Stone Temple Pilots - Stone Temple Pilots (2010)

★ ★ ★

The grunge reformations continue. STP ditched the Pearl Jam In Chains vibe long ago and these days trade in muscular alt-rawk along the lines of Jane's Addiction. The single Between The Lines and the New Order-esque Cinnamon are instantly infectious, while the rest is a solid mixture of Zeppelin riffs and 60's psychedelic pop.

Sonic Youth - NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000)

★ ★ ★

The song title "Small Flowers Crack Concrete" describes this album almost perfectly: delicate off-kilter guitar embroidery decorates vast grey oceans of punkish noise - a noise which pulsates rather than roars. Of course if you're not a fan of this sort of thing you will HATE this album. "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" presents Sonic Youth 20 years into a career spent weaving together bruised yet beautiful alt-rock with krautrock noise and feedback. This 12th effort is a calmer affair than usual - everything sounds semi-improvised and the atmosphere is relentlessly "arty" yet the band somehow steers clear of overt pretensiousness. A little too much reliance on mantric repetition in the vocals can become grating, but in general "Ghosts" succeeds as dreamy/nightmarish punk psychedelia.

Nine Inch Nails - Broken (1992)

★ ★ ★

Essentially a stepping stone between NIN's comparatively pop debut and "The Downward Spiral", Reznor's intentions for the future are made clear here: "Pretty Hate Machine"'s crunchy synth-rock is galvanised with white-hot noise guitar and frantic industrial drums, squeals and belches. "Broken" dives head-first down the rabbit hole, gurgling and convulsing on its way to hell. A little light tune-wise perhaps, and a little less organic than "The Downward Spiral", but it certainly leaves a lasting impression.

Dead Kennedys - In God We Trust, Inc. (1981)

★ ★ ★

8 songs in 14 minutes - Jello and his boys are going for the jugular here. Stupidly fast and aggressive yet tuneful and even catchy, this is hardcore as artform, with social conscience and sense of humour both in full swing. Essentially recorded live, the Kennedys remain convincingly PUNK and yet remain listenable - a feat not matched by many 1980's hardcore bands. To keep things interesting "We've Got A Bigger Problem Now" re-invents "California Über Alles" as demented jazz, and the rocking cover of the theme from Rawhide is glorious.

Green Day - American Idiot (2004)

★ ★ ★

Here Green Day come to terms with what they have become: punk-esque stadium rock mega-stars; a role which "American Idiot" the album, and the tour embraced with relish. If there is a coherent storyline here (as claimed) it is well hidden, and as far as political commentary goes "American Idiot" offers little more than name-calling. One suspects the sudden spark of rebellion at this album's heart was as much a convenient career-revitalising contrivance as it was a genuine attempt to heal the world. Unforgivable perhaps if the material were less strong. "American Idiot" is a neat package of all the lessons learned from "Nimrod"'s loose-footed sonic adventurism, book-ended by two 9 minute, muti-part "rock opera"s. It all flows together convincingly enough, and the weaker songs are just about good enough to keep the whole show rolling along.

Green Day - Warning (2000)

★ ★ ★

At last the punk rock millionaires come of age. The  key breakthrough here is the realization that Green Day is not really a punk band, and that to pretend that they are is counter-productive. Liberated from proving himself with 2 minute thrash-pop nuggets, Billie Joe turns his distortion pedal down a few notches, and the boys throw a little folk and some moody klezmer into the power-trio melting pot. And it works. The drums bounce, the guitars clang, and the songs once again sound like they were written by a band with a purpose.

Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue (2009)

★ ★ ★

A worthy return, although sadly a victim of the loudness war, making this possibly the loudest, most overly-compressed album released so-far. The result is one motherfucking heavy slab of gothic-grunge-metal. This is not easy listening. This is music which demands to be played fucking loud, or not at all. William DuVall fills Layne Staley's post impressively, and Cantrell's guitar-work and songcraft remain as charismatic as ever. While their recent tour proved that Alice In Chains is still a band well worth paying attention to, "Black Gives Way To Blue" is just too relentless (partly due to the horribly butchered mastering) to be anything more than an occasional listen.

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned (1977)

★ ★ ★

The Damned's debut sprints along like an amphetamine-saturated Monkees, devouring songs and spitting them back out bloodied and spit-drenched. Less formulaic and po-faced than the Pistol's or The Clash's debuts, the band here seems to have become bored with the punk aesthetic already, so alongside the thrashers we are presented with gothic balladry and proto-noise rock. There is a level of musicianship here well beyond the reaches of most 70's punk bands, but its rushed along in such a drugged-out and fucked-up manner that it often sounds like pure chaos. This is real anarchy. The Sex Pistols sound like Staus Quo by comparison.

Danzing - Danzig (1988)

★ ★ ★

This is a consistently high quality set, adequately showing off Danzig's heavy metal-Doors sctick. Its a shame that the guitars seem to be set to stun rather than kill. In fact the whole album feels hollow, as though there were an instrument missing. These songs work well individually, but as an album "Danzig" lacks the necessary thrills to hold one's attention through to the end.