21 Best Rock Albums of the 21st Century (#12-16)

#16 Pardon Me (2010) – Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights

These Dallas rock stars have opened for AC/DC, The Black Crowes, and Deep Purple, and while they are clearly inspired by all three, Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights are a unique rock 'n roll identity in of themselves. This major label debut is a hard rock attack, glazed with southern blues and soul and cushioned with a few slow numbers for breathing room.

#15 Black Country Communion (2010) – Black Country Communion

Throwing some of the best musicians together does not always result in the creation of great music, but Black Country Communion could be the best super group since Cream. “The Voice of Rock”, the best blues guitarist in the world, a powerhouse drummer, and a prog-metal keyboardist coexist beautifully, responding to the media hype with the best blues-imbued rock of the decade.

#14 Avenged Sevenfold (2007) – Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold prove that their stand-out skill is far more apparent when allowing their music to break genre barriers. Their self-titled album strays from the path of pure heavy metal, a disaster in the chorus of “Lost”, but “Gunslinger” and “Unbound (The Wild Ride)” would not be as great without their exploration into other musical realms.

#13 Permission To Land (2003) – The Darkness

The Darkness have no business climbing the charts in the 21^st century. And yet, here they are, creating some of the catchiest rock around with sexy guitar solos and wailing vocals that belong in the 80s, and yet are thriving in the 2000s. Their commercial success with this (above anything else) entertaining album, is all the evidence required to prove its extravagance.

#12 Folklore and Superstition (2008) – Black Stone Cherry

Black Stone Cherry's sophomore effort takes a huge step from their self-titled album, expanding the variety in their songwriting and the overall message in their music. Infusing southern rock with heavy metal, they relate to The Black Crowes and Myles Kennedy while trademarking their own sound.

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21 Best Rock Albums of the 21st Century (#7-11)

#11 Blast Tyrant (2004) – Clutch

How long can a band hardly evolve their sound and yet still keep things fresh and enthralling? Well Clutch have mastered this better than anyone, all while sticking it to the man, refusing to abide by the inhibiting rules of the music business. Prepare to be confounded and yet oddly satisfied by the bad asses of modern rock in their 2004 effort, Blast Tyrant.

#10 White Blood Cells (2001) – The White Stripes

As Jack and Meg White's commercial breakthrough, White Blood Cells captures the reason The White Stripes attracted so much attention right from the get-go. They perfectly construct powerful, rough rock with a sweetness bound to keep old fans hooked and captivate new ones.

#9 Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005) – Coheed and Cambria

Fans of Coheed and Cambria may have despaired when the group signed to a major label, but far from selling out, the band adopted more prog rock and heavy metal influences into their music. Their 2005 release is a poetic, sci-fi story and a heavy metal, headbanging journey reminiscent of Rush and Queensrÿche.

#8 Brothers (2010) – The Black Keys

Returning to the studio after their 2008 release with Danger Mouse, it seemed to many that The Black Keys had run out of inspiration for new material and were content to continue creating music of the same style. Luckily, Brothers reveals new life and is one of the few albums to bring rough blues music to a mainstream audience.

#7 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) – Arctic Monkeys

The Arctic Monkeys were given high expectations with their debut album, often referred to as the best new band since Oasis. Their 2006 release, however, met and exceeded all standards for the underground rockers, following in the footsteps of recent British superstars, The Strokes.

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21 Best Rock Albums of the 21st Century (#2-6)

#6 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) – Wilco

With their 2002 release, Wilco achieved critical and commercial success. To many, the album was nothing short of a masterpiece with a complexity rarely seen in modern pop music. Wilco never came close to creating as great an album as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but neither have most other bands.

#5 Elephant (2003) – The White Stripes

Marking their major label debut, Elephant showcases Jack White at the top of his game. The album opens strongly with the instantly recognizable “Seven Nation Army” and doesn't let up. By uniquely mixing punk, blues, and garage rock, The White Stripes ensured that Elephant was a phenomenal success.  

#4 Funeral (2004) – Arcade Fire

Funeral defined the independent rock of the decade, included a symphonic sound that only amplified the album's energy, and has a touching back story adding purpose to the solace in the music. And on top of all of this, Funeral is a debut album with the sound of a band at the top of their game.

#3 Black Holes and Revelations (2006) - Muse

These British rock stars didn't need to prove anything about their ingenuity and skill after Absolution (2003), and yet Black Holes and Revelations is as adventurous and fresh as their previous releases but more consistently great throughout. Containing themes as varied as political corruption, alien invasion, New World conspiracies, and conventional love songs, it's difficult to describe this album as anything but amazing.

#2 Is This It (2001) - The Strokes

The garage rock revivalists, the saviors of rock 'n roll, call them whatever you like. But however you look at it, The Strokes created a truly amazing album and possibly the greatest debut album since Appetite For Destruction by Guns 'n Roses.  

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21 Best Rock Albums of the 21st Century (#1)

#1 American Idiot – Green Day

In 2004, Green Day, the immature punk rockers who brought you the ridiculously catchy, rude, and brilliantly simplistic pop punk album Dookie, went in a direction no one saw coming. They released American Idiot, a concept album played out as a punk rock opera narrating the rise and fall of the American dream for the "Jesus of Suburbia" while criticizing the political state of the US. Not only were the lyrics a tier above anything the California rockers had released previously, but the music was diverse and perfect, not wasting a single second on any track (which is saying a lot with two 9-minute songs in the line-up). Popularity is not always the best tool for measuring an album's greatness, but when an album has six radio hits and a Tony Award-winning Broadway Show, it's difficult to argue otherwise.

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21 Best Rock Albums of the 21st Century (#17-21)

#21 Apocalyptic Love (2012) – Slash

Slash began his solo career with a self-titled album that experimented a broad array of styles with a plethora of varying singers. With his second release, Slash continues to venture past standard genre borders, but he allies himself solely with Myles Kennedy. Together, they create an abundant collection of hard and heavy rock songs which, at the same time, feel relaxed and natural.

#20 Beyond Hell/Above Heaven (2010) – Volbeat

So stop me if you've heard this one before, an album that combines punk, roots rock & roll, rockabilly, heavy metal, death metal, country, and '70s hard rock. Well, Volbeat's 2010 album masterfully mixes this diverse set of genres while extending the narrative of their 2009 release, Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood. 

#19 High Visibility (2002) – The Hellacopters

High Visibility is a Detroit-rock-worshiping party that makes its influences jealous. The guitar playing is legendary, the singing is aggressive and bluesy, and the raw '70s power of The 'Copters goes beyond the efforts of revivalists; they're reinventing. 

#18 Wasting Light (2011) – Foo Fighters

After six successful records and selling out two nights at Wembley Stadium, how can a band keep things fresh? Well Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl had a pretty good idea, “I wanna do the next one in the garage. It's about making records the way we used to f*cking make records. But lets do it with Butch Vig so that it's f*cking huge”. Wasting Light covers every spectrum of the Foo Fighters that fans love, it being their best album since The Colour and the Shape and definitely their most consistent effort containing absolutely no filler.

#17 10,000 Days (2006) – Tool

True art takes time and consideration, and this is exactly why Tool is so successful at creating musical treasures. The members of Tool are nothing short of musical geniuses, and when given four years to create an album, they created a phenomenal 2006 release. With only three songs under six minutes, this hard-driving band revealed intelligence, brutal honesty, passionate emotion, and unmatched musical aptitude in modern metal.

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Album Review: The Afterman: Ascension - Coheed and Cambria

For Fans Of: Ummmm, Awesome Instrumentals and Vocals? They're too unique to compare to anyone popular
Genre: Progressive Rock, Alternative Rock, New Prog, Post-Hardcore
Coheed and Cambria's Top Tracks: Welcome Home, The Suffering, Feather, Gravemakers & Gunslingers, Apollo I: The Writing Writer, Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute

For fans of sci-fi prog rock epics with geeky aspiration and spontaneous intricacy, or just fans of talented rock artists, you should definitely give Coheed and Cambria's new album a try. Many would agree that their 2010 album, Year of the Black Rainbow, was a disappointing effort, but this first part of a double album is far from a disaster. On the contrary, The Afterman: Ascension is a successful exploration of the band's variety of talents.

Lead singer Sanchez's voice, usually a force to be reckoned with, is tamed down to a soft, hazy vocal at times, along with impressive acoustic guitar work and an almost Owl City-sounding background melody (in case I offended any fans, I'm not comparing Coheed to Owl City). But this is no cause for concern, there are just as many mouth-watering guitar licks, pounding drums, and whaling vocals as you'd expect in any Coheed and Cambria album.

The story-telling ability of Coheed revealed a new trait, a very apparent fact in the album-titled track, with emotion and specificity unmatched by the rest of their discography. The story-telling itself has been reduced, but the songs speak to listeners with new intimacy and understanding. "Key Entity Extraction II: Hollywood The Cracked" and "Subtraction" may seem a little off character for these prog rock veterans but "Mothers of Men" and "Key Entity Extraction III: Vic The Butcher" truly expose the spirit of Coheed and Cambria's progressive style. And my personal favorite, "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino The Destitute", is as heavy and catchy as any track in their discography.

The Afterman: Ascension is an impressive rock album and a great response to their disappointing 2010 release. And fans of this new album will be happy to see its sequel released in February, what I hope will be an equally impassioned and momentous release.

Rating: 8/10 Great

Game Release: War of the Roses

War of the Roses is a new IP that transports players back in time to the battle-ravaged dynastic civil war era of 15th-century England.

Genre: Action
For Fans Of: Of Orcs and Men, Grim Fandango
Platform: PC
Rating: 8/10

The Positives: Ever changing combat, endless variety of weapons, beautiful display and pretty map, and the executions

The Negatives: Can grow repetitive

Click Here for a review by Nathan Meunier, courtesy of GameSpot

Album Review: Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue - Danko Jones

For Fans Of: The Hellacopters, The Exies

Genre: Hard Rock

Danko Jones' Top Tracks: Full of Regret, Just a Beautiful Day, I Think Bad Thoughts, Lovercall, Code of the Road

With a growing track record of successful albums and a new drummer with an impressive resume, Danko Jones release another great vintage rock album imbued with punk influence, Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue.

Simple hard rock rules this album with catchy melodies, worthy of some sing along, fit into prevalent song structures. For long time fans, this album is exactly what you should expect, “attitude-filled blues infused rock n roll from start to finish” (melodic.net). For those new to Danko Jones, enjoy the ride. They aren't breaking any new ground with their music and they definitely aren't trying to. Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue is a great listen with immature lyrics about sex built into lively rock n roll.

The album opens powerfully with “Terrified”, a great energy-builder with a Volbeat-like riff. At times, Danko's voice feels too weak for this type of song. However, the second track follows to continue the intensity. “Get Up” is a mix of “Tick Tick Boom” by The Hives and “Cold Hard Bitch” by Jet, which is definitely a compliment. “Legs” is too repetitive to listen to in its entirety, but “Just a Beautiful Day” picks up the slack as a clever choice as the album's single.

“You Wear Me Down” is a refreshing, modern take on Led Zeppelin and “Conceited” resembles heavier Foo Fighters songs such as “All My Life” and so is a promising hit for their live show. The album's end includes the godless, profane “I Believed In God” with a gospel choir and is actually one of my favorites. The album overall is a great listen and worthy of the purchase, however some may hope that the band will evolve in the near future rather than playing it safe like they did here, especially with their experience.

Rating: 7/10 Very Good