Cool Song Names

When I am the drummer in a rocking technical metal band (in two or three years), these are what our songs/albums will be called.

• Copy of a Copy
• Collective Personality
• Before the Beginning
• Divided Redemption
• Mindgame Solitaire
• False Dilemma
• Speeding in Metric
• Unstable Equilibrium
• Between Death and Life
• Into the Future of the Past
• One in Spirit
• Miniature Creator
• Prosthetic Skull
• Yrtalodi
• Perceived Paradise
• Calculated Regularity
• Impenetrable Wall of Fact
• Consciousness, Enhanced
• The Salvation Game

Andromeda

They're like a Dream Theater that didn't break my heart.

David's Best Metal of 2010

Wow, it's hard to believe a whole year is already behind us and--oh, nevermind, it's June. It's a bit late, but I feel like a new feature in which I go back to years past and pick my top ten albums from them. I'm focusing on metal since that's what I'm mainly into. I get to revisit my favorites and you learn what to listen to--everyone is happy! I'll start with 2010 and work backwards until I can't pick ten. (Probably somewhere in the early-mid 90s)

Honorable Mention: God of War: Blood and Metal

This one isn't an album per se, more of an EP put out by Roadrunner Records as a companion to God of War III. It features songs by six of the finest metal artists then signed with them which aren't necessarily directly related to the game, but are nonetheless awesome (no doubt especially when playing the game). The first song, "My Obsession" by Killswitch Engage, is one of their slower-paced songs, with largely clean vocals, a cool "zigzag" riff, and a few quieter instrumental sections; definitely more sedate than I'd have expected from them. Trivium's song, "Shattering the Skies Above", is about as aggressive as I'd expect from them, Matt Heafy's trademark throaty roar/midrange singing combination and some ferocious drumming. Quite a majestic song. Next up is Dream Theater's offering "Raw Dog" ("War God" with the words reversed), the last song the band recorded together. Well, that's debatable, as being an instrumental it doesn't feature LaBrie. It's quite dark and atmospheric, arguably sounding like it would be more at home on Train of Thought than the album's instrumental (and blog namesake) "Stream of Consciousness". Petrucci's heavily distorted guitar riffing also recalls his work on "The Dark Eternal Night" as it drives pretty much the entire song. I was about to say it's a bit less technical than many of their songs, but then he started a solo that would make Joe Satriani jealous. The song's sudden ending, like that of "Pull Me Under", prompted many fans to think iTunes was selling an abridged version. "This is Madness", the first I heard from Taking Dawn, pertains the most to the game and appears to be heavily inspired by 300. I usually listen to it when doing ridiculous things in Supreme Commander. Opeth's song "The Throat of Winter" might be expected to be the most brutal song on the album, but is entirely acoustic, with Mikael strumming and singing a hauntingly beautiful song. Aside from a rather interesting bridge, the aptly named "The End" by Mutiny Within is similar to the style of their first album, documented below. Recommended for fans of metal and gamers.

10. Rhapsody of Fire - The Frozen Tears of Angels

Rhapsody of Fire is a love-them-or-hate-them kind of band: you love them if you love good music, otherwise you hate them. (Kidding, slightly) They hardly tread any new ground in this album, but as I like to say, power metal isn't so much about innovation and musical exploration as it is about pursuit of an ideal--and RoF is close to the mark here. They start off with the usual bombastic intro track, featuring the ever-magnificent Christopher Lee narrating. Then it's into the epic symphonic shredding. "Sea of Fate" goes heavy on the orchestra, demonstrating how made for each other they and the electric guitar are. "Crystal Moonlight" with its rapid strumming is a bit of a throwback to Rhapsody's early days; excellent. As I've already written, "Reign of Terror" is one of the songs that serves as my definition of epic music. Other songs of note include "Danza di Fuoco e Ghiaccio", an all-Italian folk song, neoclassical instrumental "Labyrinth of Madness", "On the Way to Ainor", a semi-epic, and the title track, a full-blown epic/narrative more in the vein of "Symphony of Enchanted Lands". Oh, the fantastical melodrama... Recommended for nerds, metalheads, and classical music lovers.

9. Kalmah - 12 Gauge

Kalmah (Karelian for "To the death") is one of my favorite Finnish melodeath bands, largely for this album. Don't be fooled by the country-esque name, this is brutal, melodic metal of the highest caliber. (That pun was unintentional) Unlike In Flames or Soilwork, though, none of the melody comes from the singing; there's nary a clean vocal to be had on this album (the closest it comes is the rest of the band giving some background shouts). The keyboard picks up the slack, providing an epic, beautiful, sometimes ethereal atmosphere to contrast with the crushing guitar riffs and pummeling double-bass drumming. See the lovely piano on "Sacramentum" or "Godeye", which reaches almost Train of Thought-era Dream Theater-like levels of keyboard assistance. Not for everyone, but highly recommended for fans of heavier metal looking for something interesting. Also, "Hook the Monster" is the most epic song about fishing ever, period.

8. Taking Dawn - Time to Burn

There's nothing deep about Taking Dawn's music--the dudes from Las Vegas play metal for the sake of metal that recalls the glamour and sleaze of '80s metal at its finest. Like Dream Evil, they rock hard and fast, play loud (even write a song about it), and never take themselves too seriously. Songs like "Time to Burn", "Like a Revolution", and "Fight 'Em With Your Rock" are big, booming, take-no-prisoners metal at its finest and fun to listen to. (Watch out on the title track and "Godless" for some questionable lyrics, however) But besides the mindless heaviosity, there are some moments of real beauty on the album--see "Take Me Away", which has a great melody and some great choral vocals from the whole band. "Close Your Eyes" is a surprisingly good ballad mixing heavy and acoustic guitars to great effect. This sound is also heard on their cover of the Fleetwood Mac song "The Chain", which builds to a crescendo the original never did. Finally, I can't recommend bonus track "V" highly enough. Musically, it's possibly the strongest song in the whole selection, with a chorus so cool you pretty much just have to hear it, a very nice instrumental intro, and amazing extended solo. And yes, the lyrics are all based on V for Vendetta, which further enhances its awesomeness. Recommended for all metalheads.

7. Mutiny Within - Mutiny Within

Whether or not they make it big, I'm excited to be able to say in ten years that I've been into Mutiny Within since their start. Or at least, since their first album, as they'd apparently been around for eight years before that. Anyway, this is one of the strongest debut albums I know of; if they improve from it as much as most bands do, I can't wait to hear what they come up with next. Musically, Mutiny Within has been compared to such diverse bands as Dream Theater, Kamelot, and Children of Bodom. Their sound is comparable to taking the best parts of progressive metal, power metal, and melodic death metal and throwing them in a blender. Their average song combines beautiful keyboard with melodic, memorable choruses with DragonForce-level solos (only about a quarter the length). And, as amazing as DragonForce is, Mutiny Within's bursts of speed and precision never seem excessive. Their (now-former) vocalist Chris Clancy can switch from operatic power metal-esque singing to death growls in the blink of an eye; he ranks up there with below Swedish greats Christian Älvestam and Mikael Åkerfeldt in his dual mastery. Pity he's no longer with the band. Anyway, album standouts include "Lethean", which has extra helpings of metallicity and melody, and the amazing high-speed riffng in "Suffocate". It's hard to pick favorites, and my main complaint against the album is that the songs are rather homogenous (i.e. all awesome), but overall, incredible first album. I hope the band continues to make another, what with losing their vocalist and signage to Roadrunner and all. Recommended for any fans of metal.


6. James LaBrie - Static Impulse

For some reason, I wasn't too interested in James LaBrie's solo albums until a few years ago. I guess I never really got around to them, and I have a bit of a bias against solo albums rather than band albums, and the breakup of Dream Theater made me lose interest for a while. Anyway, all this skittishness was completely unwarranted, as Static Impulse is a fantastic album for fans of DT or "interesting" metal in general. I was somewhat surprised to learn that this album is actually nothing like Dream Theater, aside from LaBrie's wonderful voice. Besides the average length of just over four minutes, the songs have a sound I can only describe as "modern metal"; DT moved towards it a but on Systematic Chaos, but LaBrie embraces it here. Also notably, drummer Peter Wildoer supplies fairly prominent extreme vocals, providing a nice counterpart to LaBrie's voice which suits the heavier sound of the album. Absent Dream Theater's '70s prog rock touches, this album is still quite progressive in its tasteful use of keyboards, a fair amount of technicality, and its songwriting in general. Static Impulse may be as catchy and fun to listen to as a pop album, but musically it's infinitely more satisfying. I especially recommend album opener "One More Time", which pretty much shows you exactly what to look forward to, "Just Watch Me", which has good loud/soft dynamics and a cool extended instrumental section, and  "Who You Think I Am", which aside from embodying the best of the album (beautiful, heavy guitars, cool vocal tradeoffs between LaBrie and Wildoer) has a great message on defying expectations. The setlist is quite diverse and all the songs are memorable, even after only a few listens. Highly recommend to everyone.

 5. Van Canto - Tribe of Force

I went back and forth over whether "hero metal a cappella" Van Canto was eligible for inclusion on this list, since their status as a metal band is debatable. But hey, they do have a real drummer, and their "guitar" solos can compete with those of other metal bands, so why not? They have two actual singers and three more vocalists to imitate the guitars and bass with plenty of "rakkatakka" and "dandandandan". For solos, one of them passes his voice through some guitar amps, producing an impressively good facsimile of a real electric guitar. Their unique lineup sounds like a gimmick, but really they're a fascinating "metal" band that, like Apocalyptica, succeeds as much because of the originality of what they do as because of their skill. In their newest album, Van Canto further improves their fake guitar sound, writes some wonderful songs, and like their cello-playing cousins bring in some impressive guest talent. (Victor Smolski of Rage with a real guitar solo on "One to Ten", Chris Boltendahl covering Grave Digger song "Rebellion", and Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica on "Hearted") And, of course, the singing is excellent. All the songs on the album are pretty brilliant, but I especially recommend opener "Lost Forever", their anthemic rendition of "Rebellion", "Magic Taboria" (which has symphonic elements), and the obligatory Metallica cover of "Master of Puppets". My recommendation of two covers isn't a knock to their songwriting skills; just like with Apocalyptica, it's really fun to hear such a version of a classic song differing so widely in style from the original. Recommended for anyone man (or woman) enough to believe that it's still metal without guitars.

4. Avantasia - The Wicked Symphony

Now we're getting to the good stuff. The Wicked Symphony is my least favorite of the albums in Avantasia's Scarecrow trilogy--"least favorite" as in "the one I don't love quite as much", that is. This is simply because unlike with The Scarecrow, not every track on this one is absolutely memorable and amazing (or, in "What Kind of Love"'s case, memorable sappy). Nonetheless, it's impressive for the middle of a trilogy and for any kind of album in general. In general, this album is a bit more subdued and "ballad"-y than the others. The opening title track is a nine-and-a-half-minute epic, and it doesn't disappoint; after an all-orchestral 80 seconds, the actual band bursts in with some amazing symphonic metal. Once again, there is a several-minute-long largely instrumental bridge in the middle, bookended by a stirring and beautiful chorus (I'm a bit biased on this one). Jørn Lande and Russell Allen are both at their best on this song. The Wicked Symphony brings in some guest talent not seen on the other two albums; Tobias Sammet's duets with Klaus Meine on "Dying for an Angel", André Matos on "Blizzard on a Broken Mirror", and Michael Kiske on "Wastelands", which is more standard power metal. Tim "Ripper" Owens bring his high-pitched aggression to "Scales of Justice", on which Tobias takes a back seat. Eight-and-a-half-minute epic ballad "Runaway Train" is by far the standout track on the album, a multisegmented odyssey paralleling the Scarecrow's own journey. Jørn as the Scarecrow's tempter contrasts Bob Catley as a kindly sage in one of the most beautiful musical landscapes I've ever heard. I can't describe in words how much I enjoy this song, so just listen to it. Sadly, after many listens I just haven't found the remaining five songs to be terribly memorable, which is why this is my least favorite of the albums. Recommended for anyone with a soul.

3. Dream Evil - In the Night

I'll keep this one a bit shorter, seeing as I've already written about this album. As I stated before, Dream Evil is both a shining paragon of the genre of power metal and a hilarious parody of it. Musically, they combine catchy melodies with crushingly heavy guitars and great, reasonably long solos, all perfectly mixed by founder and father of the Gothenburg sound Fredrik Nordström. Lyrically, they sing about such enlightening topics as a marauding legion of vampires, the perks of being immortal and ruling the slaughter, the temperature of the sun, and the all-around supremacy of metal. Perhaps not terribly artistic, but it's a bucketload of fun to listen to, particularly on fine metal headphones like HD-555s. It's hard to play favorites with this album, but the booming title track, "See the Light", and their side-splitting ballad (code-named "The Ballad") are good places to start. One song I didn't pay much attention to last time is the final track "The Unchosen One", which has what sounds like a string quartet and tells a "story about greed" that makes me wonder if it's biographical. A nice change of pace like "The Ballad" and a fine album closer. Recommended for metalheads who know the genre doesn't always have to be fine art.

2. Kamelot - Poetry for the Poisoned

Yeah, I've already reviewed this one too. Really that review says pretty much everything I could now. In brief, Poetry for the Poisoned is darker and more brooding than Kamelot's other recent work, packed with densely composed and rewarding songs like "The Great Pandemonium", "Hunter's Season", "My Train of Thoughts", and "If Tomorrow Came". (I was pretty much reciting random songs there because I can with this album) The four-part title suite is an impressive step for Kamelot's progressive side, "One Upon a Time" recalls "Serenade" as an upbeat album closer, and I wish they'd done more songs like bonus instrumental "Thespian Drama". The album has some fantastic guest talent: Björn "Speed" Strid on "The Great Pandemonium", Simone Simons on "House on a Hill", Gus G.'s fingers on "The Hunter's Season", and the amazing Jon Oliva on "The Zodiac". That it's Khan's last album with the band he invested so much in makes it all the more worth checking out. Recommended for fans of good music.

1. Avantasia - Angel of Babylon

Yep, two Avantasia albums in 2010, both in my top five. The final episode of the Scarecrow trilogy, Angel of Babylon isn't quite as memorable as The Scarecrow, but is musically satisfying in its own right and a satisfying conclusion. It's pretty similar to The Wicked Symphony--unsurprising, as both were released on the same day and are essentially two halves of the same album. Like its prequel, it starts off with a nine-and-a-half-minute epic, this time in the form of "Stargazers". They have little in common beyond length, though; "Stargazers" is considerably faster-paced in the beginning, but where an ordinary power metal song would end, it begins a minutes-long solo, not nearly up to DragonForce levels of excess but a rollicking good time nonetheless. Rather than recalling the chorus, the ending launches into new territory with a musical U-turn and some extended guitar shredding. Did I mention the song has five vocalists and uses them all brilliantly? Okay, I'll treat the other songs a bit more briefly or Google will shut me down or something. The title track and "Promised Land" are both among the best power metal I've heard and great duets between Tobias and Jørn (he gets more prominent in each of Avantasia's albums, which I fully approve of). "Death is Just a Feeling" has Jon Oliva at his best and looniest--2010 has been a great year for him. "Symphony of Life" is, to date, the only Avantasia song not to contain Tobias's voice, instead featuring Asian-German vocalist Cloudy Yang and is strangely reminiscent of symphonic/gothic bands like Krypteria and Within Temptation. Finally, "Journey to Arcadia" is a beautiful conclusion to the saga, not necessarily resolving the story (which has been deliberately fuzzy from the start), but leaving me musically and emotionally satisfied. With the Scarecrow trilogy, Avantasia has transcended genre boundaries and made music that appeals to the head, the heart, and certainly the ears.

Sounds of a Playground Fading

Since helping define the "Gothenburg sound" of melodic death metal in the '90s, In Flames has had quite an interesting musical journey. Since the early '00s, they've been moving towards a more accessible, alternative metal style, but I wouldn't say they're selling out--they've produced some classic songs lately and I wasquite excited to hear their new album, Sounds of a Playground Fading, yesterday.

The album is the band's first since the unfortunate departure of founding member, songwriter, and guitarist Jesper Strömblad. (Portnoy, Khan, and Strömblad--2010 was a sad year in metal) Minus his creative power, the band continues unabated in its quest to combine the sound it helped define with introspective lyrics and a cleaner sound. The frantic pace at which the band has been reinventing itself recently slows, but doesn't stop and the album has some interesting moments on par with A Sense of Purpose's "The Chosen Pessimist"--along with In Flames' usual melodeath fury.

The album opens with a lone, quiet guitar intro on the title track before exploding into a metal tour de force that shows just how capable In Flames is of rocking your socks off without their founder. After that, it has no shortage of songs that exemplify, though perhaps don't really advance, In Flames' modern style--a thickly layered sound, twin-guitar harmonies that alternate between being textural and taking center stage with awesome riffs, and Anders Friden, who alternates between screaming and singing and goes just about everywhere in between. "Deliver Us", "Darker Times", and "Where the Dead Ships Dwell" all fall in this camp.  Meanwhile, "The Puzzle" and "Enter Tragedy" stand out as the heavy songs of the album, with frantic tempos, blast beats, and especially brutal guitars. "The Puzzle" and "All for Me" both slow down in the middle for a bit of a break. "Fear Is the Weakness", being especially melodic, falls on the other side of the spectrum of typical In Flames songs.

But this album certainly contains the band's trend of having some "interesting" songs on each album. "Jester's Door" sounds like a condensed version of "The Chosen Pessimist", starting as a spoken word song with minimal instrumentation before a loud, almost industrial-sounding outro. It's more a break from the longer songs. "The Attic" is more interesting and stands more on its own. Friden half-sings, half-whispers lyrics that sound like the plot of a mystery/horror movie through the eyes of the main characters with the rest of the band playing considerably more low-key. Very cool song. "Ropes" features especially a lot of clean singing (reminding you how Swedish the band is), sounding a bit like modern prog metal at times. "A New Dawn" is even more proggy, clocking in at almost six minutes and switching between loud melodeath and soft sections several times. I made a note that the ending is "epic". I'd love to see In Flames explore this angle more in the future. The album closer, "Liberation" is the closest thing to a ballad the band has done yet, but is quite enjoyable unless you don't like the band's commerical direction, in which case you should probably just relisten to Colony instead.

Overall, I'd give this album 4/5, with room to grow. Much of it is familiar territory, which fails to be terribly memorable, good as the execution is. The songs that stand out are the really interesting ones, and I hope In Flames continues this experimentation on later releases. An admirable effort considering the recent loss of the founder.