Kid A--Radiohead.
5.00 out of 5.00
This record puts the Gas in orgasm. My advice for people who don’t get this: You’re all fucking idiots. They raised the creative bar about 30 feet. No one even comes close to these guys right now, and this record is SIMPLY AMAZING. You'll be hearing elements from this record for the next ten years.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea --PJ Harvey.
4.67 out of 5.00
How Polly got her grunge back. The reigning queen of music. She is simultaneously pissed off and vulnerable. My Generation’s Patti Smith. The passion of folk with a punk delivery. Plus Thom does a duet that is AMAZING. I'm a huge fan-boy, so i'm not wholly objective, but this is an truly stellar record...even by PJ's standards.

A Perfect Circle--A Perfect Circle.
4.67 out of 5.00
I really like this album. Was a pretty big TOOL fan, but this record leaps above what Maynard was doing in TOOL. The guitar leads soar, and the melodies swirl perfectly around the rhythms. I was totally impressed by this, and hope it gets tons of airplay on a radio station near you. Aboslutely no flat spots, and is an outstanding rock record.

Music for People--VAST.
4.50 out of 5.00
Brilliant composition, excellent nuance, great themes, no flat spots and honesty runs amok. So very melodic without losing impact. Great grooves. Outstanding compositional variety. From strings to the Doors. Excellent follow up to an impressive debut.

The Man Who--Travis.
4.33 out of 5.00
Radiohead Light from Scotland. Awesome vocals and acoustic work. So honest, and fun. Heartbreaking melodies, and a soft "real" view that is so rare in the era of nut-crushing rhythms. Most of you will never see the beauty of this record, which is fine by me. This way I’ll always be able to see them in smaller venues.

Drawing Black Lines--Project 86.
4.25 out of 5.00
In a year where hardcore took over much of the airwaves, I'm surprised that this record didn't lead the pack. The most likely reason is that as Christians, Project 86 didn't feel the need to place strippers everywhere. Oh yeah...they also have a lyrical depth that fails to appeal to the vast quantity of pathetic, moronic inbreds that take up valuable space on this planet. This album is awesome. Straight up hardcore. Not cliche at all. The music is fresh, invigorating and absolutely amazing. The Christian thing doesn't play like Stryper. It comes across more as humansim than anything else. If you like rock at all, then this IS a must buy. A little TOOL, a little Orange 9mm (which means a little Quicksand) and a hint of Rage. The guitars CRUSH, The drums are insane, and vocalist Andrew Schwab manages to avoid barking on every track. I bought this after hearing the first track ("Stein's Theme") on a listening station at Tower and almost threw an elbow at someone standing next to me.

Gettin' High On Your Own Supply--Apollo Four Forty.
4.15 out of 5.00
Impressive album. Heretofore they had done a couple of really impressive singles (“Ain’t Talking ‘bout dub” among them). Highly Electronic, but with two drummers and a decent guitar player. This album is a breath of fresh air for a very polluted year. It is a very fun record, without all of the bullshit image-oriented crap that has innundated the rock scene since LB got big. A lot of break-beat elements, and very poppy. If rock is moving away from its traditional roots, it would do very well to be moving in the direction plotted out by Apollo Four Forty on this record.

Warning--Green Day.
4.00 out of 5.00
Such a great record. Punk or not, this is a great record. I wasn’t sure what would happen after Nimrod. They are growing so much as musicians it’s scary. I never thought Green Day would remind me of either Elvis Costello or The Beatles, but on this record they display enough maturity to grow even further out of the cliché that is the genre of Punk. Not one flat spot. Great record with good pace.

Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water--Limp Bizkit.
4.00 out of 5.00
I’m a closet fan, actually went and saw them on this tour. As much as I wanted this to suck, I must honestly admit that I was blown away by it, and in fact it has become one of my fav albums of this year. Ball-crunching rhythms, very good guitar work for what they’re doing, and it’s embarrassingly fun. Fred’s losing some of his lyrical creativity for ease of hookiness. Terry Date and DJ Lethal did an impressive job of producing the record. And yeah, they did put on a hell of a show. Only flat spots are the rap duos, which come across as wholly contrived, and unoriginal. Given the nature of rap these days, that is not to be unexpected though.

Installation Sonore--Rinocerose.
4.00 out of 5.00
Fucking brilliant. Trance gets a guitar. I played this record non-stop for about 6 weeks when I first got it. It is not for everyone. But then again I hate boy-rock, girl-rock and most everything else. Did I already say that this was brilliant…okay, just had to check. They do so many cool things on this album, namely bringing a blues-guitar feel and layering it with grooved up dance rhythms. By far one of the most creative albums I have bought this year.

A Thought Crushed My Mind--Blindside.
2.5 out of 5.00
If the production work on this album hadn’t yielded so much fucking mud, this would be a great album. I really like a lot of what they did on this album, but it just sounds like shit. The guitars which could slam you into the street come across as muted. The vocals which should be raising the hairs on your neck are buried under so much compression and layer upon layer of filtering that they sound really flat.

All Systems Gone--Presence.
3.33 out of 5.00
An LA power-band that punched out some very good trance and light house. Not one bad track on here, and in fact 5 very good tracks. If you need to get your groove on, or just need a break from death rap check this out.

Bigger Than The Devil--Stormtroopers Of Death
2.25 out of 5.00
I got this on a recommendation from a friend at work. Pretty F-ing heavy. I hope to God that this was SUPPOSED to be joke album. I mean I like the material, but they seem to not take themselves or their music too seriously, which is a good thing. Pretty much cliche upon cliche: 64th notes over double-kick bass, dog barking, breaks at the end of every 16 bars. Scott Ian and Charlie Banante from Anthrax highlight the line up. Ian DOES a very good job on guitar. I just figured that they'd show a little more. "Free Dirty Needles" stands out, but little else does. If you need to get your Mosh on, then buy this and have a great day.

Blue Lines--Massive Attack.
4.00 out of 5.00
Wow. As I said, not much creative goes on in this shithole which I call home. As such, I went out and bought this. considering it was written in '91 it still sounds fresh today. Some of the elements here have been played out, but still more creative the 98% of the music on the market right now. If you like reggae, trance or blues, you'll like this. Buy It.

Declaration Of A Headhunter--Stuck Mojo.
2.00 out of 5.00
Eh...
The death-core posterboys for Rush Limbaugh. Not crappy, just poorly produced. They do some cool stuff, but it is just risk-free. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's not that great. With a good producer to push these guys, I think they could be awesome. The record is too clean, and for the genre takes absoultely NO chances. Note to band...spend more time in rehearsal, and less at the gym. Based on potential, the follow up album may be better though.

Distorted Ghost (EP)--Sparklehorse.
3.75 out of 5.00
Not bad at all. REAL minimal. Great vocals. Very innocent. Almost a country influence to drum 'n bass. Pavement meets Beck. If the Lemonheads started recording in Y2K, I think this is what it would sound like. Singer/songwriter Mark Linkous is to be commended for this effort. "My Yoke is Heavy" is absolutely brilliant. Few people have the balls to experiment with with music. Fewer still have the talent to do it well. Every track on here is awesome. This is another one that maybe one of you out there will "get", but that one person will smile for a month everytime they listen to this.

Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy--Mindless Self Indulgence.
3.75 out of 5.00
About the only thing keeping this album off of the Top Ten was that it is so schizophrenic and unwieldy. That is one of the charming elements of this band, but apparently no one was around in the studio to help the editorial process. I also saw these guys with Rammstein, and they shredded. I saw the record about six months later and picked it up. Some of it works REALLY well, and some of it whithers on the vine. This is a fusion between industrial, funk, hip-hop, metal, hardcore, punk and techno. The last time that a band brought so many dissimilar sounds together was on Freaky-Styley, and based on their live show, that comparsion is apt. They have a bright future in front of them as recording artists, but sadly this is another record that many of you will never "get", but in five years will be buying records from artists that did.

High Definition--Shootyz Groove.
3.50 out of 5.00
These guys kick ass. They have improved so much since their debut, I almost didn't recognize them. They still have a mastery of rap-core, but have broadened their focus with polished results. 5 Great tracks on an album with no weak ones, and a cool cover of XTC's "Dear God" (with Andy Partridge on guest vocals).

King Of The Road--Fu Manchu.
2.5 out of 5.00
This is not horrible, but I wasn’t a fan of butt rock in the 70’s, and am not really one now in the 21st Century. An indie-influenced flavor. Some of their cover art has a skater on it, so everyone in “the scene” must think they’re cool. Truth is aside from the cover of “Freedom Of Choice” by DEVO, this is a pretty uninspired record that deserves to stay on the indie circuit.

Machina-The Machines Of God--Smashing Pumpkins
3.75 out of 5.00
Really good record which unfortunately serves as the Pumpkin's swan song. The beauty that Billy displayed on Adore still comes through on this, but having Jimmy Chamberlain back in the studio helped to punch things up. Though it seems like there were some things that just didn't fit. Specifically songs were juxtaposed that didn't mesh well. It sounds like this may have been recorded and slapped together. For most bands this wouldn't matter, and would be unnoticeable, but for the Pumpkins, the lack of cohesion hurt this record somewhat. While better than almost everything on the radio, it is limited from being a classic.

Ordinary Man--Day One.
3.75 out of 5.00
I really liked this when I bought it, and had I not gotten the Perfect Circle record, this probably would have made the Top Ten. It has four tunes guaranteed to get your butt shaking, and again not one bad song on it. Simple melodies, and quirky Cockney phrasing gives this a subdued charm. Kind of a hip-hop feel (but in the good way) juxtaposed with acoustic guitars and pianos. Their underplayed lyrical verite reflects lower class life in England giving it almost a British "ghetto" feel. The title track is brilliant.

Proud Like A God--Guano Apes.
3.00 out of 5.00
Bought this because of the cover. The title track does kick, but gets lost in some rock cliches. The rest of the album, which DOES display some interesting variety (Reggae, Blues and attempts at Industrial) is not bad. Eagerly await a follow up.

Rituals Of Life--Stretch Arm Strong.
2.25 out of 5.00
Frat-boy hard core. Bought the album because I thought the band name was cool. The music is not bad at all, but the singer’s voice started to bug after awhile, not much variety in his delivery. There is not one song that stuck out when I played this. The music does get a bit repetitive toward the end of the album, and by then I wanted to give it a mercy-killing and click the “stop” button.

Songs From An American Movie Vol One: Learning How To Smile--Everclear.
3.99 out of 5.00
I really missed these guys. In a year filled with so much horseshit, this record helped to ground me. They still write great pop songs, and while this was a departure from the more punk-influenced stuff they had released on earlier records, this still was a very strong record.

Soulfly--Soulfly.
3.50 out of 5.00
Wow. Saw these guys touring with Rammstein, and they blew my nuts off. Max Cavalera from Sepultura is the vocalist. Thick rhytyms, crushing guitars and a “genuine” tribal influence. Dog barking gets a little annoying after awhile, but the music on this was awesome. This record doesn’t really capture the vitality of their live show, and truth be told is not for everyone. If you’re into hardcore, than you’ll LOVE this record. Of the plethora of hardcore I bought this year, this album stand head and shoulders above the rest. This disc has a bonus CD with live versions, re-mixes and some other cool stuff.

Suzuki--Tosca.
3.33 out of 5.00
Another wow. Apparently I’ve become Bi-Polar in my middle age. The only records that seemed to interest me this year are either trance/trip hop or extreme hardcore. A very strong and inspired trance effort. You just swim out and catch the first swell, and ride this all day and all night. Of the Electronic stuff that I have bought this year, this ranks right behind the Rinocerose record.

System Of A Down--System Of A Down.
3.50 out of 5.00
I hope to God you check your jock at the door. This is heavy as shit. They rock, and do so sounding fresh as hell. They crush, but are quirky enough to not become cliche. A very good amount of variety, and a phenomenal sense of humor. Not for all shoppers though. Some could see this as a little thpooky.

Technical Difficulties--Hate Dept.
3.25 out of 5.00
Not Bad. Basic Dance Industrial fodder. One great hit "Release It", and some other half-assed stuff that doesn't make it. I think I'd like this genre a lot more if the artists would lay off "the fill" with which they seem destined to lard their work. By no means a bad record, in fact I like a good majority of the material. Though some of it sounds a bit forced. I like their material, I just wish they didn't try so hard to sound pissed off. If you're going to be pissed off, let it flow. If you're going to be Electroinc, then BE Electronic.
"Do or Do Not, there is no Try."

Wisconsin Death Trip--Static X.
3.33 out of 5.00
Fear Factory meets KORN. If you know this reviewer, then this is almost a guarantee of success. It’s great to rock out to, but nowhere near as creative as FF. By no means a bad record, just far from great. Highly repetitive, but not uncreative. It’s just a limited format, and they in this record seem afraid to think (or rather act) outside the box. They do dabble with Electronic elements, but stop short. I would expect a brilliant follow up from what I hear in this.