December 31 2018 – Another year and another look at our favourite releases of 2018 which we hope will inspire you to find some new music to enjoy. For fans of what we call #RealRock.
10. Delta deep – Delta Deep (reissue from 2015)
This release escaped our radar in 2015 when it debuted, so we take the opportunity to add it on the year of its vinyl release. The band created by Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen moves away from the polished rock of Leppard to a blues exploration of the deep south. The band features Debbie Blackwell Cook on vocals, Stone Temple Pilot’s bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Forrest Robinson.
9. Uniform Distortion – Jim James
My Morning Jacket is probably our favorite band of the last 20 years and when front man Jim James goes solo we pay attention. This guitar heavy release takes James back to his rock roots and the minimal approach is certainly a contrast to the studio polish of his bands recent releases.
8. True Rockers – Monster Truck
Monster Truck is currently Canada’s best rock band bar none. Their last release was our number one album of that year. Unfortunately this album is trying too hard to make the band a mainstream success and the inclusion of Evolution (the first single of the album) really turned us off an otherwise good album. Evolution in our opinion is the worst (by far) song the band has ever released and sounds nothing like the true rockers we know this band is. Having said that, the real brilliance of this band is in full display on the masterpiece Devil Don’t Care where they get deep and dirty with bluesy riffs.
7. Judas Priest – Firepower
The pioneers of Heavy Metal return with an album that could have easily been released in their golden era of the late 70’s and early 80’s. This is Priest at its best and the band which has been around for 50 years made one more album that is essential listening for fans of the band. Both types of songs which are powerful rockers or epic journeys are on this release.
6. Wasteland – Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats
Of all the bands in the list this might be the least know one, but their doom rock fuzz attack is a spectacular rock journey. According to Loudwire he concept album is “… set in a land where people live in walled cities, under heavy surveillance, cut off and in fear of one another. All their thoughts, knowledge and memories have been wiped clean, leaving them like the living dead, barely functioning and addicted to the glow of flickering propaganda screens. In the underworld, there are program discs for the brain that can replace stolen thoughts and allow people to finally think for themselves. It gives them knowledge to escape the misery of the cities and to reach the freedom of the outer wastelands, but the wasteland, of course, is total hell on earth. The general idea seemed quite fitting with all the propaganda and misinformation that we’ve been bombarded with in recent years.”
5. Clone of the Universe – Fu Manchu
18 minute epic rock journey named Il Mostro Atomico featuring blistering guitar work from Alex Lifeson. Can we stop here? The rest of the album is a very good stoner psych rock trip and as such this is definitely a 2018 best of.
4. Living The Dream – Slash
Not only a Slash album this is actually a Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators release. Slash is perhaps the last of the great guitar gods of the classic rock era and he has found the arena crowds again with his Guns N’ Roses reunion but that is not enough apparently. Slash found the time to release a very solid rock record which delivers his signature guitar sound along with Kennedy’s earth shattering vocals.
3. A Deeper Cut – The Temperance Movement
One of our favourite bands of the last 10 years continues with their trend of really good releases. Both of the band’s previous 2 albums were featured in our top 10 lists from years past and A Deeper Cut is no exception. Phil Campbell has an incredible voice with hint of Rod Steward and he delivers on overdrive on this record. Check out Caught in the Middle to get a taste of the goodness on this record.
2. Rainier Fog – Alice in Chains
Very few bands recover successfully from a loss of a very charismatic and high profile vocalist and release new material that rivals the original releases. Alice In Chains totally bucks this trend and delivers yet another killer album after the death of Layne Staley. They are clearly no longer the grunge band from Seattle and they dont pretend to be. This is a hard rock offering with many highlights and an album we love to listen to end to end.
1. Anthem of the Peaceful Army – Greta Van Fleet
We have called bands like Rival Sons and Monster Truck the saviours of rock but only one band has taken that mantra to the highest level. Greta Van Fleet is a Led Zeppelin rip off and we LOVE it. Never in our lives did we believe that a young band could bring the vibe of Led Zeppelin on to a record and on to the live stage without offending our #RealRock sophistication but the Grammy Award winners have clearly proven if you have amazing musical talent and love what you do, you can bring back the sounds of classic rock to a new generation. We have played this album more than any other this year and we don’t intend on slowing down.
