Anniversary Series - 2016!

Finally, we reach 2016, and I've actually listened to a decent amount of stuff for this year, so I'll be doing a standard anniversary article for this one!  Most of what I have will be power metal and proggy stuff, but there are a few others mixed in for the playlist.

I'm going to start off with an absolutely amazing album: Rulebreaker by Primal Fear.  It was the first album of theirs I had ever listened to, and I was completely blown away.  Definitely leaning towards a Painkiller-style of power metal, it was still very epic, with tons of great riffs and energy.  With massive tracks like the title track, "The End Is Near," "Bullets & Tears," "In Metal We Trust," and "Constant Heart," it's an excellent album from top to bottom.  This was my favorite album of the year, by far!  Of course, there were other good power metal albums that came out this year.  Rhapsody of Fire, Serenity, and Avantasia provided plenty in the symphonic style, while Iron Savior and Mystic Prophecy kept things heavy.

Progressive rock and metal also had a few releases worth mentioning.  While Dream Theater stumbled with The Astonishing, DGM really knocked it out of the park with The Passage, Kansas put out their first album in 16 years with the decent The Prelude Implicit, and Jon Anderson teamed up with Roine Stolt for the dreamy, light-hearted Invention of Knowledge.  Supposedly, they had plans for a second album, but they haven't been able to find time to work it out.  I know I'd definitely be interested in what else they would create.

I know I generally don't cover thrash metal, but they had a decent year as well, with Metallica and Megadeth both putting out albums.  In a bit of a surprise for me, I actually preferred the Megadeth album.  Part of it was that Metallica had gotten back into bad habits with a double album that sounded a lot like Load and Reload, which I've never liked.  "Atlas Rise" was probably the only track I really liked from Hardwired...To Self-Destruct.  However, the other part is that Megadeth picked up Kiko Loureiro from Angra, making the guitar-work on Dystopia quite slick and powerful.  Oh, and Metal Church brought Mike Howe back for XI, including the excellent thrash anthem "Reset."

Finally, I just want to make mention of Airbourne's Breakin' Outta Hell.  While I was aware that Airbourne was a lot like AC/DC, this album was the first one of theirs I listened all the way through, and I found I kept coming back to it.  While they still have the classic blues-rock sound, they pump it up with a lot of energy and power.  With songs like the title track, "It's Never Too Loud For Me," and "It's All For Rock N' Roll," they really hit a stride with an album that flat-out rocks.

So that will do it for 2016 and for this year's worth of anniversary articles.  I really do enjoy makings these, as it gives me the opportunity to see rock and metal history in a different light, so I hope you're enjoying them as well.  As always, there's a playlist below with more, and if I've missed anything, let me know.  Until then, rock on! \m/