Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Reviews

To paraphrase a Honeymooners quote, they're a RIOT! One of the earlier American heavy metal bands, Riot was formed in 1975 in New York City. Their mascot is a buff warrior with a baby seal face, apparently suggested by one of the producers' girlfriend who fought against animal poaching. Riot would then become synonymous with classic heavy metal in America and battle against record labels who don't allow what they want but give them what they don't want.

And holy sh*t, their debut album Rock City already shows the band rolling through. Those guitars rise up high in raging speed of the dynamic duo Mark Reale and Lou A. Kouvaris, in perfect balance with the memorable vocals of Guy Speranza. 3 talented band members, sadly long gone. RIP...

Let's go straight to the opening track "Desperation". Kicking things off is the attention-grabbing bass of Jimmy Iommi (brother of Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi), while the two guitar men strike on with their top-notch skills. And right after the second one of Iommi's bass fills is a kick-A solo by Reale. "Warrior" has glowing energy in the chorus, and the guitar solo stands out yet again. The title track has more in common with Boston's Aerosmith. There's some old-school bluesy riffing, which is somewhat cool. I don't mean to put down a popular band like Aerosmith, but Riot has louder intricacy in Reale's riffs and solos, and Speranza's vocals are more organic and happy. But if anyone reading is a fan of Aerosmith, that's OK. Riot is what I'm in for when it comes to classic hard rock/metal.

"Overdrive" blasts through in speed overdrive within more of the bad-a** guitar. Which leads us into "Angel", in Reale continues the Aerosmith-like heavy rock in the rhythms and solos. The chorus is quite suggestive and PG-13, "You're an angel with a broken wing, you're an angel who was born to...born to swing, oooh yeah I feel like a dog in heat, oooh yeah I got a fire burning under my feet." Playing things out with radiant guitar is "Tokyo Rose", as the fast addictive chorus plays. This is worth listening to in a nice night drive through the streets of Tokyo.

You'll never lose your good mood in "Heart of Fire". Then "Gypsy Queen" continues the catchiness of earlier tracks. "This is What I Get" is a total gem of a highlight. Seriously, it barely flops at all! It's a graceful catchy tune without ever going too far into the mainstream. Over 45 years since this heavy metal/hard rock classic offering was released, and that closing track can still please a young metalhead like me.

The production in a few songs may plant the seed for a couple genres a few years later like biker metal and street punk, but expect classic heavy metal in this release, which would be cranked up in later albums. Rock City proves that the band can light up the world today as they had in the late 70s!

Favorites: "Desperation", "Warrior", "Overdrive", "Tokyo Rose", "This is What I Get"

Nightwish is one of the most popular symphonic/power metal bands today, and was an essential band for me long ago. Now it's hard to accurately categorize their evolving style when they add elements of gothic, progressive, thrash, doom, etc. The operatic singing of then-vocalist Tarja Turunen was a true standout in the band's first era.

Once I had a dream of what metal would sound like with lots of TSFH-like orchestration, and this was it when I discovered this nearly a decade ago. Today I feel like I had been too optimistic. As varied as this album is, I'm starting to think the orchestra overpowers the metal. But what else is there from a full orchestra? Despite the orchestral overdose, many songs stay heavy, and founding keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is able to display his own synth work. But let's get over the whole "selling out" nonsense...

Kickstarting the album is the anthemic "Dark Chest of Wonders", having lots of power and atmosphere, with a solid chorus. There's a bit of progressiveness without going too overboard. Then we have the gothic dance-rock/metal single "Wish I Had an Angel". It is followed by "Nemo", a heavy yet beautiful mid-paced highlight. The name is Latin for "Nobody", and the song has nothing to do with Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo, which is a shame because that's the first ever movie I've ever remembered watching. The more symphonic yet heavy "Planet Hell" was one of the first songs I discovered from this band, when it was associated with RuneScape and the infamous Falador Massacre.

It seems abrupt switching out of a highly upbeat energetic track into the ballad that is "Creek Mary's Blood". Their attempt to turn an acoustic Native American ballad into an long epic ends up failing and sounding too draggy. The heaviness begins to build up in the Eastern-sounding "The Siren" with mysterious violin and solid Maiden-like riffing. "Dead Gardens" is heavier with a melodic chorus, but it ends too abruptly. "Romanticide" has more focus on metal than orchestra with more riff groove and interesting choir.

"Ghost Love Score" is the album's true epic, and very much everything the album has already offered is blended together greatly. First we have a couple verses with more of the Eastern sitar, then it slows down to a ballad-like section, and after that, we have a lovely orchestral break that is well-executed. Immediately when the metal comes back on, you're hit by one of the most epic moments in symphonic metal, right before Tarja continues singing. And the rest is memorable too. Next up, "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (Death Makes an Artist) is a nice orchestral ballad sung in Finnish. "Higher Than Hope" is one more power ballad closer to the band's earlier material. An excellent finale!

All in all, I would consider this album the weakest in my revisit trip, but I would never consider Once or Nightwish super-bad. However, there are some things I might object to. The production and style is a bit over-the-top, but still mostly enjoyable. I would recommend this album for any fan of gothic-infused symphonic power metal. It is different from their earlier material, yet worth trying this bombastic rollercoaster. Though this is Tarja's last ride....

Favorites: "Dark Chest of Wonders", "Nemo", "Planet Hell", "The Siren", "Ghost Love Score", "Higher Than Hope"

Blending metal with symphonics well since 1996, Within Temptation is one of the first 3 bands that made me up for symphonic metal, together with Kamelot and Nightwish. And unlike those other bands that I discovered via their earlier releases, I was hooked to Within Temptation via this album Hydra, only weeks after its release. The music is pretty good here. Vocalist Sharon den Adel sings nice melodies, though she doesn't have her earlier power that other female singers have. As the metal instrumentation stand their ground, the symphonic keys and orchestra lift it up in cinematic atmosphere. Beautiful, right?

I would've selected one of the band's earlier symphonic metal releases, since this one is beginning to show the band's rock side, but I gotta stay true in what I've really discovered. You just gotta admire how well the band can diversify their sound. Here we have a symphonic metal/rock sound that often dives into their earlier gothic metal and their later pop/alt-rock, all while making sure their fans know that it's the same Within Temptation as before.

The excellent opener "Let Us Burn" is a catchy start, with fantastic riffing and chorus, all in pure epic symphonic metal/rock that would surely please the live crowd. Former vocalist of Killswitch Engage Howard Jones guest appears in "Dangerous" which has an edgier modern heavy metal sound. This might qualify as my first ever metalcore association, even though Jones only performs clean vocals. "And We Run" definitely throws me off. Guitarist Robert Westerholt thought it would be a good idea to invite hip-hop star Xzibit to make an appearance in the song. I certainly don't think so. I'm fine with rapping in a few metal genres, but in symphonic metal?! Nope! I'm outta here!

"Paradise (What About Us?)" is an epic upbeat piece of symphonic gothic metal, featuring the operatic soprano singing of ex-Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen. Not only was this one of the first songs I've listened to by Within Temptation, it also made me up for Nightwish! The symphonic metal chain was just beginning for me. Then we switch to a slower pace in "Edge of the World", which has Sharon's beautiful vocals over cinematic symphonics. It's fine, but the slow epic pace I prefer is from DragonForce's epic "Edge of the World". There's some background growling in "Silver Moonlight" by Westerholt, in clear prominence for the first time since the band's gothic doom debut Enter. That song's a faster highlight though. There's some cool vocal melody in "Covered by Roses".

"Dog Days" is a little too poppy, which I find annoying. However, there's still some heavy power to make a bit of the metal still around. The 6-minute epic "Tell Me Why" is a full hodgepodge of different influences to go with their symphonic metal, such as gothic metal, power metal, and even melodic metalcore, the latter covered by the heavier riffing and more of Westerholt's growls. Still it can't beat "Paradise". Dave Pirner, the frontman of the band behind that "Runaway Train" hit Soul Asylum, sings in the alt-/pop rock duet "Whole World is Watching". Intriguing, but not really what I'm looking for. There's a Polish edition with Coma vocalist Piotr Rogucki instead of Pirner.

If we ignore the strange tracks, you might consider Hydra an enjoyable offering. There's solid song construction with strong variety. Some guest singers work nice and well, but others don't. And the atmosphere doesn't greatly catch your attention as it should have. Despite all that, Hydra is an album for new fans and die-hard collectors. Within Temptation could still stand strong and not lose steam, at least until their subsequent albums that would show a highly different era for the band....

Favorites: "Let Us Burn", "Dangerous", "Paradise (What About Us?)", "Silver Moonlight", "Tell Me Why"

Avantasia is Edguy vocalist Tobias Sammet's ambitious side-project. The project started off with two Metal Opera albums in the early 2000s. The albums have many guest musicians and artists from bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Virgin Steele, Stratovarius, and Within Temptation. They were, just WERE, an essential part of my power metal discoveries. After reforming with a 2007 two-EP series Lost in Space, the album promoted by those two EPs had arrived... 2008's The Scarecrow was hitting the charts in not just Germany but other European countries also, such as Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden, Hungary, Austria, and Switzerland. The different sound and atmosphere replaced earlier fans with new ones. It's more of a blend of hard rock and power metal, with guests coming from bands of both genres. A great album with monumental vocalists!

Sammet made a new lineup for the album which consists of himself performing bass and vocals, ex-Heaven's Gate members Sascha Paeth and Miro on guitars and keyboards, respectively, and Kiss drummer Eric Singer. Some guitar solos were provided by Gamma Ray guitarists Henjo Richter and Kai Hansen (though I wish Hansen could've also done some vocals) and Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker. As for the guest vocalists, it was because of ex-Kamelot vocalist Roy Khan in the first track that I ended up stumbling upon this band and entering the metal opera world. Other vocalists from big bands include Jorn Lande (ex-Masterplan), Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween), Bob Catley (Magnum), Amanda Somerville (Aina), Alice Cooper, and Oliver Hartmann (ex-At Vance). This bombastic hard rock/power metal album also has a bit of classic heavy metal, soft rock, pop rock, and a couple ballads. The guitars range from memorable riffs to dueling solos, and the drums are solid too. And outstanding vocals here!

"Twisted Mind" is the aforementioned opening track, and a strong place to start. The dark Middle-Eastern-esque riffing melody reminds me of Power Quest's "Another World", and that's one of a couple reasons why this song is my entryway to this band, the other reason, of course, being Roy Khan, making a fitting vocal contrast for when he sings with Sammet. The chorus totally blows my mind, though the ending drags a bit. The best song here is the 11-minute title epic. This was, and still is one of my favorite power metal epics when I was still heavily into the power metal genre nearly 10 years ago. It's more of a metallic hard rock track with a Celtic intro and a symphonic bridge. There's also a strong chorus, Sammet's vocal duel with Jorn Lande, and a long solo leading into a majestic climax. Lande has that Whitesnake/Dio edge in his voice. There are also background vocals by Michael Kiske near the end. One of the best highlights of Avantasia! "Shelter from the Rain" is a fast standout similar to early Helloween, featuring the two Gamma Ray guitarists and vocals by Kiske and Bob Catley. From the epic intro to the melodic chorus, along with a Gamma Ray guitar battle, it's just so great!

Then we switch gears to hard/pop rock in the strictly Sammet-sung "Carry Me Over", though the chorus almost reminds me of Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under". The pop rock ballad "What Kind of Love" is a love duet with Amanda Somerville. It's not terrible, but it doesn't really fit right in the album. "Another Angel Down" has the usual power metal, with more of Lande's strong vocals alongside Sammet. The guitars leads and duels are all memorable, as is the perfect chorus. "The Toy Master" has Alice Cooper singing, with not much from Sammet. It starts creepy and atmospheric before some memorable mid-tempo hard rock strength. I enjoy the chorus, plus the great power metal bridge.

"Devil In The Belfry" has some catchy speed. It starts with nice soloing, and Lande's vocals are pretty good. However, the chorus sounds too pompous, like it tries to be impressive but ends up dragging and falling flat. "Cry Just A Little" is an acoustic/soft rock ballad that causes further damage to the flow. "I Don't Believe In Your Love" is mostly mediocre hard rock. "Lost in Space" is one more pop/hard rock track, but the best one of that category. I especially recommend the extended version featuring Kiske.

All in all, The Scarecrow is a strong comeback for the band, the first part of the Wicked Trilogy continuing in their 2010 albums The Wicked Symphony and Angel Of Babylon. The album is a bit uneven with a couple weak tracks and Sammet getting more vocals than one of the guests and vice versa. Nonetheless, a very solid metal opera album....

Favorites: "Twisted Mind", "The Scarecrow", "Shelter from the Rain", "Another Angel Down", "The Toy Master", "Lost in Space"

"The time has come. A chance to make amends for what went wrong. An opportunity to lay to rest. The ghost of all my memories. This time I cannot fail. This time..." That quote is somewhat accurate to my current plan, revisiting power metal albums from the past to let go of the haunting subsequent memories of my regretful desire to let it all fall from my grasp. Wings of Forever is the debut of a band formed by keyboardist Steve Williams who had just left DragonForce when they still had the name DragonHeart. A couple other DragonForce members were also in Power Quest; guitarist Sam Totman in the debut, and ex-vocalist ZP Theart in the demo. This association encouraged me to make my power metal interest a reality. And there is some similarity to DragonForce's Valley of the Damned released next year, though that one is a mountain-sized feat!

Now here's what different from DragonForce's debut. Wings of Forever is a bit humble of a start for Power Quest. I mean, there is the technical speed that is what many power metal bands were doing 20 years before today, but this band does it all without having to expand their resources. The band had trouble find a drummer, so they instead used a drum machine with the nickname "Scott Michaels". It sounds quite realistic, but it gives the album less organic strength. A real drummer would've made this a perfect offering. While DragonForce is known for their fast headbanging songs with the length extended by their solos, Power Quest seems to have more focus on epic-sounding atmosphere to cover that length which can make things slightly uneven, though they would have less of that issue in later albums. The atmosphere is created by Steve Williams who also bring the keys up to the front stage alongside the melodic guitar wizardry by Sam Totman to get you hooked.

The catchy brief "Prelude to Destiny" already gets you onto your seat with Williams' keyboard fiddling, a nice pleasant guitar solo, and a rising scream from vocalist Alessio Garavello to top it off. The title track is a true standout. The pace pretty much mirrors that any one of the songs from Valley of the Damned. Other guitarist Adam Bickers is Sam Totman's soloing buddy for this album, just like Herman Li but without any 8-bit tricks. Just pure electric guitar melody right in the face! Another fast catchy track "Far Away" is one of the band's most popular songs, and Alessio's versatile vocals have great harmony. I guess ZP Theart would've probably made this song sound more like DragonForce, but Alessio is the real star there. The progression is less apparent in another fast track "Glory Tonight", one of the two tracks originally in the Theart-led demo.

The mid-paced epic that acts as the band's theme song "Power Quest (Part I)" displays great impact in Williams' writing. He had assisted in writing some of DragonForce's long songs, and he was able to continue showing the lengthy side of his writing in his own band's ultimate anthem. "Beyond the Stars" is the only song Sam Totman wrote for the album, and it makes sense for that song to be the most DragonForce-esque of the bunch. Anyone who has listened to Valley of the Damned would be amazed by such a rocket-fired speeder. If Williams stayed with DragonForce, would that song end up in a DragonForce album? Likely, though with extension in the soloing. "Immortal Plains" is the album's power ballad, and it shows Alessio taking a break from the Iron Maiden/Helloween highs for a softer baritone closer to my voice, over smooth piano/keyboard. And it's done better than Dragonland's ballads!

"Follow Your Heart" is the other track originally in the Theart-led demo, and the better one of the two. This is pretty much my introductory song to Power Quest upon discovering the ZP Theart demo version on YouTube. The band once again greatly progress through wild soloing. "Freedom of Thought" is the last full song of the album, with astonishing glory once more in another 7-minute epic. The outro "Distant Lands" closes the album as a nice melancholic E-flat tuned guitar outro to end this standard yet ambitious album better than Dragonland's debut. To experience the last of Williams' ambient keyboard majesty, check out the Japanese edition bonus track "Gates of Tomorrow", a grand epic interlude. The soloing is fun despite being buried in the mix. And then it's all over until next time...

All in all, Wings of Forever displayed Power Quest as a different band from their later albums. Williams' writing evolution started out from his time with DragonForce, and when he worked with Sam Totman and ZP Theart (demo only) among other members in Power Quest's debut, and their DragonForce influences show, though not proven until next year with the release of Valley of the Damned. By then, Totman and Bickers had already left the band, and the last thing Totman could do for Power Quest was add in some soloing contributions to their second album Neverworld. As the band's tenure went on, so many different instrumentalists and vocalists took the place of those who were leaving, which further turned the band towards a different path. While it ended up giving the band a more mature identity of their own, the time when they were known as a DragonForce spin-off should be remembered. Whether being original or identical, the quality is what's worth this album being added to your power metal collection!

Favorites: "Wings of Forever", "Power Quest (Part I)", "Beyond the Stars", "Follow Your Heart", "Freedom of Thought", "Gates of Tomorrow"

Power metal cheese is like regular cheese. You loved it a lot when you were younger, but as you get older, you can get sick from having too much shoved down your throat. In saying that, I probably wouldn't have gotten into the more symphonic side of power metal without an accidental discovery via this band. Orchestral keys and guitar fury slam through clay-cracking bass and pounding drums, alongside the sweet vocals of Jonas Heidgert, as if the entire band is a dragon. A Rhapsody (of Fire)-influenced dragon!

Fixing some mistakes from their debut, their second album Holy War has energetic progression that is a d*mn stunner. Heidgert stands out as another amazing vocalist in the power metal league. His unique delivery is out of this world.

The orchestral intro "Hundred Years Have Passed" is a little longer than it should've been, but it reminds me of the different Elder Scrolls theme songs. You end up warping into the medieval fantasy realm that is Dragonland. The fast heavy greatness begins with "Majesty of the Mithril Mountains". I barely have anything to say about the majestic glory of that track. "Through Elven Woods and Dwarven Mines" creeps in with ominous synths then knocks you fine blazing guitar riffing. You'll definitely wanna explore the Elven Woods of Tirannwn and the Dwarven Mines near the Ice Mountain in RuneScape with that crystalline song as your soundtrack. The glorious title track begins with organ paving the way to metal fury and impressive vocals. That's the song that made me discover this band in a video that was wrongly credited to DragonForce as the band.

A slower mid-paced but still epic track "Calm Before the Storm" adds some progressive brilliance that the band would fulfill more in later albums. "The Return to the Ivory Plains" continues the battle-ready power of that other "Ivory Plains" song and has an Iron Maiden-ish galloping beat. "Forever Walking Alone" is the ballad here. Now I'm pretty picky about ballads. And although it is quite beautiful and emotional, I find to be another slow love song that is worth skipping. But just when I was gonna put it down as a stinker, the song speeds up in the drums, the distorted guitars return, and Heidgert's vocal strength is regained. Not the best song, but much better than "A Last Farewell".

"Blazing Hate" has more of that blazing power metal speed. Same with "A Thousand Points of Light" that has the last of the mighty power unleashed for the standard edition. "One With All" is a little too long for an orchestral outro, but it's a nice uplifting way out. The Japanese edition comes with 3 bonus tracks, the first of which is an upbeat cover of Limahl's "The Neverending Story" from that fantasy film. "Allemande" and "So Many Questions" are just useless acoustic interludes with not much to say there.

Dragonland's sophomore album is a more enjoyable improvement from their debut, performing their sound with fantasy pride and not too much cheesiness. I miss out on my youthful days of loving this band to the max, but I need to stay true to my mature evolution. Nonetheless, Dragonland have done well in pleasing fans of power metal!

Favorites: "Majesty of the Mithril Mountains", "Holy War", "Calm Before the Storm", "The Return to the Ivory Plains", "A Thousand Points of Light", "The Neverending Story"

"Look at the sky as the dragon flies by, storming across heaven like fire pierce through ice..." Dragonland was one of my first power metal discoveries AFTER DragonForce. This band introduced me to two things in metal I was already familiar with elsewhere; the orchestral symphonics of Two Steps From Hell and medieval fantasy concepts similar to RuneScape, the Elder Scrolls, and Lord of the Rings. And it all started with an accidental encounter with a song from the album after this one...

Nowadays, while I do enjoy these fantasy concepts, I begin to realize their lack of original inspiration. The Dragonland Chronicles saga has the same ol' "leaving your loved ones to go to a war you end up falling in" idea, which my fantasy-loving teen self thought was epic, but now it's a little too cheesy for me as a heavier more serious adult.

The instrumental synth-orchestral intro "Dragondawn" starts the album with a nice epic vibe. And it's at a decent short length enough to keep you satisfied and prepared for power metal war... "Storming Across Heaven" still reigns as one of my favorite songs from the band, a remarkable power metal tune with a catchy chorus. A song that I now think of as disappointing is "A Last Farewell". It's a slow soft power ballad that would've been in a better place later on in the album. Sure there's catchy melody with nice vocals including female singing, but the cheesy lyrics are too d*mn hard to overlook. And that's before the rest of the album in which, although the songs bring back solid memories, they're not as highly mind-blowing as I once thought they were. "Ride for Glory" has more infamously cheesy moments, but it's still pretty decent.

I prefer when the music and lyrics are more serious and do the story better justice, such as in "The Orcish March" that allows you to comfortably visualize the event described in the name. The title track also has that upside, where you can really imagine the war that occurs in the story, and the subsequent tragic falls. Another true highlight! Next up is a much better ballad than that other one, "Graveheart", hinting at similar symphonics to Xandria while continuing the Braveheart-esque fantasy concept, all in a nice slow bridge song between the faster ones.

Now one notorious song that I shouldn't leave without mentioning is "Rondo ala Turca", a two-minute adaptation of the well-known piece of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11. I'm familiar with power/heavy metal covers of classical compositions, and I used to love them a lot, but what do I think of this now? Well, the speedy keyboard soloing sounds too much like an 8-bit video game soundtrack (which I also liked in metal back then but nowadays not so much). On top of not adding much here, the position doesn't make sense. The hero is dying and right before unveiling a big secret, this classical-covering track comes on! At least it still sounds a bit uplifting. "A Secret Unveiled" sadly shows the band at a humble stage and continues ruining the epic feeling. "World's End" may not be the most original song title in power metal, but it's a great way to unleash the last bit of heavy power. The melancholic outro "Dragondusk" isn't as strong as the album's intro, but it fits well as a way of saying "To be continued..."

Despite the cheesiness and odd positions in a few tracks, The Battle of the Ivory Plains is a 50-minute adventure any power metal fan should check out. And you should read the story within the lyrics for the full Dragonland Chronicles experience. I just don't feel the same amount of epic brilliance from this band and album as I had 10 years ago....

Favorites: "Storming Across Heaven", "The Orcish March", "The Battle of the Ivory Plains", "Graveheart", "World's End"

So I've given Empire and this album Promised Land a revisit complete with listening and reviewing. Empire is where the band was starting to walk down the mainstream path while maintaining some of the metal sound of Operation: Mindcrime. As for Promised Land, well... You're gonna be finding a lot of rock bumps here. But perhaps we better start from the beginning in the Queensryche history lesson leading up to that point. The band's sound of progressive/heavy metal first touched down with their fine sharp 4-track self-titled EP. Then their debut full-length album The Warning warns us about a more complex sound. Rage for Order followed with catchy atmosphere. Afterwards, the progressive grandeur of Operation: Mindcrime had pretty much kick-started the rock opera concept album aspect of many progressive metal bands.

Now before we get further down this band's history, I'll just say that they were part of the big 4 of pre-Dream Theater American progressive/heavy metal along with Fates Warning, Savatage, and Crimson Glory. Fates Warning and Savatage both made their progressive peak with their 1989 albums, and again with their 1991 albums, although Savatage isn't as progressive as Fates Warning. By the year of this Queensryche album, 1994, those two bands moved on to do shorter radio-friendly tunes while sticking to their respective genres, and they wouldn't slow build them back up until after that year. Crimson Glory had also hit their prog-ish heavy metal mark with their 1986 and 1988 albums before switching to a more rock-oriented sound as well (they would split up later). So after Queensryche started moving away from their own progressive metal brand in Empire, they stripped them out even further in Promised Land. It's far more radio-friendly than complex while adding a few different ingredients to their dish.

The album starts off weird with "9:28am", named after the time of birth for drummer Scott Rockenfield. It follows a soul transcending from death to reincarnation to rebirth in a brand new life of a crying baby. Unfortunately, the first actual song "I Am I" doesn't start things well. That song and "Damaged" foreshadow their embarrassing attempt at the grunge-metal of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden that would fully commence in their next album Hear in the New Frontier. But how can I blame this band? They're from the same state as those grunge bands. It just doesn't sound right for this once metal band. My ears are much better pleased with the smooth ballad "Out of Mind".

"Bridge" is another ballad and one of my favorite soft songs by Queensryche. It's so simple yet adds in some slight progressive layers. The band's earlier progressive metal atmosphere is still around in the 8-minute title track. There is some light shining from the sky in more than just the full-on ballads, but sadly, you'll end up walking away from a bar and taking the train to a bit of a disconnect... "Disconnect" has too much of a rockabilly groove. "Lady Jane" is another ballad though with some slight alt-grunge.

The blues rock filler track "My Global Mind" really brings the album quality down. Vocalist Geoff Tate tries to give the track some saving grace, but it only makes me wish he could stick to his earlier vocal style. However, in "One More Time", he adds much better emotional drama. Ending the album is "Someone Else?" which only has Tate singing and guitarist Chris DeGarmo playing piano. While I prefer the full-band version, I appreciate this simple soft version more than I had a couple years ago. Appeal growth, am I right? The operatic bonus semi-ballad "Real World" is from that Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero and should've been in the original album for a better rating.

In an era where the band's earlier progressive/heavy metal and their later hard rock/grunge were battling side by side, it's clear that the latter was winning. And it seems like DeGarmo was also burned out after losing the band's earlier progressive metal, because he left after the band's full switch to grunge in Hear in the Now Frontier. A promising journey through the earlier Mindcrime sound just wasn't there here. But at least long later into their career, they would show that the metal is never actually lost for eternity....

Favorites (only songs I really like): "Out of Mind", "Bridge", "Promised Land", "One More Time", "Someone Else?", "Real World (bonus track)

Empire is a pretty good album, though I liked it much better when I was into the melodic heavy/progressive metal of their first 3 albums. With their 4th album Empire, Queensryche began to take on a more commercial hard rock/metal sound, which was already being hinted in Operation: Mindcrime, and reduced their progressive aspects. Most of the songs are smashing rockers that can easily be remembered.

See, the thing about commercial albums is, it's not about the album itself but about the songs. Many are memorable, but some are not. Any band wanting to have more global appeal can achieve that goal, and Queensryche has certainly done that in Empire...

As the opener "Best I Can" rolls in, you are thrown into a dimension where the prog-rock of Rush and the hard rock of Van Halen collide, guided by vocalist Geoff Tate and his emotional instrumentation crew. Although more of a rock-ish tune, it makes me quite happy. The guitar strength of the mighty duo of Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton is maintained by Mindcrime, but the bridge and lack of drama in the chorus seems to make the song a bit bumpy despite the vocals and guitars being crystal clear. Still a solid start! "The Thin Line" is more metallic with some synths, but rather forgettable. Same with "Jet City Woman", which also has more classy glam, yet the singing isn't so strong.

One other progressive song here is "Della Brown", a great throwback to the more complex side of Mindcrime. It shows how different that album is from Empire. Here, instead of being a concept album spreading through all the songs, the lyrics of crime and drugs are only centered in that hard rock song. A more metallic standout "Another Rainy Night (Without You)" drives through strong guitar and bass, especially in the chorus. The title track is the heaviest song here. The lyrics center around corruption of race, and Tate's wide-ranged vocals in the chorus are worth appreciating. There's a bit of goofiness in the spoken part, but the song is still a majestic metal highlight. "Resistance" also has some metal, though nowhere near as memorable as the previous track.

"Silent Lucidity" is the one Queensryche song that practically everyone knows outside the metal and progressive realms. It's a beautiful rock ballad with notes in perfect harmony. I used to not like this song because of how popular it is for a non-metal song, but after listening to Extreme's "More Than Words" that was released in the same year, I've realized that the beauty of a song for me doesn't always come from metal. I find myself a little more accepting for non-metal songs from metal artists being popular singles. A highlight that's not the best, but I totally understand its appeal. However, "Hand on Heart" isn't all that great. "One and Only" is one more metal track, and while some parts are forgettable, it's still a great standout. "Anybody Listening?" is another power ballad, though much weaker. There's a cool electric chorus, but it's still a poor way to head out, especially when the album closes with a one-minute outro of rain ambience.

Empire is certainly a far different album from metal genres that I'm used to like the more hardcore ones. Heavier Queensryche fans may be disappointed that there's more hard rock added to their earlier heavy metal, but most other hard rock bands can't surpass this band in the heights of memorability....

Favorites: "Best I Can", "Della Brown", "Another Rainy Night (Without You)", "Empire", "Silent Lucidity", "One and Only"

Astral Doors is a band that made it big in the heavy/power metal realms but not quite elsewhere. With their 2003 debut Of the Son and the Father, they set a path that their subsequent albums would take. However, I don't feel the memorable flame of glory that I once had from other power metal bands. Still this takes me lightyears beyond this world into a realm of astral fantasy... Of the Son and the Father is quite a Dio-inspired album. I have listened to some of the late Dio's material including his 3 albums with Rainbow and a few anthems from this solo work, so I'm familiar with the themes of magic and sorcery. There are hooks with lots of power, but the power doesn't last long. Those Dio songs are quite anthemic and more sticky to your mind, something a little hard to achieve in this album.

So what are the things that make this otherwise solid album lack eventfulness? There are melodic chords, but the riffing sounds too traditional. We have well-done leads to enjoy, though could've been more remarkable. The band can make catchy guitar grooves worth headbanging to. The keyboard work doesn't have much power metal cheese, instead closer to the jazz organ used by Deep Purple and Rainbow. The keyboards cover pretty much 99% of the album's length! They fit perfectly well with the guitars in some places, though when they have one of their alternating battles, it's more playful than serious. The drums have standard kicks that also work greatly with the guitar riffing. The bass isn't so audible, but it shines when it's slow and thick. The member who really stands out is vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson who's also in epic progressive power metallers Wuthering Heights. He has a rawer and slightly whiny voice compared to mighty Dio in the verses, whereas the chorus show his energetic delivery.

"Cloudbreaker" is an amazing opening track with catchy hooks, showing the impressive songwriting not too far off from other bands reviving the classic heavy metal of Dio. The album is actually titled Cloudbreaker in Japan, as the band's Japanese label objected to the original album title and cover art that shows crucified priests. However, the reduction of memorability starts with the original album's title track. The chorus tries to sound catchy but ends up forgettable. Same with "Hungry People", enough said. "Slay the Dragon" is quite catchy, like how metalcore bands like Trivium, August Burns Red, and Shai Hulud are catchy for me while in a whole different genre.

"Ocean of Sand" continues that kind of catchiness. However, "In Prison for Life" has too much of a Thin Lizzy-infused hard rock thing going on. It sounds far more miserable than epic throughout those 4 minutes. I suppose despite that and the mundane verse-chorus style, they didn't want to feel too pompous. "The Trojan Horse" isn't that great either. Their attempt at a slow dirge crawls in a painful way.

Approaching greater fury is "Burn Down the Wheel", driving through lead/rhythm intensity. Another cool highlight is "Night on the Witch". My favorite track here in the album is "Rainbow in Your Mind", with mighty strength to love. "Man on the Rock" has grittier power metal riffing to foreshadow that of Amaranthe (ONLY the riffing is similar).

Of the Son and the Father marks the band's solid entrance into the scene with mostly amazing tracks. However, a few of them are a bit dull and iffy and could've been improved to bring the album to perfect glory. This is Dio-inspired classic heavy metal right here! I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys the catchy anthems of Dio's heavy metal sound. Just don't take the lower-quality tracks too seriously....

Favorites: "Cloudbreaker", "Slay the Dragon", "Ocean of Sand", "Burn Down the Wheel", "Night on the Witch", "Rainbow in Your Mind"

Maudlin of the Well has been my favorite avant-garde metal band for a few years, but I think it's time to pass that torch over to its direct successor, Kayo Dot. Their debut Choirs of the Eye was a difficult album to find for me a couple years ago, even on YouTube, but finally it's here! And it's perhaps the most brilliant offering of unpredictable avant-garde metal I've heard today. Why try to achieve it all in so many short songs when it can be done in 5 mostly long tracks?

I'm sure even the more doomy metalheads will be impatient with how slow things go. But the music is atmospheric to keep you transcending before something unexpected happens, like a more diverse Isis.

The opener "Marathon" has ambient saxophone in the two and a half minute intro. Then BOOM!!!! Heaviness comes on with beautiful singing and vicious growls/screams. It keeps switching from ambient to heavy while moving things slowly. Next track "A Pitcher of Summer" is shorter than the other tracks at only 6 minutes long. It's calm without much of a structural setting, in which the buildup seems to teether up and down before having more haunting loudness. There's even some Radiohead-esque singing.

"The Manifold Curiosity" has so much to explore, as more instruments and vocal styles are added to the arsenal. 4 and a half minutes into the track, the soft ambience is broken by a melodic explosion with a huge variety of jazzy instruments that not a lot of metal bands can add without tainting their sound. From the 10-minute mark onwards, there's more intense chaos. How intense?! It's actually in the same level as Strapping Young Lad with Converge-like screaming rage, especially at the very end with a brief moment of grind-ish metalcore. A truly heavy and artsy epic!

Next up, "Wayfarer" is a haunting yet lovely song. The singing drama and Psycho-like violin screeches get the song a bit of a horror vibe. I also like that good solo. The final epic "Antique" starts off with the usual slow ambience then builds up some heaviness, at one point reaching the intensity of The Dillinger Escape Plan, another brief grind-ish metalcore moment! Then it all quiets down for a long piano outro, similar to the end of TDEP's final album Dissociation, but with a more jazzy background.

Well the jazzy side of this album isn't as much as Maudlin of the Well. Choirs of the Eye can be considered a unique brand of doomy post-/avant-garde metal with a few brief moments of grind-ish metalcore and alt-prog rock. Ya like jazz? Ya like rock? Ya like metal? Give this perfect masterpiece a go. Bring more life to music appreciation!

Favorites: "Marathon", "The Manifold Curiosity", "Antique"

Aaannnd the metal is gone. A lot of it. Scorpions had just started making their move to the hard rock/pop rock era that would sadly become more popular than their metallic past. Pretty much the only exact thing in common is the return of the controversial album covers, with the cover photo by erotic photographer Helmut Newton.

That is the problem with several rock/metal bands starting off in the 70s. All their glory in that decade starts fading away in the 80s, and most of those bands have no chance in bringing it back. Scorpions is one of those bands with Love at First Sting. While similar to Blackout in terms of formula, almost all the heavy greatness of that album has been replaced with cheesy glam for the sake of commercial success. There's good music and some more killer riffing/soloing, but except a lot of highs and lows...

Starting things off promising is "Bad Boys Running Wild" that still has a bit of metal riffing and soloing despite the more commercial direction. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" rocks much more like a glam/hard rock hurricane, but I kinda recognize it as a classic. The downers start with "I'm Leaving You" having more lightness than tightness.

"Coming Home" starts calm in the intro verse for a little too long, but then it explodes into the last of their remaining speedy heavy metal to enjoy. "The Same Thrill" also has speed, but the rock is more dominant than metal and sounds terrible. "Big City Nights" is a good anthem of party rock (not that LMFAO sh*t) with Priest-like guitar power.

"As Soon as the Good Times Roll" doesn't have much of the metal madness, with the rhythm clashing with ska, but that kind of crossover works quite well. "Crossfire" has a darker military-esque marching beat. It's a little bad, but not as bad as... The ballad many people know, "Still Loving You". It's just highly unnecessary and unfitting, and it's the unfortunate sign of their softer era to come. Sonata Arctica performed that song much better when they covered it as an upbeat power metal tune.

So this album Love at First Sting is quite overrated. I wouldn't say it's completely bad, but when the band starts losing their metal steam and heading off in a more commercial path, there's not much that can appeal to a metalhead like me. The heavier side of Scorpions has pretty much faded away. That stings....

Favorites: "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Coming Home", "Big City Nights", "As Soon as the Good Times Roll"

Right before Scorpions began losing much of their heaviness in subsequent albums, such as the chart-hitting Crazy World and the painfully experimental Eye II Eye. People who have checked out those albums are gonna regret not hearing their earlier heavier albums. Blackout is quite amazing! A f***ing great offering of 80s hard rock/metal.

This is probably the center of the band's direction in their tenure. The 5 albums before Blackout are filled with twisted hard rock/heavy metal anthems, with only a few commercial-sounding songs and several ballads throughout. In the albums after Blackout, it's almost just commercial hard rock/pop rock with barely any metal. Blackout marked that true balance between those eras. They were able to write catchy hooks strong enough to fit well with the metal that shows the last of its dominance here.

The album starts with a throwback to the catchy heavy insanity of Virgin Killer with the opening title track. This is pure heavy metal, almost having the speed of speed metal, with riffing that's hard to ignore, performed by guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs. I'm starting to realize that Jab is one of the finest guitarists in classic hard rock/heavy metal, in the same level as the band's previous lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth. A shredding man of steel! Vocalist Klaus Meine performs some of his finest vocal work to date. He's awesome at his singing there, and even sing-screaming, ending with some raven cawing at the end, high enough to literally shatter glass, like in the album cover (odd, but not following any of the controversial aspects of previous album covers). I think his vocal cord surgery really enhanced his range. And I think the original has much more power than its re-recording 3 decades later. "Can't Live Without You" dominates again with speedy rock/metal. You can hear how brilliantly Jabs shreds in the song, and that kind of shredding is hard to find in their subsequent releases. In fact, most of his leads throughout the song are solos! Another spectacular anthem! People know "No One Lies You" as a single. That opening solo will keep you on your seat. It's so cheesy, yet something the more classic metalheads would much rather hear than the band that pushed earlier heavy metal off its reign of popularity (Nirvana and its grunge sound). It's an irresistible mid-paced sing-along. The rhythm section of bassist Francis Buchholz and drummer Herman Rarebell works well with the soloing and singing insanity. It's like AC/DC but far better and more metallic!

"You Give Me All I Need" continues that mid-tempo pace, but it slows down into a generic ballad in the verses. Still we don't get to hear full-on mainstream rock until at least the band's next album. "Now!" has more metal energy to enjoy wish there could've been more of because of the song's short length. "Dynamite" is a bit dull in the riffing but has some great power, like it probably could've worked just as well in their next album. It's a bit generic, but you know how kick-A the band can get. The verses and soloing will certainly "kick your a** to heaven!"

So "Arizona" exists... And I'm talking about it! People seem to overlook this track, but it's quite underrated. It's so emotional, tight, and filled with rock/metal. Just get it ASAP! Still the greatest highlight is coming up next... It's time to really hear what these guys really were as a rock/metal band with the 7-minute epic "China White", the ultimate heavy metal engravement in Scorpions' legacy stone. The heaviness can surely beat what Maiden and Priest put out that year, and even material from earlier thrash bands, with its godly Sabbath-like slow marching pace. This would make you want to raise your fist and tell the catchy pop sh*t to f*** off and let this true metal foundation out and spread to different bands. And don't forget Meine's unique singing! The emotional "When the Smoke Goes Down" is a good ballad, but not the best way out.

I recommend this historical metal greatness to any fan of the genre. This is Scorpions' true heavy metal offering which they sadly f***ing discarded most of from their next albums onwards. Don't back out from the Blackout!

Favorites: "Blackout", "Can't Live Without You", "Now!", "Arizona", "China White"

At this point, I'm starting to wonder, am I really one of the few people who actually thinks the majority of Scorpions' late 70s/early 80s material is metal enough to deserve their right in this site? I mean, the sharp riffing and upbeat tempo just scream metal to my ears! Of course, Scorpions is still the hard rock band they've been known for. And for this album, the cover art is at a more tame level without any need for an alternate, though not without a small bit of controversy over it.

The classic lineup of vocalist Klaus Meine, rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker, lead guitarist Matthias Jabs, bassist Francis Buchholz, and drummer Herman Rarebell are back at it again! Animal Magnetism shows the German hard rock/metal masters continuing their formula that would later propel them into global fame.

The popular opener "Make It Real" already displays the sharp riffing of hard rock/metal. Same with "Don't Make No Promises (Your Body Can't Keep)", this time cranking up the tempo for a good metallic time. Now that's the kind of structure that would make the band big and pave the way for the commercial sound of their next two albums. Then we get to the slower mid-tempo formula of "Hold Me Tight". If you're frustrated about your partner with a straining relationship, tell them to "ALL RIGHT!!! Have it your way!"

Another underrated track for this 21st Century young man (me) is "Twentieth Century Man". Buchholz's bass sound audible there! The powerful beauty of the ballad "Lady Starlight" sounds cliche, but hey, it's the Scorpions! They have to have at least one ballad per album. More of Meine's stellar vocals can be found in "Falling in Love".

"Only a Man" is another track foreshadowing Scorpions' later sound. An anthem dedicated to New York City is the highly popular "The Zoo", which actually has more charm than when I first reviewed it in the October Guardians playlist. The chorus is melodic while having aggressive metal fury in the leads, hard to match in most of the band's other tracks with its bouncy groove. The slow title finale can still pounce like a hyena on a zebra, and that hyena (Klaus) laughs smugly in the end after enjoying his feast.

Hearing albums like this decades after they come out has made me realize the appeal of their pathway to success. Animal Magnetism isn't as successful as the albums that followed it, but it was the spark they needed to make those albums happen. The elements they have for that are right here, so get ready to feel the sting!

Favorites: "Don't Make No Promises (Your Body Can't Keep)", "Twentieth Century Man", "Falling in Love", "The Zoo", "Animal Magnetism"

Scorpions' controversial album cover streak continues in this album Lovedrive. Is it strange or wrong that find this cover art quite funny? Probably. A man was bored in a taxi ride with his wife to a formal ceremony (their own car broke down earlier), and he was chewing gum. He wanted to have a little fun during the long ride, so he spat out the gum to his hand, pulled down one side of his wife's dress, slapped his gum onto her exposed breast, and started stretching it out. That's the best scenario I can think of for that un-P.C. moment. And of course, an alternate cover was used for editions of the album released in other countries like the US. Anyway...

Lovedrive would've surpassed Taken by Force if Uli Jon Roth was still their guitarist instead of Matthias Jabs who's been with the band ever since. Roth was a talented member of Scorpions (except for his horrid vocal contributions). His metallic noise had really blown the roof off in the albums that he was in. But that's not to say Jabs is super bad at all, he's really good too. Lovedrive is another solid album by the band in which hard rock/metal anthems are in great balance with radio-friendly ballads.

"Loving You Sunday Morning" is a catchy hard rock tune. A sign of their later work, but still a pretty cool opener. Sprinting through a more speedy hard rock/heavy metal sound is "Another Piece of Meat". I almost wanna call this album "Loverace"!

Disappointingly, we end up slowing down for the dull power ballad "Always Somewhere", sadly one of the band's most popular non-single songs. "Coast to Coast" is a rock instrumental. I don't know why they chose not to add vocals to that track. That would've given the track a more memorable swing. However, what's really a full-out highlight here is "Can't Get Enough". It's a crushing heavy tune that would have Van Halen, Judas Priest, and Motorhead dropping their jaws, being a speed metal assault leaning into thrash. This is Scorpions at their most metallic. Relentless guitar, bass, and drums attack with punches. And they still bring the house down by performing it live. Awesome!

For the next track "Is There Anybody There?"... Reggae? No thanks. Reggae-infused rock/metal? Yes please! Even when playing a genre that you never usually hear mixed with rock/metal, the song is written quite well. You can even hear Jabs jamming along in the soloing with former member Michael Schenker (Rudolf's brother). The title track comes on as another metal highlight, though not as menacing as Judas Priest. The riffing gallops along like a horse. It probably would've worked well as a live staple, and while it isn't, we shall let "Can't Get Enough" get all the live glory. The effective closing ballad "Holiday" shows Klaus Meine's vocals taking on a fantastic bittersweet mood. A far better ballad than "Always Somewhere" and the closing ballad of Taken by Force!

The whole reason why I'm still listening to and reviewing Scorpions albums is just so I can determine which of their albums are metal or not, especially Blackout which is said to be their most metal album. For now, we have this solid 70s rock/metal cruise in Lovedrive, despite a couple questionable moments leaving me scratching my head....

Favorites: "Another Piece of Meat", "Can't Get Enough", "Lovedrive", "Holiday"

Ask any modern metalhead who likes young bands that mix metal with native influences who their favorite band is, and the common answer would be Alien Weaponry. This New Zealand band shook the world with their Maori brand of thrashy groove/alt-metal. Their work has been praised in countries like the U.S. and Finland. 3 years after their debut Tu, the band has presented a new album, Tangaroa. And it might just come close to surpassing Trivium's In the Court of the Dragon as my best album of 2021!

Alien Weaponry is not just about writing riffs and creating the best music they could make, it's about their local art and culture. They goal is to make sure Maori culture is heard of beyond New Zealand. While some songs are in English, many others take on the Maori language, or as they like to call it, te reo. With lyrical themes of history, colonialism, and the environment, they're almost like a less progressive and more historical Gojira. And the language perfectly matches the metal rhythm. The riff groove is certainly what you gotta look out for that balance.

The opening track "Titokowaru" (18) starts with some Maori warriors chanting while rowing their boat over stormy seas. Then the storm becomes pummeling as fast riff groove comes in. The verses have a simple melody that pushes along like when those warriors push their oars, as the seas have different layers. It also fits well for a gym workout. An excellent boat-rower! "Hatupatu" (Struggle) is where the rhythms get more progressive and the riffing has more aggression, already taking on some Gojira vibes. There's some tribal depth in the drums, and the kit is really handled with care. Lots of interesting rhythm to add to the atmosphere. Next up, "Ahi Ka" (Burning Fires) is the first single of the album, released only under a year after Tu. It seems picks up stylistically where Tu left off. In 1952, while preparing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Auckland, the City Council thought they would make the city look more beautiful by exiling Ngāti Whātua people from their homes and burning down their village. The dark music is in perfect fit with that tragic event. The title track is about how marine wildlife is suffering climate change and fishermen wanting to grab endangered species. The band start adding in some English lyrics, for anglophone fans to follow. Alien Weaponry and Gojira can really raise environmental awareness while staying aggressive.

The slow progressive "Unforgiving" has lyrics of mental health. Frontman Lewis de Jong seems to have written those lyrics in his perspective with his heart-piercing vocals. The song sounds a bit jazzy in some places, but it's all part of the band's interesting direction of different horizons. Then "Blinded" switches gears to the band's groove side, as the crushing riffs and drums drive through. That single came out as early as "Ahi Ka", two months after that single. The te reo lyrics are on again with their next track "Kai Whatu" (People Food) (wait, that's almost the same translation as "Kai Tangata"), which is worth great headbanging. From the long heavy intro with tribal percussion, you know you're in for a killer track. There's even some extreme prog there in terms of the overall sound, with some distance in the vocal range. Next track "Crooked Monsters" has more ambience, starting with a two-minute psychedelic intro. Lots of experimentation here, including complex riffing and the vocals that only appear in the second half.

The ultimate heavy highlight here "Buried Underground", more of a nu-ish groove metal track. You can mosh along to that opening riff in live performances. "Dad" has another one of the best intro riffs. De Jong performs some more of his intriguing vocals in different styles, and he isn't breaking boundaries, he's expanding them! Lots of emotional aggression in his voice, along with the vocals of bassist Ethan Trembath. Then we have another mostly instrumental track, "Ihenga" (Ratio). As the album is reaching its end, the band decided to add as many indigenous vibes as they could with their instruments and songs. And did I say this track is mostly instrumental? Yes, the vocals don't appear until the 3-minute mark is a strong beautiful section of te reo vocal choirs. Just close your eyes and visualize a Maori land with all your knowledge of the culture and region. And finally, "Down the Rabbit Hole" regains some Gojira vibes in the riffing and atmosphere. It's slightly more industrial-sounding and less progressive, but the vibes are still there. For any metalheads wanting Alien Weaponry and Gojira to tour together, their dream has come true with an American tour in support of the album.

Well, there you go! Another perfect addition to the discography of a band that has made up for the lack of desired authenticity from other bands. Alien Weaponry has made their sound big with an organic lookback at their culture. All equally sharing their moments are all the instruments and vocals. Bass groove, drumming aggression, riff melody and vocal power are all keys to the sound. I've already mentioned the sounds of sailing through water at the very start of the album, and they really fit in with the theme. By the time, we reach the next decade, the band will already be close to age 30 and probably reach at last album #5, and they'll remember the strong history they've made with their first two albums. But for now, they continue to rule the modern metal world and will unleash the moshing monsters, with the glory of this perfect offering by their side!

Favorites: "Titokowaru", "Ahi Ka", "Tangaroa", "Kai Whatu", "Buried Underground", "Dad"

Anacrusis has reached a greater progressive height in their tech-thrash sound. Their two albums before this one showed subtle hints of progressiveness, but with Manic Impressions, they have reached their signature style that has formed the bridge between the thrash of Testament and the prog of Voivod. This album and Coroner and Dark Angel's respective albums that year form the 1991 tech-thrash triptych!

Manic Impressions shows a new vision for Anacrusis, along with a different drummer, Chad Smith (not the guy from Red Hot Chili Peppers, though that would be quite cool), whose skills added to the complexity. Soft breaks and multiple time signatures have become more common than before, as are the mid-paced progressive aspects that would be in full force in their swan song album Screams and Whispers. With the songs and lyrics in cohesive flow, you can almost consider this a concept album when it isn't. Not every album has nothing but strong songs, but this album stands out as that.

"Paint a Picture" opens the prog-thrash gates as the talented voice of Kenn Nardi crashes in. Their cover of "I Love the World" by New World Army is so unique, you might end up thinking it's the band's own original song. The riffing in "Something Real" shows that their influence from bands like Metal Church is real. If music from other bands can enter their minds subconsciously, that's an interesting motive.

Breaking away from any tiredness, "Dream Again" unleashes some brutal death-infused rage in an absolute highlight to stun even fans of hardcore bands like Vicious Circle. "Explained Away" is another masterpiece of progressive thrash, as dark atmosphere and intense heaviness collide in a dramatic mix. The best and most ominous riffing comes in "Still Black", which continues this perfect streak as is my personal favorite here. "What You Became" has more spine-chilling darkness to discover and possibly become with once you're already immersed into the experience.

"Our Reunion" has some of the most memorable thrash here, perfectly balanced with the mid-paced sections surrounding, slowing down to heavier doom in the second half. "Idle Hours" experiments with a more melodic progressive metal sound that there would be more of in Screams and Whispers. The atmospheric riffing works quite well especially in the technical ending. Wrapping things up as an atmospheric heavy ballad is "Far Too Long", with some of the most compelling leads to be heard from the band.

All in all, Manic Impressions is an album any tech-thrash/progressive metal fan should hear. Just brush aside the muddy production and let the dark technical emotion in the music and lyrics show you what progressive tech-thrash is all about!

Favorites: "I Love the World", "Dream Again", "Explained Away", "Still Black", "Our Reunion"

Anacrusis has made another solid prog-ish tech-thrash album that is 1990's Reason! It is another stormy collection of tracks with doomy leads and thrashy riffs blended together. And within the frenzy roam nihilistic lyrics. All of these make this album one of the more diverse albums in the classic thrash era. They've added in more focus than what they had in Suffering Hour, though the soundscape is more narrow while having some variation. The guitar duo can perform godly riffs leaping between speed, prog, and doom, while the bass and drums pound in different times and places. The Slayer-esque leads sound technical and melodic to add to the speed. However, the creepy ambience might come out as confusing when bringing the writing out to sound.

If anyone thought Suffering Hour was crushing, Reason has a more lethal balance of headbanging thrash and occasional doom. Having different variations of speed in the technical riffing is something Coroner has also done. Fast doom, slow thrash, plus a bit of hardcore groove. Vocalist Kenn Nardi has matured in his usual shrieks and shouts. The same can be said for the poetic lyrics. Emotions, fears, and doubts sound more confident without lecturing the listener, and that's what makes the lyrics stand out here. Nardi knows how to phrase them well enough to be taken seriously...

Attracting you right away is "Stop Me", hinting at their later progressive thrash as Nardi's soaring vocals guide you through atmospheric heavy riffing. Without too much repetition, the dark "Terrified" has moments leaning into brutal death in the instrumentation, in a similar technique to their debut, but with more polished frets. "Not Forgotten" starts off with punky bass that then warms up for moshing riffing and vocals in the chorus. "Wrong" has epic madness form Nardi's vocals and riffs.

"Silent Crime" starts off sounding like a serene ballad, but then it immediately takes on their memorable thrash sound, complete with semi-shrieked choruses. "Misshapen Intent" adds more speed in the well-written chorus and intricate time changes for the guitar to breeze through. More of the impressive lyrical writing makes "Afraid to Feel" another fantastic track. "Child Inside" is another track to enjoy for more of the pure thrash of Suffering Hour and 80s Anthrax. It's not the most technical here, but there's much more of the technicality to come...

"Vital" is a bit creepy, while you get to hear melodic riffs speed up by the second half for some essential prog-thrash shredding. "Quick to Doubt" ends things quick without a doubt as a standout finale with fast guitars of moshing anger that sometimes pauses for a breath-catching break. The CD edition has two bonus track, starting with what's actually my favorite in the album overall, "Killing My Mind". I wish this was in the actual album so I can give bump the rating up a half-star. This is an intense track that starts off as a mid-tempo doom march with Nardi's vocals ranging from low to high before suddenly bursting into the usual speedy thrash. Lots of excellent riffing form an insane cauldron thrash that ends with the earlier doom march. The second CD bonus track "Injustice" sounds like a more proper ending for this album.

Reason is an offering of solid greatness from this underrated band. The chemistry within the band is so unique. The destructive intensity of this band was overlooked in a time when alt-metal bands like Alice in Chains and Tool started to appear. The lack of attention the band received is a good reason why they should've been given a chance....

Favorites: "Stop Me", "Wrong", "Silent Crime", "Afraid to Feel", "Quick to Doubt", "Killing My Mind"

Now what is this? A thrashy debut album from a band that would take on a progressive thrash style in 1993 and subsequent tour with Death? Absolutely right! Suffering Hour came out in 1988 when thrash was at its highest peak, and this album is an interesting work of art to enjoy that's ahead of time...

There's just so much stylistic talent going on beyond thrash, but they never go as heavy as death metal. Maybe if Anacrusis didn't split up after their 1993 album and tour with Death, they would follow that band's progressive death metal footsteps? Anyway, Suffering Hour drifts away from the more traditional thrash for more of a tech-thrash sound hinting at their progressive tendencies. The diversity ranges from slow melodic leads to fast thrashy riffs, from booming bass soloing to furious guitar shredding.

First track "Present Tense" has a lot of insane creativity. "Imprisoned" expands on that in perfect wild chaos, especially near the 3-minute mark. However, the vocals get carried around too much in "R.O.T. (Reign of Terror)", in which the screaming gets too tiring. Nonetheless, Kenn Nardi has a unique voice despite how grating it might be.

The rollercoaster ride of the first two songs is not always exhibited, with the slow "Butcher's Block". Then we have the catchy "A World to Gain" that sounds closer to melodic speed metal, maybe even power metal. I should mention "Frigid B***h" that starts off slow before exploding into violent punk-ish speed, with lyrics that sound like Nardi wrote this about his ex-girlfriend. At that point, there should be something like a slow ballad for more of their adventurous diversity, but ultimately they don't have that. But that's OK because... Thrash all the way, baby!

"Fighting Evil" has a nice sing-along chorus which makes me surprised that this song (or any of the other ones here) wasn't converted into a single in classic metal's golden decade. "The Twisted Cross" is a bit restrained for a long epic, with the two-minute intro being a bit draggy. "Annihilation Complete/Disemboweled" doesn't do a lot for me, despite sounding like Annihilator at that time.

Despite the bumpy last couple tracks, Suffering Hour is another original tech-thrash album. It is one of the most extreme albums in thrash, though Dark Angel and Sadus have more strength and fire....

Favorites: "Imprisoned", "A World to Gain", "Frigid B***h", "Fighting Evil"

Of Mice & Men continue to stand strong with their alt-metal/metalcore sound in their latest offering filled with many catchy and heavy tracks as always. Tether is actually the most atmospheric they've ever gone, almost as much as Silent Planet, but not enough to be considered post-metal or, more accurately, post-metalcore. Nonetheless, there's always room for emotional anthems.

Wow! As they continue to grow, they can still sound as wonderful as they had 10 years ago. The blend of heaviness and melody continues to shine, though they're going back to their more melodic side from the mid-2010s.

Starting track "Integration" has the usual metalcore heaviness while more melody-focused. The rhythm section kicks through alongside Aaron Pauley's clean singing in this strong standout. "Warpaint" unleashes their earlier metalcore rage with screams and blasts in the verses, in great contrast with the slower clean chorus. "Shiver" reigns on the calmness throne as Pauley's clean harmonies fit well with the synths, guitars, and bass. Brilliant!

Opening "Eternal Pessimist" is a synth buildup leading into an intense track with more of the screamed vocals and punishing instrumentation. The crushing riffing levels up the heaviness. "Into the Sun" is an awesome favorite of mine. Once again, the synth buildup into heavy drums is around, this time laying out a more melodic structure. Still there's as much heaviness as the hammer of Thor. Truly amazing! "Enraptured" has a lot to expect from their metalcore side; pure heaviness in the drumming and riffing, with both clean and screamed vocals. "Castaway" has more of all that, but the catchy melody and clean vocals take the spotlight.

The title track is another standout, despite its more stripped-down sound for the most part. Pauley's singing slowly ascends until the other members join in for the epic final chorus. "Indigo" is more ethereal while staying both melodic and heavy. The riffing and drumming add to the atmosphere led by Pauley's mesmerizing cleans. Closing track "Zephyros" has brilliant atmosphere. It is more of a jazzy synth-metal track that almost made me think of 2010s Leprous. A wonderous ending!

Tether is something different from what Of Mice & Men was before. The atmospheric soundscape allows you to feel the emotion much more. This astral experience is a new path for these modern metalcore titans, and we can only wonder what the band will do next. Quite promising!

Favorites: "Integration", "Shiver", "Into the Sun", "Tether", "Zephyros"

Scorpion's Uli Jon Roth trilogy marked the beginning of the band's hard rock sound with a metallic side. Roth was the key to the heaviness in the leads. I love his guitar playing, though I hate his singing in a few tracks from the previous two albums. The Roth album trio was also infamous for the controversial album covers. Well this album cover isn't controversial in the sexual/nudity sense, but I'll just say, this is why you shouldn't let kids dress up as cowboy gunmen in a soldiers' graveyard.

Taken by Force is another solid Scorpions album! The dark heaviness continues with a slight step up from their previous album. Roth's lyrics shine as well as his guitarwork, and thank heavens there's none of his god-awful vocals. Vocalist Klaus Meine is the real singing star here.

"Steamrock Fever" is a fast catchy start to this offering. Meine's vocals are rougher than in the previous album, and that I really like. The album's definite highlight is "We’ll Burn the Sky". This perfect rock/metal tune should've had more attention than the band's other popular slow songs. It starts off as a slow ballad than fastens into catchy heaviness, best exhibited in the awesome chorus. One of my favorite Scorpions songs ever, in all its beautiful melancholy! "I've Got To Be Free" has good simple rock.

"The Riot of Your Time" has the band's usual earlier darkness. The first one of the two Roth-written songs "The Sails of Charon" stands out with his good dark lyrical matter. The second Roth-written song "Your Light" even has a satanic vibe. Quite some cool Black Sabbath influence there.

"He’s a Woman, She’s a Man" has some humor while still being a legendary rocker. "Born to Touch Your Feelings" is the closing ballad, as is many Scorpions albums' ending tracks. It's good, but too long for a ballad. The final third of the track has several women from different countries speaking in their native language, from Japan, Suriname, Italy, the U.S. and Tahiti. Honestly though, that part is quite boring and doesn't help the extended length. Without it, this album would've been perfect.

Most people who have heard of Scorpions only know them from their newer ballads. That's a shame because they don't know what they're missing out in Taken by Force. Forget about the band's material from the 80s and beyond for a while and check out their 70s era. This album is a total view-changer!

Favorites: "We’ll Burn the Sky", "The Sails of Charon", "Your Light", "He’s a Woman, She’s a Man"

Rainbow's Dio trilogy were the albums that show the band's metallic side at its best alongside their usual hard rock. In fact, Rising was pretty much the first ever European-style power metal with 3 songs from that exemplifying what that genre is known for. Sadly, the band would never reach those amazing heights again after Dio left. So long live these albums from the colorful metallic kings while they last...

It was after their strong classic Rising and their live album On Stage. The band planned to make one more album that would have the special delivery of Ritchie Blackmore's guitar and Ronnie James Dio's vocals and maintain the magic of Rising. And did they do it? Yes they did! Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll is another amazing addition to the band's discography and Dio's career. They expand their heavy focus in their songs, while at the same time, continuing the versatile experimentation. And most of the songs have come out as f***ing fantastic, further solidifying the band's status as 70s hard rock/metal heroes.

The title opener has way more energy than just rock 'n' roll. The energy of hard rock/heavy metal! The mid-paced riffing allows the riffing and drumming to bounce through. Dio takes the spotlight once again and has lots of g****mn singing passion. Amazing guitar soloing that isn't so bluesy, but instead full-on metal power! And the final chorus keeps going on, which is quite catchy, but before you can get tired of it, it fades out. "Live! Live!! LIVE!!! LIVE!!!!" The mediocre but OK "Lady of the Lake" has rock riffs rather than metal. It still has potential in live shows though. "L.A. Connection" also has a bit of awkwardness despite having more of Dio's vocal spirit. Let the lyrical metaphors relate to sex and drugs, the slow repetitive riff is what my mind is fixated when I don't want it to be. However, it's still fine, never being totally embarrassing.

"Gates of Babylon" is an epic closer to the first half of the album that makes sure this offering remains another 4.5-star classic. It takes you on a journey through the Middle-East, both musically and lyrically, from the keyboard intro, to the mystical riffing, and the vocal power in the chorus. Although keyboardist Tony Carey was still around for a few other tracks in this album, David Stone stepped in with his own keyboard contributions in this track and a few others, here to provide an exotic atmosphere and get you hooked alongside Blackmore's riffs. I just really love that track! "Kill the King" doesn't explore as globally as that track but, having been heard as early as the band's tour, it's one of Rainbow's most well-loved tracks! It would plant the seed for speedy melodic bands like Heathen and Gamma Ray. Searing soloing, intense vocals, devastating drums, and booming bass make the song another one of the best here, and the only true power metal song here, since the power metal aspects from Rising were greatly reduced.

"The Shed (Subtle)" is also f***ing incredible, opening with beautiful guitar leads before the hellbent verses come in as a headbanging riff stomps through. The drumming by the late Cozy Powell drive through in power, while Bob Daisley's deep bass rumbles through as well. Quite unlike the previous two tracks, but another underrated favorite of mine! Throwing back to the band's debut is "Sensitive to Light", which I like for its melodic bridge. That melody makes sure this song isn't entirely boogie rock. Then it all ends with the unique closing track that is "Rainbow Eyes". It's actually a long quiet medieval folk-inspired tune that would foreshadow Blackmore's later project Blackmore's Night. Lots of emotion in the soft guitars and vocals, Renaissance-esque flute. It's quiet as f*** with barely any climax. Enjoyable, but not the best way to conclude a classic album.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll is the final part of Rainbow's amazing trilogy, and is the second-best of the trilogy, with the band's debut in 3rd place and Rising winning the gold medal. Sadly, Blackmore planned to move to a more commercial sound after their 3rd album, and Dio, disapproving of that idea, left the band and joined Black Sabbath. And thus ended Rainbow's era of promising glory. It was an amazing travel through bluesy hard rock, heavy metal, and even the earliest power metal ever, all summarized in this 3rd and last chapter. And all hopes for Dio to reunite with Rainbow are no longer possible. RIP... Long live their music!

Favorites: "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll", "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", "The Shed (Subtle)"

In 1976, people were getting tired of Black Sabbath's brand of heavy metal. Even that band was getting tired of that, getting ready to switch to a more hard rock sound in Technical Ecstasy. But then Judas Priest restored the genre and added more speed and energy in their second album Sad Wings of Destiny! Gone is the messy forgettable blues/hard rock of the 2.5-star debut Rocka Rolla. Instead, we have Rob Halford's aggressive singing shrieks and Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing's harmonic guitar melodies.

Like Black Sabbath's debut, the visual is worth the price of admission. The dark cover (Why's the angel dude dabbing!?), the gothic band logo, the fierce song titles... Judas Priest wanted to let the world know that they're not the bluesy hippies producer Rodger Bain forced them to be, but rather a band who wants to be the next Black Sabbath, but in a more unique way. While Judas Priest's sound is heavier, they still don't mind composing soft and long songs, albeit with most of the progressive aspects taken out for something more commercial. Also, note that side A and side B were switched after the original pressing. I like the more well-known tracklisting better, so let's dive into that...

Spawning from two earlier songs from other bands, "Whiskey Woman" and "Red Light Lady", "Victim of Changes" is truly a song that no Judas Priest fan can ever deny. Already it makes me feel curious about checking out the live rendition of that song and a few others in this album in Unleashed in the East. Although it is a single song, you can split it into a few parts, with smooth transitions, as the great riffing and soloing from the guitars continues to shine alongside the booming bass and Rob Halford's melodious screams. The ending part with the riff building up to the last of Halford's screams is the best part of the song and possibly the album, making up a lot for the lifeless quiet slow sections. An excellent piece of classic heavy metal that's hard to replicate! If that song is this album's "War Pigs", this next one is this album's "Paranoid"... "The Ripper" is a short track based on the notorious Jack the Ripper, in which Halford sings through a truly memorable chorus. It's so simple, yet that's the song's charm, practically inspiring the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that Saxon and Iron Maiden would kickstart a few years later. A cool riff creeps in at the center and speeds up, letting out a similar vibe to the Ripper's horrid actions. Then we have one more ripping scream by Halford. Next up, "Dreamer Deceiver" starts off with acoustic atmosphere with soft clean guitar and singing. If many later bands throughout the ages have the confidence to make soft metal ballads, this song is why, though it's a bit repetitive, while nowhere close to as dull as "Planet Caravan". Still I enjoy the long mellow soloing and Halford's screaming having more energy why the song stays at that slow speed.

It segues to another song that you might think is connected to the previous track as a suite because of its name, "Deceiver". It works much better midway through the album instead of at the end. However, it's quite mediocre. Not bad, but a bit disappointing when the speedy guitar riffing isn't as memorable as it should be. That's this album's "Iron Man". The album's still amazing though, and an interesting "Prelude" plays that is strange but marks a great start to the album's second half, with its booming synths and guitar. The monstrous song "Tyrant" is actually the greatest highlight here, slightly higher than "Victim of Changes". Pretty much everything great about the band at that time is displayed; heavy riffing, a fun pounding chorus, a necessary break, and best of all, a full-on guitar solo duel! That underrated classic really does the band justice.

There's a similar lyrical subject to the previous track in "Genocide" that's a bit deceiving with lack of energy, but still a really cool piece of early heavy metal. What makes that song stand out is when things really speed up at the end, and while Halford is tried out, he lets out the last bit of yelling he could do for this song. Piano and vocals are all you can hear in "Epitaph", which can be a struggle for any fans of Judas Priest and metal, but it breaks up the repetition. The piano is performed by Tipton while Halford sings in sweet bliss. He even layers his vocals with higher vocal tracks as if he's leading a choir, which is pretty impressive. Interesting, but not a song I would add to a metal playlist. It segues directly to the closing "Island of Domination" which marks a comeback for the monumental energy of the album's earlier classics. It's great hearing Halford's usual melodic shrieks and another pounder of a chorus. This oughta give me a great feeling for their next album Sin After Sin, if I ever feel like giving that one a go.

Sad Wings of Destiny is an amazing album that I recognize as a classic in early heavy metal. And as a young metalhead who's had much experience with the classic past as the modern present, I can really see the appeal. This melodic album was the definition of heaviness in 1976, though highly different from the definition of heaviness that was given to Suffocation's debut 15 years later. Sure the more mainstream Priest listeners can praise British Steel, but Sad Wings of Destiny has heavy metal classics that has seen the band break free from their bluesy roots. This would even set the stage for when metal becomes faster in the 80s, infused with the punk explosion in that decade. The few songs that don't reach true glory prevent the album from being totally perfect. Nonetheless, there are great treats in this heavy metal game-changer to behold!

Favorites: "Victim of Changes", "The Ripper", "Tyrant", "Genocide", "Island of Domination"

So, this is where it all begins... The rock genre that has since spawned countless subgenres. The main topic of this site. HEAVY METAL. The quartet of guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne are who you gotta thank for starting this awesome genre. I suppose you also gotta thank Iommi's friend, his factory foreman for giving Iommi back his confidence to play guitar after an industrial accident cost him two of his right hand's fingertips, by playing a recording of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt who could still play despite losing the use of two fingers in a fire. On top of that, Iommi tuned his guitar down in some songs as low as D-flat to bend the strings easier, and that help pioneer the heavy aspect of lower tunings in metal. Anyway, there's also the lyrical concept which, unusual for rock bands at that time, was darkness and horror. This came from a horror movie cinema across the street from their studio, with one of the movies shown there, Black Sabbath, inspiring the name of the band (previous known as Earth, name later taken by an American drone metal band 20 years later), their first song, and their first album. The scary atmosphere the band would add to their songs would form the basis of their debut album. This is... BLACK SABBATH!

With the band's vision becoming a great success, it was like the beginning of a new era. Not just a new era... A new GENRE! Earlier bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin (still not metal, SIT DOWN, guys) and The Who may have been known as noisy trailblazers, but Sabbath took the noisiness to a different heavier level. Right from the visual, you know what this band and album is gonna be about. A frightening yet intriguing cover art of a pale woman in a black cloak with a watermill in the bleak background. And when you start playing that record, you'll be entering the most spooky yet pleasant experience of your life, a stormy realm with church bells ringing from afar...

Ladies and gentlemen, the title track of this album and band is heavy metal's big bang moment, with that melodic doomy riff in dark atmosphere being as impactful as the actual Big Bang! That tritone riff is actually inspired by the "Mars" segment of Gustav Holst's The Planets. And the lyrics are based on when Butler had a dream of a strange dark figure standing on the foot of his bed after he read an occult book Ozzy gave him. These lyrics are sung by Ozzy, whose vocal power is expressed from his scared cries of "Oh no! No! Please, God! Help me!" Still he tries some deeper notes which, even though they fail to get low, fits well with the angst. The riffing speeds up into fast hard rock/heavy metal for the last minute and a half, as Iommi shows his vibrato talent. If you're looking for the true beginning of heavy metal, that song is it right there! However, "The Wizard" is a different story. It's a harmonica-filled blues/hard rocker. Harmonicas aren't exactly the most metal instrument, but they make the song decently catchy, as does Ward's excellent drumming behind riffing effects. Ozzy's singing seems to hint at his later higher tone, but other than that, nothing super exciting.

"Behind the Wall of Sleep" is really great, though it has more of a stoner-ish blues rock sound. The title comes from a Lovecraft story and it's fits greatly with the atmosphere. A bass riff rumbles through under Ozzy's usual singing. "N.I.B." (Nativity in Black) continues the lyrical narrative idea they first had in the title opener, this one being more of a fictional devilish love story. Now listen, just because the band mentions the Devil, Satan, or Hell, etc., doesn't mean they worship any of that. They're against that, portraying them like they are bad things. Lucifer is depicted as the dark seductive antagonist he's meant to be. The riffing has that bluesy hard rock vibe of Cream, which is a little mundane, especially when Ozzy sings over it, but is made up for by the rest of the song being heavy metal/proto-stoner metal, especially in the slower sections. A brilliant hint at the genre they would establish! "Evil Woman" is a hard rock cover of a Crow song, which isn't so interesting, but it works well anyway.

"Sleeping Village" is a nice touch. I love the gloomy atmosphere caused by another rare instrument in metal, a Jew's harp. Whether or not it works, it's quite historical. Ozzy continues his deep emotional vocals that make younger vocalists wish they have that kind of sincerity. That I can consider a more prog-ish take on classic hard rock/heavy metal. "Warning" is also progressive in the sense that it's an over 10-minute-long jazzy jam. However, that's way too long and improvisational when covering a short blues song. Ozzy's vocals seem to flop a bit, but Iommi's soloing work well as the best part of the track along with the doomy atmosphere. An OK track, but too lengthy. "Wicked World" replaces "Evil Woman" in the American edition, and is also the bonus track in the 1996 European reissue. And let me tell you, that's an excellent replacement for "Evil Woman"! You can definitely hear "Wicked World" as an underrated stoner-ish hard rock/heavy metal classic. It starts with some fast punchy riffing. The bass drifts under Ozzy's skillful vocals that range from low to high in each verse. Unlike any of the other songs, this one has more political lyrics, albeit more simple than specific, while responding to all those happy hippy bands preceding them. Unfortunately, and you might hate me for this, Iommi's solo goes on for way too long and draggy, which is ironic considering his long solo in "Warning" is the only solid thing about that song. For "Wicked World", his soloing is just too rough. Still there's great power in his riffing as always.

I don't think any other album released in 1970 has ever been as historical as Black Sabbath's first two albums, with only Deep Purple in Rock being close to Black Sabbath's heavy greatness. Their debut is a revolutionary beginning of a new band, a new era, and a new genre. So put this record on and witness the birth of heavy metal!

Favorites: "Black Sabbath", "Behind the Wall of Sleep", "N.I.B.", "Sleeping Village", "Wicked World (bonus track)

You know how much I like when bands are in a transitional phase through albums. This once-metalcore/hardcore band Code Orange is already making their way towards alt-/industrial metal, and although Forever and Underneath will share the reign in that transition, The Above is an amazing continuation!

The band that would go on to perform massive tours and even a WWE concert started off as an underground high school band from Pennsylvania named Code Orange Kids. After releasing their debut Love Is Love/Return to Dust, they dropped "Kids" from their name and showed the world what they're capable of in I Am King and Forever. Then Underneath showed them adding a more industrial/alternative flavor to their metal/hardcore. With The Above, they drop the hardcore violence and let their new form emerge.

Heading right to the eccentric "Never Far Apart", it's like a harsher Massive Attack! Lead vocalist Jami Morgan performs moody whispering while guitarist Reba Meyers adds in her clean singing. The metal doesn't make its entrance until literally the last minute, in which repeated cries of "DO IT" echo before slowing down for the band's usual destructive breakdown. "Theatre of Cruelty" chugs through brutal groove that alternates with soft mesmerizing electronic sections and Morgan making his own attempt at clean vocals. The dirty moshing parts help break up the gloomy mood. A true Gateway anthem, the accessible yet total rocker "Take Shape" is a killer single. The one and only Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins performs his signature nasal singing over an ominous bridge, though the dark melody and harsh rhythm of the chorus really hits the spot for me. Hard yet smart writing! Adding a bit of grunge is "The Mask of Sanity Slips" has heavy yet harmonic chords before strange dark synths towards the end. Next track "Mirror" is an odd semi-acoustic ballad where the clean guitar strumming is in good arrangement with the drums, guitars, and synths. Totally different from I Am King!

The bombastic "A Drone Opting Out of the Hive" is a perfect hip-hop-ish industrial metal track. This crossover idea works so well! Then we have a highly different cut in "I Fly". Same with "Splinter the Soul" with pushes further away from the band's hardcore roots for some 90s-inspired alt-metal. The rhythm section consisting of Max Portnoy (from Tallah, and the son of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy) and bassist Joe Goldman has that undeniable groove. A 90s-inspired rock fest! The earlier heaviness shines the most in the earlier singles of the album, starting with the headbanging thrash of "The Game". The hardcore "Grooming My Replacement" is the closest the band has been to their savage past roots in a more industrial level. The distortion is Morgan's vocals makes him sound possessed, in this unique heavy production.

There's some electro-dark wave in "Snapshot". Another Smashing Pumpkins-infused track "Circle Through" isn't too surprising for that "Forever" band, if you can get used to the softer art pop section. The beauty reaches its high point in "But a Dream..." Killer chorus in that one! The title finale summarizing all that the band has stated. The exciting ominous crescendo of transcending vocals, chords, and leads shows their loud diversity. The changes in the beat and the dynamics are all in decent calculation and mark a climatic conclusion to this powerful journey.

The Above continues Code Orange's imagination in different eras. They look back at the past, stand by the present, and plan out their future, checking out different styles to add to their own. Their song delivery has always been in great display as they go above and beyond!

Favorites: "Never Far Apart", "Take Shape", "A Drone Opting Out of the Hive", "Splinter the Soul", "Grooming My Replacement", "But a Dream...", "The Above"

Most metalheads who start exploring heavy metal from the very first year begin with the first two Black Sabbath albums, but me? I'm starting with Deep Purple in Rock! Sure this album came out in the middle of the period between those two Black Sabbath albums' release, but you gotta acknowledge the fact that Deep Purple came before Black Sabbath, releasing 3 psychedelic/prog-rock albums in the late 60s. But once their lineup changed, so did everything else...

When vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover stepped in, the band dumped their psychedelic roots in exchange for something heavier. Deep Purple in Rock is a true start to metal alongside those Black Sabbath albums (SIT DOWN, Led Zeppelin). Deep Purple's raw heavy formula is something that is hard to replicate in subsequent albums.

Classic opener "Speed King" starts off the album in a bang with fast distorted shredding before fading into soft ambient organ. Then the hard rock/heavy metal rolls in, and you might not agree with me here, but this is practically proto-speed metal! Maybe close to speed rock? Still the organ shines in some sections. An upbeat way to begin this early example of a heavy metal album! "Bloodsucker" is more firm in catchy hard rock/heavy metal. The rhythm is worth praising, and so is the sweet soloing.

One track that takes a break from the formula is "Child in Time". I didn't say ALL the progressive/psychedelic roots were taken out! As much as some speed is still around in some sections, it mostly just slowly builds up without reaching a specific destination, though I do like the vocals here. While one of their more famous tracks, it's never really the best for me while still great. "Flight of the Rat" marks a solid comeback to the proto-speed metal, or speed rock, I don't know. "Into The Fire" has a more Sabbath-like direction, slower marching hard rock/heavy metal, coming close to proto-doom metal.

"Living Wreck" takes on a great hard rock groove. However, it seems like they keep following that same groove without much proper focus on a chorus, instead just trying to compromise with the same lyrical passage at the end of a verse. That song's still great though. Finally, "Hard Lovin' Man" is more of a Scorpions-like track, crossing through their earlier hard rock/heavy metal era. The riffing/soloing momentum drifts through the technical structure at ease.

Deep Purple in Rock offers a lot of tight heaviness and variety, and is the one Deep Purple album that truly does that. With that, it is an essential hard rock/heavy metal album and one of the true first of the latter genre. Practically any music lover should give this historical offering a listen!

Favorites: "Speed King", "Flight of the Rat", "Into the Fire", "Hard Lovin' Man"

If you wanna be technical, this is truly the first ever industrial metal album, to be recorded anyway. And already it sets the genre's aggressive synthetic tone. From the heart and mind of innovative inventors, listeners who had the chance to hear the sound when it was performed could hear a new modern future. One of humanity's complicated life of what's more moral and what's not. All told within compositions of sonic noise, industrial synths, and metal guitars. The damage done in society is impossible to fix, and this is the kind of music made by people who want to let out their thoughts of desperation in an instant, for people who have those same thoughts. The 80s was a decade when the noise-fueled genre of industrial was spreading over to rock, and later, metal, ready for our minds to be warned of mankind's peril...

1982 was when two Birmingham musicians B. C. Green and Paul Neville first started the band O.P.D. (Officially Pronounced Dead). Then a year later, they changed their band name to Fall of Because, taken from a song by industrial rock developers Killing Joke. Then another year later, Justin Broadrick entered the band as their drummer. The trio recorded a demo in 1986 titled Extirpate. Most of those songs, along with a few live tracks, make up the album Life is Easy, which was not released until 1999. Note that this band was an earlier incarnation of Godflesh, with a few Fall of Because songs later being-re-recorded for Godflesh's debut Streetcleaner and EP Merciless. What makes Fall of Because different from Godflesh is the primal production, Justin Broadrick using live drums instead of a drum machine, and the instrumentation sounding more punky while still having industrial noise. Though the vocals by Broadrick and Neville foreshadow that of Godflesh with their bleak cold shouts and melodies.

Beginning this cold isolated album is the devastating intro "Devastator", showing the best of Neville's guitar nose. That song was re-recorded for Godflesh's Streetcleaner along with the title track, with an approach easily compared to Swans before they moved out of their original industrial-noise sound at that time. Thanks to the dual guitar attack, bands like Pitchshifter would be able to emphasize their discordant lead work and help develop industrial metal. The dirtier side of the album that deviates from Godflesh's later glory is exhibited in the punky "Middle Amerika". Seems like they were more interested in punk than metal back in those days. The industrial rock of early Killing Joke and Swans is combined with a bit of the pre-grind punk of Napalm's Death Scum side A. Ironically, the monstrous "Grind" is a slow crawler.

"Ecstasy of Hate" shows that there's a noise-ridden side of industrial metal that is a polar opposite to the catchy melody of later bands like PAIN. "Malew***eslag" has more mellow yet noisy sludge. "Lifef***er-Sh*tsucker" has too much of the punky grind of early Napalm Death. "Merciless" is so slow and doomy, with powerful riffs crushing your spine and ripping it out from your neck. That's the kind of feeling induced from the sludgy bass and the heaviness brought forward from the 45-second mark onwards. The crushing riff may sound redundant, but the repetition is worth it. Justin's smashing vocals come close to growling. This could be used in a dramatic slow-motion movie fight scene. Midway through is a clean bridge that's also repeated. Everything is memorable here, though still behind the title track as the ultimate highlight. "Survive" is the first of the 3 live tracks, though this one is just a singular song, unlike the next two...

And now for the live shows, the first of which, "Fight Show" is worth a small journey. Although consisting of a few songs ("Empire of Lies", "Whiterock-Blackdeath", "Christian Motherf***er", and "Ecstasy of Hate"), when performed back to back, they actually form a top-notch multi-part 15-minute suite. The concert is infamous for a crowd fight in the middle of the setlist, with one of the members telling someone to go back to their "gothic s***hole in town". For the actual performance, it is one of the most intense live shows I've heard! Ex-Napalm Death members Mick Harris and Nik Napalm appear as guests, thus furthering the hardcore-industrial crossover. Sadly, the "Xmas Special" live recording doesn't sound as nice in quality, only there for the sake of history. The "Life is Easy" segment there is still good, but not "Calling" or "Submit-Suppress".

It's amazing how even when you think Godflesh started off big in their young years, an earlier developing demo from their earlier incarnation was hidden under Godflesh fans' noses for some time. Life is Easy would've made history as the first official industrial metal if it was released in 1987 as initially planned. I guess more extreme metalheads back then weren't too disappointed since Bathory's 3rd album and Mayhem's EP from that year turned out to be black metal's developing miracles. Anyway, while I don't favor this Fall of Because album as much as Godflesh's classics, it's still essential for those who want to hear the earliest industrial metal to ever exist....

Favorites: "Life is Easy", "Middle Amerika", "Ecstasy of Hate", "Merciless", "Fight Show", "Xmas Special" ("Life is Easy" segment only)

Upon seeing Extreme's Pornograffiti receive a review in this site, I knew I had to check it out. I felt like I couldn't live the rest of my life without the knowledge that there's a lot more of this band than just a f***ing acoustic radio ballad. The album came out in 1990, the twilight zone year between heavy metal's reigning era of the 80s and the 90s era where Nirvana and their legion of grunge took over. You might find this opinion amusing, but this album is actually more metal than the band Cinderella has ever been...

Of course, I can't ignore Extreme being part of the glam metal scene with their ridiculous aesthetics. Their hair is bigger than a lion's mane, and their lyrics are more personal and journal-worthy than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The vocals of Gary Cherone help give the band a heavier edge that differs from the wham-bam-glam of KISS and White Lion.

The opening highlight "Decadence Dance" had me worried at first this is just gonna be full-on glam metal with the piano and strings. Then the riffing makes a promising sinister riffing buildup then explodes into the heaviness that separates the band from the glam metal pack. Guitar master Nuno Bettencourt is a professional at performing solos, such as that of "Li'l Jack Horny". Then "When I'm President" has lyrics that are 3 decades behind the present day, but you can't resist Bettencourt's guitar harmonizing together with Cherone's vocals. Quite fun, with barely any disappointment! I'm shocked to hear some Parliament-esque funk blended into the band's metal in the aptly titled "Get the Funk Out" though not as shocked as I am about how heavy it is compared to this next more infamously famous track...

You know just what I'm talking about, the unfortunate acoustic ballad that is "More Than Words". I can't believe THAT SONG is what made this band exist in the mainstream, even though 90% of the rest of this album is nowhere near like that. Don't get me wrong, it sounds quite beautiful, but if you're like me, having listened to radio pop before developing your own metal interest, you can easily make that association with the softer mainstream sh*t you're tired of. Unfortunately, I live in a country where the only English radio stations are the ones that play mainstream pop songs with only the occasional "rock hour", so back then, I never got to experience Extreme's rock/metal side. Then again, even when radio stations find metal acceptable enough to play, they would probably think the songs from this album are too poppy to play. I wasn't thinking of dedicating this entire paragraph to that "radio hit", but considering its history, it had to be done.

Another highlight "Money (In God We Trust)" brings back the hard rock/heavy metal sound, as if their heaviness is still intact. "It('s a Monster)" brings back another heavy aspect, more of Bettencourt's shredding. Lyrics of personal crisis seem to cover the title track, all while the guitar continues galloping. The Sinatra-inspired "When I First Kissed You" sounds way too flat, having more of an unfitting lounge style. This was 8 years before the loss of Frank Sinatra and the lounge trend. Probably the weakest part of this mostly solid album, and I would much rather listen to "More Than Words" than this sh*t any day.

"Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)" is slightly forgettable though it still has nice potential. "He-Man Woman Hater" is the best highlight here. It starts with Bettencourt's shredding take on "Flight of the Bumblebee", while that's a great head-buzzer, it's not as much as the chorus later on. Absolutely great music and lyrics! There's some Beatles influence in "Song for Love", but it's nice song to sing. Then finally we have one more semi-acoustic rock ballad, "Hole Hearted", which I guess is a fine way to end.

I say while there is the hard rock of AC/DC, the guitars come close to reaching the heaviness of Metallica's Black Album next year. With that, Extreme's album is pretty much glam/heavy metal in an accessible mainstream level. With killer guitars and pretty vocal harmonies, it's a formula that suffers a severe lack of radio acknowledgement....

Favorites: "Decadence Dance", "When I'm President", "Money (In God We Trust)", "Pornograffiti", "He-Man Woman Hater", "Song for Love"

I've had my fun when checking out Genitorturers' debut. I never thought sexual industrial rock/metal would mesmerize me, but it did. Sometimes the least likely things I would get interested in I actually enjoy once I try it. And this album continues that streak...

Genitorturers' albums are more likely to attract fans of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson than serious metalheads, and Sin City is no exception. Anyone who likes sleazy industrial metal will find some great things to enjoy in this album without a doubt. Fast beats, thick guitars, and sexy lyrics sung by Gen have cooked up an industrial dish. So come spend a good time in Sin City!

It starts with the aggressive title opener that offers some stylistic tricks up their sleeve. This is followed by "Terrorvision", which is seductive yet a bit disorienting. Opening things up further is "Liar's Liar" as the band continues riding through different stylistic territories.

"One Who Feeds" kicks things up with some psychotic vibes. "Squealer" is a cover of an AC/DC classic, though Gen's vocals are way different from the melodic squealing of the late Bon Scott. "4 Walls Black" shows that a female vocalist doesn't have to be as operatic as Trail of Tears for some top-notch rock/metal. That song is actually more industrial, but you get my point.

"Asphyxiate" is a slow catchy tune. Then the aggressive rampage returns in "Razor Cuts". Then "Level 3" has a bit of a Slayer vibe in the riffing, but the beat stays mid-paced. "Crucified" ends the album sound a bit like Waltari at that time, albeit more percussion-focused and ending in creepy atmosphere.

Don't think you have wasted 45 minutes you could've spent on other productive things. Listening to this Genitorturers album is productive as it can help conjure some fantasies. If the fantasies you're up for are of pleasure and debauchery, that is. This is the kind of music that would make my parents and friends and concerned. For that reason, as much as I like these albums by Genitorturers, this band really isn't my thing....

Favorites: "Sin City", "Liar's Liar", "4 Walls Black", "Razor Cuts", "Level 3"

Alter Bridge is known very well as a side-project-turned-full-time-band by guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Philips, all coming from the more famous Scott Stapp-led band Creed. Together with frontman Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge had proved themselves to be the creative songwriting force alt-metal needs!

After 3 albums of hard rock/post-grunge in a similar vein to a few of my brother's favorite bands like Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Skillet, Alter Bridge decided to boost up their creativity intensely with their 4th album Fortress. It's a test of magic as they added more diverse arrangements and time signature variations for something more progressive, though closer in sound to Karnivool rather than TOOL. And who's manning the production? Michael "Elvis" Baskette has entered that building.

Beginning this adventure is the epic "Cry of Achilles". It already sets the tone for this melodic prog-ish alt-rock/metal journey. They make some daring experimentation to win some new fans and keep their longtime fans. It's not easy to achieve, but the past and present are blended together in great balanced. Another standout single, "Addicted to Pain" rocks on straight through blazing riffing and melodic choruses. It shows the band's more variant path while still being perfect for radio. Driving their message further, "Bleed It Dry" unleashes some fury, including Tremonti transcending from such a powerful solo. A full display of the technical beauty spawning from his guitar! In an unexpected but acceptable twist, "Lover" can be considered a power ballad. However, as soft as it is, there's dark despair within the emotional lyrics and delivery.

"The Uninvited" has the style the band was once known for. This heavy song has mighty bass groove. And when matched the album's production, that song is just top-notch! "Peace is Broken" has a bit of the mainstream stylings of Killswitch Engage at that time, albeit without any of the metalcore aspects. "Calm the Fire" has solid reflective bass. It fits well with the unique drumming there. "Waters Rising" has Tremonti taking over most of the lead vocals, which makes great sense considering his vocal ability in his solo project. The dynamic evolution is evident in Tremonti's guitar/vocal power. Kennedy's background harmonies can still be in the chorus which ultimately turns out well.

"Farther Than the Sun" is filled with blazing heaviness, with defiant spirit in the lyrical theme. The hard rocker "Cry a River" is not the best, but the album still has its perfect 5-star rating. Standout "All Ends Well", which builds up in softer melodic rock. The song is written about a mother fearing the uncertainty of the world, letting out a somewhat relatable message. The 7 and a half minute title epic is the perfect ending to this hour-long tale. The textures and time changes are produced perfectly in experimental glory.

Alter Bridge's sound is so unique. The melodic rock elements the band has taken from more popular bands has been merged with superb technicality for their own style of prog-ish alt-rock/metal. Fortress is an epic journey for the genre, and it seems like my interest in this band is at a rapid beginning!

Favorites: "Cry of Achilles", "Addicted to Pain", "The Uninvited", "Waters Rising", "All Ends Well", "Fortress"

Upon finding out about this Oomph! compilation album having songs from their first 4 albums, 3 of which are metal enough for this site and I've reviewed, I knew it was time for one more look into the band's earlier discography. Well, even though NDH isn't really my thing, I can actually find some great highlights making up half of this offering.

The first trio of songs is from the band's self-titled album that has more of an electro-techno sound with sparse guitars. Surprisingly though, two songs actually stand out for me. One of those tracks, "Ich bin Du" (I Am You) is actually one of my favorite Oomph! songs and, yep I'm saying this, it's metal enough to be in a Sphere playlist with some guitars in full prominence at the most needed parts. Then we have a club classic in "Der neue Gott" (The New God) that also foreshadows their subsequent albums' sound.

Only a couple tracks in the Sperm trio stand out for me, one of them being the best here, "Sex". Another good track is "Feiert das Kreuz" (Celebrate the Cross), though the intro sample makes me think of a Hitler-Exorcist crossover.

Not all of the songs in the Defekt trio are any good, so I'll just talk about the ones that are, starting with one of the best here, "Willst Du Hoffnung?" (Do You Want Hope?). The other good song, "Mitten Ins Herz" (Right in the Heart) continues that experimental vibe. What I really wanted to hear in this compilation is the beautiful "Come and Kick Me", which would've kicked my rating for this compilation up at least a half-star. Sadly, it isn't here.

As for the 4th album Wunschkind (Desired Child), the title track for that album has heavy riffing. Guitars and synths are blended together in dark atmosphere. However, it's not something you should be bring to dance parties because of the dark mood and slamming heaviness. The other two songs aren't nearly as great as that track though. Neither are two of the 3 remixes that come after. However, the remix for "Krüppel" (Cripple) is a true enhancement! Dero's vocals sound close to growling as he details a story about getting kicked, punched, crippled... Now this is the Oomph I need in the lyrics and distorted music. The emotion is what makes the song special in its own right.

And there you have it; 15 songs, including 3 from each of the first 4 Oomph! albums plus 3 remixes. I say half of this compilation is quite solid with brilliant highlights from that earlier part of their career. Still the remaining songs I will never revisit any time soon. Once again, Neue Deutsche Härte is just not for my metal heart....

Favorites: "Ich bin Du", "Der neue Gott", "Sex", "Feiert das Kreuz", "Willst Du Hoffnung?", "Mitten Ins Herz", "Wunschkind", "Krüppel" (remix)

As I've said in my previous review, I was following a 3-album industrial rock/metal path as I continued my ongoing early industrial metal rediscovery journey. The first part of this path was Gravity Kills' 1996 debut which, again, is barely metal at all. The second part is the well-done bridge that is Acumen Nation's More Human Heart. And this third part is from a side-project by one of the all-time most famous metal vocalists...

Rob Halford was already in his temporary split from Judas Priest and made a couple albums in his own groove metal band Fight. His second side-project, Two (often spelled "2wo") has disappointed long-time fans with a more electronic metal style. And there's none of the melodic screaming of Judas Priest's Painkiller.

Still the album is pretty decent, starting with the techno-hungry "I am a Pig" that has planted Nine Inch Nails into the minds of listeners, both due to the sound and the word "Pig" in the title. A bit of the alt-prog metal of TOOL can be heard in "Stutter Kiss". The industrial yet melodic "Water's Leaking" can be considered what Judas Priest could've done if they let Halford have more creative freedom. "My Ceiling's Low" bounces through electronic rock and more of Halford's sinister singing.

Next up, "Leave Me Alone" is another example of what Judas Priest would sound like if they go electronic. The following track "If" has more tribal rhythms. Shooting through some more of the cool industrial rock/metal is "Deep in the Ground".

"Hey Sha La La" sounds too awfully close to dance-pop in the rhythm, but at least the catchy chorus makes the song somewhat tolerable. "Wake Up" is far too synth-driven in its attempt to mix synths with guitars. Thumbs down for that one. "Gimp" strikes back with its nice bass punches. Closing the album is "Bed of Rust" which the album's epic-sounding climax. Seriously, you should stick around and be rewarded after all that earlier trouble!

Voyeurs is a decent straight one-time experiment in industrial metal for Rob Halford. After that, he and his project partner guitarist John 5 would go their separate ways. John 5 joined Marilyn Manson, and Halford started a 3rd side-project, his solo band Halford. The album might not be super fun, but I guess two is better than one....

Favorites: "I am a Pig", "My Ceiling's Low", "Deep in the Ground", "Gimp", "Bed of Rust"

I needed an album to balance things out in my ongoing early industrial metal rediscovery journey. That Gravity Kills album caused an unnecessary twist into my journey, as that album and band have more of an industrial/alt-rock sound with only a few songs being metal. However, this band Acumen Nation has a more metallic take on that sound, and a great improvement too. So let's dive into that...

More Human Heart is the band's 3rd album and the first under the band name Acumen Nation. They were previously known as just Acumen until legal issues with a similarly titled prog-rock band caused the name change. The solid industrial metal rage will get you hooked to the grooves.

"Ventilator" starts the album greatly with their usual blend of electro-industrial and metal. "If You Were" has some sections that would foreshadow all those times when The Dillinger Escape Plan deviate from their mathcore sound in their more experimental songs. Staggering a bit is "Unkind" within the rhythm. "Cancerine" is a nice standout that's soft but keeps your attention going.

"Revelations Per Minute" definitely has a similar vibe to early Dir En Grey. "Bleed for You" makes me think of Red Harvest blended with the groove-ish instrumentation of Vision of Disorder at that time. Things get a little more vulnerable in "The Funny Thing is...", but it still has some catchy energy.

"F*** Yer Brains Out" is a more brutal industrial standout. "Ugly on the Inside" is more catchy and upbeat, but it makes me wonder if that's where Code Orange got a bit of their industrial side from. "Punka**" indeed sounds more punky, with a side of Waltari at that time. "Dreamheart/Crush'd" is one last two-part 9-minute epic. Quite a climatic way to end an industrial rock/metal album!

The cool thing about Acumen Nation is, they can mix 80s-style rock/metal with modern industrial at easy grace. It's a well-deserved bridge between Gravity Kills' debut and the one album by Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford's side-project 2wo. In the mainstream industrial metal realm, I'm nicely surprised by how far I've come. RIP Jamie Duffy....

Favorites: "Ventilator", "Cancerine", "Bleed for You", "F*** Yer Brains Out", "Ugly on the Inside", "Dreamheart/Crush'd"

Gravity Kills... That band name sounds like some kind of Gravity Falls creepypasta. Anyway, they're an industrial rock band packed with guitar riffing, drum loops, synth layers, and vocal intensity. However, this kind of alienates my ongoing industrial metal rediscovery, as there's not much metal to offer here.

There are only a few songs that I like here, close enough metal, starting with "Guilty". It's a good song to jam to, and they might've been an influence to Spineshank. The band sounds closer to the style of Orgy and Nine Inch Nails. It's quite cool, and not as controversial as the more well-known industrial metal songs out there, or the other songs in the album that are more rock than metal.

"Enough" is another piece of alt-rock/industrial metal that I love, but still not enough to go further with this band. You can jam out during a long drive! Definitely having some vibes from Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, and a bit KMFDM.

Another great industrial/alt-rock/metal song is "Goodbye". I don't have anyone I really hate, but for those who do, use this song against them ("I'M F***ING TIRED AND I'M SAYING GOODBYE!!!!"). Anyone who thinks The Prodigy is THE 90s electro-rock band might stand corrected. I can do without the background noises though. "Never" is one more heavy highlight with decent singing.

All in all, Gravity Kills has a few moderately enjoyable tracks. Those tracks have great metallic emotion. However, everything else is just bland industrial/alt-rock programming that's not worth repeat listening for me. I would recommend this mediocre album much more to Nine Inch Nails fans than metalheads....

Favorites (only songs I like): "Guilty", "Enough", "Goodbye", "Never"

Danzig's 6th album 6:66 Satan's Child was actually the tail end of the band's industrial metal era. The 5th album Blackacidevil is the center of that era. This heavily industrial album was released in 1996, and then reissued 4 years later with a few bonus tracks and better cover art.

So what do I mean by highly industrial? Well instead of the dark heavy metal sound Danzig is known for, electro-industrial techno and experimental noise rock covers the rock/metal tracks. I actually find some tracks interesting, despite the album being unsuccessful and turning away many Danzig fans. A problem that I notice is, vocalist Glenn Danzig sounds too distorted in a few tracks, and that makes me prefer the less experimental parts of the album.

Things starts upbeat with the electronic-powered "7th House". Then the title track has lyrics of drugs. A strange acid trip before the album's later melancholy... "See All You Were" is one of a few tracks here to feature Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell. However, that doesn't make up for the d*mn vocal distortion making the lyrics hard to understand.

"Sacrifice" starts with a Nine Inch Nails-like intro before launching into a perfect industrial metal single that should've ended up in the 1997 Spawn film soundtrack. This is followed by the more sadistic "Hint of Her Blood". One song that's not enjoyable at all and shouldn't have existed is "Serpentia". I don't wish to say more. "Come to Silver" is another Cantrell-featured track, originally written for Johnny Cash. A country-infused ballad I would recommend!

"Hand of Doom" is a Black Sabbath cover, rewritten with more disturbing lyrics. That said, I love it, though Isis' cover is better. "Power of Darkness" is just too plain bad. Why does that sh*t f***ing even exist at all!? "Ashes" is a sweet closing ballad as you drive away into the darkness of who-knows-where...

I think I'll skip out on the bonus tracks in the reissue, mainly because I don't wanna hear anymore of that awful distortion. Despite that flawed aspect though, I don't find Blackacidevil as bad as most other people do. Some songs I find quite enjoyable, and a few others I don't want tainting my ears a second time. Sure it's different, but any open-minded Danzig fan can give this album some more spins. For some fans, once is never enough....

Favorites: "7th House", "Sacrifice", "Come to Silver", "Hand of Doom", "Ashes"

16volt began their discography with their debut Wisdom. It is a solid cold blend of electro-industrial beats and heavy guitars that form another prime example of industrial rock/metal. The band started recording their next album Skin shortly after releasing their debut, and they seem to really picked up where they left off. They even made a sequel to one of the debut's songs, which we'll get to later...

It's been nearly 3 decades since this album Skin came out, and it still appeals to many industrial metal fans who wish to see them live. Although not as well-known and great as Wisdom, Skin will still have you interested in this cold industrial rock/metal sound.

The title opener already sets the stage for the album as smoothly as the opening track of Wisdom. "Perfectly Fake" is a perfect hodgepodge of experimentation, similar to what Candiria was doing at that time, but the hardcore elements are replaced with industrial ones. I wouldn't say "Uplift" is uplifting, but the end of that track is worth it for its somewhat ambient climax. I love that!

"Slow Wreck" is slower, but it comes out as kind of a trainwreck that made me think "Why did I go from listening to the awesome metalcore of Parkway Drive, As I Lay Dying, Every Time I Die, and August Burns Red, to this sh*t!?" Then we have "Skin", the first of few instrumentals, this one a little bland but slightly better. Greatness is present again in "Stitched", with some impressive vocals to love. However, "Built to Last" again threatens to make me want to skip out on the industrial sound and go back to the metalcore of Parkway Drive, Trivium, Winds of Plague, and A Day to Remember.

"Bottle Rockets" is another instrumental that isn't the best but still works. An inspiring mix of guitars and electronics appears in "Downtime 2", which I find awesome and actually surpassing the first part of that song from Wisdom. "Flick" is one more noise-ridden instrumental. After that, there's 6 minutes of silence before a remix of the title track, "Dead Skin" which is OK but I prefer the original. The reissue has a couple more remixes and covers, but I've already said enough.

I think what really caused two of the non-instrumental tracks to go downhill is, the lyrics sound too simplistic and direct. They don't follow the "show don't tell" technique that English teachers recommend using. Take out those two tracks and a couple of the instrumentals, and you have something worthwhile....

Favorites: "Skin", "Perfectly Fake", "Uplift", "Stitched", "Downtime 2"

16volt is another industrial rock/metal band fresh from the early 90s. They are known for blending electro-industrial beats with abrasive electric guitar for a unique blend in the genre. This is unlike that other band Genitorturers that's more well-known for their live aesthetic and imagery. Not wanting to sound like the semi-apathetic young modern metal fan I am, music is a band's true value. But if you wish to explore the visual components of a band or album, that's fine. You do you!

With that said, the first 16volt album Wisdom seems to have a slight notch off compared to Genitorturers' debut. Nonetheless, 16volt's music is quite addictive and will get listeners hooked right from the start...

"Motorskill" is an amazing industrial metal opening track like none other. The coldness of the riffing and beats march on with no fear. Anyone who thought this kind of mix shouldn't exist would be wrong! The industrial apocalypse rolls further in the title track. Same with "Head of Stone", which is another example of what industrial rock/metal should really be about, all in great balance.

Vocalist Eric Powell tests out some erotic-ish whispering vocals in "Filthy Love of Fire" which is a more sludgy track. I think that's the closest the band can get to a similar vibe to Genitorturers. The tricky "Hand Over End" struggles with the marching snare, but the crushing percussion shoves it aside.

"Will" is another heavy crusher that I enjoy. "Dreams of Light" is another one of my favorite tracks in the album. While the beat and guitar are more mid-paced, that's not the main focus here. It's centered around more of the sound's apocalyptic atmosphere. The slow noise-ridden closing track "Downtime (Part One)" hints at their next album Skin, which has a "Part 2" to that track. Conveniently, I'll be reviewing that album next. In the meantime, check out a few remixes in the reissue that don't sound too different...

Wisdom has a lot you can ask for in the cold industrial darkness. A very solid industrial rock/metal release! Though it's slightly limp compared to Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Still it's something any fan of industrial, rock, and/or metal should get for some of this band's talent and wisdom....

Favorites: "Motorskill", "Head of Stone", "Will", "Dreams of Light"

I'm not really one to listen to a lot of music with themes of New South F***ing Wales and Black Depressive Suicidal Metal (think about the acronyms, not the words), but what's strange is, I quite like this one. I might be getting some Stockholm Syndrome vibes. Enough said! Let me just say, this album and review is not for the oversensitive.

Formed by singer Jennifer "Gen" Zimmerman, then-wife of Morbid Angel guitarist David Vincent, Genitorturers are infamous for their provocative imagery and live shows. Gen can be seen flexin' for some sexin' in the album's cover art. The lyrics are simple yet disturbing. Other bands/artists trying out this sexual theme in the early 90s were Divinyls with their 1990 single "I Touch Myself" and pop queen Madonna's Erotica album and SEX book released just less than a year before this twisted industrial metal offering...

This dark sinister vibe is spawned straight from the opening "120 Days". The name of that song and this album reference Marquis de Sade’s unfinished erotic novel 120 Days of Sodom. Already, the lyrical message has some deep power. Unleashing more of this intense passion is "Reality Check", with the lyrics taking on facing reality instead of illusions of false struggle. Next up, "Velvet Dreams" starts slow before speeding things up in erotic power. The crushing sexuality in the lyrics are sung as Gen's vocals penetrate your ears and give you great pleasure.

"House of Shame" is another one of my favorite tracks here. "Pleasure in Restraint" will definitely have you imagining Gen tying up her slaves. Another heavy track is "Lesser Gods", filled with heavy desire to please the album's listeners, especially from the 30-second opening intro that sounds like Slayer. "Jackin' Man" is a shorter track with almost a similar experimental vibe to Voivod at that time.

"River's Edge / Strip the Flesh" has more of the savage heaviness. "Force Fed" is big on the riffing, sounding the most metallic here. "Crack Track" is one more track that sounds close to a stylistic transition between Red Harvest's first and second albums.

Gen is someone who would rather f*** than give a f***, as her lyrics take on dark imagery of dominatrix fantasy. Sounds so wild yet addictive. It is an adventure in your mind in which only those who are brave and not oversensitive can prepare themselves for self-indulgence. I don't think I would ever attend one of their live shows though, for both moral and financial reasons. But the album itself is already theatrical!

Favorites: "120 Days", "Velvet Dreams", "House of Shame", "Lesser Gods", "Force Fed"

Call this album neoclassical or speed metal, but I wouldn't consider them accurate for Helstar's 4th release Nosferatu. Sure you can hear the shredding popularized by Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Cacophony, etc., but that's not the main style. Here we have a strong progressive US power metal style that incorporates those technical scales into their own sound. The songs are well-structured with those aspects, thanks to the guitar duo of Larry Branagan and André Corbin. And it fits well for a then-unexpected theme, covering one of the most legendary figures in horror fiction...

OK, I am familiar with the whole "horror metal" concept, but mostly via modern metalcore bands like Ice Nine Kills and Motionless in White, and I remember Iced Earth and Evergrey each making a song based on that evil Transylvanian vampire. Helstar's Nosferatu displays the horror story concept early in classic metal's golden decade. While the atmosphere isn't as chilling or scary as you might expect it to be, the technicality is filled with terrifying majesty and helps the album succeed. Interestingly, the album title and cover art is based on Nosferatu, while the lyrics center around the original Dracula and samples from the 1979 Dracula film can be heard. The Dracula concept only covers the first half of the album. Still, this sinister bloodsucker created by Bram Stoker became part of Helstar's vision of darkness and riffing complexity!

Thundering in is the riff-wrath of the intro "Rhapsody in Black", already hinting at the promising greatness of the album. The bad-a** speedy power metal storm kicks off in "Baptized in Blood", straight from the verse riffing. You can already hear this Texan band's Priest/Maiden/Sabbath-infused response to Mozart and Beethoven. More of the direct yet dexterous verses come in "To Sleep, Per Chance to Scream", with wonderful vocal emotion by James Rivera. Killer choruses appear in "Harker's Tale (Mass of Death)", all while exemplifying the neoclassical technicality.

"Perseverance and Desperation" is a shred-tastic instrumental with lots of acoustic sections and melodic solos that make up the neoclassical side of the band's sound. See, that's the kind of the music I would've loved to bits in my teen years of listening to power/progressive metal. I suspect a lot of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani would enjoy the sh*t out of that piece. Lovely atmosphere too! "The Curse Has Passed Away" has more of those cool acoustics. "Benediction" starts the non-Dracula half of the album, standing out with more gang shouts used than any of the other tracks here. The hammering "Harsh Reality" lyrically feels out of place, singing about how f***ed up the world is, right after travelling the shadowy realm of Count Dracula. Still the song is quite good and killer.

The dominating "Swirling Madness" fits things better, and is one of the best songs here! "Von Am Lebem Desto Strum" is German for "From Alive to Current". The track itself is a bit of a clumsy acoustic/piano instrumental, but it's a nice setup for the finale... "Aieliaria and Everonn" is a good closing track, but the lyrics could've been better aligned.

All in all, Nosferatu is a pretty kick-A album in which the earlier classic sound of progressive US power metal is blended with horror imagery. They can go f***ing heavy while having some wild melodic scales. They can really head forward with their innovation, as they close their 80s era on a well-deserved note, though they would end up absent throughout the first half of the 90s. Anyway, the more melodic metalheads will bloodthirsty for this offering of horror and neoclassicism!

Favorites: "Baptized in Blood", "To Sleep, Per Chance to Scream", "Perseverance and Desperation", "Benediction", "Swirling Madness"

Gojira is strongly iconic for their unique metal style. They can let out their ecological thoughts through deathly progressive metal. Their excellent music that most metalheads love have helped build the stairway between the underground and the mainstream surface. That's something that can lead to close to universal fame!

After blowing away people's minds with From Mars to Sirius, fans had to wait until 2008 for the album The Way of All Flesh to arrive. Since then, there have been 4 or 5-year gaps between albums, with the first album to end that gap being this album, L'Enfant Sauvage (The Wild Child). It's definitely worth revisiting in the present, because then I can bring this 2012 album back to discussion and see if it still appeals to me as it did before my break from this band's material starts a couple years ago.

Screeching in is the explosive "Explosia", having a bit of the heavier groove/tech-death guitar, mixed with the progressive the band is known for. Interesting leads and rhythms plague the title track, which still reigns as one of my favorite Gojira songs, due to a music video I was watching on TV long ago. Then we have the first of a couple formulaic tracks, "The Axe". That one should get the axe for its poor attempt at executing a more melodic groove-oriented The Faceless kind of sound. More effective singing and roaring come around in "Liquid Fire".

The interlude "The Wild Healer" is a mellow break from the action. "Planned Obsolescence" has more complex aggression, but the ambient outro is just way too long to like. "Mouth of Kala" seems lacking of original ideas, but I still like it a little. Excellent variation in "The Gift of Guilt" makes the song's 6-minute length well-filled.

"Pain is a Master" is another song that could've used a bit of improvement. "Born in Winter" is an epic underrated track from this band. They can journey through soft spoken verses before launching into the usual dramatic heaviness, all in just 4 minutes! Closing track "The Fall" sounds kinda diminished in the vocals by frontman Joe Duplantier, which is too bad because he's the elemental force powering up the band.

As with my Mastodon revisit, a few songs in this Gojira album don't strike my metal heart as they did years ago, but that doesn't decrease the album's greatness. L'Enfant Sauvage has much to offer in its songs. The hammering madness just isn't the same as it should've been back in those days....

Favorites: "Explosia", "L'Enfant Sauvage", "Liquid Fire", "The Gift of Guilt", "Born in Winter"