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The Great Collection Rediscovery

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 8:57am
Artist: Kobra and the Lotus
Album: High Priestess
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: A damn fine third album from Kobra and the Lotus. With this and the already great self-titled they were well on track to becoming one of my favourite bands. Unfortunately then I didn't like this one's follow up so much and I've lost track of what the group's been doing lately. This one remains a true pleasure though. As an aside RYM not having Power Metal as a primary tag on this is one of the most painful things I've seen on that site. Dead

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 12:28pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Old Rating: 4.0/5



Verdict: I've never understood the faction of fans who claim this as the best Blind Guardian album, not when it follows such masterpieces like Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations From the Other Side, but I did find myself enjoying Nightfall in Middle-Earth a bit more than usual on this spin. Blind Guardian is my favourite band, so this has still always been a 4 star album for me, but I have historically put it more lower end (if not last) in terms of my personal preferences. I think its all the narration. It may end up more in the middle now though, but I can't bring myself to give this five stars at this point in time.

New Rating: 4.5/5

I often see this one praised as the band's best too, but like you, I'm not seeing it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Unitron Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 2:04pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Artist: Kobra and the Lotus
Album: High Priestess
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: A damn fine third album from Kobra and the Lotus. With this and the already great self-titled they were well on track to becoming one of my favourite bands. Unfortunately then I didn't like this one's follow up so much and I've lost track of what the group's been doing lately. This one remains a true pleasure though. As an aside RYM not having Power Metal as a primary tag on this is one of the most painful things I've seen on that site. Dead

New Rating: No Change. 

I blame Napalm Records for ruining this band, the I Am, I Am-esque Zombie single (which was originally going to be on a fourth album) showed them continuing this albums' sound but then as soon as they signed to Napalm they just became another generic major metal label band and that single never made it on an album. Either it was label interference or just a coincidence, but I'm thinking the former. 


Edited by Unitron - 21 Sep 2020 at 2:04pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Sep 2020 at 12:05pm
Artist: Haken
Album: Aquarius
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Finally getting some Haken in this project and what better place to start with than their debut album. I actually have the CD-R of their demo that I got by contacting the band which I do count as part of my collection, but I heard and had this first and it's still the record I look back most fondly on. A great prog debut. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2020 at 8:45am
Artist: Haken
Album: Visions
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Some may single Visions out as the most generic Haken album and I myself even call it the best album that Dream Theater never made, but I damn love this one all the same. The 22 minute title track especially is prog gold dust. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2020 at 9:10am
Artist: Wuthering Heights
Album: Salt
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Salt is Wuthering Height's still most recent album even after ten years, which is a shame because this was one of the best power metal bands of the time going into the last decade, with five strong albums under their belt. They easily could have been the power metal band of the 2010s. While I have always held the most preference to their middle album Far From the Madding Crowd (yeah, these guys really have a thing about 1800's novels), I'm very fond of Salt as well, though never quite manage to give it five stars. Not this time either.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2020 at 11:06am
Artist: Wuthering Heights
Album: Far From the Madding Crowd
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: This album is one of my absolute favourites; total upper echelon, six stars, whatever you want to call it. All of the Wuthering Heights albums are incredibly strong, but this is their defining achievement. I never understood why most people seem to instead point to The Shadow Cabinet as their best work, which is the only Wuthering Heights album I was never able to pick up despite having bought it twice and both times received the wrong product (thanks Amazon), but it's not such a loss when I do at least have this gem.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 5:31am
Artist: Augury
Album: Concealed
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: My favourite death metal album. Few death metal albums even come close to being able to touch this. It's aggressive and technical, never one dimensional, and most importantly, is unusual. The closest I've come to hearing another death metal album that sounds anything close to this in the sixteen year time since its release is Empire de Mu's 2020 debut and they feature an ex-Augury member from this album. Even Augury's own following albums don't really compare. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 6:43am
Artist: Haken
Album: The Mountain
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Haken's third album has gone down as the generally accepted fan favourite but for me it's never resonated quite as well as the first two albums, though it does have the awesome Cockroach King on it, which is a masterpiece unto itself (with a hilarious music video), along with several epics and some shorter songs that showcase just how much prog can actually be fit into a short running time. I think I can fairly knock this one up a notch now, but it still doesn't upset my top 2. 

Also I always far it hard to believe that there's always been a portion of fans who try to exclude The Mountain from the prog metal label, when it was Haken's most metallic album to it's date (though probably upset by Vector now). The RYM votes (and comments) are frankly fucking shocking. 

New Rating: 5/5


Edited by adg211288 - 30 Sep 2020 at 6:45am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 8:06am
Artist: Augury
Album: Fragmentary Evidence
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: I remember how stoked I was to pick this album up brand new for a low price. I believe I actually had it before Concealed, which was harder to get. I have historically said that Fragmentary Evidence is a step down from the debut because I wasn't ever really into its opening song and I still think that song is a weak cut next to everything else on the album. Thing is I've got to jump the rating on this one up to a full five as the rest of the album makes this one of the few death metal records that even stands a chance against their own debut for me, which means despite one weaker song its still one of the best DM albums I've heard. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 8:45am
Artist: Augury
Album: Illusive Golden Age
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: I think my old rating on this one may have had something to do with the fact that Augury made us all wait so damn long for a third album that even suggesting when it finally arrived that there was even a slight fault to it would have been unthinkable. Truth is it's had a couple of years now to sink in and the bottom line is that while it's still a brilliant prog/tech death metal album it just doesn't quite have the special spark of their first two, so I have to knock it's rating down slightly.

New Rating: 4.5/5
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 11:35am
Artist: Haken
Album: Affinity
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: This is still the most recent Haken album I've purchased. I've heard both Vector and Virus and always meant to pick up the former but it keeps getting put on the back burner. I wasn't immediately impressed by Virus and haven't given that a second stream yet. Affinity though is still pretty good, but easily ranked fourth of my four Haken albums. 1985 is probably my favourite track from it. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Oct 2020 at 4:26am
Artist: Evergrey
Album: In Search of Truth
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: It's probably fair to say that Evergrey is a band that I don't care for as much as I once did. I still tend to listen to their latest releases at least once but it's been a while since I was inclined to actually buy one. With In Search of Truth though I always remember why at one point I was really into this band and it's a shame that their latest records aren't up to this calibre or even seen that progressively inclined. This remains an essential prog album.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Oct 2020 at 11:06am
Artist: Nachtlieder
Album:  The Female of the Species
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: This is one of those albums I originally gave a fair but not completely glowing review to that's against expectations become a release that I keep going back to. Nachtlieder (a German name but a Swedish artist) is a solo female black metal act that plays fairly by the book, perhaps the thing most off from the cold, necro template being the growling vocal style forgoing anything really shrill. I genuinely thought this would be an album I would forget about after a while, but it never happened. I even bought it and it's enjoyed a fair bit of rotation since then, this being, according to Last.fm, my 15th spin. It just hits the spot every time. I currently rate her next album Lynx higher but we'll see how that goes as well before I fiddle with the ratings for these. It really isn't fair off being worth the fill five stars even now.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2020 at 4:43am
Artist: Nightmare
Album: Genetic Disorder
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: The artwork here always makes me think this should actually be a tech death album, rather than a power metal album with a Dio-esque singer. But that's exactly what it is, and a damn good one at that. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2020 at 5:32am
Artist: Nachtlieder
Album: Lynx
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: A bit more aggressively delivered than the previous album which does hit a certain spot, I'm still really torn over which of these two Nachtlieder albums is actually better. Historically Lynx has had stronger first impressions hence it's higher rating from me but it's still too new to really know if its standing the test of time as well as The Female of the Species. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Oct 2020 at 4:59am
Artist: Devil Electric
Album: Devil Electric
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Now here's a damn fine little doom metal album that I've played a lot. Been waiting with baited breath for new material from them and they've starting dropping singles again in 2020, so hopefully a follow-up full-length is imminent. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Oct 2020 at 6:35am
Artist: Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Album: Lost in the New Real
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: I haven't quite finished the current listen to this since it's been going as a chunk at a time in various car trips for several days, but I've played Lost in the New Real so much that it's unlikely anything will change how I view the album. I actually have more logged Last.fm scrobbles of it than I do for all but two Ayreon albums (and one of those is The Theory of Everything which seems destined to become my top Last.fm album by virtue of the amount of tracks). It's an album that is very much in two parts, the first disc being the concept album and what I've played the most of the album (over twenty times for the first disc) and the second disc being deleted scenes and covers, which I haven't played as often but still contains some excellent material. Not as metal as Lucassen's main body of work (though it has its moments including a metal cover of Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine), instead drawing on practically everything that has ever defined him as a musician, this has stood the test of time since it's 2012 release and become one of my favourite Arjen Lucassen albums. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2020 at 5:18am
Artist: Paradise Lost
Album: Lost Paradise
Old Rating: 4/5



Verdict: The most old school death metal of all Paradise Lost albums, making their very first a unique entry in their discography, a feat they would go on to repeat multiple times. Though I only started listening to Paradise Lost a few years ago, they quickly become one of my favourite bands. Lost Paradise doesn't represent the very best they can do, but it's a great start to an impressive and varied discography. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Oct 2020 at 7:52am
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Artist: Devil Electric
Album: Devil Electric
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Now here's a damn fine little doom metal album that I've played a lot. Been waiting with baited breath for new material from them and they've starting dropping singles again in 2020, so hopefully a follow-up full-length is imminent. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Yes agree, that's a great album. Have it on vinyl.
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