lari

The only band mentioned so far that'd be on my personal top 100 list is Led Zeppelin. Probably in the 50-60 range. Especially Led Zep II is awesome, Physical Graffiti is real good too. Pioneers of flamboyant heavy metal.

Mustasch -

It's from Kabuki Quantum Fighter, the Nintendo game.

Those suggestions are ridiculous. Some of the most critically acclaimed bands of all time are derided? How about those 80's hair metal bands? A lof of the bands had great musicians and real infectious songwriting, but people still give them no credit because they look funny. Dokken, Cinderella, Skid Row... all awesome bands.

Dude, those don't sound that good. Hopefully the album is much better. Since I'm sure I will end up picking it up. I'm such a sucker for anything Chris Jericho. I actually used to like Fozzy a lot. Happenstance was an awesome album - and not just the covers, the Fozzy originals were great. All That Remains was just bland. Mediocre at best. And these new songs don't seem any better. Priest by far. One of my favourite transitions ever is the one on Sin After Sin when Here Come the Tears turns into Dissident Aggressor. Slayer's cover version isn't even that good, in my opinion. I guess it's a matter of preference, since the sound is so different though. But one thing is for sure - Araya does not have the lungs Halford does. I have this Judas Priest tribute compilation where Forbidden covers Dissident Aggressor. It ain't that special, and I think even the Slayer version trumps it.

This week I've listened through all my Nevermore, Slayer, Annihilator and Axxis albums. Since I feel like I have all the albums in my head right now, I think I could put them in order. Nevermore 1. Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000) *drop* 2. Politics of Ecstacy (1996) 3. Dreaming Neon Black (1999) 4. This Godless Endeavor (2005) *drop* 5. Enemies of Reality (2003) 'Dead Heart' is by far my favourite. The others are good, but not that essential. Slayer 1. Reign in Blood (1986) 2. Seasons in the Abyss (1990) *drop* 3. South of Heaven (1988) *drop* 4. God Hates Us All (2001) Reign in Blood is an awesome record. I love the speed and intensity. I never really like the slowed down South of Heaven... but this time I'm already dropping it out of the list of best Slayer albums. Annihilator 1. Carnival Diablos (2001) 2. Waking the Fury (2002) 3. Never Neverland (1990) 4. Alice in Hell (1990) All four albums are awesome, plus Double Live Annihilation. Nothing really wrong with the bottom two, but I really enjoy Joe Comeau singing in those top two albums. Carnival Diablos is probably in my top 40 albums of all time. Axxis 1. Back to the Kingdom (2000) 2. Paradise in Flames (2006) 3. The Big Thrill (1993) 4. Kingdom of the Night (1989) 5. Doom Of Destiny (2007) *slight drop* 6. Axxis II (1990) 7. Time Machine (2004) 8. Utopia (2009) 9. Eyes of Darkness (2001) Despite the slight drop, Axxis are an incredibly consistent band. Tough to choose favourites, but Back to the Kingdom is a brilliant combination of very different songs. If you're into that kind of pop-metal Scorpions meet Helloween type of heavy metal, that is. The new one, Utopia, is solid, too. There's only two Axxis albums I don't have, and I've been avoiding them on purpose because of bad reviews. But seeing how much I like Axxis, I guess I'll get them at some point...

Testament - Leave Me Forever Avantasia - I Don't Believe in Your Love Black Sabbath - Evil Woman

Maybe try Therion. Check out the albums - Lemuria - Sirius B - Gothic Kabbalah

Yeah, that'll work fine. Oh yeah, except for those bands that aren't already millionaires so they cannot afford to record, produce and master 44 songs in a studio. Or for bands that don't already have a worldwide audience of tens of millions due to being promoted by their label for two decades and are sure to sell good quantities of anything they put out at this point in their career. But yeah, it will be good for bands that have those things.

1. Savatage 2. Iron Maiden 3. Judas Priest 4. Blind Guardian 5. Dio 6. Iced Earth 7. Blaze (Bayley) 8. Axxis 9. Impellitteri 10. Angel Dust 2008: 2007:

If you didn't already, definitely check out Bruce Dickinson solo. Especially Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding are essential for any fan. Others worth checking out: Saxon - Unleash the Beast (along with Maiden, Saxon was probably the best NWOBHM band and among the most famous) Judas Priest - British Steel (probably the most accessible Priest album, and among their best) Accept - Balls to the Wall (if you don't mind nonsensible lyrics) Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell (the Dio-era Sabbath was not far from the NWOBHM sound) Also if you're interested in the origins of the NWOBHM sound, you might want to give a few of those early proto metal albums a spin: UFO - Phenomenon Rainbow - Rising and finally some new shit: Machine Men - Circus of Fools (total Bruce Dickinson/Iron Maiden worship) Thunderstone - Tools of Destruction (straight up heavy metal) Mystic Prophecy - Fireangel (aggressive power metal)

I'm the opposite. I watch a DVD once, maybe twice, but that's about it. It just doesn't interest me anymore and it seems like too much trouble to have to keep watching all the time while listening. A CD I can play anytime and focus on hearing all the instruments and live arrangements and all these little nuances. Not to mention nowadays live DVD directors seem to have been hired straight off MTV promo video production company - terrible, fast paced cutting, making the whole experience feel like a stretched out epilepsy seizure. I prefer those old-fashioned wide shots where you can see everyone in the band and you yourself can choose what you pay attention to. Now it's more like: stick hits a drum/cut to bass player moshing for a split second/audience jumps for 0.2 seconds/lead singer sings a word/cut to guitarist taking a step/back to drummer hitting the cymbal, this time the camera is tilted. Ugh. But live CDs - those I like a lot. I end up playing them all the time if the music is good. My favourite is probably Iced Earth's Alive in Athens. I have maybe a dozen concert DVDs, but at least double the amount live CDs. I do like those live CD+DVD packages though. I can watch the concert once and then just listen to the CD whenever I feel like it.

The two greatest metal bands of all time. Maiden has been more consistent, Priest is more versatile. Impossible to choose, so I say Savatage!

I have that same Sabbat album. It's pretty extreme for my usual taste, but quite enjoyable. Just takes some time to get used to. I still don't like them as much as I like Skyclad, but Sabbat are certainly among my top ten favourite thrash bands.

I'm only a casual Megadeth listener, but that was pretty good. Probably not picking up the album though. There's just too much other interesting metal to listen to and buy. I do have three of their CDs - Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia.

Good entertainer. Buh-bye Michael

Two albums immediately come to mind: Savage Circus - Dreamland Manor Pyramaze - Immortal The Savage Circus vocalist is a dead ringer for Hansi Kursch, and Thomen Stauch plays drums for them. It's 90's style Blind Guardian (speed/power/thrash). Pyramaze doesn't really sound that much like Iced Earth (or not as good, I'd say), but they did have Matt Barlow singing for them in this album. Also, if you're up for Broadway-style bombastic heavy metal check out Savatage's Wake of Magellan. That is epic. For something more aggressive, more thrash, but with groove, give a listen to Annihilator's Carnival Diablos.

I got the new Skyclad album in the mail today. "In the... All Together". I absolutely loved the previous one, A Semblance of Normality, and actually think it's in my top three albums of the decade, so my expectations might be too high. I'm giving the new one its second listen now - so far it's a bit hard to say anything. It's not an instant pleaser, but Skyclad never really is. There's potential - a lot of the tracks seem like they got better the second time. It's maybe a bit less bottom-heavy as Semblance, but I guess the vocals being somewhat harder make up for it.

I've started on the proto metal part. I don't want to clog it with history, but since it'd be the sort of introduction to the whole thing I have to put a bit more effort in it, too. And if we're making this into a guide of sorts, I guess we need a unified format. Right now I have 'background', 'distinctive characteristics', 'essential albums' and sort of an end or even a "downfall" segment might be appropriate for certain genres, I guess. I am not submitting it as a definitive piece that no-one can edit. You, if people agree on things, can add and remove as much as you see fit. Then maybe we'll compile them and put up a totally new thread. So.... I have an introduction. Then there's the background, ie. what actually already existed (that had effect on this subgenre) before this movement of music came around. In this case, prog rock, blues rock, rock in all forms in general. Maybe add different kinds of influences (literature, pop culture, whatever), what bandmembers of pioneering groups were doing before 'discovering' the subgenre. For proto metal I am mostly looking at Zeppelin, Purple and Sabbath. Distinctive characteristics: What makes the (sub)genre differ from what already existed at the time. For proto metal, I got something like the loudness and distortion of the guitars (I'm a bit borderline on shredding, as it was more prevalent in the 80s actually, though originally came from 70's heavy metal guitar wizards), the screeching vocals, pounding rhythm section that made the heaviness. Also, outside of the music you have things like leather and motorcycles and all. Essential albums. Self-explanatory, one would think. Just name a couple of albums. Maybe make a longer list as 'added listening' or 'for fans of the genre'. Then I just have a summary of what lead to the decline of popularity (or what made the subgenre fall out of mainstream). In this case you have new wave and punk rock entering mainstream that hurt, but also the lifestyles of the most popular metal stars and somehow also the success that turned the original big three into sort of dinosaurs, while the smaller bands were also oversaturating the market. Oversaturation has for sure caused the decline of a lot of musical movements (glam, power and nu-metal for instance). I need feedback though. Also, if someone wants, I can pm the whole piece I have right now. It's not that long.

It's because there's already quite a few of these technically gifted melodic metal singer-songwriters, and Lande gets overshadowed by the likes of Tobias Sammet, Jeff Scott Soto and Rob Rock. I personally like Rob Rock more anyway. Also, that kind of music is actually quite marginal. Or at least certainly not mainstream. A lot of metal fans never even heard of Lande, so it's not like they gave his music a chance and then decided they don't like it.

Savatage 1. Wake of Magellan (1998) 2. Streets - A Rock Opera (1991) 3. Hall of the Mountain King (1987) 4. Dead Winter Dead (1995) 5. Dungeons Are Calling (1984, originally EP but now packaged with extra tracks and sold as an album) 6. Gutter Ballet (1989) 7. Sirens (1983) 8. Handful of Rain (1994) 9. Power of the Night (1985) 10. Edge of Thorns (1993) 11. Poets and Madmen (2001) 12. Fight for the Rock (1986) Top ten are all awesome.

I think I saw a video or something like that online. I knew it was from a game.

I don't like LaBrie's voice, and I've been off of prog metal lately anyway, so Dream Theater doesn't really do it for me anymore. But I do have a few of their CDs. Images & Words is probably my favourite, followed by Scenes From A Memory (Metropolis 2). I also have Awake and Inner Turbulence. I like it more when their songs actually make sense instead of being just completely random parts pasted one after another calling it a song.

That was me, I believe. Blind Guardian sure put together the best parts of thrash, power, prog and classic metal when making Imaginations. A killer of an album, no filler whatsoever. Here's how I'd rank their discography: 1. Imaginations from the Other Side 2. Nightfall in Middle Earth - those top two are both pretty much perfect in their own ways 3. Somewhere Far Beyond 4. Tales from the Twilight World - both a bit more uneven, but at moments reach the level of the top two albums 5. A Twist in the Myth 6. A Night at the Opera - these most recent Guardian albums are missing a bit of the raw energy of the past 7. Follow the Blind 8. Battalions of Fear - the first two albums - still good, but this is much more straight forward, almost a thrash/power hybrid. Very raw and unpolished. Still have awesome songs like Majesty and Valhalla. Of the two live albums, I much prefer "Live" as opposed to Tokyo Tales.