30 The Devil You Know
HEAVEN & HELL (2009)
We said: “Tracks like Double The Pain (featuring Geezer Butler’s trademark bellyrumbling bass), Rock And Roll Angel (built on the kind of choppy riff that Metallica turned into a career) and set-finale Breaking Into Heaven (the ultimate in fallen angels attacking paradise-type songs) make you realise what we’ve been missing all these Sabbath-less years – pure, unadulterated evil. Heed my warning.”
29 Def Leppard
DEF LEPPARD (2015)
We said: “Their finest record since the glory days of the 1980s… With its crackling guitar and nuclear-detonation bottom-end, Let’s Go doesn’t so much revisit Pour Some Sugar On Me as move into its spare room, steal its cornflakes and start sleeping with its wife. But even that pales into insignificance next to the fingerpoppin’ white-boy funk of Are You Man Enough? For the most part Def Leppard is the sound of a band who have rediscovered their sense of purpose. Hip? Nope. Cheesy? Occasionally. Fun, memorable, life-affirming? Yes, yes and yes.”
28 Lateralus
TOOL (2001)
We said: “Commencing with conviction, The Grudge is a wonderfully scornful opener. It’s impassioned, urgent and unapologetically melodic for a song of its intensity. The title track is more lyrical and experimentally textured, while predominantly instrumental final tracks, including Triad and Reflection, are capable of eliciting goose bumps in a glass-roofed Sahara sauna. Ladies and gentlemen, we might have a modern classic on our hands.”
27 The Rising
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (2002)
“In typical Boss fashion, the songs here tell stories of everyday folk trying to make their way in the world, and in the aftermath of September 11, trying to make sense of their lives. made its debut in the Tribute To New York concerts, and sounds no less powerfulis powerful, cathartic and brilliant.”
