I'm so picky that I only have a top 8! (Top 10 albums of the year 2001)

Member Name: strange_child

Product:	Top 10 albums of the year 2001
Date:	28/02/02 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: i loves all this music

Disadvantages: how can i give disadvantages on something I love?

This is a slightly hard review for me to write, as I don't generally pay much attention to albums that are currently out. If I hear a band that I like I will normally download them, and either buy the album or carry on downloading them until I have the full album. For example, I got a Black Sabbath album last year, but also made some really good discoveries just by getting free cds with Rocksound magazine, or by copying a friend's album (I copy anything I can get my hands on!) and realising that the band is great! So, here is my list of bands I have become bands of this year and their amazing albums! I'm sorry that they're not in order but I'm so indecisive, and I've only been able to do 8 because I can't think of any more that are good enough!

1. Tool - Lateralus
I came to know about Tool after I borrowed an 'A Perfect Circle' album from my friend Dave. A Perfect Circle, as you may know is the side-project of singer Maynard James Keenan. They are basically like Tool, but with a softer feel. I also saw them at The Ozzfest and was amazed by their brilliant set, as much as for the arty music videos as the hypnotising music.

Tool deal in hypnotising music with a Goth feel to it. They're very intense and they start with rhythmically churning guitars that gradually build up to create amazing hooks and riffs. The vocals are dark and low, and add to the mysterious Goth sound. Beware though, if you like your music quick and to the point then this is not for you - my dad once described it as 'complete dirge' on account of its 'heavy one second quiet the next' mentality. I completely love this album, and my favourite track is the single 'Scism', but I don't really listen to the album as separate units and it all blends in nicely to one long piece.

2. Boy Hits Car
I heard a song on the Rocksound CD, which I absolutely loved, and decided to go and download the rest of the al
bum, and to my surprise it was all just as amazing! Boy Hits Car are not as I would have thought from the name - to me, they sound like a heavy nu-metal band, probably quite bland, but they are not. I would describe the sound as what would be the result if a 60s Hippy on his way home from India suddenly caught up in a time machine and ended up in the year 2000 and became friends with a bunch of nu-metallers!

Boy Hits Car are from America (California, I think) and this is their first album. They have amazing riffs, some Eastern-inspired (Come to India). My absolute favourite track, along with 'Rebirth' (the brilliant open track) is 'Turning Inward', which has catchy guitaring without being cheesy. The singer has quite a soft voice, and this contrast with the heavy guitars, but this is to a good effect - they're no boring emo band!

3. Jesse James - Shoes EP
Ok, ok, I know this isn't a proper album, but I had to include it because it's absolutely amazing. I heard Jesse James when they came to play at our local rock club The Pitz, and bought the EP on the spot. Since then I have listened to it so much that I have memorised all the words (sad, I know), and managed to see them again. They are a ska band (my favourite kind of music right now!), and incorporate catchy lyrics, happy guitars and big trumpets. They are slightly like Less Than Jake, but better!

The EP has only 5 songs, but I love them all, they're so happy and positive. I can see that the band really relate to the experiences in the songs because they sing about stupid things like a hot summers day in Camden, and loving someone only for their shoes (Hence the name of the CD).


4. System of a Down - Toxicity
I downloaded this album long before they became big, and a household name among the little kiddies! My friend from London was amazed that I had never heard any of their music, and since then I have never looked back. I'm go
ing to see them when The Ozzfest comes to England in the summer, and I'm excited already. I'm sure most people have heard at least one System song, and they're a band that you either love or hate.

System of a Down combine the fashionable nu-metal with influences from their Armenian backgrounds, and I think this is what makes them so different from the other bands out there. Serj Tankien has an amazing voice - he just sounds great all through the album, and the whole of the albums sounds tight and precise. What more can I say? It's a great album!

5. Hardcore Superstar - Thank you for letting us be ourselves
Hardcore Superstar are an amazingly cheesy Swedish band dealing in Guns n Roses inspired glam rock in the same vein as the Backyard Babies. They were hugely successful in Sweden about a year ago with their last album, but have hardly seem any recognition over here, but I don't think that's important. They are an upfront, old-fashioned good-time band. Although I wouldn't say this is as good as the first, it is nonetheless a very good album and one of my favourites.

My favourite song on this album is 'Significant Other' a catchy, immensely cheesy (but good at it!) song. It's fairly heavy, but unlike other bands this is not made a feature of the band, as they are very tuneful as well. I would recommend this to people out for a good time.

6. Lightyear - Call of the Weasel Clan
This is another little known ska band that has been out touring England. While I wouldn't say that they're as good as Jesse James, they are quite similar, but with slightly less trumpets. With such names as 'Pre-teen Propaganda' and 'Bomb Ibiza', they've gotta be doing something right! My favourite song on here is 'Blindside', a catchy little song, which I think was one of their singles some time back. Yay, and I'm going to see them soon!

7. 5 Knuckle - All Ages EP

Yes, I know, you're getting bored with me going on about little-known ska-bands aren't you?! Well, this is what it's all about - finding new music, eh! 5 Knuckle are about twice as heavy as the other two I've mentioned, and very good. I would call this trumpet-hardcore, even thought they don't use trumpets much. The best song is 'All Ages', which is quite heavy and makes use of their brilliant vocalist, who sounds like he should be in a metal band.

8. Pennywise - Land of the Free?
This is a bit of a departure for Pennywise, who are normally play a slightly heavy and serious punk. It may seem toned down, but there are still the serious political awareness songs as well as less serious songs about society in general. While being more heavy that The Offspring, for example, they are quite a poppy sounding band to many moshers like me, but it is the lyrics and the guitar tunes that do it for me.

My favourite tune is 'Anyone Listening?' which is about a boy with problems, and no one is listening about him because they're all off in their happy little worlds. 'Divine Intervention' closely follows this, and they both have incredibly catchy choruses.

I wish I could have put in other brilliant albums here, but they didn't feature the requirements! Other albums that I got last year include;
The Living End - Roll on - a punky-pop Australian band.
The Black Sabbath Collection - do I need to expand?!
System of a Down's first album.
Rage Against the Machine's self titled.

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