“The AMG promo well had been experiencing a significant power metal drought since I rolled into these hallowed halls roughly a year ago, but within in the past month, something changed. There were no less than five new releases in the genre to choose from, and choose I did; Tales of Gaia turned out disastrously, but I figured that Finland’s Force Majeure, with their surprisingly audacious band name, might turn things around.” Unprecedented or run o’ the mill?
“Maybe it was the strange appearance of an unsigned progressive power metal band from Philadelphia of all places (or maybe it was Lör’s use of the most sacred of all metal naming conventions, the umlaut) that drew me to it, but I instantly reserved In Forgotten Sleep when it popped up in our promo queue. A totally unjustifiable anticipation grew in the back of my mind in the weeks leading up to my acquisition of the album.” Hope in the promo sump.
“There was a time not so long ago I would have argued for Excalion being one of the best Euro-power acts out there. 2007s Waterlines was and is one of my most played albums in the genre, and 2010s High Time followup was more polished but no less striking and addictive. It seemed as if the band was on the verge of breaking into the next level and giving Sonata Arctica and Stratovarious some serious competition. Then the guns fell silent and Excalion disappeared. I wrote them off as another promising act that died before reaching their full potential and moved on. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to see their name floating in our promo bay and I hoped they could pick up where they left off nearly a decade ago.” Keeping the dream alive.
“Selene are a relatively new symphonic metal band based in Belfast, Ireland. I’m not going to get on a high (or low) horse about the genre: if you like symphonic metal, you’ll read this review, and if you don’t you’ll scroll down and look for something nastier. It’s all good to me.” Nightmiss.
“It’s no secret that Secret Sphere hasn’t seen a lot of love over their twenty year career. On top of being snubbed from AMG’s most prestigious of lists, their distinctly Italian take on the Euro-power formula has never come close to breaking away from second-rate status, and the band itself isn’t entirely free from blame.” And now, a blamestorming session.
“Like the Trials album which preceded it, however, In Monochrome is unapologetically modern, but it has two feet firmly planted in the feel(s) of yesteryear. And it is the feeling of being a traditional metal album—without being remotely derivative—which makes In Monochrome an excellent album.” I mean, what more do you want for an endorsement than that!?
Yesterday I published my Top 10(ish) of 2016 and it’s a good list. But as has been pointed out, a lot of the supplemental material I usually include was missing. So today I’m posting a follow up: Angry Metal Guy’s Supplemental List(s). This should give you insight into some of the things which weren’t included, as well as a couple of other things I’ve been thinking about posting lists of for a while. This is being thrown together quickly and unplanned. But I just think you guys deserve it and I like list-making. It’s probably something I should list under my hobbies on Facebook.
“The Ninth Hour marks Sonata Arctica’s fourth full length since Unia. In 2016, that means that half the band’s career is post-Unia and since that monumental album Sonata Arctica has gone through a tense relationship with its history and—if the comments on this blog are anything to go by—their fanbase. This has led to these veterans of Europower reintroducing wolf shirt and their old logo. But for me it’s The Days of Grays—an album distinctly lacking in both—that remains the band’s best since 2007.” So after all this time has Sonata Arctica produced a worthy successor to The Days of Grays?
“I am stoked for Sonata Arctica’s forthcoming Ninth Hour which will be here on the 14th of October from Nuclear Blast. Now I know you’re probably thinking to yourself: “self, why would AMG write an article about a band’s ‘Awkward and Unintentional Successes’ if he likes that band?” Indulge me a second. See, Sonata Arctica started out as a better version of Stratovarius that was founded with a songwriter at the helm—Tony Kakko—who’s like a weird, Finnish version of Jim Steinman. This means that the band’s sound is epic, quirky, but ultimately it can get a little… awkward.”
“I would very much have enjoyed to be present in the early planning stages for An Outsider, the sophomore release by Seattle’s Rhine. They were presumably too sincerely engrossed in masturbatory discussions of how their favorite bands have “influenced our sound” and solemn declarations that “I just wanna make good music man, fuck genre-conformism” to notice that the net result is beyond kaleidoscopic.” Mixer metal has arrived!
