Rock music was never dead; instead, it is evolving into new, hard, and rhythmic music that tells a message. The new music of this year was truly awesome and unique compared to the new music of last year. These are the top three rock albums of 2018.

Shinedown-ATTENTION ATTENTION

   Once again, Shinedown catches the listener’s attention, literally, with their new album ATTENTION ATTENTION. The music on this album is great like Shinedown’s other albums. However, they made some slight changes. They added in some electronic touches to make their music different than previous albums. Shinedown asked their fans what they wanted and the fans replied that they wanted more heavy music. The fans got what they wanted with songs like “Devil,” “Pyro,” “Evolve,” “The Human Radio,” and “ATTENTION ATTENTION.” Like other Shinedown albums, they also focused on the vocals and Brent Smith’s voice is strong and clear like it always is. One amazing thing though is that their bassist, Eric Bass, mixed, engineered, and produced all of the songs and put the album together. The album will impress the listener. Get a copy of Shinedown’s new album, ATTENTION ATTENTION.

Breaking Benjamin-Ember

   Breaking Benjamin made an awesome album, one of their best. This is one of their heavier albums, with heavier drums and guitar riffs, plus they added more metal type music with their vocals. A majority of the songs are heavy, but the following songs exceed that by being the heaviest on the album: “Red Cold River,” “Feed the Wolf,” and “Blood.” However, Benjamin Burnley’s vocals stay consistently strong and true to Breaking Benjamin’s style, which is singing normally and a little raspy. This album fits in with past Breaking Benjamin music, but sounds a tad different. In this case, different sounds good, as the music is heavier and brings a new vibe. This album is another classic Breaking Benjamin album. It definitely does not disappoint.

Godsmack-When Legends Rise

       This has to be one of the best albums Godsmack has produced. The difference in this album from the others is that they lightened up the music and included better vocals. The album was still heavy with the beat and guitar riffs, but there are heavier songs like “Bulletproof,” “Take It To The Edge,” “Eye of the Storm,” “Say My Name,” and the title track, “When Legends Rise.” Sully Erna’s vocals are a lot better than on previous albums. Erna shows off his voice in a rare slow song on this album, “Under Your Scars.” Besides the slow song, most of the songs on the album are perfect for working out to, especially with the rhythm in the songs that fire a person up. The drums and guitars made the music part of the album and the vocals tied it all together. Make sure to get some of this music on a workout playlist before going to the gym.

   This year was a great year for rock music. Lots of bands came out with great albums this year, bands such as Parkway Drive, Underoath, Tremonti, Pop Evil, Halestorm, Like A Storm, Disturbed, Three Days Grace, Red Sun Rising, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Sevendust, Greta Van Fleet, Black Veil Brides, Code Red Riot, etc. With all of the new music to listen to, a new playlist might be in order. Go check out all of the new music and congrats to all of the rock bands with new albums. All of the music can be purchased on iTunes.