Rockfreaks.net

author PP date 23/12/11

Everyone loves lists. They convey a great amount of interesting information in a quick glance. At this time of year, lists are in. Shopping lists, wish lists, guest lists, you name it. And of course lists that hopelessly try to summarize an entire year's worth of music from a wide variety of genres in a ranked order. The latter are what we here at Rockfreaks.net specialize in, usually receiving confused looks and voices of concern for our mental well-being once our opinions are out in public scrutiny. So we figured that in 2011, we'll ask some other people who might know better: a number of well-known and up-and-coming bands from the local scene. So in the coming weeks, you'll see a series of like-minded articles shaped as lists every couple of days as we go through the Danish music scene to discover what they thought were the ten best albums in 2011. Oh, and don't worry - you won't be cheated from our misguided and thinly veiled lists of favoritism either. Those are coming as well.

The next band we've decided to put on the spot are A Road To Damascus, who have grown from a tiny band with a handful of listeners into one of the most exciting and fastest growing underground rock acts within the country. Their brand of pop punk meets post-hardcore has really broken through in 2011, elevating the band to a status where today they enjoy sold out concerts, international touring, airplay on selected radio shows in Denmark, and thousands of fans on Facebook. The release of their self-titled debut album is the main reason for their breakthrough, and like TL put it in his review: "in a country where small bands tend to stay small and modern rock music has virtually no scene worth speaking of, "A Road To Damascus" actually manages to sound BIG".

We took a chat with bassist Jakob Munk to hear his thoughts on what the very best albums of 2011 were. Check his top ten list below:

“I think it has been a great year for music. There have been so many albums released from both bigger and smaller artists that I’ve really enjoyed listening to, and many that I just haven’t got around to yet, but I’m sure that I’ll enjoy as well. It’s also never been a better time to be an independent band, in regards to the ability to reach out to so many new listeners through the ever-growing social media platforms combined with the ability to sell your music through the same platforms as the major and independent labels. Sure there’s never before been so much crap as well, but if you just take the time to scratch the surface a bit, you’ll easily discover amazing stuff. I strongly believe that good quality music will always be heard and recognized, and it has definitely never had better chances of doing so than now.

Check back in a couple of days for the top 10 from another prominent Danish band.