Only album this decade from the Meninblack but it was a good one with the Mk 3 line-up putting out a good mix of punk aggression and more thoughtful mid-paced efforts such as "Freedom Is Insane" to good effect. They still pack a mighty punch in the live arena and with a new album apparently imminent it's pretty clear the Stranglers are set to be a force for a good few years yet.
59. NICK MARSH - "A Universe Between Us" (2010) (Review here)
This solo album from Flesh For Lulu frontman/Urban Voodoo Machine guitarist Marsh was a real testament to the guy's talent with the likes of "Destiny Angel" and "Girl On The Roof" sounding like Nick Cave and Ennio Morricone having a pint together. Unfortunately it would also turn out to be an epitaph as he sadly passed away from throat cancer in 2015. Much missed but this is just part of the great musical legacy he left behind.
58. KIRIA - "Radio" (2010)
Kiria would go on to appear in other guises as the decade went on, first fronting rockabilly revivalists Viva Le Pink as Missy Le Pink and then as country noir songstress Sarah Vista. But this first incarnation yielded a supremely catchy collection of spiky pop tunes in the Transvision Vamp/Voice of the Beehive mould and you really should make an effort to track it down if you missed it first time out.
57. THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM - "American Slang" (2010)
Another band who seem to have quietened down as the decade's worn on but it's easy to forget how Brian Fallon and co's "Springsteen through a grunge filter" made them one of the most popular bands on the rock scene in the early part of the decade and this album captured everything that made them great perfectly and the follow-up, 2012's "Handwritten" was decent as well. However, 2014's "Get Hurt" saw them striking into much darker waters and since then...well, nothing really. But still, for a time they genuinely looked like contenders.
56. FUTURE SHAPE OF SOUND - "Shakedown Gospel" (2018) (Review here)
Hailing from the same stable as the Urban Voodoo Machine, Future Shape of Sound's album was a real ray of sunlight after a first half of 2018 where it seemed hardly anything decent had been released. This mix of swampy blues, smoky gospel and pure energy was a real blast and marked these guys out as a band to watch - hopefully the second album will continue on with the momentum.
55. THE DARKNESS - "Pinewood Smile" (2017) (Review here)
After reforming in 2009, the Darkness have come up with four albums over the course of the decade with three hits and just the one miss (2015's clodhopping "Last Of Our Kind" being the sole bum note in there). 2010's "Hot Cakes" was a solid comeback statement and this year's "Easter Is Cancelled" showed them trying some new tricks successfully but for my money, the sheer exuberance of "Pinewood Smile" makes it the Darkness' best of the decade with the foul-mouthed likes of "Solid Gold" and "Southern Trains" showing a band well and truly getting back to their best.
54. THERAPY? - "Disquiet" (2015) (Review here)
This was one of the more pleasant surprises of the last decade. After 2012's "A Brief Crack Of Light" made it three unlistenable albums in a row, I'd genuinely given up on us ever hearing a decent album from them again. But then "Disquiet" came along and proved to be their best album in over a decade, recalling the ferocious but tuneful punk-meets-Britpop of 1994's classic "Troublegum". Even better, they followed it with 2018's "Cleave" which was a solid follow-up. Hopefully it's a sign that this band are back to their best after a prolonged fallow period and T? fans can face the new decade with confidence.
53. RICHARD HAWLEY - "Standing At The Sky's Edge" (2012) (Review)
A real oddity among Richard Hawley's output, "Standing At The Sky's Edge" showed him taking the woozy epic template of '70s Led Zep and adding a 21st century sheen to it to drag it kicking and screaming into the modern age and make a total mockery of bands like Greta Van Fleet (yes yes I know they didn't come along until a few years later but the point still stands) who seem to think it's just okay to pretend that all music since about 1975 didn't happen. Hawley has done other good albums this decade as well (2015's "Hollow Meadows" and this year's "Further" especially) but this just takes it as my pick of his albums from the decade.
52. SKINDRED - "Union Black" (2012)
Ah Skindred, what happened to ya guys? When Benji and co started this decade they were properly on fire with a great run of albums culminating in "Union Black" which melded a ferocious political polemic to some truly incendiary Ruts-meets-Sepultura musical backing.to devastating effect. Unfortunately by the time of 2018's "Big Tings", the fire had very much gone out with the group delivering a flaccid slice of nu-metal interspersed with plodding acoustic ballads which brought back bad memories of Staind. Hopefully come the new decade, this band will be back to doing what they do best.
51. THE ROUGHNECK RIOT - "This Is Our Day" (2012) (Review here)
Warrington's Roughneck Riot must look at the press coverage accorded to the not entirely dissimilar Ferocious Dog over the last few years and be scratching their heads a bit, having put out two great angry slices of folk-punk (this and 2014's "Out Of Anger") which were pretty much ignored. A pity too because both of them are far superior to FD's albums in this writer's opinion. The band spent much of the second half of the decade on hiatus but have recently got back together and hopefully a third album will be forthcoming.
You’re on thin ice with no 54, Mr C!!! :)
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