A to Z and Back in Music - Part 2 (A to Z Musical W/O) Jun 11 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Revelation [Digipak] by Journey From $12 Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned From $40 The Bottom Line Is always on top For those of you who have not read my first installment here is recap on why I'm doing two lists: Now when it comes to music, I have to divide my life into two distinct parts, pre and post Y2K so I hope Ron will give me a little latitude if I diverge from his suggested format and customize my list, by going from A to Z pre 2000 and back from Z to A post 2000. The reason for this is there was a definite shift in my musical taste upon entering the new century and it will become obvious if you read my list so here goes. My Favorite Artists after Two Thousand AD (Z to A) Z - Zero Hour, "The Tower's of Avarice" (Progressive Rock/Metal), Hey it's a Z. I got em, listened to it once, it wasn't bad. Y - Yngwe Malmsteen, "Rising Force" (Symphonic Metal), Acknowledged world class guitar virtuoso. X - Xandria, "Ravenheart", "Kill the Sun" (Fem Fronted Metal) German Band, Pretty good stuff. I'd say four star range. W - Tough letter but got to go with Within Temptation over newfound obsession Wonderland, "Mother Earth", "The Silent Force". Absolutely awesome Feminine Fronted Symphonic Metal music. Reviews : “Mother Earth”: http://www.epinions.com/content_102189993604 “Silent Force”: http://www.epinions.com/content_169466760836 “Mother Earth [Maxi single]”: http://www.epinions.com/content_120496426628 “Mother Earth [EP]”: http://www.epinions.com/content_120496295556 V - Visions of Atlantis, "Cast Away" (Fem Symphonic Metal). Just posted a review on these Nightwish wannabes : “Cast Away”: http://www.epinions.com/content_183953624708 U - Sorry, no newer band I like begins with U I T - This breaks my heart but I'm going with Thy Majestie over Therion or any of the other great T bands. Why? because "Hastings 1066" is so good, when I think of T's I think of them first. Therion is super but if you heard "Hastings" (Symphonic Power Metal with choirs)you'd know why : “Hastings 1066” :http://www.epinions.com/content_103144853124 S - Some letters are hard because there are so few and others like S are even harder because there are so many. I'm going with Sonata Arctica (Epic Power Metal), one of four Finnish bands on my list, "Silence", "Reckoning Night" over goodies like Samael, (The) Sins of Thy Beloved and Shadow Gallery . Review : “Silence”: http://www.epinions.com/content_101670882948 “Winterheart‘s Guild”: http://www.epinions.com/content_101670882948 R - Another tough call between Royal Hunt and Rocket Scientists so I’m going with Riverside. Yeah Riverside, they only have one album under their belt but what a debut it is. Touted by many Prog Heads as the Progressive Rock album of the year. Q - The Quiet Room, “Reconceive” is a very underrated Progressive Rock group. P - P is for Progressive Rock right? Well I’ve narrowed my choice down to Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation or Pendragon, all Progressive Rock bands. Envelope please! And the winner is Pendragon for “Masquerade Overture” O - Another really close call but I’m going with Slovakian band Orkrist (Melodic Symphonic Metal) over Israeli band, Orphaned Land and OSI (Office of Strategic Influence). “Reginae Mysterium” : http://www.epinions.com/content_109497257604 N - Finally a no brainer Nightwish (Melodic Symphonic Metal), “Once”, “Century’s Child”. Nightwish might be the most popular band in Europe right now and might also be the most popular European band (they‘re from Finland) in Vinland (that‘s America) right now. : “Century Child”: http://www.epinions.com/content_112356134532 M - Moonsorrow is the finest purveyor of Death/Polka Metal on the globe. They’re also the only one but if you consider their music Viking Metal as I do they’re also the best at that too. “Voimasta Ja Kunniasta”, “Kivenkantaja” : http://www.epinions.com/content_111018806916 : http://www.epinions.com/content_111014547076 L - A tie between Lacuna Coil (Progressive Goth Metal), and Lacrimosa (Dark Melancholy music). Lacuna Coil reviews : “In a Reverie”: http://www.epinions.com/content_98096942724 “Unleashed Memories”: http://www.epinions.com/content_129025085060 “Comalies”: http://www.epinions.com/content_108536827524 Lacrimosa Reviews : “Stille”: http://www.epinions.com/content_114265525892 “Elodia”: http://www.epinions.com/content_130995555972 K - American Epic Power Metal band, Kamelot, probably has the business’s best pure singer in Roy Kahn. “Black Halo” and “Karma” : “Karma”: http://www.epinions.com/content_113353920132 J - Jethro Tull “Thick as a Brick” Classic Progressive Rock I - Another Progressive Rock band takes the Is. Iluvatar is an American Progressive Rock band in the Genesis tradition. H - Haggard, “And Thou Shalt Trust the Seer”. Chamber like Classical music from this sixteen piece band but with raspy growls. Runner-up, Melodic Power Metal band Heavenly G - Green Carnation. Yes they made one of my all time favorites a sixty minute song/album entitled “Light of Day, Day of Darkness”, an astounding piece of work.: “Light of Day, Day of Darkness”: http://www.epinions.com/content_96814599812 “A Blessing in Disguise”: http://www.epinions.com/content_105743814276 F - Finntroll is the second best Viking metal band “Jaktens Tid” E - Overall, probably my favorite Progressive Metal band is Evergrey. These Guys are nothing short of sensational. Reviews : “The Dark Discovery”: http://www.epinions.com/content_107071639172 “Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy” : http://www.epinions.com/content_110925090436 “In Search of Truth” : http://www.epinions.com/content_112586428036 “The Inner Circle” : http://www.epinions.com/musc_mu-517017 D - I listed Dream Theater on my pre 2000 list, which would have been my choice here but there are still a dozen or so great bans to choose from Dream Theater eponymous sound alikes, Dreamscape and DGM to prodigious power metal bands like Dark Moor and Dragonhammer but I’m going to go with the hauntingly intriguing music and psychotic, deviant ramblings of Mr. Doctor in Devil Doll. “Dies Irae” : http://www.epinions.com/content_146113859204 C - Another letter with multiple choices. I haven’t reviewed them yet (they‘ve been in draft for months) is Cornerstone a hard rock/heavy metal super band out of Denmark, who have three excellent albums to their credit; “Arrival”, “Human Stain” and “Once Upon Our Yesterdays” B - Blind Guardian I don’t like everything they do but what I do, I adore. Blind Guardian is a German band with a most unusual style and a sound not unlike Queen, only busier and more layered. Let‘s call their music Epic Symphonic Metal. “And Then There Was Silence” is a true masterpiece that after fourteen minutes of mind boggling music, leaves you wondering why it had to end so soon. : “And Then There Was Silence” : http://www.epinions.com/content_110650953348 A - Did you know there are more recording artists whose name begins with A than any other letter? Well there are. D, M & S are second third and fourth but A is the big one, so it is not surprising that I have a plethora of A’s to narrow down. Ok, from the following, Artrosis, Avrigus, Aesma Daeva, Autumn Tears, Azmodan, Anglagard, Adagio, Ad Infinitum, Arena, Angra, Avantasia, Anathema, Amorphis, Arcturus, Arcana, After Forever, Atrox and more there is one group, project really, that stands higher than the rest, Ayreon. Ayreon is not really a band but a musical project, always a Rock Opera, of Dutch savant, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, with guest singers an musicians from around the world. He has made several such recordings to date including, Into the Electric Castle and The Human Equation, which to my ears was the Progressive Album of the Year for 2004 : “Into The Electric Castle” : http://www.epinions.com/content_110654295684 “The Human Equation”: http://www.epinions.com/content_144413593220 Well, now you probably see how much my musical tastes have shifted. I still like and listen to the music from my first list and still buy an occasional album from those artists, in fact I just made two lengthy (12 hours) mixes from my older favorites entitled Rock Metal Favorites 1 & 2 but it’s the music that’s listed here that gets most of my attention these days. Once more it’s been fun going over all the rest of the albums that I enjoy and if you recognize any on my second list, good for you! That means your not just settling for the usual music in the usual genres. You might want to explore the mostly undiscovered world of music (at least in the U.S.) that is represented in this list. It really is different but not that different. This has been the other half of my (Old Man Metal’s) entry into Jaguardog’s ferocious write off entitled “My Favorite Musical Artists of All-Time” A to Z http://www.epinions.com/content_4389118084

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