The Brixton band who found fame in the 90's reformed in 2009, and this is their second album since then. 2010's 'Wonderlustre' was a huge disappointment, but this record finds Skin and co. back on form.
Best Songs: I Will Break You; Satisfied?
359) Tenacious D - Rize Of The Fenix (2012)
The moral of this album should be that Jack Black should give up acting and be a musician full time. I don't think he's made a decent movie since King Kong, but this record manages to both be a heartfelt tribute to his beloved metal, and hilarious.
Best Songs: Roadie; The Ballad Of Hollywood Jack And The Rage Kage
358) Green Day - 1000 Hours (1989)
The debut EP from Green Day, which genuinely sound far more punky and less polished than what they are known for nowadays.
Best Songs: 1000 Hours
357) Candlebox - Into The Sun (2008)
Seattle "post-grunge" also-rans return with an album worth listening to shocker! All sarcasm aside, though, this shows that Candlebox had more in them than their first time around suggested.
Best Songs: Stand; Into The Sun
356) Black Sabbath - Seventh Star (1986)
By the time of this album, Tony Iommi was the only original member of Black Sabbath left, with the rest of the band filled out by Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple on vocals, bassist Dave Spitz, Geoff Nicholls on keyboards, and former Lita Ford and future KISS drummer, Eric Singer. If you forget about the notable absence of Ozzy Osbourne (or Ronnie James Dio), though, the music on the album is surprisingly good.
Best Songs: In For The Kill; Danger Zone
355) Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)
The debut album from the influential post-punk band.
Best Songs: Requiem; Wardance
354) Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987)
After a couple of almost unlistenable records in their early career, the Red Hot Chili Peppers finally began their journey to a band that people care about with this classic of the funk-rock genre. Despite being their third album, this is the only one to feature original guitarist Hillel Slovak, who had left the band prior to the recording of both of their previous albums, and unfortunately died of a heroin overdose the year after this album's release. Also in the line-up at the time was drummer Jack Irons who would later briefly become a member of Pearl Jam.
Best Songs: Fight Like A Brave; Organic Anti-Beatbox Band
353) Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing (1998)
Placebo's second album is the only one for a long time that actually showed what the band was capable of. It wouldn't be bettered until they released 'Battle For The Sun' in 2008. In the meantime, they released albums ranging from disappointing to straight-up crap.
Best Songs: Brick Shithouse; Scared Of Girls
352) Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest For The Wicked (1988)
The fifth solo album from the former (and current) Black Sabbath man. This one introduced the world to Zakk Wylde.
Best Songs: Miracle Man; Fire In The Sky
351) Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark (1992)
After this record, singer Bruce Dickinson left for a few years to make an ill-fated attempt at a solo career. This is an under-appreciated gem amongst Iron Maiden's albums, which gets thrown in with the band's other albums from the 90's featuring replacement singer Blaze Bayley, which were truly awful.
Best Songs: Afraid To Shoot Strangers; Fear Of The Dark
350) Hole - Live Through This (1994)
The breakthrough album for Hole, in which they abandoned their previous punky sound, and instead embraced something more akin to Nirvana (no doubt influenced by frontwoman Courtney Love being married to Kurt Cobain). Unfortunately, the release of the album was overshadowed by Cobain's suicide just four days previously. It is one of the classics albums of the era, though, and despite my dislike of Love, should be given its due.
Best Songs: Asking For It; Doll Parts
349) Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man (2010)
Manic Street Preachers continue their second renaissance with 'Postcards From A Young Man', just a year after the release of 'Journal For Plague Lovers'.
Best Songs: Postcards From A Young Man; A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun
348) Metallica - Beyond Magnetic (2012)
An EP consisting of outtakes from 2008's 'Death Magnetic'. It's easy to tell why they were left out of that album, but if you can shut out the lyrics (which are some of the worst of James Hetfield's long and varied career of bad lyrics), they are an enjoyable listen.
Best Song: Just A Bullet Away
347) Green Day - !Tre! (2012)
The third and last of Green Day's trilogy of albums, released a whole month earlier than originally planned to make up for the band being forced to cancel their tour until Billie Joe Armstrong was done with rehab. As opposed to '!Uno!'s classic Green Day sound, and '!Dos!'s closer similarity to 'Warning' and the Foxboro Hot Tubs, '!Tre!' is closer to the stadium-filling sound of their latter day career.
Best Songs: Brutal Love; 99 Revolutions
346) Saul Williams - Saul Williams (2004)
Saul Williams first came to my attention when he opened for Nine Inch Nails on their UK tour in 2005. Combining beat poetry, hip hop and rock music, his music is often extremely political - as with 'List Of Demands (Reparations)', and 'Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)' which features Rage Against The Machine's Zack de la Rocha repeating the same lines in the chorus, but also deals with issues of race - 'Black Stacey' - and savage criticisms of mainstream hip hop's obsession with sex and violence - 'Telegram'. Other contributions are made by System Of A Down's Serj Tankian in the form of piano in the opening track 'Talk To Strangers'. When people talk about how hip hop is all the same, this is the first record I play to them to prove my point that it isn't. Usually they end up grudginly agreeing with me... as he says in the opening lines of 'Grippo' - "I gave hip hop to white boys while no one was looking".
Best Songs: Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare); Black Stacey
345) Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop And Roll (2008)
Although going by a different name, this garage rock album is technically the third entry today for Green Day. Along with Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool, the Hot Tubs consist of Green Day's live band members Jason White, and Kevin Preston (on guitar), and Jason "brother of Josh" Freese (on keyboard and saxophone), Listening to the album, it's easy to hear why they decided to release it under a different name, as it doesn't sound like Green Day at all (despite Billie Joe's distinctive vocals).
Best Songs: Stop, Drop, And Roll; Mother Mary
344) The Cult - Beyond Good And Evil (2001)
The Cult's return to recording after seven years away featured a far more modern metal sound than fans of their early work may have been used to. This album was recorded by regular members Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy along with drummer Matt Sorum, who had been a member of the band years previously (before being poached by Guns N' Roses in 1990) but had never actually contributed to an album until that point. Bass was handled by Martyn LeNoble and Chris Wyse.
Best Songs: War (The Process); Rise
343) Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Black Sabbath continued to branch their sound out from their pioneering dark and foreboding metal sound that characterised their earliest material. 'It's Alright' is a piano-led ballad with lead vocals by drummer Bill Ward, which perhaps completed this transistion. Unfortunately, at this point the band were one bad album away from firing Ozzy Osbourne.
Best Songs: It's Alright; Dirty Women
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