dEKE’s Top 5 Studio Album’s Of 2016…

 

Special New Years Day Post On What I Consider The 5 Best Albums of 2016……

1- THE CULT/ Hidden City…Hidden City was released in Feb of 2016 and what can you say but that Ian Astbury/Billy Duffy/John Tempsta and Bob Rock (Producer) put out a Masterpiece of Epic proportions! 12 Songs of Excellent Craftmanship where you find the King Of Street Rock  Riff’s Mr Duffy plying his trade of excellent Guitarmanship molded with Ian and his lyrical mysticism driven forward by  the Rhythmic Antics of Tempsta on the drums! Rock in the producers chair Let’s The Music Do The Talking! Have to add that Avalanche Of Light is in my estimation the Best Rock Track Not to released as a single this year! Travesty! Of course Wolfchild and Duffy showing up to play this past July in Thunder Bay also helped matters as they went 5 Tracks deep from Hidden City Live proving that if you call Wolfchild and The Cult  an Nostalgia Act. Ian will punch you in the Fuckin Throat! Ya-Yuh!

2-METALLICA/Hard Wired To Self Destruct…Too be honest I did not see this one coming in at Numero 2! I bought into the Hype and preordered it through iTunes and they quickly dropped 3 tracks Stat! I listened to them but I’m still old school as I like to hear the album in its entirety! Once it was released Hard Wired was an absolute beast of an album as Metallica did it the right way. The studio tracks to me harken back to Tallica’s And Justice For All period mixed with a blend of Sabbath at some point. The  Deluxe Edition is superb as well. They included cover song’s(Rainbow/Deep Purple/Maiden) and  a live show this past year where they only play tracks from the first two albums in their career ( 1983’s Kill Em All and  1984’s Ride The Lightening) James Hetfield man on this live recording inner channels his early 20’s and his singing is so good its crazy. Also if you are looking for a Crash Course on  James  rhythm guitar playing look no further than the live tracks on the left side of your headphones!  The blog community went nutso with same day release reviews by Mikey/Aaron and Bop! That’s how pumped with excitement people were. Even though Metallica are multi millionaires at least they still have their ear to the street and can give all us Blue Collar Peeps an album worth the money!

3-ALTERBRIDGE/ The Last  Hero….Myles Kennedy is one of my favourite rock singers under the age of 50! Haha! Everyone talks about his vocals but the man can play the 6 string as well. Speaking of the 6 string Mark Tremonti plays Metal Riffs and mixed with Myles vocals AB put out stellar product that charges out of the gate with opener The Last  Hero and doesn’t let up! Alterbridge shift all kinds of musical horizons but don’t puss out as the album can go head to head with anything out there currently! Just read that Myles and Mark recorded a bunch of this album playing 7 string guitars to give a bit more of a punch sonically ! Punch I got!

4-MONSTER TRUCK/Sittin Heavy… Reader HMO will be glad to see some CanCon in here and it’s by Monster Truck which is band that can rock a Hammond organ like no other  mixed with a dose of Heavy Devy Rock. Big Rock Riffs/Slick Songs/Great Vocals all blended  with the best elements of Skynyrd/Alice In Chains/Sabbath and you have a winner! Caught these guys Live here in Tbay back in March along with Tbone and our Asses were kicked. Even Tbone opened his wallet and shelled out for Sittin Heavy(That’s saying Something)! Anyone reading this that has the Truck come through their town Catch Em Live! You will not be disappointed! Don’t Fuck With The Truck! M.T say that…not me! But I wouldn’t mess with these guys!

(Two way tie for )5th-RIVAL SONS/Hollow Bones…..For sure they are going to be here! Why not? Rival Sons add 70’s Fused out Blues rock and mix it up with a current sound. It helps when you have Scott Holiday on guitar who is an absolute beast on the 6 string and you want a ton of Fuzzed up cool riffs? Look no further than Mr Holliday! Jay Buchanen has a real smooth rock voice which at certain times reminds me of Paul Rodgers! Ok. Jay and Myles are my two fav singers under the age of 50! Rival Sons keep putting out solid product. They have never let me down!

5TH- Toque/Toque….Crazy that I would include an album filled with cover versions by Canadian Artists! Toque rock’s  as they toss out 12 Canuck fav’s from yesteryear and update the sound with a singer(Todd Kerns) who delivers along with players who can play(Corey Churko and Brent Fitz). These song’s I grew  up with and with an updated sound as I have already mentioned. Living in a world of seriousness  these tunes are just plain out fun!

There ya go Folks! I have reviewed all these albums except for the Metallica album. Feel free to surf the site for  reviews of the other albums…

Don’t fret I will review Hardwired at some point but its a huge mountain of music. It took me a year almost to review my favourite album of 2015- Iron Maiden’s Book OF Souls…..

As always thanks for reading…..

Happy New Year!