Top 50 melodic rock/metal albums of 2008

Ok time to post my top 50 melodic metal cds of the year. I always split the melody based albums from the aggressive albums. I find it very hard to make a list with the two styles mixed. It's much easier for me to compare music that is similar in nature rather than music of polar opposites. Anyway it's been another solid year for melodic metal fans out there. This year I enjoyed many more softer releases in the melodic rock/AOR world alongside a good dose of the usual power metal that I like. Here is the list in descending order:


50. Dragonfly - Alma Irae.
Argentinian power metal band sung in Spanish with a great singer. If sung in English would be higher.

49. Crown of Glory - A Deep Breath of Life.
Enjoyable light and airy melodic power metal with nice songs.

48. Revolution Renaissance - New Era
Decent effort from Tolkki and his singing stars.

47. Malpractise - Triangular
Muscular and chunky prog metal with tons of melody.

46. Alestorm - Captain Morgan's Revenge
Hapy go lucky, beer swilling pirate metal from the silly Jockos!

45. Elevener - When Kaleidoscopes Collide
Smooth as silk Scandi AOR release that carresses the ears with honey.

44. Asia - Phoenix
Strong comeback record from all star 80s AOR outfit. Some cracking songs.

43. Cloudscape - Global Drama
Full bodied and powerful melodic power/prog with a melody laden vocal performance.

42. Crystal Eyes - Chained
Possibly the best Crystal Eyes album yet. Great singer and very cool memorable power metal tuneage.

41. Ramos Hugo - The Dream
Collaboration between Hugo and Josh Ramos comes up trumps. Edgy melodic hard rock with tough yet clean production.

40. Pyramaze - Immortal
The fact that Iced Earth didn't make my list shows you what I think of this CD.

39. Seventh Avenue - Terium
Super catchy hymns in prasie of the almighty here. Seventh Avenue were an ok band before but on this release they are good enough to join the Helloween/Gamma ray/Edguy power metal premier league.

38. Keldian - Journey of Souls
Was looking forward to this immensely after their very catchy debut and they don't dissapoint although it could have been even better. The band knows how to write catchy metal.

37. Serenity - Fallen Sanctuary
Top quality Power/Prog from the Austrians.

36. Saint Deamon - In Shadows Lost from the Brave
Top quality debut melodic power from Sweden. Looking forward to the follow up release.

35. Souljourners - Mind Control
Excellent melodic prog metal debut effort. Chunky and melodic with a solid singer.

34. Dignity - Project Destiny
Super catchy power metal with huge anthemic choruses all over the shop.

33. Khymera - The Greatest Wonder
Top quality Melodic Rock/AOR release from this all star European band.

32. Benedictum - Seasons of Tragedy
Very heavy US based power metal with the female Dio on vox.

31. Galneryus - Reincarnation
The best Japanese band I have ever heard that plays melodic power metal style.

30. Avantasia - The Scarecrow
Interesting release from Tobi. Some great memorable and epic songs much better than his day job IMO.

29. Disturbed - Indestructible
Modern metal that old school metal fans can easily get into. Melodic, heavy and catchy with powerful vocals.

28. Work of Art - Artwork
Super slick AOR with supremely sweet choruses.

27. Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad
Very strong comeback effort from Mr.Coverdale and Co. Fantastic crunchy guitar production.

26. Stormwarrior - Heading Northe
For fans of old Running Wild this is an absolute must.

25. Brainstorm - Downburst
Top class German power metal merchants don't let their fans down.

24. Dragonforce - Ultra Beatdown
They are just plain fun love'm or loathe'm and they know how to write a real catchy chorus.

23. Eyefear - The Unseen
Very Surprised by this. Aussie prog metal merchants deliver a more straightforward and killer melodic metal release with OTT powerful vocals.

22. Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls
Top quality conceptual melodic prog metal with a fantastic singer.

21. Anthem - Black Empire
I said Galneryus was the best band in Japan and yet Anthem's disk is rated higher! The reason being the surprise factor again. Didn't expect such wondrously enjoyable anthems from Anthem so to speak.

20. Grand Magus - Iron Will
Great return from Swedish warriors of epic mid paced metal with manly vocals. Heroic, chest beating warsongs to be played as loud as possible.

19. Journey - Revelation
Another surprise. Journey returns with a Filipino singer and makes their best album in many years. New singer is amazing and the songs are brilliantly memorable.

18. Royal Hunt - Collision Course
Another comeback disks of sorts with the brilliant power house Mark Boals on the vox truning in his best performance in many a day on the mic. The production is also out of this world.

17. Marcello Vestry - st
A debut melodic rock release guaranteed to put a smile on your face with super catchy tunes.

16. Almah - Fragile Equality
I prefer this to the last Angra release. Edu Falaschi's solo band just released a magnificent album that builds on the debut Almah release and then some.

15. Eden's Curse - The Second Coming
Miles better than the already solid debut. Crunchingly heavy and melodic guitars with sweet vocals and songs.

14. H.E.A.T. - st
From out of nowhere comes a pure 80s AOR release with wonderful vocals and melodies.

13. Rick Springfield - Venus in Overdrive
Once again a massive surprise for me. A modern take on the melodic rock genre but with massive hooks and surprising heaviness.

12. House Of Lords - Come To My Kingdom
A huge album in terms of songs and vocals. Could have been higher with slightly better production.

11. Her Whisper - The Great Unifier
Another unknown melodic metal gem from the underground. The guy sings like Messiah of Candlemass fame and the band are top notch melodic metallers.

10. Edenbridge - My Earth Dream
Been loving Sabine and co for a good while now and whilst this album is not quite as good as Shine, it is still truly a breathtaking and awe inspiring CD.

9. Bob Catley - Immortal
Bob hooked up with Magnus Karlsson which was a damn good move if you ask me. Bob himself is on top form and Magnus provides him with the ammunition songwise. Only magic can be the result.

8. Rage - Carved in Stone
A straightforward, powerful Rage album without any of the whistles and bells of the previous CD. Perhaps not as good as Soundchaser but getting there. The production is again marvellous with the crispiest guitar sound known to man.

7. Jorn - Lonely are the Brave
Jorn does what Jorn does best here - belt it out! Some of these songs create moments of genuine power and aural ambrosia!

6. Shinedown - The Sound of Madness
Once again a huge surprise and a truly monstrous disk. Modern melodic metal doesn't get much better than this. Amazingly powerful vocal performance as well.

5. Firewind - The Premonition.
Well Gus G is ever the monster shredder but the guy knows how to write tunes and with a singer like Apollo by your side you know you can't go wrong.

4. Axel Rudi Pell - Tales Of The Crown
Was looking forward to this immensely and I wasn't let down. I think Johnny Gioeli is my favourite singer in the world right now. The guy is an absolute monster on the mic! Mr. Pell fires the riffs and with the huge sound you just can't go wrong with this huge slab of Deutsch metal bellieve me.

3. Eclipse - Are You Ready to Rock.
I love being taken by surprise as you might have noticed and Eclipse did just that alright. This is just a fantastic release of fiery, hellishly catchy melodic rock from Sweden. These guys havetaken their time since their previous release and boy was it worth the wait. These songs are engraved on my brain for life.

2. Brother Firetribe - Heart Full Of Fire
This one wasn't a surprise at all as I was expecting massive things after the amazing debut and by jove they didn't let me down. If anything they superceded any expectations that I had with this album. Just an amazing batch of 80s melodic rock/AOR tunes that are impossible to dislike. Where they go on the third album is hard to tell, because this one was just through the stratosphere.

And yet they were still not my number one album. My runaway 'numero uno' from the band that can do little wrong in my eyes.

1. Sabaton - The Art of War
This band now has a trilogy of stellar disks on their hands. Just when you think how on earth will they be able to top their previous release, they go and do it and then some. It's superfluous to talk about individual songs on this album as there isn't a filler track in sight. Sabaton is truly one of the greatest power metal bands in the world today, if not the greatest. I can only dream of what they will come up with on the next album but I am so confident in the abilities of this band and I'm sure I won't be let down.