It’s hard to compare apples with oranges let alone bananas so this year we’re not even going to try. This year our ‘Best of’ lists will feature Hard Rock, Metal and Blues categories picked by all contributors as well as our personal lists. This is my run down of my favourite Hard Rock albums of 2019. It doesn’t include Australian releases, Blues or Metal as we wanted to highlight those separately. Of course our other regular lists like ‘Live Shows of the year’ (This year US and Australian categories) and ‘EP of the year’ will continue too.

I just have one caveat this year I still haven’t heard the latest Magpie Salute release yet – ‘High Water II’ due to my vinyl getting lost in the mail and an aversion to streaming, but if it’s anything like their last release which topped my list last year, there just might be a slight revision to come!

HARD ROCK ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2019

1. Black Star Riders – Another State of Grace

Interview – Scott Gorham

There are just ten songs on the latest from the Black Star Riders ‘Another State of Grace’, now I don’t know about you but I’d take ten great songs over an overstuffed and overblown offering with hints of filler. I must admit I expected a lot of this record based on past performance and I’m quite happy, after living with this for a few days and giving it multiple listens, to draw the long bow and say that this is the band’s finest moment to date. There I’ve said it…

2. Danny Vaughn – Myths, Legends and Lies

Interview with Danny Vaughn

To these ears this is an album I never thought I’d get to hear, a wonderful mix of all the influences Danny has held dear all these years – artists like John Hiatt, Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Bernie Taupin, The Beatles, Steve Miller, Simon and Garfunkel and so many others that have seeped in over time and through those invisible airwaves. But it’s not about them at all they just paved the way, this is an album about Danny Vaughn and his journey, about tales some tall, some true but all tales which make us who we are. This Mr. Vaughn is your masterpiece and I feel privileged to have heard it.

3. Crazy Lixx – Forever Wild

Interview Danny Rexon

Like ‘Ruff Justice’ this is an album that sonically feels like the band of old but this time there’s just that little more variety. It’s an album that is confident, slick and full of passion, but Crazy Lixx here prove beyond doubt that they’re not one of the pack, they are right out in front of the game. No one else does it quite this well and this could well be their best yet. Simply amazing, and already my front-runner for the best of the year.

4. The New Roses – Nothing But Wild

Interview with Timmy Rough

I must admit that The New Roses are one of my favorite bands of the last few years, so it’s great to see a new album about to drop after 2017’s wonderful ‘One More For the Road’ which itself swiftly followed a couple of other fine releases: ‘Dead man’s Voice’ (2016) and their fired-up debut ‘Without a Trace’ (2013). I recommend them all of course, but you know what? This one might just be the best of them all…

5. Michael Monroe – One Man Gang

Interview with Michael Monroe

Michael Monroe’s new album ‘One Man Gang’ is twelve tracks of great Rock and Roll from an artist who seems to defy the odds with each release and just get better and better.

6. The Quireboys – Amazing Disgrace

Interview with Guy Griffin

After a tumultuous 8 months which has involved lock-up break-ins with personal items, instruments & merchandise stolen to being trapped in the Pledge debacle, The Quireboys could be excused for thinking that ‘Amazing Disgrace’ was fast becoming a cursed project. But, fear not because I can report that it is far from that, in fact it is quite possibly one of the best albums they have released in their 35 year history.

7. Crashdiet – Rust

Another great album from the band that signals maybe that with the Gods permission and a little stability the best may still be ahead of these guys.

8. Piston- Piston

It’s hard to sit here in the same year as an album is released and contemplate if it will be one of the greats, but seven years in the making and many gigs and many miles under the belts Piston have produced what you certainly can say is one of the albums of 2019 and one that threatens some serious attention.

9. Eclipse – Paradigm

Interview with Eric Martenssen

Off The Record with Eric Martenssen

It’s an interesting album, certainly with it’s highs but it’s also not quite what I expected. This is an album for Eclipse fans but also for those that loved tracks like ‘The Downfall of Eden’ and ‘Hurt’ from Monumentum as that’s where it feels the band are just so slightly leaning. ‘Paradigm’ will leave you in no doubt that Eclipse ore one of this decades finest Hard Rock bands.

10. The Erotics – The Songs Remain Deranged

Interview with Mike Trash

‘The Songs Remain Deranged’ is a late-night ‘destroy the neighbors and play it loud’ album, heavier and weightier than recent offerings. All in all spikier, punkier and dirtier than these guys have sounded in a while and a great way to re-fire the engines. The Erotics have done it again.

11. The Wildhearts – Renaissance Men

The Wildhearts of course tour all the time so on one hand it’s like they’ve never been away, but ten years since their last album they’ve managed to make these ten songs sound amazing and as fresh as ever. Sure it’s not as direct as their commercial peak but there’s something far deeper and more satisfying bout these Renaissance Men…

12. Angel – Risen

This album proves one thing the new line up is more than capable of writing a glorious new chapter – ‘Risen’ captures the various sounds of all the ages of Angel remarkably well and as they prove in the coda they do the old material complete justice. I’m very, very happy and can feel my ten year old self smiling too!

13= Roxy Blue – Roxy Blue

Interview with Todd Poole

On a well balanced record that fails to add any hint of filler it’s the ballads as I said that just shade it for me but then you hear a track like the wonderful, pounding ‘Til the Well Runs Dry’ and the heavier numbers swing back into contention. This is an album to enjoy from end to end and it’s rare these days that you can say that.It might not be ‘Want Some Mark II’ but what it is is one of the best modern Rock records you’ll hear all year.

13= Black Oak County -Theatre of the Mind

The press release for this album reads “ Black Oak County are back! Upon the release of their debut album “Black Oak County”, the band was promised a bright future by the likes of Classic Rock Magazine, Flick of the finger and Metal hammer“. Well yes it was, indeed it was, but you could have read that here at The Rockpit way before any of those other guys hinted that ‘Black Oak County’ might well achieve Rock immortality.

14. Blackrain – Dying Breed

As someone who has followed Blackrain over that journey I must admit I’ve always been impressed by their drive and the spiky, sleazy Rock they put out. 2019 sees them, if not quite at their creative peak, then not at all that far from the summit.

15. The Defiants – Zokusho

Interview with Bruno Ravel

If you crave the days when Rock was fun and a good time was had by all then this is your soundtrack.

16. Buckcherry – Warpaint

Interview with Josh Todd

Off The Record with Josh Todd

Opener and title track ‘Warpaint’ is pure and simply vintage Buckcherry: its cool, sleazy, frayed around the edges and rides a thick groove and it also sees Josh Todd really screaming. It’s a track that would be perfect for ‘warming up for the night ahead’, and one which really underlines the fact that whilst the band may be down to one solitary founder member in Josh Todd they still sound like the band we all fell in love with twenty years ago.

17. Suicide Bombers – Murder Couture

Interview with Chris Damien Doll

After the wonderful ‘Suicide Idols’ a couple of years back Norway’s finest are back with another great slice of Sleazy action. Think Faster Pussycat on a night out with Pretty Boy Floyd, you get the picture…

18. Whitesnake – Flesh and Blood

Whitesnake’s best album in decades? I expect some hearty debate!

19= Spread Eagle – Subway to the Stars

All in all this Album CRANKS and is so colourful and diverse but also keeping it’s New York Street Metal vibe cemented firmly in place. This is Spread Eagle as we know them but I feel I got so much more this time around and already looking forward to the next album.

19 = Hepcat Dilemma – Art Imitates Life

I’ll leave you with the tongue-in-cheek mantra to ‘The Hepcat Motto’ which has a single line of lyrics that remind you “If you’re not careful in five years you will only listen to music like this.” Now there’s a thought…

20. Blacktop Mojo – Under The Sun

Of all the fine independent bands out there are the moment I don’t think there are any better than Blacktop Mojo, a band we’ve been championing since we first heard them. This year things have just gotten so much better with the release of ‘Under the Sun’ an album that just might be their finest work to date surpassing eve the brilliant ‘Burn the Ships’.

21. Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour – In Vino Veritas

For a man who is such a prolific writer this might just be my favourite album to bear the ‘Dogs D’Amour’ moniker since the glory days of the 90’s…

22. John Diva & The Rockets of Love – Mama Said Rock is Dead

If you want a trip back to 80s & 90s heaven without dusting off the ‘oldies’ then grab yourself a copy of ‘Mama Said Rock is Dead’ and enjoy. This will definitely be my ‘summer coastal driving album’ for 2019!

23. Burning Rain – Face the Music

A new Burning Rain album is always a big thing in these parts and I’ll make a big call here by saying that ‘Face the Music’ may even be the best yet.

24. The Brink – Nowhere To Run

Burn’ is probably the song tough that makes you think that these guys are set to be something huge, it’s as good a Hard Rock song by a new band as I’ve heard in years, like vintage Bon Jovi grew some balls! It’s my favourite here and I can’t help missing Endeverafter and bands like that when I hear it. The album closes with the acoustic take on ‘Save Goodbye’ I think I actually prefer this take. Wow, can I say something as stupid as the Fen-lands are rising! to close? I think I will. A serious contender for album of the year…

25. Inglorious – Ride to Nowhere

After two crushingly good albums and a third in the can, all of a sudden singer Nathan James found himself looking for a new band with a tour and a new album to promote. Such is the life of a Rock and Roller. This is the album that was written and recorded before the split and if you’re an existing fan of the band there is a change in the air but nothing too drastic.

26. Ron Keel Band – Fight Like a Band

The interesting thing about this new album is it’s consistency and after repeated listens I’m quite prepared to say that it might just be his is his most consistent album, period. This isn’t a Keel (band) rehash tough it’s and album that sounds like it’s been slowly maturing over the ears before being released into the world.

27. Anchor Lane – Casino

‘Blood & Irony,’ a song co-written with Black Star Riders Ricky Warwick, that opens Anchor Lane’s first long-player is a song that leaves a lot of doors open. It’s laid back, built on a repetitive groove that sounds rather contemporary before the vocals lead you to a peak and the first guitar solo kicks in. It’s a sound that’s closer to Rival Sons and Foo Fighters than it is to the greats of yesteryear and it’s all rather good.

28. Tora Tora – Bastards of Beale

Sometimes you listen to an album like this and you feel a wave of emotion, a huge rush of love that comes with the knowledge that a band you so admired back in your youth has not missed a beat and taken up just where they left off. But with that love there’s also a tang of pain too, especially when you contemplate just for a moment how much wonderful music and how many great songs we’ve missed out on in what is now close to three decades since ‘Wild America’.

29. Gin Annie – 100% Proof

Along they come like a firecracker out of the night! Another new band for me this year that I’m hoping will be taking the first steps to a long and successful career is ‘Gin Annie’

30. Peter H Nilsson – Little American Dream

Peter H Nilsson started working on this album back in 2017 along with singer Chris Biano, drummer Jason Meekins and bassist Patrik Adiels, and what a team that is. ‘Little American Dream’ is nine tracks of melodic/AOR magic.

31. First Signal – Line Of Fire

There’s nothing here I don’t recommend though, and the heart of the album has a great run of harder Melodic Rockers in: the aforementioned ‘Walk through the Fire;’ ‘Never Look Back;’ and ‘Line of Fire.’ Very nice indeed, I’ll take one!

32. Janet Gardner – Your Place In The Sun

Even better than first time around Gardner has produced an album full of great songs that will have you hooked from the very first second until the last.

33. Collective Soul- Blood

Heady, melodic, reflective and gentle, ‘Blood’ is a mature offering and one which underlines that Collective Soul 2019 has plenty more to offer.

34. Warrior Soul – Rock ‘n’ Roll Disease

After a wonderful return with last year’s ‘Back on The Lash,’ which bridged a five year gap between studio albums, Warrior Soul proved to everyone that they still know how to Rock and Roll. Of course in an alternate Universe it would be Kory Clarke and co rather than Nirvana who reshaped Rock and Roll.

35. Wayward Sons – The Truth Ain’t What It Used to Be

If you loved the debut then I’d wager the second helping is even better – this is some real hard rock and roll that honours the Hard rocking sounds of the 70’s and 80’s.

36. Lone Rider – Attitude

If you love your classy Classic Rock with a distinct emphasis on melody this is one of the albums you’ll be coming back to all year.

37. L.A. Guns – The Devil You Know

Phil Lewis Interview

2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of L.A. Guns rather fine second album ‘Cocked and Loaded’ and if you count the Sunset Strip bands that are making partial resurgences these days to mark that anniversary you’d be forgiven for thinking there is a bit of a mini-revival going on. There are however few bands out there from that era that have pretty much remained a going concern throughout those three decades.

38. Michael Schenker Fest – Revelation

Beautifully produced by Michael Voss, there’s plenty to love here from anthemic opener ‘Rock Steady’ through the UFO-like ‘Under A Blood Red Sky’, the bluesy Halen-esque ‘Crazy Daze’ and the wonderful 80’s styled Hard Rock of ‘Lead You Astray’ all the way to the powerful instrumental ‘Ascension’ which closes.

39. Tesla- Shock

For me this may well, in balance, be the best Tesla album of the last 20 years. Does it sound like Def Leppard? Well, a little, but it soon wears off – lose the first two tracks and the closer and no one would ever have have even breathed a word. If I’m being picky I’d have loved a couple more like ‘Save That Goodness’ on here, that wonderful bonus track from 2016’s ‘Mechanical Resonance Live’ but maybe that’s being greedy?

40. Stevie D featuring Corey Glover – Torn From The Pages

I’ve always been a great fan of Glover’s voice but this is the sort of territory I love him inhabiting – nice guitar-driven hard rock courtesy of Stevie D. Brilliant stuff.

41. Crobot – Motherbrain

This album is just more of everything that Crobot have done so well in the past – more guitar, more heavy riffage, more blues, more funk, more attitude. It’s unmissable.

42. Mike Tramp – Stray From The Flock

This is an album that feels comfortable and honest, effortless and free-flowing. It’s an album that isn’t under any pressure to be anything other than ‘Mike Tramp’ and isn’t afraid to take what he’s learnt on every part of that journey. Mike Tramp in 2019 is bolder and stronger than ever.