New Videos - September 2023!

I'm catching up on other things, but I think the rest of my year might be a little busy.  We'll see what I have time to get to.  Still, I found quite the collection of new videos, ranging from prog rock to power metal, and a few things in between.  I'm definitely excited for the albums these ones are teasing!

Well, if I thought the first single of Trevor Rabin's new solo album was unique last month, this knocks it further from the norm!  Definitely leaning into some proggy sections and songwriting, this feels like some of the noodlier parts of Talk turned left somewhere and found itself deep in some other dimension!  The while piano runs make me think of "Endless Dream," and the ending falls into this bouncy, symphonic arrangement, making for a song that I had no idea where it was going for its entire run time, and I loved it!

After their last album, Vega seems to be back in the 80s anthemic rock vein, providing a catchy chorus and some solid, crunchy riffs.  While the last album wasn't bad, it did feel like a letdown compared to what I had heard from them before, so here's hoping the new album sees a return to what they do best.

After Christian Eriksson left NorthTale, I guess he ended up fronting this new band.  Naturally, it's classic European power metal, very much in the vein of Freedom Call and Helloween, so I'm all for it.  It's certainly on the cheesy side, but I'm definitely curious how the rest of their debut album will sound.

I featured this band a few years ago and liked their style, and now they have a new album out!  Definitely falling into the more dramatic style of power metal like Kamelot and Blind Guardian, this track has some good dynamics to go with their crunchy riffs.

Yup, even more power metal!  While having Ralf Scheepers is enough to get me curious, the band's own singer Carlos Zema is very good in his own right!  While it's a very high speed blend of heavy and power styles, much like Brainstorm, I had never heard of this group until now.  Definitely on my list!

I know I've liked DGM in the past, but here it sounds like they've really fused their AOR sensibilities with their proggy chops to create something really dynamic and sentimental without losing any of their technical heft, with Mark Basile's vocals soaring over everything.  A good start for their new album!

Anniversary Series - 2008!

Sorry for the lack of articles lately; things have gotten a little hectic for me lately.  Nothing serious, just real life being less convenient than usual.  However, it does mean I don't have the time or energy to look at new albums or doing reviews, so despite planning on reviewing more albums, this Anniversary Article is going to be a normal rundown.  Fortunately, there is some really good stuff this year.

While power metal had since peaked, at least in its popularity, the style carried on with artists old and new.  DragonForce followed up their Inhuman Rampage with an Ultra Beatdown.  While it was largely more of the same, it was still a pretty solid set of shredfests.  Sabaton solidified their themes and sounds with The Art of War, featuring titanic anthems like "40:1" and the title track, and Edguy would shift themselves into more of an 80s hard rock style with Tinnitus Sanctus.

However, in my opinion the big power metal release from this year is Amberian Dawn's debut album River of Tuoni.  Finding a curious space between symphonic theatrics and Stratovarius style riffing, and drawing upon their native Finnish heritage, the album is full of tight, epic tracks with just the right amount of grace provided by Heidi Parviainen's vocals.  

Another album I want to draw attention to is PowerWorld's self-titled debut.  Sometimes called melodic metal, they feel like a mix of Queensrÿche and later HammerFall, but they have some pretty solid songwriting, and a decent cover of "(I Just) Died in Your Arms."  Speaking of covers, Northern Kings returned with another slab of symphonic takes on 80s pop songs.  It's a shame they never did more, though.  Other highlights of the year include Disturbed's Indestructible carrying on their melodic groove metal style, and Metallica's brief return to thrash with Death Magentic, which I praised highly in my Metallica Retrospective earlier this year.

As for rock music, I'm sure there are a number of albums out there, but there are two I want to talk about.  First is the Asia reunion album Phoenix, which features the original lineup working together again, bringing back their proggy AOR sound with tracks like "Never Again." And finally there's AC/DC's Black Ice, which saw the band really channel their classic 80s style with a very good album of anthemic stompers, like "Rock 'n' Roll Train" and "Decibel."

Well, that covers the year pretty well, I think.  I know there are a bunch of other albums I didn't get to, so be sure to check out the playlist below and recommend others in the comments.  In the meantime, I'll work on getting myself back on track!  Until then, rock on! \m/