Thursday, 27 December 2018

Andy's Best Albums of 2018 (Part 2)

50. TV SMITH - "Land Of The Overdose"

In an era where the world at large seems to get scarier and make less sense as time goes on, it's good to see TV Smith still out there railing against injustice with his trusty acoustic guitar. "Land of the Overdose" is another barbed howl at a nation that's continuing to go to the dogs with the likes of "No Control", "We Stand Alone" and "File It Under Not My Problem" proving that his songwriting isn't getting any less sharp with age.


49. MASSIVE WAGONS - "Half Nelson"

While some fans were bemoaning the more commercial edge to "Half Nelson", I'd actually argue that it's Lancaster rockers Massive Wagons' strongest effort to date. While their previous album "Welcome To The World" seemed to have them blundering around in search of a point and a decent tune to go with the riffs, here the likes of "Back To The Stack", "China Plates" and "Billy Balloon Head" saw a more developed songwriting nous coming to the fore to make for what I'd say is their strongest effort yet. The fact that it yielded an impressive Top 20 chart placing suggests that a lot of people agreed with me as well.


48. THE ALARM - "Equals"

I'll admit that this latest offering from Mike Peters and co took me a few listens to get used to with the use of sampling and electronic drumbeats on a few tracks being a bit of a curveball compared to the Alarm's more straight-up usual fare. However, "Equals" definitely grows on you wirh repeated listening with the likes of "Peace Now", "Thirteen Dead Reindeer" and the stark "Cenotaph" being more than worthy additions to the Alarm's extensive back catalogue.


47. LUCY & THE RATS - "Lucy & The Rats" (Review here)

Although they style themselves as a garage rock revival group, Lucy & The Rats' sound is actually closer to the melodic but spiky indie of late '80s groups like the Primitives and the Darling Buds and they actually pull it off pretty well. Songs like "Girl" and "Can't Surf" show a group with a definite knack for a tune and a hook and mark them down as definite ones to watch going forward.


46. BULLETS & OCTANE - "Waking Up Dead" (Review here)

Given the lacklustre output of some of their contemporaries (Backyard Babies and Buckcherry I may just be looking at you lot here) in recent years, it's safe to say that expectations for the first new Bullets & Octane album for a few years weren't exactly high but fair play to 'em, "Waking Up Dead" was a good reminder of everything that we loved about 'em when they first burst on to the scene a decade or so ago with the likes of "When We Were Young" providing suitably snotty and energetic calls to arms to announce Gene Louis and co were back with a bang.


45. THE LIVING END - "Wunderbar"

I have to be honest, I had no idea that Aussie punks the Living End were even still going until this album was brought to my attention during the autumn but they're very much still out there. If you're expecting something along the lines of the barrelling punk of their early noughties albums like "Roll On" then "Wunderbar" is likely to come as a curveball, showing the band taking a much more methodical and thoughtful approach but fair play to them, they pull it off well with songs like "Dropping The Needle" and "Amsterdam" showing off their new approach in style.


44. HUNG LIKE HANRATTY - "What You See Is What You Get"

Similar to near neighbours Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions, Nottingham scuzz-punks Hung Like Hanratty are one of those groups who really don't give a shit who they offend. Foul-mouthed missives like "Disabled Parking", "Stop Playing With Yourself" and "Lawyers For You" mined the same sort of gleefully offensive yob-punk as the Macc Lads and Peter & The Test Tube Babies did back in the day making "What You See Is What You Get" a big dose of good unclean fun.


43. SPEAR OF DESTINY - "Tontine" (Review here)

Kirk Brandon remains one of rock 'n' roll's busiest men in 2018, following up last year's Theatre of Hate album "Kinshi" with a new Spear of Destiny effort. With plenty of the classic SOD fury combined with some more thoughtful numbers, "Tontine" was a good effort which proves that Brandon still has plenty of fire left in his tank after all these years in the game.


42. THE DAMNED - "Evil Spirits" (Review here)

With three-quarters of their classic early '80s line-up reunited thanks to the return of Paul Gray on bass, the Damned's first album in a decade was a solid effort which proved that they still have plenty to say for themselves in 2018. Admittedly, they're arguably always going to be living in the shadow of their red-hot run of albums from "Machine Gun Etiquette" to "Phantasmagoria" but songs like "Standing On The Edge of Tomorrow" showed that messrs Vanian and Sensible are still very much out there and kicking.


41. WONK UNIT - "Terror" (Review here)

Definitely one of the most off-kilter albums I've heard this year, Wonk Unit are continuing to go from strength to strength on this evidence and crashing through different musical styles with reckless abandon, veering from pop ("My New Safe Place") to thrash ("Judas Betrayers") to stark piano-led numbers ("Christmas In A Crackhouse") often in the space of a few songs. Don't expect an easy listen with this album but it's definitely an enjoyable effort which reveals new stuff with every listen.


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