There's no way I'm going to be able to rank these, so I'll leave them unnumbered.
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Genre: Power Metal
I’ve always thought of Sonata Arctica as more of a song-orientated band than an album-orientated one and I knew that one of their albums definitely deserved a spot here, so my choice is the album that contains the most of the songs that go way back with me (and are still awesome). Back in the days of being a 14-year-old, I listened to Muse and only Muse, and this is no exaggeration. I was speaking on NetBattle with
a certain Bulgarian user sporting a notable quiff, who kindly introduced me to FullMoon, a staple of this album. I was hungry for more, so I listened to his other SA recommendations. It took me ages to actually get any full albums, but it's safe to say that they were one of my favourite bands and still are. Got the lovely opportunity to see them live last December, too.
Ecliptica contains plenty of their most famous songs, most of them in the fast, melodic, over the top style that Sonata fans know and love (unless they’re only into post-Reckoning Night stuff). Keyboards and double bass pedals ahoy and a singer who goes in and out of puberty no less than three times per song…ah, it’s beautiful. Of course, it’s got the two ballads Replica and Letter to Dana that are pulled off superbly, the former remaining an iconic SA song today. The album finishes with Destruction Preventer, a 7-minuter with fast parts, slow parts, guitar/keyboard battles, a fair few points where you think the song ends but it doesn’t and what is quite possibly the highest scream I have ever heard. Sure, the SA of today have matured and their songs are more complex and rich in oddities, but Ecliptica still wins my vote as their best.
In short, sort of a generic power metal album, but not generic in a bad way – more of an archetypal power metal album.
Extol - Undeceived
Genre: Technical/Progressive Death Metal
This band (and this album specifically) is to me what Opeth is to many people - it served as the gateway band that allowed me to embrace harsh vocals instead of having them turn me off any otherwise-good song that contains them. When I first heard the title track, I wasn't sure what to expect since it opens with about half a minute of strings. Then a scream came out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me, but it also made me curious, so I listened through the rest of the song. It was unlike anything else I had heard up to that point and I was hooked. Later on I downloaded the album and it has withstood the test of time since then.
I will admit that once I got into Extol, it took a little while to get accustomed to the fact that not all growlers have the same voice and Peter Espevoll's voice is one of the more different ones - some may say his vocals are a bit strange, but when I first heard Extol, I naturally expected all other death metal vocalists to have such a voice and was disappointed when they didn't reach the bar. I've heard it said that he sounds a bit robotic, but my opinion on the matter is that he's got a more wholesome, varied growl than the standard grunt. But the drummer can pull off some of the most technical stuff I've ever heard - in fact, I'd say he's my absolute favourite drummer. What's more, he can perform it all live without missing a single beat. Of course, the rest of the band are pretty damn talented as well, but these are the highlights. Although the production is nothing to boast about, it doesn't harm the quality of this album one bit in my eyes.
In short, a great gateway album that means a lot to me and showcases some real talent, in my opinion.
Antestor - The Forsaken
Genre: Black Metal
The lowdown on Antestor at the time they recorded this album: they play black metal, their last two albums were some kind of clunky, doomy part of the genre with grating, badly-done death growls and black metal shrieks, they've gotten rid of their
actually pretty awesome look and are starting to
don corpsepaint instead, and they're Christians. Add this all together and it seems like this is about to be one of the worst musical releases of all time. I heard the opening track of the album shortly after first listening to Extol's Undeceived (also within this top 5), having known very little of the contextual stuff outlined above (including why this should in theory be terrible to anybody who hasn't listened to it) and would have to say that I rather enjoyed it. Being younger, naive and more spun by common musical stereotypes, I dismissed it after a short while as it's (un)black metal and I'm a Christian myself (OOH IT'S ALL DISGUSTING AND SATANIC AND HORRIBLE), then regained interest a couple of years on after reading some reviews by religious and secular listeners alike that gave it very close to a 100% score. I was not disappointed by what I heard when I downloaded it.
One thing I didn't know before I listened was that almost the entire lineup had changed since the old days, and this was very evident in the music. Instead of TR00 KVLT BLACK METAL PRODVKTION, the album was very well produced and pretty much every instrument has the presence it needs. The new vocalist is one of the best in the genre in my opinion and the guitarist plays well and even goes into impressive solos in certain songs. The keyboardist uses every trick in the book, either adding melody or atmosphere to the music where required and the drummer is none other than
Hellhammer surprisingly, making it pretty obvious that the drumming is good. Every one of the ten songs is written intricately to incorporate all of this and the band draws influences from various other styles of music, some of which rather peculiar for black metal, while the songs all sound distinctly different from one another. Also, the lyrics are anything but Bible-bashing - they consist of various darker themes and provoke serious thought.
In short, a very varied album that breaks many of the common stereotypes of black metal.
Theocracy - Mirror of Souls
Genre: Power/Progressive Metal
Theocracy began as a one-man band with vocalist Matt Smith performing lead, backing, choral etc vocals on his own and recording the guitar, bass and keyboard while programming a drum machine. This is basically what the self-titled album consisted of and while it was in essence pretty good, having nobody to help him rather hurt it in my opinion. Mirror of Souls was recorded after he got a full band together and this was the result.
Well, the album’s got eight songs on it and there’s quite a variation between them. Some of them rely heavily on the standard power metal formula, tweaking little bits of the structure but keeping a strong sound, generally ending up as what I would consider average at the bare minimum. There are a couple of slower, cheesier songs that can’t quite be called ballads but are relatively similar emotionally. The remaining songs are more complex and contain parts influenced by everything from death metal to flamenco. That last bit may sound a bit weird, but it’s been expertly done and in my opinion, the true mark of a good prog band is if they can throw in stuff from all over the musical spectrum and make it work. The album is lyrically provocative as well, an example being the album’s 22-minute title track and closer, a song about a man’s dream about going through a hall of mirrors and seeing himself as a zombie which is explained as a metaphor for humans are seen by God and others. The production is also superior to the album’s predecessor by miles and it also contains proper drumming instead of the drum machine from before. Last but not least, Theocracy are capable musicians and are able to adjust their style to fit everything that the album has to offer.
In short, eight likeable songs which vary widely in length, style and structure yet all still carry a power metal feel to some degree.
Shadow Gallery - Legacy
Genre: Progressive Metal/Rock
I’m not going to bother with unnecessary background information on this one, since there’s not much to tell anyway.
The album contains just six songs, all of which are completely different from one another, so I’ll just go through them one by one. Cliffhanger 2 is the opener, and a sequel to the similar Cliffhanger that opens one of Shadow Gallery’s earlier albums. 15 minutes in total, which includes a fairly long yet not annoying buildup at the beginning and 6 or so minutes of solo comprising the second half of the song. The next song is Destination Unknown, a relaxing piece that starts off with just the piano and vocals, then the rest of the instruments come in, beefing it up a bit but not ruining the mood. A not unwelcome instrumental takes over in the second half, subsiding into a gentle piano part that leads nicely into Colors. Ever seen a movie where a couple who are deeply in love begin prancing through a flowery meadow, then spin each other by the arms with the camera showing the background spinning behind them? That’s what Colors sounds like. Society of the Mind next, a relatively run-of-the-mill 5 minute prog song with socially conscious lyrics about technology. Then comes the title track, a faster song comprising various moods, brilliant vocal harmonies, a catchy chorus and an instrumental battle where pretty much all of the instruments get their part to play. Finally, we have First Light, a 34-minute epic that takes everything else that made the first five songs great and put them into one song. It’s a swirling mix of emotions, but it’s got one brown note and that is that around the 23-27 minute mark, the quiet acoustic ‘outro’ has finally faded out and all you hear is incredibly quiet voices for five minutes, then you get the sound of someone knocking on a door over and over before you come to the majesty of the triumphant ending of the song. Basically, what we’re dealing with is a talented prog band crafting an album where the six songs are all very different yet likeable.
In short, songs which all evoke different emotions are all put together in one album and flow together exceptionally, with the final song epitomising…well, everything.
Wow, I've just realised how long I've spent typing stuff that I doubt anyone will ever read. If I had to list any honourable mentions, I'd probably end up getting a list rather similar to fine user Alphatron above me.
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