If you'd said to me this time last year that Therapy? would be on my Top 10 albums list for 2015 then I'd probably have laughed at you - suffice to say that their output over the last 7-8 years has been patchy to say the last. But they came back with possibly their strongest album for a decade in "Disquiet". Coming on like "Troublegum"'s older more cantankerous relative it had the sort of riffs and tunes that we all assumed Andy Cairns had long since given up on writing. Welcome back lads, it's good to have you with us again.
9 FAITH NO MORE - "Sol Invictus"
Speaking of comebacks..."Sol Invictus" could have been a disaster but it was a timely reminder of everything that made Faith No More such a vital band back in the 1990s. Owing more to their later years more offbeat albums such as "King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime" and "Angel Dust", the likes of "Matador", "Superhero" and "Sunny Side Up" were fantastically addictive slices of weirdness while only Mike Patton could end up calling the most obvious single on the album "Motherfucker". Again, it's good to have them back with us.
8 DARRELL BATH - "Roll Up"
A storming comeback from the former Crybabys/Dogs D'Amour guitarist, "Roll Up" was 35 minutes of good simple knockabout rock 'n' roll in the vein of the Stones, the Faces and Johnny Thunders with great tunes and riffs overflowing from it. If you need something to cheer you up through the cold winter months, this should cure whatever ails ya.
7 THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING - "Not Your Typical Victorians"
Third album from Britain's premier steampunk band and it shows that they're continuing to grow in confidence and ability all the time. From the straightforward punk of the title track (albeit with a serious message about stereotyping behind the humour), "Not Your Typical Victorians" takes in everything from lurching Tom Waits style observations through British invasion style pop rock to thundering doom metal in one weird, wonderful and warped package. Lord only knows where they go next but we're sure as hell looking forward to finding out.
6 THE SICK LIVERS - "Mid Liver Crisis"
First full length effort from Rumney's answer to Turbonegro and it proved that they're a band getting leaner, meaner and just out and out better all the time. Dark, deranged and full of killer riffs and tunes, make no mistake this was the Sick Livers announcing their arrival as serious players on the scene in the sort of fun 'n' filthy way that only they can.
5 MICHAEL MONROE - "Blackout States"
Solo album number three from Mr Monroe and it's up to the same high standards of his previous two - tight as you like garage rock 'n' roll from the heart. While the likes of "The Bastards' Bash" and "This Ain't A Love Song" were pure in yer face rock 'n' roll, "Old Kings' Road" and "Dead Hearts On Denmark Street" were a regretful look at a London that doesn't seem to exist any more and all the more poignant for it. All in all, Monroe hit a hat trick with all the ease of Phil "The Power" Taylor netting 180 on the dartboard with this 'un.
4 IMPERIAL STATE ELECTRIC - "Honk Machine"
Having previously established a reputation as being raw stripped down garage rock 'n' rollers, Imperial State Electric's fourth album proved that they've got more strings to their bow than folks were giving them credit for. From the Monkees style pure pop of "Maybe You're Right" to the big Elvis style gospel singalong of "Walk On By", this was a good varied effort and the band's strongest album to date.
3 THE ROLE MODELS - "The Go To Guy"
One of those bands who seem to have been doing the rounds on the London rock club circuit for ages, few would have predicted that the Role Models would have come up with such a high quality debut album. Coming on like the midpoint between Hanoi Rocks, the Replacements and Tom Petty, the likes of "Cherry Dear", "Where They Half Know My Name" and "Nowhere" mix the riffs of the Wildhearts with a more laid-back attitude akin to prime time Soul Asylum while the acoustic led closer "Leave Tonight" is simply the icing on the cake.
2 MOTOCHRIST - "Chrome"
Motochrist are that most rare of bands in that they remind you of a time when sleaze rock bands genuinely did sound decadent, delicious and dangerous before the run of watered-down post-"Dirt" wave of bands in the early noughties watered the whole genre down. The scuzzed-up likes of "I Don't Ride, Bitch", "Heads Are Gonna Roll", "Brunch, Nap And Complain" harked back to when groups like the Black Halos and the Heart Attacks were doing the rounds while the big singalong country ballad "If You Leave Me" to finish the album off was as unexpected as it was triumphant.
1 DANKO JONES - "Fire Music"
Truth of it is that any of the top three could've taken this year's award but in the end, it had to go to Danko. "Fire Music" is a lean, fat free 35 minute album of pure rock 'n' roll from Misfits style slasher punk ("The Twisting Knife") through more ominous Danzig style goth rock ("I Will Break Your Heart") to pure two minute punk rock fury ("Piranha"), all played tight, energetic and powerful. To say the guy is on a roll at the moment would be to state the bleedin' obvious but yeah, if I was gonna recommend one album from the last 12 months then "Fire Music" would definitely be it.
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