Top 25 Hard Rockin' Albums Reviewed
Submitted by baker on Wed, 03/16/2005 - 05:42
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- El Cielo (Dredg)
Beautiful rock! This album has an exquisite blend of hard rockin' Tool-like riffs balanced with gentle piano and instrumental sounds. Also, this album focuses on the interesting theme of sleep paralysis (commonly associated with alien abduction) that's worth reading more about in the amazon.com review section.
Best Tracks: "Same ol' Road," "Sanzen," "It Only Took A Day," "Triangle," "Sorry But It's Over," "Convalescent," "Of the Room," "The Canyon Behind Her" - Lateralus (Tool)
The coolest Tool album. This album is rife with mysticism/psycho-spiritual lyrics and sounds. The album art is very appropriate and should interest you enough to try a listen. Plus, there's plenty of hardcore headbanging metal tracks to satisfy the legions of diehard fans.
Best Tracks: "Schism," "The Patient," "Parabola," "The Grudge," "Reflection" - Siamese Dream (The Smashing Pumpkins)
This is such an upbeat album. Awesome guitar work by Billy Corgan and James Iha, even if you're not a big fan of the vocals. It's hard not to appreciate the goodness of life after listening to this album. Carpe Diem!
Best Tracks: "Today," "Geek U.S.A.," "Soma," "Cherub Rock," "Disarm," "Quiet" - Undertow (Tool)
The legend of Tool is born. As their first full length album, Undertow took the Rock world by storm with the unforgettable music video for "Sober." There's just so much raw emotion and power in both the guitar work and the vocals. But what really distinguishes Tool is how unique and unrepetitive their songs are. They don't play a chorus theme over and over again like many radio hits, but rather have a building evolution in each track.
Best Tracks: "Sober," "Undertow," "Prison Sex," "Crawl Away," "4 Degrees" - The Fragile (Nine Inch Nails)
Simply astounding double album by Trent Reznor. This album masters the expression of pain and loss, yet at the same time it bears the essence of human endurance and hope. All of us have had painful experiences in our lives. And if you've ever been terribly lonely or brokenhearted, this album's definition of tragic will bring a tear to your eye while simultaneously letting you revel in your power to survive.
Best Tracks: "We're In This Together," "Even Deeper," "The Great Below," "Somewhat Damaged," "Into the Void," "The Mark Has Been Made," "Please," "Complication," "Where Is Everybody?," "Starfuckers, Inc." - Aenima (Tool)
Often hailed as the greatest modern heavy metal album in existence, Aenima is crisper and more diverse than Undertow. This album has far more singles you've heard on the radio dozens of times. There are distinct themes on each track, mostly in the vein of "screw the Hollywood lifestyle." Because of the building power in each track, I like to classify Tool as Epic Rock.
Best Tracks: "Stinkfist," "Eulogy," "H.," "Forty Six & 2," "Jimmy," "Pushit," "Aenima" - Mer de Noms (A Perfect Circle)
The voice of Tool, with some great guitar heroes. This album's theme isn't held together tight enough, and thus lacks a sense of direction. Nevertheless, the individual tracks are wicked awesome. Hard rockin' sounds, yet a distinct guitar thumbprint that gives them a sound all their own.
Best Tracks: "The Hollow," "Judith," "Sleeping Beauty," "Thinking of You" - Leitmotif (Dredg)
More hard rock than El Cielo but the vocals aren't matured enough on this disc. Glorious theme of a person traveling the Earth in search of the meaning of life. Great lyrics and a beautiful mix of piano with guitar.
Best Tracks: "Symbol Song," "Movement I: @45°N, 180°W," "Movement II: Crosswind Minuet," "Movement III: Lyndon," "Penguins In the Desert" - Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness (The Smashing Pumpkins)
One of the most popular double albums in history. This album has numerous singles that get tons of air time. The music videos played endlessly on MTV in their day, and the band reached the pinnacle of their popularity with this release. The ironic thing is that there are some absolutely amazing songs like "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" and "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" that never got a chance as singles.
Best Tracks: "Thru the Eyes of Ruby," "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans," "Zero," "Here Is No Why," "Muzzle," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "1979," "Thirty-Three," "Where Boys Fear to Tread" - The Bends (Radiohead)
The best Radiohead album. Yes, OK, Computer opened new horizons of tech-rock, and meaningful lyrics, but this album is so much more fun. I dare you to try and not sing along with this album after spinning a few times on your car stereo.
Best Tracks: "The Bends," "Fake Plastic Trees," "Just," "Planet Telex," "(Nice Dream)," "High and Dry," "Bones" - Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin)
This is the greatest classic rock album, bar none. No, it doesn't have "Stairway to Heaven", but it does have, from start to finish, some of the most jammin' songs that exude the very essence of Rock 'N Roll.
Best Tracks: "Whole Lotta Love," "What Is and What Should Never Be," "Heartbreaker," "Ramble On," "Moby Dick" - Weezer (Weezer)
Instant fame comes from such outstanding debut albums. Great tracks, with a fresh, energetic spunk throughout. This album has no weak points, and contains sprouting genius. And the creativity is so good, it seems that they could make great songs about any topic you can think of. It's also the best proof that great rock doesn't have to have swears or angry rage.
Best Tracks: "Undone (The Sweater Song)," "In the Garage," "Say It Ain't So," "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" - Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From a Memory (Dream Theater)
After discovering Dream Theater from lukeprog's music lists right here on Listology.com, I was instantly hooked. This is progressive rock at its finest with a beautiful mix of heavy guitar riffs, synth, piano, and thought provoking lyrics. This is a very unique album because it is a story about a hypnosis patient who struggles to find the answers to an unsolved murder mystery from 1928. Unlike any other album I've heard before, the imagery and emotion on this disc prompts you to recreate a movie in your imagination. Just read along with the lyrics in the CD booklet and you're ready for an incredible journey.
Best Tracks: "Overture 1928," "Fatal Tragedy," "Strange Deja Vu," "Beyound This Life," "Home" - The Battle of Los Angeles (Rage Against the Machine)
What a killer band. Their rebellious, infuriated music was a huge connection to modern youth. It let people tap into their anger about the injustices/inequalities of society, inspiring those who were before simply numb and accepting of the way things are. This music gets your blood pumping to the point that you feel you can decimate political/racial/economic injustice single handedly. This is their best album because the tracks are much more distinct form one another, and there are nice allusions to Orwell's 1984.
Best Tracks: "Testify," "Guerilla Radio," "New Millenium Homes," "War Within a Breath" - Train of Thought (Dream Theater)
This is a ridiculously awesome progressive metal album that keeps jamming from start to finish. Much more heavy than their other albums, Dream Theater really shows that they can rock out hardcore with the best of 'em, and yet still have awesome lyrics and meaning. Also, there's some great movie quote samples on this album, particularly on "Honor Thy Father," another cool characteristic of Dream Theater.
Best Tracks: "Honor Thy Father," "Stream of Consciousness," "As I Am" - Metallica (Metallica)
This is my favorite Metallica album. The tracks seem more refined and detailed with a focused energy. I like their earlier stuff a lot, but those albums don't have as many awesome tracks and are inconsistent. This album may not be as packed with raw emotion as Ride the Lightning, but it's definitely a worthy self-titled album for the popular kings of heavy metal.
Best Tracks: "The God That Failed," "Enter Sandman," "The Unforgiven," "Wherever I May Roam" - OK, Computer (Radiohead)
This was their breakout album that blasted Radiohead into the rock 'n roll stratosphere. Suddenly, Radiohead became the benchmark for creative, progressive rock. Thom Yorke's voice is great, and the synthesized blips and bloops are reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here yet is even more expertly delivered. It's an awesome theme album, telling the life story of someone that lives in our technologically "advanced" society, from the curiosity of youth, to the conformity and politics of adulthood, to passive senility in old age. Perhaps the most critical line of modern life is from the song "Fitter Happier": "A pig... in a cage... on antibiotics." This album inspires anyone who really listens to it to reevaluate their life and their priorities.
Best Tracks: "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," "Airbag," "Electioneering" - Absolution (Muse)
Although, like many great new prog rock albums, it is compared and judged next to OK, Computer, this is an awesome sound. The vocals even sound like Radiohead, yet they do have a distinct sound that you can detect after a few listens. As much as the media portrays Radiohead as giving birth to synth music and having their own patent on it, it's not true, as hard as it is to say anything against Radiohead. Muse has some really jammin' hard rock chords beautifully blended with elegant piano and synth. The lyrics aren't the most provocative, but at least there are some worthy themes in most of the tracks such as agnosticism, obsessive love, apocalypse, and pastoralism. If you loved The Bends by Radiohead, then this is the next step for your collection.
Best Tracks: "Apocalypse Please," "Sing For Absolution," "Stockholm Syndrome," "Butterflies & Hurricanes" - Audioslave (Audioslave)
Great tunes. The vocals of Soundgarden mixed with the empowering guitars of Rage Against the Machine make for a distinguished new hard rock album for the 00's. The lyrics aren't incredibly memorable, but also deal with worthy subjects like the purpose of life and finding joy in sharing your wealth. The bottom line is that this is a great disc to throw in your car stereo and sing along with. I'd wager you get at least one of the tracks stuck in your head all day.
Best Tracks: "I Am the Highway," "Gasoline," "Like a Stone," "Shadow on the Sun" - The Downward Spiral (Nine Inch Nails)
This album is an indulgent outlet in anger, spite, and lust. Trent Reznor music, particularly in this album, empowers those who have been scorned, broken, torn apart, or abandoned in the realm of love. But you don't have to be goth or malcontent to enjoy this music, as it has some really catchy industrial synth sounds, pounding drums, and an eerie ability to manifest imagery of the imperfect. While The Fragile is a creative masterpiece, this is a sledgehammer of release.
Best Tracks: "Closer," "March of the Pigs," "Ruiner," "Reptile," "The Becoming" - Sixteen Stone (Bush)
This album practically owned the radio waves when the singles "Everything Zen," "Comedown," "Little Things," and "Machine Head" came out. Again, a brit debut album that catches everyone off guard and spreads like wildfire. Their status as an awesome band suffered tremendously from their following albums that couldn't come close to Sixteen Stone, but this one album is so good that their fanbase has remained loyal, satisfied to get a trickle of great songs with each new album they release.
Best Tracks: "Little Things," "Comedown," "Everything Zen," "Machine Head," "Glycerine" - X&Y (Coldplay)
Apparently history repeats itself in the music world too because most Coldplay listeners deemed A Rush of Blood to the Head inferior to Parachutes at first, and now listeners tend to say that X&Y is inferior to A Rush of Blood to the Head. I guess when you make as great music as Coldplay does, it takes time for audiences to believe that your newer album can possibly be better than your previous one. Regardless of which of their albums you think is best, this is an extremely carefully crafted masterpiece that sticks in your head beautifully. Real catchy, powerful vocals by Chris Martin have this enormous range of emotion that just goes exceedingly well with the energizing rock and synth of this band. A "must have" for fans of beautiful rock.
Best Tracks: "Square One," "What If," "Speed of Sound," "White Shadows" - The Sickness (Disturbed)
This is loud, dark, angry Rock 'N Roll. Angry heavy metal is nothing new, but it does have a guitar expertise and distinctness that made Ozzy Osbourne hail Disturbed as breaking new ground in heavy metal. This is cool, hardcore metal not for the weak of heart.
Best Tracks: "Stupify," "Voices," "Down With the Sickness," "Fear" - A Rush of Blood to the Head (Coldplay)
A remarkable album that gets better every time you listen to it. And while many albums tend to get slightly weaker towards the end, "Amsterdam" is a track I'm always eagerly looking forward to at the end of this disc. In my opinion, this music is taking on the mantle of U2 popularity status. Just like U2, here Coldplay plays great rock with meaningful lyrics and poignant vocals. And just like U2, this music is in that hard-soft middle area where it can appeal to millions of male and female music fans alike. Although your girlfriend or wife may not be into the whole heavy rock thing, I'd wager she'd be willing to listen to this album if you toss it in the CD player.
Best Tracks: "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face," "Clocks," "Politik," "The Scientist," "Amsterdam" - Fashion Nugget (Cake)
What a different, fun album! Rather than trying to have the loudest vocals or the most skillful guitar solos or even the most soothing synth sounds, this band goes in an entirely other direction. This is hip, chill-out music with very unique lead vocals and the plentiful use of trumpet and bass guitar. If you listened to any rock radio in the 1990s, then you've probably heard their hit single "The Distance" at one time or another. Not a whole lot of complicated musical mastery here, just a simple grasp on how to get your groove on. And that is just a small taste of the album as a whole, as the lyrics are always a hoot.
Best Tracks: "The Distance," "Frank Sinatra," "It's Coming Down," "Daria," "Friend Is a Four Letter Word," "Italian Leather Sofa"
I love to see that other people think Led Zeppelin II was the best of the bunch as far as the band goes... I've heard a lot of people disagree with me on that one... not here, but in my personal life.
Yeah, my friends from High School were into Led Zeppelin a lot, yet none of them agreed with me about II being the best. I think it's because other albums have great singles that stand out like "Stairway to Heaven," "Kashmir," "The Ocean," etc. But for my money, I'd rather listen to Led Zeppelin II start to finish. You've got an awesome guitar solo in "Heartbreaker," the crowd pleasing "Whole Lotta Love," the catchy "Ramble On," the gentle love song "Thank You," and even an uncommonly long yet fantastic drum solo in "Moby Dick."
i was just thinking about that last night... moby dick has the only true drum solo i've ever dubbed listenable... not to mention one of their best guitar lines, and that is really saying something, although much too short.