Top 10 for 1998

TheBigBlack's Rock Top 10

Midnight Oil
Redneck Wonderland

Rock | Album | 3 November 1998

'Redneck Wonderland' is the tenth studio album by Midnight Oil. The album marked a shift to an electronic influenced hard rock style. It peaked at No.7 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album was certified Gold in Australia in 2014.

Powderfinger
Internationalist

Alternative Rock | Album | 7 September 1998

'Internationalist' is the third studio album by Powderfinger. It is often labelled Powderfinger's most adventurous work, with greater experimentation than in previous works. It was certified five times platinum in Australia, and received four ARIA Music Awards, including 'Album Of The Year'.

The Offspring
Americana

Punk Rock | Album | 17 November 1998

Marilyn Manson
Mechanical Animals

Alternative Rock | Album | 14 September 1998

'Mechanical Animals' is the third studio album by Marilyn Manson. While not abandoning the band's industrial metal roots, the album has a more mature, glam rock sound, inspired by David Bowie, T. Rex and Queen. The themes primarily deal with the trappings of fame and drug abuse.

Korn
Follow The Leader

Nu Metal | Album | 18 August 1998

Smashing Pumpkins
Adore

Alternative Rock | Album | 2 June 1998

The firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain from Smashing Pumpkins had played out publicly, and it was made clear by that band that for at least the short-term they would be drummer-less - and using a drum machine. Throughout the leadup to a new album frontman Billy Corgan warned fans that this wouldn't be a heavy album, the band would be taking risks and trying new things, and this would not be an album anyone expected. When the album eventually materialised as Adore, it was certainly different - and it divided fans. There was little here that connected the sounds with the prior works of the band, creating a polarising experience. The album opens gently with the acoustic 'To Shiela'. Although it is simple, it's ethereal softness makes it a wonderful opener, and one of the standouts on the album. Things immediately shift gears at this point with the goth-like anthem 'Ava Adore'. Is it the loudest and heaviest point on the album, and although it is catchy it is also soaked in digital effects, something previously used vary sparingly by the band. It is a great song, and one of the best on the album, but sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb, as it is totally disconnected with the other music on the album. 'Perfect' has a great song buried under a driving pop drum beat that sours the song from potentially being great to instead coming across as limp and insipid. Most listeners by this point have realised they weren't going to get another 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings from this album. 'Daphne Decends' presents as another simple song with a pop like beat, but soon after reveals this is something far deeper. Under the thick production is a classic Pumpkins song on the edge of bursting free, only really held back by the expectations the listener has on what they are hoping to hear. The two songs side by side are the epitome of where this album restrains itself. Throughout its lengthy runtime it reveals songs that with some slight patience and open-mindedness are wonderful examples of the band at its peak, but they are often overshadowed by the pop beats and digital wizardry that soaks many of the lesser tracks. 'Tear' has a great chorus, but a verse that sounds like Billy's 1986 Casio keyboard is proving backing. 'Crestfallen' is just plain dull, even with a horrid drum-machine provided back-beat, and 'Appels + Oranges' holds nothing of interest due to being so over-produced it is barely recognisable as a song. 'Pug' is a dark masterpiece that showcases more of what the album could have been, and it is followed by one of the most wonderful songs composed by Billy during the period - the floating 'The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete'. Removing the instrumentation and reimagined as a simple acoustic ballad, this could have been perfect with a chorus that is for the ages. It is the albums best example of where restraint in production could (and should) have been applied. The whole listen totally loses steam at this point and trails off with a number of slow ballads that hold no aural or lyrical interest. 'For Matha' even lets itself drone on for over 8 minutes. It actually has a catchy main piano refrain, but it isn't enough to carry the song above mediocrity. Adore certainly has its fair share of fans, and like many divisive albums, it has gained followers over the years upon re-evaluation. For others though, it will always be an album of missing opportunity. There is a good album, possibly even a great one, somewhere buried in here, but it hidden and hindered by dense overproduction and poor sequencing and track choice. Its biggest weakness is without a doubt it's length. With so many slower songs, it suffers from tempo fatigue, especially by the second half. Shelved tracks like the punchy 'Let Me Give The World To You' and 'Cash Car Star' or the dark and moody 'Do You Close Your Eyes?' if included would have added punch to the album when it suffered lulls. These could have easy replaced some of the starker songs like 'Annie-Dog' or 'Shame'. At no time in the future will the world decide this is one of the great lost albums of rock and roll, but at the same time it does deserve its place in the band's discography. It nothing else, it shows a greater dimensional capacity for songwriting than Billy Corgan had ever had the opportunity to present previously - and every great song writing deserves that chance. Adversely, it also shows where some slight production restraint can make a good set of songs much better.

John Butler
John Butler

Alternative Rock | Album | 27 December 1998

'John Butler' is the first studio album by John Butler Trio.

Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
Walking Into Clarksdale

Rock | Album | 21 April 1998

'Walking Into Clarksdale' is a studio album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Abbey Road Studios. The album debuted on the Billboard's Billboard 200 album chart at No. 8, while reaching No. 3 on the U.K. Album Chart. The single "Most High" was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1999, and reached No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 26 in the U.K. The title of the album refers to Clarksdale, Mississippi, a town in the Mississippi Delta considered to be the birthplace of blues music.

An album by half of Led Zeppelin almost 20 years after their break up was an exciting prospect for rock fans. Although quite prolific in Zeppelin's heyday, Jimmy Page had become quite a lowkey figure by this point, with only a range of ephemeral projects that could be counted on one hand under his belt. Robert Plant on the other hand had been very productive with his solo career, but had tried very hard to break free from his 'golden god' past. Opening with the subdued 'Shining In The Light', the album immediately feels like it is trying to shake off the shackles of it's past, but it isn't long before the big choruses kick in - and the guitar phrasings of Page and the vocals of Plant lock together in that familiar way. 'When The World Was Young' feels like a modern sequel to 'Ten Years Gone', even when trying not to make comparisons with the past. None of this is bad in any way, as it showed that although the duo was looking to the future, they also knew there was no escaping their massive legacy. 'Please Read The Letter' (later re-recorded by Plant with Alison Krauss as a country crooner) adds some nice muscle, whilst 'Most High' features some subtle Indian motifs linking the album to the No Quarter sessions of four years prior. 'Heart In Your Hand' offers a western-styled reprieve from the rock. Plant's vocals are sometimes strained (most notably on 'Upon A Golden Horse'), and the extra instrumentation on tracks like 'Most High' start to touch a raw nerve after a few reptations, but these are really the only downsides of the album. Everything slows towards the end, but ends with the punchy 'Sons Of Freedom'. Admittedly, not every song is memorable - but those that do stand out are earworms that demand you listen again and again. It is a shame that the two men working together ended here, as the album feels like the start of what could have been a wonderful journey now that the ghosts of the past had been exorcised.

Jerry Cantrell
Boggy Depot

Grunge Rock | Album | 31 March 1998

Pearl Jam
Yield

Grunge Rock | Album | 3 February 1998

TheBigBlack's Rock Honourable Mentions

Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series Vol. 4, Live 1966 (The 'Royal Albert Hall' Concert)

Classic Rock | Album; Live; Bootleg Series | 12 October 1998

TheBigBlack's Metal Top 10

System Of A Down
System Of A Down

Nu Metal | Album | 30 June 1998

'System Of A Down' is the debut studio album by System Of A Down. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in February 2000. After the success of the band's following album, Toxicity (2001), it was certified platinum and has since gone double platinum.

Nile
Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka

Death Metal (Technical) | Album | 28 April 1998

'Amongst The Catacombs Of Nephren-Ka' is the debut studio album by Nile. Unique in the discography, the songs on this album are notably shorter in length than those featured on subsequent Nile albums. The title of the album is a reference to the H. P. Lovecraft story 'The Outsider'. The phrase is featured in the song 'Beneath Eternal Oceans Of Sand' which has lyrics paraphrased from the aforementioned tale. In Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, Nephren-Ka was an Egyptian Pharaoh whose unspeakable cult worship led him to be stricken from almost all Egyptian records. The catacombs where he is buried are referenced in several Lovecraft stories as well as many stories by other mythos authors. The album was inducted into Decibel Magazine's Hall Of Fame in June 2009 (No. 52).

Fear Factory
Obsolete

Metal (Industrial) | Album | 28 July 1998

Cradle Of Filth
Cruelty And The Beast

Black Metal | Album | 5 May 1998

Death
The Sound Of Perseverance

Death Metal | Album | 15 September 1998

Opeth
My Arms, Your Hearse

Death Metal (Progressive) | Album | 18 August 1998

Anthrax
Volume 8, The Threat Is Real!

Thrash Metal | Album | 21 July 1998

Slayer
Diabolus In Musica

Thrash Metal | Album | 9 June 1998

TheBigBlack's Metal Honourable Mentions

Metallica
Garage Inc.

Thrash Metal | Album | 24 November 1998

TheBigBlack's Metal Dishonourable Mentions

Iron Maiden
Virtual XI

Heavy Metal | Album | 23 March 1998

'Virtual XI' is the eleventh studio album by Iron Maiden. It is the band's second and final album with Blaze Bayley on vocals. It also marks the first album to utilise a slightly modified logo, with the letters R, M, and N the same size as the other letters as opposed to them being extended.