Heres the cds you simply MUST own from this year folks. Collect them all.
Sphnyx by Melechesh: Thrashy/black metal, but not very black metal at all i.e. you wont laugh when you see their photos. Its really great, very melodic, perfectly understandable vocals and great production, its a shame they will miss a lot of sales because of the black metal tag, they have more in common with thrash IMHO, and good thrash it is too. This album kicks ass, buy it! It has a Sphynx on the cover!
Valley Of The Damned by Dragonforce: Power metal but really REALLY fast, I like it. Its like speed metal on steroids! Get the title track on MP3, its great! Gay name though.
When Empires Burn by Bob Catley: Its 1987 era Whitesnake crossed with Bon Jovi with added AOR/pop rock/glam metal influences and a brilliant vocalist and best of all, incredible songwriting. Easily one of the best albums of the year, if not the best. I recommended it to Spiff and he thought it was great and he hates everything I recommend!
Epica by Kamelot: Its 17% off if you buy it from amazon. So anyway, as usual, brilliant vocals, great songs, fantastic guitar solos etc.
Darker Than Black by Cage: Its the followup to Painkiller that JP never recorded, plus add in some of Halfords solo stuff and you have this band. Not very original, but its fab
We've Come For You All by Anthrax: We all have this album by now, so no need to say how brilliant it is.
Death Cult Armageddon by Dimmu Borgir: Genius. Naturally. I prefer Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (just...) because its more thrashy, whereas DCA is more like a soundtrack from a Tim Burton movie mixed with melodic black metal. And the drumming is unbelievable... Definitely their most accessible cd to date id say, so go buy it. And get PEM while you are there. Theres a naked lady in the booklet too *giggle*.
In Defiance Of Existence by Old Mans Child: Sort of like Dimmu Borgir, but the music is MUCH more melodic, with better riffs and the vocals are far more aggressive. Considering Galder and Nick are both in Dimmu Borgir its no surprise there are similarities, but thats good, 2 brilliant bands is better than one I think. Much more keyboard work here too. Strange band name.
Fallen by Evanescence: I liked it. Nice vocals, nice songs, and thats all you need sometimes. Could do without the glory hound hogging the front cover though, no wonder the guitarist left.
Twilight Dominion by Usurper: Heavy metal, not girly stuff, metal by real men who wear spikes and have long hair. They also have a song called Metal Lust and its great, any band that has "Running in fright, metal tonight, amplified rage... METAL LUST! METAL LUST!" as a chorus and yet STILL turns it into the best song on the album deserves respect in measures not given to mortal men.
Sweet Vengeance by Nightrage: Fuck In Flames, this band is WAY better. WAY WAY WAY better. Really aggressive, great drumming by that guy in The Haunted and brilliant songs! Fuck The Haunted too, they are over rated.
Renascent Misanthropy by Astriaal: I think Astriaal will be mighty upset when they realise it isnt 1993 anymore and they are HOPELESSLY out of date. But its ok, because a great out of date album is still a great album! Theres a really good instrumental on there too. They dont wear corpse paint though, so they lose points automatically for that.
Zos Kia Cultis by Behemoth: Weird one this, quite death metally, I like it. As Above, So Below kicks ass.
Slayer DVD: Woo! 17 brilliant songs by a brilliant band! I wish I was in Slayer, then id get respect.
Soul Temptation by Brainstorm: If you like Iced Earth you will like these guys, great American styled metal from a band in Germany. Very catchy choruses too.
Through The Ashes Of Empires by Machine Head:
IMPERIUM!
Live Legacy by Dissection: Quite good as live albums go. I managed to get 2 copies thanks to fucking amazon taking so damn long to deliver it I forgot I ordered it and bought it at Utopia only to have it arrive about 2 weeks later. Ngg.
Soundtrack To The Apocalypse by Slayer: 5 cd and 1 dvd box set, the demo version of South Of Heaven is WAY spookier, and Raining Blood sounded extremely different in demo form, but still kicked ass! I also got a Slayer back stage pass without having to perform sexually for it, and a wall banner that I dont think is that great.
Our Cross Our Sins by Rondinelli: This came out in 2002 it says on the cd, but it didnt reach here until 2003 so im including it. BRILLIANT vocals and great dioesque songs, good hard rock.
Crimson Thunder by Hammerfall: Sydo would really like this album, JP style metal, nice singalong choruses, and the funniest back cover to a cd booklet in a long time. The heavy metal revolution needs YOU.
Once And Future King Part One by Gary Hughes: I didnt like this at first, but then I did! Great hard rock in the Bob Catley/Whitesnake/80s Bon Jovi style.
Vs. The World by Amon Amarth: Came out late 2002 but I didnt get it until this year so it counts. Really heavy, great riffs, and they sing about my Viking forebears. Theres a song called "Across The Rainbow Bridge" though. YMCA... Death In Fire kicks so much ass though. You should all buy this cd! They even look like Vikings in the booklet. Except when they have beer cans. Vikings didnt use cans, they used hollowed out boulders to drink from, LIKE REAL MEN.
Honourable mentions:
A Rise To Power by Dungeon: Not girly like most power metal. This is power metal played by men. Didnt make my best of the year list because they snubbed the Scarymetalpoomonster on the first printing of the cd. But he broke the chains and laid claim to the worldwide release, where he belongs. I think the Dungeon/Mayhem tour must have been good just because its such a weird pairing. I fucking hate Mayhem. I hate people who think Mayhem are talented too. I like Dungeon though. I hope Stu cracked Hellhammer over the head with a cymbal and Stu impaled Maniac on a pointy guitar.
Endtime Divine by Setherial: Good but predictable black metal. Nice cover.
The Apostate by Luciferion: The music is prime time Morbid Angel from their best era! Not too surprising but its very good, only the vocals are a let down, but its still great!
Disappointments of the year:
St. Anger by Metallica: I cant even put into words how bad this cd is, Koichi and I completely agree on this and that should tell you all you need to know. ITS THAT BAD. AWFUL out of key vocals, that fucking garbage can drum, WAY over long songs, FUCKING BOB ROCK and repetition up the arse. I HATE THIS CD. I cant think of a worse cd from a band of this calibre ever. Its an utter disgrace and Dave Mustaine will never again worry about Metallicas success because he knows that even though he wrote Risk and that turd of an album TWNAH, he didnt write St. Anger.
Heretic by Morbid Angel: Boring by the numbers MA album with nothing new. Enshrined By Grace is a good song and Stricken Arise is also, but the rest are boring. As much as I hate to join the "they have never been good since whatsisname left" brigade, MA have never been good since David Vincent left. Go buy Blessed Are The Sick, Domination and Altars Of Madness to hear true genius at work. They have spiffy cardboard covers now thanks to the rerelease, so thats worth it.
Enemies Of Reality by Nevermore: Following up DHIADW was too much for anyone, has its moments but sounds muddy and the songwriting and lyrics are nowhere near as good as DHIADW. I liked Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday though, nice ballad that, they should write more.
The Reckoning EP: Meh, boring.
The Sceptre Of Deception by Falconer: WTF is this? I dont know, its not that bad I guess, maybe its got good bits. I dont know, who cares.
Sphnyx by Melechesh: Thrashy/black metal, but not very black metal at all i.e. you wont laugh when you see their photos. Its really great, very melodic, perfectly understandable vocals and great production, its a shame they will miss a lot of sales because of the black metal tag, they have more in common with thrash IMHO, and good thrash it is too. This album kicks ass, buy it! It has a Sphynx on the cover!
Valley Of The Damned by Dragonforce: Power metal but really REALLY fast, I like it. Its like speed metal on steroids! Get the title track on MP3, its great! Gay name though.
When Empires Burn by Bob Catley: Its 1987 era Whitesnake crossed with Bon Jovi with added AOR/pop rock/glam metal influences and a brilliant vocalist and best of all, incredible songwriting. Easily one of the best albums of the year, if not the best. I recommended it to Spiff and he thought it was great and he hates everything I recommend!
Epica by Kamelot: Its 17% off if you buy it from amazon. So anyway, as usual, brilliant vocals, great songs, fantastic guitar solos etc.
Darker Than Black by Cage: Its the followup to Painkiller that JP never recorded, plus add in some of Halfords solo stuff and you have this band. Not very original, but its fab
We've Come For You All by Anthrax: We all have this album by now, so no need to say how brilliant it is.
Death Cult Armageddon by Dimmu Borgir: Genius. Naturally. I prefer Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (just...) because its more thrashy, whereas DCA is more like a soundtrack from a Tim Burton movie mixed with melodic black metal. And the drumming is unbelievable... Definitely their most accessible cd to date id say, so go buy it. And get PEM while you are there. Theres a naked lady in the booklet too *giggle*.
In Defiance Of Existence by Old Mans Child: Sort of like Dimmu Borgir, but the music is MUCH more melodic, with better riffs and the vocals are far more aggressive. Considering Galder and Nick are both in Dimmu Borgir its no surprise there are similarities, but thats good, 2 brilliant bands is better than one I think. Much more keyboard work here too. Strange band name.
Fallen by Evanescence: I liked it. Nice vocals, nice songs, and thats all you need sometimes. Could do without the glory hound hogging the front cover though, no wonder the guitarist left.
Twilight Dominion by Usurper: Heavy metal, not girly stuff, metal by real men who wear spikes and have long hair. They also have a song called Metal Lust and its great, any band that has "Running in fright, metal tonight, amplified rage... METAL LUST! METAL LUST!" as a chorus and yet STILL turns it into the best song on the album deserves respect in measures not given to mortal men.
Sweet Vengeance by Nightrage: Fuck In Flames, this band is WAY better. WAY WAY WAY better. Really aggressive, great drumming by that guy in The Haunted and brilliant songs! Fuck The Haunted too, they are over rated.
Renascent Misanthropy by Astriaal: I think Astriaal will be mighty upset when they realise it isnt 1993 anymore and they are HOPELESSLY out of date. But its ok, because a great out of date album is still a great album! Theres a really good instrumental on there too. They dont wear corpse paint though, so they lose points automatically for that.
Zos Kia Cultis by Behemoth: Weird one this, quite death metally, I like it. As Above, So Below kicks ass.
Slayer DVD: Woo! 17 brilliant songs by a brilliant band! I wish I was in Slayer, then id get respect.
Soul Temptation by Brainstorm: If you like Iced Earth you will like these guys, great American styled metal from a band in Germany. Very catchy choruses too.
Through The Ashes Of Empires by Machine Head:
IMPERIUM! Live Legacy by Dissection: Quite good as live albums go. I managed to get 2 copies thanks to fucking amazon taking so damn long to deliver it I forgot I ordered it and bought it at Utopia only to have it arrive about 2 weeks later. Ngg.
Soundtrack To The Apocalypse by Slayer: 5 cd and 1 dvd box set, the demo version of South Of Heaven is WAY spookier, and Raining Blood sounded extremely different in demo form, but still kicked ass! I also got a Slayer back stage pass without having to perform sexually for it, and a wall banner that I dont think is that great.
Our Cross Our Sins by Rondinelli: This came out in 2002 it says on the cd, but it didnt reach here until 2003 so im including it. BRILLIANT vocals and great dioesque songs, good hard rock.
Crimson Thunder by Hammerfall: Sydo would really like this album, JP style metal, nice singalong choruses, and the funniest back cover to a cd booklet in a long time. The heavy metal revolution needs YOU.
Once And Future King Part One by Gary Hughes: I didnt like this at first, but then I did! Great hard rock in the Bob Catley/Whitesnake/80s Bon Jovi style.
Vs. The World by Amon Amarth: Came out late 2002 but I didnt get it until this year so it counts. Really heavy, great riffs, and they sing about my Viking forebears. Theres a song called "Across The Rainbow Bridge" though. YMCA... Death In Fire kicks so much ass though. You should all buy this cd! They even look like Vikings in the booklet. Except when they have beer cans. Vikings didnt use cans, they used hollowed out boulders to drink from, LIKE REAL MEN.
Honourable mentions:
A Rise To Power by Dungeon: Not girly like most power metal. This is power metal played by men. Didnt make my best of the year list because they snubbed the Scarymetalpoomonster on the first printing of the cd. But he broke the chains and laid claim to the worldwide release, where he belongs. I think the Dungeon/Mayhem tour must have been good just because its such a weird pairing. I fucking hate Mayhem. I hate people who think Mayhem are talented too. I like Dungeon though. I hope Stu cracked Hellhammer over the head with a cymbal and Stu impaled Maniac on a pointy guitar.
Endtime Divine by Setherial: Good but predictable black metal. Nice cover.
The Apostate by Luciferion: The music is prime time Morbid Angel from their best era! Not too surprising but its very good, only the vocals are a let down, but its still great!
Disappointments of the year:
St. Anger by Metallica: I cant even put into words how bad this cd is, Koichi and I completely agree on this and that should tell you all you need to know. ITS THAT BAD. AWFUL out of key vocals, that fucking garbage can drum, WAY over long songs, FUCKING BOB ROCK and repetition up the arse. I HATE THIS CD. I cant think of a worse cd from a band of this calibre ever. Its an utter disgrace and Dave Mustaine will never again worry about Metallicas success because he knows that even though he wrote Risk and that turd of an album TWNAH, he didnt write St. Anger.
Heretic by Morbid Angel: Boring by the numbers MA album with nothing new. Enshrined By Grace is a good song and Stricken Arise is also, but the rest are boring. As much as I hate to join the "they have never been good since whatsisname left" brigade, MA have never been good since David Vincent left. Go buy Blessed Are The Sick, Domination and Altars Of Madness to hear true genius at work. They have spiffy cardboard covers now thanks to the rerelease, so thats worth it.
Enemies Of Reality by Nevermore: Following up DHIADW was too much for anyone, has its moments but sounds muddy and the songwriting and lyrics are nowhere near as good as DHIADW. I liked Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday though, nice ballad that, they should write more.
The Reckoning EP: Meh, boring.
The Sceptre Of Deception by Falconer: WTF is this? I dont know, its not that bad I guess, maybe its got good bits. I dont know, who cares.
