MetalMusicArchives.com Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home >Metal Music Lounges >Blogs
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - The Great Collection Rediscovery
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

The Great Collection Rediscovery

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 678910 22>
Author
Message
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Aug 2020 at 5:26am
Artist: Iron Maiden
Album: Dance of Death
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 162 (11 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: I'm not sure about worst artwork Patrick when this exists...but the album itself I have always loved. I consider this the most underrated work of Iron Maiden, not just in their modern Dickinson/Smith reunion period. I have never understood it when people say that Dance of Death is no good and wonder if they are judging it by its frankly horrendous cover. 

New Rating: No Change.
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
Vim Fuego View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Death, T/S/G, Grind, VA Teams

Joined: 05 Jul 2015
Location: Canterbury, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 6417
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Aug 2020 at 12:26pm
Nah, I STILL think this artwork is better. The X Factor looks like a melted rubber toy. This one makes more sense to me. I know it was unfinished, and the artist was unhappy, but it's a good representation of the Dance of Death - is it a partially formed hallucination, or is it real?

I delayed buying this thing for years because I'd read bad reviews of it. When I finally DID buy it, I kicked myself. There's some incredible songs on here. I particularly love the title track.
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Aug 2020 at 1:38pm
Yeah that's one of my favourites too. Had the pleasure live as well, one of the times I saw them. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Aug 2020 at 1:44pm
Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Battalions of Fear
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 166 (14 Tracks) + 50 as a mistagged 'Batallions of Fear' Embarrassed
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: My favourite band, so revisiting them is hardly necessary and more like any excuse. I love this debut record. While it is a rawer Blind Guardian still finding their sound, there's a lot of energy here. My version has bonus demo tracks as well, though I don't play those so much unless I happen to be spinning the actual disc and mot mp3s. It surprises no one more than me though that even today most of my Blind Guardian Last.fm plays were logged in 2010. It's that thing again: too much music, too many albums, and it suddenly feels like you're not giving your actual favourites the attention they deserve. 

New Rating: No Change. 


Edited by adg211288 - 02 Aug 2020 at 1:45pm
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2020 at 4:03am
Artist: Dream Theater
Album: Awake
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 25 (11 Tracks)
Old Rating: 3.5/5



Verdict: Although it's pretty much sacrilege for a Dream Theater fan to say it, I'm going to have to: 

I don't like Awake. 

I don't hate Awake either, but there's a big difference between not hating something and liking it. It's much more of a 'meh' album than bad per se. I cannot fathom why it is ranked up there with the likes of Metropolis Pt. 2 and Images & Words as among the band's best. There are a few highlights that keep it from a complete middling rating, but most of it is bland and soulless. 

New Rating: 3/5
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2020 at 4:16am
Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Follow the Blind
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 191 (14 Tracks)
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: A bit more polished than the debut, taking more steps towards power metal. I think this album's MMA rating is ridiculously low to be honest. I think I personally rate the debut a little higher (within the rating rating tier), but this is also a great album. 

New Rating: No Change.
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2020 at 8:03am
Artist: Ayreon
Album: The Final Experiment
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 149 (24 Tracks - 15 + 9 Bonus)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: The very first Ayreon album has some things about it that might cause fans who came along later to dismiss it. Arjen Lucassen wasn't a known name back then, so we don't have the all star cast that modern Ayreon albums attract - that said he did get some people from reasonable notable bands to lend him their voices on this record. Apparently most of them did it for free too. Vocalists are tied to a particular character on this one, like on later albums, so it feels less like a proper rock opera. It's certainly not as polished as his later work. But it remains one of my favourite Arjen Lucassen releases. I still remember when I first bought this and how I felt when it arrived. It wasn't the first Ayreon album I bought, that was Into the Electric Castle, which remains my favourite album to this day, but it was the first time I recall feeling like I was holding a piece of musical history - yet it was by an artist that absolutely no one I spoke to in real life had even heard of. Although it is not my favourite by Ayreon, I still consider this album worthy of classic status. Like Follow the Blind above, I find it a real shame that the MMA average sells it short at barely scraping 3.5 stars. Philistines. 

New Rating: No Change.
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Aug 2020 at 8:15am
Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Tales From the Twilight World
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: My first Blind Guardian album. While Somewhere Far Beyond is currently my favourite, this one gets a big nostalgia bonus. When I got this back in I believe 2007 I can genuinely say I found it to be the most aggressive thing I'd ever heard. I'd already heard thrash at that point of course, but it wasn't holding a candle to this power metal stuff I was finding. This was so fucking hard and fast with it. You can imagine that it came as something of a surprise that most power metal doesn't sound like this...although I can to love 'normal' power metal anyway. Looking back it's most likely because of this album that thrash metal never became a genre I really loved. 

New Rating: No Change.
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Aug 2020 at 9:29am
Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Somewhere Far Beyond
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: My favourite Blind Guardian album. Didn't used to be, Imaginations From the Other Side was, but this worked it's way up over time. It's more polished than Tales From the Twilight World and the original speed metal sound almost completely shed away by this point, but it's so fast and aggressive as hell that as much as I love other power metal it makes me wonder why most bands are missing the trick in that regard and serving to regulate the genre to one that many self-defined tr00 (accurate spelling) metalheads readily dismiss while moshing to their trash metal (also accurate spelling). True story from my YouTube days when first discovering Blind Guardian.

New Rating: 10/5
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
Vim Fuego View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Death, T/S/G, Grind, VA Teams

Joined: 05 Jul 2015
Location: Canterbury, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 6417
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Aug 2020 at 12:21pm
Glad to see the artwork improved as they went along. Follow The Blind looks dreadful!LOL
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Aug 2020 at 6:43am
Artist: Ayreon
Album: Into the Electric Castle
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: My favourite album. Has been since I first bought it in 2007. Ayreon's later work tends to get rated higher around here and though I love it too it doesn't hold a candle to this. I have many albums I love and consider my ultimate favourites but few have earned that status as immediately as this one did. And nothing has ever come close to unseating it.

New Rating: 11/5
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Aug 2020 at 10:42am
Artist: Iron Maiden
Album: A Matter of Life and Death
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: A Matter of Life and Death wasn't technically the current Iron Maiden album when I first started listening to them, but it was on the verge of being. It was touring this album that I got to see my first proper concert, during which they played it in full. That live set with Eddie's tank was one hell of an experience. I was lucky enough to see that twice. The album has big nostalgia value because of this, but like all modern Maiden it's one hell of a record based on musical merit alone. Some really proggy material here too. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Aug 2020 at 4:33am
Artist: Iron Maiden
Album: The Final Frontier
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Out of all the post Dickinson/Smith reunion Iron Maiden albums The Final Frontier is the only one that hasn't historically resonated as a 5 star release for me. It's always been close though. It still is, but I really dug it on this latest spin. El Dorado actually remains my most played track of theirs on Last.fm by virtue of how many times I binged it while waiting for the album to be released. 

New Rating: No Change (yet). 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Aug 2020 at 5:00am
Artist: Persuader
Album: Evolution Purgatory
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Persuader and in fact pretty much anything vocalist Jens Carlsson is involved in, are often accused of being a Blind Guardian clone. Maybe that is fair, but then other 'normal' power metal bands don't get called Helloween clones half as much yet are really the same principle, but as soon as someone is more like Blind Guardian the accusations start flying. For me, more bands should follow the Blind Guardian example. I love normal power metal as I have stated in this re-visitation series before, but I do think a genre called 'power' metal sound generally sound more hard and aggressive than many bands do, so where exactly can fault be sound with another band who realises that and actually has a singer with the pipes to rival Hansi? Evolution Purgatory represents a damn fine example of Blind Guardian school power metal (with a dabble of thrash). Also the artwork is great. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 2020 at 3:20am
Artist: Annihilator
Album: Never, Neverland
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: This was, for a time, my favourite thrash metal album. I do have say that recent re-listens to Metallica though have unseated it in favour of Ride the Lightning, but it's still #2. I just find this a very fun thrash album to listen to. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 2020 at 4:41am
Artist: Blind Guardian
Album: Imaginations From the Other Side
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Formerly my favourite Blind Guardian album until Somewhere Far Beyond usurped it, Imaginations From the Other Side is still a very close second. I really don't understand anyone who says Nightfall in Middle-Earth is superior to this or the prior two, but lets also see how that comes across on its upcoming spin. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Aug 2020 at 11:14am
Artist: Ayreon
Album: The Human Equation
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: The Human Equation is the Ayreon album that for a long time didn't completely click for me, although there are a few tracks from it I have always loved and were among the first I heard from Ayreon that today offer an incredibly high amount of nostalgia value. I've been up and down on the album as a whole though (so much that I have reviewed it no less than three times!), at least until a few years ago. I think the main reason for this was that I didn't (and still don't too much) like the voice of one of the cast, Eric Clayton. However over time the music has won through and I now consider this to be among Ayreon's best releases: certainly one of the most out and out progressive of them. I would even go so far as to say it is now one of my all time favourite albums. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 2020 at 2:15am
Artist: Lascaille's Shroud
Album: Interval 02: Parallel Infinities - The Abscinded Universe
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: A mammoth progressive death metal album. I think this one is actually more overtly death metal than the debut is, rather than becoming more out and out proggy. It's an album that is a lot to take in during one sitting, but very rewarding.

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
adg211288 View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Black Metal, Prog/AG Teams

Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 21959
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 2020 at 1:28pm
Artist: Nightwish
Album: Oceanborn
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: My favourite Nightwish album. They always had the best sound with Tarja and playing power metal. An album of truly epic proportions. 

New Rating: No Change. 
Earn Money Online (NOT a scam):
GG2U

Adam's Film Corner on Quora
Back to Top
Nightfly View Drop Down
Forum Admin Group
Forum Admin Group
Avatar
Death, D/S/D, T/S/G Teams

Joined: 07 Apr 2010
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Points: 4939
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Aug 2020 at 3:22pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Artist: Ayreon
Album: The Human Equation
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: The Human Equation is the Ayreon album that for a long time didn't completely click for me, although there are a few tracks from it I have always loved and were among the first I heard from Ayreon that today offer an incredibly high amount of nostalgia value. I've been up and down on the album as a whole though (so much that I have reviewed it no less than three times!), at least until a few years ago. I think the main reason for this was that I didn't (and still don't too much) like the voice of one of the cast, Eric Clayton. However over time the music has won through and I now consider this to be among Ayreon's best releases: certainly one of the most out and out progressive of them. I would even go so far as to say it is now one of my all time favourite albums. 

New Rating: No Change. 

That was the first Ayreon album I bought and it's my second favourite after 01011001 taking my top spot. Haven't played it in year's so I must put that right soon.
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 678910 22>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 10.16
Copyright ©2001-2013 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.180 seconds.