The Guardians

I love shred albums, and this one was no exception. This one struck me a bit differently though, since many of these neoclassical jam sessions are more or less the same once you get down to the nitty-gritty of what they really are. Maximum Security felt like it had a bit more meaning and substance to it apart from the shred, more movement and feeling. It's most likely because the shredding is used more sparingly, but there's also some great choices of melody and extra bits and pieces like the piano interlude that make this feel like a fleshed out album rather than just notes crammed onto a late 80's disk. I found this collection of instrumentals to be immediately more recognizable and memorable than the likes of Malmsteen, but maybe not as much as someone like Joe Satriani. The piano interlude is great as it really plays into the neo-classical style that these 80's shredders worshiped, and the synth aspects are smoothly incorporated, not sounding too forced whatsoever. 

I found Maximum Security a pleasure just to have on in the background, which is a huge testament to Tony Macalpine's smooth and more subdued songwriting. While not the most adventurous record, I definitely prefer the likes of this over the 1,000 notes per second scales that have been played one too many times before. Maximum Security also succeeds in keeping the song length lower, with only a few tracks reaching the 4 and a half minute mark, which I think is fair for guitar noodling like this. Just a classy instrumental shred album through and through. 

4/5

After writing out my review and listening to both Theli and Secret of the Runes many, many times as well as checking out Vovin (What happened there guys, god that was boring), I have to say I prefer Secret of the Runes even though it's very close. Theli is the classic Symphonic Metal experience with galloping riffs and bombastic strings, but Secret of the Runes really brings a progressive thematic element to Therion that I really enjoy. I love the premise behind this album of being about the nine realms of Norse Mythology and even though it can get repetitive I think the tracks are meant to share some similarities to really sell the theme. It's a totally unique Symphonic Metal album that, in my opinion, goes hand in hand with Theli to show how classical music influences can work extremely well with darker and more mysterious themes. 

Inspired by Chris Van Ettan splitting hairs over which genre an album from a different clan has (thrash or speed metal, death metal or grindcore, power metal or trad metal and sludge vs. stoner vs. doom), I decided to continue the DIS vs DAT activity with an interesting twist; instead of voting on which album has the greater edge, we do it with genres from one of the clans instead. Single-genre clans (like The Gateway and The Sphere) would be divided into hidden subgenres that some of us have heard of but are never listed in the site (for example, alternative metal vs nu metal, industrial metal vs neue Deutsche härte). This should be a nice interesting challenge for Chris and other members of the site. Got two or three albums from a different genre in the same clan and same release year but can't decide which one has the greater edge? Share them here!

Let's starts off with two Guardians albums released in 2000, one of which I've already listened to myself. If you have been following my journey through my unofficial Metal Evolution band challenge, you probably know which one I like better, but I won't tell you until I get at least one or a few responses.  Which one of these albums with a different genre has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Symphonic metal:

Power metal:

Challenge done! It was really fun to try and write 3 extended reviews and being able to dust off the old normal writing skills for the fantasy intros. I tried to make the intro stories as closely connected to the albums as possible, so there's a lot of parallels and metaphors in there, or at least I tried to put them in there. I'm glad I did this since going back to 90's Blind Guardian really reminded me of how good their big three albums were. (Not counting Tales From the Twilight World) So there are now three pretty lengthy reviews for Somewhere Far Beyond, Imaginations From The Other Side, and Nightfall In Middle-Earth from me!

I should also do a review of this classic at some point as well, but I'm in agreement that Number of the Beast, on the whole, is vastly overrated. At the end of the day, it's an album of singles, with "Children of the Damned", "Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills", and "Hallowed Be Thy Name" being the only tracks that really matter on this one. The other songs are good, but not what you would expect from a so-called 5 star Maiden release. Since those other songs are a full half of the album, it's hard to say that this album is a true classic compared to the other Maiden albums that normally vie for that top spot. While none of the other 4 songs that make up Number of the Beast left any sort of impression on me, the rest of the album is a true classic so I can't give it any less than a 4/5.

Everyone seems to have a different favorite Maiden album though, and in the end Powerslave wins out for me personally. 

Inspired by the new DIS vs DAT thing on Metal Academy, in turn inspired by that weekly feature on Utopia Records' Facebook page, I decided to turn this conversation-starting activity into a full thread instead of separate threads. Got a couple albums with the same genre and release year that you can't decide which has the greater edge? Share them here!

Let's start off with two power metal classics released in 1997. Which one has the greater edge? Choose one and explain the reason!

Both great albums but still an easy call for me.

Sad Wings... all day here and this largely because I find it a more dynamic release that sweeps through various tempos and yet still retains the spirit of the band brilliantly.  As I said in my review I think it is perhaps the greatest sophomore album ever released because Rocka Rolla was average at best and to flip that into this was sterling work.  Rainbow feel like a tight unit on Rising most definitely but when compared with Priest there's too much of an air of predictability about it for my ears that diminishes it in comparison.

Rising 2 Sad Wings 2

P.s. Fuck Blackmore 

I distinctly remember finding Therion years ago when I first started to really expand the genres of Metal I was listening to, excitedly grabbing their discography, and really disliking it for whatever reason. That made me never really want to go back to check out Therion again, until now of course, and couldn't have been more wrong in my initial assessment. 

Theli has that classic and theatrical Symphonic Metal touch that is obviously over the top but doesn't feel dull and boring like a lot of modern Symphonic Metal releases. Therion still has driving, heavy riffs plus better song structure and is just much more Metal than what we hear today. The transitions from guitar riffs to choral or orchestral parts are very on point with each one feeling organic and exciting, although a little messy sometimes. Since it's still early in the genre's life cycle there definitely are some awkward parts here and there, with the beginning of "To Mega Therion" sounding slightly off-time occasionally and some transitions not exactly hitting the way they should have. 

As a Symphonic Metal fan I'll be the first to admit that I think the genre, apart from one or two releases here or there each year, is very stagnant and it doesn't seem like it's going to improve. These classics have such a dark theatrical quality to them that makes them super unique, rather than the albums nowadays that seem to just use symphonic elements for the sake of using them. It leads to boring songwriting and extremely samey sounding products that just throw everything at a wall and hope it sticks. While a little rough around the edges Theli is a great example of how an over-the-top and bombastic record can still have great Metal riffs that work together with the orchestration rather than just adding all the bells and whistles as an afterthought. 

Thanks Daniel!

Thanks, Xephyr. That Elvenking album ain't too bad. I particularly like the folk influence and the vocals are nowhere near as OTT as most power metal I've heard - a real sticking point for me usually. I'm interested enough to check out some of their previous albums anyway. Cheers!

Have you all seen the Metal Academy Lists page? It's the place that I'll be putting my top ten lists for years, decades, subgenres, etc. Here are a few that might interest you members of The Guardians:

Top 10 Releases Of The 1970's: https://metal.academy/lists/single/3

Top 10 Releases Of 1980: https://metal.academy/lists/single/4

Top 10 Releases Of 1981: https://metal.academy/lists/single/5

Top 10 Releases Of 1982: https://metal.academy/lists/single/6

Top 10 Releases Of 1983: https://metal.academy/lists/single/7

Top 10 Releases Of 1984: https://metal.academy/lists/single/8

Top 10 Releases Of The NWOBHM (1979-1983): https://metal.academy/lists/single/9

I'll continue to post these progressively & will update them if I find any amazing underground releases that I might have missed. Please feel free to post your own lists here if you'd like to share as we'd love to hear what you think.

I read over Daniel's review after giving this a listen and I'm inclined to agree, this is some high quality, straight up and to the point early 80's heavy metal with a fantastic vocalist. I have a soft spot for that powerful but high pitched wailing that legends like Dio and Halford were and are so adept at. It's a shame that Avigal was only around for one album and never really caught a big break. Seems like he has released a solo venture, but not much else past his 80's Dutch heavy metal days. 

This album just has that heavy metal attitude about it that a lot of other bands like them fail to capture. I don't think there are many standout tracks, but there aren't any lackluster ones either, the album is great through and through. "Diamond Dreamer" and "Message From Hell" sound exactly like premier 80's heavy metal songs that could still be rocking out on classic rock radio stations, but for some reason got completely skipped over. 

While Picture doesn't reinvent anything or create anything particularly fantastic on Diamond Dreamer, the quality of the entire album definitely rivals some of the greats of that time, which is no easy feat. 

I should re-listen to Firepower apparently, because everyone except me seems to really like that album. I listened to it quite a few times last year and at the time just didn't get much out of it, but since then I've gone through pretty much all of their discography over again so maybe I'll get something different out of it.

It's always great to see that a legendary band is still making music, but I'd rather see a band like Preist go out on a "swan song" album like Firepower that fans really enjoyed rather than another attempt to capture what they had before. It sounds like they're really enthusiastic still so I'll slide over into the "high hopes" side of this. 

Heavy metal was just 'old metal' my parents, uncles, and whoever older folk had playing. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions and the like. It was always kinda around, I couldn't even try to tell you the first album I really listened to. Maybe Iron Maiden's The Number Of The Beast? 

Neoclassical Metal: Um... can't say I've really listened too much of this. I've listened to some of Yngwie Malmsteen but um, nothing here keeps my interest. Maybe i'll find something more here. 

Power metal: Oh man, I'm going with Kamelot Black Halo. I heard this in high school and was hooked. Brought me down the path of Iced Earth, Helloween, Hammerfall, and so many others. 

Symphonic Metal: Same with Xephyr honestly, The Poet and the Pendelum, was the first symphonic album I personally owned. However, I knew of the band and Tarja before due to their Phantom Of The Opera (cover?) they did as it went around the internet, limewire, back in the day and I fell in love. I've always been a kinda sucker for good musicals and when you add loud guitars and banging drum work over that I needed more. Still remember The Poet and the Album was the first metal album I had that my mom was like ooh that's pretty you should bring that in the car on trips. Good times. 

I forgot Turilli-Lione Rhapsody, fixed!

I don't think that Helloween's debut self-titled EP should reside in The Guardians. There's not enough power metal to warrant inclusion. It's primarily a speed metal record & belongs exclusively in The Pit in my opinion. Who agrees with me?

"You have to accept it since you can't turn back the tide. I've always had my fingers on the pulse of the music industry, in particular, in the metal world. CD and vinyl are still very important. Metalheads want to stream everything, so you have to cover all the bases and make sure everybody's needs are taken care of. Spotify & Apple Music need to make the payment system better for the artists since it's not fair right now. Eventually, that will be sorted, I believe. A band needs to have cash flow." 

 "If you look at the breakdown of streaming, if you take what the artist gets once the breakdown happens, it really is just pennies out of the pie. It's like a piece; you slice it up. The bands get the tiniest bit. And then we have to divvy that up between how many members there are in the band. So it's a bit of a battle that's going on. But I really hope that fairness will prevail."

"Vinyl is beautiful, isn't it? It is a totally different feel. Incrementally, vinyl is like your favorite sports team's jersey. It's one thing to see the team but to have their jersey on is another feeling. You feel more connected to the band since vinyl is tangible."

Ozzy Osbourne has announced the postponement of all his 2019 tour dates, inclusive of shows in North America and Europe, as he recovers from an injury sustained while dealing with his recent bout of pneumonia. The BLACK SABBATH singer fell at his Los Angeles home, aggravating years-old injuries (from his 2003 ATV accident) that required surgery last month. Osbourne will remain under doctor's care in Los Angeles as he recovers.  

Says Ozzy: "I can't believe I have to reschedule more tour dates. Words cannot express how frustrated, angry and depressed I am not to be able to tour right now. I'm grateful for the love and support I'm getting from my family, my band, friends and fans, it's really what's keeping me going. Just know that I am getting better every day...I will fully recover...I will finish my tour...I will be back!"  

The shows will be rescheduled beginning in February 2020 and concert-goers are being asked to hold onto their original tickets, as they will be honored for the rescheduled dates. Because some of the 2019 dates were festival appearances, not all will be rescheduled. Below are the new North American dates; the Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl show will be rescheduled in July 2020 (exact date to be announced). The 2020 European dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

Daniel: I wasn't very happy about Ozzy cancelling his Australian Download Festival appearances last month due to illness as despite having seen him performance with Black Sabbath I've never had the opportunity to see him play solo. Especially not with Zakk Wylde. But it's really sad to think that such a huge personality & character in the metal scene & one of the subgenres originators might not have all that much time left in this world. I wish him & his family all the best for his fast recovery.

Here's what current Priest lead guitarist Richie Faulkner has to say about Downing:

"I've never spoken to Ken. And I don't really know. I honestly don't know. I don't think anyone's spoken to him. I don't think he's spoken to them. I think he speaks to the management. But I've never spoken to him. Most of the stuff now is online. It seems that there's a lot online and not enough talking with each other. But who knows? But we're just forging forward and doing what we can — new record, new tour, and forging forward with that, really."

It is disappointing, but as you say, not at all surprising. There are a lot of similarities between the Ozzy and Dio stories, with dominating women making decisions for them with no consideration beyond money. Both Ozzy Osbourne and Dio released two great "band albums" before the problems came to a head.

So Body Count guitarist & 'Forbidden' producer Ernie C has responded on a recent episode of 'The Official Danko Jones Podcast':

"On Ice's first record, he sampled Sabbath's 'War Pigs'. And Tony Iommi got a whiff of it and he started listening to it and he said he liked it. And then he heard that I produced those first Body Count records that we did and he just gave us a call. And also, Miles Copeland helped out. Stewart Copeland's brother ran I.R.S Records. Miles helped get it together. Tony listened to the sample on there and then he started listening to our records and said 'I like that.' Miles came and said, 'I can get him to produce your next album].'… So we were in England and Tony came to our hotel. He said, 'I would like you to do our new record.' 

 Producing Sabbath was cool. It was a rock and roll experience that you can just say, 'Well, I did a Black Sabbath record, and I'm done. And it also made me say, 'Yeah, I really don't wanna produce bands that are already established'. It's good to produce young people that are listening. But when you're so set in your ways… I didn't feel any pressure trying to make a Sabbath album that would stand alongside the band's classic efforts. I really didn't pay that much attention to it. I was more of a Led Zeppelin fan. I loved Sabbath and this and that, but I wasn't a 'die-hard die-hard.' I wasn't intimidated… And the thing about that was that was the time when the vinyl was out, and I told them, 'I'm gonna dry the sound up a little bit.' Those records from the '80s were big sounding records. They sound like you're playing in a tunnel. So I told them, 'We're gonna dry it up a little bit.' 'Cause the vinyl was dry — that's what made the vinyl sound. It was so dry and in your face. It's not a big tunnel. That was the Van Halen stuff — the one guitar in the one ear. It's big and large, but if it had been dried up, I don't think it would have been that popular. There's something to that era that lends to you almost seeing 'em on a stage and you're back in the seats. And then when Nirvana came along, it made it more personal, like you're sitting down with someone… Nirvana made it more dried up and in your face, like we're gonna sit down and come to my garage and listen to my band." 

I'm not sure I've heard anything since Risk, so can't really comment. I will say that Risk is as bad as everyone says it is though, which is probably why I haven't bothered with Megadeth since.