Top 20 Albums of 2012 (Rock / Metal / AOR / Prog)

Well its that time of year again to highlight my fave albums of the year.  2012 has seen some good albums, some very good, and a few great ones. To be fair to the competition Ive drawn up a list of well over 30 albums. and most in the list are so close its too difficult to set each of them apart, they quality has been so good. So, here we go!

20. Flying Colours -ST
A bit different to what you'd expect from the people involved, but a damn good album all the same. A fine vocal performance courtesy of Casey MacPherson

Recommended Tracks - 'Blue Ocean', 'Kayla', 'The Storm'

19.Bonafide - Ultimate rebel
Swedes give it their best AC/DC welly, to massive effect, a great album all round

Recommennded Tracks - 'Make My Own Rules', 'The Mess', 'Too Fired Up'

18. Neal Morse - Momentum
Less God bothering than previous albums, its an album thats up there with his best, solo and Spocks Beard

Recommended Tracks -  'Momentum', 'Thoughts Pt5', 'Weathering Sky'

17. Kiss - Monster
Kiss are currently in the form of their lives, Monster is a ronseal album, it does what it says on the tin!

Recommended Tracks - 'Out Of This World', 'Hell or Hallelujah'

16.OSI - Fire Makes Thunder
Moore/Matheos on fine form indeed. A moody, hypnotic and rhythmic album

Recommended Track - 'Cold Call'

15. Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
VH prove that some old songs given some spit and polish doesn't mean they were castaways from the 80s. One of the comebacks of the year, and DLR still is the man!


Recommended track - 'Tattoo'

14.H.E.A.T - Address the Nation
New album + new singer in Swedish idol winner Erik Gronwall, makes for one classy album

Recommended Tracks - 'Breaking The Silence', 'Living On The Run', 'Heartbreaker'

13. Nubian Rose - Mountain
Excellent debut from the Swedes and the stunning Sofia Lilja. They have all it takes to be huge. See them at HRH next year. For fans of Dio, Whitesnake, Scorps etc

Recommended Tracks - 'Ever See Your Face', 'Mountain', 'How Am I'








To be fair, from hereonin, any of the below albums have the potential to be the best of 2012. It was that close. 12 down to 1 are all excellent albums that deserve a listen to. Then you can make your own mind up!

12.Black Country Communion - Afterglow
Practically a Glenn Hughes solo effort, its the BCC jewel. If they do no more (travesty if they don't) its a great way to bow out


Recommended Tracks - 'Big Train' and 'Cry Freedom'

11. Red, White & Blues - Shine
Saw them supporting Chickenfoot, they just blew me away. Great band who deserve a bigger following. One of the great debuts of 2012

Recommended Tracks - 'Stand Up For Rock N Roll, Shame,Shame', 'Let It Shine'

10. Hartmann- Balance
After the ill received Hartmann III, Oliver makes more than a comeback with Balance, his finest collection of songs to date

Recommended Tracks - 'All My Life', 'Fool For You', 'You Are The One'

9. Shinedown - Amaryllis
Every album gets bigger and better, with mega stardom on its way to the lads from Jacksonville

Recommended Tracks - 'Bully', 'Enemies'

8. Empires of Eden - Channeling The Infinite
Guitar virtuoso Stu Marshall with his Power metal with a cast of many singers. The finest album of its genre this year

Recommended Tracks - 'Cry Out', 'Hammer Down', Lions For Lambs'

7. Soulspell - Hollow's Gathering
Heleno Vale does a Brazillian Ayreon. Some stars Ripper Owens, Amanda Somerville, Blayze Bayley, Vescera, Grosskopf and a relatively unknown Brazillian cast, but a great album

Recommended Tracks - 'Hollows gathering', 'To Crawl Or To Fly',

6. 12. Jimi Jamison - Never Too Late
His best album in years! Possibly ever! Appropriately named also

Recommended Tracks - The first few songs are as good as anything hes put his vocals on - 'Everybody's Got A Broken Heart', 'The Great Unknown', 'I Cant Turn Back'









5.Gene The Werewolf - Rock N Roll Animal
 Its only been out a few week, but boy, its a belter!!!

Recommended tracks - 'Superhero'. Infectious as the Norovirus, and check out the great vid on youtube. 'Wicked Love', 'I Only Wanna Rock N Roll'










4.Rick Springfield - Songs For The End Of The World
Power pop/rock at its absolute finest. A jem of an album from Springfield. And he's still a good looking bloke at 63!!


Recommended Tracks - 'Wide Awake', 'A Sign Of Life'








3.Rush - Clockwork Angels
Their best album in 20 years. In saying that, it wouldn't be difficult, but then again, its up there with some of their best.

Recommended Tracks - Headlong Flight', 'The Garden', 'Clockwork Angels'

2.Romeos Daughter - Rapture
Craig Joiners writing remains undimishished after a 20-odd year break. A mature and classy affair

Recommended Tracks - 'Bittersweet', a country/rock crossover that screams quality, ''Lightning'









1 Lionville - II
Stefano Lionetti's melodic rock gem of 2012. A 'must own' if you're into AOR

Recommended Tracks - 'Higher', 'All We Need', 'The Only Way Is Up'

Check out the cover of Boy Meets Girl's 'Waiting For A star To Fall'!! 






A notable mention goes to the following which are still great albums Pride of Lions, Anathema, Slash, Tremonti, Affector, Ten, UFO, T&N. Eclipse, and Summers

And heres the faves from a few of our rock community.....

Russell Arcara (Prophet)
1.Bruce Springsteen -Wrecking Ball,
2.Jack White - Blunderbuss.
3.Halestorm- 'the strange case of'

Leigh Matty (Romeo's Daughter)
1.Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)
2.Halestorm - 'the strange case of ...'
3.Muse- The 2nd law

Merv Goldsworthy (FM)
As above +
Donald Fagen- Sunken Condos

Ed Poole (Romeos Daughter / Bonnie Tyler)
1.Soundgarden - King Animal
2.Stone Sour - House of Gold and Bones Pt1
3.Romeos Daughter- Rapture

Alessandro Del Vecchio (Lionville/Hardline/Edens Curse/ and more!)

1.Jimi Jamison NEVER TOO LATE

2.Sven Larsson BAD MAD MAN

3.Docker's Guild THE MYSTIC TECHNOCRACY SEASON 1

Paul Logue (Edens Curse)
1. Unisonic "Unisonic"
2. Accept "Stalingrad"
3. H.E.A.T. "Address The Nation

Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon)
1] Ian Anderson's Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick 2
2] Katatonia - Dead End Kings
3] Devin Townsend - Epicloud

Stefano Lionetti (Lionville)
1. Rick Springfield - Songs For The End Of The World
2. Jimi Jamison - Never Too Late
3. H.E.A.T. - Address The Nation

Pierpaolo ''Zorro11'' Monti (Shining Line / Chaming Grace due early 2013)

JIMI JAMISON - NEVER TOO LATE 
''The greatest surprise of the year for me. Erik Martensson did a huge work producing and writing the songs of this album in the best and classic Survivor style, and this offered to Jimi the perfect way to express himself in a standout vocal peformance. "Everybody's Got A Broken Heart" is one of the best openers I heard in a decade''

LIONVILLE - II 
''I've been not able to play on this second album of Lionville due of a family tragedy (I lost my mother at the beginning of this year after a long battle against cancer), but a the same time I've been so happy and proud to see my friends Stefano Lionetti and Alessandro Del Vecchio making an incredible work on the second release of this project. The songs, the production, the arrangements... all is perfect! "All This Time" is a true AOR anthem and "Next To Me" the perfect match point with what we heard on the debut album! The lions are roaring again!''

H.E.A.T - ADDRESS THE NATION
''I've been a fan of H.E.A.T since their wonderful debut album, and I was a little worried after the split of singer Kenny Leckeremo... I think that his voice was a very important part of the H.E.A.T trademark. But now, after a lot of spins of this new chapter, I can really say that they're back stronger than ever! Erik Grönwall has been a fantastic choice and the songs are really amazing! My favorite is without doubt "In And Out Of Trouble", the sax adds to this tune a classy melodic touch''

Heleno Vale (Soulspell)
 01) Soulspell - Hollow's Gathering
02) Sabaton - Carolus Rex
03) Eclipse - Bleed & Scream
04) André Matos - The Turn Of The Lights
05) H.E.A.T. - Address The Nation
06) Testament - The Dark Roots of Earth
07) Hartmann - Balance
08) Lacuna Coil - Dark Adrenaline
09) Kamelot - Silverthorn
10) Pastore - The End Of Our Flames
11) Rush - Clockwork Angels
12) Arjen Lucassen - Lost In The New Real
13) Manowar - The Lord Of Steel
14) Primal Fear - Unbreakable
15) Overkill - The Electric Age

Allee Martell (Radio Presenter - Purrfect Timing)
1.Great White - Elation
2.T&N - Slave to the Empire
3.Warp Drive - Something to Believe In ("Allee adds - 'Please mention Paul Rudland and AOR BoulevardRercords...Paul and the label are a class act and did justice to this band whose songs deserve to be heard.')
4. Hardline - Danger Zone

Mark Thompson-Smith (Praying Mantis / Fay Wray)
1) VAN HALEN - A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH
2) MR BIG - LIVE FROM THE LIVING ROOM
3) HEART - FANATIC..''PURELY FOR ANN'S VOICE''

Nick Workman (Vega)
1.Sixx am: This Is Gonna Hurt
2.Slash: Apocalyptic Love
3.Lit: The View From The Bottom

Jasix Prowlingwolf (Empires of Eden)
1. Cage - Supremacy Of Steel
2. Dragonsclaw - Prophecy
3. Hardline - Danger Zone

Rob Evans (Powerplay/ Classic Rock AOR)
1. Jimi Jamison - Never Too Late
2. H.E.A.T. - Address The Nation
3. Lionville - II

Jim Kirkpatrick (FM)
1. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking
2. Romeos Daughter - Rapture
3. Royal Southern Brotherhood - ST

Mik Gaffney (Drummer / Classic Rock / Powerplay / Factory Music)
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Testament - Dark Roots Of Earth
In This Moment - Blood
Firewind - Few Against Many

Jason Sepala (Summers)

H.E.A.T – Address the Nation

Van-Halen – A Different Kind of Truth (one of my favourite bands of all time and nice to see Mr Roth back in the band).

David Lee Roth – A Lil Aint Enough (although an old album, this is in my top 5 favourite albums easily. Jason Becker on guitar just adds the icing on the cake for this record. The guy is incredible and such a shame he couldn’t continue due to his illness).

I love the 80’s so much I find myself going back in time to discover other music released during that period.