Anniversary Series - 1996!

Time for another anniversary article, this time for 1996!  Once again, as we get closer to the present, it becomes harder to focus on the year as a whole.  Looking over it, I'm realizing that I actually haven't listened to much from this year that my blog covers.  Still, some really great stuff came out this year.

First of all, there's a lot of solid power metal that came out this year.  Stratovarius finally gets their iconic lineup together and release an iconic album, Episode.  Featuring speedfests like "Speed of Light," "Will the Sun Rise," and "Father Time," as well as epic tracks like "Eternity" and "Babylon," it's an album with plenty of great tracks, full of Tolkki's solid riffing and iconic solos.  Definitely a power metal classic.

Of course, these Finns weren't the only ones providing some epic power metal.  Germans Helloween followed up The Master of the Rings with Time of the Oath, with "Steel Tormentor" and "Power" as standouts.  They would also release a live album this same year called High Live.  Brazilian Angra would also give us Holy Land, a power-prog concept album I reviewed two years ago!  Trans-Siberian Orchestra would round things out with their debut, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, ensuring that the holiday would never sound the same again.  This year also features Apocalyptica's debut, made up of fascinating covers of Metallica songs on nothing but cellos.  While they would go on to write interesting stuff themselves, their debut is still an interesting listen to this day.  

Other records of note include the Flower Kings Retropolis and Nickelback's Curb, both of which I reviewed here on the blog last month.  The first is a solid representation of third-wave prog, while the second is an early step of what would become a giant in the post-grunge scene.

To cap things off, I'll talk about two of my big three (well, sorta).  Alan Parsons solo group released On Air, bringing back the concept album motif, this time focusing on flight for its theme.  Meanwhile, Yes reformed a classic lineup from the 70s and released Keys to Ascension, a strange combination of some solid live material, and a few new studio tracks that have never really stuck with me.

As always, I've got a playlist for they year, featuring all of the above plus a few extras.  However, I make lists to help me with these articles, and I know I've missed a lot of stuff.  Maybe I'll get to more of it in the future.  Until then, rock on! \m/