I\u2019ll post my best-of-1998 list. Oh, ok, it\u2019s actually my \u201call-of-1998? list, since it\u2019s more fun that way. I have these arranged somewhat in order, (with my favorites at the top), but it\u2019s definitely not exact. I\u2019d say everything could move at least five places in eitherd irection and still fit right.<\/p>\n
Overall, it was a very interesting year. There was a huge amount of releases, and many from my favorite bands, but it seems like few of the ones that I was expecting to blow me away succeeded in that task. Instead, newer and unknown bands took some of the top spots.<\/p>\n
So, with no further ado, here they are:<\/p>\n
Covenant \u2013 Nexus Polaris:<\/strong> Amon Amarth \u2013 Once Sent From the Golden Hall:<\/strong> Sentenced \u2013 Frozen:<\/strong> Night In Gales \u2013 Thunderbeast:<\/strong> Cryhavoc \u2013 Sweetbriers:<\/strong> Evereve \u2013 Stormbirds:<\/strong> Iron Maiden \u2013 Virtual XI:<\/strong> Rage \u2013 XIII:<\/strong> Iced Earth \u2013 Something Wicked This Way Comes:<\/strong> Einherjer \u2013 Odin Owns Ye All:<\/strong> Grave Digger \u2013 Knights of the Cross:<\/strong> Therion \u2013 Vovin:<\/strong> Waylander \u2013 Reawakening Pride Once Lost:<\/strong> Helloween \u2013 Better Than Raw:<\/strong> Angra \u2013 Fireworks:<\/strong> Arch Enemy \u2013 Stigmata:<\/strong> Opeth \u2013 My Arms, Your Hearse:<\/strong> Blind Guardian \u2013 Nightfall in Middle Earth:<\/strong> Savatage \u2013 The Wake of Magellan:<\/strong> Children of Bodom \u2013 Something Wild:<\/strong> Dan Swano \u2013 Moontower:<\/strong> Fear Factory \u2013 Obsolete:<\/strong> Samael \u2013 Exodus:<\/strong> Death \u2013 The Sound of Perseverance:<\/strong> Silent Scream \u2013 Bow Down and Pray:<\/strong> Liquid Tension Experiment \u2013 Liquid Tension Experiment:<\/strong> Anathema \u2013 Alternative 4:<\/strong> Dimmu Borgir \u2013 Godless Savage Garden:<\/strong> Kamelot \u2013 Siege Perilous:<\/strong> Riot \u2013 Inishmore:<\/strong> Primal Fear \u2013 Primal Fear:<\/strong> Agathodaimon \u2013 Blacken the Angel:<\/strong> Evergrey \u2013 The Dark Discovery:<\/strong> Symphony X \u2013 Twilight In Olympus:<\/strong> Winterkill \u2013 Freedom:<\/strong> Bruce Dickinson \u2013 The Chemical Wedding:<\/strong> Old Man\u2019s Child \u2013 Ill Natured Spiritual Invasion:<\/strong> Nocturnal Rites \u2013 Tales of Mystery and Imagination:<\/strong> Primordial \u2013 A Journey\u2019s End:<\/strong> Mundanus Imperium \u2013 The Spectral Spheres Coronation:<\/strong> Whew, that\u2019s a lot. Comments, inquiries, and ass-kickings are always welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ll post my best-of-1998 list. Oh, ok, it\u2019s actually my \u201call-of-1998? list, since it\u2019s more fun that way. I have these arranged somewhat in order, (with my favorites at the top), but it\u2019s definitely not exact. I\u2019d say everything could move at least five places in eitherd irection and still fit right. Overall, it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregie.com\/neil\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThey aren\u2019t black metal, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so good. This is what I\u2019ve always wanted black metal to sound like. Great songs, great keys, great drums, and I even really like the vocals, Popeye and all.<\/p>\n
\nThe anti-Blind Guardian. Yeah, of course they sound nothing like Blind Guardian, but this album proves that all you need is two guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and eight tracks to make an epic masterpiece. I was totally surprised at how much I liked this one.<\/p>\n
\nProbably ended up with the best (expectation) x (actual quality) product of any album I got this year. With a string of excellent albums behind them, of course I expected another great one. I think I like it more than Down now. It might not be as heavy, but it\u2019s got tons of punch. Ville quickly rocketed up as one of my favorite singers.<\/p>\n
\nNight in Gales grows up. I enjoyed their first album, but they actually sound like professionals on this one. It\u2019s got a great, powerful sound, and Bjorn\u2019s highly varied vocals really stand out. And I love the crazy non-sensical lyrics too, they add some weird mystical tone to the album for me.<\/p>\n
\nIf you mourn over the post-Amok softening of Sentenced, dry your tears and get this album. It\u2019s totally shameless Sentenced-worship, somewhere around the Amok\/Love and Death era. The cool thing is, since it\u2019s such a pure ripoff, it\u2019s just as excellent as the real thing.<\/p>\n
\nThis one did some serious growing on me, over a period of at least 6 months. It just keeps getting better and better. It\u2019s pretty original gothic\/death\/black metal, with all sorts of different songs. The singing is extremely varied, as are the lyrics which come in three different lanugages.<\/p>\n
\n(ducking). I\u2019m always completely baffled at how people like Hammerfall so much, and I guess this is where the tables are probably turned\u2026.you all think, \u201cwhat kind of idiot is that guy?\u201d Well, simply put, this album rules. My favorite Maiden album, along with The X Factor (ducking again). I still can\u2019t figure out what people can\u2019t stand about this album, if they like any other Maiden albums.<\/p>\n
\nRage maintains their hold as my favorite band with this one. Another change, another great album. There\u2019s an orchestra on every song, but they never hit you over the head with it. It just serves as a background and creates an extremely lush texture for the whole album. Peavy just rules.<\/p>\n
\nThis one is a little hard for me to judge for some reason. Maybe it\u2019s because I listened to a pre-release tape of it constantly for a month. Anyway, I think I really like it, it\u2019s definitely better than the Dark Saga, but due to my early saturation, I don\u2019t find myself listening to it all that much. Every time I do though, it kicks ass.<\/p>\n
\nHooray for Viking metal! The cool thing about this album is that that\u2019s as much classification as you can give it. The style is very unique, it\u2019s pretty much just \u201cmetal\u201d, but it has some very creative song structures and crazy rhythms going constantly. Couple that with the melodies and the epic moods, and you\u2019ve got a kickass album.<\/p>\n
\nI call these guys Blind Guardian Junior now. That might not be the best name, since it implies the BG is the master and they\u2019re the student. What I really mean is that they do everything that BG does, but to a lesser extreme. Which can make it better, since it sticks more to pure, simple metal. I\u2019m looking forward to the third album in this concept-album series.<\/p>\n
\nI can find a lot more similarities between Lepaca Kliffoth and Theli than I can between Theli and this one. I don\u2019t know what that means, I\u2019m just letting people know. So it\u2019s a lot different than Theli, but I think I like it about the same. It\u2019s great chillin\u2019 music (except for that Scheepers character).<\/p>\n
\nThis is some really cool Irish folk death\/black metal. Sort of like Skyclad, except with black vocals, and a flute in place of the fiddle. It gets really fast and thrashy at times, while maintaining great melodies. This is one of those rare Century Media discs that\u2019s only available as an import.<\/p>\n
\nThis one looks like a masterpiece on paper. Really damn heavy, fresh, and original, it should have it all. But somehow it hasn\u2019t hit me quite as well as I thought it would. Maybe I\u2019m looking for a little more melody. Like all Helloween albums, the songs vary a lot, so you get some really incredible ones, and then some throwaways.<\/p>\n
\nWell, it\u2019s no Holy Land, but it\u2019s still some really good power metal. Andre Matos is still a big wuss, but that\u2019s ok. The guitars just control this album. They\u2019re everywhere and they\u2019re very nice.<\/p>\n
\nThis is one of those rare ones my brother got before me. Of course, he neglected to tell me that it was any good. Maybe that was because of the vocalist, who a lot of people don\u2019t like, but I don\u2019t have much of a problem with. A good solid melodic-death metal album that didn\u2019t get completely molded into the Studio Fredman form. Not as good as Armageddon though.<\/p>\n
\nYep, here\u2019s Opeth, all the way down here. Like JP, Morningrise is probably my favorite album ever, and, well, this one just hasn\u2019t done it for me. The fact that it says Opeth on the cover probably makes it even worse for me. I know that\u2019s stupid, but hey, that\u2019s just how it is. It\u2019s got some really excellent stuff, but it just hasn\u2019t hit me as an album yet (and it\u2019s getting a little late now).<\/p>\n
\nAnother heavy hitter finds the middle of the pack. If they would have gotten rid of all the odd-numbered tracks, and a few of the even ones as well, they\u2019d have really had something. As some have said, the album is amazing if you devote your entire attention to it, but I just don\u2019t have time for that anymore. Maybe I\u2019ll like it more when I\u2019m retired.<\/p>\n
\nYeah, I guess this came out this year? Nice and heavy, so that\u2019s cool, but I don\u2019t like all of the songs like I did on DWD. It starts and finsihes excellently, but the middle gets a little tiresome for me. Savatage was one of the best shows I saw this year though.<\/p>\n
\nThis seems pretty good, but for some reason, I\u2019ve hardly listened to it, and can\u2019t really say too much about it.<\/p>\n
\nDan Swano\u2019s cool, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m into his stuff quite as much as some other people. It\u2019s definitely an interesting piece of work, and it keeps getting better.<\/p>\n
\nProbably not as good as Demanufacture, but still a darn good album. Burton C. Bell just rules, and he actually sings HIGH on this album. The three \u201claid back\u201d songs on this one are amazing, but I don\u2019t know if I like them because they\u2019re more laid back, or just because they\u2019re better songs.<\/p>\n
\nPretty much continues in the vein of the excellent Passage, to tide us over \u2019til the next one. And at like 35 minutes, it\u2019s pretty good for tiding over. They\u2019re definitely a unique band right now.<\/p>\n
\nCool disc. Death has always been at the edge of the cusp for me, and they kind of remain there with this album. Intellectually, they seem excellent, but they never quite \u201chit\u201d me.<\/p>\n
\nA German band produced by Iced Earth\u2019s Jon Schaffer. They\u2019re pretty much AJFA-era Metallica, with a bit more power metal. Maybe I like this so much because I don\u2019t own any Metallica.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m pretty surprised how much I like this one. Maybe because it\u2019s not wussy like I expected it to be. I mean, there\u2019s some crappy parts, but overall, the cool parts win the battle. Screw vocals!<\/p>\n
\nI got this one on a whim after I heard JP and some other people were talking about it, and I felt like I needed something different. And it turned out to be pretty good. Not really metal, and no, it\u2019s not alternative, but it\u2019s got good melodies and a great atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\nI was a bit underwhelmed by this one. I got it soon after finally recognizing how cool ETD is, but this isn\u2019t quite as cool. I only really like the second of the new songs. The Accept cover is cool, but the live tracks are nothing special, except for the talking between them. (\u201cI pour this chalice of blood for you!\u201d)<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t like this as much as the first two Kamelot\u2019s, but that could change, as Kamelot has always had a way of sneaking up on me. It\u2019s a real top-heavy album, the first half is great, but the second half sorta drags.<\/p>\n
\nI was pretty surprised to see this one in a listening station, and it sounded good, so I got it. It\u2019s not nearly as wussy as I expected, and it\u2019s got all sorts of nice dual lead work.<\/p>\n
\nI love Gamma Ray, and don\u2019t care much for Judas Priest. Thus, I really like the Gamma Ray ripoff songs on this album, and could do without the Priest ripoff tracks. It also hurts when I go back and listen to Insanity & Genius \u2013 Ralf\u2019s vocals were so much darker and more angry than they are on this.<\/p>\n
\nI got this pretty recently, so it hasn\u2019t had much time to grow. It seems to be well-produced, non-annoying black metal. They\u2019ve got a 15 minute song, so that might be worth something.<\/p>\n
\nThis one hasn\u2019t quite convinced me yet. The music seems great, and what\u2019s cool about it is that they somehow found a niche in the overcrowed power\/prog metal world that hadn\u2019t yet been filled. I think my main hangup is the hard-rockish vocalist.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s no Divine Wings of Tragedy, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n
\nA local band that plays an interesting mix of power, thrash, and regular heavy metal. I could do without the cheesy Braveheart intro and songs like \u201cYou Anger Me, Bitch\u201d, but it\u2019s got a couple gems hidden in it.<\/p>\n
\nHeheh, yep, here\u2019s Bruce way down here. I\u2019m not quite sure what my problem with this one is, I just know that I like AoB a LOT more. I just haven\u2019t gotten into the feeling of it at all, and on top of that, Bruce\u2019s repetitive yelling somehow really bothers me. Heaviness is nice, but it seems like the style needs more melody than it ha.s.<\/p>\n
\nNice sellout black metal to listen to quickly, but it doesn\u2019t seem to have too much depth to it.<\/p>\n
\nPower metal version of Old Man\u2019s Child.<\/p>\n
\nMy brother tricked me into getting this one after a glowing review in Metal Maniacs. I dunno, I can\u2019t really find anything wrong with it, but it\u2019s sorta boring. It has some limited Celtic influence to liven things up, and overall it reminds me somewhat of Ulver\u2019s Bergtatt, which is a good thing, but this album just doesn\u2019t work for me.<\/p>\n
\nOk, so it\u2019s Dimmu Borgir with clean vocals, huh? Well, no one saw fit to tell me that the vocals are super-cheesy sounding hard-rock vocals (at least to my ears). The music sounds pretty good (if not quite dark enough to be like Dimmu Borgir), so we\u2019ll see if this one gets better.<\/p>\n