Issue 53 - Year End Special

[Demonspell]

DEMONSPELL’S SONGS TO WATCH
Another New Year’s Eve will ease the pain…
Written December 28-31, 2002
www.mp3.com/stations/songstowatch - 2002 and gone.

Preliminary top 25 of 2002 list (qualifications: none, except that it must be a full-length album released within the past twelve months, no live albums, reissues, or compilations. This is an all-inclusive list, which to me means lumping metal and prog together. The numbers are somewhat arbitrary. Basically, all top 25 albums receive at least 8.5/10 with the top 5 getting a perfect score, all honorable mentions an 8/10.)

1. Symphony X – The Odyssey
2. Pain Of Salvation – Remedy Lane
3. Agalloch – The Mantle
4. Opeth – Deliverance
5. Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
6. Into Eternity – Dead Or Dreaming
7. Green Carnation – Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness
8. Enchant – Blink Of An Eye
9. Arcturus – The Sham Mirrors
10. Dark Tranquillity – Damage Done
11. Threshold – Critical Mass
12. Pagan’s Mind – Celestial Entrance
13. Novembers Doom – To Welcome The Fade
14. Planet X – Moonbabies
15. Amaran – A World Depraved
16. Heaven’s Cry – Primal Power Addiction
17. Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos
18. The Flower Kings – Unfold The Future
19. Nile – In Their Darkened Shrines
20. Superior – Ultima Ratio
21. All That I Bleed – Dying To Remember
22. Immortal – Sons Of Northern Darkness
23. Vintersorg – Visions From The Spiral Generator
24. Brave – Searching For The Sun
25. Blind Guardian – A Night At The Opera

Honorable mentions: Armageddon – Three, Thyrfing – Vansinnesvisor, Insomnium – In The Halls Of Awaiting, Dead Soul Tribe – s/t, Sentenced – The Cold White Light, Winds - reflections Of The I, Star One – Space Metal, Dimension – Universal, Tad Morose – Matters Of The Dark, Arabesque – The Union, Limbonic Art – The Ultimate Death Worship, Mind’s Eye – A Work Of Art, Primordial – Storm Before Calm, Ascension Theory – Regeneration, Elsesphere – Blind Leading The Blind, Everon – Flesh, RPWL – Trying To Kiss The Sun, …And Oceans – Cypher, Glass Hammer – Lex Rex, Lacuna Coil – Comalies, California Guitar Trio – CG3+2, Dream Theater – Six Degress Of Inner Turbulence.

Most progressive album (qualification: This is basically an alternate ranking of the top albums based on their adventurousness and uniqueness.)

1. Agalloch – The Mantle
2. Opeth – Deliverance
3. Arcturus – The Sham Mirrors
4. Pain Of Salvation – Remedy Lane
5. Green Carnation – Light Of Day. Day Of Darkness

Best concert

1. Symphony X/Blind Guardian at WWE: the World
2. Dream Theater at BB King in NYC
3. Progpower 3.0 (would be number one if I had actually been there…)

Biggest hopes of 2003 (qualification: Some of these early year releases I have already heard in or close to their entirety and are covered in the previous two issues, and in the next few as well, put them together and you'll have an instant 2003 preview. The ones I have yet to hear any material from are listed separately. If they had made the deadline, they would easily be top 25 material, top 10 in the cases of the first few)

1. Andromeda – Two Is One
2. Nightingale – Alive Again
3. Power Of Omens – Rooms Of Anguish
4. Gordian Knot – Emergent
5. Kamelot – Epica
6. Arena – Contagion
7. Redemption – s/t

Biggest hopes cont (those I’ll have to wait a little longer to hear…)

1. Opeth – Damnation
2. Evergrey – Recreation Day
3. Nevermore – Enemies Of Reality
4. Zero Hour – De-Evolution
5. Devin Townsend – Accelerated Evolution
6. Katatonia – TBA
7. Katagory V – A New Breed Of Rebellion

Best instrumental:

1. Agalloch – The Hawthorne Passage
2. Enchant – Prognosis
3. Planet X – Ignotus Per Ignotium
4. Pain Of Salvation – Dryad Of The Woods
5. Arabesque – Instant Daydream
6. Porcupine Tree – Wedding Nails
7. California Guitar Trio – The Chase
8. Pagan’s Mind – Conception/Exploring Life

Best debut (qualification: should be a proper debut, no demos, side projects, or new bands from established artists.)

1. Amaran – A World Depraved
2. All that I Bleed – Dying To Remember
3. Insomnium – In The Halls Of Awaiting
4. Elsesphere – Blind Leading The Blind
5. Dimension – Universal

Most emotional albums:

1. Pain Of Salvation – Remedy Lane
2. Agalloch – The Mantle
3. Enchant – Blink Of An Eye
4. Green Carnation – Light Of Day…
5. November’s Doom – To Welcome The Fade

Best epics:

1. Symphony X – The Odyssey
2. Agalloch – In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion
3. Opeth – Deliverance
4. Pain Of Salvation – Beyond The Pale
5. Green Carnation – Light Of Day…
6. Arcturus – For To End Yet Again
7. Threshold – Critical Mass
8. Opeth - By The Pain I See In Others
9. The Flower Kings - The Devil's Playground
10. All That I Bleed – Promise Of Life

Biggest surprises (qualification: basically a non-debut from a band I had little prior knowledge of, or a great album from a band I hadn’t liked before (Soilwork), or a band that had put out one of last year’s most underrated albums and then changed their sound completely but was still very good (Armageddon.))

1. Into Eternity – Dead Or Dreaming
2. Pagan’s Mind – Celestial Entrance
3. Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos
4. Heaven’s Cry – Primal Power Addiction
5. Armageddon – Three

Biggest disappointments (qualification: a highly anticipated release that failed to meet expectations.)

1. Rush – Vapor Trails
2. Nightwish – Century Child
3. In Flames – Reroute To Remain
4. Dream Theater – Six Degrees…
5. Vanden Plas – Beyond Daylight

Reader-influenced categories:

Best vocalist/guitarist/bassist/keyboardist (explanation: I’ll leave this up to you because I hate ranking musicians, especially from different genres.)

Best guilty pleasure

News you’d like to see

Best band discovered through Songs To Watch or my mp3.com station

 

[DEEK]

no Isis?? damn. but overall, great list!! it was a damn good year for metal i think!