2017 END OF YEAR TOP TWENTY
Here we go again: my favourite releases from what was a fabulous year for metal in its widest sense. As usual, there’s no re-issues (so unfortunately, for example, the likes of Mercury Rain’s fabulous revamp of ‘St Matthieu’ get left out in the cold), just what should be brand new additions to any collection.
My favourite album of the year – drum roll, please, maestro – is:
Dool – ‘Here Now, There Then’(Prophecy)
Why? Beguiling, erotic and dangerous, Dool’s debut album is a stiletto in a velvet glove, a stranger in a strange town. It is beauty encapsulated in death; or maybe death encapsulated in beauty. You decide…
And here’s the rest of the Top 20 – described in twenty words of less – in nothing but alphabetical order…
Avatarium – ‘Hurricanes And Halos’ (Nuclear Blast)
Why? No-one else blends uplifting classic blues and doom-filled anguish quite like Sweden’s Avatarium…
Crematory – ‘Live Insurrection’ (SPV)
Why? What you get if you cross a Eurovision beat and with a Panzer tank…
Daydream XI – ‘The Circus Of The Tattered And Torn’ (Sensory/The Laser’s Edge)
Why? Unashamedly progressive in both outlook and delivery, from a youngish band with masses of talent and truckloads of potential…
Dead Kosmonaut – ‘Dead Kosmonaut’ (TPL)
Why? A healthy NWOBHM obsession and a twist of contemporary metal gives the album a cutting edge…
Dreamgrave – ‘Monuments I – The Anxious’ (independent)
Why? An extremely good three-track EP which anyone with an interest in contemporary progressive metal to add to their collection...
Gin Lady – ‘Electric Earth’ (Kozmik Artifactz)
Why? Although they’ve mined the Seventies for inspiration, the songs are theirs and theirs alone...
Hallatar – ‘No Stars Upon The Bridge’ (Svart)
Why? ‘An engaging and challenging album, devoid of mawkish sentimentality yet imbued with a sense of urgency and longing…
Leprous – ‘Malina’ (Inside Out)
Why? A bitter-sweet and engrossing progressive labyrinth of tortured souls reaching out in their pain…
Midnight Messiah – ‘Led Into Temptation’ (independent)
Why? A powerful offering that harks back to the glory days of Elixir…
Mythra – ‘Still Burning’ (High Roller)
Why? A contemporary offering as exciting as hearing ‘Death And Destiny’ for the first time all over again…
Night Demon – ‘Darkness Remains’ (SPV)
Why? There’s little subtlety on offer, and with enthusiasm and energy running high none should be expected…
Paradise Lost – ‘Medusa’ (Nuclear Blast)
Why? Fifteen studio albums down the line, Yorkshire’s finest still show little sign of stopping, or cheering up…
Prospekt – ‘The Illuminated Sky’ (Sensory/The Laser’s Edge)
Why? An electrifying and brash collision of technical and expertly delivered metal and the endless possibilities of progressive music…
Solstafir – ‘Berdreyminn’ (Seasons Of Mist)
Why? Bleak but still enticing, like an Icelandic landscape seen through a veil of tears…
The Dead Daisies – ‘Live And Louder’ (SPV)
Why? A gloriously hedonistic slice of Eighties metal from those that were there at the time…
The Night Flight Orchestra – ‘Amber Galactic’ (Nuclear Blast)
Why? An energetic and melodic album which proves that, deep down, we’re all Foreigner fans…
The Unity – ‘The Unity’ (SPV)
Why? Melody and muscle in perfect synchronicity, with ‘No More Lies’ contending for the title of greatest song ever written…
Until Rain – ‘Inure’ (Sensory/The Laser’s Edge)
Why? An innate confidence and maturity allows the band to push at the boundaries of progressive metal...
White Willow – ‘Future Hopes’ (The Laser’s Edge)
Why? In the world of progressive music where nothing is ever what it seems, White Willow remain seemingly indefinable…
See you next year!
John Tucker
December 2017