The Guardians Release of the Year Contenders thread

Hi everyone.

With only one month to go until we announce our release of 2021 for each clan (which will once again be based on our site ratings), Ben & I thought it'd be worth highlighting five key releases contending for each title in order to give everyone the chance to investigate some (or all) of them this month if you wish to. These were some of the more highly regarded releases in the heavy, power, symphonic & neoclassical metal space last year:

Helloween - "Helloween"  {German power metal}

Epica - "Omega"  {Dutch symphonic metal}

Unto Others - "Strength"  {US heavy/gothic metal}

Powerwolf - "Call of the Wild"  {German power metal}

Herzel - "Le dernier rempart"  {French heavy metal}

Two others I'd like to champion here: 

Ravenous - Hubris (Canadian Power Metal)

Eternity's End - Embers of War (German Power Metal)

Herzel and Epica all the way though.

wow I missed a lot of Guardians music in 2021 didn't I? Powerwolf? Really?

Anyways, "Robot King" from Helloween is still a banger and Epica's Omega was a triumphant return following a long layover while other symphonic metal giants (Nightwish and Within Temptation) laid an egg.

Eternity's End - "Embers Of War" (2021)

I simply had to hear this album after reading Xephyr's review & discovering that it included lead guitarist Christian Muenzner (Defeated Sanity/Necrophagist/Obscura/Spawn Of Possession), bassist Linus Klausenitzer (Obscura) & drummer Hannes Grossmann (Hate Eternal/Necrophagist/Obscura/Triptykon). I needed to gain an understanding of what it'd be like if tech death masters of this ilk pointed their skills towards a neoclassical power metal record & the results weren't exactly what I expected but neither were they a total surprise. If you didn't know about the pedigree & credentials of the instrumentalists on display here you'd never know it was them because this album absolutely celebrates European power metal in all its cheesy glory but it does it in a way that oozes professionalism & class. I've never been a particular fan of neoclassical lead guitar solos in my metal but its hard to argue when someone pulls it off as comprehensively as Muenzner does here. Yngwie Malmsteen has clearly been a major influence on him as there's some total worship going on throughout the tracklisting. Grossmann is one of the greatest blasting death metal drummers of all time but you won't get an inkling of that here with only his ridiculously high quality double kick work remaining. I can't say that I genuinely love any of this stuff as it simply falls too far outside of my comfort zone but there are enough quality hooks & flashy progressive metal sections to keep me interested along with a stellar metal production job that really does highlight all the best attributes of Eternity's End's sound. I have to admit that there are a few tracks that come across as a bit flat to my ears (see "Bane of the Black Sword", the unambitious speed metal of "Deathrider" & particularly the cheesy gang-vocal led chorus of "Arcturus Prime") but the other five tracks are all pretty enjoyable with "Call of the Valkyries" & "Shaded Heart" being my album highlights. The occasional references to Judas Priest's "Painkiller" album are a real treat & I found "Embers Of War" to be a pretty enjoyable record overall. I'm glad I gave it a few spins even though I'm unlikely to return to it all that often.

3.5/5

Andi, this'll be right up your alley.

No problem, Daniel, I'll try that one soon.

Progressive-influenced technical neo-classical power metal for a wild epic blast! Cheers for the rec, Daniel! 4.5/5