Just as I were about to finalize this months playlist, Steen wrote to me that he was enjoying the newly arrived Virgin Steele album. I'm slightly fanatic with the band so I somehow got him convinced to send it to me, you can read my first hand reaction below.
Apart from that there are some new interesting stuff here too and some old gems.


AC/DC. For Those About To Rock - We Salute You
I continue to be drawn back to this one. Positive rockers like Put The Finger On You and Let's Get It Up, and the darker Spellbound are amazing tracks.

Axel Rudi Pell. Mystica
Still getting in to it, but it's sure to say that everything is as expected and the quality reasonably high. Rock The Nation does actually rock hard.

Firewind. Allegiance
Melodic and crisp Power Metal with a special intensive bite. It's developing into a strong disc with some really inspirational playing on it.

Gotthard. Open
There are some fine melodic and sweet tunes on this one, a bit soft at times but the catchiness is undeniable.

Kamelot. Karma
A wonderful release filled with thrilling and passionate songs, this gets right to the core of your soul.

Savatage. Dead Winter Dead
Magnificent, meaningful, clever, touching, epic.you fill in the rest.

Saxon. Forever Free
The hard drive of the title track is immensely cool; anyway this is not among their best albums but still worth visiting from time to time, some solid rhythm guitar work here.

Saxon. The Eagle Has Landed Part III
Something old, something new. It's cool to hear some of these cool old dusty songs, but I miss some more Solid Ball Of Rock, Forever Free, Dogs Of War era stuff. The sound is reasonable but not particular strong.

Threshold. Critical Mass
A band with their special and very important niche in the Progressive Metal world, a fascinating amount of well thought out layers, extreme precision and not to forget melody, as an example I can't shake off the chorus line in. Fraaagmeeentaaationnn, simply great stuff.

Virgin Steele. The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell - Part Two
Steen and I recently held a Virgin Steele marathon, which means a whole day in the company of all 10 studio albums by the band and on this occasion trying out a range of summer drinks in Steen's new food processor. This turned out as successful mixture (just watch out for any banana and rum recipe) and I particular remember how much we enjoyed this magical album. It just has this unearthly feeling to it and lots of enhancing experimentations.

Virgin Steele. Visions Of Eden
As a small boy at Christmas Eve, this is about the best way to describe the feeling I had when I popped it into my stereo; I knew it was good, but just how good?
It's too early to really tell but Visions Of Eden is a great, vast and complex album of different shades of darkness, torment, suffering, anger, self respect and pride.yes, David DeFeis hasn't lost any of his dramatic edge.
Immortal I Stand (The Birth Of Adam) sounds majestic, Angel Of Death simply huge and the emotional atmosphere of When Dusk Fell is beginning to haunt me in my sleep.
With almost 80 minutes of diverse and epic music this one will not be digested easily, thankfully.

Written by Tommy
Monday, July 17, 2006