The Best Rock Album of 2009: A Track by Track Review

Released in Australia on March 10, 2009, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's album It's Blitz! is still the best rock album of 2009. Based on musicianship, the album surpasses more critically acclaimed rock albums of 2009 such as Greenday's 21st Century Breakdown or U2's No Line on the Horizon. The 10 track album consists of extraordinary contrasts and limited weaknesses. Here is a track by track glance:

1. Zero

The first single released off the album, Zero is a hard-hitting, appropriate opener. The song begins with an aura of quiet-confidence. The first minute contains non-ambitious vocals and a simple re-curring synth line before it stops the teasing and smothers the vocals with a heavy bass line and hard-hitting drumming. The chorus is fairly unassuming with the real power of the song in the outro, when lead singer Karen O appropriately inquires to the listener over and over again "What's your name?" Before she takes you on a journey through the album.

2. Heads Will Roll

The impressive aspect of this song lies in the lyrics. While not the most melodic of songs on the album, the music is over shadowed by echoed lyrics of "Off with your head / Dance 'til you're dead / Heads will roll, heads will roll / Heads will roll on the floor". These dire lyrics are emphasised over a simple drum beat and a simple 3-chord pattern, nothing to take the focus away from the powerful lyric.

3. Soft Shock

This is a relaxed and unassuming song with a consistent melody. The song is perhaps used merely as a bridging device for the track that is to follow.

4. Skeletons

Arguably the highlight of the album (Listen to it here). Skeletons shows a coming of age for the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. It is an ambitious song which reveals the bands ability to record delicate music. The song sets the scene brilliantly with a musical backdrop of epic proportions: it sounds larger than life. Karen O barely raises her voice higher than a whisper as she yearns "Love, don't cry". It truly is one of the best rock ballads of the past decade.

5. Dull Life

This track doesn't provide the same punch as Skeletons or Zero. It tends to be more concerned with attempting to be technically different rather than driving it home with the melody. Nevertheless, the song does contain a strong build up to the final chorus as it repeats the lyric "We've seen the nightmare of your lives."

6. Shame and Fortune

This song is dominated by a heavy, distorted and reasonably simple bass line. It wouldn't break any records in terms of musicianship and could probably be placed alongside Soft Shock as the weaker songs on the album.

7. Runaway

Things pick back up to pace with this song. It is extremely melodic with a catchy, repetitive chorus. The first 2 minutes play as a soft build up to the loud and thumping 3 minutes that follow. The outro sees Karen O merely "hooo" and "aaaaah" while a wall of sound dominates the ending.

8. Dragon Queen

This song has an eerie aura to it. It is disturbing in it's low sounding vocals and funky guitar riff. It is a real like it or hate it type of song. But none can deny that the chorus is catchy and addictive.

9. Hysteric

This is another real highlight of the album (Listen to it here). It is craftily put together each part of the song being more awakening to the listener than the last. The climactic chorus is a series of "oh's" and "ah's" that lift higher and higher in tune with the backing synthesizer. When the lyrics are replaced with a trumpet in the final chorus the true beauty of the song is fulfilled.

10. Little Shadow

A slow-paced and epic closer. As the song goes on the delicate vocals become more and more engulfed in sound. It consists of verse after verse with no real deviation into a chorus. It's beauty lies within its simplicity. The album comes to a rest with Karen O asking "Little shadow, to the night will you follow me?"