Top 10 bands formed in 1999 (my birth year)
It is now New Year's Eve, the last day of the dreaded year that was 2020. And I, possibly the youngest member of Metal Academy, decided to share my top 10 favorite bands (from both my current heavier era and my earlier epic metal taste) formed in my birth year, 1999, which itself is the birth year of many of the bands that marked a historical turning point in my metal interest. Here they are:
10. Dream Evil (as Dragonslayer)
Heavy/power metal band with lyrical themes about medieval fantasy and heavy metal itself.
9. Battlelore
Folk/power metal band with lyrical themes about Middle-Earth, along with elements of melodeath that first helped me tolerate that genre.
8. Bleeding Through
Metalcore band with melodeath elements that has helped connect those genres that are two of my current favorite metal genres.
7. Protest the Hero (formed as Happy Go Lucky)
Same with this band, but it's metalcore mixed and eventually replaced with the latter genre being progressive metal, NOT melodeath, though Between the Buried and Me came first for me with that style.
6. Sabaton
Heavy/power metal band with lyrical themes about historical wars. Long after I quit listening to that band as part of my move out of my original epic metal taste, my usually-alt-rock-loving brother started listening to that band, around the release of their latest album The Great War.
5. Mastodon
Actually formed in January 2000, but close enough, when all the members met each other at a High on Fire show. If you wanna be technical, this is truly the earliest band I've heard in my current heavier era when the song "Island" was briefly heard in the Pixar movie Monsters University that I watched when it first came out. This is still a turning point for me when its progressive sludge elements later got me into post-sludge.
4. Lamb of God (after Burn the Priest)
Probably the only groove metal band I truly enjoy and listen to, enough said.
3. Dragonland
Tied with Power Quest as the second ever power metal band I became interested in ("Look at the sky as the dragon flies by, storming across heaven like fire pierce through ice...").
2. DragonForce (as DragonHeart)
The first ever band I've listened to and loved of power metal and metal in general, all thanks to both my father and my brother finding that one song, "Through the Fire and Flames".
Honorable mention I've never really listened to often but played a small essential part in my metal history:
Avenged Sevenfold
Around the same time as when my brother was listening to DragonForce, he was also listening to a few of the recent heavy metal songs by A7X; "Nightmare", "Hail to the King", and "Shepherd of Fire", the latter used in the soundtrack for his favorite video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops II. So I, wanting to seal my music interest into metal, couldn't decide whether to go down the power metal path of DragonForce or the heavy metal/metalcore path of Avenged Sevenfold. But of course I chose DragonForce. Maybe I would've gone the Avenged Sevenfold route if I could tolerate swearing more back then (I was 14 at the time, OK?!). I would've been more interested in Avenged Sevenfold now if they kept the metalcore sound instead of the heavy metal/hard rock style they now have (more progressive in The Stage).
And finally #1:
Trivium
The band that my YouTube pen pal was listening to and recommended to me that got me into the current heavier era I'm in today. Trivium is my favorite thrashy metalcore band, and I love so much that it might take someone who really hates it for me to lose my trust in that person (hint at my book review for Andrew O'Neill's History of Heavy Metal, coming next month).
Realizing how much I talked about my top and bottom favorite Trivium albums in the Unpopular Metal Opinions thread, I decided to rank all the bands here and their albums from weakest to strongest. Please feel free to rank any bands and their albums (they do NOT have to be formed in 1999 or your birth year, just any band you like.) Enjoy!
10. Dream Evil
f. Evilized, e. United, d. In the Night, c. Six, b. Dragonslayer, a. The Book of Heavy Metal
9. Battlelore
f. Where the Shadows Lie, e. Evernight, d. The Last Alliance, c. Third Age of the Sun, b. Sword's Song, a. Doombound
8. Bleeding Through
h. Bleeding Through, g. Dust to Ashes, f. Portrait of the Goddess, e. The Great Fire, d. The Truth, c. Declaration, b. This is Love This is Murderous, a. Love Will Kill All
7. Protest the Hero
f. Pacific Myth (EP), e. Volition, d. Scurrilous, c. Fortress, b. Palimpsest, a. Kezia
6. Sabaton
i. The Great War, h. Coat of Arms, g. Attero Dominatus, f. Metalizer, e. Heroes, d. The Last Stand, c. Primo Victoria, b. The Art of War, a. Carolus Rex
5. Mastodon
g. Once More Round the Sun, f. Emperor of Sand, e. Blood Mountain, d. The Hunter, c. Remission, b. Crack the Skye, a. Leviathan
4. Lamb of God (including the albums released as Burn the Priest)
j. Legion: XX, i. Burn the Priest, h. New American Gospel, g. Lamb of God, f. Wrath, e. Resolution, d. As the Palaces Burn, c. VII: Sturm und Drang, b. Sacrament, a. Ashes of the Wake
3. Dragonland
e. The Battle of the Ivory Plains, d. Holy War, c. Starfall, b. Astronomy, a. Under the Grey Banner
2. DragonForce
h. Maximum Overload, g. Ultra Beatdown, f. The Power Within, e. Sonic Firestorm, d. Reaching Into Infinity, c. Extreme Power Metal, b. Valley of the Damned, a. Inhuman Rampage
Honorable mention I've never really listened to often but played a small essential part in my metal history and based on what I've listened to so far:
Avenged Sevenfold
d. "Hail to the King", c. "Shepherd of Fire", b. "Nightmare", a. the entire Waking the Fallen album
And finally #1:
Trivium
i. Silence in the Snow, h. The Crusade, g. Ember to Inferno, f. Vengeance Falls, e. Shogun, d. The Sin and the Sentence, c. What the Dead Men Say, b. Ascendancy, a. In Waves
Realizing how much I talked about some of my favorite DragonForce songs in my Killer Elite, I decided to rank the top 5 bands here and their top 10 best songs from weakest to strongest. Please feel free to rank any bands and their albums (they do NOT have to be formed in 1999 or your birth year, just any band you like.) Enjoy!
5. Mastodon
j. "Seabeast", i. "Curl of the Burl", h. "Aqua Dementia", g. "Crack the Skye", f. "Trainwreck", e. "Island", d. "Mother Puncher", c. "The Czar", b. "Blood and Thunder", a. "March of the Fire Ants"
4. Lamb of God (NOT including the albums released as Burn the Priest)
j. "In Your Words", i. "Memento Mori", h. "Ghost Walking", g. "Ruin", f. "Descending", e. "Embers", d. "Walk With Me in Hell", c. "512", b. "Laid to Rest", a. "Redneck"
3. Dragonland
j. "Direction Perfection", i. "The Battle of the Ivory Plains", h. "Majesty of the Mithril Mountains", g. "To the End of the World", f. "Fire and Brimstone", e. "The Shores of Our Land", d. "Beethoven's Nightmare", c. "Storming Across Heaven", b. "Under the Grey Banner", a. "Holy War"
2. DragonForce
j. "Ashes of the Dawn", i. "Highway to Oblivion", h. "Fury of the Storm", g. "Operation Ground and Pound", f. "The Game", e. "Holding On", d. "Heroes of Our Time", c. "Black Fire", b. "Cry Thunder", a. "Through the Fire and Flames"
Honorable mention I've never really listened to often but played a small essential part in my metal history and based on what I've listened to so far:
Avenged Sevenfold
e. "Hail to the King", d. "Shepherd of Fire", c. "Nightmare", b. "Chapter Four", a. "Unholy Confessions"
And finally #1:
Trivium
j. "Betrayer", i. "Throes of Perdition", h. "The Wretchedness Inside", g. "Amongst the Shadows & the Stones", f. "Inception of the End", e. "Like Light to the Flies", d. "The Sin and the Sentence", c. "Kirisute Gomen", b. "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", a. "In Waves"
Update on my Trivium album rankings:
j. Silence in the Snow, i. The Crusade, h. Ember to Inferno, g. Vengeance Falls, f. The Sin and the Sentence, e. Shogun, d. Ascendancy, c. What the Dead Men Say, b. In the Court of the Dragon, a. In Waves