Hello from California, USA.

[Powermetal Rebel]

The new WH will NOT surpass Far From the Madding Crowd. I think Erik will even admit that once the promo work for Shadow Cabinet is done. And if you think the Savatage juggernaut is stretching thin, you must not have heard the new JOP.

I will admit that FFtMC ranks right up there with Savatage's best. But Savatage has a ton of great albums for me. WH only has one (maybe two now). The first two WH albums don't measure up. They were good, but FFtMC is on a whole other level. As is the new one.

FFtMC can compete with Mountain King, Gutter Ballet, Streets, Dead Winter Dead, Wake of Magellan, and Poets and Madmen in terms of metal greatness, but it's still just one german shephard in a pen full of dobermans. To win the war, they'll need more german shepards.

I understand what you're saying about metal greatness and WH's albums not quite measuring up to that standard. I'm not comparing the bands accomplishments as that would be unfair. I enjoy a massive amount of Savatage's music but what I like most about them are their ballads & orchestral material. When it comes to straight forward heart pounding heavy metal I prefer a whole list of other bands. My appreciation of WH's music may not be for the metal content but instead for the onslaught of countless emotions the superbly written songs perpetuate. Savatage's ballads are brilliant and expressive, no doubt about it, but, for me, most represent sadness & longing. When the crowds are gone, All That I Bleed, Believe, Not What You See, Alone You Breathe, Chance and so many others are some of my favorite songs of all time but not for their metal content. If I had to pick my 100 favorite metal tracks of all time I'm not so sure either WH or Savatage would even be on that list.

I'm getting tired... If this message needs more work I'll finish up tomorrow..

Just my thoughts-
PMR

 

[Fangface]

Not sure what the hell Warlord has to so with Skyclad

Maybe PR was hinting at my custom user title

 

[Powermetal Rebel]

Maybe PR was hinting at my custom user title

I think we've got a winner !!!! :Smokin:
PMR

 

[Trans-Siberian Outcast]

Maybe PR was hinting at my custom user title

Oh. Duh. My stupid.

Time to add another CD to the proverbial want list. Only CD I have ever been able to get by them is 'Best Of Warlord'. I've heard good things about Century Media but never ordered from them. I really like The End & LaserCD mostly because they do not hold up shipping for back orders and both are seldom out of stock. Have you had any bad experiences with Century?

I've had up and down experiences with Century over the years. I believe they are much better now as they've really beefed up their "mail order" business with a whole new site at cmdistro.com. I just ordered an Orphaned Land t-shirt from them last week and it was here three days later. If you're more comfortable ordering from The End, get it from there. They have Rising From The Ashes for $11.50. And if you liked the Best Of, you'll love Rising. I'd also recommend ordering it quickly because the cheap American version is out of stock at bigger outlets like Amazon and CDUniverse.

 

[Powermetal Rebel]

Thanks much for the tip. I was going to wait for the new WH to place a large order but ... Guess I'd better get busy. I'll check back here before I place my order - Let me know if you think of any other must haves.
Thanks again...
PMR