AUSTRALIAN RELEASES OF THE YEAR 2018
No these albums aren’t ones that wouldn’t make our overall TOP 25 list – in fact most of them would! Here at the Rockpit we just like to remind everyone out there that Australia has some of the best music around this year and every year! This year was a tight run affair with any of the listed bands in real contention for Top Spot. For me this year showed that there’s plenty of great music being made down-under and it’s coming both from veterans and new kids on the block.
Leslii Phillips
1. The Radio Sun – Beautiful Strange
“If you’ve followed Melbourne’s The Radio Sun over the last five years you’ll have witnessed a band who aren’t afraid of hard work – playing stages around the world and still making the time to release a new album each year. This year’s fifth release ‘Beautiful Strange’ could also well be their best so far, and the album produced by the band, mixed by Paul Laine (Solo, Dark Horse, The Defiants) and mastered by Bruno Ravel (Danger Danger, The Defiants) is set to be one of the Melodic Rock releases of the year.”
2. Palace of the King – Get Down With Your Maker
“There are some amazing bands in Australia at the moment that seem to be tapping right into the passion and power of the Rock that we used to love as kids and yet who manage to still put their own modern slant on things. The beauty of course is in the balance but I’m starting to find that older listeners are starting to catch on, that hey, maybe they do make them like they used to. Add to that the kids picking up on groove and retro sounds and you have a real melting pot that sadly just needs more people out there in the clubs to kick start this new music revolution. If only we had a population the size of the US!”
3. The Lockhearts – Americana Doom Fuzz
“After a number of great EP’s that hinted of something special to come The Lockhearts have finally released their debut full-length and it’s a masterpiece of vinyl-scented heaven.”
4. Dead City Ruins – Never Say Die
“Melbourne 5-piece rockers DEAD CITY RUINS released their third album, NEVER SAY DIE, on 13th April and it’s come out an absolute treat. The band have followed up their 2011 debut MIDNIGHT KILLER & self-titled 2014 release, with 9 more riff-laden tracks, which not only sound great from the studio but, you feel, will transfer fantastically into a live set.”
5. Graham Greene – Rage of the Innocents
“Picking favourites here though is a thankless task – it’s not about the individual songs at all, it’s all about the work as a whole. I honestly believe that this may be Greene’s masterwork, though I’d hasten to add the postscript ‘so far’…”
6. Rags ‘N’ Riches – Heaven is Only a Moment Away
“It’s amazing to think that so much great music was buried under the mudslide of Grunge and Australia wasn’t immune…”
7. White Widdow – Victory
“Wonderful stuff. Think White Sister meets Starship with elements of Giuffria, Foreigner and Survivor… stirring stuff and more than enough to make you forget the Melbourne weather.”
8. Bob Spencer – Saints + Murderers
“The album closes out with two of the best tracks here – the title track ‘Saints & Murders;’ which crawls deliberately out of the speakers, a little darker in mood that the majority of the album, and it’s that edge that gives it bite; whilst the pensive and brooding ‘The Road Goes On Forever’ shows Bob’s musical depths and diversity. Bob should be rightly proud of this.”
