Wednesday, 24 December 2014

Andy's Top 40 albums of 2014 - Part 3 (30-26)

30. IMPERIAL STATE ELECTRIC - "Reptile Brain Music"

Album number three from former Hellacopters frontman Nicke Andersson's current project, "Reptile Brain Music" is 12 tracks and 30 minutes of lean, fat-free garage punk with the occasional nod to Social Distortion style cowpunk and creepy early Alice Cooper dynamics. Essentially, it gets in, says what it's got to say and gets out again nice and quick to leave you saying "Hey, that was a bit good, wasn't it?" Have a listen to "Eyes" below and see for yourself.




29. FOXY SHAZAM - "Gonzo"

Teaming Foxy Shazam up with Steve Albini might just be the weirdest combination of the year but the results made for a much stronger effort than their rather overblown previous album "Church Of Rock 'n' Roll" with the veteran punk producer giving the band a new energy and fizz to make "Gonzo" a strong effort. Unfortunately, it appears to have been their swansong as the band announced this autumn that they were going on an indefinite hiatus. Still, if it does turn out to be their final album then it was a good way to go out. You can see the video for "Tragic Thrill" below.




28. TRIOXIN CHERRY - "Let's Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space"

Fired up punk-metal from Nottingham, Trioxin Cherry have been doing the rounds on the live circuit for some time now and "Let's Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space" is definitely the sound of a band who've taken their time over things to hone their live set into a good solid album. They're very much a punk band (as the likes of "Fly Bill Murray!" which you can listen to below and "Ratbiter" show) but they're not afraid to introduce some heavier riffs and rhythms into the mix and even end this album with a light-hearted ska-punk song about punk festivals. Keep an eye on this lot, on this evidence there should be plenty more good things to come from them in the future.




27. GAGGERS - "Blame You"

Snotty street punk in the Dead Boys/Heartbreakers mould, the Gaggers' debut album is a pure blitz of attitude and scuzzy Keef style riffs which'll appeal to anyone who likes their rock 'n' roll with a bit of dark swagger to it. It blitzes into the party, drinks all yer booze, cops off with the best looking girl and then swaggers out again less than half an hour later leaving you wondering what the hell just happened. Just give "Steal Your Girl" (in its live version) a listen below for proof.




26. TONY WRIGHT - "Thoughts 'n' All"

Possibly the darkest thing Tony Wright's ever put his name to, "Thoughts 'n' All" was a stripped down acoustic album which saw the former Terrorvision frontman laying his demons out on the table. It may not be as catchy as the band he made his name with but this is still an enchantingly dark set of songs for rainy day listening. As a former Bradford resident myself, "Great Horton" (video below) is my personal favourite off the album so I've put the video for that 'un below.



Almost halfway there! Click here for Part 4.

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