ROCK-IT: Our Rock Editor, has been busting a gut to reveal his throbbing picks of 2008.

1. NICKELBACK - DARK HORSE
The band that everybody pretends they don’t like pull it off again. An immaculately produced romper stomper of an album. If All The Right Reasons was their Slippery When Wet, Dark Horse is their New Jersey. If you’re friends are still putting up a fight in admitting that Nickelback rule the world right now, a simple punch in the mouth should sort them out. Bring it!

2. ATTACK! ATTACK! - ATTACK! ATTACK!
This one came from out of nowhere! An album full of sonic firecrackers that keeps busting my chops every time it slips onto a playlist. If these guys can hold it together while they cut their teeth, I predict big and then bigger things on a scale even they may not have foreseen. Shocking that you don’t own it already - and I know you don’t. Call yourself a rocker? Get it on brothers and sisters - strap this band to a rocket for the good of your own metal health.

3. HINDER - TAKE IT TO THE LIMIT
I simply love the fact that these great American rock bands are practically unheard of and un-played here in the UK. Somehow it makes them a bit ’special’. Hinder do the rock thing with dirty grit thrown off a shovel at 100mph. Perfect driving music with the obligatory ballad here and there to use at traffic lights and junctions. Sometimes it’s great to be alive.

4. FALL OUT BOY - FOLIE A DEUX
A ‘just about made it’ entry here, but Folie A Deux has all the makings of an American classic. Early days yet but a best guess could name at least four chart busting singles - and we would expect nothing less. Time will provide ample proof one day that these guys are among the best songwriters in the world right now.

5. FINGER ELEVEN - THEM VS YOU VS ME
The masters of all they survey, Finger Eleven certainly took their sweet time getting their shit together for this release - only to find themselves with a global smash in the shape of the head busting Paralyzer (do the YouTube thing for the video). Watch out for the title track. It will seep into your psyche like a bucket of cold gin. This band should be bigger than they are and it’s all your fault.

6. SHINEDOWN - THE SOUND OF MADNESS
My original review of this album went on and on and on. Months later and I’ve calmed down somewhat but that doesn’t change the fact that The Sound of Madness is an epic album - one that will see Shinedown either struggle to surpass or crush under their feet as they become one of the big guns on stages around the world. That’s if they don’t kill each other first.

7. ALICE COOPER - ALONG CAME A SPIDER
Ah… where would we be without Alice taking care of the old school? Actually, at the moment, Alice is the old school. Along Came a Spider has all you need for a quiet night in. Cool concept, smattering of guest stars, 10 killer songs with hooks that get stuck in your lips and Alice blowing up the balloons for the party. Killer.

8. GUNS N ROSES - CHINESE DEMOCRACY
The big bang that wasn’t quite as big as everybody expected still proved to be a grenade in your pocket. This one will run and run on a really long wick picking up momentum as it goes. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself falling in love with a new song every two months or so and suddenly finding that two years has got behind you. Oh ye of little faith..

9. DEAR SUPERSTAR - HEARTLESS
Curveball of the year? Quite possibly. At first Heartless was a mild curio, but as Summer turned into Autumn, I realised the album had never been far from reach in all that time. One of those bands that may well self destruct from having said it all very fast and very hard, but hey, sometimes that’s all you need.

10. BLACKSTONE CHERRY - FOLKLORE AND SUPERSTITION
Another much under-rated album that burnt out far too quickly for my liking. If you own it, get it out again. If you don’t, stop being a dumb-ass and add it to the list today. Classy to the core, Folklore and Superstition simply gets better with time… and man, when you get a bit of volume behind those guitars, you’ll soon start to feel your skin slipping off your bones.