass (except on 'Watch This')
Josh Freese - drums (except on 'Watch This' and 'Starlight')
Lenny Castro - percussion (except on 'Ghost', 'Doctor Alibi', 'Watch This', 'Nothing To Say', 'Starlight' and 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Ian Astbury - vocals and percussion on 'Ghost'
Izzy Stradlin - guitar on 'Ghost'
Ozzy Osbourne - vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Taylor Hawkins - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Kevin Churko - backing vocals on 'Crucify The Dead'
Fergie - vocals on 'Beautiful Dangerous'
Myles Kennedy - vocals on 'Back From Cali' and 'Starlight'
Steve Ferrone - drums on 'Starlight'
Chris Cornell - vocals on 'Promise'
Andrew Stockdale - vocals on 'By The Sword'
Adam Levine - vocals on 'Gotten'
Lemmy Kilmister - vocals and bass on 'Doctor Alibi'
Dave Grohl - drums on 'Watch This'
Duff McKagan - bass on 'Watch This'
Kid Rock - vocals on 'I Hold On'
M. Shadows - vocals on 'Nothing To Say'
Rocco DeLuca - vocals on 'Saint Is A Sinner Too'
Iggy Pop - vocals on 'We're All Gonna Die'
Produced by Eric Valentine, Kid Rock and Big Chris Flores

If you'd asked me in 2009 if Slash was going to release one of the best rock albums in recent memory, I would have told you that there wasn't a chance. I believed his best days to be far behind him, with Velvet Revolver's 'Contraband' being the last glimpse of how great he can be when he believes in what he's doing (which itself was the first time he'd shown that ability since leaving Guns N' Roses earlier). Since then, a series of moves made by him, as well as his lacklustre performance on Velvet Revolver's 'Libertad' had me convinced that his career from then on was to be a series of cynical cash-in's and virtual retreads of his past material.
Then in the first half of 2010, Slash released his first true solo album, and blew me away once again. Going the Carlos Santana route of writing songs for a series of guest vocalists to add their own lyrics and melodies to, 'Slash' turns out to be a surprisingly eclectic album, taking in punk, thrash metal, and even Spanish guitar as well as Slash's trademark bluesy guitar swagger. The guest vocalists range from the obvious old school legends (Lemmy, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop), to the best voices in rock n' roll today (M. Shadows, Andrew Stockdale), to the downright bizarre (Maroon 5's Adam Levine, Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas).
Surprisingly, it's the track with Fergie - 'Beautiful Dangerous' - that stands out as the best song on the album. She might not show it in her day job, but this girl can really rock given the right incentive. Other highlights include (but are not limited to) 'By The Sword' featuring Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, and the instrumental 'Watch This' featuring Duff McKagan on bass and Dave Grohl on drums (this has the makings of another great supergroup!)
The only real disappointments are the tracks sang by Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy. Myles can be a fantastic singer when he keeps to his natural baritone voice, but as soon as he begins stretching his voice to near-castrato levels, which is what he does to excess during both of the songs he's featured on here, he just sounds awful. Like Axl Rose circa 2002, in fact. That said, Myles has proven to be perfectly capable singing the other songs on the record in a live setting in the last years of touring, and will be the sole vocalist on next year's follow-up. Hopefully he'll be singing more like he does with Alter Bridge on that one.
Ultimately, though, Slash has proven that he still has some great riffs hidden in that top hat of his, and his credibility has been restored. Hopefully that'll last for a while....


Oh... back to the drawing board, then, eh?

Listen Here: Slash – Slash

#9: Filter - The Trouble With Angels

The Inevitable Relapse
Drug Boy
Absentee Father
No Love
No Re-Entry
Down With Me
Catch A Falling Knife
The Trouble With Angels
Clouds
Fades Like A Photograph

Richard Patrick - vocals, guitar, programming
Mitchell Marlow - guitar
John Spiker - bass, programming
Mika Fineo - drums
Produced by Richard Patrick and Bob Marlette

Richard Patick and co. return to form after the patchy 'Anthems For The Damned'. In fact, not only is this a return to form for the band, but also the best that they have ever released, despite not having a 'Hey Man, Nice Shot' style crowd-pleaser.

Listen Here: Filter – The Trouble With Angels

#10 - Smashing Pumpkins - Teargarden By Kaleidyscope Vol. 1: Songs For A Sailor

A Song For A Son
Astral Planes
Widow Wake My Mind
A Stitch In Time

Billy Corgan - vocals, guitar, keyboards, electric sitar
Mike Byrne - drums
Mark Tulin - bass
Kerry Brown - congas on 'Astral Planes'
Ysanne Spevack - violin, viola
Linda Strawberry - backing vocals

Produced by Billy Corgan, Kerry Brown and Bjorn Thorsrud

Billy Corgan's reconstituted Smashing Pumpkins entered the new decade with a novel idea. 44 songs, all released for free to download online, with a physical E.P. to be released after 4 songs have been made available. 'Songs For A Sailor' is the first E.P. to be released.
Entirely recorded by Billy Corgan, Mike Byrne (who replaces original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin), and temporary stand-in Mark Tulin (standing in for Ginger Reyes, who left the band to concentrate on her new family, and Nicole Fiorentino who had yet to be brought into the band), the songs on this record are definite growers. I wasn't a huge fan of any of them until repeated listens opened up their beauty to me. A perfect example of this is 'A Song For A Son', which on the face of it is just a simple piano melody that breaks down into some fairly impressive guitar theatrics.
The thing about the way these songs are being released is that Billy doesn't have to focus on any particular style to make the songs fit together, and it shows. There are shades of folk, and pop here, and other than the aforementioned guitar, the rock that the Pumpkins are known for is hardly anywhere to be seen.
There is a little bit of fumbling on here that shows that he's still getting used to this freedom, but overall this is a very strong set of songs.

Listen to/download these and all other 'Teargarden By Kaleidyscope' songs that have been released, here: http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/pages/home

Guns N' Roses and the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame

So, it's official... Guns N' Roses will be inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame next April. As soon as I heard the news, I sent three tweets to the band as well as Slash and Duff. One, a sincere congratulations for an honour that's well deserved. One a jokey reminder for someone to let Izzy know (I can actually see him not having any idea about it until it's already happened otherwise), and the other a plea to "please please PLEASE DON'T fuck it up".

Some people may confuse that plea for a plea for a reunion of some kind, but it's not. I love the current line-up of Guns N' Roses and 'Chinese Democracy', and think that what Slash and Duff have been doing on their own for the last few years is some of the best music they've ever recorded. I don't want to see any of these to come to an end because they've decided they want to tour together again. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if there is a reunion, whatever those guys had together would already be long gone.

No... I just want them all to be civil with each other for just one night. And by all, I mean the line-up that created 'Appetite For Destruction', as well as Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke and the current line-up together! Maybe there should be some room for Buckethead, Brain and Robin Finck, too. If they want to throw people a bone by having the original guys go up and perform, that'd be amazing, too, as a one-off. But that would just be a bonus... to have all of them there together would be the main goal. I'm really hoping that's not too much to ask for.

Of course, the Hall itself will have to do its part, too. In my opinion, if they want to avoid repeating the shambles with Van Halen, the worst thing they could do is tell Axl that the current line-up aren't going to be included. He's really fired up and proud of the band he has now, and has spent the last 10 years trying to convince the world to embrace the present, and let go of the past. The success of this has been mixed, but the current US tour appears to finally be doing this. If the HOF refuses to acknowledge them, that's a sure-fire way to turn the ceremony into an embarrassing drama. On top of this (and this next statement may piss people off), I think a large reason for the induction is the current line-up. Not because of their contribution to music, exactly, but because 'Chinese Democracy' and the last ten years of touring have kept Guns N' Roses an ongoing concern, with people always talking about what Axl is up to, etc. etc. They didn't give the world (or indeed the Hall Of Fame) a chance to forget about them. Contrary to popular belief, Axl has never tried to deny credit where it is due, even to people he doesn't like, so I'm pretty sure he'll accept that the original line-up needs to be included.

I know that in the long run, the Hall Of Fame doesn't matter - its relevance has repeatedly been called into question in recent years. But it's still a huge honour that 25 years after 'Appetite For Destruction' the band are still considered relevant enough to be included in such an exclusive club. People complain about the bands that have never been inducted, but a lot of those bands haven't made the required and sustained impact on music that their fans believe them to have, and it's the exclusivity of the thing that makes it so special. It's not something that will make any difference to the world, but it's a positive thing, people!

And wouldn't be nice if we could still think of it as a positive thing come April?

That Top 50: #26-11

So I got really behind on this countdown. For that reason, I'm going to do all of #26-11 en masse so then I'll only have the top ten to do in the couple of weeks until Christmas. I'll try to be more organised next time I attempt something like this...

#26 - Social Distortion - Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes

Mike Ness and co. return six years after their previous album. They sound exactly as you remember them, which is equally refreshing, and frustrating (would it be too much to ask to try something a bit different?). But still a highly entertaining record.

#25 - Riot In Rhythm - Vicious Circle

These guys from Seattle produced one of the best albums in years. Proof that there's still life in the Seattle rock scene, yet.

#24 - Star Anna & The Laughing Dogs - Alone In This Together

Star Anna is more proof of Seattle music's promise in this new decade. Star has one of the most beautiful voices in music at the moment, as well as the backing of some pretty major players in Mike McCready of Pearl Jam (who appears on this album), and Duff McKagan.

#23 - Tarja - What Lies Beneath

The former Nightwish vocalist turns out her third solo album. Just before being fired from Nightwish, she made several comments in interviews about how much she hates rock and metal music, but you can't tell from this album that is pretty much Nightwish-lite. It's still very good, though, with Tarja's voice still being as strong as ever.

#22 - Sixx:A.M. - This Is Gonna Hurt

Everyone who knows much about me knows that I hate Motley Crue. To me they embody everything that was wrong with mainstream rock music during the 80's. The very reason why the world was crying out for something that we eventually received in Guns N' Roses, and later the music that got labelled "grunge". So I did not expect to like this album. Amazingly, I consider it one of the best albums of 2011. It's all pretty straight-forward with no real risks taken, but Nikki Sixx, Dj Ashba and James Michael have produced some of the best straight hard rock albums in recent years.

#21 - Dropkick Murphy's - Going Out In Style

The Celt-punk rockers from Boston returned with their trademark mixture of originals and alternative takes on traditional Irish music. It's solid, as usual.

#20 - Deftones - Diamond Eyes

After the release of the amazing 'White Pony' back in 2000, Deftones seemed to lose their way, with their self-titled album and 'Saturday Night Wrist' being patchy at best - though with some decent tunes in there. After a near fatal car crash involving bass player, Chi Cheng, the band abandoned their planned album and started from scratch with 'Diamond Eyes' which found the band on top of their game. Cheng eventually awoke from his coma, and is slowly showing signs of improvement. Hopefully it won't be too long before he's back with the band and they continue work on 'Eros'.

#19 - The Pretty Reckless - Light Me Up

Taylor Momsen was Cindy Lou Who in The Grinch. Then she starred in Gossip Girl. Then she became a musician who appears to be trying too hard to live up to "shocking" behaviour began with The Runaways and carried on with the "riot grrrl" movement in the 90's. Imagewise, she's a complete attention whore with an attitude problem. Musically however, she is more than capable. This album was a real surprise to me, because it's actually very good. Hopefully she grows up soon, because I think she could be capable of something truly great in a few years.

#18 - My Chemical Romance - Danger Days (The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys)

Yet another big surprise. My Chemical Romance is one of those bands that always had a few songs that I could listen to, but never managed to hit me as anything very special. Then 'Danger Days' was released, and the completely absurd and over-the-top comic bookness of it all came across as inspired rather than gimmicky. For the first time, they sound like they're having fun... which enables the listener to have some fun, too.

#17 - Black Label Society - Order Of The Black

Zakk Wylde's band seem to release an album annually, which with any other band would equal over-saturation. With Black Label Society, it only seems to make them improve. The earlier BLS releases had some strong moments, but as time has gone on they've managed to actually make strong albums. Nowhere is this more prevalent thant he amazing 'Order Of The Black'.

#16 - Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

The Dutch symphonic metal band release a concept album complete with a comic book tie-in.

#15 - Ozzy Osbourne - Scream

Ozzy Osbourne proved his many critics wrong last year with the release of 'Scream'. Whereas after the release of the decidedly mediocre, 'Black Rain', people were claiming his best days were behind him, this could actually be his strongest non-Sabbath release.

#14 - Weezer - Hurley

Another band who have managed to pick themselves out of the pit of mediocrity in this decade, Weezer released their best album since 'The Green Album'... and most say that even that paled in comparison to 'The Blue Album' and 'Pinkerton'

#13 - Apocalyptica - 7th Symphony

The Finnish four-piece (formerly four cellists, but now three cellists and a drummer) come back with another strong effort, despite the strength of their guest vocalists drying up. When your most impressive vocalist is Gaving Rossdale, you'd think that you have a problem, but Apocalyptica prove that this isn't necessarily the case. His track 'End Of Me' is actually just as strong as the group's previous collaborations with Corey Taylor and Cristina Scabbia.

#12 - Return To Earth - Automata

Return To Earth is a metal band featuring the head of Bald Freak Records (Ron Scalzo, aka Q*Ball, aka the eponymous Bald Freak), and drummer Chris Pennie of the awful band the Dillinger Escape Plan. From the opening track, this schizophrenic freak-out of a record puts people on a rollercoaster ride that never lets up. All I can suggest is that you seek this one out, because I can not describe it any better than that.

#11 - Joss Stone - LP1

Since the age of 16, Joss Stone has been one of the most promising vocalists of this generation. Her first two albums featured a few songs that really showcased what she was capable of, but she quickly fell victim to record label interference, resulting in 'Introducing Joss Stone' - an album that took any positive thing about those two albums, and threw them out of the window, resulting in a mess. Disappointing sales led to the label indefinitely delaying her follow-up 'Colour Me Free!', until Joss eventually brought herself out of her contract along with the rights to the record and released it herself. That album was just as bad, but it did free her up to do what she wants when she wants as an independent artist.
'LP1' - produced by former Eurythmic, Dave Stewart - is the first result of that new-found freedom. And finally, at the age of 24, Joss Stone is living up to the potential that everyone saw that she had 8 years ago. Stone and Stewart have crafted an album that's equal parts soul, blues and rock n' roll in the exact same way she should have been encouraged to all along.
This year's SuperHeavy project (along with Stewart, Mick Jagger, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman) has proven that this album wasn't a fluke. I look forward to hearing 'LP2' that is being worked on now.