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/