The 25 Best Rock Albums Of The Last Decade

It seems an avalanche of albums are released with each passing week, making it difficult to separate the fantastic from the filler. We took up the challenge to find the greatest rock albums of the last ten years. This is a living list of the best twenty-five rock albums released over the last ten years, meaning as albums fall outside the ten-year range, another will take its place.

Although the idea of an 'album' is becoming rapidly endangered thanks to MP3 files, iPods, and playlists on shuffle, these albums each provide an entire package of great rock music, and in some cases, very cohesive overall experiences.

You may wonder where amazing listens like Radiohead's In Rainbows and The Arcade Fire's Funeral are. Those albums, and twenty-three other fantastic efforts, are mentioned on our list of The 25 Best Indie Rock Albums Of The Last Decade.

We held to the same one-album-per-artist rule here as we did with our Indie Albums list, meaning that although several of these bands have released multiple killer albums over the last decade, the one you will find below is the one we deemed their strongest over the time period.

Behold, our list of the twenty-five greatest rock albums of the last decade.

This blues-adoring duo recorded their sophomore album in fourteen short hours in, drummer, Patrick Carney's basement. From Dan Auerbach's howling wail and the fat riffs smacking you in the face to open "Thickfreakness" straight through to the closing strut of "I Cry Alone", The Black Keys hold you in rapt attention on this fantastic blues-drenched effort. The freewheeling classic-rock lean of guitar playfully slathered over Carney's tumbling beat on "Set You Free" delivers a rich, full-bodied sound that bands twice their size struggle to create.





The third album from, Long Island hard rockers, Brand New is indeed the charm. From the slow boil to eruption of, front man, Jesse Lacey's vocals and raging riffs on "Sowing Seasons" it is clear early that this is a dense emotional minefield. The quivering vocals pondering, "I was the glue that kept my parents together / Now they don't talk, and we don't go out", on midtempo stunner "Millstone" find the Lacey exploring the loneliness from growing apart from friends and family. The album erupts brightly with passionate displays of rock greatness like searing "You Won't Know" without ever pulling up the lights on the murky vibe of the album.





The throbbing guitar-rich sound of this metal-kissed glam rock outfit combines the riff assault of bands like AC/DC with the theatrical vocals of legends like Queen, with a libido big enough for five bands put together. The vocal dynamics of Justin Hawkins and vicious storm of riffs on songs like "Get Your Hands off My Woman", where nobody wails 'motherf*cker' the way he does, and "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" made hair-rock cool again.





This brooding English rock band delivered a stunner right out of the gate with their debut album. The intensity and bravado in Tom Smith's vocals drive straight through the shimmering waves of guitars and anxious drums of "Lights", while the eerie industrial grime speckling the radiating new wave on "Blood" gives them a hint of retro cool. The delightfully sinister tone of Smith's vocals play brilliantly against the vibrant guitar shaking through "All Sparks" and in the burning drive of "Fingers In The Factories", with his skyward hook roaring through "Bullets" blowing the roof off the album.





Psychedelic rockers, The Flaming Lips unleashed an electro-tinged beauty with their tenth studio album. It may only hold the narrative focus that leads some to consider it a concept album for the first four tracks, but that does not lessen the lush grandeur of it as a whole. The cool tale of Yoshimi doing battle with mechanical foes early in the album gives way to sweeping declarations of love like "Do You Realize??" and synth-kissed blippy strummers like "Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell". The album creates an elaborate, lively world that makes you want to get lost in its dazzlingly beautiful soundscapes on tattered symphonic pop treats like "It's Summertime".





Re-teaming with producer Butch Vig (who also helmed Nirvana's Nevermind) and recording straight to analog in Dave Grohl's garage, Foo Fighters delivered their finest album to date with this killer set of blistering rock. From the moment Grohl's searing vocals rage, "These are my famous last words", from behind a thicket of guitars on opening "Bridge Burning", you know you are for one hell of a ride. From the midtempo winner "Walk" to the melodic strut of "Arlandria" to the guitar-drenched rage of "White Limo", the album does not let you down for a second.





If they are lucky, a legendary band will create one album considered a testament to their genre at some point in their career. A decade after blasting their way into mainstream consciousness with pop-punk mainstay Dookie, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirt, and Tre Cool delivered a second classic with this stunning rock opera. The album grabs you by the ears with the pulsing beat and downhill racing riffs of its title-track and takes you on a fantastic sonic journey unlike anything released in the last ten years.





The explosive concoction of dance rhythms and loosely flung riffs that make up Kasabian's sound worked brilliantly on their debut album. The dance-ready blend of grumbling beats and anthemic hook of "Club Foot" might have earned the most attention, but the album compliments that gem with the heavy-footed drums and shaggy riffs of similarly addictive "Reason Is Treason" and the rubbery bass groove and vocal swagger of "L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)". The UK lads' debut is a fantastically shadowy, club-ready rock album that is hard to shake.





Thankfully, not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Brandon Flowers and crew erupted onto the rock landscape with this glittery new wave inspired piece of retro cool that ensured that hits like "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr. Brightside" were inescapable on the radio. Overplayed smash singles aside, Flowers' pleading vocals over shimmering guitar and a bubbling stew of bass and synth on "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" and the strummy pulse of "Change Your Mind" found plenty of synth-kissed fun deeper in the album.





Believe it or not, Kings Of Leon not only used to not suck, they were actually a damn good rock band. The Followill clan created a tattered treasure with their sophomore album, with Ethan Johns again at the helm. Full of jittery, angst-fueled rockers like "Slow Night, So Long" and jagged edged beauties like "The Bucket", this sexed-up effort delivered some sultry bliss on mellow "Soft" and sparse "Milk". Their milk toast recent efforts cannot diminish the goodness found in the rumbling clatter of "Taper Jean Girl" and guitar-fueled wail of "King Of The Radio".





The theatrical sound of, English prog-rock trio, Muse took to new heights on their third album. Matthew Bellamy's roaring demand for the end of the world amidst a towering wall of synth and piano on "Apocalypse Please" set the stage for the taut, dazzling album. The band lets loose with a dizzying swarm of guitar on "Stockholm Syndrome" for Bellamy's dramatic vocals to battle while delivering slick chills with a fuzzed out bass groove and nightmarish piano on "Time Is Running Out", but it is the nimble stomp of "Hysteria" and flickering drama of epic "Butterflies & Hurricanes" that keep you coming back.





This brash, punchy rock opera is where most people realized My Chemical Romance were not destined to be just another middling entry in the pop-punk pantheon. Opening with the blips of a heart monitor and shaggy acoustic guitar ushering Gerard Way's snarled lip vocals through on "The End.", the album is a bold, ballsy listen that opens with a towering epic and continues growing. The stomping riffs, snarky wit, and achy vocals of "Dead!" and relentless assault of whispery sinister vocals creeping around a nervous bass line on "The Sharpest Lives" serve as two of the more fiery tunes. The live-wire charge of "Welcome To The Black Parade" and swarm of guitars attacking the hook on power-ballad "Sleep" ensure the album never takes its foot off the gas for long.