Your Favorite Albums of 2007

[Tramz]

Now that 2007 is a memory, it is officially that time of the year again. As many of you know, every year i put out a fairly comprehensive list of what i feel were the best and most disappointing albums of the passing year, known simply as The Tramz Awards (for those who missed it, you can check out the 2006 list here ).

It is a work in progress over the course of the entire year, and i've started serious rough work on it a few months ago, but i always like to get some input from the OSA community. So, i pose to you a few questions:

1) What do you feel represents a few of the best metal & related albums of 2007?

2) Out of those, what would you say most deserves to be the number 1 album of 2007?

3) Assuming it wasn't your answer to number 2, where would you place Dark Passion Play in a top 20 list?

 

[Trogdor 666]

Well, there are tons of albums I bought and enjoyed this year, metal or otherwise, but in the end I think your favorite album of the year, it all comes down to what album you listened to the most. I'll say it right now, while Dark Passion Play was an excellent album, it was NOT the album I listened to most in 2007 and is currently not the album I'm listening to the most. No, the album I listened to the most BY FAR in 2007 had to be...

DETHKLOK

Yes, the cartoon metal band from Adult Swim's Metalocalypse played almost non-stop since it came out over the summer. Sure I happen to be a big fan of the show, but this is an extremely solid death metal album and certainly better than 98% of the metal releases in 2007 in terms of overall quality. And that's kinda sad considering Dethklok is a cartoon band, but whether they're a fake band or not, this album is excellent. Not only are the lyrics pretty damn funny, but a good number of the songs are actually memorable and I think will stand the test of time as true metal classics, regardless of the "band" performing them. Songs like "Go Into the Water", "Castratikron" and "Bloodtrocuted" may have some ridiculous lyrics, but the metal beneath it is really good, technically sound and catchy. There are a few tracks that don't live up to the rest of the album, but overall I haven't listened to any complete album this year nearly as many times as I have "The Dethalbum".

You don't need to be a fan of Metalocalypse to love and appreciate The Dethalbum... but it helps


Dark Passion Play comes in 2nd, though, followed by Arch Enemy's impressive "Rise of the Tyrant". I'd give other honorable mentions to Iced Earth and Machine Head for their respective impressive 2007 albums.

 

[Iced Dog]

My Top Albums of 2007

The Tramz Awards..soon to become more widely recognized than the Grammys...and definitely more respected in the metal community

So my list technically didn't rank the releases, but they are in a rough sort of order from the best on down...so my #1 would be Framing Armageddon from Iced Earth. I continuously come back to this album and am never bored with it...and for quite a while it just kept getting better with each listen, a good sign that it will stand the test of time.

As for DPP, it ranks at either #2 or #3...hard to decide between that and The Divine Conspiracy from Epica. Oddly enough, about my top 5 albums all came out around September this year...it was just a mad influx of brilliance

 

[Black Core]

my top 10

1. Novembers Doom - The Novella Resevoir (first album I checked out by these guys and I was instantly hooked - Wonderfull mix of death and doom metal)
2. Autumn - my new time (also the first album I checked from them but they're really good - gothic metal)
3. Nile - Ithyphallic (used to have all of their albums until my HD gave up on me. This album isn't really as heavy as their previous ones but still one to add to the top 3 this year - Egyptian Death metal)
4. Kittie - funeral for yesterday (also have all of their albums and EPs. Most older metal heads don't think of kittie as true metal but I disagree. It has all the elements a good album needs - nu-metal)
5. Anaal Nathrakh - Hell Is Empty And All The Devils Are Here (awesome heavy blackened death)
6. Cadaveria - In Your Blood (pretty unknown band but great metal nontheless. the voice of Cadaveria used to sing in Opera IX but I'm glad she stepped in this new project. Something for the fans of nu-metal)
7. Daath - the hinderers (really good industrial black)
8. Krypteria - Bloodangel's Cry (gothic metal)
9. Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup (viking metal at its finest. Imo the best album they ever made)
10. Fear of Eternity - funeral mass (not sure what to classify this as but it's not somethign for the regular metal fan. It sounds really dark and doomy with incomprehensible dark vocals. All instruments are done by one man from Italy alone.)

so that was my top 10 with a nice variaty of metal in it but also worth mentioning:
Nifelheim - envoy of lucifer (black metal)
69 eyes - angels (finish rock)
Drudk - estrangement (atmospheric black)
Ensiferum - victory songs (viking metal)
Epica - the divine conspiracy (gothic metal)
Devildriver - the last kind words (death metal with lots of groovy sounds in it. wonderfull)
Legion of the Damned - Sons Of The Jackal (thrash-death metal)
Moonspell - Under Satanae (gothic/doom/black influences)
Nest - Trail Of The Unwary (atmospheric)
Samael - solar soul (melodic black metal)
Satyricon - now, diabolical (black metal)
Turisas - The Varangian Way (battle metal)
Vital Remains - Icons of Evil (death metal)

so these are my favorites of 2007. Alot of other albums that I didn't mention, I hold great expectations to when I heard about them but most of them weren't that great imo like the new albums of: Nightwish, Behemoth, Soilwork, Moonsorrow, Machine Head, Limbonic Art, ... They weren't bad or anything but I did expect more.

 

[C.]

It took me a while to make this list, but here is what rocked my world all throughout '07, divided into seasons. Each album was so great in their own way that it was really hard to rank them among the others. So I just won't. The albums are listed in no order maybe other than when I got them. Here goes...

Winter '07:
Battlelore---Evernight
Tristania---Illumination
Kittie---Funeral for Yesterday
Phoenix Reign---Destination Unknown
Type O Negative---Dead Again
Within Temptation---The Heart of Everything

Spring '07:
Rush---Snakes & Arrows
Kotipelto---Serenity
Tori Amos---American Doll Posse

Summer '07
Dream Theater---Systematic Chaos
Menagerie---In Moderation
Fountain of Tears---Fate
Queens of the Stone Age---Era Vulgaris
Kamelot---Ghost Opera

Fall '07:
Metalocalypse---Dethklok: The Deth Album
Nightwish---Dark Passion Play
HIM---Venus Doom
Radiohead---In Rainbows
Macbeth---Superangelic Hate Bringers

Honorable mentions (meaning albums that were not bad, but I just did not give proper attention to because I was so busy listening to all the other albums on the list):
Tarja---My Winter Storm
Sirenia---Nine Destinies and a Downfall

Not-so honorable mentions:
Edenbridge---The Grand Design
Queensryche---Take Cover

Albums that came out this year that I wish I had time to buy or listen to:
Chris Cornell---Carry On
Flowing Tears---Invanity
Coheed & Cambria---No World for Tomorrow
Fish---13th Star

Kick-ass concerts of the year:
June 2nd: The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour (Lacuna Coil/Within Temptation, and two other bands that sucked giant balls, that is why I don't remember their names!). This was my 3rd time seeing the Coil and my very first time seeing WT. What a rockin' show!
September 22nd: Within Temptation. The second time seeing them, the first a "real" headlining show. For this a good friend of mine from Norway flew out to see the show. I could not imagine my first real WT show without him and we had a blast, starting the show with drinks and ending the show with meeting the band! Great f*ckin' times!
November 4th: Nightwish. The first time seeing them with Anette, go read my review in the Nightwish section if you really want to know the rest.
November 26th: Ozzy Osbourne/Rob Zombie. FINALLY, I got to see the Ozzman and he was worth the near-30 year wait!

Kick-ass concerts I missed:
Queens of the Stone Age (WT tickets went onsale the same day, so it came down to what was I going to spend my money on?)
HIM (they played a week after Nightwish, and there was no way I could have afforded another trip back to L.A., with the Ozzy show so closely after.)

Pleasant surprises of the year (things I thought I'd be disappointed by but turned out not to be after all):
Anette Olzon!

Musical disappointments of the year:
Vibeke leaving Tristania
The fact that there is a new Fish album that I have not heard yet
The fact that the long-awaited Saana: Warrior of Light was pushed to early '08. Which leads me to...

Things to look forward to in '08:
Looking at my Nightwish calendar
Timo Tolkki---Saana: Warrior of Light
The new Lacuna Coil album
The upcoming Within Temptation DVD
Tristania's new singer
And any other band I like that might be releasing a CD/DVD in '08
My knee healing in enough time for me to see a possible fall Nightwish tour
And beyond...

 

[Iced Dog]

Timo Tolkki---Saana: Warrior of Light

I've never been much into Stratovarius or his solo stuff, but big epic metal projects always intrigue me, so I'm looking forward to this too

 

[C.]

I've never been much into Stratovarius or his solo stuff, but big epic metal projects always intrigue me, so I'm looking forward to this too

Strato is definitely an acquired taste, and they are my anchovies.

 

[Trogdor 666]

Metalocalypse---Dethklok: The Deth Album

Yes!! Someone else shows the Dethklok love! We must spread their misson of making everything darker than the blackest black from Mordhaus!

 

[C.]

F*ck yeah! I got that CD for my birthday, actually. "The Lost Vikings" is probably my favorite track. Although the birthday song is pretty sweet as well.