Janne Stark's Top 10 of 2025

Janne Stark Top 10 2025

Here's my Top 10 of 2025, plus some honorable mentions!

1. A.C.T: Eternal Winter – The proggy Swedes never disappoint! Another stellar album! A quirky and melodic musical journey that should attract both prog and AOR fans. Always and still top-notch song writing and performance! 

2. The Mind Palace: Birthrite – Outstanding Swedish melodic hard rock with a unique singer, great songs and great production!

3. Danko Jones – Leo Rising – Danko Jones never fails. Yet another great rockin’ release from these raw rocking Canadians! Riffs meet garage with a punk attitude. Tight and rockin’! Love it!

4. Wytch Hazel: V: Lamentations – I just love these druid rockers, and even more after seeing them live in Sweden. Quirky retro hard rockers that may as well have released this album in the late 70s. Stellar stuff!

5. Inglorious: V – After some years of confusion Inglorious returns with a stellar riff monster. They are definitely back with a vengeance!

6. Warlung: The Poison Touch – Another stellar release by these retro heavy rockers mixing doomy riffs with solid melodic vocals and stellar harmonies. Their best album? Possibly! 

7. Dusty Rose Gang: A-one From Day One – I had to check several times to make sure this wasn’t a hidden previously unreleased early/mid seventies heavy rock album. The sound and style are so authentic it’s scary! If it was recorded in 1972 it would have been up there with Stray Dog, Captain Beyond and Sir Lord Baltimore.

8. Bone Church: Deliverance – The third album mixing the sounds of stoner rock, NWoBHM and classic 70s heavy rock into a perfect musical blend. The killers in a row!

9. Coheed & Cambria: Vaxis III: The Father Of Make Believe – C&C are back with a vengeance! Killer album in the vein of their best album “Good Apollo”. Melodic, proggy, quirky and with great songs! 

10. Armellino: Heritage Blend – Outstanding classic 70s sounding French hard rocker! Bluesy hard rock with swagger!

Honrable mentions:

Anthony Gomes: Praise The Loud – Current kick azz blues rocker with riffs that rock and a voice laced with barb wire! 

Arkado: Open Sea – A solid melodic hard rocker well worth an honorary mention. A stellar heavy AOR rocker with high class vocals and musical delivery. Solid song writing and great production, too!

Angeline: Rhythm Of One – With a load of albums under their belt these Swedish melodic hard rockers continue to deliver high-class guitar driven melodic rock. 

Harem Scarem: Chasing Euphoria – These Canadian melodic rockers are more of an institution by now. Can’t say they’ve ever released a bad album, even if there are some I like more than others. “Chasing Euphoria” is still another solid melodic rock release from the band. 

MoonDog: Time Is The Fire - Solid Danish hard rocker with a 70s touch!

Danko Jones - Wild Cat (CD)

Canadian power trio Danko Jones really speaks to the slightly punkish genes I developed in the late 70s. Yes, I was actually quite the fan of bands like Sex Pistols, DMZ, The Boys, Saints and Dead Boys, but then Motörhead came in and filled the gap between punk and metal. Still love some of that stuff, but it doesn't really wear out my CD player anymore, so to speak. Then one day I heard Born A Lion by Danko Jones and it appealed to me in the same way. Raw, energetic, powerful, rebellious, garagey and waving a big fuck-you finger. I just loved it! Probably also because this band knew how to write good riffs and cool lyrics, plus they had a bluesy vibe. Well, I was hooked. Despite the odd let down, this band has always delivered high class stuff. Not to mention on stage, holy shitballs, Dank Jones busts balls and kicks asses like no other! Finally, a new album! Opener I Gotta Rock immediately places a well-aimed boot in the groin! The lyrics are surprisingly blanket type rock n roll trivia, but it works for the song. Danko is still the best anti-shredder I know whose single string kindergarten solos actually works. He plays what works for the song and that's good enough for me. My Little Rock n Roll continues in the traditional Danko Jones break chord manner. We've heard it before, but damn it still works. Going Out Tonight picks up the tempo and this one will surely work great live! You Are My Woman has a sort of 60s poppy vibe to it with a hooky chorus. Do This Everynight is also a pretty happy rocker, while Let's Start Dancing whips it up like crazy! This is Danko Jones in its prime. The title track is a hard hitting boogie rocker with Danko spitting out every word like it was a poisonous bite of food. A killer track. She Likes It is a really cool, quite different track with a quirky guitar riff and cool half-tempo chugging with some busy drumming backing it up. Probably one of my favorite tracks with a pretty cool guitar solo as well. Success In Bed continues in the classic Danko stomp feel, and reminds me a bit of another old track, but the chorus takes a new route. Diamond Lady again takes the tempo up and this is a real great rocker with a soothing chorus. The album finishes with the track Revolution (But When We Make Love), a cool bluesy Strat powered heavy rocker. Conclusion: if you like albums like Below The Belt, Like A Lion or Never Too Loud, there should be no hesitation - go get it!

Janne Stark

Country: Canada

Year: 2017

Label: AFM