18. Seventh Wonder – The Great Escape (2010)It’s funny how both of Kamelot’s modern singers have released better albums in other bands than they have with Kamelot. For Tommy Karevik, it’s The Great Escape and for Roy Khan, it’s… well, you’ll see. Anyway, let’s talk about The Great Escape: I normally don’t care much about Dream Theater rip-offs. Bands like Circus Maximus are fine, but since I’m not a real big Dream Theater fan to begin with, there’s not much staying power in bands that are clearly overly influenced by them.
So what makes Seventh Wonder stand out? Well, it’s the level of restraint that I hear from them. You can tell that these guys could easily show off their technical prowess as musicians, but they hold back for the songs and play only what is absolutely necessary to make the songs great. On top of that is Tommy Karevik, one of the best modern progressive metal vocalists out there today. His vocal melodies are absolutely sublime.
Not to mention the
incredible title track. As far as 20+ minute long epics go, The Great Escape takes the cake for me. It's a half-hour of non-stop prog metal glory.
17. Savatage – Hall of the Mountain King (1987)Almost two years ago, I went on a summer trip down to my birthplace in Pensacola, Florida for the first time since I was one year old. Needless to say, I had a blast there. While it was far too hot for my liking, there was a lot more there for me to like about the place. Towards the end of my visit, I got to go to the mall and went to the record store there. I ended up making two blind purchases, which would go on to introduce me to two of my favorite bands ever. This was one of those albums.
Ever since I've discovered Savatage, they've gone on to become one of my absolute favorite metal bands ever. Both eras with either Jon Oliva or Zak Stevens is fantastic and Criss Oliva was one of the most underrated guitarists of his time. There's a good reason that Dave Mustaine supposedly wanted Criss to join him in Megadeth right around the time he made Rust in Peace.
16. Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith (1984)While I’m not normally a big fan of Priest’s material from the 80’s, there’s no denying the greatness that is Defenders of the Faith. It’s one of the band’s finest albums, period. It’s dark, it’s heavy and it’s flat-out awesome. The first half, or even the first three-quarters of the album, is incredibly consistent. It’s just a series of classic song after classic song.
It's listening to albums like Defenders or Painkiller that show how great a band Judas Priest used to be and how much the latest material from their forthcoming album pales in comparison. There's an attitude and mood on these sorts of albums that the band just doesn't seem to capture anymore, which is a damn shame.
In any event, I'm grateful for the absolute
classic material that this band did bring us all back in the day. It's absolutely magical stuff.
Topic: Mister Gold's Top 50 Albums - "Here at the End of All Things" (Read 46876 times)