Playlist - Various Artists - Playlist - August/September 2008

This month I have mostly been craving old favorites. It might have to do with the extreme immersion into 2008 music that lead to this month-long backlash of classics. There are some gems in here that I haven't pulled out in ages, and are not albums that are on the tip of everyone's tongues anymore. However, they used to be some of the very staples of slightly obscure metal fandom in days gone by. So here we go into the metal time machine and not too far back, but enough...

BLIND GUARDIAN - IMAGINATIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE
I still find it difficult to express my deep longing when it came to this album. It was during the wait for NIME, and I had torn into other, older BG albums with a mixture of intrigue and boredom (yes, some of those early fast-paced thrashy/speed pieces were a bit wearying on the ears). With Imaginations, it was like a whole new world of BG was opened to me. It was a surprise, being a bold, epic power metal album with this massive scope and that melodic bardic twist. The songs just seemed massive and melody overflowed from everywhere. "Bright Eyes" is the finest example from the disc and remains one of my favorites to this day. It made the feverish wait for NIME even more excruciating since this was really what they were trying to followup at the time...

BLIND GUARDIAN - NIGHTFALL IN MIDDLE EARTH
The wait for this album was absolutely electric. It seemed like everyone was poised to snap this up, and word spread that it was to be some kind of innovative classic. Usually such high expectations just falls into depression as the reality rarely matches the imagined and fantasized. However, this one did. It blew the metal community out of the water, with its obvious love and careful adaption of the source material into a Lord of the Rings heavy metal extravaganza. While taken best in its entirety, there are songs here and there that are great stand alones such as the surging power of "Nightfall" with its blazing guitars and memorable chorus.

DREAM THEATER - AWAKE
Indeed, it is always six o'clock on a Christmas morning. An undisputed classic, "Awake" hits all the perfect notes of powerful progressive metal. "Space Dye Vest" made me weep, "Lies" fuelled indignation and that warped opener of "6:00" just kicks you right in the head and keeps right on chugging. Mesmerizing guitars, LaBrie taking his voice to tougher, more aggressive levels and the keyboard mastery of Kevin Moore just combined into something that is untouchable to this day. Everyone seems to love it, but there's good reason. The album is just that awesome.

ELEGY - THE LABYRINTH OF DREAMS
Progressive music was at a creative peak in the 90s and no one twisted it better than Elegy (with Hovinga, after he left they deteriorated into rubbish). Their music is hard for me to describe. There is this element to it, that just sings in your soul with pure joy. It's fast, and all the more beautiful for it. The guitars are achingly high pitched. There was no one else quite like Elegy at their best.

SYMPHONY X - THE DAMNATION GAME
Divine Wings of Tragedy and Twilight in Olympus get all the love. That was likely due to them being blockbusters in the realms of symphonic power metal. But what about the disc that came before? "Damnation" had its share of gorgeous songs. It was their second disc, but the first with Allen on vocals and the bend toward classical influences. Take the magnificence of "Winter's Dream" and the soft edged loveliness of "Whispers" for instance. A ghostly touch, and album that is largely overshadowed by the discs that came afterward. Those classics that followed, their seeds were sown here.

BRUCE DICKINSON - CHEMICAL WEDDING
Excellent songwriting, twisted themes and a flurry of ace guitar work from Roy Z and Adrian Smith, pushed this into near classic level. Bruce's previous solo effort "Accident of Birth" earned more acclaim overall and had a more diverse mainframe, but "Chemical Wedding" was tougher, more streamlined and produced to perfection. "The Tower" is of special note. "Accident" is still my personal favorite, but this is a great album in its own right.

CHILDREN OF BODOM - HATEBREEDER
Never a fan of cookie monster vocals, this one slipped by me when it first debuted. A few years later, armed with a more open mind, the riffs and songs slowly drew me into their dark and crushing world. A guitarist's delight, and speedy enough to please thrashers and bombastic enough to ensnare power metallers. If only you can get past those vocals... a tough hurdle.

RHAPSODY - LEGENDARY TALES
Who could deny the impact this album had on power metal? No one I hope... the genre had been well established, but few had taken it to such massive symphonic levels. This was like listening to some magnificent fantasy, come to life in the sonic visualization of guitars, fast drums, Fabio's soaring accented vocals and the quirky bit or two ("Forest of Unicorns" is one of my favs, even if it is as fey as sitting in a fairy ring awaiting the pixies to come dancing to life).

EDGUY - THEATER OF SALVATION
Gawd this inspired some creative sing alongs back in the day. Edguy one upped their "Vain Glory Opera" with the amazing title track from this disc. It's enough to knock the wind from your lungs and leave you trembling for more. "Another Time" broke my heart, and "Holy Shadows" was so deliciously catchy, that it stood up and demanded to be attended to. Alot of people hated this album but it was and still is, quite a testament to the progression of the band through time.

BLACK SABBATH - THE ETERNAL IDOL
Oh everyone from music journalists to your next door neighbor likes to ramble on about Black Sabbath in the 70s with Ozzy and how wonderful it all was. It had its time and place, but other than a few riffs, it honestly has not held up all that well. And those same people usually throw nonsense around like damnation to Dio (whose stint with Sabbath was much more fruitful and appealing than Ozzys...) and just sweep Martin's stuff under the rug. Or they don't even know Sabbath existed after "Paranoid". But they did (exist) and Tony Martin continued the Dio sound and Iommi injected the albums with a bit more of a paranormal, gates of hell knocking presence than the medieval majesty that was the handcrafted Dio stamp on his albums appearances. This was the first Sabbath/Martin collaboration and contains some truly lovely songs. The hit single shot "Born to Lose" is adorably 80s pop metal fodder, "Hard Life to Love" is blues touched and driven by a slick riff. Eric Singer's drumming gets acclaim on both the anthemic opener, "The Shining" and it's followup "Ancient Warrior" - that takes a swerve back into those fantasy days of yore. Largely forgotten, but the musicians and song arrangements are top notch and blend to make one of Sabbath's most cohesive and finest offerings.