Nite Songs Top 50 Albums of 2023 - Part 2 (40-31)

 


40.    DIAMOND DOGS - "About The Hardest Nut To Crack"



As always, the Diamond Dogs aren't pulling any surprises with us on their newest album but the truth is that Sulo and co are simply a band who are very good at what they do and on About The Hardest Nut To Crack, they're on good form with the likes of Got A Rock 'n' Roll Record, Down On The Debris Field and Gurus & Gangsters being particular standouts. Another good effort by this most enjoyable band.

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39.    THE SHED PROJECT - "Our Fear Is Their Power"



A politically charged Stone Roses? The Charlatans after taking some songwriting lessons from Joe Strummer? I'm not entirely sure how you'd describe the Shed Project but what I would say is that they're a very unique and excellent band. Packing the hooks and melodies of the best bands of their ilk but adding a genuine socialist working class anger on the likes of Ghost Town, The Crowdpleaser and I've Got The Blues, this is definitely a group to keep an eye on.

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38.    THE DAMNED - "Darkadelic"



After 2019's slightly underwhelming Evil Spirits, Darkadelic felt like a big step back in the right direction for the Damned with more of a classic Strawberries style feel to songs like The Invisible Man and Beware of the Clown feeling like something of a return to form for these veterans. The subsequent news towards the end of the year that the band had mended fences with Rat Scabies and invited him back in the band felt a bit like the cherry on top of the cake.

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37.    THE HIVES - "The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons"

A comeback from the Hives in 2023? You certainly wouldn't have put money on it 12 months ago. Yet The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons (named after the fictitious svengali that the band built a lot of their myth around initially) was a solid reminder of everything that made these Swedes such hot property when they first emerged overground in the early years of the millennium, packing twelve slices of tight-as-you-like garage rock into just 32 minutes. Welcome back lads, we've missed you.

***

36.    THE HIP PRIESTS - "Roden House Blues"



Five albums and a decade and a half into their career and Nottingham's most rabid show no signs of mellowing out. And you know what? We wouldn't have them any other way. Song titles like Trojan Horseshit, Pissed On Power and Shakin' Ain't Fakin' could only be the Hip Priests as could the mix of snotty vocals, flamethrower guitars and the fact that this album piles through its eleven tracks in just 30 minutes. Long may they reign.

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35.    JUKEBOX HEADACHES - "Balkan Telescope"



The brainchild of the former A-Grades duo of Jonny Cola and Jez Leather, Balkan Telescope is a 20-track double album which sees the pair throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the mixture, veering from dance through pop to riffed-up indie with joyfully caustic lyrics to top the whole mixture off. Given what's on offer here and the panache with which it's carried off, the potential of this group is genuinely impressive.

***

34.    THE STRUTS - "Pretty Vicious"


Not for the first time, this could have gone either way. After 2020's Strange Days saw Derby glammers the Struts finally putting an album out which could live up to the swaggering energy of their live shows, they've proved it was no fluke with Pretty Vicious being a more than worthy follow-up, barrelling in with the sort of cocksure attitude that proves the "rock gods in the making" thing isn't just hype. Just a pity the release of a new Stones album around the same time stole their thunder a bit...

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33.    GAZ BROOKFIELD - "Morning Walking Club"



Morning Walking Club sees Gaz celebrating the joys of the great outdoors after the lockdown-inspired cooped up frustration of Idiomatic and Lockdown, his previous two albums. The result is a genuinely joyful album with the message of making the most of what's around you while you have the chance. A real pick-me-up to listen to.

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32.    RICH RAGANY & THE DIGRESSIONS - "What We Do To Not Let Go"

You get the impression that Rags is one of those guys who couldn't write a bad song if he tried and the third Digressions album What We Do To Not Let Go is further proof of the guy's undoubted ability. Admittedly, following the group's superb sophomore effort Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache was always going to be a tall order but this is a more than respectable effort with the title track and Highgate Sun being particular standouts.

***

31.    EVIL BLIZZARD - "Rotting In The Belly Of The Whale"



Preston's Evil Blizzard continue to be one of the darkest but most addictively weird bands in the whole UK on this, their third album. Veering from distorted riffed-up venom to twisted dark almost glam-rock style stompers, Rotting In The Belly Of The Whale casts a caustic eye over the state of this septic isle in 2023 yet somehow comes up as being an album you'll want to cue right up for repeat listens.

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