Favorite Music of 2007

I still hear a lot of people complaining about the state of music yet every year I find a bunch of new stuff to like and many of my favorite bands keep putting out decent material. I've got no complaints every year and 2007 was no exception.

Biggest Surprise - Sebastian Bach's Angel Down
Not just because he's a total tool, but the fact that he hasn't done squat that was good since parting ways with Skid Row over a decade ago had me writing Sebastian off as finished. Big mistake. Due to his banshee like vocals and the guitar/writing of "Metal" Mike Chlasciak (Painmuseum, Halford) this album stomps mudholes is asses and walks them dry. The elusive Axl Rose even appears on 3 tracks.

Favorite New Bands (to me at least)
Whiskey Falls - Country/rock/pop with great melodies and good songwriting
Machina - Phil Taylor from Future Leaders of the World on vocals
Hellyeah - I love this "supergroup" with Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray and guitarist Greg Tribbett, Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell, Damageplan bassist Bob Zilla, and former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul. I saw them live, rocked their CD and watched their DVD regularly in 2007
Poets & Pornstars - Saw them live in Memphis and love their CD

Honorable Mentions That I Discovered in 2007 - Sanctity, Five Finger Death Punch, Black Light Burns, Operator, Maylene And The Sons of Disaster, Throwdown

Best Comeback - The Eagles
I love their new double CD, Long Road Out of Eden, and the only thing that pisses me off is that it took them over 2 decades to give us new music.

2nd Best Comeback - Megadeth
Megadeth's United Abominations is the best Megadeth album in at least a decade with some killer riffs and some classic style extended solos from Drover and Mustaine.

Favorite Live Show - Monster's Ball w/Korn and friends
A great show with a lot of loud, mean metal music probably was tops over a couple of Sevendust shows, a great show by Keith Urban and many others.

Narrowing a list down to 20 that I would call my favorite CDs was pretty tough, and putting the numbers in front of them even tougher because the order changes week to week somewhat. But anyway... here are my:

Top 20 CDs of 2007

20. Nine Inch Nails ~ Year Zero
19. The Showdown ~ Temptation Come My Way
18. Five Finger Death Punch ~ The Way of the Fist
17. Hurt ~ Vol. II
16. HELLYEAH ~ Hellyeah
15. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster ~ II
14. Jack Ingram ~ This Is It
13. Sixx A.M. ~ The Heroin Diaries
12. Avenged Sevenfold ~ s/t
11. Sebastian Bach ~ Angel Down
10. Ozzy Osbourne ~ Black Rain
9. Marilyn Manson ~ Eat Me, Drink Me
8. Whiskey Falls ~ s/t
7. Nonpoint ~ Vengeance
6. Throwdown ~ Venom and Tears
5. Iced Earth ~ Framing Armageddon
4. Alter Bridge ~ Blackbird
3. Megadeth ~ United Abominations
2. Down ~ Over The Under
1. Sevendust ~ Alpha

New CDs this year from favorites like Korn, Ingram Hill, Prong, Chevelle, Bon Jovi and Shooter Jennings were all a welcome blast also.

Bring on 2008.