Top 5 Albums of 2011: Paul Gargano

If you grew up in the late 80's/ early 90's you knew Metal Edge Magazine and it's leader Paul Gargano!  In the December issue of Vegas Rocks! Magazine, I took a page right out of the Metal Edge legend:  The Top 5 Album Picks of 2011.  It seems natural that the man who inspired me get his words to the readers of Vegas Rocks!  While only Paul's 'edited' version of his picks made it to the printed page....here is Paul's full list in all it's glory!  I cannot thank Mr. Gargano enough for his time and his amazing take on his top 5 albums of 2011!  Be sure to visit Paul at www.paulgargano.com

1.       ANTHRAX ‘Worship Music’ (Megaforce Records)

I was discussing my love for this album with a co-worker and he asked if I was a “hardcore, old-school, East Coast Anthrax apologist” – and the answer is no. At least to the “old-school” and “apologist” parts. I didn’t discover Anthrax until ‘Among the Living,’ so I can’t be old-school. And I’m hardly an apologist. What I am is a huge Anthrax fan – they’re my favorite metal band – and ‘Worship Music’ is right up there with ‘Persistence of Time’ atop my list of their favorite albums. Joey Belladonna delivers the best vocal performance of the band’s rich vocal history, Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano are as titanic a force as any guitar duo out there, and Frank Bello and Charlie Benante are my favorite bottom end in all of music. ‘Worship Music’ is the penultimate Anthrax record, compressing where they’ve come from, everywhere they’ve been and wherever they may go into a massive wrecking ball of kinetic, frenetic metal… much like the cover of Stomp 442, but without that naked guy.

2.       MEGADETH ‘Th1rt3en’ [Roadrunner Records]

Megadeth run a close second to Anthrax on my list of favorite metal bands, but I’m hardly biased – I have a Queensryche tattoo, and you won’t find their latest release on any Best Of from me in 2011. A big fan of the last two Megadeth albums, I was admittedly bummed to hear that lucky number ‘Th1rt3en’ would be a hodge-podge including leftovers from previous albums and sessions – I was expecting an effort that was phoned in, but instead was met by a release as dialed-in as anything in the band’s formidable catalog. Dave Mustaine’s snarl is as savage as ever, Chris Broderick is my favorite in the long line of Mega-shredders, and having Dave Ellefson back in the fold makes the proceedings all the more Deth-defying. Given it’s mish-mashed background, the album’s true magic lies in its seamless, cohesive flow – with lyrics ranging from fierce politics to interpersonal observations, and music running the spectrum from the punk bite that laced ‘Peace Sells’ to the progressive hammer that slammed ‘Rust In Peace,’ ‘Th1rt3en’ is pure Megadeth.

3.       AMEBIX ‘Sonic Mass’ [Easy Action / Amebix Records]

This album came out of left field and spun my musical universe on end. Don’t let the band’s history confuse you – yes Amebix formed in 1978, and yes their roots are just as punk as they are metal, but ‘Sonic Mass’ is remarkably fresh and all about heavy. I’m not talking paint-by-numbers heavy, either. This is heavy like a solar eclipse, the type of heavy that imprints your psyche and leaves you dwelling on what just was. Think Tool, then keep thinking, spinning, pounding and turning... The vocals are a crusty amalgam of Lemmy and Al Jourgensen, the music a landscape of depressed tones and blitzing beats, and the results are a doom-drenched soundtrack that bellows to the heavens as hellfire singes its soul. The first Amebix studio album in nearly 25 years, ‘Sonic Mass’ calls the dark territory I had hoped ‘Lulu’ might explore home – and succeeds on every front where the latter fails.

4.       JOLLY ‘The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1)’ [InsideOut Music]

I started a full-time gig at Century Media Records this fall, and as I was immersing myself in the rosters of the two imprints I’d been named Product Manager of – InsideOut Music & Superball Music – Jolly reached out and grabbed me like no other band in my expansive catalog. Calling InsideOut home, they no doubt bear the markings of a progressive rock band, but only in the most literal – and not the scary/intimidating – sense of the word. While their arrangements are lush and expansive, their music is warm and inviting, the songs on ‘The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1)’ spanning a musical landscape that blurs the lines of distinction between more established acts like Dream Theater, Seether, H.I.M., Big Elf and Godhead. There are moments of pure pop bliss, but there’s also so much more – this is an album for fans of music in the more provocative depths of the word.

                                                                                                                                   

5.       JASON CHARLES MILLER ‘Uncountry’ [Count Mecha Music]

If anyone had told me a decade ago that I’d have a country album on my Best Of list in 2011, I’d have laughed at them. But tastes evolve, and that’s the enduring allure of music. Jason Miller is the lead singer of the band Godhead, and this is his full-length solo debut – it’s a far cry from the haunted tones and pasty goth flavor of his longtime band, but the new suit fits the frontman just fine. This isn’t cheesy country, it’s Johnny Cash country, and Miller makes a strong case for being the new man in black, many of the songs featuring little more than the singer/songwriter, his acoustic guitar and a left-of-center, backwoods accompaniment. Then there are just as many songs that rock. Hard. Call it country, call it Americana, call it singer/songwriter, call it roots rock, call it folk, call it what you want – great music transcends genre lines, and ‘Uncountry’ is no exception.