Shadowdoom9 (Andi)'s Forum Replies

Better revised version of my 1990+ best of each year metal list (after the easier part of my Horde Clan Challenge strategy, and splitting them into groups similar to the Clan Challenges and different versions of RuneScape):

Classic oldies:

1990: Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise

1991: Meshuggah - Contradictions Collapse

1992: Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox

1993: My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans

1994: Tiamat - Wildhoney

1995: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

1996: Edge of Sanity - Crimson

1997: In Flames - Whoracle 

Old-school but newer:

1998: Meshuggah - Chaosphere

1999: My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World

2000: In Flames - Clayman

2001: Gojira - Terra Incognita

2002: Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance

2003: Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

2004: Mastodon - Leviathan

2005: Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor 

Higher original quality:

2006: Persefone - Core

2007: Between the Buried and Me - Colors

2008: Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

2009: August Burns Red - Constellations

2010: Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation)

2011: Trivium - In Waves 

2012: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence 

2013: The Ocean - Pelagial

New and improved:

2014: Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

2015: Bullet for My Valentine - Venom

2016: Vektor - Terminal Redux

2017: Septicflesh - Codex Omega

2018: Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

2019: DragonForce - Extreme Power Metal (NOT in my current playlist, but I loved it so much that it just had to be in the list)

2020 albums I'm looking forward to getting:

My Dying Bride - The Ghost of Orion

August Burns Red - Guardians

Lamb of God (self-titled album)

An excellent return to Paradise Lost's earlier gothic doom metal sound after 10 years of experimentation:

Ah yes, Wildhoney! One of the more experimental gothic metal albums in the psychedelic sense and one of my favourite gothic albums. That interlude is beautiful, but I prefer the full songs like “Whatever That Hurts”, “Gaia”, and “A Pocket Size Sun”.

A killer progressive thrash metal hit that sounds a lot like mid-80s Slayer, I swear! Listen to that intro riff and scream before the first verse!

Can't argue with 1986 being the actual best year of metal. There are so many great years of metal but the best metal year for me is 2005. That year has a lot of my favorites!

Anyway, here's my best of 2005:

#10: August Burns Red - Thrill Seeker

#9: The Ocean - Aeolian

#8: Parkway Drive - Killing With a Smile

#7: Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

#6: Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin

#5: God Forbid - IV (Constitution of Treason)

#4: Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

#3: Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree

#2: Between the Buried and Me - Alaska

Honorable mentions: Nightrage - Descent Into Chaos, HIM - Dark Light (despite the latter being more rock than metal)

And finally, #1: Trivium - Ascendancy

I've gone through a marathon of reviewing 5 Dark Tranquillity albums today as part of my Horde Clan Challenge strategy. Impressive, huh? Here's a melodeath classic:

To prep you for the new My Dying Bride album The Ghost of Orion coming out next month, here's one of their earlier songs that came to my mind, and for some reason, the song I thought of is from their worst album. This shorter live version is much better than the studio one. We don't need that Blade Runner-like narrative, thank you very much!

I agree with what you think of "I", Daniel. That's a true 21-minute djent epic!

There's more Christian metalcore coming your way when August Burns Red releases their new album Guardians this April. Here's an intense sneak peek single:

Considered the big amount of metal albums I enjoy, decided to extend my list to top 30. Here's my new bigger revised list:

#30: The Ocean - Pelagial (2013)

#29: Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name (2018)

#28: Vektor - Black Future (2009)

#27: Parkway Drive - Horizons (2007)

#26: Septicflesh - Codex Omega (2017)

#25: Paradise Lost - Draconian Times (1995)

#24: My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River/Like Gods of the Sun (1995-1996) (both albums fit together and edited to play at 2x faster tempo)

#23: Before the Dawn - Rise of the Phoenix (2012)

#22: Nightrage - Sweet Vengeance (2003)

#21: Underoath - Lost in the Sound of Separation (2008)

#20: In Flames - The Jester Race (1996)

#19: Mastodon - Leviathan (2004)

#18: Edge of Sanity - Crimson I+II (1996/2003) (both work better as one full 2-part suite)

#17: August Burns Red - Constellations (2009)

#16: Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)

#15: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I (2012)

#14: Persefone - Spiritual Migration (2013)

#13: Cynic - Focus (1993)

#12: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (1995)

#11: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)

#10: Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree (2005)

#9: Darkest Hour - Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation (2003)

#8: Amaranthe - Amaranthe (2011)

#7: Bullet for My Valentine - The Poison (2005)

#6: Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage (2012)

#5: Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)

#4: Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)

#3: All That Remains - Overcome (2008)

#2: Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake (2004)

#1: Trivium - In Waves (2011)

Better revised version of my 1990+ best of each year metal list (including albums I've previously forgotten about and bands I've just started listening to):

1990: Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise

1991: Meshuggah - Contradictions Collapse

1992: Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox

1993: My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans

1994: Tiamat - Wildhoney

1995: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

1996: Edge of Sanity - Crimson

1997: In Flames - Whoracle

1998: Meshuggah - Chaosphere

1999: My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World

2000: Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World

2001: Gojira - Terra Incognita

2002: Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance

2003: Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

2004: Mastodon - Leviathan

2005: Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor

2006: Persefone - Core

2007: Between the Buried and Me - Colors

2008: Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

2009: August Burns Red - Constellations

2010: Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation)

2011: Trivium - In Waves

2012: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

2013: The Ocean - Pelagial

2014: Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

2015: Bullet for My Valentine - Venom

2016: Vektor - Terminal Redux

2017: Trivium - The Sin and the Sentence

2018: Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

2019: DragonForce - Extreme Power Metal (NOT in my current playlist, but I loved it so much that it just had to be in the list)

2020 albums I'm looking forward to getting:

My Dying Bride - The Ghost of Orion

August Burns Red - Guardians

Lamb of God (self-titled album)

The masters of modern groove metal are back with their new self-titled album coming out in May! Check out this sick single for a sneak peek:

Here's my own best of each year list, containing albums from my own playlist (since 1990):

1990: Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise

1991: Meshuggah - Contradictions Collapse

1992: Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox

1993: Cynic - Focus

1994: Tiamat - Wildhoney

1995: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

1996: Edge of Sanity - Crimson

1997: In Flames - Whoracle

1998: Meshuggah - Chaosphere

1999: My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World

2000: Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World

2001: Gojira - Terra Incognita

2002: Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance

2003: Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

2004: Mastodon - Leviathan

2005: Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree

2006: Persefone - Core

2007: Between the Buried and Me - Colors

2008: All That Remains - Overcome

2009: August Burns Red - Constellations

2010: Underoath - Ø (Disambiguation)

2011: Trivium - In Waves

2012: Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence

2013: Persefone - Spiritual Migration

2014: Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel

2015: Bullet for My Valentine - Venom

2016: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation

2017: Trivium - The Sin and the Sentence

2018: Rivers of Nihil - Where Owls Know My Name

2019: DragonForce - Extreme Power Metal (NOT in my current playlist, but I loved it so much that it just had to be in the list)

2020 albums I'm looking forward to getting:

My Dying Bride - The Ghost of Orion

Lamb of God (self-titled album)

I love one of The Ocean albums (NOT this one) so much when doing The Infinite Modern Era Clan Challenge. This is full-on oceanic progressive sludge metal at its best! Can't wait to listen to more of this collective..

A pleasant piece of the folk/power metal jigsaw puzzle that I've locked away in my metal storage room (I would say attic but my house doesn't have one) over two years ago:

Another killer song from Vektor's Black Future! This album is so awesome that I can show you the entire thing, but I won't. Please listen to the album yourself and vote in the Hall of Judgement if you haven't already. I know I sound a little desperate, but this album is so close to its fate in the Hall!

Another notable metaller who passed away this month is Joe Payne, former bassist of Nile (as a touring member) and Divine Heresy, and he was a bit younger (age 36, or 35? I don't know). It's sad when some of the best metal band members leave the world behind, but we all have to go some time...

Some bright times come with dark times. Yesterday on almost the same day as my birthday (January 25), Cynic drummer Sean Reinert passed away. Cause of death not yet revealed. His drumming skills were impressive, switching from metal to jazz at the right times in the band's cool debut Focus. May his drumming memories live on.... RIP

Thanks guys!

One of the greatest Nevermore albums, Dreaming Neon Black is currently #1 in our chart site rating! And today (January 25) is the 21st anniversary of its release, which also happens to be my 21st birthday! So that's two things to celebrate turning 21. I wasn't originally intending on revealing my birthday, but since you now know my Instagram account and my mom's probably gonna make me do a birthday Instagram post, might as well... I'm a full legal adult now!! Anyway, here's an awesome song from that album:

Vektor's first 1-minute interlude in a decade (and likely last because David DiSanto is the only member left and he's facing legal troubles involving domestic abuse), but sadly "Mountains Above the Sun" just doesn't fit so well with the rest of the album. The acoustic first minute is kinda bland, and the 15-second heavy ending sounds too bluesy. I think this interlude and the ballad/jazzy-prog first half of "Collapse" are what make Terminal Redux not reach the awesomeness of the other two Vektor albums.

Classic early 90s progressive metal is excellent, but so is mid-2000s extreme progressive djent!! This song is from the Catch Thirtythree suite and the only one there that can stand alone:

Excellent song choice, Daniel! A true progressive anthem from one of the greatest bands of progressive metal.

Great, thanks Ben!

Here's another example of Alestorm f***ing things up with an anchor, this time an actual song. Now THIS is awful as f***! And it's not just because of the excessive swearing....

Two words: clan challenges!!

I saw a guy wearing a Rivers of Nihil shirt last month and that made me interested in this band, but I didn't get to listen to them due to other busy stuff....until now. Djenty progressive death metal with a bit of saxophone!

Great song choice, Daniel! True Swedish melodeath from one of the originators of that genre.

I finally became interested in Vektor. F-tuned shrieking progressive thrash metal! Vektor's album Black Future now has 13 votes in the hall of judgement. 2 more until voting is complete! Please vote right now if you haven't already, so the hall can choose its fate.

Proper groove metal at its best, with the most METAL acoustic intro you would ever hear.

Children of Bodom is another melodeath band that I haven't listened to for so long. This song is from their earlier epic black/death days. If Alexi Laiho can no longer legally use the "Children of Bodom" name, why not revert back to the original name, Inearthed? Just askin'... RIP COB classic lineup

I already did my review on its album page, but I'll just write a small summary here.

Images and Words was my favorite progressive metal album in my earlier epic metal taste. It is absolutely perfect with never any failure to deliver. The impeccable music of this album shines far more than most of the other Dream Theater albums. It has everything including emotional vocals that range from mid to high, powerful guitar with amazing soloing, top-notch bass lines, awesome drum power, and epic keyboard synths. The songs range from beautiful balladry to progressive madness. Almost no subsequent work from Dream Theater or any other band can knock this album off its throne. You can never overthrow these Images and Words. This album shall keep its awesome reign!

An essential part of my earlier epic folk metal taste, mainly because my brother, who is usually a rock fan, was listening to this band at the time. Too bad not a lot of us here can get along well with this Celtic melodeath style...

This song is from Blind Guardian's old thrashy speed metal era, and they made it more majestic with their newer epic metal sound live. One of the rare instances where live sounds better than studio! But I'm still showing you the original (remastered). That circus organ intro though, what's up with that!?

I did it! I listened to Blind Guardian's Live album, and it was awesome, except... I'm sorry, Bard fans, but I actually think "The Bard's Song (In the Forest)" is overrated. I mean, I still like it, but only when it's part of the 2-part "The Bard's Song" suite. I consider "In the Forest" the acoustic part and "The Hobbit" the heavier part. And as a heavier metalhead who's tired of acoustic ballads from metal bands being more popular than their other songs (Def Leppard, Extreme), it seriously p*ssed me off when they did NOT play "The Hobbit" part of "The Bard's Song", and instead those last 4 minutes is just crowd cheer! I hope my opinion doesn't get me back-turned by some Blind Guardian fans.

My brother is, like I said before, a fan of hard rock and alternative metal, and one of the bands he listens to is Lacuna Coil. I also started listening to this band a few years ago after finding out that band's female vocalist Cristina Scabbia was in The Theory of Everything by progressive rock/metal project Ayreon, and that's what made me interested in Lacuna Coil, and for the first time, gothic metal. Here's one of the songs from their alt-metal present: