The discs that didn't make my Top 10 .......

[LarryD]

I thought I'd do something a little weird, and post the discs that didn't make my Top 10, but almost did ......... If people don't post the discs that didn't make their Top 10, they kind of get lost in the shuffle ( unless you keep reading Glenn's Top 50 post ) then you don't have to worry about it ........ I'll be posting my Top 10 this week, but in the meantime, I scoured the discs that didn't make my Top 10 list ........they may not have even made a Top 50 list, but they deserve a shout out ........

These are in no order at all .........

ARCH ECHO / You Won't Believe What Happens Next ---
Yeah, you wouldn't believe that I actually like this all instrumental all over the place disc ...... I swear, if Glenn didn't make me sit and listen to instrumentals, I probably wouldn't on my own. When he does, and I do, it's magic, like this disc is ....... I have my go to instrumental discs, we can add this one to that list. I think these guys are from the USA, and they play a style similar to Liquid Tension Experiment, which I also like. The production is stellar, helping me listen to this one intently when it's on. If you are looking for that next great instrumental disc, look no further.

ODD LOGIC / Last Watch of the Nightingale ---
I love what this band does. They get better with every disc. They play a fresh prog metal that doesn't sound retro, yet still remains melodic enough to grab onto. The singer is great, the chops are great, but what is missing is a good production. I know bands can't afford to get into a studio and have someone lay down a great sound for a great band, but I can't get past this production. It is compressed to all hell, and that wall of compressed sound just turns me off once it hits the main system. It's such a shame because this band is one of the best "unknown" "underground" prog metal bands out there......

VOYAGER / Colours in the Sun ---
I've been a Voyager fan since day one. I have and love all Voyager discs. I like them even better in a live setting and wouldn't miss them for anything. I can't put them on a Top 10 list because it's a mood thing for me, and if I close my eyes and pick a Voyager disc, I would enjoy it no matter what.

NEAL MORSE / The Great Adventure ---
To me this is Part 2 of Similitude, but not as great. But when you listen to this disc on it's own, and try to not think about Similitude, this would be a great disc if we didn't have anything else in the catalog to compare it to. I don't go back to this disc too often - I think we are victims of our own love of progressive music in that I don't want this on in the background, I want to sit and listen to it intently, and how often do we do that anymore with our busy lifestyles ?

QUEENSRYCHE / The Verdict ---
The best Todd disc yet, but not enough to make it to my Top 10. To be honest, I'd rather go on You Tube and watch Todd sing the classics, but this one definitely has a more modern / more aggressive vibe to it and it's good to see them breaking out of the mold even if we don't want them to ......

BEAST IN BLACK / From Hell with Love ---
I'm guessing that if this showed up on my Top 10 list, people would start to wonder what happened to me and what drugs I was taking ....... and they would be right.
I'm not one for large doses of power metal, and I'm also not one for a Bon Jovi vibe mixed into the power metal.....but when Glenn played this for me, and we ended up listening to the whole thing, I proclaimed this disc awesome. This is about as much as you can have with power metal, and I don't like having fun with music, period.
The melodies and the godly singer pulled me in instantly, and I've had to do a lot of explaining to people as to why I like this .......I even bought "Berserker" as a result of this one, and no I'm not crazy.

HORIZONS END / Skeletal Keys ---
Like most here, I was so psyched for this to come out ......I'm going to use Glenn's own words when trying to describe why it's not working for me .........
" The music on this is off the damn charts! Fans of Circus Maximus, Shadow Gallery, and Dream Theater will be over the moon with its instrumental passages. It's that damn good. So why did this not rank higher considering how fucking awesome the music is? The vocals just aren't on that same level. He doesn't do a bad job by any means. It's just that the music is so elite that it overpowers him at times." Yep, I agree wholeheartedly ....... the music blows me away on every level, but there are parts of it when the vocals get lost in the music, get overpowered, and I get underwhelmed....... it shouldn't bother me, but it does.

THE FERRYMEN / A New Evil ---
Ronnie Romero sings on it again ..... I'm in. While I think it's better than the last one, I've got Lords of Black II in my head and this doesn't meet that level of greatness for me........ It's very well done, but I want to reach for my LoB disc when I hear this .......

DIVIDED MULTITUDE / Faceless Aggressor ---
This one should have my name all over it, especially with the new singer who rules mightily........ when I play it, I think about how great it is, and how great he is, and then I start to think that this is " too power metally " for me ....... Halfway thru the disc I want to shut it off because I've had enough if that makes sense.

SWEET OBLIVION / feat Geoff Tate ---
Every time I see the artwork for this disc, I see " feat Geoff Tate " ........ that bugs the shit out of me. Knowing how he is, I should expect that ..... but knowing how he is, makes me want to hate this, but I don't. It's extremely well done and the best Tate disc to date. See, when you have someone else writing great music, and you have the great voice, it works. I know this has a QR vibe, and that's why I like it, plus the fact that Tate is singing his ass off for change, and it all works.


Biggest disappointments for me ----

Within Temptation / Resist -
I resist playing this at every chance I get. It's not bad, but it's getting too deep into "pop" territory for me, and although I know they always catered to that pop crowd, they always had a grander sound and scale to their music, but they keep adding these "guest" singers and playing different styles of music that isn't WT, and I wonder if this all happened when Robert left the band and Sharon started having her way with the direction of the music .......

Edenbridge / Dyanamind -
I've got every EB disc, and I can tell the difference between some of them ..... and I'm so tolerant of the fact that each disc sounds the same, but with a different intensity and urgency to it ..... this disc took the back road and went in the opposite direction, and held off on the intensity. The build up to this disc was so great for me, I was expecting so much from it, and it needed to be better than the last 2-3 discs which were great. Nope. They couldn't match that greatness and this sounds like they are reaching for something, anything. I went back to The Grand Design and The Great Momentum, and this disc has neither of those words in the music .......

[Nos]

NEAL MORSE / The Great Adventure ---
To me this is Part 2 of Similitude, but not as great.

Very much so. I also don't think Neal or his band can carry off the 'angry' tone the character is supposed to have, not to mention my complete apathy towards double albums at this point. At least it was better than Neal's other one of those this year...

Within Temptation / Resist -
I resist playing this at every chance I get. It's not bad, but it's getting too deep into "pop" territory for me

That's actually what I like about it. It's unabashedly pop, but it does it better than many of the other bands that try to fill that niche.

[Hearing Aid Man]

DIVIDED MULTITUDE / Faceless Aggressor ---
I start to think that this is " too power metally " for me ....... Halfway thru the disc I want to shut it off because I've had enough if that makes sense.

It's funny you say this because I feel that way to a very slight degree. However, I think the CD finishes stronger than it starts with tracks 7-9 being the crème of the crop.

The CD's below would be the those I enjoyed but didn't make my top 10.

M.I.God - Specters on Parade
Ray Alder - What the Water Wants
A.C.T - Rebirth
Aeon Zen - INVERITAS
Candlemass - The Door to Doom
Flotsam and Jetsam - The End of Chaos
Horizon's End - Skeleton Keys
Issun - Dark Green Glow
Ivory Tower - Stronger
Possessed - Revelations of Oblivion
Starbreaker - Dysphoria
Sweet Oblivion

[LarryD]

It's funny you say this because I feel that way to a very slight degree. However, I think the CD finishes stronger than it starts with tracks 7-9 being the crème of the crop.

***And that was the problem I had with it ..... I did not have the patience to get that far with it.


The CD's below would be the those I enjoyed but didn't make my top 10.

M.I.God - Specters on Parade
****I am surprised that this one didn't make your list.

Ray Alder - What the Water Wants
***Really surprised this one didn't make it either.......

A.C.T - Rebirth
****Claus directed me to a video of a song off this disc and that was all I needed to disregard it.

Horizon's End - Skeleton Keys
****I think a lot of people feel the same way about this one ..... right near the edge, but not quite enough to put it over.......

Issun - Dark Green Glow
****I didn't care for what I heard of this band .........

Ivory Tower - Stronger
****I forgot to mention this one in my list ..... it has the same feeling as the Divided Multitude for me. Great singer, both bands, but their style of power metal just overwhelms me after a few songs...... funny, when they were prog metal bands, I didn't mind it at all .........

Starbreaker - Dysphoria
****I'm trying to figure out why this is on or off some lists, and I don't remember hearing it ..... or I did and I just forgot ?

Sweet Oblivion
****Agree ..... good disc for what it is, but not enough for a Top 10 disc. I hate the fact that Tate is singing on this disc, and I love the fact that it's his best solo disc ever.....if that makes sense.

[Rycher]

Biggest disappointments for me ----

Within Temptation / Resist -
I resist playing this at every chance I get. It's not bad, but it's getting too deep into "pop" territory for me, and although I know they always catered to that pop crowd, they always had a grander sound and scale to their music, but they keep adding these "guest" singers and playing different styles of music that isn't WT, and I wonder if this all happened when Robert left the band and Sharon started having her way with the direction of the music .......

Robert is still a band member and co-wrote almost every single song on the album. He just doesn't tour with them anymore due to him and Sharon having a family. So it has nothing to do with him leaving the band - it's just what they've evolved into. I like a handful of songs from the album, but it's definitely not 'my' Within Temptation anymore.

SWEET OBLIVION / feat Geoff Tate ---
Every time I see the artwork for this disc, I see " feat Geoff Tate " ........ that bugs the shit out of me. Knowing how he is, I should expect that ..... but knowing how he is, makes me want to hate this, but I don't. It's extremely well done and the best Tate disc to date. See, when you have someone else writing great music, and you have the great voice, it works. I know this has a QR vibe, and that's why I like it, plus the fact that Tate is singing his ass off for change, and it all works.

I really like this record and Tate sounds awesome, but I'm amazed at how the album was put together. Have you read Simone's interview where he threw Tate under the bus regarding this record? Kudos to Simone for being able to salvage the recording and make it sound as good as it does.

[LarryD]

Within Temptation / Resist -
I resist playing this at every chance I get. It's not bad, but it's getting too deep into "pop" territory for me, and although I know they always catered to that pop crowd, they always had a grander sound and scale to their music, but they keep adding these "guest" singers and playing different styles of music that isn't WT, and I wonder if this all happened when Robert left the band and Sharon started having her way with the direction of the music .......
[/quote]

Robert is still a band member and co-wrote almost every single song on the album. He just doesn't tour with them anymore due to him and Sharon having a family. So it has nothing to do with him leaving the band - it's just what they've evolved into. I like a handful of songs from the album, but it's definitely not 'my' Within Temptation anymore.

***That makes it worse that they are evolving into this rather than being able to pinpoint the reason ....... such a shame. WT were always a blind buy, now I wait to read the reviews on each release.......



SWEET OBLIVION / feat Geoff Tate ---
Every time I see the artwork for this disc, I see " feat Geoff Tate " ........ that bugs the shit out of me. Knowing how he is, I should expect that ..... but knowing how he is, makes me want to hate this, but I don't. It's extremely well done and the best Tate disc to date. See, when you have someone else writing great music, and you have the great voice, it works. I know this has a QR vibe, and that's why I like it, plus the fact that Tate is singing his ass off for change, and it all works.

I really like this record and Tate sounds awesome, but I'm amazed at how the album was put together. Have you read Simone's interview where he threw Tate under the bus regarding this record? Kudos to Simone for being able to salvage the recording and make it sound as good as it does.

****Yes, thats why I hate to love this disc ...... but kudos to Simone for doing it and putting up with it .......the disc came out great, but it goes to show that Tate is still Tate, no matter what the circumstance.......

[Hearing Aid Man]

Starbreaker - Dysphoria
****I'm trying to figure out why this is on or off some lists, and I don't remember hearing it ..... or I did and I just forgot ?

Probably because it came out in January. At least I hope it did. I don't want to get yelled at if it came out Dec 31st.

[Man Of Much Metal]

Each to their own Larry, each to their own...but I can't agree about Voyager or Odd Logic . Admittedly, I probably haven't listened to as much music as you during 2019 (in fact, for my standards, I didn't listen to as much as I'd normally do - nowhere near!). But, for my tastes, these were both stone wall additions to my top 10 this year.

However, I agree with almost all of the rest of your picks - I have really gone off the likes of Within Temptation and Edenbridge, so I haven't even listened to them. Even the new Tarja record did little for me and I have shelved it for the time being.

[Guillaume]

VOYAGER / Colours in the Sun ---
I've been a Voyager fan since day one. I have and love all Voyager discs. I like them even better in a live setting and wouldn't miss them for anything. I can't put them on a Top 10 list because it's a mood thing for me, and if I close my eyes and pick a Voyager disc, I would enjoy it no matter what.

I'm a casual fan. I liked them quite a bit live and can enjoy the albums at times, but it's not a band I'll play often. But every time I play them, it's good if this makes sense...

QUEENSRYCHE / The Verdict ---
The best Todd disc yet, but not enough to make it to my Top 10. To be honest, I'd rather go on You Tube and watch Todd sing the classics, but this one definitely has a more modern / more aggressive vibe to it and it's good to see them breaking out of the mold even if we don't want them to ......

I like this one quite a bit, but enjoyed the previous one a bit more.

BEAST IN BLACK / From Hell with Love ---
I'm guessing that if this showed up on my Top 10 list, people would start to wonder what happened to me and what drugs I was taking ....... and they would be right.
I'm not one for large doses of power metal, and I'm also not one for a Bon Jovi vibe mixed into the power metal.....but when Glenn played this for me, and we ended up listening to the whole thing, I proclaimed this disc awesome. This is about as much as you can have with power metal, and I don't like having fun with music, period.
The melodies and the godly singer pulled me in instantly, and I've had to do a lot of explaining to people as to why I like this .......I even bought "Berserker" as a result of this one, and no I'm not crazy.

Really good and fun disc, but the vox is a bit too over the top at times. As talented as this dude is, he should scream a bit less often... Still taking Battle Beast over them because of Noora...

THE FERRYMEN / A New Evil ---
Ronnie Romero sings on it again ..... I'm in. While I think it's better than the last one, I've got Lords of Black II in my head and this doesn't meet that level of greatness for me........ It's very well done, but I want to reach for my LoB disc when I hear this .......

I love both albums.

DIVIDED MULTITUDE / Faceless Aggressor ---
This one should have my name all over it, especially with the new singer who rules mightily........ when I play it, I think about how great it is, and how great he is, and then I start to think that this is " too power metally " for me ....... Halfway thru the disc I want to shut it off because I've had enough if that makes sense.

I don't feel the "too power metally" for this one. More for that Ivory Tower disc. And this new DM is much superior than the new IT IMO.

SWEET OBLIVION / feat Geoff Tate ---
Every time I see the artwork for this disc, I see " feat Geoff Tate " ........ that bugs the shit out of me. Knowing how he is, I should expect that ..... but knowing how he is, makes me want to hate this, but I don't. It's extremely well done and the best Tate disc to date. See, when you have someone else writing great music, and you have the great voice, it works. I know this has a QR vibe, and that's why I like it, plus the fact that Tate is singing his ass off for change, and it all works.

Best stuff Tate released in a very long while. Solid melodic metal album with a very good sounding Tate. And live with Avantasia, he sounded excellent too.

[Stefan]

A.C.T - Rebirth
****Claus directed me to a video of a song off this disc and that was all I needed to disregard it.

And that was a big mistake! Fantastic record!

[introclaus]

Biggest disappointments for me ----

Within Temptation / Resist -
I resist playing this at every chance I get. It's not bad, but it's getting too deep into "pop" territory for me, and although I know they always catered to that pop crowd, they always had a grander sound and scale to their music, but they keep adding these "guest" singers and playing different styles of music that isn't WT, and I wonder if this all happened when Robert left the band and Sharon started having her way with the direction of the music .......

Oh Larry ...

[introclaus]

A.C.T - Rebirth
****Claus directed me to a video of a song off this disc and that was all I needed to disregard it.

And that was a big mistake! Fantastic record!

Yes, absolutely fantastic. I wish it had been a full album though, as the "concept" of releasing singles and EPs always have and always will annoy me.