Best release by a Sludgey U.S. act this century?

[Hair I Go Again]

After seeing a couple of "Best of the 21st Century So Far" lists that made me barf, I figured I'd start a Sludge-friendly list, but only for U.S. bands. (If you want a worldwide list, start your own thread.)

By Sludge-friendly, I mean hair bands or hair band-adjacent, so spare me your Strokes and your White Stripes. Let's also exclude heavier bands like Testament and Anthrax, as they don't quite fit the Monsters of Rock Cruise/M3/Metal Edge aesthetic. That said, here's my attempt at a Top 10, in no particular order -- with the caveat that I only allowed myself to pick one release by each artist:

Night Ranger - Somewhere In California (2011)
Steel Panther - Feel The Steel (2009)
Extreme - Six (2023)
The Winery Dogs - s/t (2013)
Paul Stanley - Live To Win (2006 -- and suck it, haters. I'll take this over Sonic Boom and Monster any day)
Buckcherry - Time Bomb (2001)
Slash - Living The Dream (2018 -- tough call over Ain't Life Grand, but I like LTD better)
L.A. Guns - Waking the Dead (2002)
Damone - Out Here All Night (2006 -- the best '00s pop-metal record no one heard)
Tom Keifer - The Way Life Goes (2013)

If Armored Saint is fair game, I'd probably include Revelation (2000) over Keifer.

I'm surely forgetting some, but there's a reason I didn't list a few obvious candidates -- I just didn't like them enough. And I struggled with omitting Chinese Democracy, but I think its backstory is more interesting than its music... and more importantly, I'd rather listen to all of the above.

Disclaimer: I haven't spent enough time with Alice Cooper's post-2000 releases, but I've dug a few songs here and there. Is there a consensus favorite of the albums from Brutal Planet through Road?

[pieceofme]

LA guns tales from the strip is also very good

[pieceofme]

I also agree that live to win is better than sonic boom and monster

[Psychobolia.com]

Steel Panther: Lower the Bar

[Love_Industry]

LA guns tales from the strip is also very good

Came here to write this.

My Cooper favorite this millennium is Paranormal but the fan consensus may be Dirty Diamonds, as it has the two most played songs post Brutal Planet.

Other favorites: VH - ADKOT, House of Lords - World Upside Down and Journey - Revelation

[daveg]

That Night Ranger album is awesome.. That and Wingers Karma would get my vote


LA guns Hollywood Forever is also really strong

[LitaStrauss]

Alice Cooper "Brutal Planet" (2000)
Marvelous 3 "Ready Sex Go" (2000)
Enuff Z'Nuff "10" (2000)
The Darkness "Permission To Land" (2003)
Alice Cooper "The Eyes Of Alice Cooper" (2003)
Anthrax "We've Come For You All" (2003)
The Darkness "One Way Ticket To Hell" (2005)
Rush "Snakes & Arrows" (2007)
The Wildhearts (2007)
Hot Leg "Red Light Fever" (2009)
Steel Panther "Feel The Steel" (2009)
Wig Wam "Non Stop Rock N Roll" (2010)
Rush "Clockwork Angels" (2012)
Van Halen "A Different Kind Of Truth" (2013)
Steel Panther "All You Can Eat" (2014)
Winger "Better Days Comin'" (2014)
BulletBoys "Elefante" (2015
Alice Cooper "Paranormal" (2017)
Winger "Karma" (2018)
Donnie Vie "Beautiful Things" (2019)
The Darkness "Easter Is Cancelled" (2019)
AC/DC "Power Up" (2020)
Black Swan "Shake The World" (2020)
Poppy "I Disagree" (2020)
H.E.A.T. "H.e.a.t. II" (2020)
Crazy Lixx "Street Lethal" (2021)
Extreme "Six" (2023)
Sebastian Bach "Child Within The Man" (2024)

[DemonFilth2001]

ADKOT is absolutely terrible. Good guitar. Zero songs.

I’ll add:

Dokken-Long Way Home
Dokken-Hell to Pay
Dokken-Lightning Strikes Again
Dokken-Broken Bones
Dokken-Heaven Comes Down

[Mister Freeze]

I think Ratt - Infestation wins this.

[Rocker4Real]

I like that Kiefer album.

[SexxAtraxxion]

The Last Vegas - Whatever Gets You Off (2009)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hozZAxOuG_Q

[Brainy Lane]

STRYPER Reborn
If Butch Walker is sludgey???
Left of Self Centered

[LAglamrocker]

Anything Lance Eric played on
All the offers Troy Patrick Farrell accepted
any band Ace Von Johnson calls “ hey I’m playing on your next cd”

[Nate S Axel]

Damone - Out Here All Night (2006 -- the best '00s pop-metal record no one heard)

Not "Sludgey" like the rest of yours, but good one. Great album. Noelle had a couple nice solo tracks too. I guess the band has reunited, but I haven't heard anything new.

[MattleyCrue]

Saints of the Underground
Tesla Into the Now
TNT My Religion
Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy
Motley Crue Saint of Los Angeles
Enuff Z’Nuff Dissonance
LA Guns - Man In The Moon

[EyeDocOfRock]

Tesla- Shock

Scorpions- Humanity Hour 1

Night Ranger - Don’t Let Up

Scorpions- Rock Believer

[Anthrax442]

Best? That's tough. I'd probably go with "Good to be Bad" by Whitesnake, but there's a lot of good suggestions.

Scorpions - Humanity Hour 1 is excellent, but you can kind of tell they had some outside writers because of how different it sounds than something like Return to Forever or Rock Believer.

I've got Welcome 2 My Nightmare over some of the mentioned Alice Cooper albums, but my second choice would probably be The Eyes of Alice Cooper.

Revelation is the best of the Armored Saint albums, so I'll echo that. I think Child Within the Man narrowly beats out Angel Down, and nothing Skid Row put out is anywhere close to either.

As much hate as Chinese Democracy gets, it's really NOT a bad album, and I've got it up with the UYI albums.

A Different Kind of Truth is great, I don't care what anyone says.

Babylon by W.A.S.P. was solid, even though two of the tracks are covers. You could probably combine the best songs on Dominator and Babylon and come up with a pretty killer mixtape.

Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls and Anthrax - Worship Music probably should be mentioned as well, but I don't know that I'd consider either a sludgey act.

[Wednesday 13 Fan]

Nothing, because it's all faggot tranny shit from boomers

Uh...it's kinda the stuff this website was based on.

[EzyRider]

I also agree that live to win is better than sonic boom and monster

I gave it a spin just out of curiosity but couldn't make it past the first couple songs

Looked for reviews and saw Blabbermouth rated it as a 1.5 out of 10...I don't think I've ever seen a rating that low?


https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/live-to-win

You wanted the review, you got the review! Why anyone demanded a critique of a new PAUL STANLEY album is honestly beyond me — I always thought it was a foregone conclusion that KISS solo albums were just gonna suck, and there was nothing to be done about it. Hell, even back when the real lineup of the band was actually writing good songs, the only one who could pull a halfway decent solo record out of his ass was the terminally befuddled Ace Frehley, and his only got a pass because "Snowblind" and "Ozone" rocked balls. (You can take that cover of "New York Groove" and burn it in the same bonfire as your platform shoes and your Mork and Mindy board game).

"Live To Win" finds the prancing, pouting frontman shacked up with the some of the same type of 80's-bred shlockmeisters that made post-makeup KISS so fey and sackless. Desmond Child is all over this thing, and AEROSMITH neuterer Marti Fredriksen contributes to "Lift", one of the more embarrassing numbers. Stanley is in fine voice – there's no denying that his distinctive vocals not only put KISS on top, but are just about as strong as ever. The problem is, he's singing songs that make the back half of "Hot in the Shade" sound like "Destroyer".

Musically, "Live to Win" is stuck halfway through the door of a time machine – the songs are chock full of more programming and production than a LINKIN PARK single, but they're put together like rejected b-sides for "Tears Are Falling". Half the time, we're served up the embarrassing concoction of a middle-aged man singing what sounds like a BREAKING BENJAMIN song (the aforementioned "Lift", where at one point Stanley moans "salvation" in that already-dated "I'm singing through a paper towel tube" effect and you'll wanna kick your speakers over). The rest of the time, it's full on retro mode, including three stale power ballads full of syrupy strings and terrible clichés (did Klaus Meine help with titling "Loving You Without You Now"?) and cock rock rehash like "Bulletproof" and the discofied "Where Angels Dare". The nadir comes when the two eras clash — "All About You" is '80s cheese run through ProTools and dolled up with loops and post-millennial computer tricks like an old man at a singles bar with a bad toupee.

Throughout, the whole exercise just creaks, from its inane we're-all-winners lyrics to the recycled hooks and the generic, hard-rock-in-an-Army-commercial riffs. Much as Gene Simmons' solo album was a crystal-clear picture of The Tongued One as, well, an insufferable asshole, it seems Stanley really could be a chuckleheaded, terminally unhip party rock doofus. "Live To Win" is offensive not because it's terrible, but because it's too stupid to live — further proof that the neverending KISS farewell tour might not be such a bad idea, provided it keeps Paul and Gene out of recording studios for the foreseeable future.

[pieceofme]

I also agree that live to win is better than sonic boom and monster

I gave it a spin just out of curiosity but couldn't make it past the first couple songs

Looked for reviews and saw Blabbermouth rated it as a 1.5 out of 10...I don't think I've ever seen a rating that low?


https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/live-to-win

You wanted the review, you got the review! Why anyone demanded a critique of a new PAUL STANLEY album is honestly beyond me — I always thought it was a foregone conclusion that KISS solo albums were just gonna suck, and there was nothing to be done about it. Hell, even back when the real lineup of the band was actually writing good songs, the only one who could pull a halfway decent solo record out of his ass was the terminally befuddled Ace Frehley, and his only got a pass because "Snowblind" and "Ozone" rocked balls. (You can take that cover of "New York Groove" and burn it in the same bonfire as your platform shoes and your Mork and Mindy board game).

"Live To Win" finds the prancing, pouting frontman shacked up with the some of the same type of 80's-bred shlockmeisters that made post-makeup KISS so fey and sackless. Desmond Child is all over this thing, and AEROSMITH neuterer Marti Fredriksen contributes to "Lift", one of the more embarrassing numbers. Stanley is in fine voice – there's no denying that his distinctive vocals not only put KISS on top, but are just about as strong as ever. The problem is, he's singing songs that make the back half of "Hot in the Shade" sound like "Destroyer".

Musically, "Live to Win" is stuck halfway through the door of a time machine – the songs are chock full of more programming and production than a LINKIN PARK single, but they're put together like rejected b-sides for "Tears Are Falling". Half the time, we're served up the embarrassing concoction of a middle-aged man singing what sounds like a BREAKING BENJAMIN song (the aforementioned "Lift", where at one point Stanley moans "salvation" in that already-dated "I'm singing through a paper towel tube" effect and you'll wanna kick your speakers over). The rest of the time, it's full on retro mode, including three stale power ballads full of syrupy strings and terrible clichés (did Klaus Meine help with titling "Loving You Without You Now"?) and cock rock rehash like "Bulletproof" and the discofied "Where Angels Dare". The nadir comes when the two eras clash — "All About You" is '80s cheese run through ProTools and dolled up with loops and post-millennial computer tricks like an old man at a singles bar with a bad toupee.

Throughout, the whole exercise just creaks, from its inane we're-all-winners lyrics to the recycled hooks and the generic, hard-rock-in-an-Army-commercial riffs. Much as Gene Simmons' solo album was a crystal-clear picture of The Tongued One as, well, an insufferable asshole, it seems Stanley really could be a chuckleheaded, terminally unhip party rock doofus. "Live To Win" is offensive not because it's terrible, but because it's too stupid to live — further proof that the neverending KISS farewell tour might not be such a bad idea, provided it keeps Paul and Gene out of recording studios for the foreseeable future.

I do actually like the album but that is a hilarious review and see where they are coming from.

[Hair I Go Again]

A few fun (and valid) jabs there, but as I said above, screw the haters -- I'm pro-Live To Win all the way.

Lots of non-U.S. artists/releases have been called out here, which is fine, but I wanted to keep it Stateside since the quality of American hard rock releases this century has been so dreadful, and I was hoping that maybe someone would mention something I'd missed or forgotten about. To that end, I'm not sure I ever bothered listening to Saints of the Underground. Maybe I should change that.

Damone might not have been a hair band per se, but "Out Here All Night" is a hair metal album through and through, and they would have fit right in on a Poison tour in the ZO2/Vains of Jenna slot. But if they're not Sludgey enough, here's an obscure one I forgot earlier: The Mob - s/t (2005). One of Frontiers' earliest supergroups, with Doug Pinnick of King's X on vocals, Reb Beach on guitar, Kelly Keagy on drums (and some vocals) and Kip Winger on bass and producing. One and done, but a fucking great record.

[LitaStrauss]

A few fun (and valid) jabs there, but as I said above, screw the haters -- I'm pro-Live To Win all the way.

Lots of non-U.S. artists/releases have been called out here, which is fine, but I wanted to keep it Stateside since the quality of American hard rock releases this century has been so dreadful, and I was hoping that maybe someone would mention something I'd missed or forgotten about.

As long as the band is singing in English, who gives a fuck where they are from? A good record is a good record. Crazy Lixx, Heat, The Darkness, The Wildhearts, Wig Wam, are all great bands with great albums and nobody would know they're not from the US.

Also, back in the day Anthrax was one of the bands Metal Sludge supported the most. Scott Ian did a tour diary for Sludge and wore their shirt on MTV. Those bands are just as much Metal Sludge as any of the hair bands.

[ijwthstd]

Nothing, because it's all faggot tranny shit from boomers

Love Iron Maiden's Brave New World though it was a significant drop off afterward. Or Halford from what I remember tho I probably trended more to the bootlegs because 2000 he was at his strongest vocally and the songs were solid.

I've never been compelled to buy or listen to any new music by most of the Sludge acts posted here. I am sure LA Guns are good but though they have the gritty sound and guitars I enjoy, even the classic catalog is rather shallow in it's depth.

Maybe if Faster Pussycat actually put out a rock album on the heels of the 2001 tour.

Otherwise favorite albums of the century remain Peeping Tom and Mudhoney's Under A Billion Suns. And the Rolling Stones always deliver an album full of toe tappers which they did a whole 2 times.

The Hangmen continue to deliver hard with every album but East Of Western and Metallic I.O.U. are masterpieces.

I actually like Spice Girls Forever.

Personally if I didn't get so obsessively compulsively immersed in tape trading culture if I would even be listening to music.

The only album I bought last year was Elisapie's cover album.

[aznsquirt]

Winger IV motherfuckers

[Love_Industry]

Wanted to like that 2009 Dio Sabbath album but it’s just shit. The Drivel You Know.

I’m tempted to put Ozzy 2001 Down To Earth on. Not because it’s particularly good, but it’s Sgt Pepper compared to anything else he’s done since.

I like both The Devil You Know and 13. Best Sabbath albums since Tyr or even HC.

And Ozzy's best post-No More Tears album is Ordinary Man. Patient #9 is also better than any of DTE-Scream-Black Rain.

[Mister Freeze]

the discofied "Where Angels Dare"

That’s batshit crazy.

https://youtu.be/wc_0H7YeOUo?si=Q8OlDXr8urzKBZap

What element of this is anything like disco?

I always liked that song. "Wake Up Screaming" is good too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcX610Ku2NM

Between those two and the title track, Live To Win is a win.

[EzyRider]

the discofied "Where Angels Dare"

That’s batshit crazy.

https://youtu.be/wc_0H7YeOUo?si=Q8OlDXr8urzKBZap

What element of this is anything like disco?

that's a quote from the Blabbermouth reviewer BTW, I've never heard most of this crap (but I did listen to 57 seconds of this and agree it's a different kind of turd)

FWIW here are a few albums that get my vote:

Ax7, 'City of Evil' (that drummer was the shiz)
Audioslave, first two
Halford, Live Insurrection and Crucible (so good!)
Selected albums from Gojira
Almost everything from Dream Theatre (the astonishing is an easy drop)
Everything from Opeth

[Anthrax442]

We seem to have dropped the US act part and even the Sludgey part and gone for favourite albums since 2000, so here it is.

I'll readily admit, I COMPLETELY missed the "U.S. Act" part of the title. Oops. Reading is fundamental.

[alexleehooker]

Vain ‘on the line’
Vain ‘enough rope’

LA Guns ‘waking the dead’
LA Guns half of ‘takes from the strip’

Quireboys ‘this is rock n roll’

Darkness ‘permission to land’

Iron maiden ‘brave new world’

Great White ‘can’t get there from here’


Then I don’t know but there is a whole related genre of bands such as Backyard Babies, Hellacopters, the yo-yos (spin off from the wildhearts who other people have mentioned….but a better album than WH put out this century)

[uwec95]

If I can't include Anthrax, I will go with Extreme's latest. Great album and great tour.