My rankless 2019 recap

[Random Axe]

I’m absolutely terrible at ranking anything so I’ll just post some thoughts with each release. There should be a decent amount of stuff on here that will be new to most of you and maybe you’ll discover something good…or not

SL Theory/Cipher – This is some pretty great Greek hard rock/metal in the vein of the last few SOTO albums. Nothing super flashy or proggy, just some nice melodies.

M.I. God/Specters on Parade – Great metal album marred by terrible narration and interludes. The songs are too good to take style points away, though. This was my no.1 album for a long while, and maybe still is. Not sure.

JD Miller/Afterglow – Again, this is another band that straddles the hard rock/AOR/Metal line pretty well. I’m not sure if I like this as much as their previous but I haven’t spent as much time with it. Good mix of keys and guitar. The vocals are just a bit above average but fit the music well.

Odd Logic/Last Watch – I find this to be pretty fantastic and definitely my favorite from them. The previous albums had been a bit uneven in production and songwriting. They seem to have hit a nice groove here with the more metal sound. I wish it was a bit longer, but this is a 2019 highlight for me.

Moon Halo/Chroma – This is a great collection of lush prog rock rock with warm vocals. If anyone checked out Riversea this is similar but maybe a little more uptempo in spots. To me this is what I call “comfort prog”. It’s a bowl of chili with nachos and a blanket on a cold Sunday watching football.

Divided Multitude/Faceless – Great stuff. I know I’ve read a few that weren’t impressed, but this blew me away form first spin. I really haven’t liked anything from them prior but the new singer just kills this material. And the staccato riffage here is superb. I’m familiar with St Daemon, but it’s hard to believe this is the same singer as he sounds so much better here. Love!

Signum Regis/Seal of New World – I’ve always been lukewarm to them on previous albums, but this one grabbed my attention. It’s nothing super different or unique, just some feel-good power metal with Christian leanings. Very similar to Theocracy. The new singer is an improvement for sure.

Fiction Syxx/The Alternate Me – Continuing a theme for 2019 is another hard rock/metal hybrid. This is tasty and classy melodic metal. JK Northrup really shines on this.

Ray Alder/Water – Yeah, this is great. I’m maybe the largest Ray fanboy, so my expectations for this were maybe a little too high initially. After the last Fates album I knew he was in a serious vocal groove. I still think he writes better with Jim, but this is a terrific snapshot into his vocal writing processes. My favorite of the year but not as wide of a margin as I anticipated.

Edge of Forever/Native Soul – Okay, more rock/metal stuff but this is the best of the bunch. Alessandro Del Vechio is the vocalist here and totally shines doing a Journey meets David Readman meets Cloudscape. Great, great album that is miles above what Frontiers normally releases.

Warmrain/Back Above the Clouds – More mellow prog rock, moody and atmospheric stuff. A great companion CD to Moon Halo. This is a double CD so lots of stuff to absorb.

Noveria – There is a superb album somewhere in this mix but the brickwalling just kills it. If they had gone with a production kinda like the last Tomorrow’s Eve disc this would be top five material for most.

[LarryD]

M.I. God/Specters on Parade – Great metal album marred by terrible narration and interludes. The songs are too good to take style points away, though. This was my no.1 album for a long while, and maybe still is. Not sure.

***I'm one of the few who don't mind the narration and interludes ....... in fact, I love those on discs .......but I agree with you, the songs are way too good to take away anything from it .... and the singer is awesome. If it doesn't make your #1, at least it's on your top list.

JD Miller/Afterglow – Again, this is another band that straddles the hard rock/AOR/Metal line pretty well. I’m not sure if I like this as much as their previous but I haven’t spent as much time with it. Good mix of keys and guitar. The vocals are just a bit above average but fit the music well.

***I'm almost positive that Guillaume pointed me in the direction of JD Miller .....problem is, I stay clear of anything that reads hard rock or AoR ...... I just don't care for it anymore, and nothing in that style grabs me.

Odd Logic/Last Watch – I find this to be pretty fantastic and definitely my favorite from them. The previous albums had been a bit uneven in production and songwriting. They seem to have hit a nice groove here with the more metal sound. I wish it was a bit longer, but this is a 2019 highlight for me.

***This is one of those bands and discs that seem to divide a lot of people for a variety of reasons .....I'm the opposite here, I think this is a very good disc, but I like Effigy and Penny better.....but the main reason here is the production. It's awful from an audio stand point. I'm dubbing it - Computer Compression Syndrome .....it sounds terrible on the main system, and barely acceptable in the car, where it normally sounds ok even with a bad production. The music and vocals are excellent, I can't get past the sound .......

Moon Halo/Chroma – This is a great collection of lush prog rock rock with warm vocals. If anyone checked out Riversea this is similar but maybe a little more uptempo in spots. To me this is what I call “comfort prog”. It’s a bowl of chili with nachos and a blanket on a cold Sunday watching football.

***I'm always on the hunt for melodic Prog Rock / Neo-Prog, so anyone who posts on the genre, I go to ...... so I checked out some samples on You Tube, and I didn't care for it - a little too much on the poppy side for me ..... but, when you read down, something did catch my ear ........

Divided Multitude/Faceless – Great stuff. I know I’ve read a few that weren’t impressed, but this blew me away form first spin. I really haven’t liked anything from them prior but the new singer just kills this material. And the staccato riffage here is superb. I’m familiar with St Daemon, but it’s hard to believe this is the same singer as he sounds so much better here. Love!

***I thought that this disc and the Ivory Tower disc were superbly done .....both have great singers, and both are now firmly planted in the power metal categories......and that's the problem. They both got "too" power metally for me, and I can't sit thru a complete sitting of either......I wonder if these were a bit more prog metal tinged if I would like them better, but I want to like both of them, and while I do, I can't keep going back to them and play them all the way thru .....and that's such a shame to me as both singers rule ........

Ray Alder/Water – Yeah, this is great. I’m maybe the largest Ray fanboy, so my expectations for this were maybe a little too high initially. After the last Fates album I knew he was in a serious vocal groove. I still think he writes better with Jim, but this is a terrific snapshot into his vocal writing processes. My favorite of the year but not as wide of a margin as I anticipated.

***I remember how excited you were when this was announced and the samples started coming out ..... then I went bonkers over it, and you got luke warm on it .....I thought that the emotion of this thing completely took me over, and was sung perfectly by Ray. I totally agree on your vocal groove comment, and he is clearly in his comfort zone here. The fact that it's not Fates Warning vibed may be the reason it works so well for me and completely took me by surprise. I love the atmosphere and emotion of this disc, and that's why I keep going back to it ..... definitely on my top 10 list.

Edge of Forever/Native Soul – Okay, more rock/metal stuff but this is the best of the bunch. Alessandro Del Vechio is the vocalist here and totally shines doing a Journey meets David Readman meets Cloudscape. Great, great album that is miles above what Frontiers normally releases.

***I didn't check this out yet -- but your mention of those singers make me want to .......

Warmrain/Back Above the Clouds – More mellow prog rock, moody and atmospheric stuff. A great companion CD to Moon Halo. This is a double CD so lots of stuff to absorb.

***Now this is what I was talking about in the Moon Halo above ..... I checked this out and absolutely loved what I heard. That melancholy atmosphere and beauty reminded me so much of Riverside and Pink Floyd I went to Amazon immediately and found it there. I haven't streamed it all but I will soon.... the reviews I read talked about the length of it and how it was too much time of melancholy, but that's ok ..... it looks like a concept disc, in 2 parts, and I'm all about that ....... really looking forward to digging into this one .......

Noveria – There is a superb album somewhere in this mix but the brickwalling just kills it. If they had gone with a production kinda like the last Tomorrow’s Eve disc this would be top five material for most.

***Many people have said the same thing - but I don't hear that bad of a production ..... sure it's compressed to shit, but what prog metal disc isn't these days ? And it's better than lots ......that said, this band is on fire. The singer and the guitarist just slay me all kinds of ways, and it's the urgency of this music that draws me in.....
While I don't see Vanden Plas on your list, I placed Noveria above the VP simply because this band sounds like they want to kick ass .... while the VP is just there because it always is .... there is no fire in the music, even though I love it and I'm a fanboy...... Noveria is the youth of this style, and they sound it ...... while Vanden Plas says " this is why you listen to prog metal " Noveria says " this is how prog metal can kick your ass and still love the beating " ......

Great list bro ......

[Guillaume]

I’m absolutely terrible at ranking anything so I’ll just post some thoughts with each release. There should be a decent amount of stuff on here that will be new to most of you and maybe you’ll discover something good…or not

SL Theory/Cipher – This is some pretty great Greek hard rock/metal in the vein of the last few SOTO albums. Nothing super flashy or proggy, just some nice melodies.

Never heard, will check.

M.I. God/Specters on Parade – Great metal album marred by terrible narration and interludes. The songs are too good to take style points away, though. This was my no.1 album for a long while, and maybe still is. Not sure.

Really enjoying this one since I discarded all the fucking boring interludes...

JD Miller/Afterglow – Again, this is another band that straddles the hard rock/AOR/Metal line pretty well. I’m not sure if I like this as much as their previous but I haven’t spent as much time with it. Good mix of keys and guitar. The vocals are just a bit above average but fit the music well.

Guitars are a bit less upfront than the debut but this is a killer album IMO and the vocals are perfectly adequate. The guy is good and fits the music really well indeed. Lots of great melodies all over.

Divided Multitude/Faceless – Great stuff. I know I’ve read a few that weren’t impressed, but this blew me away form first spin. I really haven’t liked anything from them prior but the new singer just kills this material. And the staccato riffage here is superb. I’m familiar with St Daemon, but it’s hard to believe this is the same singer as he sounds so much better here. Love!

Really like this one. New singer is indeed great but I enjoyed the Graham Bonnet-like previous dude too. Overall, their best album.

Signum Regis/Seal of New World – I’ve always been lukewarm to them on previous albums, but this one grabbed my attention. It’s nothing super different or unique, just some feel-good power metal with Christian leanings. Very similar to Theocracy. The new singer is an improvement for sure.

A bit too double-bass speedy overall for me to really enjoy. I like some songs though.

Fiction Syxx/The Alternate Me – Continuing a theme for 2019 is another hard rock/metal hybrid. This is tasty and classy melodic metal. JK Northrup really shines on this.

Another one I don't know.

Ray Alder/Water – Yeah, this is great. I’m maybe the largest Ray fanboy, so my expectations for this were maybe a little too high initially. After the last Fates album I knew he was in a serious vocal groove. I still think he writes better with Jim, but this is a terrific snapshot into his vocal writing processes. My favorite of the year but not as wide of a margin as I anticipated.

I like it, but not love it. Was never the greatest Alder fan to start with though.

Edge of Forever/Native Soul – Okay, more rock/metal stuff but this is the best of the bunch. Alessandro Del Vechio is the vocalist here and totally shines doing a Journey meets David Readman meets Cloudscape. Great, great album that is miles above what Frontiers normally releases.

Really solid stuff indeed with good vocals. My fave from them remains 2005's Let The Demon Rock And Roll though, with another singer. More classic rock sounding too.

Noveria – There is a superb album somewhere in this mix but the brickwalling just kills it. If they had gone with a production kinda like the last Tomorrow’s Eve disc this would be top five material for most.

I like it quite a bit, great vocals, but the speed kills it a bit for me.

[introclaus]

SL Theory/Cipher – This is some pretty great Greek hard rock/metal in the vein of the last few SOTO albums. Nothing super flashy or proggy, just some nice melodies.

JD Miller/Afterglow – Again, this is another band that straddles the hard rock/AOR/Metal line pretty well. I’m not sure if I like this as much as their previous but I haven’t spent as much time with it. Good mix of keys and guitar. The vocals are just a bit above average but fit the music well.

Moon Halo/Chroma – This is a great collection of lush prog rock rock with warm vocals. If anyone checked out Riversea this is similar but maybe a little more uptempo in spots. To me this is what I call “comfort prog”. It’s a bowl of chili with nachos and a blanket on a cold Sunday watching football.

Fiction Syxx/The Alternate Me – Continuing a theme for 2019 is another hard rock/metal hybrid. This is tasty and classy melodic metal. JK Northrup really shines on this.

Warmrain/Back Above the Clouds – More mellow prog rock, moody and atmospheric stuff. A great companion CD to Moon Halo. This is a double CD so lots of stuff to absorb.

I didn't check out any of these ... I'll try to get around to do so next week.

Odd Logic/Last Watch – I find this to be pretty fantastic and definitely my favorite from them. The previous albums had been a bit uneven in production and songwriting. They seem to have hit a nice groove here with the more metal sound. I wish it was a bit longer, but this is a 2019 highlight for me.

Signum Regis/Seal of New World – I’ve always been lukewarm to them on previous albums, but this one grabbed my attention. It’s nothing super different or unique, just some feel-good power metal with Christian leanings. Very similar to Theocracy. The new singer is an improvement for sure.

Edge of Forever/Native Soul – Okay, more rock/metal stuff but this is the best of the bunch. Alessandro Del Vechio is the vocalist here and totally shines doing a Journey meets David Readman meets Cloudscape. Great, great album that is miles above what Frontiers normally releases.

None of these worked for me. Odd Logic left me cold, Signum Regis was bland and Edge of Forever was fine musically but something about Del Vechio's voice rubs me the wrong way.

M.I. God/Specters on Parade – Great metal album marred by terrible narration and interludes. The songs are too good to take style points away, though. This was my no.1 album for a long while, and maybe still is. Not sure.

Divided Multitude/Faceless – Great stuff. I know I’ve read a few that weren’t impressed, but this blew me away form first spin. I really haven’t liked anything from them prior but the new singer just kills this material. And the staccato riffage here is superb. I’m familiar with St Daemon, but it’s hard to believe this is the same singer as he sounds so much better here. Love!

Ray Alder/Water – Yeah, this is great. I’m maybe the largest Ray fanboy, so my expectations for this were maybe a little too high initially. After the last Fates album I knew he was in a serious vocal groove. I still think he writes better with Jim, but this is a terrific snapshot into his vocal writing processes. My favorite of the year but not as wide of a margin as I anticipated.

Noveria – There is a superb album somewhere in this mix but the brickwalling just kills it. If they had gone with a production kinda like the last Tomorrow’s Eve disc this would be top five material for most.

I enjoyed all of these - although only one of them broke into my top 20 this year, and the other 3 right outside top 50 haha ...

[Random Axe]

I forgot about another one to include as I didn't remember it was released this year

Not Otherwise Specified - Deadweight

This is some great indie heavy prog from Georgia. It's like mixing IQ and Riverside and maybe Spock's Beard and throwing in some modern guitar sensibilities. This is a really melodic and satisfying album. Highly recommended.

[Locust0311]

I forgot about another one to include as I didn't remember it was released this year

Not Otherwise Specified - Deadweight

This is some great indie heavy prog from Georgia. It's like mixing IQ and Riverside and maybe Spock's Beard and throwing in some modern guitar sensibilities. This is a really melodic and satisfying album. Highly recommended.

This is a very good album that I think the Neoprog lovers around here would really dig, their previous one was fantastic too. Being local I've gotten to see them live a couple times. Great band.

[Random Axe]

Adding another one to the list

Age of Artemis - Monomyth

This is pretty straightforward Brazillian power metal in the same vein as Hollow Haze and sorta remind me of Daydream XI. They have some tasty orchestrations and piano thrown in for flavor and the singer is far above average.

[Stevie WOnder]

Thanks for the tunes bro. I’m absolutely loving the Warmrain.

I also gave a shot to the Fiction Syxx, I like it.

Totally agree on the Alder which is probably my #1 this year. Also agree on the Darkwater and a couple others. Wasn’t a great year for me but there were a few gems.

If you like heavy melodic rock/AOR, you gotta try The Defiants - Zokusha. That thing is so addictive with great singing and top notch melodies. Probably my #2 of the year.

Thanks again bro!!

Stevie

[Hearing Aid Man]

Divided Multitude/Faceless – Great stuff. I know I’ve read a few that weren’t impressed, but this blew me away form first spin. I really haven’t liked anything from them prior but the new singer just kills this material. And the staccato riffage here is superb. I’m familiar with St Daemon, but it’s hard to believe this is the same singer as he sounds so much better here. Love!

Enjoying this one as well. Nothing from their previous material really stuck with me either. Actually made an adjustment to my top 10 moving this up 3 spots to #6.