Top Ten Albums of 2015 Part 1

Hello one and all! I hope you have all had a splendid holiday. 2015 is coming to a close this week, so I figure I would keep with last year's tradition of doing a year-end wrap up by over the last few days of the year doing a countdown of the top 10 albums that came out this year. They will be listed in no particular order because I really do hate getting down to the nitty-gritty of trying to decide where in the list something belongs. It's all opinion, anyway. That said, each day up until December 31st will have two albums listed with a short description of each. Enjoy!

10. Dodge & Burn, by The Dead Weather

Jack White is one busy guy, isn't he? This year his side project The Dead Weather released its first album in five years: Dodge & Burn. If you are familiar with the band's brand of dark magic and gritty blues rock then this album is exactly what you would expect from them. The band once again combined thundering rhythms with dark memorable riffs and vocals that howl into the pouring midnight rain.

What makes Dodge & Burn special is that in an age where so many mainstream artists stick to what is short and catchy, The Dead Weather are not afraid to dip back into older forms of exploratory music that are unique and almost take you on a journey. It's stuff you can get lost in the groove of while letting the rest of the world kind of slip away. Definitely a must grab for those who are interested in the darker side of things.

9. The Purple Album, by Whitesnake

When I heard that David Coverdale was going to be putting out an album of covers from his years in Deep Purple I had mixed feelings of excitement and concern. I was THRILLED because that was the music that got me into him in the first place, but I was wondering how well he would be able to sing them given the fact that it's been 40+ years and his voice has aged tremendously. Fortunately I was for the most part pleasantly surprised by The Purple Album.

The Purple Album has its strong and weak points, but overall these are fresh sounding reinterpretations of these classic songs. Some were done better than others in my opinion, but if you remove yourself from the knowledge of what these songs originally sounded like then you might have a bit more fun. Overall the songs are a LOT heavier than the originals due to the fact that Whitesnake is more metal than Deep Purple ever was. Even so, those who have been long time fans will still find at least a few tunes that they feel do the originals some form of justice.