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.
