lari

The new Impellitteri album will be out soon. Check out the new song "Wicked Maiden" from their MySpace. Impellitteri kicks ass, and the new song is simple, but rocks hard.

I have that Manilla Road album on CD and it's not very good. Probably the worst 2008 album I own. Metal-Rules has a list up, too. Not going to type it up for you, but Testament is #1. I don't know about a personal favourite yet, but I guess is right up there. Also Circle II Circle, Blaze Bayley, Poisonblack... maybe Marshall Law, Testament, Uriah Heep. There was also Judas Priest, Iced Earth and Pyramaze now that I think about it. It's too early for me to figure out these things though. I think I could come up with a 2007 list by now. :/

I find it odd that I'm a big metal fan, but I haven't heard any of these 20 albums. Nor am I interested in hearing them. Well, I used to be somewhat of a casual Satyricon listener back in my teenage angst days, and I do own a couple of AC/DC albums, but I can't say I especially care to hear either of these albums.

Right Here In My Arms? Just a guess.

I don't rip my music onto my computer, because, well, there is no need to. I have maybe about 350 CDs (singles not included). 17 Iron Maiden albums, 8 singles and a pair of tribute albums. 19 Judas Priest albums, two singles and three tribute albums. A few more notables: Savatage - 11 albums Black Sabbath - 9 + 1 tribute album Blind Guardian - 10 Dio - 10 Helloween - 11 Iced Earth - 12 Saxon - 9 + one that I already preordered but comes out next month A bunch of stuff with 6,7,8 albums.

Geoff Tate: Awesome voice, but needs to save it for singing. Seriously, he needs to shut up about politics already.

I didn't think any of my nominations would make it, but there you have it: Robert Plant and Sharon Den Adel are in!

Judas Priest's British Steel. "The Grinder" is my favourite track off it. As opposed to Breaking the Law, Metal Gods or Living After Midnight, for instance.

I have to say I didn't get into many new bands this year at all. I've been really conservative. There have been a few albums by bands I didn't hear anything from before, but it doesn't mean I really liked them. I'd say there's been only two bands new to me that I really liked and who I got into just this year: Sabbat: have been meaning to get into them for quite some time now - I've heard their first two albums sometime years ago, but now I just picked up History of a Time to Come on CD, their debut album from 1988. Definitely in my top ten thrash metal bands now. Valley's Eve: got a good deal on Deception of Pain and absolutely loved it. It was released in 2002. Love the heavy crunch combined with the melodies and the powerful lead vocals. Catchy, aggressive... somewhat similar to Angel Dust in a way, but with less piano.

Saxon's new album, Into the Labyrinth, comes out January.

I haven't heard any of those albums. But I've heard lots of 2008 releases and bought at least a dozen on CD. Is my taste in music really that marginal?

I made a list but it's really crap. I like all of them, but I just wouldn't know how to rank them so I'd be happy about it. I chose my favourites instead of the most talented overall, but ignored the least versatile vocalists. Except for Jon Oliva and Kai Hansen, who are my all-time personal favourites, but should never be on a top ten list. Except for songwriting, maybe. So it's like a mix of the most talented vocalists in music I like. I originally had Placido Domingo on the list, but it really stood out. Whatever, I just wanted to take part and vote for my favourites, I guess. 1. Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche) 2. Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio) 3. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) 4. Freddie Mercury (Queen) 5. Sharon Den Adel (Within Temptation) 6. R.D. Liapakis (Valley's Eve, Mystic Prophecy) 7. Placido Domingo 8. Ian Gillan (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath) 9. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) 10. Jon Oliva (Savatage) EDIT: what the hell, I'll add Domingo for the hell of it. Because he is so rad and kicks all kinds of ass no matter what kind of music you listen to.

I want to vote, too. Just give me some time. I can't decide if I should go with who I think are the best or who are my personal favourites. There's a lot of technically flawless opera singers, and there's some favourites of mine who are kind of one-dimensional.

Maybe it's okay to beat up bad karaoke singers as long as you're not intoxicated while doing so?

There's a state limit on how drunk you're allowed to be?

Depends on what the ratings mean. 5/10 could be really awesome and everything above that really really really really awesome.

Someone mentioned Iron Maiden being a past great, when in fact they are still recording and never had a break longer than three years between albums. I'm a fan and actually think their latest, A Matter of Life and Death, which came out 2006, is the best album of their career.

Helloween - Halloween

But the music isn't made by the band only. There's studio engineers, people who loan their equipment and studio, session musicians, songwriters/lyricists (if there's cover songs/samples), artists and all involved in making the music as good as it is. Those guys get paid salaries by the label, and the label doesn't hire them unless the record is expected to sell enough to cover the costs. They get nothing if you buy a t-shirt. These people don't deserve to live off of their work? But guys who manufacture t-shirts are okay in your books though, with all the hard work they put in the music? And don't tell me about Radiohead either - they are a major established band, of course they can afford to do what they want. But do you expect a new, talented, young band to be able to afford a quality record on their own money? Would they be willing to risk their futures and get a huge loan just for studio time and a dream? Probably not. And imagine the hassle of promoting your new album with no contacts, no channels - just a computer, a telephone and a million asses to kiss to get yourself on radio or to any media anywhere so you can actually have someone coming on your tour where you can finally sell your merch. Touring isn't exactly a good business for most bands - especially if you need to fly with a big crew. You need big venues to make it worth your while. A lot of the touring funds come from labels that think touring will indeed promote the band and help sell more copies of the album, so they can call it a wash. You need someone to help the smaller bands. Not everyone is Radiohead from day one. Nothing against band merch and live shows though. I buy plenty of merch if I like something, but it's a secondary thing for me. I go to concerts a lot too, but I don't consider going to live shows an extra expense, since I usually end up saving money compared to a regular night out - damn those long beer lines at jam-packed venues. Anyway, yeah, I don't like it how people who know very little talk trash about the music industry just so they can justify illegal downloading, but back on topic - I see a lot of people mentioned vinyl. I like the idea of owning vinyls, but never could imagine myself starting to hunt down all the albums I want on vinyl. Not to mention searching for a player I like. If I was more of an enthusiast that I am already, I probably would get vinyls too though.

Are you overpaying for beer, or underpaying for CD's? Overpaying for beer, unfortunately. Anyway, since most artists' back catalogues are usually midprice, meaning you can find the majority of all CDs with a reasonable price, it's only the new ones you actually have to pay the full price for. That was what I was getting at.

Totally agree. Not to mention you get to skip all the bickering about how shit all the bands are.

I buy CD's. Don't have to worry about computers breaking down nor about putting on a PC just to give an album a spin. That's why I don't like buying music online. Plus you get the best quality sound (which IS important if you have a good hi-fi system - compressed music just doesn't have any dynamics), lyrics sheets, album art and everything else all wrapped up in a nice package when you get a CD. It's quite a simple choice for a music lover. Ordering CD's online is also easy - don't have to roam the streets for your favourite bands debut album. As for pirating, I'm not even going to the fact it's stealing, but a CD usually only costs the equivalent of two pints of beer. That's not much for something that provides entertainment for the rest of your life. You pay more for new albums, and I usually do get like maybe a dozen new albums a year, but those are always by bands I really know I am a fan of and just want to own all their releases. Also, nowadays new albums usually have special bonus thingies like interviews, videos, DVD's, commentary etc when you get the first pressing aka limited edition. So that makes it worth while for me. I don't really consider people who don't buy their favourite group's releases (on CD, vinyl, mp3 whatever way) fans at all. Or alternatively, if you don't think their music is worth your money, maybe you just have bad taste in music. One more thing - those original discs look so god-damn cool on the CD towers. Gives a personal touch to your living room and keeps one corner off limits from your wife's decorating enthusiasm and saves you money from some of the useless (not to mention ridiculous and expensive) stuff women like to fill their homes with.

Sentenced. Get their "Crimson" album.

Susan licks pussy! I know, I know. R.I.P.

That's crazy how similar our lists are.