0. "Album title" Band (Genre) [score out of 10]
description. Recommended tracks: (If any particularly stand out.)
1. “The Final Stand” Gotsu Totsu Kotsu (Death Metal) [9]
Consistent with the last two releases, a really great album overall.
2. “Akula” Akula (Atmospheric/Stoner/ Post Metal) [9]
A really outstanding debut album, its biggest hindrance is its low production quality. With a little more development and better production this band could become something really incredible.
Recommended Tracks: “A Pound of Flesh”, and “Born of Fire”.
3. “Twist of Fate” Hitten (Heavy Metal) [9]
I was surprised with this album. Usually I don’t care to much for albums that try to sound exactly like a classic 80’s heavy metal album; as they usually end up being kind of dull since they add nothing new to the table and sound like an imitation of a much better thing. But Hitten are vary proficient and actually manage to pull off a classic sounding heavy metal album that’s a lot of fun.
Recommended Tracks: “Final Warning”, “Twist of Fate” and “On the Run”.
4. “Seeking Infinity” Pantheist (Funeral Doom Metal) [9]
A really great album. “Control & Fire” is a really incredible track, monstrous and elegant at the same time. “1453: An Empire Crumbles” is just filler and kind of hurts the pace of the album when listening as a whole, but the rest is so good that it doesn’t hinder the album much.
Recommended track: “Control & Fire”
5. “2nd Edition” Gygax (Heavy Metal/Hard Rock) [8]
Good energy and lots of fun.
Recommended Tracks: “Dice Throwers & Rock n' Rollers”, “Pure Hearts”, and “Wish”.
6. “Conqueror's Oath” Visigoth (Heavy/Power Metal) [8]
Overall an improvement over “The Revenant King”, especially Jake Rogers whose vocal delivery has improved a lot.
Recommended tracks: "Steel and Silver", and "Outlive Them All"
7. “The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness I and II” Panopticon (Atmospheric Black/Folk Metal/Bluegrass) [8]
Overall a very good double album, each part with its own style but still works well as a whole.
8. “The Endless Road Turns Dark” The Skull (Doom Metal) [8]
An improvement over the last album, the really great heavy guitar tone really helps the album jump out at the listener.
Recommended Tracks: “Ravenswood”, “From Myself Depart”, “All That Remains (Is True)”
9. “II: Sojourn” Wytch Hazel (Hard Rock/Heavy Metal) [8]
More consistent than the previous album “Prelude”, but while there are no dud tracks on “II: Sojourn” it didn’t have any really outstanding tracks either; so its sort of a trade off.
10. “Contrasts” Imber Luminis (Atmospheric/Post Black Metal) [8]
The whole album has good energy and is complimented by strong emotional vocals.
11. “The Midnight Tales” Stonewitch (Heavy Metal) [8]
Recommended Tracks: “The Phoenix Risen”, and “The Midnight Tale”.
12. “Abyss Between the Stars” Ursa (Doom Metal) [8]
Very good debut album.
13. “Electric Messiah” High on Fire (Stoner/Sludge/Doom Metal) [7]
For the most part an alright album, it’s the fastest tracks on the album that are really outstanding.
Recommended tracks: “Spewn from the Earth”, “Electric Messiah”, and “Freebooter”.
14. “Steelfactory” U.D.O. (Heavy Metal) [7]
The tracks range from great to mediocre, the one really outstanding track was “In the Heat of the Night”.
Recommended Tracks: “Tongue Reaper”, “In the Heat of the Night”, “One Heart One Soul” and “A Bite of Evil”.
15 “The Full Moon Sessions (Expanded Edition)” Spell (Hard Rock/Heavy Metal) [7]
The new tracks are better then most of the tracks on the original version.
Recommended tracks: “Never Enough”, “Sisters of the Moon”, “Maniac” and “Ozymandias”
16. “Mad Hatter” Mad Hatter (Power Metal) [7]
Not bad for a debut album, mostly reminds me of Edguy and during some of the tracks DragonForce. Vocalist has a good voice but his delivery can use some work. A lot of the tracks have good ideas but the compositions need improvement. When they are on point they are quite good.
Recommended Tracks: "Mad Hatter Shine", "Vengeance in His Mind", "Mad Hatter Become"
17. “The Sciences” Sleep (Stoner Metal) [7]
Definitely the most literal stoner metal album I’ve ever heard.
Recommended Track: “Marijuanaut's Theme”
18. “The Joker King” Jesters & Klowns (Power Metal/Hard Rock) [7]
A good debut album, most of the album falls short of being really great. With more expirence this could be a really great band.
Recommended Tracks: “Song of That Glory Day”, and “Love on Mars”
19. “Ordinary Corrupt Human Love” Deafheaven (Post Black Metal) [7]
Recommended Track: “Honeycomb”
20. “Manor of Infinite Forms” Tomb Mold (Death Metal) [7]
Musically very cool but the vocals didn’t compliment it well. The whispered growls just don’t have the punch this album really needs.
21. “Sentiment” Un (Funeral Doom Metal) [7]
Recommended track: “A Garden Where Nothing Grows”
22. “The Edge of Sanity: 88 Demo Session” Shelton Chastain (Heavy/Power Metal) [7]
Good demo, with more development could have been really great.
23. "Walk Through the Fire" Knightmare (Heavy/Power Metal) [7]
Recommended Tracks: "Banshee", and "Spirits"
24. “ØMNI” Angra (Progressive/Power Metal) [7]
I bought this after listening to “War Horns”, if I had previewed some of the other tracks, I would have skipped this. The only other Angra albums I have are “Angels Cry” and Holy Land so I can’t compare “ØMNI to their recent albums, But the things that made those classic Angra albums special to me seem downplayed or absent from most of “ØMNI”. While not a bad album it didn’t really have anything to distinguish it from other big names in the European power metal scene.
25. “Ultimate Force” Sacred Leather (Heavy Metal) [7]
26. "Esoteric Malacology" Slugdge (Progressive Death Metal) [7]
Decent album and interesting thematically but I couldn’t really get into it.
27. “Grievous” Convulsing (Blackend Death/Doom Metal) [7]
Recommended Track: “Beaten”
28. “Támsins likam” Hamferð (Doom/Death Metal) [7]
Decent album, the vocals are what really stood out and made it interesting.
29. “Unleashed Upon This World” Chemicaust (Thrash/Death Metal) [7]
A decent album but lost my interest fairly quickly. At its best when playing on high speed. The vocals are a bit spotty and at times sound more comical then menacing. Thought it was interesting that I found this album to be back loaded instead of front loaded, as bands like this typically are.
30. “Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed” Hooded Menace (Death/Doom Metal) [7]
An decent death/doom metal album. The first two tracks were the most interesting.
Recommended Tracks: “Sempiternal Grotesqueries”, and “In Eerie Deliverance”.
31. “Tales of Splendor and Sorrow” Ironflame Heavy/Power Metal [7]
Overall decent but nothing outstanding.
32. “Damned If You Do” Metal Church (Heavy Metal) [6]
33. “Last Horizon” Eliminator (Heavy/Power Metal) [6]
34. “The Fallen King” Frozen Crown (Power Metal) [6]
35. “The Wake” Voivod (Progressive Metal) [6]
Target Earth was my introduction to this band, and I like their faster more thrash-oriented songs. This new album is a lot slower and when they play slow I just find the music and vocals annoying. The only track I really enjoyed on this album was “Obsolete Beings”.
36. “The Waters of Death” Lethean (Epic Metal) [6]
Musically a strong album, but the vocals don’t compliment it well and their delivery is kind of boring.
37. “Locust Point” Locust Point (Heavy Metal) [6]
A good album but the vocals hinder it.
38. “Apokalupsis” Aurora Borealis (Black/Death Metal) [6]
Ron Vento seems to be attempting more technical song writing, and I can tell he put a lot of work into it. But the end result sounds unfocused, each song felt like I was skipping around an entire Aurora Borealis album.
39. “Beyond Celestial Echoes” Sacral Rage (Technical Thrash Metal) [6]
The band is very talented, however the song writing still feels juvenile and silly in and off-putting way that keeps me from enjoying the album.
40. "No Fear to Persevere..." Manacle (Heavy Metal) [6]
41. "Blades, Chains, Whips & Fire" Magick Touch (Hard Rock/Heavy Metal) [6]
42. "Chapitre II" Chevalier (Speed Metal)[6]
At times very fun but always feels like it teeters on the edge of just being a sloppy mess.
Recommended track: "The Messenger"
43. “The Keeper's Curse” Candle (Heavy Metal) [6]
A fairly good album but the vocalist needs work as they really hinder the album at times.
44. "Melencholia" Doppälgängär (Post Rock/Doom Metal) [6]
The music is pretty good, drawn out and sort of hypnotic. While mostly instrumental there are segments with vocals in each song which are sung in a strained style that sounds sort of flat which doesn’t compliment the music very well, mabey with some reverb it would have worked better.
45. “East of Sun” Gatekeeper (Epic Heavy Metal) [6]
I really enjoyed their material from the “Vigilance/Retaliator” Split, and was really looking forward to a full release. I had high hopes for this album, but I just found it disappointing.
46. “Sunrise” Hadeon (Progressive Rock/Metal) [5]
The vocalist is great, but the music is bland and underdeveloped.
47. “Mask of Morality” Salems Lott (Hard Rock/ Heavy/Power Metal) [5]
Album is really held back by its awful loud production, and the songs sound underdeveloped. If the band matures a little bit, gets a better sounding production, and stops trying to be so in your face all the time, it might be worth listening to.
Singles:
1. “Witch's Game” Cirith Ungol (Heavy/Doom Metal) [10]
Really outstanding single and amazing for a band that hasn’t put out anything new in 27 years. Tim Baker voice has only gotten better with age. Hoping we get a full release from them soon.
2. “Mors Ontologica” Ice Dragon (Stoner/Doom Metal) [8]
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