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Throughout 2015 or small but perfectly formed team of reviewers have been out and about delivering their verdicts on the very best in live rock and metal.

So as we build up to this year’s RUSHONROCK RECORD OF THE YEAR settle down and compare your top picks with our two senior writers.

 

Richard Holmes (Reviews Editor)

 

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 

  1. Clutch – Psychic Warfare

Maryland’s eight-legged groove machine hit spectacular form this year, unleashing an album of booty shaking, riffed-up anthems. Throw in one of Neil Fallon’s best ever vocal performances too, and you have yet another Clutch classic to add to the collection. Keep ‘em coming boys!

 

  1. Myrkur – M
  2. Ghost – Meliora
  3. Goatsnake – Black Age Blues
  4. Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
  5. Black Breath – Slaves Beyond Death
  6. Hawk Eyes – Everything Is Fine
  7. Scythian – Hubris in Excelsis
  8. Behold! The Monolith – Architects of the Void
  9. Bong – We are, we were and we will have been

 

GIGS OF THE YEAR

 

  1. Ghost – Newcastle O2 Academy, Newcastle

Anyone who still sees Ghost as a mere novelty act really needs to get along to shows like this. Papa Emeritus III and his Nameless Ghouls delivered a sermon that will live long in the memory, a gig which saw their followers raising their hands in praise to divine song writing, stunning musicianship and the kind of theatre we rarely see in rock these days. The world is theirs.

 

  1. Primordial – Damnation Festival, Leeds University, Leeds
  2. Hirax – Hammerfest VII, Hard Rock Hell United, Pwllheli
  3. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – O2 Academy, Newcastle
  4. Obituary – Northumbria University, Newcastle

 

 

Self Made Man (Ian Murtagh)

 

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

 

  1. Jeff Lynne’s ELO – Alone In The Universe

Songwriting at its very best. The album is less than 40 minutes long but there’s not a filler track on it and opener When I Was A Boy has got to be up there with the best tracks Jeff Lynne has ever written.

 

  1. Vintage Trouble – 1 Hopeful Road
  2. Def Leppard – Def Leppard
  3. The Darkness – Last Of Our Kind
  4. David Gilmour – Rattle That Lock
  5. Blackberry Smoke – Holding All The Roses
  6. Tame Impala – Currents
  7. Europe – War Of Kings
  8. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Colour
  9. Muse – Drones

 

 GIGS OF THE YEAR

 

  1. Blackberry Smoke – O2 Academy, Newcastle

The atmosphere crackled, the band electrified. All in all, a good ole night by a band clearly revelling in their belated acclaim.

 

  1. Joe Bonamassa – Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
  2. Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Black Star Riders – Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
  3. Vintage Trouble – The Sage, Gateshead
  4. UFO – O2 Academy, Newcastle