Here’s how 2015 shaped up for me musically. Just so you know how I rank things. The A list is stuff that wow’d the fuck out of me, and is worth purchasing outright (floats my boat, rocks my socks off, etc…); The B+ list is usually worth purchasing, but definitely saved on Spotify. B means there was nothing wrong with it, but it will struggle to get repeat listens (there’s just too much GREAT stuff to justify listening to GOOD stuff); B- isn’t terrible, but outside of a song or two, probably won’t be replayed. I didn’t even bother listing the 20 or so albums that I ranked C or lower.
Don't blame anyone for not reading the whole thing, even with just a little blurb for each album, this is a big post. Yes, I listen to a metric shit-ton of music.
The A List - my Top 25 albums of the year.
1. Vanden Plas / Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld II - I can't believe that this would be better than Part 1, but my god it is.
2. Symphony X / Underworld - Nearly flawless - and seeing 1/2 the album live was boner-inducing
3. Magnus Karlson's FreeFall/ Kingdom Of Rick - Just a hair behind the debut, but this still rocked my socks. 11 fantastic songs.
4. Kamelot / Haven - Another great Kamelot album Loved it top to bottom.
5. Lande/Holter / Dracula:Swing of Death - This was surprisingly excellent. I was expecting a bucket of cheese, but given Jorn's lack of quality solo material lately, this was an absolute gem
6. Nightwish / Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Floor sounds great; Elan blows, but the rest is fantastic
7. Universe Effects / In The Haze That Surrounds Us - Holy schnike!!! Brilliant, BRILLIANT prog-metal.
8. Queensryche / Condition Human - THIS was what we all wanted from Todd-fronted QR
9. Borealis / Purgatory - Fabulous. Such an under-rated band. Third album, and each one gets better.
10. Trivium / Silence in the Snow - Wow… thank god they went 100% clean on the vox - loved this.
11. Serious Black / As Daylight Breaks - Just solid tunes top to bottom.
12. Level 10 / Chapter 1 - Top shelf melodic metal. Sinner + Allen is gold.
13. Amadeus Awad / Death is Just a Feeling - Great story; Anneke sounds great; music is awesome, but man I want more than 46 minutes.
14. The Poodles / Devil in the Details - This is the cats ass - Melodic Metal that is right in my wheelhouse
15. Teramaze / Her Halo - Killer opening epic track, and continues to rock for the entire 56 minutes; much better than previous album.
16. Pyramaze / Disciples of the Sun - New lead singer fits in just fine; solid tunes top to bottom
17. Stratovarius / Eternal - Tolkki-less Stratovarius is just fine by me. Nearly as good as Nemesis, imo
18. Kiske/Somerville / City of Heroes - Pretty straightforward, but Amanda sounds amazing, and these are some pretty up-beat and uplifting tunes.
19. Angra / The Secret Garden - Fabio sounds great with Angra. Could be my fave album by them
20. Forgotten Suns / When Worlds Collide - Some very talented dude here - very prog, very heavy, very technical - but not overly so
21. Phantasma / The Deviant Hearts - Love Charlotte Wessels; Love Serenity vocalist (Georg Neohauser). What's not to love here?
22. Cain's Offering / Stormcrow - Some top notch power metal
23. The Paralydium Project / The Paralydium Project - 3-song EP - stellar.
24. Shattered Skies / The World We Used to Know - This kinda heavy/djent style usually ain't my cuppa tea, but this worked
25. Pantommind / Searching for Eternity - Great prog-metal, with an added bonus of Mike Anderson showing up for track 3.
The rest is not ranked, just in alphabetical order.
The B List: B+
Ascendia / The Lion and the Jester - Vocally, I hope it's a grower - he's pretty low in the register. Musically, very good.
Damnation Angels / The Valiant Fire - PelleK is such a great vocalist, and this is a great symphonic/power metal album/band. Too bad he left the band
Eclipse / Armageddonize - Some pretty hard melodic rock with excellent riffs.
Exxiles / Oblivion - Some good; some excellent; fairly big guest appearances
Impellitteri / Venom - This was overflowing with shred. With only 2 songs north of 4 mins, it's straightforward power/speed metal, and doesn't portend to be anything else.
Kingcrow / Eidos - Not as good as the previous two in the trilogy, but great prog-metal
Manimal / Trapped in the Shadows - Some old school sounding metal here - very Judas Priest-like
Magic Pie / King For A Day - First 5 songs were pretty enjoyable. The title/epic track was seriously awesome though.
Mystery / Delusion Rain - Only a couple of listens in, but this is solid stuff, as Mystery always is. New vocalist picks up right where Benoit David left off
Nth Ascension / Ascension of Kings - vocalist sounds like Magnitude 9
Rox Diamond / Rox Diamond - High quality glam metal
Royal Hunt / Devil's Dozen - Despite the crap that was the opening single they released, this was surprisingly good; thankful for the turnaround, as the last two releases were shyte.
Spock's Beard / The Oblivion Particle - Every listen, this just keeps getting better and better
Steven Wilson / Hand. Cannot. Erase - Never would've thought I'd like this, but it's excellent; starts REAL strong… tails off a little.
The Chronicles Project / When Darkness Falls - Very very good. Some of it was excellent; late in the year release, I’m sure it will get lots of repeat listens, and trend upwards
Voices From the Fuselage / Odyssey: The Destroyer of Worlds - Heavy, soft; prog, melodic; very diverse.
The B List: B
Europe / War of Kings - Standard Europe material. Predictable and enjoyable - exactly what I expected. I'm still a big fan of Joey's voice
House of Lords / Indestructible - Standard HoL material these days. Predictable, but good none-the-less. I'm still a big fan of James' voice
Inner Odyssey / Ascension - First half is fairly medicore, but the latter half is some tremendous prog-rock
Iris Divine / Karma Sown - Pretty good effort for their second release. Real heavy - I liked their debut better though.
Iron Maiden / Book of Souls - Some really good tracks, and some forgettable. This is probably gonna struggle to get repeated listens
IZZ / Everlasting Incident - funky, very diverse. Enjoyable, but nothing compelled me to go back to it.
Jordan Rudess / The Unforgettable Path - Nice background music of mostly covers. Doubt I'll go back to it.
Klone / Hear Comes the Sun - Dark, grungy... Very Devy-like
Magic Kingdom / Savage Requiem - Fantasy/power metal; pretty standard stuff
Mechanism / Between the Words - ok, but not wow'd
One|Cinema / One|Cinema - Pretty diverse - metal-as-fuck, melodic, ballad. Hell, even a jazzy song.
RavenBlack Project / Breaking Through The Mist - Quite the vocal lineup with Matos, Boals, White, Somerville, and Oliva.
Scorpions / Return to Forever - Incredibly impressed for a 50 year old band
Soul Secret / 4 - Kinda disappointed after the first two albums were so strong. Still pretty good tho
Subsignal / The Beacons Of Somewhere Sometime - Rich, textured, layered - all the things that can be counted on from Subsignal. And Arno sounds like sonic gold of course.
The Gentle Storm / The Diary - Nothing wrong with it, I just think I'm used to vocal variety with Arjen's music
The Winery Dogs / Hot Streak - Just some damn fine rock music
Tony Mills / Over My Dead Body - Enjoyable… something didn't quite click as much as it should have (2nd half was better than 1st).
Trans-Siberian Orchestra / Letters From the Labyrinth - Wasn't as bad as others were saying - sure… same old TSO formula, but not terribly disappointing
Zierler / ESC - Best thing Kelly Carpenter has been on since Epysode, but still too much metal, not enough prog for me.
The B List: B-
A Sound of Thunder / Tales from the Deadside - huge cheese-fest of a story; musically, some good, some mediocre
Blurred Vision / Organized Insanity – Not overly memorable, but not unenjoyable
Box of Shamans / Belief and Illusion -
Chaos Frame / Paths to Exile - Courtesy of TAC… musically it was excellent - a lot of thrash and growlies though.
End of the Dream / All I Am - Joe recc'n; vocally a lot like Manda Ophius; musically like Within Temptation; One keeper
Eternal Journey / Nebular - reminds me of Angra/Redemption; eclectic
Kinetic Element / Travelog - ok, but not wow'd
Lonely Robot / Please Come Home - I was expecting more with it being a favorite vocalist (John Mitchell). The guitar work is stellar though
Midnight Rain / Truth is in the Light - ok, but not wow'd
Rafart / Dark Night of the Soul - ok, but not wow'd
Seven Steps to the Green Door / Fetish - Given it's a lot of the contributors from Flaming Row, I expected to enjoy this one more - really eclectic shit here.
Silientlie / Layers of Nothing - Eclectic. All kinds of prog and metal here.
Sonic Prophecy / Apocalyptic Promenade – good, but a weak vocalist
The Tangent / A Spark In The Aether – The Music That Died Alone Volume Two - First go around was meh; second was a bit better. Couple of good songs here. Still kinda eclectic, even for a neo prog outfit
Deadly Circus Fire / The Hydra's Tailor - Decent, but a little too heavy and growlie for my likings.
Exovex / Radio Silence - One standout song, the rest was meh. With Gavin H on drums, this probably appeals to PT fans - of which I'm not one of them
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody / Prometheus - Symphonia Ignis Divinus - Opera, with a metal twist.
And my disappointments of the year:
Audio Plastik / In the Head of A Maniac - Very disappointed after nearly a 3 year wait, and 2 iterations of the band.
Blind Guardian / Beyond the Red Mirror - Never been a HUGE BG fan, and this was mediocre at best. Bought this hoping it would help BG 'click'. It didn't.