Anniversary Series - 1999!

This article should be better than the last one, even if it means I gush about power metal most of the time, but it was great year for that genre.  After HammerFall had opened the gates, tons of new bands got signed, making it a ripe year for fans of the style.  However, I promise I'll talk a little bit about other genres, and we'll kick things off with some hard rock.

The big album of the year was definitely Creed's Human Clay.  Between the Matrix cameras in the music video and the anthemic post-grunge sound, this was when Creed cracked into the mainstream and became a big name.  I remember hearing "Higher" on the radio and thinking I needed more of this band.  I ended up loving them so much, they ended up being my first band retrospective article three years ago (the fact that they had such a small discography certainly helped as well.)

Other rock highlights include a few bands coming back in one form or another.  Def Leppard got back to their classic sound with Euphoria, Styx tried to make another concept album for Brave New World, and Santana teamed-up with Rob Thomas to give us "Smooth."  Classic rock might not have been the charting success it once was, but they still had plenty of good ideas and fun music.

I've delayed it long enough, though.  Power metal was really strong this year, with plenty of options to pick up.  Primal Fear came back with Jaws of Death, Gamma Ray and Iron Savior carried on their space crusade (which I reviewed earlier this month), Kamelot went into their Fourth Legacy now with epic vocalist Roy Khan helping with the songwriting, Edguy criticized the Theater of Salvation., and Helloween pulled out a Metal Jukebox for some interesting covers.

There were some solid debuts.  Freedom Call started their happy style of metal with Stairway to Fairyland, Metalium rang in the year with Millennium Metal, and Sonata Arctica blew everyone away with their debut Ecliptica.  With magnificent songs like "Kingdom for a Heart" and "Unopened," it was clear they were poised to become a champion of the second wave of power metal.

Of course, prog was making good stuff as well.  Dream Theater would reach a creative peak with their psychodrama Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, Alan Parsons would check out The Time Machine, and Yes would blow my teenage mind away with The Ladder.  I've gushed about this album before.  Despite being 25 years old now, I still sing along to every word and note and beat whenever I put it on.  Honestly a modern prog rock masterpiece in my opinion.

So there's my thoughts on a pretty dang good year of rock and metal.  As always, check out the playlist below for more, recommend what I missed in the comments, and try to stay cool out there!  August is looking to be a hot and busy month for me, as I have a lot of album reviews planned, so keep an eye out for those.  Until then, rock on!  \m/

New Videos - August 2021 Part Two!

Sorry for the delay on this one, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for the last article of August.  Eventually, this one won out, mostly by the fact that it got done first.  In any case, there's plenty to check out, mostly power metal.  Turn it up!

I'm always surprised by how many new bands just keep coming out with new stuff, but I guess these guys have been kicking around Sweden for more than a few years, now.  I don't know if having those pulsing bass synths is normal, but it does push this metal track to the next level of epic, sitting next to the likes of Beast in Black and Primal Fear in style.

While the band is doing some more cross-promotion with a video game, I can't deny Sabaton can still put out fun stuff.  Going back to their well-tread ground of tanks (get it?), they offer another catchy, upbeat stomper.  I kinda wish the music wasn't drowned out by the explosions and tankfire, though.

Speaking of reliable bands, Eclipse keeps bringing the rock!  They seem to have really mastered writing these massive, anthemic, upbeat rockers (this time with a little Beethoven).  Their last album had a bunch of them, and it seems this next one won't be any different.  Incredible stuff.

Rage is another band that's a gap for me.  These German metallers have been going since the 80s, and are often cited for being a part of the early shift into power metal.  However, here, we have something that's more like melodic thrash, making me think of bands like Metal Church and Savage Messiah.  Huge, crunchy riffs, and plenty of energy prove that the band leader Peavy hasn't slowed down.

Hey, remember these guys?  I still never got around to their debut album, but this new video they threw together serves as a good reminder for me to get back to them.  Full of neo-classical energy a la Stratovarius, these guys had some great power metal chops.

Metalium has actually been broken up for nearly 10 years now, but when their founded and bassist Lars Ratz passed away, the remaining members got together to write this song in tribute to him.  To be expected, it's a pretty solid power metal track that balances the crunch with the epic.  I know I'd like to hear them come back, but for now, this is a nice tribute to one of the underdogs of metal.

Last Played - April 2020!

I'm not sure if I'll get a new videos article out this month, but I'm still spinning all kinds of stuff from the past.  I've been listening to all kinds of stuff, as the albums for this article is all over the place.  Let's get into it!

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black

I'm never really quite sure what to make of King Crimson.  They do have moments of brilliance, but they're often separated by long passages of jazzy mellow ambiance or chaotic noise that never quite gel with me.  I've been slowly working my way through their material over the past few years, and decided to listen to this one at the beginning of the month.

Things start off alright with the "The Great Deceiver," but then gets pretty disorganized from there.  "The Night Watch" and "Trio" are of the mellow variety, with "Lament" "We'll Let You Know" on the more chaotic side.  "The Mincer" takes a more ambient post-rock approach, almost sounding like a 70s Tool!  The title track feels like a combination of all their styles, choatic, mellow, with psychedelic leads and organs carrying things along like early Pink Floyd.  "Fracture" features Fripp flexing his fret-work with some light, rapid-fire passages, making it the most dramatic and technical piece of the album, which eventually builds into classic Crimson's organized mayhem.

Much of this album was recorded live, as the band was very much into improvisation at the time, which resulted in the rather pretentious liner-note where Bill Bruford gets song-writing on the song "Trio" without actually playing anything (which strikes me as a very King Crimson idea!).  This band was the epitome of experimental song-writing and performance while still retaining elements of rock, making it a challenge to listen to.  However, this noise-rock approach would make them very influential and iconic!  Definitely not for the easy-listening crowd, that's for sure!

Metalium - State of Triumph

Metalium is one of those German power metal bands that was part of the explosion of the genre in the late 90s and early 2000s. As a band, they don't deviate much from the style of the times, full of high-charged choruses and fantasy lyrics.  The main thing that makes them stand out is an emphasis on bass in the production, making their power metal approach sound very gritty and grounded.

Their albums tell a story, much like Rhapsody of Fire or Dragonland, and State of Triumph is the second chapter, mostly focusing on a chosen one mastering the elements and leading an army called The Metalians to save the world.  Nothing remarkable, but it gives the lyrics a reason to be huge and triumphant, which I'm sure was the main point of them anyway.  For what it's worth, Henning Basse does give a great performance, hitting high notes and melodies with a vigor that one expects from such energetic music, and their rhythm section matches that vigor by sounding quite massive.

Their first album has a few stand out moments, but can come across as clunky and uneven.  State of Triumph has smoothed things out, making sure each of their double-kick speedy anthems are consistent across the board.  However, this also makes the album pretty samey, resulting in a album that's quite fun while it's on, but you probably won't be humming anything once it's over.  That being said, it's still solid stuff, if you're looking for something older in the vain of classic Primal Fear or Iron Savior.

Candlemass - Nightfall

Doom metal is a genre that doesn't come up here very often, but it's one I definitely like, especially the way that Candlemass plays it.  Most bands in the genre often feel like an early Black Sabbath clone (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but I do feel like Candlemass builds on that sound to make it their own, something bigger and broader, more epic.

Nightfall is classic Candlemass, but also serves as their first album with the titanic vocalist Messiah Marcolin, whose operatic style just makes the band sound all the more melodramatic compared to their first album.  Given that all the lyrics this time deal with a lot of Christian iconography (angels and devils, sin and redemption, heaven and hell), it makes the album feel like Marcolin is giving an epic morality play, singing with authority and power.

The rest of the group aren't completely overshadowed, with the band's iconic slow and crunchy riffs plowing their way through it all.  While I don't think this as good as their later album Tales of Creation, it does have some decent variety, with "The Well of Souls," "At Gallows End," and "Dark Are The Veils of Death" experimenting with different tempos and moods, and "March Funebre" being a curious cover of Chopin's "Funeral March."  More solid doom metal from a band that doesn't disappoint.

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It's definitely been a quiet month for a number of reasons, so I apologize that I don't have more to share with you.  I'll see if I can do better for May, especially since I have plenty of ideas for articles.  Just gotta buckle down and get them done.

In any case, I hope you and yours are doing well in these unusual times.  Until then, rock on! \m/