Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Inspired by Sonny sharing with us the top 20 most popular metal releases on RYM, I thought, what if we shared the most popular albums in each clan and judge which ones deserve their right in the list? So that's what I'm doing, starting with my main clans. Any of you please feel free to do the same with the other clans. Here are the 20 most popular releases in the Revolution, according to RYM, with the number of ratings and average score:

#1 Converge - Jane Doe (14389 / 3.94)

#2 Between the Buried and Me - Colors (6793 / 3.68)

#3 Mastodon - Remission (6487 / 3.66)

#4 Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (6356 / 3.80)

#5 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (5996 / 3.67)

#6 Converge - You Fail Me (5852 / 3.81)

#7 Converge - Axe to Fall (5417 / 3.79)

#8 Converge - The Dusk in Us (4934 / 3.72)

#9 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine (4620 / 3.67)

#10 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (4539 / 3.62)

#11 The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer (4265 / 3.74)

#12 Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal (4203 / 3.21)

#13 Botch - We Are the Romans (4118 / 3.82)

#14 Converge - No Heroes (3934 / 3.59)

#15 Daughters - Hell Songs (3860 / 3.36)

#16 Daughters - Canada Songs (3803 / 2.79)

#17 Between the Buried and Me - Alaska (3300 / 3.51)

#18 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis (3217 / 3.56)

#19 Converge - Petitioning the Empty Sky (3059 / 3.60)

#20 Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen (3048 / 2.99)

Lots of great releases here, with Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan dominating with almost all of their albums. I nearly laughed at Mastodon's Remission being up there because we never put the metalcore label on that album, let alone the band themselves. I should really check out those Daughters albums, like seriously, soon. So what do you all think?

Now let's extend the list to 30 and find some more cool releases:

#21 Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything (2965 / 3.47)

#22 Bring Me the Horizon - Suicide Season (2857 / 2.53)

#23 Code Orange - Underneath (2855 / 3.28)

#24 Bring Me the Horizon - There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret (2819 / 2.94)

#25 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation (2795 / 3.65)

#26 Bring Me the Horizon - Count Your Blessings (2689 / 2.21)

#27 Vein - Errorzone (2677 / 3.56)

#28 Trivium - Ascendancy (2666 / 3.18)

#29 Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison (2658 / 2.78)

#30 Protest the Hero - Fortress (2643 / 3.51)

Glad to finally see some Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, and Protest the Hero in here. I should really check out those albums by Code Orange and Vein.

The mighty finale of Tool's progressive comeback album:

Once again trying to push my limits into post-black metal, the 5th and final Agalloch album marked a half-decent end to their two-decade tenure, including this 12-minute final Crusade. This should be picked up by fans of Alcest, Oranssi Pazuzu, and 90s Ulver:

I changed the list above after reviewing a couple of the excluded releases from the previous edition. I might try listening to and reviewing the Tool and Agalloch albums, the latter to see if I'm still up to post-black metal or not after that Oranssi Pazuzu album.

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Guardians releases with minimum 15 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Black Sabbath - Paranoid (22 / 4.4)

#2 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (22 / 4.1)

#3 Iron Maiden - Powerslave (18 / 4.4)

#4 Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (18 / 4.3)

#5 Metallica - Metallica [Black Album] (18 / 3.8)

#6 Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (17 / 4.4)

#7 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (17 / 4.1)

#8 Judas Priest - Painkiller (16 / 4.5)

#9 Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny (16 / 4.0)

#10 Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (16 / 3.8)

#11 Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind (15 / 4.2)

#12 Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (15 / 4.1)

#13 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (15 / 3.8)

Not a lot of difference with just 5 Black Sabbath albums, 5 Iron Maiden albums, two Judas Priest albums, and Metallica's Black Album. It would probably be easier seeing which power/symphonic/neoclassical metal albums reign in the charts if we could be able to filter the albums by genres instead of clans there. Ben, if you're reading this, please implement that ability!

Now let's decrease the minimum rating number to 13 and extend that list:

#14 Judas Priest - Stained Class (14 / 4.1)

#15 Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time (14 / 4.1)

#16 Iron Maiden - Killers (14 / 3.9)

#17 Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance (14 / 3.5)

#18 Judas Priest - British Steel (14 / 3.4)

#19 Metallica - Load (14 / 2.9)

#20 Metallica - Reload (14 / 2.7)

#21 Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side (13 / 4.6)

#22 Black Sabbath - Sabotage (13 / 3.9)

#23 Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction (13 / 3.7)

Glad to find a power metal release (Blind Guardian) here, though I'm still going to keep the power/symphonic/neoclassical metal lists.

Hope you and your family will enjoy your new home, Daniel!

Groovy new track from thrashy progressive metal masters Voivod. Thanks for this, Saxy! I've been quite busy lately, but hopefully next week I can get the new albums from Voivod, Cult of Luna, and Persefone. Not to mention Canadian thrash band Annihilator's Metal re-recording.

Already done that, Daniel!

As someone who normally avoids black metal, I'm stunned by how much I decently enjoy the latest Oranssi Pazuzu album, the avant-psychedelic Mestarin kynsi, though I'm one or two years late for the party. I'm glad to see the appeal of tracks like this and finally reach the other side:

Elemental progressive tech-death for fans of the early 90s eras of Coroner, Cynic, and Death:

So, I've finally decided to get out of the rat race. Been giving it a lot of thought for a while now and then I got into a blazing row with my boss on Wednesday and thought "Fuck it, I've had enough of this shit" and put my notice in today. Gonna give early retirement a chance and see how it goes. Looking forward to it now!

Good luck, Sonny!

I'm working on the next installment of the book series that I write, and it's an activity book. We also started selling reprinted copies of the first book in the series.

Now let's decrease the minimum rating number to 8 and extend that list:

#14 Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (9 / 3.9)

#15 Enslaved - Below the Lights (9 / 3.7)

#16 Tool - Fear Inoculum (8 / 3.6)

#17 Agalloch - The Serpent & the Sphere (8 / 3.4)

Now let's decrease the minimum rating number to 9 and extend that list:

#22 Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (9 / 4.2)

#23 Faith No More - Angel Dust (9 / 4.1)

#24 Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue (9 / 3.9)

#25 Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles (9 / 3.7)

#26 Deftones - Adrenaline (9 / 3.1)

#27 Tool - Opiate (9 / 2.7)

In my opinion, Daughters knew how to do their chaotic grind-mathcore in a way that I can stand. Sure they have the mind-blowing drumming, high screechy vocals, short songs, and time/tempo changes, but the guitar talent being unique and listenable is what sets them apart from other bands of a similar style including Gulch and Inside the Beehive. And there's more melodic experimentation in Hell Songs while keeping the mathematical chaos that has dominated Canada Songs. That's the chaos I prefer!

Daniel, here's another Revolution recommendation that I think would fit your taste of the ultra-extreme metal/mathcore of Gulch, Fawn Limbs, Inside the Beehive. The first two releases by Daughters; Canada Songs and Hell Songs. Please feel free to check them out, both albums as one. They'll surely blow you away:

Chaotic grind-infused mathcore that should work well for fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust, and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza:

Thank you so much, Sonny, for those recs. After all these years, now I can finally enter the realm of the Iced Earth fanbase! Those first two recommendations were OK, but the live album Alive in Athens gave the songs a massive boost in quality. I'm up to rewriting my lost reviews for Burnt Offerings and The Dark Saga, the latter especially because of one of the most emotional epics of all metal, enhanced greatly in this live setting:

I appreciate the genuine sentiment in "Nothing Else Matters", but it sounds more like a Poison power ballad, and the orchestra still doesn't help there. Perhaps I'm just not into glam-influenced heavy metal ballads, a good reason why I still have a bit of doubt about staying in The Guardians. Maybe that will change when I check out that Iced Earth live album Alive in Athens...

As if the odd arrangement wasn't bad enough, this sh*t-dip should not exist:

Two albums down, one to go! A very "Wicked" song trilogy after the oddly-arranged so-so rest of this album:

One album down, two to go! Forget the original version, the Barlow-sung version of the band's theme is a greater improvement:

When it comes to mixing metal with orchestra, some things just should not be:

Speaking of live CDs, the new songs in Metallica's S&M I think work better than just playing their earlier songs with the orchestra in the background, like this grand piece:

These seem good. Count me in! My journey to get fully interested in Iced Earth continues with that trio of their late 90s releases...

This epic opener of Iced Earth's second album begins with a keyboard-orchestral intro that would inspire that of Kamelot's Eternity, then a couple acoustic verses, and finally fast heavy thrash riffing influenced by Dark Angel and Death Angel along with the vocals of John Greely that's lightyears better than that of Gene Adam. Don't believe me? Give this song a listen and you'll hear it all:

Someone call Thor and ask him to strike this man down with lightning or at least bless him with a much better voice:

I've decided to exclude releases I've rated, not only to see what the ratings would be like without me, kinda like an "It's a Wonderful Life" experiment, but also in case any of you find some good recommendations. Here they are, still at minimum 5 ratings, sorted by rating number (includes earlier ratings I've deleted because I've moved away from the albums' bands):

#1 Between the Buried and Me - Colors (7 / 3.9)

#2 Code Orange - Underneath (6 / 3.6)

#3 Heaven Shall Burn - Iconoclast (6 / 3.5)

#4 Earth Crisis - Destroy the Machines (5 / 4.0)

#5 Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow (5 / 3.7)

#6 Serpent Column - Endless Detainment (5 / 3.7)

#7 Between the Buried and Me - Alaska (5 / 2.7)

I've decided to exclude releases I've rated, not only to see what the ratings would be like without me, kinda like an "It's a Wonderful Life" experiment, but also in case any of you find some good recommendations. Here they are, still at minimum 10 ratings, sorted by rating number (includes earlier ratings I've deleted because I've moved away from the albums' bands):

#1 Agalloch - The Mantle (14 / 4.0)

#2 Atheist - Unquestionable Presence (13 / 4.2)

#3 Cynic - Focus (12 / 4.3)

#4 Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain (12 / 4.1)

#5 Gojira - Magma (12 / 3.4)

#6 Deafheaven - Sunbather (12 / 3.2)

#7 Gojira - From Mars to Sirius (11 / 4.4)

#8 Gojira - The Way of All Flesh (11 / 4.0)

#9 Edge of Sanity - Crimson (11 / 3.9)

#10 Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium (11 / 3.3)

#11 Gorguts - Obscura (10 / 4.1)

#12 Deathspell Omega - Paracletus (10 / 4.0)

#13 Gojira - L'enfant sauvage (10 / 3.7)

That's right, Daniel, and those 3 releases you've mentioned from DragonForce, Rhapsody of Fire, and Gamma Ray were my own Guardians feature releases, so that's kind of an unfair advantage. With that, I've decided to exclude releases I've rated, not only to see what the ratings would be like without me, kinda like an "It's a Wonderful Life" experiment, but also in case any of you find some good recommendations. Here they are, with minimum 5 ratings, sorted by rating number (includes earlier ratings I've deleted because I've moved away from the albums' bands):

#1 Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (9 / 3.9)

#2 Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider (8 / 4.1)

#3 Iced Earth - Iced Earth (8 / 3.8)

#4 Metallica - S&M (8 / 3.6)

#5 Wintersun - Wintersun (8 / 3.3)

#6 Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper (7 / 3.4)

#7 Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings (6 / 4.3)

#8 Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes (6 / 3.9)

#9 Helloween - Helloween (6 / 3.9)

#10 Unleash the Archers - Apex (6 / 3.8)

#11 Helstar - Nosferatu (6 / 3.3)

#12 Therion - Theli (5 / 4.2)

#13 Therion - Secret of the Runes (5 / 4.0)

#14 Iced Earth - The Dark Saga (5 / 3.9)

#15 Helloween - Straight Out of Hell (5 / 3.9)

#16 Iced Earth - Horror Show (5 / 3.7)

#17 Septicflesh - The Great Mass (5 / 3.7)

#18 Brothers of Metal - Emblas Saga (5 / 3.6)

#19 Septicflesh - Communion (5 / 3.5)

#20 Within Temptation - Hydra (5 / 3.4)

#21 Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn (5 / 3.3)

#22 Fleshgod Apocalypse - Veleno (5 / 3.3)

#23 Helloween - Helloween (5 / 3.3)

#24 Fleshgod Apocalypse - King (5 / 3.1)

A few more Helloween and Iced Earth albums have appeared here, along with albums from a few other bands I haven't listened to before and used to but completely moved away from.

Well here's my power/symphonic/neoclassical Metal Academy chart list with minimum 8 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Blind Guardian - Imaginations From the Other Side (13 / 4.6)

#2 Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth (12 / 4.1)

#3 Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond (11 / 4.2)

#4 Blind Guardian - Battalions of Fear (10 / 3.8)

#5 Blind Guardian - Follow the Blind (10 / 3.7)

#6 Running Wild - Death or Glory (9 / 4.2)

#7 Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II (9 / 3.9)

#8 Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (9 / 3.9)

#9 Gamma Ray - Power Plant (9 / 3.8)

#10 Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (9 / 3.7)

#11 Nightwish - Oceanborn (8 / 4.3)

#12 Nightwish - Wishmaster (8 / 4.3)

#13 Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (8 / 4.3)

#14 Gamma Ray - Land of the Free (8 / 4.2)

#15 Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider (8 / 4.1)

#16 Blind Guardian - Tales From the Twilight World (8 / 4.1)

#17 Gamma Ray - Somewhere Out in Space (8 / 4.0)

#18 Rhapsody of Fire - Dawn of Victory (8 / 3.9)

#19 Iced Earth - Iced Earth (8 / 3.8)

#20 Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror (8 / 3.7)

#21 Metallica - S&M (8 / 3.6)

#22 Helloween - Walls of Jericho (8 / 3.6)

#23 Wintersun - Wintersun (8 / 3.3)

#24 DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage (8 / 2.8)

Wow, I see most of the Blind Guardians albums in here! Also appearing in the list are Running Wild's Death or Glory, Rhapsody of Fire's Dawn of Victory, and a few Gamma Ray classics. After that wild review ride through the first two Helloween albums, I feel like doing the same with the first two Iced Earth albums. Might also try Metallica's S&M, known as an orchestral metal retelling of their greatest hits!

Got it. Thanks for the heads-up, Daniel! Power/symphonic/neoclassical Metal Academy chart list coming soon...

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Revolution releases with minimum 5 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Converge - Jane Doe (11 / 4.0)

#2 Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (10 / 4.4)

#3 The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer (10 / 3.6)

#4 Trivium - In Waves (9 / 3.1)

#5 Converge - You Fail Me (8 / 4.1)

#6 Protest the Hero - Kezia (8 / 3.5)

#7 Botch - We Are the Romans (7 / 4.2)

#8 Converge - The Dusk in Us (7 / 4.1)

#9 Converge - Petitioning the Empty Sky (7 / 4.0)

#10 Between the Buried and Me - Colors (7 / 3.9)

#11 Protest the Hero - Fortress (7 / 3.6)

#12 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (7 / 3.5)

#13 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation (7 / 3.5)

#14 Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering (6 / 3.8)

#15 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony Is a Dead Scene (6 / 3.6)

#16 Code Orange - Underneath (6 / 3.6)

#17 Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (6 / 3.6)

#18 Heaven Shall Burn - Iconoclast (6 / 3.5)

#19 Gaza - I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die (6 / 3.5)

#20 Trivium - Shogun (6 / 3.3)

#21 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis (6 / 3.3)

#22 Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing (6 / 3.2)

#23 Born of Osiris - The Discovery (6 / 3.2)

#24 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine (6 / 3.1)

#25 Converge - Axe to Fall (5 / 4.5)

#26 Converge - When Forever Comes Crashing (5 / 4.4)

#27 Earth Crisis - Destroy the Machines (5 / 4.0)

#28 Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow (5 / 3.7)

#29 Serpent Column - Endless Detainment (5 / 3.7)

#30 All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals (5 / 3.6)

#31 The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (5 / 3.6)

#32 Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon (5 / 3.4)

#33 Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison (5 / 2.9)

#34 Bullet for My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire (5 / 2.9)

#35 Between the Buried and Me - Alaska (5 / 2.7)

Wow, there are a lot more Revolution releases I enjoy that have appeared here, from bands like Trivium (In Waves is at #4, WOOO!!!!), Protest the Hero, Gaza, Born of Osiris, All That Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine.

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Infinite releases with minimum 10 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Opeth - Blackwater Park (15 / 4.5)

#2 Dream Theater - Images and Words (14 / 4.4)

#3 Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (14 / 4.4)

#4 Agalloch - The Mantle (14 / 4.0)

#5 Opeth - Still Life (13 / 4.4)

#6 Atheist - Unquestionable Presence (13 / 4.2)

#7 Cynic - Focus (12 / 4.3)

#8 Mastodon - Crack the Skye (12 / 4.3)

#9 Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain (12 / 4.1)

#10 Neurosis - Times of Grace (12 / 4.0)

#11 Isis - Panopticon (12 / 4.0)

#12 Mastodon - Leviathan (12 / 4.0)

#13 Voivod - Dimension Hatröss (12 / 4.0)

#14 Opeth - Orchid (12 / 3.9)

#15 Gojira - Magma (12 / 3.4)

#16 Deafheaven - Sunbather (12 / 3.2)

#17 Gojira - From Mars to Sirius (11 / 4.4)

#18 Opeth - Ghost Reveries (11 / 4.4)

#19 Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (11/4.2)

#20 Gojira - The Way of All Flesh (11 / 4.0)

#21 Edge of Sanity - Crimson (11 / 3.9)

#22 Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium (11 / 3.3)

#23 Coroner - Mental Vortex (10 / 4.4)

#24 Opeth - Deliverance (10 / 4.4)

#25 Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (10 / 4.3)

#26 Vektor - Black Future (10 / 4.3)

#27 Neurosis - Souls at Zero (10 / 4.1)

#28 Gorguts - Obscura (10 / 4.1)

#29 Deathspell Omega - Paracletus (10 / 4.0)

#30 Opeth - Morningrise (10 / 3.9)

#31 Fates Warning - The Spectre Within (10 / 3.9)

#32 Alcest - Écailles de lune (10 / 3.8)

#33 Gojira - L'enfant sauvage (10 / 3.7)

It's interesting seeing some more albums in this list, now from progressive death metal bands Atheist, Cynic, and Edge of Sanity, and progressive thrash metal bands Voivod, Coroner, and Vektor, along with pioneering works of their respective genres such as progressive metal for the Queensryche and Fates Warning albums, and avant-garde metal for Celtic Frost's Into the Pandemonium. I am a little surprised about Gorguts and Deathspell Omega appearing on the list.

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Guardians releases with minimum 15 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Black Sabbath - Paranoid (22 / 4.4)

#2 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (22 / 4.1)

#3 Iron Maiden - Powerslave (18 / 4.4)

#4 Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (18 / 4.3)

#5 Metallica - Metallica [Black Album] (18 / 3.8)

#6 Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (17 / 4.4)

#7 Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (17 / 4.1)

#8 Judas Priest - Painkiller (16 / 4.5)

#9 Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny (16 / 4.0)

#10 Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (16 / 3.8)

#11 Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind (15 / 4.2)

#12 Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (15 / 4.1)

#13 Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (15 / 3.8)

Not a lot of difference with just 5 Black Sabbath albums, 5 Iron Maiden albums, two Judas Priest albums, and Metallica's Black Album. It would probably be easier seeing which power/symphonic/neoclassical metal albums reign in the charts if we could be able to filter the albums by genres instead of clans there. Ben, if you're reading this, please implement that ability!

Now let's check on the Metal Academy charts and see the differences. Here are all the Gateway releases with minimum 10 ratings, sorted by rating number:

#1 Tool - Lateralus (17 / 3.9)

#2 Alice in Chains - Dirt (16 / 4.3)

#3 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (14 / 3.5)

#4 Tool - Ænima (13 / 4.0)

#5 System of a Down - Toxicity (13 / 3.7)

#6 Slipknot - Slipknot (13 / 3.5)

#7 Metallica - St. Anger (13 / 2.0)

#8 Tool - 10,000 Days (12 / 3.9)

#9 Korn - Korn (12 / 3.6)

#10 Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind (12 / 3.2)

#11 Deftones - White Pony (11 / 4.2)

#12 Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (11 / 3.9)

#13 Tool - Undertow (11 / 3.8)

#14 Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (11 / 3.7)

#15 Alice in Chains - Facelift (11 / 3.6)

#16 Deftones - Around the Fur (10 / 4.1)

#17 Linkin Park - Meteora (10 / 3.8)

#18 Devin Townsend - Addicted (10 / 3.8)

#19 Slipknot - Iowa (10 / 3.4)

#20 System of a Down - System of a Down (10 / 3.2)

#21 Slipknot - Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (10 / 3.2)

I see a few more Slipknot albums here, along with the Devin Townsend Project album Addicted.

What do you get when you travel back to the 80s and take with you some classic metal and synth-pop from that decade? Finnish heavy/power metallers Battle Beast! This should remind you of a mix of Judas Priest, Beyond the Black, and Power Quest:

Here's my updated list:

Beginning oldies (1978-1989)/B.M. (Before Metalcore):

1978: Riot - Rock City (yes I know, everyone says the year is 1977, but I don't quite suspect that as its true release year, more info about that in this separate thread reply: https://metal.academy/forum/28/thread/362#topic_6048)

1979: Riot - Narita

1980: Accept - I'm a Rebel

1981: Accept - Breaker

1982: Virgin Steele - Virgin Steele

1983: Savatage - Sirens

1984: Queensryche - The Warning

1985: Fates Warning - The Spectre Within

1986: Crimson Glory - Crimson Glory

1987: Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King

1988: Riot - Thundersteel

1989: Running Wild - Death or Glory

Old golden classics (1990-1997)/Humble metalcore beginnings:

1990: Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence

1991: Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal

1992: Sadus - A Vision of Misery

1993: X Japan - Art of Life

1994: Savatage - Handful of Rain

1995: Savatage - Dead Winter Dead

1996: Converge - Petitioning the Empty Sky

1997: Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth

Millennium transition highlights (1998-2005)/Light of day-seeing metalcore classics:

1998: Meshuggah - Chaosphere

1999: Botch - We are the Romans

2000: Skycamefalling - 10.21

2001: Converge - Jane Doe

2002: Hopesfall - The Satellite Years

2003: The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Traveller

2004: Wuthering Heights - Far From the Madding Crowd

2005: Trivium - Ascendancy

Modern favorites (2006-2013)/Rise of the full Revolution:

2006: Wuthering Heights - The Shadow Cabinet

2007: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works

2008: Textures - Silhouettes

2009: August Burns Red - Constellations

2010: Attack Attack! - Attack Attack!

2011: Trivium - In Waves

2012: Skyharbor - Blinding White Noise: Illusion and Chaos

2013: We Came as Romans - Tracing Back Roots

The best of the most recent (2014-2021)/A greater new uprising:

2014: Structures - Life Through a Window

2015: Wage War - Blueprints

2016: Car Bomb - Meta

2017: Trivium - The Sin and the Sentence

2018: Silent Planet - When the End Began

2019: Devin Townsend - Empath

2020: Trivium - What the Dead Men Say

2021: Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon

The promising present (2022 onwards)/metalcore revival (thanks to Underoath)?:

2022 (so far): Battle Beast - Circus of Doom

2022 albums I'm looking forward to getting:

Persefone - Metanoia

Cult of Luna - The Long Road North

Voivod - Synchro Anarchy

Annihilator - Metal II (nearly entire re-recording of their Metal album)

Animals as Leaders - Parrhesia

Meshuggah - Immutable

Memphis May Fire - Remade in Misery

Halestorm - Back From the Dead

Three Days Grace - Explosions

Note: the latter two bands are not metal, but felt like taking a small return to my pre-metal alt-rock past.

Lots of heavy metal and thrash metal in the Metal Academy list, along with a few Bathory albums and Tool's Lateralus. Quite accurate here in a metal-oriented site. A lot of metalheads in RYM seem to like or at least try alternative metal.

Here's an extension to 25 more of the most popular Infinite albums according to RYM:

#21 Alcest - Écailles de lune (7488 / 3.64)

#22 Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (7445 / 3.91)

#23 Dream Theater - Awake (7399 / 3.63)

#24 Isis - Oceanic (7385 / 3.85)

#25 Opeth - Watershed (7382 / 3.70)

Unlike that other Alcest album, Écailles de lune seems to fit well in the post-metal and blackgaze label according to the genre votes, and I might check that one out, despite my recent departure from black metal.

Though the Helloween albums weren't perfect for me (would've been if I found them 5 years ago but I didn't), I had fun reviewing them, so let's extend both lists to 25 and look out for more.

Heavy metal:

#21 Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance (8709 / 3.88)

#22 Dio - Holy Diver (8591 / 3.86)

#23 Rainbow - Rising (8329 / 3.92)

#24 Slayer - Show No Mercy (8012 / 3.72)

#25 Judas Priest - British Steel (7985 / 3.65)

WITHOUT heavy metal:

#21 Children of Bodom - Something Wild (2564 / 3.33)

#22 Blind Guardian - A Night at the Opera (2494 / 3.56)

#23 Kamelot - The Black Halo (2424 / 3.74)

#24 Blind Guardian - Tales from the Twilight World (2396 / 3.67)

#25 Septicflesh - Communion (2252 / 3.68)

I'm quite stunned at Slayer's Show No Mercy ending up in the heavy metal list, but it's there because speed metal has been switched to a Heavy Metal subgenre in RYM, which has not yet taken effect here. It's also a bit surprising to see usually death metal bands Children of Bodom and Septicflesh on the list.

That's right, Sonny! Albums from other well-known bands like Soundgarden, Slipknot, and Korn are missing from the Popular 20. But if we extend the list to 25:

#21 Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger (9180 / 3.77)

#22 Slipknot - Slipknot (9149 / 3.24)

#23 Faith No More - The Real Thing (8490 / 3.75)

#24 Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains (8276 / 3.66)

#25 Korn - Korn (8237 / 3.37)

At least we have also two more albums from bands in the Popular 20; Faith No More's The Real Thing and Alice in Chains' self-titled album.

UGH, this is another one of Helloween's singles that I end up hearing as embarrassing cheesy sh*t:

The first ever 13-minute power metal epic, and probably this band's theme:

I think I found the ultimate anthem for this clan, for anyone wanting an early speedy power metal album inspired by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and early Metallica:

I decided that while I'm still doing my Wuthering Heights (plus new Battle Beast album) journey, I am going to continue my Guardians-related activities, but distant myself from a few other bands I'm not that interested in anymore, which I'll discuss later. Anyway, this 20-minute epic trio of songs is one of the reasons for my decision to stay:

A 14-minute epic of folk-ish progressive power metal, to please fans of that style and bands like Falconer, Rhapsody (of Fire), and Symphony X:

I'm trying to prevent the burnout from going any further, and if it seems like I might be heading that way, I just test out writing a few reviews to see if there's still some hope in motivation. While many of the Guardians albums I've listened to at least 5 years ago, they were some of the most enjoyable albums back then and I felt like they should keep that honor, same for some of the Gateway albums from 10 years before today that I listened to before starting my path through "true" metal. Anyway, for some of the recently-listened-to albums, I still enjoy some of their highlights, and one post in The Guardians Track of the Day thread now has my decision for how I'm gonna handle my Guardians journey: https://metal.academy/forum/9/thread/189?page=5#topic_9615

This list is quite accurate. After all, classic heavy metal (1970-1982), thrash metal (1983-1991), and alternative metal (1992-2001) were reaching quite the heights of fame in their respective eras. It is quite surprising that albums from some of the big developing bands of the genre like Judas Priest and Motorhead haven't reached the top 20, and two black metal albums (from Deafheaven and Burzum) end up on this list. Seems like the popularity of the once mostly underground genre of black metal has boosted thanks to internet sharing. It would be quite interesting to see what the top 20 list is for one of the clans' metal genres and judge which releases are in an accurate position in those lists. I'm gonna start those threads with my own clans, any of you feel free to do the same with the other clans.

I do still enjoy those Guardians releases, but like Vinny says, burnout is inevitable. I might feel burned out with heavy/power metal at times mainly because I haven't made power metal my primary target of interest in over 4 years, yet at the same time, I try to build up that part of my metal taste based on recs and what I might like. Kinda like when my dad cooks for dinner some stir-fry chicken that I used to like and even though I've lost some of its appeal, I would eat it anyway. Sooo... I'm going to give some of the 14 Guardians releases I've rated since October each a good review and see if that's enough to motivate me to continue my Guardians submissions beyond my ones for March. Time to check if I still have the heart of a Guardian!

My thoughts on a couple more tracks (as part of my Revolution playlist band catchup):

Every Time I Die – “Moor” (from “From Parts Unknown”, 2014)

4.5/5. A sick underrated song! Enough said.

The Ghost Inside – “Aftermath” (from “The Ghost Inside”, 2020)

5/5. YES!!! My second attempt to try this song and it's still solid! Some might be reminded of Stick to Your Guns at some points. The last minute and a half hit hard. I'm glad the band is still going strong after recovering from that bus crash, including Andrew Tkaczyk, who lost one of his legs in the crash, still having his impressive drumming skills.