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!
YES! THE CULT! Another victory for Ian and Billy! Great list, didn’t expect TOQUE to make it but better late in the year than never right?
AND NOW…
MY TOP FIVE LIVE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR!
1. Kiss – Rocks Vegas
2. Tesla – Mechanical Resonance Live
3. Judas Priest – Battle Cry
4. Queen – On Air
5. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale (Live)
HAHAHAH just kidding.
5. Black Sabbath – The End (I’m counting it as both live and studio)
HAPPY NEW BEER
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Oh man… KISS Rocks Vegas. I passed on that. Maybe I shouldn’t have!
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The audio of it is great Scott…Stanley’s voice sounds tired at some point so perhaps they left this one alone in the studio…great mix on the guitars!
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I reckon I’ll hit it up on Spotify then and see what it sounds like. I quite liked Monster but I didn’t get all that excited about modern KISS. Maybe this could win me over.
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Modern Kiss for Demon and Starchild who are pushing 70 hahaha!
At first yeah I get tired of the same tracks they put out over an over but sometimes they actually seemed to leave this one alone….its all a decent listen…
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You mean…your Kiss collection is not complete? Goodness gracious!
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I know! It was a big deal for me passing up on that… felt like the end of an era.
But you know, there’s been quite a few bands in the last 2/3 years where I’ve done this. The cull has begun! The old bands need to shape up or ship out!
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I totally understand, and sadly…it’s Paul’s voice. The band is fine…very good in fact…Gene is still great, as is Eric. Tommy fills the shoes appropriately since Ace isn’t around, and the only real hole in the armor is Paul. If music were sports, he would have retired 10 years ago.
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Had a listen to some tracks there. Tough to listen to Paul. I’m not a huge Thayer fan if I’m honest too. No fire in his playing at all.
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I was listening to a lot of old Kiss in the car over the last few weeks. Ace’s playing is chunky, ragged, edgy…Thayer’s is sterile by comparison. It’s like watching…I dunno…Roger Moore playing James Bond? LOL
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Hahahaha….Jon Jovi cannot catch a break anywhere hahaha…Great call with Sabbath! Good to see some stuff similar like Tesla and wild to see Priest there….
Great list!
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Man, Jovi bugged me so much this year! But I tell you, I have finished the Emmett review — one more great album of 2016 right there. I think you’re gonna wanna hear it! James LaBrie and Alex Lifeson are on 2 tracks each.
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For sure I’m looking forward to your review of Rik’s album. I know for some like that Melodicrock.com guy trashed it but its Rik 2016 not Rik 1981. As much as i would love an Allied Forces type record from him it’s not gonna happen.
Plus he pulled in some A list Musicians who need no introduction!
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Yay for The Cult and glad you dug the new ‘tallica shit!
AND NOW…
MY TOP 5 LIVE “ALBUMS” OF THE YEAR!
I hardly bought any live albums this year! But…
1. Queen – On Air
2. Saxon – Let Me Feel Your Power
3. Candlemass – Behind the Wall of Doom (a box set but had an amazing live DVD in it)
4. Saint Vitus – Live Vol. 2
5. Gamma Ray – Lust for Live (reissue)
But the KISS Animalize album would be number one if it counted… not sure. And the Alex Harvey box set had brilliant live stuff but it wasn’t really new either. That would be my reissue of the year though.
There ya go! An HMO exclusive at Stick it in Your Ear!
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Cool stuff Scott! Kiss Animalize is another great call as it was released this year or I guess now last year! Ha!
Biff and the boys just keep going don’t they!? They should be sending you an autographed set of Biff’s Leather’s as a Thank You! hahaha…
Here at SIIYE we don’t follow any strict guidelines so anything goes!
Loosey Goosey style i prefer to call it!
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Well, Animalize was probably my fave/most listened to then! And Saxon are just on a rooolllll. No stopping them!
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Crusader Man Crusader!
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YES! I love the idea of us doing exclusives on other sites. Perhaps this a tradition Deke started and we should all continue!
One more for QUEEN!
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Hey! Sounds good……Yeah that Queen one looks slick as well!
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It’s soooooo beauuuutiful.
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Because you two Yahoo’s(HMO and Mikey) have scored Queen High I’ve just gotten it from iTunes!
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You won’t regret it!
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And thats the cool thing about these Lists as I recall you posting about it and with so much going on I forgot about it til now and because of Mikey and Yourself scoring it in the Top 5 I gotta …I mean it’s Queen! Still Love The Game album Top 20 all time in my book!
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Queen are so good live, I’m loving all this archive stuff they’re putting out. And totally agree, that’s the best thing about lists: being able to catch up stuff you might have missed.
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Great Top 5. The only one I hadn’t listened to is The Cult. With you and Mike both giving love to that album, I guess I need to add it to my library and listen to it.
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I think the Cult just got consistently better over the last 3 albums!
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I hadn’t listened to any of them. Good to hear that.
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My HIGHLIGHT for The Cult Hidden City was when Mikey had no idea they had a album raring to go! Pleasant surprise!
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Yeah you sent us the pre-release track I think! I had no idea! I hadn’t read any buzz about it at all. But I could easily blame you for not keeping me up to date 🙂
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HAHAHA….thats right I did send it out. I always check every Friday on iTunes there pre release category and it was sitting there..! WHUT??? it just showed up so I preordered it and they dropped I think Dark Energy first and I was like some people I know need to hear this STAT! HAHA….
Caught us all off guard and good on them at keeping a lid on it!
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Never too Late 2Loud!
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As Tesla might so though 2 Late 4 Love!
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Yes and J also had it sitting in at 8 in his Top 10….So 3 solid places!
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Agreed…all solid!
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The Cult made it onto another list, only this time coming out on top! Great stuff. The Rival Sons album is pretty smashin’, too – just missed out on a place in my list. Would have been my number 11.
Great list, Deke.
Happy New Year to ya!
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Thanks J! I was psyched to see the Cult in yours and Mike’s list so I knew we were all on agreement on that fine album!
Rival Sons was a great album. It’s wierd that they are having a hard time catching on in North America but are doing well over in your backyard and places beyond…
Real Solid album also like the fact that its under 40 minutes! Short and to the point!
Happy New Year to ya as well!
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That is peculiar. They’re certainly one of the better rock bands around, I reckon. Plus, Hollow Bones is probably their best album yet.
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100% with you with that one!
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Nice list Deke – much like with Monster Truck, I wouldn’t mess with a DeKe Top 5 either!
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HAHAHA….Well I don’t know about messing with me hahaha….but yeah Geoff you will always find the music around here stuff you can crank up to 11!(as Nigel Tufnel would have you believe)
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My husband swears by that new Metallica album. I’ll have to take a listen!
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This is a great list, Deke! Unsurprised to see the Cult on there for you! 🙂 And Toque! Damn man, you’re really selling me this record…
A great year in yer ears Deke! Let’s make 2017 RAWK!
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Roger That! Yeah its a pretty Rocking List isn’t it?? Ha! Toque is just plain out simple fun album and it’s tunes we as Nucks have heard over an over….its just a real cool spin!
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Metallica is finally making its comeback after a few disapointing albums.
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those are some good albums
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Thanks for stopping by and checking it out.
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