March 2023 "The Guardians" Playlist - Metal Academy Radio

First Post February 28, 2023 11:44 PM

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3w8wz5HBOoks78mYzldAMq

Tracklisting:

1. Blind Guardian - "Majesty" from Battalions of Fear (1988)

2. Helloween - "Guardians" from Walls of Jericho (1985)

3. Motley Crue - "Looks That Kill" from Shout at the Devil (1983)

4. Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" from Love at First Sting (1984)

5. Ozzy Osbourne - "God Only Knows" from Patient Number 9 (2022)

6. Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell" from Heaven and Hell (1980)

7. Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law" from British Steel (1980)

8. Accept - "How Do We Sleep" from Too Mean to Die (2021)

9. KISS - "I Love It Loud" from Creatures of the Night (1982)

10. Dio - "Holy Diver" from Holy Diver (1983)

11. Bitch - "Riding In Thunder" from Be My Slave (1983) [submitted by Daniel]

12. Krokus - "Screaming in the Night" from Head Hunter (1983)

13. Dokken - "Dream Warriors" from Back for the Attack (1987)

14. Symphony X - "Smoke and Mirrors" from Twilight in Olympus (1998)

15. Queensryche - "Chapters" from Digital Noise Alliance (2022)

16. Within Temptation - "Mother Earth" from Mother Earth (2000)

17. Epica - "Victims of Contingency" from The Quantum Enigma (2014)

18. Kamelot - "Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)" from Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem) (2023)

19. Stratovarius - "Frozen in Time" from Survive (2022)

20. Sabaton - "Christmas Truce" from The War to End All Wars (2022)

21. Nick Z Marino - "Freedom Has No Price" from Freedom Has No Price (2010)

22. Warfare - "Metal Anarchy" from Metal Anarchy (1985)

23. DragonForce - "Chemical Interference" from Maximum Overload (2014)

24. Nightwish - "Endlessness" from HUMAN. :II: NATURE. (2020)

March 01, 2023 08:56 AM

With Xephyr taking a break from Metal Academy to prepare for his professional engineering exam, I was given the opportunity to take over assembling Guardians playlists for the time being. A great way to throw back to my Guardians past and discovering music from different genres and eras of the clan (with a lot of 80s classics)! So here are my thoughts on all the selected tracks:

Blind Guardian - "Majesty" from Battalions of Fear (1988)

4.5/5. Odd carnival intro aside, the opening track of this album and playlist is a majestic anthem with a melodic chorus of vocal layers.

Helloween - "Guardians" from Walls of Jericho (1985)

4/5. This one has solid higher speed and nice melodic guitar riffing. There's slightly less power in the vocal notes Hansen tries to hit. However, it's made up for by the strong catchy chorus, along with nice bass. An anthem for power metal and the Guardians clan!

Motley Crue - "Looks That Kill" from Shout at the Devil (1983)

3.5/5. A bit too glam for most metalheads including myself, but Mick Mars' guitar talent is underrated and bad-a**.

Scorpions - "Rock You Like a Hurricane" from Love at First Sting (1984)

3/5. The late 20th Century was when rock and metal were really rising, and it can be good to look back at that time today in the 2020s. However, this one rocks much more like a glam/hard rock hurricane.

Ozzy Osbourne - "God Only Knows" from Patient Number 9 (2022)

3.5/5. This one's slightly better, with Ozzy borrowing a lyric from Neil Young and singing his own variation, "It’s better to burn in Hell than fade away".

Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell" from Heaven and Hell (1980)

4/5. And now we head to a classic from Ozzy's former band Black Sabbath, though this is from the Dio era. His vocals are so heart-tearing along with the guitar soloing. The music and lyrics are a lot to love for many metalheads. Dio was quite a metal legend. RIP

Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law" from British Steel (1980)

3.5/5. This band is quite brave to keep going from this classic onward, remaining active over 53 years after formation. Quite catchy!

Accept - "How Do We Sleep" from Too Mean to Die (2021)

4/5. "The thoughts have all been written down, the pen is laid aside. Do you feel your mind at peace, or do you feel as though you've died?" It's lines like those that can stay in your head. The harmonic structure fits well for this bad-a** composition in Accept's latest album. Don't let the evil beast of karma catch up to you!

KISS - "I Love It Loud" from Creatures of the Night (1982)

3.5/5. Surprised to find a KISS song in this playlist? I'm personally surprised to recognize this as the theme song for that South American soccer show of Disney XD, O11CE (pronounced like the Spanish word for "11"). The drums are killer and add to the song's arena vibe.

Dio - "Holy Diver" from Holy Diver (1983)

4/5. Another classic from Dio, and a more famous one. You just can't resist his powerful voice. Once again, RIP...

Bitch - "Riding In Thunder" from Be My Slave (1983)

3.5/5. Interesting choice, Daniel! There are catchy riffs to party along to. You can almost think of this band, specifically their frontwoman Betsy, as the metal Madonna.

Krokus - "Screaming in the Night" from Head Hunter (1983)

3/5. Here's another 40-year-old classic song, though it's too much like Scorpions and Def Leppard for me to truly like. Krokus is kind of a cool name for heavy metal/hard rock band. While it's not really the best song for me, it's one any metalhead won't regret.

Dokken - "Dream Warriors" from Back for the Attack (1987)

3.5/5. I probably would've rocked out to this song more about 9 years before this comment when my metal interest was more melodic. Still the lyrics are pretty good. The drums and guitars rock quite a bit. It's a dream that can wake you up despite not being a nightmare. Sounds good, right?

Symphony X - "Smoke and Mirrors" from Twilight in Olympus (1998)

4/5. The neoclassical madness of this band Symphony X may be hard for simple guitar listeners to understand. But there are great guitar solos to learn such as the one surround the 4-minute mark.

Queensryche - "Chapters" from Digital Noise Alliance (2022)

4.5/5. This is quite an excellent song filled with unique magic. Cheers to this band! Hope to keep up the revisiting.

Within Temptation - "Mother Earth" from Mother Earth (2000)

4/5. For those wondering what the band who made that "Shed My Skin" song with Annisokay sounds like in their earlier material, look no further to this beautiful piece of symphonic metal. It was a memorable highlight in my epic metal teens, but now not so perfect due to my taste changing to become heavier and less bombastic.

Epica - "Victims of Contingency" from The Quantum Enigma (2014)

4.5/5. Epica is another symphonic metal band I used to love, and recently they became one of my Audiomachine-loving friend's favorite bands. She and I both sang this song in karaoke the other day. I performed the death growling while she performed the operatic singing. Pretty killer, right?

Kamelot - "Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)" from Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem) (2023)

5/5. Kamelot is yet another band I used to enjoy and what got me into the symphonic metal part of my epic metal taste nearly 10 years ago. The guitar harmonies and orchestra make a fantastic combo. The song itself is like a sequel to the title track of Ghost Opera! Tina Guo performs beautiful cello soloing. This unbelievable single definitely makes me up to revisiting Kamelot with their new album The Awakening!

Stratovarius - "Frozen in Time" from Survive (2022)

4.5/5. Stratovarius made a wonderous return from a 7-year gap between albums with the new Survive. This kind of composition can make classical and metal composers dead or alive proud. Don't know if I would be up to checking out the rest of the album, but maybe one day...

Sabaton - "Christmas Truce" from The War to End All Wars (2022)

4/5. A couple months late for Christmas, but never mind. I enjoy the lyrics, along with the music throwing back to "Carol of the Bells".

Nick Z Marino - "Freedom Has No Price" from Freedom Has No Price (2010)

4/5. This is quite tremendous neoclassical guitar soloing inspired by Yngwie Malmsteen, who helped produce the album. However, the vocals bring down the score a bit.

Warfare - "Metal Anarchy" from Metal Anarchy (1985)

4.5/5. A grand anthem of punky metal! It really does show the band raising their fists in anarchy, along with the music video of being metaphorically caged in.

DragonForce - "Chemical Interference" from Maximum Overload (2014)

5/5. One of the best DragonForce bonus tracks, hinting at what they were aiming for in the next two albums.

Nightwish - "Endlessness" from HUMAN. :II: NATURE. (2020)

4.5/5. Now this is quite a way to end this playlist, with the ending of the full-band part of this album, detailing the expanding universe/multiverse that we all live in. The album is Nightwish's final one with bassist/male vocalist Marko Hietala before he left the band and took a break from the public. The song features Marko's bass performing and vocals for the final time with the band. So poetic! Let's wish the best of luck for their dear friend Marko...

Pretty good playlist I've made, huh? Despite a few slight bumps throughout... Anyway, I would recommend this to heavy/power/symphonic/neoclassical metal fans and anyone who isn't into those genres but is up to getting into a great start in enjoying them. Thanks Daniel for letting me take over on the Guardians playlists, accepting this one, and your help with your submission, and I hope the rest of you enjoy it like I've had!