July 2022 "The Guardians" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

This month sees the playlist dip into more Neoclassical shred artists than normal as it felt like they were missing out on the spotlight, plus I honestly don't know too many bands past the well known ones. There's a few straight up Heavy Metal tracks and a 1980's block in the middle before returning to some more over the top Guardians action. The Nite track towards the end is the wonky addition of the month, definitely not a playlist for everyone this month but I managed to learn about a ton of new bands in the process.

The Guardians Playlist - July 2022 Spotify Link

1. Tony MacAlpine – “Death of Roses” (from “Death of Roses”, 1983)

2. Iron Mask – “Demon's Child” (from “Hordes of the Brave”, 2005)

3. Ambush – “Master of Pain” (from “Firestorm”, 2014) [Submitted by Daniel]

4. HammerFall – “Steel Meets Steel” (from “Glory to the Brave”, 1997)

5. Nocturnal Rites – “Awakening" (from "New World Messiah”, 2004)

6. Corrosion Of Conformity – “Born Again for the Last Time” (from “Wiseblood", 1996)

7. Black Sabbath – “Falling Off the Edge of the World” (from “Mob Rules”, 1981) [Submitted by Sonny]

8. Vitalij Kuprij – “Destination” (from “Extreme Measures”, 1998)

9. Maule – “Maule” (from “Maule", 2022)

10. Sonic Haven – "Vagabond” (from “Vagabond”, 2021)

11. Within Temptation – “Iron” (from “The Unforgiving”, 2011) [Submitted by Andi]

12. Nightwish – “Nemo” (from “Once", 2004)

13. Astral Doors – “Cloudbreaker” (from “Testament of Rock”, 2011)

14. Anvil – “Concrete Jungle” (from “Strength of Steel", 1987)

15. LOUDNESS – “Danger of Love” (from “Soldier of Fortune" 1989)

16. Cirith Ungol – “Master of the Pit” (from “King of the Dead", 1984)

17. Satan – “Luciferic” (from “Earth Infernal", 2022)

18. Wizard – “The Powergod" (from “Odin”, 2003)

19. Stratovarius – “Infinity" (from “Infinite”, 2010)

20. Warmen – “First of the Five Elements” (from “First of the Five Elements”, 2015)

21. Tyr – “Nine Worlds of Lore” (from “The Lay of Thrym”, 2011)

22. Iced Earth - "The Hunter" (from "The Dark Saga", 1996)

23. Nite - "Heliopolis" (from "Voices of the Kronian Moon", 2022)

24. The Ferrymen - "The Last Ship" (from "One More River to Cross", 2022)

It is good to occasionally add in tracks from different genres and/or eras that don't get much of the spotlight. That's kind of what I've done with the 90s/early 2000s metalcore eras in this month's Revolution playlist. Anyway, once again I'm going to comment on a few tracks here that I still like, for memories' sake. Here are my thoughts:

HammerFall – “Steel Meets Steel” (from “Glory to the Brave”, 1997)

4.5/5. I loved HammerFall a lot when I was still heavily into power metal, though not as much, despite great classic songs like this. The lyrics in the bridge explain the song's concept, "In July in '99, the Holy City was stormed and won, Jerusalem was freed, we thanked the lord for our glory."

Within Temptation – “Iron” (from “The Unforgiving”, 2011)

5/5. This epic expressive song still touches my heart to this day with the angelic voice of Sharon den Adel. This is awesome music for symphonic metal lovers like I was. Such godly spectacular power! Sharon is very much one of the symphonic metal queens out there. An awesome song to play at full blast when driving an abandoned highway, and it reminds me of DragonForce's "Cry Thunder".

Nightwish – “Nemo” (from “Once", 2004)

5/5. Another brilliant symphonic metal classic piece! I loved this album back in my high-school-age teens. The sound is so amazing and lovable, with Tarja's beautiful voice. Those were my earlier days of orchestral metal magic. I feel like g****mn crying from the lyrics about loss and longing. And this album Once was the band's last with Tarja...

Stratovarius – “Infinity" (from “Infinite”, 2010)

4.5/5. I've heard of Stratovarius for a very long time, though not at long as the previous bands I've commented on, and this is still an excellent melodic progressive epic from that band. Any metalhead would enjoy this even with better songs in those listeners' arsenal! This could've really helped well with spreading awareness of the possible end of the world when the virus was on the rise. This song is so popular, though a few points are off due to the song and others from this album being plagiarized into Dragon Ball game soundtracks. That's OK if you wanna unleash your SUPER SAIYAN!!!

Iced Earth - "The Hunter" (from "The Dark Saga", 1996)

4.5/5. This one continues the classic streak with killer riffing and a soaring chorus, almost perfect for this playlist and its original album. There's more of this awesome glory to come in other songs, but that's all for now, good Guardians!