My Top Twenty Favorite Albums Ever (2020 Version)

A truth about me is that my brain is not wired in a way to remember dates easily. Ask me what year most any album came out, and I won't be able to tell you. Not only that, but I seldom remember what year major life events happened. I simply never trained myself to add that detail to every memory, so time is able to slip through my fingers, because often I miss the signals that we are once again at the same point in our cosmic journey.

That is a preface for an occasion that isn't temporal, but is still important. This post is the 1,000th on our humble little site, and is something I didn't see coming until the number was staring me in the face. I put my head down and go about writing without thinking much about the bigger picture, and I hadn't realized we had accomplished so much. In all honesty, I should have stretched things (and myself) out more, but we're here.

To mark the occasion, I am presenting an updated list of my twenty favorite albums of all time. It has been a few years since the last time I posted such a list, and it seems far more appropriate than a review of some album I will soon forget.

Here we go:

20. Alyson Avenue - Presence Of Mind (Previous Rank: N/A)

My favorite album in the melodic/AOR realm, easily. Anette Olzon has gotten far more attention for what came later, but this is the best album she's been on. She would become a more polished vocalist, but her tone was always there, and this album is chock full of bright, cheesy, infectious melodies. It's a smile put on record.

19. Weezer - Weezer (The Green Album) (Previous Rank: N/A)

What I love about this album is precisely that it is Rivers Cuomo completely divorcing himself from his music. He can write stupidly good pop songs, but he is a weird, disturbing, highly questionable human being. Without having to hear any of his personality in the lyrics, Weezer is at their best. There has never been a more tightly written record.

18. Edguy - Tinnitus Sanctus (Previous Rank: 19)

This album is a disappointment to most fans, but is adored by me. Edguy blended their power metal bombast with darker, more modern metal guitars, and the result is an album that eschews any hint of the 'flower metal' insult. Even a song about God talking with an aardvark sounds menacing. It's the perfect amount of darkness for metal.

17. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues (Previous Rank: N/A)

If I'm asked for the best band of the last fifteen or so years, only two names come to mind. One of them is Graveyard, and this record is the best distillation of who they are. I don't get most classic rock, but I get Graveyard, even though they are a modern version of it. It's pure, organic, and so much more than the sum of its parts.

16. Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell (Previous Rank: 10)

The only Black Sabbath I care about is the Dio era, and it's not even a question which album to pick. The only real question is whether this is the best album Dio ever appeared on. Obviously, I'm saying it is, but that's not a runaway decision. Rainbow's "Long Live Rock N Roll" puts up a strong fight. For it's time, "Heaven & Hell" was the best metal album in existence.

15. Elton John - Peachtree Road (Previous Rank: N/A)

I have changed my mind. I used to pick "The Captain & The Kid", but the more I listen, the more "Peachtree Road" has higher highs. Either way, this era of Elton John is my favorite. If I am an old soul at heart, liking this is an illustration of just that. The facade isn't there, but the songs are. Just beautiful.

14. Bob Catley - Immortal (Previous Rank: 13)

Half the appeal to this album is Bob's voice, which is one of those wondrous sounds that is unique to him. Unfortunately, most of his career has been spent singing songs I don't particularly care for, so when this album came along and gave him a set of splendid melodic metal, I was overjoyed. I have been ever since.

13. Bloodbound - Tabula Rasa (Previous Rank: 12)

When I first heard this album, I thought it's blend of Soilwork-esque guitars and power metal vocals was the future of the genre. Well, it took a long time to get there, but we might have. This still sounds cutting-edge, and is still a fantastic blend of rhythmic guitar chunks and soaring vocal hooks. Modern power metal started here, and has never eclipsed this album.

12. Graham Colton Band - Drive (Previous Rank: N/A)

I ran across Graham Colton in the file-sharing days, when one of his songs was mis-labeled as my favorite band. It was fortuitous, as when he and his band released an album, it was everything I could have wanted. At least, I came to realize that down the line. It's an album that has been growing on me all these years, and every time I listen to it, I wonder how I didn't hear it this way the first time.

11. Matchbox 20 - Yourself Or Someone Like You (Previous Rank: N/A)

I used to say "Mad Season" was the better album, and in all honesty it probably is, but there's something to be said for which album makes you listen. That is still this one, which despite being as blatantly late-90s as possible, continues to resonate with me. I played it as a teenager so much I actually wore out the CD, and I still find myself singing every time one of the songs comes on.

10. Avantasia - The Metal Opera Pt II (Previous Rank: 8)

I have never come up with a reason why this album, and not any of the myriad other similar power metal albums, is the one that stands out most to me. It simply does, as the blend of power metal and Meat Loaf hits at many of the things I love so much about music. Perhaps inexplicable, but for me undeniable.

9. Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding (Previous Rank: 7)

I like Iron Maiden too, but Bruce's crowning achievement is this solo album, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Using the poetry of William Blake as a backdrop, and bass strings on the guitars to add even more heaviness, this album is an epic, intellectual examination of what metal can be. It's stirring, rousing, and the sort of album that makes me stand back and applaud something I could never do.

8. Dilana - InsideOut (Previous Rank: N/A)

I'll say more a few slots later, but this album was my introduction to my favorite voice (on record, that is), and a moment in time I will never forget. I could hardly believe what I heard that first time, and I feel the same way today. It's a wild ride of influences, anchored by that voice. "Dirty Little Secret" is heart-breaking, while "Falling Apart" has since usurped the throne as my favorite song of all time. Where would I be without this one?

7. Graveyard - Lights Out (Previous Rank: 14)

I mentioned classic rock the first time Graveyard appeared on this list, and let me go further. "Lights Out" is an album that is a time machine, not because it brings the sound of the 70s to my ears, but because it allows me to experience what fans back then felt as the classic albums were coming out. This record is timeless, and in it I hear the threads of history being tied together, anchoring me to a past I would otherwise not be firmly moored to. It's the best rock album of the last decade.

6. Tonic - Head On Straight (Previous Rank: N/A)

I realized recently I listen to this album constantly, and not my previous pick for the second best Tonic album ("Sugar"). While this album is the outlier of their short catalog, that's exactly why I love it so much. The tone is different, even if the songs aren't. This album is Tonic at their most 'rock', and Emerson's voice and melodies atop heavier guitars is something I have never gotten tired of.

5. Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Previous Rank: 11)

When I was younger, "Pinkerton" by Weezer was one of our cultural touchstones. I have written much about the shame I feel in that, but thankfully it has been replaced by "Futures", which somehow continues to grow in my esteem. It is a dark album of bitterness and longing, a statement of nerdy awkwardness, and much more the album I would use to define my era, even if it technically is a few years too late. Call this the remake that is better than the original, in every way. Sadly, I seem to be one of the very few, the band included, who feel as such.

4. Dilana - Beautiful Monster (Previous Rank: 4)

I wrote an entire novel fictionalizing my belief I don't feel things the way most people do. This album, at least for forty minutes, proved me wrong. In Dilana's voice and songs I could feel her soul pouring through, and something about her resonates at the same frequency as my own. My reaction is visceral, wrenching, and belonging solely to this album. She taught me something about myself with these songs, and there isn't much greater than that.

3. The Wallflowers - (Breach) (Previous Rank: 3)

I love "Bringing Down The Horse" like everyone else, but that isn't the album that means the most to me. This one not only has a bigger, bolder sound to it, but as I have written about before, it also taught me about the intersection of music and poetry. Jakob Dylan's lyrics are as much at the forefront as the songs themselves, and he wrote on this album imagery that has stuck with me now for two decades. Older listeners have their relationship with his father, but this is my Dylan.

2. Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell II (Previous Rank: 2)

I still have the cassette tape sitting on the back of a shelf somewhere, the very first album I ever owned. Jim Steinman was my first music teacher, and everything people perceive as terrible about my taste derives from that fact. I was an impressionable child, and the drama and humor of Jim Steinman wrote the first words on my blank slate. Even today, the outlines of the jigsaw pieces fit perfectly in me. I know I'm in the minority picking the sequel, but I'm not apologizing for that.

1. Tonic - Lemon Parade (Previous Rank: 1)

This has been my favorite album since it overtook the previous entrant, and has kept that spot even as "If You Can Only See" was overtaken as my favorite song. So why do I love this album so much? There are the songs of course, which are fantastic, and rather interesting as well. There are sly details and some unusual voicings that make it sound unique to everything else coming out of the mid 90s, even if the production was the typical post-grunge dirt. But beyond all of that, "Lemon Parade" is the album that made me want to become a musician and songwriter. This record is the reason I picked up a guitar and a pen, it's responsible for me thinking of music as more than a diversion. It's hard to find a deeper connection than that.

Singles Roundup: Elvis Costello, Theresa Jeane, Rise Against, & A Light Divided

 Elvis Costello – Phonographic Memory/Hey Clockface

After the last fifteen years of Elvis Costello's career, I knew better than to expect much from the first tastes of his upcoming album. And in fact, I was wise to be so wary, as these tracks continue Elvis' explorations of sounds that don't have much song behind them. One of these is a song heavy on a rhythm, with lyrics that pale in comparison to anything he used to be known for, while the other is a spoken word bit that is a complete time suck. I don't want to say only Elvis' rock albums are good, but "Momofuku" is the only one in many a year I've been the least bit entertained by. This doesn't sound like it will change things.

Theresa Jeane – Take Me To The Stars

I really enjoyed the recent run of singles The Nearly Deads had put out, so when they hit pause and Theresa Jeane said a solo single was coming, it raised an eyebrow or two. Now that the song has arrived, those worries were mostly for naught. This song has the same ear for melody, just wrapped in a shinier, more pop-oriented veneer. I won't say I enjoy it as much as I did "Freakshow", but I did find myself enjoying it more than I thought I might. If this is her solo sound, it's a solid stand-in for the band.

Rise Against – Broken Dreams, Inc

I loved Rise Against's last album, "Wolves", which made a high showing on my year-end list when it came out. The first song they've released since then..... isn't doing much for me. Maybe it's because it was written for a comic book I don't read, and maybe it's just a culture clash where I don't get the inspiration they found in the source material, but this song doesn't have the bite, aggression, or hooks of anything off "Wolves". It sounds tame, and if anything, a bit recycled. It's an ominous sign that the first song in several years isn't making a stronger impact.

A Light Divided – Radio Silence

Another band whose last album I really liked is A Light Divided, and unlike Rise Against, their first new song in a couple of years hits the bulls-eye. The heavy and modern riffs have power behind them, and the hook is absolutely killer. The vocals sound a bit less aggressive than they did before, but that's ok, because there's still plenty of spunk and grit to them to sell me on them. This song is simply great, catchy, modern hard rock done the right way. Hopefully, it's an indicator that more will be coming, because I'm definitely down for that.

Album Review: Stardust - Highway To Heartbreak

 

We grow as people as life moves forward, but genres of music do not always do the same thing. Take AOR, for an example. The bands playing the style now are doing the exact same things the bands twenty-plus years ago were doing. They write the same melodies, play with the same keyboard tones, and are proud of their lack of evolution. AOR fans are loyal, and will eat up anything that sounds just like the music they already love. For Stardust, that goes even further, as this album finds them writing songs with AOR stalwarts, which only cements their fanatical devotion to recreating the past.

Stardust's version of AOR is the kind that thinks it rocks, when it really doesn't. They have a bit more guitar in the mix, but it's not a heavy guitar. When they try to hit a bit chord, it sounds small, and the weakness of the entire effort is obvious. You don't have to rock hard, but if you don't there needs to be strong, sturdy hooks. Stardust doesn't deliver those either. These songs aren't big sing-along numbers either. They're the type of songs with simple, one-line refrains. I would offer a comparison from the past to the style of their writing, but I don't have to. They put a cover of Pat Benetar's "Heartbreaker" as the second track on the album.

Let me break down that decision for a second. On their debut album, the second song that expect you to hear is a cover. Not just a cover, but a cover that doesn't rock even a fraction as hard as a song recorded over thirty years ago. I'm not sure why they wanted to make clear they didn't think their own songs were good enough to put front-and-center, nor why they recorded a version that pales in comparison to the original, and still decided to put it on the album. That's a vote of no-confidence in this album, from band itself!

Or maybe they put the song on there just so there would be something to remember them for, because the rest of the album doesn't offer anything but AOR cliches, and not done especially well. Considering they brought in a couple of old hands in the style whose own work has been faltering in recent years, I should have expected this. Stardust are a young band, and maybe they can grow into something with time, but they aren't there yet. Their songs aren't sharp enough, their choices to help them write didn't work, and their decision regarding that cover song are fascinating in how wrong they are. There's a lot to learn, but not much time.

Album Review: Sinner's Blood - The Mirror Star

The new crop of bands Frontiers Records has been coming out with this year has been large, but rather underwhelming. While I appreciate the label's efforts to find and grow the next generation of rock and metal bands, I can't say that many of them have impressed me all that much. I don't want to write that off to inexperience, as plenty of bands have started their careers with their best work over the years. No, I think the reason lies more in the fact that so many bands now are coming up with sounds more stale and generic than ever. I've lost count of how many bands have been trying to sound like it's still 1985. It isn't fresh, there's too much competition, and it's hard to write in a style that existed before your birth.

Thankfully, Sinner's Blood is a new band that sounds completely modern and of this time. Their style of rock is heavy, thick, and full of big melodies. The saturated guitars fill the sonic space with plenty of weight, while the songwriting delivers radio-friendly hooks song after song. Sinner's Blood are a welcome antidote to what mainstream rock has to offer us, for the most part. They have a similar sound, but far stronger and more appealing writing.

I will disagree with the typical press release posturing about one thing. They say James Robledo is soon to be a household name. Yeah, that's not going to happen. I'm not denigrating him, by the way. He's a good singer, and puts in a good performance on the record. But let's be honest here; no rock singer right now is ever going to become a household name, let alone one in a new band no one has yet heard of. The same thing has been said about label-mate Ronnie Romero for a few years now, and even with a stint fronting the reincarnated Rainbow, he is still a fringe figure in music. That's just reality, and while I know press releases are supposed to do everything they can to hype the music, saying things that are patently absurd doesn't help anyone. By their words, they have set it up where if he doesn't become ubiquitous in music (and no, I'm not counting the five other Frontiers projects he will be included on over the next few years), he's failed. That doesn't help.

Back to the point, now. Sinner's Blood have delivered us an album of mainstream rock that does everything it's supposed to. It's not rocket science; big guitars and hummable melodies are all you need. A lot of bands, however, can't write well enough to work the easy formula. And it's not easy, to be honest. Writing melodies that are sticky, memorable, yet don't sound like something we've already heard a dozen times is hard. But it's the single most important thing a band needs to do, and Sinner's Blood does it better than a lot of new bands are able to.

There's still room for the riffs to get a little sharper, and they need to write a better ballad than the rather boring "Forever", but the core of this album is the kind of modern rock we need more of. In a year with a lot of new bands trying to find their place, Sinner's Blood is one of the better ones.

Album Review: Ascension Of The Watchers - Apocrypha

I think at the start of this review I have to mention that there is once again drama surrounding vocalist Burton C Bell's other band, Fear Factory. The album they turned into their label three years ago is now undergoing some 'renovations', which include a crowd-funding campaign to cover the costs. I say this because Bell has called that a scam, and pretty much says he has nothing to do with whatever is going on in Fear Factory at the moment, because he's focused on this band, and this album. Given the legacy of Fear Factory, and the easy attention that name can demand, that makes it quite a statement of what Bell thinks of this album. Is he right?

Ten years in the making, Ascension Of The Watchers newest album is a lighter take on the mechanical metal Bell is known for being the voice of. Between the tight drum rhythms, and the tone of his voice, the artificiality of Fear Factory exists in this music as well, but with a gothic tinge instead of the usual metallic rage. Bell's voice is deeper here, but retains that feeling of plasticity that at times sounds unnatural. Maybe it's over-processed to achieve the desired effect, but it does play into the coldness the album trades in.

Here's the rub; this album plays with atmospherics and moods, and that is one of the hardest things to achieve in music. When you are focused on creating a feeling, particularly a subdued one like on this record, keeping the songs moving is a tall order. Unfortunately, they aren't able to do that often enough. Many of these songs are moving slowly, and without much energy, which leads to them barely leaving a dent when they hit. There isn't enough weight behind the compositions to overcome the wait for the point to come. With lengthy verses of droning notes and barely melodic vocals, it's a test of patience I found myself losing.

Between the songs without much melodic appeal, and Bell's sullen vocals, the record is darkness piled atop darkness. As I listened, I simply could not find it in myself to want to go down that path. I have talked before about not wanting to listen to music that intentionally stirs negative emotions in the listener, even if they are helpful to the artist's psyche, and that's pretty much where I stand with this record. Repeated exposure to this record can only stir melancholy and depression, and introducing that into my mind isn't dangerous, per se, but it's stupid.

And with a solid hour of music here, it's too much of a sad thing for me. I'm not interested in holding myself down for that long, nor am i interested in spending so long trying desperately to see the bright side. I'm not sure if there is one, and even if there is, I don't see how it can pay off the effort.

So no, I did not enjoy "Apocrypha". What I heard was a flat, sad album. I have no interest in subjecting myself to that.

Album Review: Monsterworks - Malignment

The first time I heard Monsterworks, on their "Album Of Man", I found them to be incredibly interesting. Their blend of hard rock, metal, and extreme metal was something that caught my ear, and I heard some craft behind the experimentation that held real appeal. But what was interesting at first later become dull, what was subversive at first became haphazard. I grew more and more impatient as the band released albums at breakneck speed, and with less and less sinew tying the pieces together. I wasn't hearing enough to make me think they were compositions, rather than collections of ideas. The songwriting aspect was missing.

But with the band taking a year off, the extra time might mean more care went into the next batch of music, which is what we're looking at today. Is that what happened?

Let's get one thing out of the way first; this album is both a prequel and sequel to two albums that were released more than a decade ago, and before Monsterworks had whatever level of notoriety than currently do. I don't know how many people would have heard those records, so asking them to get into a story they would need to listen to two more albums in order to understand is not a smart business decision. I'll be honest and say despite knowing this fact, I did not go back and listen to those albums for more context. Enough of the lyrics are obscured by growling, howling, and shrieking that it didn't seem worth the effort, given how little of this record's story I could even decipher (yes, my promo came with the lyrics, but if I have to read them to understand what you're saying, you have already failed).

To get back to the question at hand, no, Monsterworks has not used the extended time between albums to make a better record. While I will admit the transitions are not as random as they have been in the past, which is a sign of growth, the actual songs built from all their wild ideas aren't strong enough. The riffs are too sludgy to have the kind of bite necessary to get our heads banging, and the vocals deliver almost no moments of melody. It's well managed noise, but it simply doesn't gel together into songs worth listening to repeatedly. That's what made "Album Of Man" work. There were songs with catchy hooks that made you want to follow the randomness. This album doesn't draw the dots dark enough to follow them with our pens.

I'm glad these guys enjoy the music they are making, but it has passed me by. I just don't understand the appeal of music that doesn't have memorable riffs and melodies. The impact of art is directly related to how many people who encounter it will remember they even did so. "Starry Night" would not be a treasured masterpiece of art if the image was a faint memory in our minds. We remember every color and swirl. Monsterworks' music is not "Starry Night". I will barely remember I heard this at all, which is a sad thing to have to say.

Album Review: Six Feet Under - Nightmares Of The Decomposed

This is a review I shouldn't be writing. No, not because Six Feet Under is a death metal band, and I rarely make forays into that genre. It's because Six Feet Under, even in death metal circles, is regarded as a laughing stock. They have put out so much lousy music over the years they engender little respect, and that's not even including their "Graveyard Classics" series, wherein they have put to tape some of the worst ever versions of classic songs. Six Feet Under are a terrible band, the popular opinion goes, so why did I listen to their new album?

I have a morbid curiosity to see just how bad it can get.

It stars and ends with Chris Barnes, whose murderous lyrics were at one time revolutionary. Now, however, he is a weak and lazy writer who strings together violent sounding words with no grammar or syntax to make them have any sense. He is throwing whatever he can at the wall, hammering square pegs into the round holes. Just the writing is enough to disregard this record, but the problems are far deeper than just a lyricist who can't realize his won weakness.

Chris Barnes is also shot as a vocalist. When he was in Cannibal Corpse, he helped to define what growling would sound like for decades to come. Later, as he kept abusing his voice by smoking whatever he could get his hands on, he would become more indecipherable as he started to cover his flaws by going deeper into ranges he couldn't control. He was getting lazy with his delivery, and the music became more insufferable every time out.

Now, his voice is completely gone. He doesn't growl, or bark, or have any voice to speak of. His delivery is a dry croak, a sound I've heard before from singers who have reached the end of their career. The years of abuse have caught up to his voice, which is now painful and practically unlistenable. If I were the label, I would have refused to release this record, because putting a man's physical failure out for the world to hear is a disservice to him. It will only encourage him to continue letting himself fall apart, because people won't tell him he needs to put in the work to improve.

It goes even beyond Chris Barnes. The music and songwriting throughout this album is as pedestrian and lackluster as it comes, with riffs that would have been generic even in 1998, and vocal deliveries that don't even sound like they are trying to fit the music. This album is the perfect embodiment of why outsiders say death metal is nothing but tuneless noise. This album really is that bad. Try to find a riff you can hum to yourself, or a vocal line. There isn't one, and that's the whole problem. You can remember "Hammer Smashed Face". Deicide's "The Stench Of Redemption" is catchy in it's own weird way. Bloodbath's "Like Fire" could be turned into a mainstream rock song, the hook is that good. Six Feet Under have none of that.

I'll give the band credit for one thing; if death metal is to be taken literally as a genre name, maybe Six Feet Under is actually good at what they do. I'm not sure I've ever heard a band that sounds more like they are dying than this. If they didn't already have a long history of being terrible, I would feel sorry for Six Feet Under. No one this bad should be given a push into the spotlight. My language is kind compared to how this album will be talked about by most people.

Album Review: Helion Prime - Question Everything

 

We never know what memories are going to stick in our minds. Sometimes it turns out an event we thought little of in the moment turns out to have a long-lasting effect on us. Back in 2009, I found myself listening to Luna Mortis' "The Absence" (although I can't remember quite how I came upon it). I was still a relative neophyte when it came to the world of metal, so I had never quite heard anything like the blend of harsh screaming and clean melodies Mary Z was pushing into my ears. It very well might have been my first experience with what the future would entail, and as I heard more and more records, I found myself remembering Luna Mortis again and again. Mary had left a mark in my mind, not just with her talents, not just with the remnants of a slight infatuation, but through the web of connections following her led me to.

When she joined Helion Prime, I was thrilled in two respects; 1)For her to have a new band to keep living out her musical aspirations, but also 2)Selfishly, to be able to hear her singing melodies into my head once again. All it took was hearing "The Forbidden Zone" to have my smile find that old nostalgic shape. Helion Prime's music is sci-fi metal in both respects of the term. They pick subject matter that sometimes veers into that world (as is the case with the aforementioned song, which is about "Planet Of The Apes"), but also because the music and tones still sound futuristic. The keyboard blips, and the super-saturated guitar tones, both sound like the cruising Death Star casting a shadow over the state of power metal.

The shift in lineup has another impact on the band. Bringing back their original singer to write all of the lyrics and melodies, the style of writing has changed. I remember listening to their previous record, because it won widespread acclaim, and coming away with a completely different feeling than I get from "Question Everything". The hooks are sturdier, the songs more immediately memorable than the last time I listened to Helion Prime.

It's not easy to write a song about Socrates, partly because philosophy is viewed as a dry pursuit (I have a degree in it, so go figure), but also because the idea of standing firm in your belief that people need to be taught how to think is not a concept that meshes with our current climate. Socrates would be as much an outcast now as he was then, as dangerous too, and piling thousands of years of intellectual stagnation into a song is a daunting task. "The Gadfly" does it ably, with a triumphant sound that echoes the message of defiance.

We also get stories about Alan Turing, Gregor Mendel, Katherine Johnson, and a famous photograph of DNA. As the lyric talks of spiraling high and climbing the ladder to knowledge, we get vocals that stretch the song's range, reaching higher up the scale. It may have been coincidence, but when the lyric and the performance connect like that, it's a detail of putting a song together that could go unnoticed, but makes a statement if you're looking for it.

Likewise, the small use of harsh vocals in "E Pur Si Muove" properly capture the frustration Galileo must have felt when the Church told him the truth he could see and observe must be ignored in favor of a story of tradition that did not seek or desire the answers to our world. Screaming is the only appropriate response to being ordered to keep the world in the dark. Thankfully, we know better now (at least most of us do), and the propulsive melody anchoring the song is not going to let us forget.

"Question Everything" is an album chock full of strong songs. Over it's fifty-plus minutes, Helion Prime is firing on all cylinders, and rarely gives us much breathing room. The songs pound along with a metallic heart, maybe a bit too much so when there's a dramatic string line like in the title track. A little more dynamics in the mix, pushing that to the forefront, could have made the song even more dramatic. It's still very good as it is, but man, there was an opportunity to create an even more memorable moment.

That's a very minor nit to be picking, which I only bring up as an illustration of the level Helion Prime is working on here. "Question Everything" is a great power metal record, and a highlight of the genre, without any doubt. The band has never sounded better, and perhaps by questioning everything, they have put all the pieces together. This is one of the best metal albums of the year.

Albums I Love No One Seems To Know

 Music is a personal experience, but it's also communal. While our connection to a particular song or record is entirely our own, we take it upon ourselves to share what we love, to talk about it with others in the hope of impacting someone else's life in the same way. It isn't imperative other people hear music the same way we do, there is a bond that is formed when taste coalesces, and we can talk in a language that doesn't involve words.

Not every album becomes ubiquitous. Many are from artists who never break through into the the collective consciousness, and their albums are known only to a select few who happen to have been in the right place at the right time. There are several I have loved for years, but I have rarely if ever heard another soul talk about. Today, I'm going to put forward a few of them, so maybe you can hear something the same way I do in them.

Nightmare Of You - S/T

I was not big into indie-rock when Bright Eyes and Dashboard Confessional were a bit thing, so I don't know how I came across this album. For years, though, I have been drawn to it's blend of catchy melodies and lyrics that try (and sometimes fail) to be hyper-literate. It serves as a bit of a time capsule, and still sounds better than most of the current indie-rock scene.

Edward O'Connell - Vanishing Act

If you have been frustrated by the last.... thirty?.... years of Elvis Costello's career, this is the album for you. Edward O'Connell released this wonderful gem of an album, replete with power-pop hooks, sardonic lyrics, and a voice that reminds us of Costello. It's more straight-forward than Elvis' early albums, but in that style, and of that quality.

Adler - Back From The Dead

The former Guns N Roses drummer put together this band for what turned out to be one album, released too late in a year to make many waves or year-end lists, but it deserved so much better. It's a remarkable little rock album, which I attribute in no part to him. It's crunchy, catchy, and tightly written. It's from the same era, but far better than "Chinese Democracy" was (even though I like that record more than a lot of people).

Graham Colton Band - Drive/EP

A two-fer. Before he started making adult-oriented pop music, Graham Colton was a songwriter who put together a great band. "Drive" was the major-label album that never generated any buzz, but is a killer record that built on the framework bands like The Wallflowers left on the charts. Even before that, there was an independent EP of yet more great pop/rock songs with hints of Americana. The best of them would get watered down, and is the only version anyone seems to know these days. In fact, that EP isn't available anywhere anymore, which is hard to believe. I still love those songs, and it's sad no one gets to hear them.

John Popper & The Duskray Troubadours - S/T

The frontman of Blues Traveler has had a few solo projects, but this is the one that makes me wonder 'what if?' While his main band was making moves to try to win back the pop mainstream, this band was a fun project getting together to play some simple songs, which is all you ever need. A bit stripped back, and far more organic, this album blended the old and new of Blues Traveler better than the band themselves, and probably should have been the band's album, rather than "Blow Up The Moon".

Album Review: Nightmare - Aeternam

 Nightmare's last album answered a question that had bounced around in my head, but I never expected to get an answer to. They blended heavy and chugging power metal with gritty vocals that sounded like the voice I have pledged allegiance to. It was a combination that perhaps shouldn't have worked, but it did. It was rough and tumble, but held a melodic edge to it that kept it from getting away from the band. It's one of those records that just has a bit of an aura to it, and I find myself coming back, because nothing else sounds quite like it.

So it's sad to have to say that Maggy Luyten is not with the band anymore, which completely changes the band's sound. Her voice was, for me, the driving force behind what made "Dead Sun" so great, and I walk into this record with a heart full of disappointment. I can be won over, but it will be difficult.

The first thing to note is that while the band is still playing their blend of chugging power and melodic death metal, new singer Madie's voice is much cleaner than Maggy was, which lets them play more with a duality in their sound. That's actually an interesting way of changing things up, and while it isn't the same, it is a sound that has a strong appeal. Madie gives the band a new, different life.

These songs are vrery much in the same mold as "Dead Sun", all heaviness atop heaviness, utterly pummeling for power metal. The hints of thrash and death metal give these songs a real weight to them that sets them apart, while Madie does her best to blend in simple, memorable melodies. She does do that, but the issue is exactly what I thought it would be; Nightmare is such a powerful band I'm not sure she can quite match them. Maggy's delivery was so raspy and aggressive it fit right in, and she had the lung power to cut through the mix. Madie's voice blends into the wash a bit more, which makes the melodies that much more subtle.

There's two ways for me to look at "Aeternam". On the one hand, taking the album solely by itself, this is a compelling power metal album filled with good songs, huge sounds, and bared fangs. It's easily a winner on those counts, and up there with the better metal albums I've come across this year. On the other hand, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say this album is not on the level of "Dead Sun". It's good, but the step down from the magical moment in time Nightmare just had is noticeable.

So the bottom line is this; "Aeternam" is very good, and as long as you're looking forward, it's everything we could want it to be.