GrumpyRocker

The ink is barely dry on Mike's chat with Grumpyrocker, but written before, during and after the interview, Jimbo reveals his thoughts on Mike Marlin's second album Man on the Ground.

When Juan Zelada's debut album High Ceilings and Collarbones arrived in the office, d-jaysea got very excited and wittered on about mini-discs and tapes, so to keep him quiet we handed it to him to review.

You might argue that there was a Leeds obsession last year on Grumpyrocker and although I promised I would try not to fall into that trap this year, what should fall across our lap, but Leeds band Holy State. Whilst trying to avoid any clichéd references, Jimbo was dispatched with a cup of Yorkshire Tea in hand to provide his thoughts on Holy State’s new single Dial ‘M’ for Monolith.

Jimbo's first review of 2012 finds him tackling High Wycombe's This is Freedom and their new EP Welcome Home, although Jimbo seems to have poured water on the open fire and turned off all the lights and isn't in the mood to welcome anyone home.

“We’ve made the record that sounds like we do in our heads” is how Johnny Foreigner describe their new studio album. D-jaysea wonders if that’s not a sound that may have been best kept to themselves.

Released on the back of a recent single and tour both titled Alligator, from Stirling come the band Miniature Dinosaurs a cracking little piece of British indie pop that shows that all is still well with the UK music world. D-jaysea responds with a miniature review and wants more please.

Harry has already written the Official Grumpyrocker Best Albums of 2011, but those who actually read any of my reviews, will know at times I might slightly deviate from the style of music preferred by the site creator and the man I should treat deferentially and call 'boss'. However, I couldn't let 2011 pass without musing a little of what has happened in the past seven months.

Ed Hale’s fourth studio album has broken cover and if the cover is to be believed, it’s all heart. Oh dear, d-jaysea is sinking into cumbersome puns based on the album cover already – this is not going to go well.

Brazil famous for its Amazon river, rain forest, the 'real' Ronaldo, Pele and Copacabana Beach, has also produced Sepultura and although not being quite as heavy, Labirinto hail from the same country and follow the composed musical styling of post-rock. Jimbo's views on Labirinto's debut full album Anatema can be enjoyed after the jump.

2011 has been a great year for rock music, in particular for progressive rock and melodic death metal. While I still hold that 2009 was the best rock music year of recent times I still think there are plenty of great records that should be on your shopping list when those Christmas vouchers come flooding in next week.

There have been some notable misfires too. The second Black Country Communion album pissed me off. Leaves Eyes’ Meredead and Sirenia’s The Enigma of Life were just plain shite. Meanwhile Mayan’s Quarterpast confused the hell out of me. I suppose we should be glad Mark Jansen got all of that nonsense out of his system before recording another - hopefully great - Epica record.

Then of course there was the Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration Lulu. This wasn't just the worst album of the year it might actually be the worst record ever released, yes much worse than the reggae version of Waltzing Matilda Joe Dolce release, or the Soft Cell version of Tainted Love. All involved should be very ashamed of themselves.

Any road up let's get back to good music, there were some bloody great records that didn’t make it into my top ten of the year. So let's start with a rundown of great records that would have populated my top top 20 records, in no particular order. And we'll also check out my favourite song of 2011.