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