Smartphones: App-tacular Ubrain for Android and iPhone

Some people's lives are ruled by music - I am one such sufferer - and with Spotify and Last.fm around you would have thought we had enough music-related apps about, but, of course, you were wrong.

The idea behind Ubrain - other than having a name that sounds like a type of yo-yo - is that it creates sound to control you. The most blatant brain-washing idea (no pun intended...) since Simon Cowell's plan to put on a 24 hour X-Factor marathon is achieved through binaural waves.

If you don't know what they are then don't worry, though you are a little behind the times since they discovered them back in 1839, but the science is that binaural beats are based on broadcasting 2 different frequencies, one in each ear, resulting in a median 3^rd beat. This 3^rd beat becomes an attraction to your brain and encourages cerebral activity to stick to this virtual beat and carry the brain to this frequency.

Basically, it convinces your brain it is happy if you are feeling a bit down by combining sounds, and although the effect is only temporary, it could be enough to give you a bit of confidence before you take that final exam, or wake you up in time to get to work.

Apparently it does have genuine scientific basis, according to clinical psychologist Brigitte Forgeot, who said: "I'm looking forward to its release, and hope it will turn out to be a product which can be adapted for use in therapeutic treatments. Being able to combine music you enjoy with binaural sound waves is a very definite plus, which leaves room for a lot of creative freedom and different uses of this process."

There's also endorsement from Grammy nominated DJ Paul van Dyk: "That music effects your mood is something we all know – that binaural beats can boost these effects and increase your energy level, help to focus, or calm you down to relax was something I experienced using the Ubrain App."

The app is now available on Android market and for iPod, iPad and iPhone on iTunes, but before you part with £3.49 check out these fancy YouTube videos:

What it's all about

How it all works

James Michael Parry

Music: Reading Festival 2010 Review

Moody rock stars, muddier teenagers and a plethora of fantastic music and comedy performers made up this year’s Reading Festival weekend.

The rain began on Thursday 26 and continued on and off through the Friday to create one of the most water-logged festivals of recent years.

Classic rock fans refused to have their spirits dampened by the rain and earnestly awaited Guns ‘n’ Roses Main Stage headlining performance on Friday evening. Unfortunately they waited far longer than anyone expected and when frontman Axl Rose waltzed on stage at 10.30pm the band were already an hour late for their advertised slot.

The heavyweight rockers, famous for hits such as ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘November Rain’, had already kept fans waiting 10 years for their latest album Chinese Democracy, but once the music began the crowd’s discontent softened a little.

Despite festival management company Festival Republic allowing the band to play on for an extra half an hour, they were forced to switch of the sound system at 12.00pm to comply with Reading Borough Council’s licensing, leaving Axl mouthing along to muffled drum sounds.

Being a no-good rock and roller though Rose felt this was not the end and promptly picked up a nearby megaphone to sing along with the crowd in the most original rendition of ‘Paradise City’ in the band’s history.

Guns may have failed to capture the crowds’ imagination but across the (now sodden) grass in the Lock Up tent American pop-rockers Alkaline Trio were delivering a solid performance.

Elsewhere on the Friday Queens of the Stone Age and Lostprophets oozed energy on the Main Stage and both had the crowd singing along to their greatest hits.

Saturday brought a clash between the thumping drum and bass outfit Pendulum and the mellow radio-friendly sounds of Arcade Fire, whose latest album The Suburbs jumped to the top of the album charts last week. Both bands were well received, with the crowd chanting the haunting chorus of Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’ for hours after the music had finished.

In the midst of the battle for supremacy, NOFX showed up as a secret act on the Lock Up stage to entertain the crowd with their usual jibes, even inviting Frank Turner on to join them during their 18 minute epic song 'The Decline,' which they performed in full. Soon after came the band that really shone through on Saturday night: Bad Religion. The group's 30-year-old political punk sounds united old and new fans with a fantastically diverse set delivering hit after hit.

Earlier in the afternoon The Mystery Jets hypnotised the audience with songs from their latest album Serotonin and Dizzee Rascal united rock and pop fans with his bizarre range of styles, including a rendition of his own version of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as well as his own hits ‘Bonkers’ and ‘Jus a Rascal’.

Sunday saw a departure from the usual tradition of heavy metal bands to have pop-punk kings Blink 182 closing the festival amid fans of all ages. A particular visual highlight was drummer Travis Barker’s 360 degree drum kit, which spun in all directions, leaving him upside down while he thrashed out a blistering drum solo.

Guitarist Tom Delongue fared less well as he constantly forgot lyrics and at one point got distracted when he spotted Dominic Howard, the drummer for the British rock group Muse, watching them from the side of the stage.

The Alternative Tent retained its consistently high calibre of acts this year, with Adam Bloom, Robin Ince and Russell Kane, who had only just arrived at the festival after being awarded the Edinburgh Comedy Award the previous day, all having the tent in stitches from start to finish.

Despite some typically British weather, the festival delivered a fantastic weekend of entertainment. There was some slightly over-zealous fire fighting on the final night, but generally new safety measures managed to cut down the amount of crime and dangerous gas explosions, which have tarnished the event’s reputation for years. Roll on 2011.

James Michael Parry

music, rock, festival, Reading Festival, Reading Rock, James Michael Parry, live, bands, indie, punk, Guns 'n' Roses, Arcade Fire, Blink 182

Film: Review: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

From the moment the pixellated 8-bit 'Universal' logo ushers in the beginning of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, you know this film will never win an Oscar – and it shouldn't.

Not because it isn't a work of cinematic brilliance (it is), but because Edgar Wright's first feature since wrapping Police-based actioner Hot Fuzz is just too geeky for the masses.

The fact that early reports already show the film not setting box offices ablaze in the USA is no surprise since its up against most of the 80s action heroes in the form of The Expendables and a well-established children's franchise in Toy Story 3.

The story is hum-drum enough: Scott Pilgrim, played by the Superbad Michael Cera, with High School over and no job tying him down has only the haunting memory of his ex-girlfriend breaking his heart to keep him down. He just so happens to be bassist in (almost...) the biggest band in Toronto : Sex Bomb-omb.

Enter 17 year-old schoolgirl Knives (yes, really) who breaks Scott out of his rut when they start going out, that is until pink-haired Ramona Flowers appears to throw a spanner in the works.

As it turns out Ramona has SEVEN evil exs, not boyfriends as she's keen to note, who Scott must defeat to win her.

Admittedly on paper it makes as much sense as the first few hundred pages of Lord of the Rings, but what makes the film soar above the average comic-book adaptations is style.

Scott's world isn't quite the Toronto we (probably don't) know, apart from geographically this is a world where a ringing phone causes the air to be brazened with the word “BRRIIIIIIING”, computer games teach you complex martial arts and defeated enemies burst into a shower of coins.

Music is a weapon and Scott's band's struggle to get a record deal from the illusive G-Man drives the story along, in between watching Cera being pummelled by various imposing opponents.

The seven-strong evil ex roster boasts some impressive names, such as Brandon Routh, better known as Bryan Singer's Superman and Chris Evans, better known as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four, and soon Marvel's #1: Captain America.

Like any good comic-book villain each ex has their own evil powers, such as Routh's telekenisis and mind-reading granted to him by being a 'hardcore' vegan, and fatal weaknesses which prove their undoing, of which a particular highlight is the downfall of evil ex #4 Roxie Richter (Mae Whitman) from some unusual contact.

Gaming plays as large a role in the film as music but the most surreal aspect of the action is influenced by Japanese Manga, with screen blurs, cinematic cut scenes and slow motion fighting moves in abundance.

Cera fails to shake his typecasting as the reformed loser Scott, but nonetheless makes you genuinely care about him, while being amused at his oh-so-typical teenaged awkwardness...at 22.

It's Kieran Culkin as Scott's gay housemate Wallace who is gifted with the best lines, but like previous Wright work Spaced the film would only ever work as an ensemble piece. Luckily the cast compliment each other and those who initially seem one dimensional, such as frowning Sex Bomb-Omb drummer Kim Pine (Alison Pill) often hint at greater depth.

The film itself lives up to what it sets out to be, a story which could well mostly be going on in Scott's head, and some very polished visual effects bring the audience into the virtual world convincingly, at times making you long for 3D.

For those who enjoyed recent comic-book curve ball Kick Ass this is a sensational follow-up watch, and for those even slightly familiar with any of the plethora of references featured it rewards a little suspension of disbelief hundreds of times over to provide a fantastic fun summer film.

Rating 5/5

James Michael Parry

Pictures: Screen Rant, Filmofilia, The Faster Times

Music: Reading Festival 2010 Special - Headliners

August's arrival can mean only one thing - the countdown to Reading Festival 2010 - this year's alternative music extravaganza has well and truly begun.

Over 100 artists from various music genres and levels of commercial success will take to the six stages over three days at what Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighter's described as "The best festival in the world".

Unfortunately with so many countless bands to chose from it can be difficult to choose who to see to guarantee maximum musical enjoyment (and subsequently drunkenness). So, in order to avoid potential panic, This Is Entertainment presents the the first part of the essential Reading Festival 'Must-see' Guide.



The big names

The reason people go to festivals is to see the big headline acts right? Perhaps...but it's not true for everyone.

The beauty of festivals is that so many acts are available all at once, meaning you might wander aimlessly into a tent at 2pm on the Saturday to discover a band you never would have listened to otherwise. The point of this guide as a whole is to give direction to your aimless wanderings, but before all that let's start with the basics and look at the big names.

Guns 'n' Roses

A band out of touch and out of its time grace the Reading Festival stage for the first time - despite appearing at Leeds in 2002, which is surprising considering the bands worldwide fame. In their heyday at the end of the 80s they were one of the world's most intimidating rock groups, even providing a tune for Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991.

Now though, they are a shadow of their former self, with frontman Axl Rose recovering from a decade-long ego trip trying to piece together his magnum opus Chinese Democracy and the fighting between Axl and former band members has dragged on for decades.

Still, there is a new line up - with only Axl remaining as founding member - and fan response to their latest album wasn't terrible, but I still can't see them being as fun as Alkaline Trio.

Tracks to catch: Sweet Child O' Mine, Paradise City, Shackler's Revenge
Verdict: Miss

Arcade Fire

The radio-friendly indie band of the festival takes control on the Saturday, a theme which echoes down through the rest of the main stage, though more will be overjoyed by the resurgence of drug-fuelled Pete Doherty and The Libertines.

For Arcade Fire though the appearance couldn't have come at a better time, with their new album The Suburbs assaulting the charts at this very moment after jumping to the number one spot after its release last week.

If you're wondering what songs the band sing then it's quite difficult to nail down a song you may have heard of, the style is very much that of modern hippies, a swaying, laid back sort of pop/rock, though one or two tracks might be familiar from BBC television show adverts.

Tracks to catch: Rebellion (Lies), Wake Up, Keep The Car Running
Verdict: Maybe

Blink 182

Another reformation but this time a welcome one, the nasally voiced teenage heart-break-ridden trio have returned to give us a reason to smile as the last act of the weekend.

The pedigree of the band is sketchy at best - strangely people don't take a band seriously if they run along a road naked in their videos... - but that's the point of Blink, they entertain first and foremost.

During their last appearance in 2003 the band made even the most tight-faced Blink-haters soften a little with their mixture of boyish banter, catchy tunes and audience participation - at one point they had the audience hold up their phones instead of lighters because "it's the 21st Century now kids."

With a new album nearing completion (expected early 2011), fans will be hoping to hear some new songs, and praying they are as good as they remember. It's been a long time since their last self-titled album in 2003 and the fans are all grown up now, their spirits dampened with years of recession, war and no new pop punk heavyweights around to liven things up.

Tracks to catch: Carousel, The Rock Show, All The Small Things
Verdict: Must See

Stay tuned to This Is Entertainment for more crucial band details...

What NOT to do...

Reading Festival 2010, music, rock, festival, bands, tracks, must see, essential guide, August Bank Holiday Weekend, live, performance, gig, James Michael Parry

Music: News - Freddie Mercury Day

Queen were (yes, past tense, I'm looking at you Paul Rodgers) one of the finest rock bands of all time, and British music without them would be a shadow of the multi-genred beast it is today.

As a band which transcended different styles of music - you only need to compare songs from Greatest Hits 1 to Greatest Hits 2 - Queen are still one of the most well-known pop bands of the 70s and 80s. None of that legacy would have been possible without the presence of one flamboyant front man: Freddie Mercury.

His showmanship and song-writing skills were unmatched and the band's live shows were brought roaring to life as soon as he entered the stage.

Sadly, Freddie died in 1991, aged 45, from bronchial pneumonia as a result of contracting the AIDS virus.

Following his death the remaining members of Queen founded the Mercury Pheonix Trust in 1992, a charity organisation which has raised millions of pounds for various charities and helped to raise AIDS awareness.

The latest fundraising idea from the Trust asks fans to spend a day dressed as Freddie Mercury on September 3 this year, around what would have been his birthday.

Here's some information about the idea from the charity itself:

What is Freddie For A Day?

Freddie For A Day is a celebration of the life of Freddie Mercury, which is meant to engage members of the public in a fun way to remember one of our greatest artists, but behind it is the earnest purpose of raising funds to support the continued work in fighting HIV AIDS worldwide.

How Did Freddie For A Day Get Started?

Freddie For A Day began as a lone ranger initiative dreamed up by City worker Liz Swanton who also gives her time to editing the Mercury Phoenix Trust website (www.mercuryphoenixtrust.com).  Tying in with the recent 8^th birthday celebrations for the Queen musical ‘We Will Rock You’, Liz came up with the idea of spending a whole working day dressed as Freddie.

So When Will Freddie For A Day Take Place?

Freddie For A Day will take place this year on September 3. Normally, Freddie For A Day will take place on Freddie’s birthday (September 5), however when the birthday falls on a weekend, such as this year, it will always be on the Friday before.

Who Can Take Part?

Anyone.  Naturally, the first people to have decided to join in are the core fans, but Liz and the Mercury Phoenix Trust organisers are hoping that the challenge to live out a normal day in a Freddie costume – with all the fun attached – and with the purpose of raising money to help the worldwide work being done by the MPT, will have a wide public appeal.

How Do You Get Involved?

All you need to do is dress up as Freddie for a day and get your friends, family and school friends or work colleagues to sponsor you.  You can set up or get an adult to set up for you your own web page at www.justgiving.com and send this to those supporting you so they can sponsor you online.

If you are unable to donate online you can send in cheques directly to the MPT at the address below. Cheques should be made out to The Mercury Phoenix Trust.

The Mercury Phoenix Trust,

22 Cottage Offices,

Latimer Park,

Latimer road,

Chesham,

Buck, HP5 1TU

So, there you have it, if you fancy doing something charitable and horrifically embarrassing what better reasoning can you get?  I'm not one to be charitable, but he was certainly a phenomenal entertainer and the cause is a worthy one, so if you plan to do anything charitable this year, why not give this a go.

James Micheal Parry

Music: Album Review: Feeder – Renegades

For a band who have been in and out of the limelight since 2001's fantastic Echo Park catapulted them to fame with 'Buck Rogers', Feeder have a surprising amount of energy.

With previous album Silent Cry not getting the sales the band's label, Echo, had hoped, it proved to be the beginning of the end for them, as it was announced in 2008 they were being restructured into a “copyright exploitation” company, according to a report from parent company Chrysalis Group.

The band then lost fill-in drummer Mark Richardson to a Skunk Anansie reunion in 2009, and he was replaced by Karl Brazil as the band began the most bold step in their career.

Since they had no UK label, they decided to create one themselves and thus Big Teeth Music was born. Soon Feeder announced they were returning not as Feeder but as Renegades, a side project-cum-masquerade which allowed them to blame live without everyone expecting all of Feeder's chart-topping hits.

Renegades did a six date tour of intimate shows and released a four track EP, which was quickly followed by another tour of slightly larger venues and a follow-up EP. Disclaimers at the events stated Feeder wouldn't be playing their popular hits and if fans were unaware of this they could have a full refund, as it turned out the gigs were a massive success (check out my review of the Camden show) and the band announced shortly afterwards they would return as Feeder with their seventh studio album: Renegades.

The album is a furious attack of all Feeder's raw energy and passion, which translates into some pretty heavy music. Fans of tunes like 'Just The Way I'm Feeling' and 'Forget About Tomorrow' will be lost here, this album is loud and relentless – the closest thing to a slow song is the slightly haunting 'Down By The River'.

The songs from the two Renegades EPs are dotted around the album, with the title track being a particular high point, and from the first few moments of grungy, distorted guitar your mind is slung back to a few choice tracks from Feeders back catalogue like 'Godzilla', 'Choke' and 'Descend', left like breadcrumbs to lead the band to this point.

The first single from the album 'Call Out' has a similar upbeat tone to 'Miss You' and 'Lost and Found' despite some fairly dry lyrics and maintains Feeder's catchiness. Because the songs on the album all have a similar tempo, it's difficult at first to separate them, but in a way this works to the band's advantage, since it focuses the audience and forces them to stay on the same page.

Stand out tracks include the hypnotic opener 'White Lines', angst-filled 'Sentimental' and the show-stopping 'Home', which exemplifies exactly what is good about this 'new' Feeder, hitting the mark in every area and providing an anthemic chorus at the album's midpoint.

Like so many albums the songs fall away towards the end, with the baffling 'Left Food Right' sounding like a sped up version of Family Guy's parody of Randy Newman, but overall the album delivers the adrenaline which Feeder fans have been missing since the gritty rock sound of the band's debut – Polythene.

If you feel like this album sounds a bit too much, never fear, the band have already promised a second album later in the year to cater for the lighter side of the bands repertoire, but for fans who've been with them all the way, this is a welcome reminder that the band aren't past it just yet.

Rating: 4/5

James Michael Parry

Music: Why iTunes is the the rotten core of Apple

iPods are everywhere. Over 260million have been sold worldwide, whether they are the cigarette lighter-like Shuffle (pictured), the tiny-screened Nano, the app-filled Touch or the tried and tested Classic.

Even the mobile phone market has been infiltrated, with iPhone, and later the 3G and 3GS versions, collectively selling over 51million units, but with approximately 4.6billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide Apple still have some way to go to monopolise the market.

The one thing which connects all of these popular devices is the music organisation and player program iTunes, designed to bring the brand together and provide a one-stop-shop for all your music and televisual needs.

But despite Apple's popularity users are constantly faced with problems with the service such as computers crashing as soon as an iPod is plugged in, sluggish computer speed because of its high memory usage and refusing to burn CDs or freezing at any given moment, depending on the operating system you use.

Despite video iPods now being the norm, iTunes doesn't support video directly – you're forced to install Apple's Quicktime software, and you can't drag and drop songs from your computer to the player easily, instead you can only 'Sync' the iTunes library to your player – or do a 'Party Mix' in the case of a Shuffle.

Generally it seems like a company that made $42.91billion last year could do a better job, particularly when there are so many alternatives available, notably MusicIP Mixer, Songbird and MediaMonkey.

MediaMonkey in particular is good for MP3 player management, since it automatically tags songs from Amazon (with album art) effectively and carries that art and all the ID3 tag information to the player, even while playing something else.

Of course, MediaMonkey isn't exactly a household name – even a self-confessed geek like me has only barely come across it – which highlights Apple's greatest strength but also its greatest weakness. The company, in recent years in particular, has always focused on style over substance, products that look sleek and stylish but really do little to earn there hefty price tag compared to similar products from Creative or Sony.

One area where iTunes has had a real impact is music downloads, with the number of songs downloaded passing the 10 billion mark in February this year. Sadly the downloads themselves are in iTunes spacific .AAC file format, with a copyright protection system called FairPlay, meaning you can only play them on computers you've registered to your iTunes account or on your iPod.

If you wanted to be generous and give some music to a friend, you wouldn't be able to do it digitally and would be forced to burn it to CD, losing some of the audio's quality in the transfer – providing the music burns properly in the first place. While these measures were put in place to avoid unlawful sharing or transfer of songs, but with all the red tape and regulation you may want to dig out your old portable CD player and save yourself a whole lot of hassle.

James Michael Parry

Music: Muse unveil new single Neutron Star Collision

Just a quick post to share some new music from one of the greatest live bands of all time. Here is the infectious new single from the Devon threesome, continuing in their Queen vibe with some very welcome up-tempo beats. Take a listen:



Admittedly the lyrics aren't the most ground-breaking thing in the world, but it was written for the latest installment in the Twilight Saga - Eclipse - so it's kind of a given, here they are anyway:

I was searching you were on a mission
Then our hearts combined like a neutron star collision
I have nothing left to lose
You took your time to choose
Then we told each other with no trace of fear that

Our love would be forever
And if we die, we die together
Well I, I said never
Cause our love would be forever

The world is broken, halos fail to glisten
We try to make a difference but no one wants to listen
Hail the preachers, fake and proud
Their doctrines will be cloud
Then they'll dissipate like snowflakes in an ocean

Love is forever and we’ll die
We’ll die together
Well I, I said never
Cause our love, could be forever

Now I’ve got nothing left to lose
You take your side to choose
I can tell you now without a trace of fear

That my love will be forever
And well die, we’ll die together
Will I, I will never
Cause our love will be forever

Live Music:Renegades (of Feeder) at The Electric Ballroom, Camden 22/04/10

Old bands 'going back to their roots' is nothing new, but when Feeder completely regenerated as Renegades, something changed significantly. Gone were the slow and thoughtful songs of old which dwelled on the untimely death of original drummer Jon Lee and in their place fans found the energy and simplicity of a fresh new band, as if the group had been transported back to their formation in 1992.

In the transition drummer Mark Richardson was replaced with Karl Brazil, from the relatively unknown band Ben's Brother, who encapsulates the bands new-found new energy with furious and relentless drumbeats.

Front-man Grant Nicholas, who you imagine came up with the 'back to basics' concept, continues to impress on stage at The Electric Ballroom, a venue far smaller than the likes of the Hammersmith Apollo which they played on the Silent Cry tour only a few years ago.

Nicholas admitted he had a soft spot for the Ballroom, saying: “I love this venue. We haven't played here for about 12 years, but even now I remember the great atmosphere it always has.”

Posters on the front doors warn Feeder fans expecting the likes of 'Buck Rogers' and 'Just A Day' that the band will be playing 'predominantly new material', and sure enough they don't disappoint, the most recent, and debatably well-known, of the tracks played is 2006's 'Lost and Found'.

“We know you all want to hear the hits”, Nicholas cries across a crowd spanning decades, “but this is really about the new material and moving forward.”

Luckily the new material delivers the sort of quality we've come to expect from Feeder over the years, albeit a bit more gritty, new band anthem 'Renegades' has even the most lost-looking fans singing along and 'Home' and 'Down By The River', a nod to the bands native Wales, stand up well on stage.

Free with the gig comes Renegades EP2, complete with four tracks: 'Home', 'Goodhead', 'In Times Of Crisis' and 'All I Ever Wanted', making a perfect souvenir for fans who are now left salivating expectantly for the bands new(/debut?) album.

For those feeling out-of-step with the Renegades there were a few 'covers' of Feeder tunes including 'Tangerine', 'Godzilla', 'Sweet 16' and grungy set-closer 'Descend'.

While many may have been disappointed with the lack of hits - the crowd broke into 'Just A Day''s infectious main riff more than once - the band is doing what it wants to do, from the plain but bold style of the merchandise to downsizing to smaller venues, and it feels a lot more personal and as though they are more connected with their fans than ever before.

Verdict: Possibly too much for the Feeder pop fans, but for those longing for some dynamic and striking music from fantastic musicians the night was nothing short of amazing.

Rating: 5/5

Music Review: Story of the Year - The Constant

The American Idiot's and Viva La Vada's of this world are hard to ignore, but anyone can like them and it not be anything unusual. What is truly great about music is when you find that album you didn't know was coming out, even if you spend time now and again picking apart the unreleased album page on Wikipedia (which tend to be a pretty reliable source of release info by-the-by), you can often suddenly notice an album which has been released completely under your radar.

These hidden gems are what make music great, and my latest discovery was Story of the Years new release 'The Constant'. While I was eagerly anticipating Alkaline Trio's new release (This Addiction, which sadly falls well short of the greatness they achieved on From Here to Infirmary), I came across this furious mix of melody and energy.

The album opens with the slightly grating sound of an old children's roundabout, with the sound of children playing in the background before the children themselves begin the intro with chilling choral vocal “Don't take this world away from me” before the main riff kicks in.

As well as 'The Children Sing' other stand-out tracks include the distinctly Lostprophets-ish 'The Dream is Over', which boasts an impressive guitar solo section, and the anthemic 'I'm Alive', a dedication to a disaffected youth which remains ever-present but never over-bearing throughout the album.

Despite being a very 'punk rock' record, the band calm down for a few tracks in the middle, notably the strangely harmonic 'Holding on to You', giving some welcome variety, something quite uncommon on this type of album. In stark contrast to that is the angry 'Won Threw Ate', which shows off the screamier side of the bands range, but is just restrained enough to mean it doesn't stray too far from the general sound of 'The Constant' as a whole.

Story of The Year, who have been around since 1995, are never a band who will take the UK charts by storm, and nor should they, but they have pulled the experience of their previous three albums into making this latest effort, and it really pays off. The songs are more ambitious musically, but not unnecessarily complex, and the album holds together incredibly well, particularly important with a name like 'The Constant'.

While you may dismiss them as another one of the 'shouty american rock' crowd, that would be a mistake, since this album shows a respectable range and draws on various influences to create songs which at times are alike to Rise Against, Nickelback and even Simple Plan, which is no bad thing.

Verdict: Undeniably catchy and well thought out, an essential addition to any modern alternative music collection.

Rating: 5/5

James Michael Parry

Music: Five top tracks that put the Rock 'n' Roll into Christmas

With the war between mainstream music and 'alternative' hotting up in the charts over the Christmas number one, I decided to look at the best Christmas tunes the rockier side of music has to offer.

For those of you haven't heard, there's this little TV show called The X Factor, which managed to glue 19.1million people to their screens on Sunday night to see who would win what is essentially a karaoke competition.

Joe McElderry, 18 from South Shields, Tyneside, beat Olly Murs, 25 from Essex to win the show and release a Christmas single – a cover of 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus.

In spite of this, a campaign started up on Facebook to get Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name Of' to the number one spot to prevent a run of five straight years of X Factor finalists.

So, now that's explained in enough detail for even the most TV-shy reader to understand (hopefully), let's think about Christmas music. Crazily catchy and repetitive (often to the point of tears), Christmas songs range from the blandness of Cliff Richard's 'Mistletoe and Wine' to the jolly 80s ballad-ness of Wham!'s 'Last Christmas'.

Not to say that some of the classics aren't...well...classic (in fact one or two may show up in a bit), but there's nothing particularly rock about prancing about on skis or getting children to sing the chorus for you.

With that in mind I've scanned the (not so) underground music scene to find five gems you may have missed, or just get that rock 'n' roll feeling absolutely right. Let's take a look, but not in an overly dramatic countdown way, it's not life and death people ;-):

5. The Ramones – 'Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)'

Released back in 1987 as a B-side to 'I Wanna Live' from Halfway to Sanity, the song combines the band's usual power-chord charged punk with a plea for peace at home at Christmas.

Admittedly not sophisticated, but the band still hold on to one of the staples of the Christmas single: the jingling bells. Hearing the Christmas message, which is, essentially, let's all get on and have a good time for one day at least, in such a raw and real-life way makes it something a little bit different, especially when you KNOW arguments about stupid things WILL happen. Check out the video for the song if you're not sure what I mean.

Since this was towards the end of the bands career, when they had taken more of a turn to the mainstream, you might think this track would be all clichés and happiness but it still retains the gritty nature of The Ramones and makes decent listening.

4. The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)

Continuing our theme of Song Title (The Bit You Remember), we have Lowestoft legends/wannabes The Darkness with their stab at the Christmas charts. Admittedly this was a proper pop/rock tune, but it's complete failure in the charts makes it one worthy of our consideration here, since it is a great example of everything we love (or tolerate) about The Darkness.

Since their decline into nothingness following a terrible follow-up album, the song has all but disappeared from the Christmas playlist, despite having guitar solos AND a choir of children, surely all the ingredients of a perfect Christmas number one..? Judge for yourself (particularly note the brothers duel guitaring)

Err...no actually, since the song only made it to a measly number TWO after being pipped at the post by a god-awful cover of Tears For Fears' 'Mad World' – which, personally, was the most depressing Christmas number one in history.

3. Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Wizards in Winter

From across the pond comes this bizarrely named outfit with an instrumental, not to be confused with WiZZard's 'I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day', which combines electric guitar and strings in an ELO-esque way, to create a tune which wouldn't sound too out of place on the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Not that combining the orchestra with rock is anything ground-breaking, but the arrangement and string melody is enough to stick in you're head after only one listen, check it out for yourself if you don't believe me.

Having been introduced to the song by a friend I'm no expert, but she said it's very popular over in the states and “they are a hit because they make older, more classical songs 'cool'” - a bit like Apocalyptica then? Just think of it as the American version of Mike Oldfield's 'In Dulci Jubilo' – if you don't know the one I mean then it's that instrumental one with nice guitar licks you WISH you could play.

2. AC/DC – Mistress For Christmas

With 200 million albums sold worldwide, AC/DC are undoubtedly a legendary band. 'Back in Black', the group's breakthrough release, hold the

title of the best-selling album released by any band in history – 45million sold copies in total.

Fair enough, Christmas songs might not seem very rock 'n' roll, but this one is 100% AC/DC: the gang vocals, chorus being composed entirely of the song title, chugging bassline and lyrics about as subtle as a brick pummelling Simon Cowell's blindingly smug grin.

The familiar sound of Angus Young working his magic on the guitar is always a welcome one at Christmas, and despite the...un-P.C. message of the track it's still a brilliant song in its own right, building to the sort of crescendo only AC/DC can deliver with such class. Take a listen via the wonderment of YouTube and judge for yourself.

1. Slade – Merry Christmas Everybody!

By no means unheard of, Noddy Holder's hoarse wail of “It's Christmaaaaaaaass!” is the first thing to come to mind when someone mentions that the Christmas holidays are on the way. It's not as 'alternative' as the other tracks on the list and you'll find it on any decent Xmas compilation CD, but it clawed its way to the top of this list by having the right gung-ho attitude – not to mention the most memorable and cheerful chorus of any Christmas song.

The song was released in 1973 and became the b

and's sixth number one hit, knocking Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day' from the top spot and staying there for nine weeks.

Despite being written very much for the period, strangely history repeats itself, with the economic depression and unemployment of the 1970s haunting us this Christmas, so what better way to forget your troubles than to “look to the future”.

The video, taken from Top of the Pops (we still reme

mber that, right?), captures the atmosphere of the song perfectly and you can't help but smile at how young everyone looks.

Noddy Holder once complained that radio station

s play the song too early, explaining it's a song best listened to on Christmas morning amid the excitement of all the goodies which might be hidden under all that wrapping paper.

So comes the end to my little Christmas-based ramblings, hope you all have a good one, and be sure to check back once the fun is all over to find out how James Cameron's 3D epic Avatar turned out.

For now, Merry Xmas Everybody!

Music digitalisation: Does CD stand for Certain Doom?

Compact discs have long been the symbol of the music industry. Since their commercial introduction in 1982 as a joint venture between Phillips and Sony, over 200 billion CDs have been sold across the world (according to the BBC). That's an average of one million discs every hour.

But CD sales have slumped in recent years and global sales in 2009 will be half the level of the peak of the CD boom according to a survey by Enders.

Download services, such as iTunes or HMV Music, now generate around 7.5% of album purchases in the UK, a figure which rose 36% in 2008. (Sources: Offcom Digital Britain Report and The Guardian)

Illegal downloading is also still on the rise, with some 40 billion tracks being shared on sites like Limewire and Bittorrent in 2008 across 16 countries. Efforts by the Government to curb the rise have been met with apathy by the 'internet generation' - 14 to 24 year-olds - who “know that file sharing is illegal but will exploit whatever technology is available to enable them to enlarge their music collections for free” according to The Times.

Unfortunately for the industry, these illegal downloads make up 95% of the music being exchanged across the internet, losing artists and record companies £180m every year. Many alternative artists have voiced that they don't mind how people get their music as long as they hear it, but you feel as though few record company executives would agree.

The silver lining is that in a study conducted by the University of Hertfordshire which says 85% of the age group in question said they would continue to buy CDs even if they were given access to an unlimited legal download service. This shows that people still put value in 'owning' things rather than just 'streaming' them from internet services such as Last.fm or Spotify.

The reason that many feel it's 'OK' to download music is “mainly because it’s free and they are not going to get caught”, according to Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones singer and chief executive of UK Music, an umbrella organisation which represents the industry.

Despite best efforts, talks between the industry and the Government have been crawling along for the past few years, with the Government last year proposing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should use a 'three-strike' letter writing system to warn offenders, giving them the responsibility to directly tackle the problem, which was reiterated in the Digital Britain report.

Punishments range from having bandwidth curbed to their internet being permanently suspended, according to The Times. Unfortunately there is still no right answer, and the discussions continue. We wondered what people really thought about it all, so we asked you:

Sarah White, 19, from Woodham said “You should be allowed to download music for free depending how long it's been out for.”

Andy Hemphill, 22, from Ewell said “Illegal downloading isn't immoral because music companies make music too expensive and are too slow to pick up on digital sales. It may be illegal but it will continue until they lower the cost of music.”

Lis Symons, 19, from Sandhurst said “I only download from iTunes now, because the others are all too much hassle. I always got viruses when I used Limewire, it's like it's one big virus.”

Colin Miller, 29, from London said “Maybe I'm just old and bitter but the good music doesn't get the credit it deserves these days, as most of it gets swallowed up by the X-Factor money-making machine.”

Kirsty Watkinson, 21, from Darwen said “There's nothing more delightful than having something concrete that you can touch and put up on the wall to represent the music you like, that's why I love CDs so much, but having digital copies of songs from CD is safer because they can't get scratched.”

MP3 players, specifically Apple's revolutionary iPod, have been the driving force behind music digitalisation and now almost half the population (48%) of people own and actively use and MP3/4 or mobile phone music player. This percentage hasn't increased significantly in the last two years though, suggesting the market may be at saturation point.

The industry has tried to react to changing consumer demand, with companies investing millions in music subscription services , but according to industry critics Deloittle, it's not enough:

“Music services may need to merge consumer features and benefits, such as a subscription service that comes with other deliverables e.g. portability and CDs, for consumers to believe that a music service is worth paying for.”

CDs may be fading away in the industry but they're far from dying out altogether. There's no question they'll be lying around cluttering up our lofts for some time to come, and there's a certain charm to listening to an album all the way through while as the artist intended.

One thing's for sure though, downloads are here to stay, and without punishments for downloaders there's no reason for people to stop, and with the number of tracks available increasing by thousands a day, why would they want to go all the way down the shops?

James Michael Parry

Album Review: Muse - The Resistance

Like an eerie remake of the Doctor Who theme tune, The Resistance trundles into life with the haunting “Uprising”, its first single, ushering in a welcome return for Devon's greatest ever export: Muse.

It's three years since the band's epic Black Holes and Revelations stormed the charts, delivering the band their second number one album and the first to go double-platinum, as well as the distinctly un-Muse-like single “Supermassive Black Hole”.

Listening to Resistance the gaps between the Muse of old and the band as they are now have been filled in, stripping back some of the dancier elements in favour of a more bass-driven sound like that used on breakthrough release Origin of Symmetry.

The album as a whole takes rebellion as its central theme, and despite much discussion about its 15 minute song, the “Exogenisis: Symphony”, it is tucked away at the end of the record, but provides a worthy climax of musical and song-writing prowess to summarise what the entire album is about.

The piano makes a welcome return in this album, with over half of the tracks featuring frontman Matt Bellamy's instrument of choice prominently, creating moments where the band resembles Freddie Mercury's Queen. In many ways they have become the Queen of the modern day, since no other current guitar-based British band has maintained popularity for so long with such a theatrical feeling.

The third track, “Undisclosed Desires”, (the second of four tracks beginning with 'U' on the album) deserves to be the strongest single release, with the synthesized strings and relentless beat driving forward a story of the deadly nature of love.

There's none of the anger of Black Holes' “Assassin” here, but that doesn't mean the album is without it's powerful moments, just that they come in dark lyrical choices and a continuous strong bassline. The guitar takes a back seat once again this time, with only a few notable riffs to speak of, but strangely it isn't missed as much as expected, as the other instruments step up to take its place.

Bellamy teasingly reminds us of one of the band's staples in “Unnatural Selection” by basing the riff around the impact-ridden guitar intro section of “New Born”, suggesting it may be some sort of sequel, something which the band have done in the past with “Sing For Absolution” and “Starlight”.

Every track feels very much at home, unlike the occasional track in the past where you feel the band have dropped the ball and things sound out of place like “Hoodoo” or “Megalomania”, this album is complete and listens well all the way through without nagging you to skip past to the next song.

The album as a whole is one where tranquility and anger are uneasy bedfellows. In “United States of Eurasia” for example, the sombre piano quickly makes way for a flurry of musical build up, but the transition is well handled and serves to hold the audiences attention. Because it is for an audience, as much as a CD is designed for a listener, this one is presented as a spectacle; grand strings, foreign vocals and quiet moments combine with pounding drums and bellowing bass to create nothing short of a fully modern rock opera.

10 Classic Albums of the 21st Century which you should own: Part Two

After a long absence it's time to get back to our Top Ten. It must be a good idea, even Kerrang! have stolen it for this weeks issue, albeit in a more over-the-top manner as usual.

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And so on to numero six, an album which at the time crept onto the scene almost unnoticed, only to gradually increase the new band with a funny name: Kasabian.

Though they weren't the first 'indie' band, a title claimed by another contender who I will get to, they were the first band to make electronic-inspired indie rock and roll cool again, something the Killers continued in a poppier vein.

Their self-titled debut remains a thrilling mix of driving basslines and choral vocals, making the band an immediate live hit as well as a favourite for advert makers everywhere, with epic album opener Club Foot gracing screens the world over.

The album has a song, not for every occasion, but enough variety to ensure listening through the CD won't make your eyes glaze over or think the songs sound too 'samey'.

The standout track is Reason is Treason, a blistering combination of thumping drums and driving bass coupled with a brilliantly crafted chorus makes the song impossible to shake from your mind.

The overall quality of the album is what puts this above mediocre follow-up Empire, which may have had more commercially successful singles, but there's no denying they sounded very similar.

Whether you want to chill out or rave there are songs for you here and the musical arrangement is impressively daring for a first album, shame their later albums couldn't recapture their initial spark of originality.

Critical Tracks: Club Foot, LSF, Reason is Treason

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The seventh entry to the list is another well-know band, Arctic Monkeys, with their debut Whatever They Say I Am, It's What I'm Not.

The reason for this album making the list is three fold: first off, the album is actually good. When you forget about the hype and the band and everything surrounding it there are decent songs with a fun message and an instantly relatable lyrical style (particularly if you're a Northerner).

Secondly, the internet aspect of the Monkey's - no, not the Monkees - rise to fame was unprecedented at the time. This is before Myspace was spewing out a band a week and the group went from unknowns to headling the Reading Festival main stage in a year, a daunting prospect for anyone.

Thirdly, statistics (in this case at least), don't lie. The album surpassed Oasis' Definitely Maybe as the fastest-selling British album of all time when their second single I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. The album shifted 360,000 copies in a week - that's almost 36 every minute - and sold more than the rest of the top 20 combined, eventually going Platinum four times over.

People heralded them as having as much impact as the Beatles, clearly a foolish brag even at the time, but undoubtedly the release was an event for the British music industry and unusually the music justifies all the fuss.

Tracks have a gritty down-to-Earth story element to them, such as Red Light Indicates Doors are Secure which is nothing more than a trip home in a taxi after a night out, but leading man Alex Turners bring it to life, and not in the cheesy way we've come to expect from the pop charts.

The style just works, and gives the North a band to be proud of now that Oasis are shockingly bad (/worse) *runs from angry Northern mob*

Critical Tracks: I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Dancing Shoes, A View From The Afternoon

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Another slice of British rock takes the stage at number eight with the long overdue induction of Muse to the list with Black Holes and Revelations.

Undeniably one of the heavyweights, Muse have shaken their Radiohead-inspired routes and become a band all of their own.

It was a close race between BH&R and Absolution, but in the end the cohesion of BH&R as an album wins the day for me, from the blissful melody of Starlight, the angered stampede that is Assassin to the air guitarist's dream that is THAT riff in Knights of Cydonia.

The album brings together Muse's best elements, which is why it works so well, and also provides the band with a number of impressive live songs, something which always enhance an albums impact, as was proven with the HAARP live CD/DVD.

What makes the album so special is that despite the fact it's undeniably a Muse album, there are songs which could easily slip into other bands' albums, particularly the B-sides packaged with the singles such as Crying Shame which has a strong Franz Ferdinand vibe.

The album tracks too share this variety, with the apocalyptic Map of the Problematique being juxtaposed by the quiet and heart-felt Soldier's Poem.

Overall though the album is energetic, and the trio's musical skill has clearly reached a peak, though the album doesn't quite seem complete without the standard Sergei Rachmaninov-inspired piano interlude. If you could swap the dreary Hoodoo for the fiery Butterflies and Hurricaines the album would be near-perfect.

As it is, the choppy changes in style may detract from listening to it all the way through, but when considered individually the tracks all hold their own and with a general standard so high it's acceptable that the band may have missed the mark with a song (or two, depending on who you ask).

Critical Tracks: Assassin, Knights of Cydonia, Starlight

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Now we return to the less well-knowns as we near the end of our list with Lights and Sounds from pop/punk specialists Yellowcard.

Dismissed as a gimmick when they first broke through with Ocean Avenue in 2003, the main talking point was, and still is to an extent, that the band has a electric violinist. This is considered something very unusual for pop/punk, but really these bands often synthesise violins and string arrangements so it's not ground-breaking to have a permanent member who fills the role.

What is significant is how it is used. Sean Mackin adds in violin sometimes so subtly it can hardly be noticed and other times it blazes over the top, carrying the song. It can completely change the dynamic of a song in seconds because it is used so well.

In Lights and Sounds the violin work is the best of any of the band's albums and it goes a long way to securing it a place on this list.

The album's blisteringly fast title track only makes such an impact because it follows the slow and tranquil string introduction that is Three Flights Up, and closing track Holly Wood Died trails off and back to a similar arrangement, giving it a cyclical feeling.

The track which sets this album apart is tear-jerking ballad How I Go, which is centred around the story of Tim Burton film Big Fish. The use of strings here is nothing short of genius, and unprecedented for a pop/punk band before or since, the band achieve real depth and feeling, helped along by guest vocals from Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines. The interplay of melodies between here and lead vocalist Ryan Key is truly astonishing.

The album is centred around fictional character Holly Wood who is both loved and hated in songs on the album and serves as the anchor to pull the songs together. The device is just sutble enough not to be noticed unless you look for it, and yet when you do you appreciate how well it works to keep the album cohesive.

Yellowcard came of age with this album, and it deserved more sales and critical success than it got, but that was to be expected after the success of their breakthrough effort, which, though a decent album in it's own right, doesn't reach the levels of excellence this album does.

Critical Tracks: How I Go, Grey, Down on my Head

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The last band on the list is a little Welsh band called The Automatic, and I know what you're thinking: "You don't mean that band that did that Monster song do you?!"

As a matter of fact I do, but the album which that constant radio spam single came from, Not Accepted Anywhere, is not the album that made the list. Instead, it's the band's follow-up, This is a Fix, which deserves the praise.

While their debut gave people a reason to have heard of The Automatic, it wasn't the limit of their potential. This is a Fix goes further and holds together better, you only need to look at the band's live performances during their early days to see the cracks were beginning to show by the time Monster became a hit.

Wailing keyboardist Alex Pennie parted ways with the band in 2007 after he found "the last year increasingly unenjoyable and growing apart from the rest of the band", according to an official statement.

With Pennie gone the band could focus on the new album and it seems without the friction they developed as a group and created their best material to date. They replaced their departed keyboardist with Paul Mullen from Yourcodenameis:Milo, since they were on hiatus, and recorded This is a Fix to be released in August 2008 just after the Reading and Leeds festivals.

The album's lead single, Steve McQueen, reached number 16 in the charts but all other singles and releases from the album were pulled after disappointing sales.

Critically the album was hit and miss, and suffered from high profile slating from the likes of The Guardian despite favourable reviews from Kerrang! and Rock Sound.

The band were quick to cut their losses and move on to album three, but the songs themselves are worth taking the time to listen to, since everyone is a prime example how synth pop/rock can be done well in the 21st century.

The music industry attacking Accessories voices the band's cynicism about music in Britain, and Magazines slates journalists in much the same vein, but despite the similar subjects the songs are quite different and distinct, which is one of the strengths of the album overall.

Critical Tracks: Steve McQueen, Magazines, This Ship

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So that brings us to the end of our top 10 albums of the 21st century, just to summarise:

1. Green Day - American Idiot

2. Adequate Seven - Here On Earth

3. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

4. Rise Against - The Suffer and the Witness

5. The Music - Welcome to the North

6. Kasabian (self-titled)
   

7. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, It's What I'm Not

8. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

9. Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds

10. The Automatic - This is a Fix

All of these are albums which demand a listen, if not a privileged spot in your CD (or download) library.

Lost part one? Click here

10 Classic Albums of the 21st Century which you should own: Part One

With 2009 speeding along nicely and a wealth of music having been produced since the Millennium, it's high time we stepped back a minute, past the X-Factor winners, past the endless re-releases, re-masters and greatest hits to appreciate the albums which have really defined the decade, and indeed the century.

Though I've picked out only 10 here, I could suggest dozens more which might be worthy for the list, but the important thing is not the album that's sold the most, but those that put quality over quantity and dare to be different and, dare I utter yet another cliché, break the mould - or is that just a VO5 advert...never mind.

So here they are in their divine splendour. You will definitely have heard of one or two, but really it's the ones you haven't heard of you should pay attention to. Every album here has a combination of bold ideas, impressive musical skill - whether it be technically or pop-hook-crunchingly - and contains songs which have made the awkwardly titled 'noughties' surpass critics expectations for brand new music.

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In no particular order, we begin with a more obvious choice: Green Day's American Idiot.

Now I'm not suggesting it was the best album they've ever produced (that right is reserved for 1,039), but there's no doubt that when it was released back on 2004 it caused a bit of a stir across the music world.

The idea of a 'rock opera' concept album is nothing new, with examples dating back to the 1960s and even earlier, but it had never been done with such flair and enthusiasm, or if it had then people must've conveniently forgotten about it.

Based around the failings of modern America, the album boasts two nine minute tracks and follows the story and issues of a boy, the self-proclaimed 'Jesus of Suburbia', as he leaves what he knows behind on a voyage of self discovery which is vaguely referred to throughout the album.

The video for the rock ballad track Wake Me Up When September Ends offers a little more clarity, portraying the boy as part of a couple who are quickly torn apart when he heads of to war.

Despite not being the Green Day fans were used to, it spawned an entire generation of new fans and saw the group play a two-day stint at Milton Keynes Bowl to a crowd of over 120,000, the biggest of their career.

This album will be talked about in years to come as a standard set for the modern concept album, and since Green Day themselves haven't been able to better it with latest effort 21st Century Breakdown, then it deserves some attention.

Critical tracks: Jesus of Suburbia, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday

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Next up is a band you almost certainly will never have heard of. Why on Earth are they on this list you might ask? The reason is simple: pure musical perfection.

Adequate Seven were, surprisingly, a seven-piece band from Wales who released two albums and then faded into darkness.

While their first album: Songs of Innocence and Experience, may have made more impact, by the time 2006's Here on Earth was released the band had found their stride and put everything into it.

The diversity which came as a result is something almost unprecedented on a ska/punk record, showing elements of hardcore one minute and melodic duet the next.

Musically the arrangement is magnificent, with each instrument playing off the others as the Chili Peppers-esque lyrics dance over the top.

Slap bass has never been used so infectiously, particularly in recent years, and you can't help but get into the groove with this album as each song throws out a fresh hook to keep your attention.

The style is difficult to describe, and despite its similarities to early RHCP there is a lot more to offer here. Adequate Seven is a band which defines the term 'funk punk', an exquisite blend of the bouncing bass of jazz and the passion of punk.

The recording quality may not be top-of-the-line and the drums may come over a little quieter than they should in places, but all is forgiven when you immerse yourself in what the energetic septet (yes, I had to look it up) are trying to do.

Critical tracks: Foward Motion, Seven Mics for Seven Brothers, Gotta Stay Focused (re-record)

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Returning to more familiar territory with the next album, this release undoubtedly made nu-metal a household term. The genre may have broken free from the underground with Korn's Follow The Leader in 1998, but it wasn't until Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory was released that the world realised the genre had truely arrived.

Selling 24million copies worldwide since its release in 2000, the significance of this album is hard to ignore. Songs like Crawling and One Step Closer saw rap and metal collide in a way which the pop-listening public had never heard before.

The most significant part of that of course is that the public didn't like it, which may account for the genre's quick demise, but the most pop-friendly single: In The End, made it to #8 in the UK charts and took the top spot in the US Modern Rock chart, as well as #2 in the main US chart.

The band made significant use of the music video as a medium, putting time and effort into bringing the songs to life, often disturbingly so, and dealing with themes such as paranoia, violence, childhood abuse and isolation.

The video for Crawling was particularly powerful, depicting a child abused by her father, much as lead vocalist Chester Bennington was, and the blood pouring out of her as the video goes on until she appears fine by the end. The chilling beginning and ending sample of water (or what sounds like water...) going down a drain still has the power to make your hairs stand on end even today and encapsulates everything that the album is about.

The combination of Chester Bennington's distinctive screaming vocals with Mike Shinoda's rap creates a unique juxtaposition which gives the album it's unique sound. It's on fourth track Points of Authority that this comes across the most strongly, with Mike's vocals interwoven with Chester's pointed screams.

Critical tracks: Crawling, Papercut, In The End

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Continuing in the hardcore theme we come to the next entry, a little album called The Sufferer and the Witness by Chicago hardcore heavyweights Rise Against.

From the very album artwork your eyebrows immediately raise with this album, what do the patterns on the cover mean? Two figures? One the sufferer and one the witness? Like much art it's best to draw your own conclusions.

Their previous album Siren Song of the Counter Culture gave the band mainstream success, so now that pressure to succeed was lifted they were able to flex their musical muscles a little more on this album and produce something outstanding.

From the first few seconds of the album you know you are in for something special as a voice-over matter-of-factly announces: "This, is noise." From there the album keeps the accelerator down right until the end, tearing through every track, hardly pausing for breath.

Two songs where the album just take a break are the heart-felt Roadside and the depressing tale of loss: The Approaching Curve, which tells the story of a two people tearing each other apart as their relationships breaks down during a late night car journey, ending with the inevitability suggested in the title.

The album is full of memorable riffs, powerful choruses and overflowing with energy. Injection, which tells the story of a struggling drug addict battling his addiction, is a prime example of everything Rise Against is good at, and takes serious issues and combines them with the passion which only music can unlock.

The album also saw the first track to be launched into the mainstream on the back of the hugely successful Guitar Hero franchise, as Prayer of the Refugee began to tear up living rooms nationwide and introduce a whole new generation to the angered musical stylings of the band.

The album stands of one of the most complete and flawless of the decade, each track earning its right to be there and to such quality that it's impossible to skip a single one.

Critical tracks: Injection, Prayer of the Refugee, Under the Knife

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The fifth addition to our list comes from Leeds, a place well connected with good music thanks to its own counterpart to the legendary Reading Rock Festival, which began in 1999.

The Music, forever the enemy of the search engine, formed in the same year and released their self titled first album in 2002. Despite the album getting to number 4 in the charts, it missed out on snatching the title from its successor by not holding together as well as an album.

Welcome to the North, is one of the most complete 21st century albums you are likely to find. At just 11 tracks long the album takes listeners on a voyage in the only way modern hippies can. With 'love' and 'freedom' featuring heavily throughout it's not difficult to start feeling the flower power, albeit in a reserved and controlled way - very 21st century.

An effects laden guitar echoes expectantly as the albums' title track begins, from here is a sound which takes the slow pop rock ramblings of The Beatles and kicks them into gear. It may sound harsh to a band as epic as the fab four but when you compare the trudging beats of the 60s to the hard hitting tempo of the 00s from The Music, it's very difficult to ignore.

Every song has powerful bass grooves, drum beats riddled with hi-hat and multi-layered guitar, giving the music an almost hypnotic quality. Add to that Robert Harvey's simplistic but endearing lyrics, not to mention his mastery of manipulating nonsense words to create irritatingly catchy choruses, then you have something which is truly a sound to behold.

The album itself didn't do quite so well in the charts, with many hardcore fans criticising the newer, more reserved sound of The Music, but the band aren't really holding back, just are more focused on creating rounded complete songs, and succeed time and time again here.

Critical tracks: Freedom Fighters, Breakin', Welcome to the North

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So, that's the first five, five more still to come. Like my suggestions? Feel like sharing some of your own? You can leave a comment or two below, I don't pretend to know all the answers, and, as I said, this list of ten won't be the only important albums to come out of the decade.

Stay tuned for the next part of the list in the next few days...