Favorite Albums of 2012 - Nos. 28-26

It is with great pleasure that I offer you the next three albums on my "best of" list.

I'm 42, and grew up a fan of Heavy Metal in the '80s. My generation is STILL into the hard stuff, even if the classically-trained part of me appreciates broadway and Opera and Jazz, I still enjoy the ability to Rock as well as the rest of them. These seem like very "youthful" albums, but I enjoy them nonetheless.

 28. The Offspring - Days Go By - Nothing annoys me more than a punk or hard rock band that refuses to evolve as they get older. Which is why I especially enjoy this album by The Offspring. They started out as an especially good punk band in the 90s. And they have evolved beyond the restrictions of punk, into more of a Arena Rock vein. But they still maintain their distictive Offspring sound. Still with the sarcastic rap parodies that remind you of "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)," but not afraid to play a riff rather then incessant power chords. There's good variety on this album.

 27. Shinedown - Amaryllis - Shinedown is to Nickelback as Casey Abrams is to Jason Mraz. About as talented, but somehow cooler, and better. I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps it's how they seem to come more from a heavy metal background. Perhaps it's the more interesting riffs and melodies. Maybe, like Abrams, they're just less douche-y. Amaryllis is a great Hard rocking album. And the songs are unexpected just when they become in danger of being redundant.

  
26. Green Day - !Uno!, !Dos!, and !Tre! - After two amazing concept albums, and a Broadway show, I can see how Green Day would want to get back to simplicity. Basic, 50s-rock inspired punk, like most punk bands, favoring quantity over quality. No wonder they released THREE new Studio albums this year. That's over 30 or 40 three chord specials! There's just one problem, though... They're FREAKIN' GREEN DAY!!!! All three albums sound like they WANT to be mediocre or even ironically bad, in true punk fashion; but their sheer talent keeps stepping in and making the wannabe bad songs interesting and listenable, even fun. If it were me, I'd sift through the cheesy lesser tunes, and just release one kick ass album of the few masterworks, like "Oh, Love," interspersed amongst these three records; but that wouldn't be very punk now, would it?