2020 - The albums that should have made it (aka "The Cheats")

[introclaus]

Before I get to posting my full list of favorite 2020 albums, I'll take a moment to post what I would like that call "the cheats". These are the albums that either are EP’s (and not considered a real album, thus not making my annual list of favorite releases), are re-recordings of older material, or somehow else doesn’t really deserve a spot on the list, so instead of trying to fit them in to my regular list, I created this category. Some of them would actually have ranked pretty high had they met the “normal album” standards – here they are listed alphabetically …

• Altesia – Paragon Circus
This album for all intent-and-purposes should have been a 2020 album, but the band made the mistake (!) of releasing it in the week between Christmas and New Year 2019, which made it miss out on the 2019 lists and disqualifies it from the 2020 list (in my opinion). Musically this is progressive metal – think Opeth (without the death metal backbone), think Leprous (but less poppy), think Dream Theater (especially when they get prog-jazzy), think Haken (but with a better singer, hah!) … There’s a lot of calm moments, very atmospheric sounding, some nice technical performances, and great song writing. Had this been a proper 2020 release, it would have done really well on my list.
Full album: https://youtu.be/NJy9FUcgKdI

• Deathless Legacy – Saturnalia
Are you ready for a 25-minute epic metal song? If so, check out Deathless Legacy's new album "Saturnalia", which consist of only that one tune! Musically this is somewhere in the middle of Dream Theater & Symphony X's classic epic tunes of the past and King Diamond's best moments, but all topped by a female vocalist (who, fair enough, is going to be the deal breaker for some) that has more balls and attitude than Floor, Simone, Tarja and all those chicks put together. This is a huge conceptual piece about ancient Rome, and filled to the brim with satanic rituals, conspiracies and murder ... and boobs (well, at least in the video)  I can't recommend this enough, but I also understand how it will not appeal to everyone. If the band had added another couple of standard-length songs (just to bring this up to 35-40 minutes length), the album would have placed quite high on my year-end list for sure, but with only 25-minutes’ worth of music I’m left wanting more.
Official 26-minute video: https://youtu.be/PXTqHkD2xYE

• Goblin Cock – Dragonfucker: A Cock Opera
I won’t even pretend to come up with a fake reason as for how I stumbled across this album; let’s be real, I saw it pop up under new releases in iTunes and knew that any album titled “Dragonfucker: A Cock Opera” just had to belong in my collection. You almost expect it to start off with the intro jingle from PornHub! It’s ridiculously over-the-top infantile lyrics, a musical backdrop nested somewhere in stoner rock / psychedelic heavy metal land (think Kyuss meets Masters of Reality) but occasionally goes into this weird progressive territory that reminds me a lot of Devin Townsend. Is it good? Yes, it’s actually really good, and way better than I originally had expected it to be – while it comes across very tongue-in-cheek and gimmicky, the quality of the end result is at a level you wouldn’t have expected for a band with such a silly name.
Full album: https://youtu.be/l0oX2eOOuU0

• Ihsahn – Telemark + Pharos
Since Ihsahn couldn’t figure out how to do it himself, I’ll do it for him: combine two EP’s into what essentially should have been one truly diverse album. We’re here treated to 3 songs of “black metal” stylings (mostly in the fuzzy production to be honest) and another 3 of “progressive” stylings, which together with 4 covers gives us a full 10 song album. As a storyline-styled statement of where Ihsahn began his musical solo-journey to where he is now, I think the “Telemark/Pharos” concept works fine, but unfortunately, I won’t count more than one or two of the songs on each as highlights. Between the two EP’s we’re also treated to 4 cover tunes, some amazing, and some probably quite irrelevant (as in not too different from the original, or if different then not in a good way) by Lenny Krawitz, Portishead, Iron Maiden and A-Ha. I’m a bit on the fence about these releases, as while I do appreciate the idea behind, the end result is a bit “meh” …
Official video for cover tune “Manhattan Skyline”: https://youtu.be/l0oX2eOOuU0

• Kamijo – Temple + Symbol of the Dragon + Persona Grata
Former Versailles Philharmonic Orchestra-vocalist Kamijo decided to spend 2019/2020 on creating a three-part symphonic metal opus, which was released in the span of 9 months. Each of them an EP with 3 new songs and 3 instrumental versions of the same songs. Overall an incredible streak of great J-Metal in the best Versailles tradition, although I would have liked to see these EP’s put together as one full length album.
Full “Symbol of the Dragon” EP: https://youtu.be/ZN_vhqPiMiM

• Lord of the Lost – Swan Songs III
Germany’s goth rockers in Lord of the Lost have now created the third part in the “Swan Songs” series, which until now have consisted of acoustic re-imaginings of their “hits”. Well, this time around there’s a full CD of brand-new songs, written specifically with the acoustic mind set, and a full CD of acoustic versions of songs from their last couple of albums. This time around the band, while still “stripping back” their songs into this acoustic setting, has actually also included a full string orchestra, which brings more “oomph” to the music. If you’re already a fan of Lord of the Lost this is a no-brainer – if you’re new to the band, then perhaps this isn’t the best place to start.
Official video for “One Ton Heart”: https://youtu.be/WqIcQR578gg

• My Dying Bride – Macabre Cabaret
When one full length album is not enough in a year, well then you just have to release another EP, right? Sure, and that’s what British doomsters My Dying Bride decided to do here in 2002. Three brand-new songs, that are all just as amazing as anything on their “The Ghost of Orion” album, plus an orchestral version of “Your Broken Shore” (from aforementioned album). In a year where a lot of things didn’t go as planned, My Dying Bride did everything right.
Official video for “Macabre Cabaret”: https://youtu.be/faH_xT4l2c0

• Nova Charisma – Exposition I, II, III
I’ve fallen completely in love with the voice of Donovan Melero from the progressive post-hardcore band Hail the Sun; Donovan has one of the most expressive voices I’ve ever heard, and I could sit here all day just listening to him sing the phone book. His voice just hits me right there – yes, it’s “soft” and “emo” in places, but then it goes into this aggressive tone, and he just let it rip! Impressive. Donovan also used to sing for the band Sianvar, where he was joined by the two amazing guitarists Will Swan (Dance Gavin Dance, Royal Coda) and Sergio Medina (Stolas, Royal Coda). In 2019 Donovan reunited with Sergio in the band Nova Charisma, and throughout the winter of 2019/2020 they released three EP’s titled “Exposition I”, “Exposition II”, and you’ve guessed it, “Exposition III”. Together they form one incredible album and that’s why I have included this “cheat” here. Musically this is more pop than anything they’ve done in the past, yet obviously have traces of all their other projects. If I have to describe it, I’d say it sounds like a mixture of the most poppy elements from The Mars Volta (Sergio’s guitar riffs), Circa Survive (Donovan’s vocal style) and Coheed & Cambria.
Official video for “The Greater Cause”: https://youtu.be/cnsfHJjFmcA

• Persefone – Truth Inside the Shades
When you completely re-record an album from earlier in your career, you either end up with pure gold or you ruin the material, so it’s a risky thing going ahead and doing so. Persefone thought it was important to them to re-record their debut album “Truth Inside the Shades” from 2004, so who am I to argue? This is the album I actually signed the band upon for what was to become a ~15-year management/band relationship, and as such it’s an album that’s very close to my heart. The music is as great and wonderful as always, the performances are outstanding, and the production really lifts up the material. Do I prefer this to the original? Meh … the jury is still out on that.
Full album: https://youtu.be/xtSjTDnases

• Quantum – The Next Breath of Air…
Thanks to metal-reviewer, Man of Much Metal, and his awesome reviews, I decided to check out the new Swedish band Quantum. The band members all look like they are 17-19 years old, but man, they can play. Musically I would categorize this as Rush, Yes and Dream Theater all mixed together with a certain Swedish flair/touch. This is top notch - give them another few years to grow (and perhaps work a bit more on the vocals, as that's the only "let down" I could find), and they'll be absolute killer. Unfortunately, this is only a 4-song (23 minute) EP, but I’m sure more good things are to come from this band in the future.
Official video for “The Next Breath of Air…”: https://youtu.be/7FADB8XKhHI

• Stefan Altzar – The Empty House by the Beach + The Way That We Love
This year was busy for Stefan Altzar – besides a full album with his “prog metal” band PreHistoric Animals, he also released not one, but two solo EP’s. These two EPs showcases some different sides of Stefan’s song writing talent, with “The Empty House by the Beach” by far being the most progressive-minded of the two, whereas “The Way That We Love” is a smoother and more melodic adventure, focused on the song itself, rather than the atmosphere. Both of these are absolutely wonderful and combined they make a great “progressive dark pop” album.
Official video for “The Empty House by the Beach”: https://youtu.be/E7frOvL3zC0


2020 also saw a lot of good live releases (which, considering how COVID-19 made live shows impossible, at least gave us some sense of normalcy), of which I’ve added a ranked Top 10 list of the ones I really enjoyed:

Live/Best Of:
1. Poets of the Fall – Alexander Theatre Sessions
2. Avatarium – An Evening with Avatarium
3. Katatonia – Dead Air
4. Voivod – Lost Machine
5. Kamelot – I Am the Empire
6. VolBeat – Rewind, Replay, Rebound (Live in Deutschland)
7. Pretty Maids – Maids in Japan
8. Myrath – Live in Carthage
9. Metallica – S&M2
10. Dream Theater – Distant Memories

There were a few other live discs I purchased this year (Powerwolf, Hammerfall, Neal Morse Band, Ayreon …) but they kind of faded into obscurity very quickly.