Hard Rock
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the hard rock music genre.
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Queen – “Innuendo”
Innuendo is often called a return to form for Queen but that’s, quite literally, only half true. Innuendo is split right down the middle between Queen’s progressive touches from the ’70s, and their schmaltzy ballads of the ’80s. Predictably, this leads to an album that’s varied in quality. Regardless, Innuendo is properly hailed as one… (read more)
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Foo Fighters – “There Is Nothing Left to Lose” (1999)
On the Foo Fighters’s third album, Dave Grohl made a conscious effort to juxtapose the abrasive nu metal bands that had become popular during the album’s conception by making There Is Nothing Left to Lose the band’s most restrained album yet. Melodic and full of guitar lines that just glide by even during the loud… (read more)
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Alice in Chains – “MTV Unplugged”
“Unplugged” albums are kind of a catch-22. It seems most often that their best tracks are ones that work naturally in an acoustic setting, and that’s usually because they’re similar to their original recordings in the first place. In that case, why redo an already mellow, stripped-back song? On the other hand, if you try… (read more)
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Queen – “The Works”
The most “eh” album Queen ever made, maybe. The Works is rarely anything impressive, never anything that repulsive. They’re less reliant on synthesizers than on Hot Space. And thank god for that, because now they’re tactful enough to know when to use them in the songcraft. As a little fun fact, this is the only Queen… (read more)
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Queens of the Stone Age – “Era Vulgaris”
The best Queens of the Stone Age (QotSA) album because, out of all their work, their careless, stoner persona has never manifested into a more tangible, distinctive sound than on Era Vulgaris. The band have always been reliably great songwriters, but they’ve always done it while being playful and free of the possible dangers of… (read more)
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Stone Temple Pilots – “Core” (1992)
The Pearl Jam influence on Core that everyone points out is obvious and true. But, the songwriting is better than Ten. Take the clever, vaudevillian-inspired riff of the album’s smash hit “Plush,” for example. Scott Weiland’s vocals have more conviction in them than Eddie Vedder’s as well, and hearing him roar his way through “Naked Sunday,” one of… (read more)
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Cheap Trick – “Woke Up With a Monster”
Cheap Trick loudly announce their distancing from their ’80s rock ballad phase. In ‘Woke Up With a Monster,’ the band adopt traits of grunge and heavy metal. While a bit cringe, it’s undeniably their best album in a while. (read more)