The Vamps' first album of mostly original material ended up being a bit hit and miss but at least there's signs there that Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry's supergroup are starting to hit their stride and hopefully with a bit more honing, the possibility of this lot fulfilling their potential might just come to pass.
49. SPUNK VOLCANO & THE ERUPTIONS - "Double Bastard"
Another good selection of boozed up fistfight anthems from SV and his crew, only slightly marred by the unwieldy double album format (this would genuinely have worked better as two single albums). But if you don't mind listening to it in two instalments, there's plenty to enjoy here and it proves why this lot remain one of the most enjoyable bands on the live circuit at the moment.
48. THE WEIRD THINGS - "Code:533"
Second album from this Croydon punk supergroup of sorts and it saw them building well on the promise shown by their debut, 2016's "Ten Digit Freak". Sounding like Vice Squad with added pop sensibilities this was a solid follow-up from the Weird Things and marks them out as a group to watch.
47. HANDS OFF GRETEL - "I Want The World" (Review here)
Barnsley's Hands Off Gretel are rapidly turning into one of the fastest growing bands on the UK punk circuit and their second album saw them cement their progress quite nicely. Fuelled along by the charisma and venom of Lauren Tate with the band putting in a ferociously powerful shift behind her, even if it did dip into teen angst by numbers in a couple of places, this is definitely a band heading for much bigger things if they play their cards right.
46. TENSHEDS - "Deathrow Disco"
Synth-led blues rock? Well, add that to the list of "things that really have no right to work but somehow do". Led by Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind keyboard player Matt Millership, Tensheds are a band continuing to improve with each release with "Deathrow Disco" striking a nice balance between the angular "Youngbloods" and "Gold Tooth" while "The Letting Go" showed a more thoughtful side to their output with Millership's gravelly vocals coming to the fore to good effect.
45. SCARE TAXI - "Death By Music" (Review here)
Formed by ex-These Animal Men/Mo Solid Gold/Thee Orphans man Boag, Scare Taxi's debut album saw them cutting loose with a tight-wire punk sound that came on like the missing link between the Buzzcocks' sublime pop-punk and Magazine's nervy post-punk paranoia. A good first effort which hopefully shows they've got big things ahead of them.
44. BLACK STAR RIDERS - "Another State Of Grace (Review here)
Okay so it's probably nothing you won't have heard before from Black Star Riders but on their fourth album, the key is that they're keeping the quality standards high with "Another State Of Grace" being packed with punchy riffs and hooks that won't let your brain go, not least on "Tonight The Moonlight Let Me Down" and "In The Shadow Of The War Machine". Proof that sometimes sticking with what you know has a lot to be said for it.
43. THE KINGCROWS - "Brute Force And Ignorance"
Third full length from Leeds' scuzz-punk veterans and it's packed with their usual knockabout mix of power and tunefulness. "Brute Force And Ignorance" is proof positive that this band are still firing nicely on all cylinders and it's good to have them back.
42. ROYAL REPUBLIC - "Club Majesty"
Hailing from Sweden, Royal Republic put out one of the better debuts of the year, mixing Electric Six's off-the-wall showmanship with the swagger of David Lee Roth on his early solo albums. With the group's reputation growing all over Europe, expect big things from them in the years ahead.
41. RISKEE & THE RIDICULE - "Body Bag Your Scene" (Review here)
Political bands mixing up punk and rap are a fairly regular occurrence these days but Riskee & The Ridicule did an admirable job of picking up the baton for the genre with "Body Bag Your Scene" being a fierce polemic against the increasingly desperate times this country finds itself in. Sounding like Senser for a new generation, this wasn't a bad effort at all.
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