| 2019 |
| 1 |  | Mark Morton
Anesthetic
Definitely a good album. This album is like a "what if" version of Lamb of God - how they probably would sound like in different genres, with different vocalists, and so on. Each song has a different amount of LOG-iness in it, with some sounding more like Morton's original band and some very different. Cross Off, for example, is basically a perfect mix of both LOG and LP and has all the great qualities of each band. Interestingly, one of the least LOG-like songs is Imaginary Days, sung by Morton himself.
Some are better and some are worse, and I definitely prefer the ones that sound more like LOG - but it's still a very good album overall. |
| 2 |  | Dream Theater
Distance Over Time
This album is not bad - well, not astonishingly bad - it's just so mind-numbingly mediocre. None of the songs here is even remotely memorable. |
| 3 |  | Gloryhammer
Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terror.
By this point Gloryahammer have completely mastered the art of EPIC. Fantastic album, it really did manage to live up to the hype. |
| 4 |  | Bokassa
Crimson Riders
A really fun, short little album. At times heavy and at times melodic, it makes to pack a lot of different musical emotions into 9 short, bite-sized songs, which is pretty damn impressive. Really cool album, really cool band. |
| 5 |  | Sabaton
The Great War
Well it sure is another Sabaton album. Musically it's more of the same stuff they made pretty much since their inception, and this time it's about WW1. Nothing exceptional here, and definitely nothing new, but I like Sabaton, so I like this album. |
| 6 |  | Alter Bridge
Walk The Sky
Well it sure is another Alter Bridge album. I've talked so many times about how frustrated I am with Alter Bridge, and their stubbornness on staying in their comfort zone without ever even thinking about bringing something new to the table, even though they're all amazingly talented musicians. This one's no different, sadly.
Even though there's nothing new or interesting here, it is one of their best records in my opinion. It's a little more on the lighter side and most of the songs are fun overall. It didn't overstay its welcome even with 14(!) tracks. When the music is as formulaic and repetitive as Alter Bridge's, some albums are bound to be better than the others, and this one's definitely on the better side. |
| 7 |  | Evergrey
The Atlantic
Very good album, I liked it a lot. |
| 8 |  | Soilwork
Verkligheten
Really solid melodic death metal album all the way through. Probably their best one (or at least one of them). Great stuff. |
| 9 |  | Overkill
The Wings Of War
Like all Overkill albums since Ironbound, it's a good album, but at this point the novelty is gone and it mostly feels like a rerun of the same (great) album. |
| 10 |  | Allegaeon
Apoptosis
A wonderful album, I expected nothing less. Great combination of melodic and technical death metal. |
| 11 |  | Avantasia
Moonglow
Another very solid Avantasia album. While nothing you wouldn't expect from the band, it's still an epic and emotionally powerful album, both in terms of the melodies and vocal performences. Everyone sounds great. |
| 12 |  | Cult of Luna
A Dawn to Fear
Fantastic piece of post-rock with just the right blend of softness, aggression and sorrow. |
| 13 |  | Insomnium
Heart Like A Grave
Another amazing work of art from the Finnish masters of melodic death metal. This time it's a more straightforward album with (relatively) shorter and heavier songs. There's not much new to say about this one: everything that makes Insomnium so incredible is present here in full force, and everything that makes all of their other albums such a delight can also be said about this one. |
| 14 |  | Amon Amarth
Berserker
Well it sure is another Amon Amarth album. Like every one of their albums, it's heavy and cool I guess but not very interesting and not at all memorable. |
| 15 |  | Nightrage
Wolf To Man
This one's pretty similar to their last release, 2017's The Venomous, and I like it for the same reasons exactly: it's fun, it's consistent, and it's effective. It doesn't seem like Nightrage are interested in reinventing the wheel or making a timeless masterpiece - these guys just want to have fun playing the music they love, and I love them for it. I don't really care about its obvious shortcomings - I just like what I hear and appreciate the album for everything it does right. Good stuff! |
| 16 |  | Xaon
Solipsis
Phenomenal album. This album is a brutal and emotional journey and I loved every second of it. |
| 17 |  | Atlas Pain
Tales of a Pathfinder
Absolutely loved this one. It's such grand, theatrical and epic piece, fluidly juggling between genres, from folk and power metal to melodic death metal. It's fun, it's epic, and overall just a delight to come back to every time - definitely one of the best. |
| 18 |  | Wind Rose
Wintersaga
Really fucking awesome, this album is just so fun and epic. It's like Ensiferum but more on the melodic / power metal side. Great great stuff! |
| 19 |  | The Neal Morse Band
The Great Adventure
Disappointing...
[UPDATE]
I gave this album another shot and I really don't hate it as much as I did when I first heard it. It's definitely not a bad album. I think my problem with The Great Adventure is that it feels like they were trying to make a second TSOAD, and it feels kinda forced. There's a lot of great music here, but it can feel glued together just for the sake of being an epic, 2 hours long concept album masterpiece like its predecessor was.
I know I'm being a little too hard on The Great Adventure. I love Morse and Portnoy's music so much, and it all began with TSOAD. It's such a perfect, monumental album. The Great Adventure was cursed from the very beginning to be compared with such a masterpiece.
When I first head it, I was so disappointed that I didn't bother giving it a second go for a few years. But things are different now and I'm seeing this album with a different light. We still have some way to go, but I'm sure that I'm going to love this album more and more ov |
|
