When we asked our contributors to tell us their albums of the year, we also offered them the opportunity to retrospectively review any of their Top 10 list that we hadn’t reviewed already. Jon Kerr took us up on that offer.

Foo Fighters
Wasting Light
RCA Records
11 April 2011

by Jon Kerr

Twenty years after Nevermind, Butch Vig finally produces a Foo Fighters album. In Dave Grohl’s garage. On tape. And Krist Novoselic plays bass on it. Whether you think the “Nevermind-effect” on the rock industry was a good or bad thing is one of the divisive questions for rock fans of a certain age, making this collaboration one that was destined to raise both ears and eyebrows.

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When we asked our contributors to tell us their albums of the year, we also offered them the opportunity to retrospectively review any of their Top 10 list that we hadn’t reviewed already. Ruth Booth took us up on that offer.

The Devin Townsend Project
Ghost
Hevy Devy Records
20 June 2011

by Ruth Booth

With those weightless woodwind notes, we come to the final (planned) part of the four-year, self-titled epic: Ghost, the ambient calm to Deconstruction’s storm of chaotic metal. Though Deconstruction is the more abrasive and complex of the two, Ghost has potential to be the ‘difficult’ record here – and not just if you’re still pining for Strapping Young Lad. Townsend has attempted ambient and folk sounds before, though they’ve largely been complimentary or quirky flavours on more eclectic albums. Meanwhile, his only fully ambient records, The Hummer and Devlab, were self-conscious, rather willful experiments in THC sound, and remain cult choices even amongst devoted Dev fans.

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When we asked our contributors to tell us their albums of the year, we also offered them the opportunity to retrospectively review any of their Top 10 list that we hadn’t reviewed already, we didn’t expect Ruth Booth to send us a Kate Bush review.

Kate Bush
50 Words for Snow
Fish People
21 November 2011

by Ruth Booth

Now, this is the kind of move you might expect from The Darkness. Or to take a lot of her once peers, one of those pensioned big names, long on contract, short on inspiration and hefty of tax bill. But Kate Bush? A seasonal record? Well, huh. Maybe we missed the Rapture after all.

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When we asked our contributors to tell us their albums of the year, we also offered them the opportunity to retrospectively review any of their Top 10 list that we hadn’t reviewed already. Ruth Booth took us up on that offer.

Ancients
Constellations EP
*shelsmusic
26 September 2011

by Ruth Booth

Break-ups. Bloody hell. As Heartbreak Season 2011 serves up a double-header in Thursday and Thrice, here comes a little reminder for fans of the post- tag that there can be light at the end of the tunnel.

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We’ve shown you what Raz and Hugh’s albums of the year are, but they’re not the only ones responsible for the Thrash Hits Top 20 Albums of 2011. Oh no. We’ve got a whole load of contributors – writers, photographers, and miscellaneous behind-the-scenes types – that help keep Thrash Hits running smoothly, and the albums they loved the most from 2011 matter just as much as those favoured by the boss men.

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The votes are in, the arguments have been settled, and the fights concluded without too much bloodshed – The Thrash Hits Top 20 Albums of 2011 list is here. We polled all of our writers, photographers, and contributors as to what their favourite records of the year have been, and through a series of complex mathematical formulae, we’ve calculated the 20 albums that have come out on top.

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