My top 10 albums of 2017 and the year in music

A great year for music, and personally for me a sad year losing two of my musical heroes Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell, but more on that later.  First my top 10:

10. Nothing More - The Stories We Tell Ourselves


A major step up for the band, in a few years I could see them filling arenas. 

9. Asking Alexandria - Asking Alexandria



 Danny Warsnop is back and the band are on top form.  Can't wait to catch them at Download in 2018.

8. Enter Shikari - The Spark



Great unique sound with a spot on political message.

7. Prophets of Rage - Prophets of Rage



Featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill it punches a strong political message to some excellent music.

6. Lana Del Rey - Lust for Life



A beautiful ethereal sounds to poetic lyrics.

5. Stone Sour - Hydrograd



 A great return for Corey Taylor’s softer alternative to Slipknot.

4. Creeper - Eternity In Your Arms



A unique blend of rock, punk, goth and even a tinge of Meatloaf. These guys are going to be huge.

3. In This Moment - Ritual



Their best album to date, great dark bluesy rock with a touch of theatrics.

2. Papa Roach - Crooked Teeth



Awesome album from start to finish, no fillers. And the new material sounds great live.  Above is a performance of Help I caught when I saw them in concert.

1. Linkin Park - One More Light / One More Light Live



Yes, it was a change in style for #linkinpark , but hardly for the first time. The lyrics still hit me with more resonance than any other bands. So many of the songs I can directly relate to.  The live album released after Chester's passing shows how well these songs translated live.

Nearly made the cut ...

It was a good year for music and other artists who released killer albums this year include Wolf Alice, Pvris, While She Sleeps, Rise Against, Paramore, Nothing But Thieves, Northlane, Northern Ghost, Neck Deep. Motionless in White, Haxans and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes.  All worth checking out.  And Chris Cornell left us with this beautiful single before his passing:



Both Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington are musical heroes to me.  I managed to catch Soundgarden live in 1994 at the height of there fame, his voice was so unique and powerful.  And he created so many great pieces of work throughout his life, both with Soundgarden and Audioslave.

You can find my thoughts on Chester Bennington in a post I wrote just after he died.  He will always be my favourite artist, as his music got me through some tough times.

It is so sad that we lost both of these legends from depression.  Just proving that your life can look ideal on the outside, but depression can affect anyone regardless of their personal situation.

Finally a station for true rock and metal fans

This year we finally got a music station truly aimed at and owned by the fans.  Yes, there is a monthly subscription fee, but it is worth it to be advert free and not influenced by big business.  What's more you become part of a community, making friends at meetups and on social media.  Please sign up for a 30 day trial at http://primordialradio.com/ you won't be disappointed.



And finally

A great year for gig going.  I got to see Linkin Park, Stone Sour, Creeper, Blink 182, Frank Turner, Pretty Reckless, Five Finger Death Punch, In Flames,  Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, While She Sleeps, Skindred and more.  Check out some of the live videos I shot at https://www.youtube.com/user/mrandyc/videos

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