#33 Black Cobra – Chronomega

I love duos. In fact, when this list is all said and done, there’s gonna be at least three or four duos on it. Hell, maybe more. There’s something about the brutal power and sound that these certain duos generate that blows me away. They put most four or five-piece “heavy” bands to shame. The first of these duos is Black Cobra, and forget about harnessing the intensity of a full band — they sound like a six-armed, ugly giant spitting acid and belching fire. Needless to say, Chronomega is the perfect album to kick off the the slew of evil duos that will be making an appearance on this list. Awesome. Times two.

Listen to “Negative Reversal” from Chronomega!

#32 Soulsavers – Broken

Those that know me know that I hold Mark Lanegan in the highest regard. I don’t believe in God, but if I did, he’d be Mark Lanegan. His solo stuff is whiskey sublime and The Screaming Trees are the most underrated band of the “Seattle” era. He’s also got the Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli and has lent his voice to many albums by many bands. One of these is the English electronic duo (hey, look at that!) Soulsavers, who have brought in Lanegan to be the voice on their last two records. Now, normally I could care less about electronic bands, but if Lanegan’s there, I’m there, and Broken has more of a gospel/country/soul thing going on than anything on Soulsavers’ previous albums. Sure, I like things fast and heavy, but every now and then I like to mellow out, and there’s no better tonic than Mark Lanegan, especially on this album.

Listen to “You Will Miss Me When I Burn” from Broken!