My 2014 Albums of the Year

[Power_Metal_Dom]

So it's that time of year again. Namely the end of it. With not much on my radar before 2015, here's a brief look at Chapter 2014 in the Book of Power Metal as I saw it:

The Amazing

Freedom Call - Beyond
Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
Gamma Ray - Empire of the Undead
Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown
Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto
Sabaton - Heroes
Falconer - Black Moon Rising
Alestorm - Sunset on the Golden Age
Unisonic - Light of Dawn


The Good

Primal Fear - Delivering the Black
Winterstorm - Cathyron
Battleroar - Blood of Legends
Twilight Force - Tales of Ancient Prophecies
Derdian - Human Reset
DragonForce - Maximum Overload
HammerFall - (r)Evolution
Neonfly - Strangers in Paradise


The Not Bad

Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon
Persuader - The Fiction Maze
Iron Savior - Rise of the Hero
Brainstorm - Firesoul
Crystal Eyes - Killer
Astral Doors - Notes from the Shadows
Bloodbound - Stormborn


The Ugly

Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Angels of the Apocalypse
Machinae Supremacy - Phantom Shadow

Quick Summary

This year has been a *very* good quality year for power metal. It's central theme has been bands returning to form and improving upon their last release. Freedom Call and HammerFall back to roots with more focus on good old cheesy power metal, Sonata in places back to a pre-Unia sound, Edguy somewhat coming out of the hard rock phase, Gamma Ray improving on To The Metal, Alestorm showing they're far from running dry, Unisonic delivering the power metal we all wanted, beautiful magic from Elvenking and Primal Fear delivering a classic. Not to mention more good stuff from DragonForce with Marc, solid stuff from Sabaton, more decent stuff from Derdian and a some promising potential from Neonfly.


Power_Metal_Dom's 2014 Album of the Year: Falconer - Black Moon Rising

After such strong competition this year this was a very hard choice but at the end of the day I had to go with something consistently joyful to listen to, where every song brings a smile. This is one of those "I have to listen to it all in one go" albums. It's damn near-flawless and such a big improvement on Armod. It's ballsy, it's atmospheric, it's heavy, it's gentle, it's folk-y, it's shred-y, it's melodic, it's intricate, it's got narrative, it's got Mathias showcasing his best and everyone playing out of their skin. A firm Falconer classic and no mistake.

Power_Metal_Dom's 2014 Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Iron Savior - Rise of the Hero

I was SO close to saying Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Angels of the Apocalypse but you know what that's just bad without surprise. Whereas with Iron Savior I really expected something more than this after enjoying The Landing so damn much. I love Piet Sielck and even though Iron Savior have a tendency to sound samey, this just feels so generic compared to The Landing. It's not a bad album, not by far, it's very listenable it just lacks originality and sounds like it could've been spat out in a week.

 

[1928]

Let's see if I can remember what 2014 albums I listened to this year... some eccentric genre groupings here...

Amazing
Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown
Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
Opeth - Pale Communion
Anathema - Distant Satellites
Broken Bells - After the Disco
Tycho - Awake

Good
Alcest - Shelter
Dragonforce - Maximum Overload
Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere
Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Slash - World On Fire
The Black Keys - Turn Blue
Anubis Gate - Horizons
Foster the People - Supermodel

Bad
Iced Earth - Plagues of Babylon
Within Temptation - Hydra
Asia - Gravitas

Album of the Year
Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown

Didn't listen to much in the way of metal this year. Finding it harder and harder to listen to on a regular basis, even with bands I grew up on. C'est la vie. I was pleasantly surprised by new Sonata Arctica and especially Edguy. By a mile, Edguy's is my favorite album of the year. Everything I wanted to hear them do again with only a couple songs I don't much care for, and a fun bonus disc.

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Something about that saddens me Mr Nippleson. I hope if any year can bring you back to the PM/metal fold, this year is almost the best of any!

 

[1928]

I dunno man, I'm kind of okay with it haha! I checked out a couple songs from the new Gamma Ray and Elvenking and just couldn't do it. Same with Alestorm - had to turn it off. I remember liking a few songs by Battle Beast earlier this summer because it was so over-the-top but I listened to them yesterday and was completely embarrassed. Guess it's time to move on for me

 

[Kingface]

I dunno man, I'm kind of okay with it haha! I checked out a couple songs from the new Gamma Ray and Elvenking and just couldn't do it. Same with Alestorm - had to turn it off. I remember liking a few songs by Battle Beast earlier this summer because it was so over-the-top but I listened to them yesterday and was completely embarrassed. Guess it's time to move on for me

I'm in a similar boat myself. Since summer this year I've been spending nowhere near as much time listening to Music as I typically have in the last nearly ten years! In a way it results in me enjoying it more when I do make some time for it.

Earlier this year, as part of my trying to decide whether to go and see Alestorm for what would have been the 5th (I think) time, I listened to one minute of the song 'Drink' and turned it off. No thanks. Perhaps one day I'll go to the effort of checking if I still enjoy their older stuff but not for now.

I checked out Battle Beast for the first time earlier, basically because Dom linked to their latest Music Video and I then went on to check out a couple of their older songs. All very hit and miss and like you say, felt kinda embarrassing. The singer's voice does sound very good on certain moments but not so good on others. The music generally is very run of the mill.

To end on plus points, I really enjoyed seeing I Am I a few weeks back, I still really enjoy listening to their album as well. I'm also currently checking out Work of Art and wondering why the hell I didn't do this sooner!

 

[MetalCodd]

The Excellent:

High Spirits - You Are Here
Alestorm - Sunset on the Golden Age
Allen/Lande - The Great Divide
Crazy Lixx - s/t
Astral Doors - Notes From the Shadows
Grand Magus - Triumph and Power
Purson - In the Meantime (not an album, I know)
Evergrey - Hymns for the Broken
Neonfly - Strangers in Paradise
Neverworld - Visions of Another World
Nubian Rose - Mental Revolution
Ten - Albion
Steel Panther - All You Can Eat
Brainstorm - Firesoul
Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto
Iron Savior - Rise of the Hero

The Good:

Riot - Unleash the Fire
Uriah Heep - Outsider
Wolf - Devil Seed
Accept - Blind Rage
Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls
Ace Frehley - Space Invader
Unisonic - Light of Dawn
Crucified Barbara - In the Red
Freedom Call - Beyond
Battleaxe - Heavy Metal Sanctuary
Striker - City of Gold
AC/DC - Rock or Bust
Edguy - Space Police: Defenders of the Crown
Magnum - Escape from the Shadow Garden
Devil's Heaven - Heaven on Earth
Gotthard - Bang
Sabaton - Heroes

The O.K./Not Bad:

Primal Fear - Delivering the Black
Iced Earth - Temples of Babylon
Twilight Force - Tales of Ancient Prophecies
Aria - Through the Times
Threshold - For the Journey
Battleroar - Blood of Legends
Hammerfall - (r)Evolution
Gamma Ray - Empire of the Undead
Harem Scarem - Thirteen
A Sound of Thunder - The Lesser Key of Solomon
Vega - Stereo Messiah
Sanctuary - The Day the Sun Died

The Ugly/Rubbish:

Witch Mountain - Mobile of Angels
Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica Revisited
Timo Tolkki's Avalon - Angels of the Apocalypse
Secret Illusion - Change of Time
Dawnbringer - Night of the Hammer
Deimos - Beyond

Random Thoughts

Allen/Lande - The Great Divide - I was surprised by how good this album was, given how pedestrian "The Showdown" was. I was shocked to find out that it was written by Timo Tolkki, although I did think that some of the songs sounded quite Stratovarius-y. It goes to show that he can still write some great material, mainly when he isn't fucking about with "Metal Operas" and what-not.

Steel Panther - All You Can Eat - As I keep saying about this band, forget the jokes and the gimmicks. This band makes amazing hard rock/metal albums. I honestly don't see how they have any less substance than most bands out there that claim to be "serious".

Hammerfall - (r)Evolution - I did really like this album at first; but the more I listen to it, the more the production gets on my nerves. I much preferred Charlie Bauerfeind's thicker, meatier production. Put simply, the sound on this lacks power. I almost feel like Frederick Nordstrom is treating this music like it's weak shit for children.

Neverworld - Visions of Another World - Ben Colton is a bloody amazing singer. He's the Messiah Marcolin of power metal.

Vega - Stereo Messiah - This album does have some very good songs. It's just a shame that the guitar playing is so utterly boring, like it was treated as an afterthought.

Witch Mountain - Mobile of Angels - I don't expect Dragonforce speeds from this band, but this is slow to the point of lethargy, not all that heavy, and the songs don't really go anywhere. Boring as fuck.

Secret Illusion - Change of Time - This has some really good songs on it, but it's ruined by very obviously programmed drums, and some pretty horrifying singing.

The title of MetalCodd's favourite album of 2014 is a toss up between Triumph and Power, All You Can Eat, and You Are Here. I can't be bothered to make up my mind about it, though.

Stinker of the Year: Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child

When I heard that SA was going back to the "old sound", I was wary. I was interested, but I tried not to get my hopes up too high. It turns out I was right. Toni Kakko wrote a perfectly good Sonata album in the style of the first 4 albums, and then shat on random parts of it. Because reasons.

And while we're on the subject...

Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica Revisited

Now the only reason I had a listen to this is because I heard that SA was going to play the whole of Ecliptica on the UK tour next year. I wanted to see if they made any major changes to the music, as I figured they would play it the Revisited way live. What Toni has done is basically sing it in the wrong key. Either that or it just sounds really half-arsed. When I said that I would be delighted if they put out another Ecliptica, this is NOT what I had in mind.

Now even though I don't listen to the new Sonata style (from Unia, onwards), I did not feel remotely angry about them changing. I felt like we could amicably go our separate ways. With these 2 releases, however, I feel like Toni Kakko is taking the piss out of me.

Going slightly off-topic...

2014 was the year I started using Spotify. The adverts and the bugs are irritating, but it is still so much easier than the downloading (coughcoughpiratebaycoughcough), and then re-encoding everything and sticking it on my iPod, and worrying about storing it all on my hard drive etc. and so forth. Also, iTunes was pretty much the only reason I still had Windows on my computer. Now I'm not using iTunes any more, I've left that shit far behind (Linux Mint, FTW). Having access to nearly all of the music in the world is probably the best thing ever, but the shit royalties artists get are not so cool, which is why I still buy it if I like it. If it wasn't for Spotify and it's ilk, I would waste so much money on shit music.

I'll sign off with my favourite youtube video of the year. Happy New Year, boys and girls! See y'all in 2015!

 

[Power_Metal_Dom]

Thanks for your thoughts dude! Always enjoy reading people's lists and reasons. I think I'm eye to eye with you more or less on what side of the fence things fall. Except Sonata that is. Enjoyed this one because out of the last 4 this one seemed less ear-gouging

 

[Kingface]

Really cool to read these posts.

My Album of the Year is from a Band who as far as I'm concerned, is the biggest reason why my interest in Music has gone some way of getting back on track in terms of making time to enjoy it. It's also the only album of 2014 I've felt compelled to listen to more than ten times just for the sake of the sheer delight in brings:

Work of Art - Framework

 

[korruption]

RAUNCHY - Vices.Virtues.Visions.

A band I've greatly enjoyed since their debut album, Velvet Noise. They've done some adjustments to their sound and I think each album has its own identity, their past 2 vocalists both had their specialties and helped change the sound, but not for the worse.

The one album I think they may have stumbled very slightly was A Discord Electric, which while still a solid album, didn't have a lot of memorable moments. The song 'Big Truth' seems to be infamously hated in a lot of reviews of the album that I've read, and almost every mention of the song seems to be of disgust. I'm a little indifferent to it myself, and wouldn't have minded it being cut from the album and being slapped on as a bonus track, but I can sit through it.

Then along comes this album with new singer, Mike Semesky, and holy shitsplosion was I blown away! The hybrid sound they're known for is still consistent and catchy, and Mike's harsh and clean vocals are a very welcome change, Jeppe Christensen's crystal clean vocals are as solid as ever, and the two really play off each other while having very contrasting voices. Not to take credit away from the rest of the band, far from it, the sound of the band do what they need to do, but I tend to focus a lot more on vocals for some reason. Probably cause I don't know fuck-all about guitars, drums, bass, or keyboards. Either way, this album wouldn't be the asskickery it is without all of the personnel involved.

Fast, ferocious, melodic, poppy, electronic... fucking RAUNCHY!


I've been so obsessed over this album that I literally have 3 copies of it (2 unopened), and I decided to slap their logo into my signature. At least until the fangeekery wears off.