2011 Top Ten Albums

As 2011 winds down to a close, it gives one pause to take stock in the past year. In this case, reminiscing about some great tunes, bands, and albums, some that were not so great and others that just plain stunk. 2011, was a great year for music. This year saw new releases from Stryper, Dropkick Murphys, and other big name bands. This year was a huge milestone for me in that I finally got to see Stryper live. I have been waiting to see them since I was 13, when my buddy Josh let me borrow his copy of To Hell With the Devil, way back in junior high. I took my son Nathan and my brother Isaac with me to see them live. This was Nathans very first live concert, and very first metal show. What an honor this year has been.

Whether the bands claimed the genre of punk, metal or another style that doesn't matter, these are the bands and albums that affected me, grabbed me, or were just plain good music and fun to listen to. Narrowing it down to a Top-Ten list was difficult to be sure, and there are some honorable mentions to be included also. Another side note, not all of these albums were released this year, rather I discovered the bands or finally got the albums in my grubby little paws.

Forevermore is the newest album from Whitesnake and came out in March, 2011. Throughout the bands career, the only constant member has been singer David Coverdale. The new album is fantastic, it is a heavy bluesy rocker, that is not like anything that they have done before. The album features Doug Aldrich (Dio) and Reb Beach (Winger) on guitars, Brian Tichy (Billy Idol, Vinnie Moore) on drums and Michael Devin on bass. Finally gone are the sappy radio ballads, and in their place are groove heavy rock n' roll songs. There are a couple of acoustic guitar driven ballads, but they fit very well with the overall flow of the album. Whitesnake show that they have plenty of life left in the band and I am waiting for more of these fantastic releases. In my humble opinion, this is the greatest album they have done yet. I don't expect them to dominate the charts like they did in the 80's, but no big deal, this album is better than anything they have done before. The album is available on iTunes and almost everywhere albums are sold.

Album 9 is a 6-track EP from the band Factor-150 called Happy End. Factor-150 are a relatively young band from the Ukraine with only their previously released debut, Stronger Than Hate, under their belts. Factor-150 play a style of music that is a mishmash of brutal metalcore and dance-style techno. These guys are true metalcore, there are no solo's, just neck snapping riffs and pummeling breakdowns and blastbeats mixed with high energy dance interludes. Lyrically the album is pure praise and worship. I do not normally go for the cookie-monster-on-crack style vocals, but this is perfectly understandable, and very well done. I picked this album up through untombed.com as a free licensed download. I am waiting expectantly for new music from this brilliant band.

Souljourners are next with their debut album, Mind-Control. I discovered this album on the Heaven's Metal podcast, put out by the magazine of the same name. This is a must-have album for fans of prog-metal. While most mentions of prog-metal bring to mind the technical wankery of Dream Theater, these guys have a sound that is strictly their own. The band is a 4 piece with lead singer Michael Couts handling the vocals and guitar work. While the album features some fantastic keyboard interludes, brilliant bass lines, technical drumming and tasty guitar solo's, it is the hooks and multi-layered melodies that keep the listener coming back for more listens. Lyrically, the album is socially conscious, and tackles issues like speculating about the near future, and the dangers in the over-use of anti-depressant medications. The album is not a concept album per-SE, but the lyrics are generally centered around a basic theme, and are very intelligently written. I got my copy as a free licensed download that the band offered for a 3 day period.

Album 7 is the band Thieves and Liars. Thieves and Liars hail from San Diego, and this trio only released 2 albums before calling it quits. The music scene will most definitely suffer for the loss. Thieves and Liars play a blues based hard rock that has huge 70's roots back to bands like Bon-Scott era AC/DC, early Aerosmith, Grand Funk, and even a little Deep Purple. While the band does not copy any of these bands directly, the vibe and influence is unmistakable. These guys play a fist-in-the-air shout along style of hard rock that has all of its lyrics taking their inspiration from the Bible and unpacking biblical concepts. These guys have fantastic hooks, sweet solo's and fantastic drumming. the tempo's run the gamut from the fast to slow and heavy. Nowhere on this album will you find a sappy ballad, rather each tune is a solid wall of distortion, pounding drums, smoking solo's. These guy know what rock n' roll is all about. I picked up my album from iTunes where it is still available, and you can get the cd on sites like Amazon and cdbaby.

Place of Skulls is a project put together by Victor Griffin shortly after he got saved and left the masters of doom-metal, Pentagram. The music is pure Sabbath worship, slow, sludgy, drop tuned heavy distortion, gravelly vocals and simple drum beats. The overall effect is an album that is very well done, musically and lyrically. The lyrics are pure honesty, and worship of the Creator. The lyrics examine human shortfalls and frailty as well as the holiness of God and the Christian life in the context of a fallen sinful human. The lyrics are uplifting and heartfelt, and every time that I listen to this album I get a chill down my spine. If you stripped the songs down to just a bare acoustic guitar, many songs would be right at home in a communion service at church. The music features drums that have a simple back-beat with a bass that has fantastic lines and fills. The production of the album gives each instrument equal footing, but the guitars are out front because of the tone achieved. Victor sings in a haunting lower register style, that is perfectly tailored for the style of music and nature of the lyrics.This album was released in 2010, but I did not get my copy until earlier this year from iTunes.

The Moshketeers are in the middle at number 5. Their one and only album, The Downward Spiral, was originally released independently by the band back in 1991. The band had a small following in the Christian metal scene, especially in areas like L.A. and their hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Shortly after the albums original release, lead singer and guitarist, Paul Scozzafava left to pursue a calling in ministry, and is currently the Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Santa Fe. Drummer Alan Tuma, went on to fill the vacant drum chair in the thrash band Ultimatum. Take some New York hardcore, add a slab of speed metal, some Bay-Area thrash, and you get the Moshketeers. Lyrically, these guys are more of the turn-or-burn variety and pull no punches. They also tackle issues in the church head-on like hypocrisy, and the farce that tele-evangelists had become. Musically, these guys are very proficient on their individual instruments, and the sound that is achieved by this trio, has that "live" vibe that I think would be very close to what you would have heard in a concert. In 2010, Roxx Productions dug up the original master tapes, and remastered and reproduced the album for an official release. This album was released in small production runs, but it is still available through iTunes or roxxrecords.com.

Number 4, is The Covering by Stryper. This album created a ton of controversy because Stryper recorded covers of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Whatever, the guys are showing respect to the bands that influenced them in their youth, and the songs that they chose each have a pretty positive message on their own. Overall the album is very well produced, the licks and chops are perfect, and the drums and bass are in perfect sync with each other. The album art is kind of cheesy, but the track listing, including the one original song God, is fantastic. This is the first album of Stryper's that I was able to buy as a new release pre-order, and the wait was more than worth it. All of the tracks are very well done and Stryper does not compromise their sound at all, but still pay their respects to the god-fathers of metal. The one track that I would consider as odd for the band is Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. I was more than a little surprised to find that there was no Saxon covered as there is no denying the influence in the bands sound. Overall, this album is a solid release from the yellow and black attack, and a hint at the great things that are to come.

Number 3, is a bass guitar driven blues album by Greg Chaisson. Greg got his start playing with the band Badlands and Die Happy. Both of the former bands were early 90's metal bands that were heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin and Ian Gillen fronted Deep Purple. I have long respected Greg's abilities as a player so I was ecstatic to hear that he had done a solo album. As soon as I pressed play, the tones and sounds that I had come to love filled my headphones. The album is what I have heard called heavy blues, whatever that means. To me this is an album for the mellower moods and the lyrics are all over the place. With songs like My Dark Ride and Too Late to Pray, that are about his testimony, and his disgust of politics with songs like It ain't Me (The Politician). There is even a love song that he wrote for his wife to thank her for standing beside him throughout his career. Mostly the songs deal with Christianity in the context of his relationship with Jesus, but there are others that speak of life experience. The music is nothing short of brilliant. The guitar and bass guitar tones are heavy but not heavily distorted or drop-tuned for effect. One song even features former Badlands vocalist Ray Gillen, that was recorded before he passed away. This song is a little different from the rest of the album in terms of attitude but is a solid slab of blues heavy rock n' roll. This album was originally released in 1994 on Intense Records, shortly before they went under. I am now desperately searching for a physical copy of this album, as the version that I have was purchased on iTunes. 

Grave Robber occupies spot number 2 with their debut album, Be Afraid. This album came out on Retro-Active Records in 2008, but they were a discovery for me earlier this summer. Grave Robber hail from the mid-west, and play a style of punk that is similar to early Misfits with a healthy dose Orange County punk attitude. They have hooks that could catch a whale with vocals that are crystal clear and sung in the lower registers. They play a style of fast technical punk, with sing-along choruses, and even smattering of guitar solo's thrown in for good measure. Lyrically, with the exception of the lone cover song, Nazarath's Love Hurts, every song deals with spiritual issues, and Biblical themes. The song lyrics are not the cookie-cutter variety of CCM pop drivel, but rather are blunt statements of grace, salvation and humanity. The lyrics also cover supernatural phenomenon from a biblical perspective and the use of sarcasm and humor is in full effect. Grave Robber is a very talented young band who do not take themselves too seriously, but are deadly serious in their lyrical approach and ministry. The liner notes feature pictures of the band in masks with nicknames and slang terms for the instruments like Wretched (Vokills), Dr. Cadaver (Doom Tubes, Vokills), Nameless (Guitar, Vokills) and Maggott (Bass, Vokills). In short this band is just plain fun, but are on a very serious mission to take the gospel to the lost areas where most CCM artists would not dare to tread. I picked up my copy of this album off of iTunes and to my knowledge it is the only place where you can get the bonus track of Love Hurts.

Coveted spot #1, belongs to Athens, GA metallers, Theocracy. Theocracy released Mirror of Souls in December 2008. Since I heard the album in early 2009, it has literally dominated my listening implements nonstop. I have this album memorized from start to finish, and the new album, As the World Bleeds, decimates all previous outings by this band. Musically and lyrically, this band has more talent in their little fingers than most people have in their whole band. This band hedges no bets, but go for broke and hide nothing. Their faith and desire to reach a lost world is evident and up-front, as is the desire to worship. These guys are not afraid to challenge fellow believers, call out the excuses and bring their collective guns to bear on hypocrites and the self-righteous. Lyrically they also challenge popular opinion, but not to embarrass, rather they question misrepresented ideas with honesty and logic, using unassailable examples from everyday life. Musically, this album runs the gamut from blistering speed to mid-tempo traditional metal to symphonic progressive passages that will stir your innermost soul with it's beauty. All the while Matt Smith's soaring vocals float over the top like so much icing on a cake. There is not a weak song on this album. The execution of the guitar solo's are smooth and profoundly technical, but not fast just to be fast, rather they accent each song's mood and complexity. The drummer and bassist are in perfect harmony, and balance the 2 guitarists in the ferocity of the musical attack, while rooting each song individually. The songs on this album are not all long technical wankery fests, nor are they all short radio oriented blasts, but rather the songs each hold their own unique place on the album, without displacing or overpowering the others. The variety of styles achieved is also worth mentioning, there are progressive, symphonic, power metal, speed metal and even some classical elements sprinkled tastefully throughout. This album was worth the wait and does not disappoint in any of it's hour long moments. I got my copy of the CD on pre-order, but Theocracy have an Amazon store as well as being available on itunes where you can purchase the album.

Of all the bands on this list, spots number 1, and 2 were easy to fill. The rest were a challenge to say the least. There are some other bands and albums that came within a hair of making the list so I thought that I would put a short addendum of these albums that deserve some respect and love. The following list is in no-way numbered or ordered, just albums that I happen to like a lot, that were discovered by me during this past year.

Airbourne - Runnin Wild (AC/DC inspired band from Australia, 2007)
The Call - Let the Day Begin (had it in highschool, just rediscovered this gem, 1989)
Disaffection - Begin the Revolution (Brilliant thrash metal from Brazil, 2010)
Gary Hoey - Monster Surf (Guitar god instrumentalist covers 60's surf hits, 2005)
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (British prog-rock at it's finest, 2002) 
Final Axe - Beyond Hells Gate (brilliant slab of traditional American Metal from 1989, re-issued, remastered, re-released in 2010)
Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style (Celtic punk rock concept album, 2011)
Immortal Souls - IV: Requiem for the Art of Death (Finnish technical death metal, with positive, lyrics about the Christian life, 2011)
NewWorldSon - Salvation Station (Funk/Soul, heavily influenced by 50's Motown, brilliant musicians from Canada, 2008)
the Sacrificed - 2012 (Brilliant traditional metal from Florida in the vein of Queensryche and Judas Priest, 2010)
Thresher - Here I Am (Technical thrash band out of the LA thrash scene, this album reminds me a lot of Metallica's ...And Justice For All, with more mature lyrics, originally released in 1989, remastered, rereleased in 2009)
UnderCover - Branded (Controversial Christian punk band from LA, this is the 25th anniversary of this seminal masterpiece, originally released in 1986, remastered and re-released in 2011 as a limited edition anniversary package)