Hello folks and welcome to the second installment of my Top 50 albums thread, almost two years in the making. First I'd like to address my previous list. Simply put, it was a farce. Most of it anyway. Quite frankly, I didn't have 50 albums to complete it so there were several albums that kind of just took up the vacant spots. Not to say those albums weren't great, but they wouldn't make my top 50, if I'm going by the "rules" of course. Also, some albums were higher on the list based on nostalgia, so you'll see a couple drastic drops in the list of the returning albums. And yes, there will be several repeat offenders, but they're my favorite albums so there.
As I said, my first list was nostalgia based, so for this one, more recent albums I've fallen in love with will be way higher than those I've loved for years, simply because over time, those albums lose that spark. This is certainly not the case for all of my old favorites as my top ten will be SPOILER ALERT very similar to my last list. Only one band has more than 2 entries on the list. I wanted to follow that 2 album per band rule, and plus with the new additions, there simply wasn't room for more than 2 albums per band.
Over the coarse of 2013 I really fell in love with female fronted metal, so the title is a reference to that. Not all the female fronted bands on the list are metal bands however. OK, here we go. I hope you enjoy the new list, and if you think it's too much of a retread, well screw you, it's still better than Ghostbusters 2!
LIST MODIFIED ON PAGE 250. Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness (2002)Genre: Progressive/Doom MetalReturning for the sequel, but unfortunately not getting a bigger role is Green Carnation's monster 60 minute masterpiece, Light of Day, Day of Darkness. This song/album is just epic beyond scale. That being said, as awesome as the song is, I only listen to it a few times a year. Not to knock the rest of the epic, but the song really reaches it's peak at the 16 minute mark, but then that only lasts for 2 minutes. If the whole song had the same intensity, it'd be much higher, but as it is, it sits nicely at #50. Fans of dark atmospheric Doom Metal will love this. It's quite a journey. Check it out.
49. HolyHell - HolyHell (2009)Genre: Power MetalPower Metal is a waning genre for me, but sometimes I come across a gem like HolyHell's self titled debut. As an added bonus the band contains female powerhouse Maria Breon. Her name might not have any significance as she isn't associated with any other known bands, but she has pipes that will make Ann Wilson blush. I'm picky about my female singers. A lot of symphonic or goth bands tend to have the Tarja style Operatic female vocals that I just don't care for anymore. I can listen to old Nightwish, but Tarja clones are to strong, and not pleasant. I much prefer the sweet and beautiful styles like Sharon of Within Temptation. Maria has the sweet and beautiful along with ear piercing wails and also a sinister tone as well. She's the full package. But what about the band? The music is a mix of classic Heavy metal and Power metal in the vein of Manowar, and although I'm not a fan nor am I familiar with Manowar, I can't deny how awesome their ex-drummer, Rhino sounds on this album. I like to compare HolyHell to Mystic Prophecy. Both bands are all about heaven, hell, angels, demons, fire, hell, hell, hell. The difference being that HolyHell has WAAAAYY better lyrics... And a better singer. My favorite song on the album is actually the ballad, The Fall, which is the case for a lot of albums, but it showcases just how great Maria is. Apparently they are keeping with the Hell theme for their next album, but I hope they do vary it up a little bit as it can get repetitive with the lyrics after a while. If you like Heavy Power Metal with symphonic elements, try this album out.
Favorite song: The Fall
48. Alyson Avenue - Presence of Mind (2009)Genre: Melodic Rock/AORI found out about this band when Annette joined Nightwish. This album > Dark Passion Play. Anyway, I always liked that 80s sound like Pat Benatar (even if I don't actively listen to her), and Alyson Avenue is basically a nod to Pat and the likes. Annette sounds a bit different than she does on her Nightwish albums, but still sounds great nonetheless. The music is great, but don't expect anything groundbreaking. It's Solid modernized 80s rock music, but the main focus are the catchy vocal melodies. If you aren't a fan of love songs, be warned. All 11 tracks are on the subject, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed. I'm not a fan of the love lovey love love stuff, but it works for something like this. It's AOR after all. Lend it your ear.
Favorite song: One Touch
Honorable mention:
Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway (2004)Genre: PopThis album was on my list for a little while. I've known about Clarkson for years (who hasn't) and heard all the singles from this album (again, who hasn't) but I hadn't decided to give the whole album a listen until I heard the track Hear Me on my girlfriend's shuffle. She was listening to her stuff and I was like "Who's this". It's an exceptional Pop Rock track and the whole album is pretty good. Unfortunately the hype has died down and while I can still acknowledge it as a good album, it just wouldn't make my top 50.