01) Vision Divine - Stream Of Consciousness
02) Cea Serin - ...Where Memories Combine...
03) Ayreon - The Human Equation
04) Mercenary - 11 Dreams
05) Mechanical Poet - Woodland Prattlers
06) Derek Sherinian - Mythology
07) OHM - Live On Kpfk 90.7 FM
08) Wintersun - Wintersun
09) Mattias IA Eklundh - Freak Guitar: The Road Less Traveled
10) The Haunted - rEVOLVEr
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11) Motorhead - Inferno
12) Saxon - LionHeart
13) Dreamscape - End Of Silence
14) Wolf - Evil Star
15) Beatallica - Beatallica II
Its been a weird musical year for me. Most of my favorite bands did not release a full album. That left me lots of time to discover some new bands. And I found quite a few that were worth to time to listen to.
Vision Divine is not a new band and yet it is! Their new singer Michele Luppi has, IMHO, changed the band big time! The result is a mix of progressive and melodic songs that dominated my playlist for the latter part of this year.
Another real discovery was Cea Cerin's album "...Where Memories Combine..." very progressive with both clean and harsh vocals and layered with sound samples. It all made for a very atmospheric and emotional album. Ayreon's "The Human Equation" tops a lot of lists this year and it is indeed a very strong album in fact, as far as I am concerned, this album is his best until now.
Next up are again two new bands; Denmarks Mercenary and Russian band Mechanical Poet. Mercenary reminds me of Nevermore and Evergrey at their most heavy moments. A very strong and heavy debut. Mechanical Poet goes wild with classical passages in their music without sounding anything like the cheesy Rhapsody. There are however a few hints towards Blind Guardian in their sound.
Those who know me are used to hear me rambling about this fusion thingie. Both Derek Sherinian and OHM are fusions bands from respectively Derek Sherinian [of course!] and ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland. Dereks album is loaded to the brim with guitar and keyboard solo's. Guest musicians are Zakk Wylde, Steve Stevens, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Lukather, Simon Phillips, John Sykes, Marco Medoza, Tony Franklin, Brain Tichy and Jerry Goodman. A must for the fanatics!
OHM's album is a live album recorded at a radio studio and this album simply smokes! Of course Chris is great playing his heart out but new member Robby Pagliary [Bass] will blow you away.
The debut album from Wintersun came as a complete surprise to me. The band is a creation of ex-Ensiferum guitarist/vocalist Jari Mäenpää. On this debut album he plays all the instruments except the drums. Wintersun plays atmospheric death metal. It has the harsh vocals but also fantastic orchestrations and choirs! I think I hear pieces of Symphony X, Children of Bodom and Borknagar. A killer album to hear when it is snowing!
Mattias IA Eklundh is the guitarist of Freak Kitchen and makes solo albums in his spare time. When you put them in your cd player you will enter his weird and wacky world. On this album there are no borders. Anything goes! His playing is lightning fast and more than once very funny!
When I took the time to listen to the latest The Haunted album I was pleasantly surprised while still being heavy like a ton of bricks [were did we hear that before
] it was also damned melodic. I loved it from the first moment I heard it. Great stuff.
And thats it! It was a fantastic year! It was nice for once to have no new albums of your trusted favorites...but now I am looking forward to new albums by Nevermore, Symphony X, Children of Bodom, Judas Priest, A.C.T, Arch Enemy, Kamelot, Sieges Even and Slayer in 2005.
I am also expecting a great album by newcomer Communic.
Keep an eye on them, you will not be disappointed!
I close in wishing you all a very good 2005! Have a good one.
And keep on banging that head.
