I believe I've mentioned that my music listening history started with my father's classic rock collection. While the big three have remained pretty constant in my life, if there was a fourth, it would be Styx. I remember getting into them in the mid-90s, enjoying the purple A&M compilation album my dad had. They really were the first "hard rock" band I got into, and they've stayed with me over the years, as I've never grown tired of their unique blend of distorted guitars and theatrical ballads. Perhaps not unique for the 70s, but still iconic in all the right ways. This time, I decided to focus just on their studio albums, largely because I had been working on this for a few years, and I was hoping to get it out before the end of the year with their latest album. I didn't quite succeed, as you can tell, but it's been a fun ride regardless.
Friday, January 23, 2026
Thursday, January 15, 2026
2025 Wrap Up Part One!
I have to admit that I've been pretty negligent with my New Releases articles, as my Top 5 lists took up a lot more of my time than I anticipated. However, I did want to at least go over some new albums, so I've got this handful plus one more group before I figure out my Top 5 list for 2025. This is much more metal focused (I'll get to rock in the next one), so for now, here's what I've been headbanging to lately!
After completing a pair of albums based on World War I, the band decided to break away from album-long themes in favor of just writing a bunch of songs about various heroes and moments in military history, ranging from ancient Egypt to Napoleonic France, with a few trips to East Asia for good measure. While I did find their last album to be a little lackluster, I think these topics have revived the band a little, as there are quite a few good songs here.
As for their style, it's Sabaton doing what they've been doing for nearly two decades now: bombastic heavy/power metal, though this time I did notice an increase in synthesizers (and not just orchestrations), which was interesting. They rarely take center stage, but do feature on most of the songs, which is a little unusual for them (or maybe I hadn't noticed them before). However, all the sounds you expect are here. Joakim Brodén's baritone voice dominates the album, giving the lyrics plenty of gravitas, and the rest of the band stays tight to the song, as they do little beyond their solid songwriting formula.
This time around, I really enjoyed the faster songs, like "Hordes of Khan," "Maid of Steel," and "The Duelist," though they still have some solid mid-tempo stompers with tracks "A Tiger Among Dragons" and "Crossing the Rubicon." The rest of the tracks are decent as well, if pretty standard fare for the band. In the end, though, it's Sabaton doing what they do best, with a bit of extra flair that I think makes it stronger than some of their other albums.
I checked out their debut album a few years ago and found it to be pleasant, but not an amazing listen. However, their line-up stayed together, and now they've released another bombastic batch of symphonic power metal. Not much has changed in five years, as they still have their blend of shreddy guitars, soaring vocals, and layered keys, providing both orchestrations and 80s synths. Once again, I thought of Rhapsody of Fire, Beast in Black, and Sonata Arctica (especially their excellent first album), and they do a good job of blending those styles together. The lyrics remain as melodramatic as before, being both fantastical and sentimental, and there are a number of longer songs on this one, with four of them going over six minutes in length. However, I do think the songs lean more into AOR territory than they did on the first album, but considering their sound, that isn't much of a stretch, really.
Naturally, I was drawn to the faster songs, like the opener "On the Wings of the Phoenix" and "The Power Stars," though they often had some interesting shifts for the bridge, providing a touch of prog. From the mid-tempo songs, I think "A Flame from the Sky" is the best one, as it has some anthemic qualities. The rest of the songs were fine, largely held together by the consistent, lush production, and the album does a better job than their debut at maintaining its energy to the end. Not amazing, but pleasant.
When I checked their album for 2024, it was really the first time I had given them a shot, finding it to be a solid collection of straight-ahead, no-frills metal. However, their discography seemed to show some pretty large breaks between albums, so I was surprised to see that they'd cranked out another one so quickly! Apparently inspired by one of their albums from the 80s, this one is just business as usual for the old veterans.
Once again, this is cruise control metal, as things mostly stay in the mid-tempo range and rock along without too much to shake things up. There is a few more synths than just the Purple-style organs, especially on the dynamic "Tears of the Innocent," but otherwise, this just plods along, providing decent riffs and hooks to headbang along to. The energy does pick up a little with the title track, "Time to Rock," and "Make Me a Believer," where the band comes alive, at least for a little while. I do enjoy this band, but compared to the likes of Judas Priest, Saxon, and Accept, who are still dominating the traditional metal space these days, this band really struggles to compete. There's nothing wrong with "rocking it old school," but aside from their retro charm and confidence, The Rods aren't really doing a whole lot that helps them stand out.
After Tommy Johansson left Sabaton, he turned his attention back to his own band Majestica. Once known as ReinXeed, this band his been Tommy's personal band since the early 2000s. Five years ago, he orchestrated a rather clever concept album, telling the story of A Christmas Carol with Christmas carols. This time there is no concept, just a set of very fun power metal songs!
While there are obvious comparisons to recent power metal, such as Sabaton, Twilight Force, and Beast in Black, I think what makes this album work is that it draws upon the uplifting attitude and whimsy of Helloween. Things kick off with the title track, which is such a refreshing, high-speed blast of joy. Sure, it's a little cheesy, but the cheerful attitude is pretty infectious, and I found I was smiling through a lot of it, and that feeling carried through the rest of the album. Some of the songs are more story-based, but they never drop the ball, carrying the same energy as the other tracks. All of this is performed with gusto, as Tommy and his buddies are tight and majestic as ever.
I actually feel pretty bad for sleeping on this album for so long, as it came out back in February! This feels like a love letter to power metal in general, with "Megatrue" being full of HammerFall references as the most obvious in that tone. "No Pain, No Gain" is probably the most empowering song I've heard in a while, and "Thunder Power" is a nice blast to the face. However, the closer "Alliance Anthem" had such strong classic-era Stratovarius vibe that I nearly jumped out of my chair listening to it! This is going to give both Helloween and Primal Fear some serious competition when I consider my Top 5 for 2025!
Monday, January 5, 2026
Top 5 of 2020 (Revised)!!
Here we are! Granted a little later than I wanted, as I was hoping to get through all of these Top 5's before the end of the year, but I didn't manage my time well enough. Still, this has been an interesting Top 5 to consider, or rather, re-consider, as I put one together five years ago for this blog. However, after relistening to everything I reviewed before and catching a bunch more for good measure, I've ended up with the same five albums (albeit in a different order)! Apparently good albums stay good.
Last time, I brought up Let There Be Nothing by Judicator as an honorable mention. It's still decent, but a few others need to be mentioned, namely PWR/UP by AC/DC (which really is quite solid as an album of hard rock) and Firewind's self-titled album. Their style of heavy/power metal seems to have grown on me a lot in the last five years. Nevertheless, let's get into this Top 5, and talk about how these albums have faired these five years later.
Let's be clear: this is still a very good album. It's in the Top 5, after all! And it's not like I've lost any love for what the band does here. It really came down to how the other four albums have just grown on me over time. Admittedly, it also doesn't help that I think Endless was a better album, as they really pushed themselves on that one. However, I still enjoy much of this album, with all of its technical riffing and melodic choruses.
Listening to this a few more times, I think I was a little unfair to this album when I first reviewed it, as there really is some pretty strong material here. While it doesn't dethrone Rulebreaker as my favorite of theirs, this band is very consistent in quality and this album serves as another testament to their upbeat, heavy/power metal style, bolstered by Ralf's iconic, soaring vocals.
I admit my thoughts on this album have not changed that much. Iron Savior remains one of my recent favorites, and while this album isn't as good as Firestar or Kill or Get Killed, it's solid enough to maintain it's place from five years ago. I will say that the song "Hellbreaker" has become one of my favorite songs, now, which certainly helps.
I've mentioned it before, but I do think this is still their best album, with so many awesome, high energy power metal songs! The album isn't perfect, as there are a few songs that I think are not as strong, but I wouldn't call them filler, either. As I've gotten more into this band in the last five years, they really are a gem, especially in a time where I feel like power metal has been drifting into this farcical territory that I'm not fond of. These women keep the fire for great power metal burning!
This album. I was blown away when I first heard it, and it has only gotten better. Practically a musical steamroller, the album just flattens listeners with it's incredible atmosphere, bolstered by excellent riff after excellent riff. Not since Paragon's Controlled Demolition has an album grown on me so much! Now that I've listened to all of Sorcerer's albums, I'm confident that this is their best, and I look forward to whatever they do next, as I really do like their style of doom metal. These guys definitely had the best album of 2020.