Noor - Mother's Guilty Pleasure

Still completely obsessed with this album. What happens on the 4th minute (4:20 to be exact but I like the buildup) is some of the best metal of the new millenium. BTW, I went on their page and said that if this is AI I will kill them. They sent a private message saying that it isn't (but I think they were talking about the artwork) so they took it rather well.

Madder Mortem - Old Eyes New Heart
Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
Acerus - The Caliginous Serenade
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out...

This kind of stuff is interesting to start a day with.

An album I haven't spun in a while..

Them Crooked Vultures - S/T

A lot of interesting lyrical wordplay, along with some good songwriting and musical performances. My favorite work by both Homme and Grohl.

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I & II

The magnum opus of Helloween and the best album that power metal has. If you aren't convinced that power metal is your thing, try this album. Is the equivalent of something in the scale of The Wall but for power metal, truly a masterpiece of metal as a whole. It's an album that makes you happy.

Sacred Outcry - Towers of Gold

This is amazing, one of the best power metal albums that I have listened to in my life. It mixes the style of both US and European power metal, it's a shame I didn't listen to this when it came out last year, I was pretty much only listening to death metal and forgot to listen to other stuff, but this is awesome, strongly recommend picking this up if you haven't.

An old song from Tsidkenu with Derek Sherinian.



A new song from Teramaze.

WORLD EATER!!!!!!!!!

When I caught Bolt Thrower in Chicago I was up on the balcony looking over the chaos of the floor and when this kicked in shit got nuts. I'm pretty sure some people got fucked up.


I think the production of this album is perfect for the theme. Its grimy.

I wish BT hadn't ditched the blast after Warmaster.

Lovebites- Glory To The World

That synth hook in the main riff is a bit cheesy, but goddammit it WORKS.

Scanner- Wonder

Ultraboris said many, many moons ago that Terminal Earth was Keeper Of the Seven Keys Part III. Let's see if he's right.

Scanner- Touch The Light

This is damn good, but it feels like Walls of Jericho Part II. Nothing wrong with that. I actually want more Walls Of Jericho clones than Keeper clones these days.

Scanner- L.A.D.Y.

This song is apparently about a guy that goes to a gay club to pick up a chick. That's....irony.

The vocals on this album remind me of Kai Hansen that occasionally slips into John Connolly. And dammit, it works.

Iniquity - Seranadium. Holy shit Balls. Just finished the whole album. This is prime Technical Death Metal for 1996. Technical and Brutal without it actually being classified as “Brutal.” These guys can play their instruments with ease. I’d describe it as getting stuck in the spinning drum of a concrete truck that just flipped 10x over oncoming traffic. Only 2 Reviews for the album. If you’re a fan of Cryptopsy, Demilich, Suffocation, etc. You’ll enjoy this album. Go show it some love.

I always think of Scanner as being like Helloween at it's most intense but with more polish than Walls of Jericho. More like my favorite tunes from Keepers, Save Us and Twilight of the Gods. Scanner's stuff was unique enough that I never thought of them as a copy cat though.

Steel Inferno (Denmark) – Evil Reign

Mix of old school metal, speed and thrash and an organic production. While the mix of styles is very productive (and not unlike early Angel Dust, for example), I think the choruses could be catchier – and vice versa. Like a shiny new plane (look!) that can't quite reach the cruising altitude. 7/10

Mekong Delta Dance of Death

Coroner No More Colors

Perfect titles for desert island

But I don’t have enough space

I Am The Intimidator - I Am The Intimidator

80's style heavy metal about Dale Earnhardt and NASCAR, what a time to be alive. Crazy thing is, this actually rips so fucking hard.

Raise hell praise Dale

Racer X – Street Lethal
Racer X – Second Heat

I have a soft spot for the old Mike Varney stuff. However, I think Racer X were a glammy Priest-like shred combo that always fell short of what acts like M.A.R.S. and Tony MacAlpine delivered in spades: hits. Good nonetheless. Curious as to what their live albums and later studio albums are like.

Finally I've listened to Chameleon by Helloween, I consider myself a big fan of the band but I had always ignored this album and Pink Bubbles Go Ape, after all I had always read that they were bad so why would I waste my time with them? But curiosity finally got the better of me and I ended up listening to it with the idea of knowing "what must Helloween's worst rated album sound like?" And well, I don't think there is a definitive or extreme answer about the content of this album, it is obvious that it is very different, but that can't be a measure of the individual quality of an album, and "Chameleon" is a difficult album to digest, it proposes a multitude of ideas, it feels elaborated and artistic, with some aspects of true genius and others unpolished. It's clear that one listen is not going to be enough to dissect and understand the album perfectly, the only quick conclusion I can draw is that I don't consider it worthy of all the hate it has received over the years and it's a shame that the band themselves have disowned their own work because there are some brutally honest and emotionally charged pieces in this work. I'm looking forward to reflecting more on this album.

for your convenience, the consensus is that Giants, Longing, Music and I Believe are the best songs on the album. I think I Believe is by far the best thing with Kiske after the Keepers (excluding Skyfall the song). Maybe add Step Out of Hell and When the Sinner (not me). Windmill was a controversial one. Ingo called it Shitmill and it is either a very sweet ballad or a sugary disgrace. For the record, I think Chameleon is very decent FOR WHAT IT IS, a pop rock album but of course a huge disappointment for the fans.

Pink Bubbles Go Ape has more fans but imo is the lowest point of their career because it tried to follow the path of the Keepers and incorporate new stuff (the wrong stuff if you ask me) and it fails. It just sounds like an uninspired Keeper minus the lovely pumpkins and when your best songs are written by the new guy (plus Kids of the Century, by Kiske) then you're in trouble. Which was obvious to everyone, including Chris Tsangarides who did the production. He has said that when he heard the songs he asked "where are the I Want Outs? The Future Worlds?",only to be informed that those were Kai songs. Kinda unfair to the author of Eagle Fly Free and the Keeper song but Weikath's input in the two albums (minus Giants) isn't exactly stellar.

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Re: Scanner, I find their first four essential metal (4, 1, 2, 3 is my order of preference but the first three are godly). For more WOJ goodness though, if you haven't bumped into them before, WitchHammer's 1487 is amazing. Their first two are excellent albums. Highly, HIGHLY recommended!

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Still listening to Noor like a madman. It's been a while since I was obsessed with an album like this and I love it.

DragonForce - Above the Winter Moonlight

The new album is pretty pathetic compared to this. Day and night, lol. Haven't listened to "Sonic Firestorm" in a while... and honestly it holds up quite well.

It really does hold up - largely due to the combo of ZP's charisma and some legit cool, varied instrumentals in between all the big chorus moments. It's been funny to watch people latching onto this much more dumbed down (even from the already silly early days) instant-gratification, bubblegum pop version of the band. I got into them when Inhuman Rampage was brand new - or technically right before that even, right after Sonic Firestorm came out...

Yeah, I only have Sonic and Inhuman and sure they have plenty of over the topness, but they just seem to have more heft than what I've heard off the last few albums. Though apparently they were already starting to get ripped on IH for dumbing down based on what I've read. I just thought when they would soar they would fucking soar. And no matter what anyone says, Though the Fire and the Flames fills me with energy to this day.


Queensryche - Condition Human

I really wish I had paid more attention to this era of the band when this dropped. This sound like it would fit right in around Empire era 'ryche.

Inhuman Rampage was fine but it just showed that they were only really concerned with doing one thing for the rest of their careers. Kinda a shame. The Guitar Hero fame ruined them because then they just never did anything else again.

Necrot - Mortal

This rips. Never heard them before now. Between Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Skeletal Remains and now this, apparently there was plenty of awesome newer DM I just never got to yet. I hadn't really been impressed with a lot of what was recommended here last year, but all these bands are right up my alley... pummeling, riff-centric, dark...

Necrot's debut is a real banger, and what I've heard off the sophmore album was as well.

Of course they come nearby on a day I cannot go.

Judas Priest - Let us Prey/Call for the Priest

Some good ol' 70s Priest to start the day.

That is a good way to start it!

Blind Guardian - Tales from the Twilight World
So this is some people's favorite BG album? It's got some cool moments, for sure, but always strikes me overall as a not-nearly-as-good melange of the two albums on either side of it. Hansi's clear enunciation of "dwagon" in "Welcome to Dying" is a catalogue highlight, though.

I think it's clearly a much better album than the first two to be honest. "Some cool moments" isn't what I would describe it as, "a power metal masterpiece, where Blind Guardian completely found their own character" is. I'll say that it is a grower too. Upon first listen I really only loved Welcome to Dying, Lost in the Twilight Hall and Lord of the Rings. Nowadays, I only sometimes skip Goodbye My Friend (which I understand a lot people think it's one of the cool moments!).

Kai Hansen's "boorn" (instead of burn) on Phantoms of Death is one of my favorites.

Queensryche - "The Art Of Live"
Live album from their 'dark period' but released before their nadir (the last album with Tate).
I actually quite like this...musically, it sounds great. Tate sounds less than great here, but not to the point where it has a detrimental impact on the experience.

It does sound more fully BG-ish, that's true, there just aren't many songs on it that I can fully get behind from start to finish. From their speed metal period, my favorites for a long time have been Somewhere Far Beyond and Battalions of Fear. I'll try giving TftTW some more listens, though. This is probably only the fourth time I've actually heard it because I was never too keen on it from the outset.

I just took in Follow the Blind and Imaginations for some perspective. FtB I guess isn't that much better than TftTW, but I do prefer it overall. Feels more solid and consistent, even if Hansi's delivery isn't that amazing (it wasn't on any of those first few albums). Imaginations I've never been as big on as some people are; there again there aren't that many songs that don't have a handful of weak bits. But it's crazy how much their style developed over just a couple albums.

I wasn't necessarily insinuating that Scanner was a clone, just that I would prefer more stuff in the WOJ vein than in the Keeper vein, even though I love the Keeper albums.


Slayer- Mandatory Suicide

You know, this is more a brief return to the Show No Mercy approach to songwriting than anything else. Complete with the Maiden-esque intro.

Tales from the Twilight World through Imaginations is definitely the best BG stuff to me - Hansi's voice had come into what it would be, and the songwriting was the best blend of the early aggression and later epic stuff.

Both the first few Scanner albums are awesome.

Unaussprechlichen Kulten - Haxan Sabaoth
Realm - Endless War

Some good riffs before getting back to work in a bit.

I listened to Hawkwind's Space Ritual while driving around doing deliveries today, and man, how lucky was Lemmy to not only play on one classic live album, but two? If only we could all be so lucky.

Dude was rumored to have been a roadie for Hendrix, too. That's one hell of a ride.

Ulcerate TheDestroyersOfAll

Sensational album(not for all only who try and try and retry again)

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A 7th Son

This is a prime example of correct keyboard usage in heavy metal...not to cold, not to warm...just right!

Vltimas - Epic

Part way through my first listen and I'm loving it so far. Great performances from all involved. Their first album made my top 10 of that year and I wouldn't be surprised if this one does too.

Suffocation - Blood Oath

Suffocation laying down crushing and...suffocating riffage, blasts, and some of the better vocals from the scene.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Gila Monster

The fact that they released tens of vinyl versions and no CD version of Petrodragonic... bugs me to no end.

Necrophobic - Nordanvind

This sounds like Necrophobic.