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.

Some New Year Downloads.

What the hell after an age I will post some links to some of my uploads. More people might as well try them if they pass my blog. Just interested in seeing how many people download them.

http://rapidshare.com/files/168505720/new_medley.mp3 - featuring 10 of my current favourite melodic metal tunes. It's about 15 minutes long and a lot of fun.

http://rapidshare.com/files/149047365/Tadashi_Goto_-_Innervisions.rar - Some Jap dude who shreds.

http://rapidshare.com/files/130821489/shinedown_bonus_trax.rar - Shinedown bonus tracks from The Sound of Madness. Awesome tracks too if you ask me.

http://rapidshare.com/files/155931125/trev_lukather.rar - Solo album from Trev Lukather, Steve Lukather from Toto's boy. The song-writing skills were definitely passed down.

http://rapidshare.com/files/155957645/arfm_cd.rar - A unique CD limited to 1000 copies released as a money raising excercise for the great online rock radio station arfm.co.uk. And yes I DID pay for mine!! :)

http://rapidshare.com/files/169289790/soundtrack_cobra-feel_the_heat.mp3 - Great song from the Sly Stallone 80s flick Cobra. Sung by Jean Beauvoir. 80s Soundtracks were too cool. This song just has this great feel about it. Smells of Hollywood's extremely warm and dangerous nights.

http://rapidshare.com/files/169292923/16_-_Lou_Gramm_Band__Shadow_King__-_One_Dream__Highlander_II_.mp3 - This from Highlander II soundtrack sung by the almighty Lou Gramm of Foreigner. Great epic song.

http://rapidshare.com/files/171877410/David_Archuleta_-_You_re_the_Voice__Studio_.mp3 - I think this guy came runner up to David Cook in American Idol though I'm not certain. Anyway reson I like this is because I actually love the original - it's a classic. Not a bad effort from this guy either.

http://rapidshare.com/files/173305473/Hot_Leg_-_Trojan_Guitar.mp3 - Title song from Hot Leg, who are Justin Hawkins's new vehicle. I think the song rules. Queen meets ZZ Top boogie!

http://rapidshare.com/files/175293534/yaya.rar - Old band called Ya Ya. This is their 2nd album titled simply II. Pretty perfect anthemic AOR/Melodic rock.

http://rapidshare.com/files/175422512/DARK_MOOR_-_On_the_Hill_of_Dreams.mp3 - Brand new Dark Moor track from the forthcoming album. Sounds good.

http://rapidshare.com/files/175787736/sanctorum.rar - Unknown UK melodic thrashers. Pretty damn good if you ask me.


Happy New Year!

Downloads

Try these albums.

Crown of Glory - Melodic Power Metal - http://rapidshare.com/files/84037278/crown_of_glory_-_a_deep_breath_of_life_2008.rar

Melodic Power Metal from Brazil sounding like Yngwie's stuff - http://rapidshare.com/files/92628471/Magician_-_Tales_of_the_Magician.rar

Spanish Thrash Metal from 2005 - http://rapidshare.com/files/97953521/Perseidan_-_New_method_of_virtual_fiction.rar

German melodic power metal - http://rapidshare.com/files/92430577/powerworld-powerworld-promo-2008-djh.rar

Blog Apathy

So long since the last post eh. Started off like a house on fire with plenty of enthusiasm but it gradually wears off after a while. I was meaning to post about all the exciting things happening in my life but alas it wasn't to be. I kept my hordes of readers waiting with baited breath - err not!

Anyway I've been to 2 gigs of late and am due to go to another one as well. Helloray was good. Hardcore Superstar rocked and I will be seeing Megadeth once again soon.

The weight-loss program is going badly and turing into a weight-gain fiasco! I have bought 2 dvds. I am still working for the agency. I still want to figure out a way to earn money from writing but haven't quite figured out how. I am not sure I am really up to it. I would love to do it but it's such a difficult profession and do I really have the basic skills for it?

Time seems to be flying by this year. I will try and post sooner next time to keep my patient followers happy! Maybe after the Mega gig. Keep'em peeled!

Skindred - Roots Rock Riot

How about something different?

I have been a reggae fan for a long time, way before I got into metal. I used to love the feel of reggae and the way the beats crawled along at such a sedate pace. Skindred mixes ska, reggae, punk and metal to create something fused with incredible energy that hooks you right in. I never got into Benji's previous album with Skindred, Babylon. But I love reggae toasting a beats and rhythms and when mixed with punky metal riffs it sounds pretty damn cool. P.O.D. did a track like this on their last CD called Roots in stereo which I loved also. Well Skindred do it for a whole album's length but there is so much melody and groove in this beast. It will get you involuntarily twitching this stuff believe me!

The band sounds like a mix of SOAD, Disturbed, Soulfly, Sum 41, The Specials(two tone ska band) and Shaggy!!

The previous album as too raw but the new one is way more polished and miles better in terms of quality and production. It is seriously damn catchy. It has been ruling my death deck all goddamn week! The riffs are so infectious and melodic whilst front man and toastmaster Benji's vocalisations are superb. Mixing dub reggae toast jams with super smooth melodic refrains and some David Dramain-like aggressive vocal acrobatics. This shit will be insane live! I will definitely catch these guys live next time they play locally. It's gonna be an absolute riot of that there is no doubt.

Best songs:
Roots rock riot. Amazingly catchy thrash reggae song and a riot indeed. Live it will be incendiary.
Alright. Super melodic reggae rock ditty.
State of Emergency. Yet another, madly catching, infuriatingly memorable tune.
Destroy the Dance floor. Another thrashy faster riffy number with superb vocals and truly addictive. I can just imagine the moshpits during this one.
Rudeboy for life. Starts off kinda lame witha casio keyboard and then explodes into a totally incredible chorus that you will be singing along with in seconds. Monstrously catchy!
Killing me - Least reggae influenced track. Just a great melodic rock track with a super smooth vocal delivery from Benji.
Cause Ah Riot - does exactly what the title says! Explodes into a huge reggae dub mixed with nu-metal ala Soulfly. If this doesn't get you moving you must be dead! Amazingly catchy track again!


go and try this with an open mind and believe me you will be hooked!

It's Christmassssssss!!!!

As Noddy Holder famously said!!!

Well I haven't been postng too much lately and I thought I had better make an effort today of all days. I have been pretty tired out lately. The Status Quo gig absolutely rockd like hell. Like I said I am no Quo fan but the gig was fun and a great way to bring in the festive season. I will definitely go and see Quo again. Well that's it. Not much else to day at the moment. Let's see what the new year can bring forth..

No Manics for moi...

To be honest I didn't really fancy it. A guy on Gumtree wanted to swap his 2 Wednesday tickets for 2 Tuesday night ones. Well I managed to persuade him to give me £30 for my two and he could keep his Wednesday ones and try and flogg'em to someone else. Good deal for me as I only just paid £21 for my tickets from ebay and they only arrived in the morning. I made £9 and got out of seeing those dreary Welsh bastards hehe! Very busy day yesterday as well, trying to sort out references for some agency work I am about to start. It proved a bit of a headache indeed!

I am now bidding on Status Quo tickets at Wembley Arena on Saturday night! I also tried hard for Kaiser Chiefs tickets at Earl's Court but I kept getting pipped at the post for those. Not that I like Quo or the Chiefs much but hey I could always try and get a profit by selling them on or even GO!!

I am high bid on Quo tickets at the mo, but I highly doubt I can bid high enough to win. We will see by the end of tonight.