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THE Hard Rock and AOR Reference on the Internet!
Bands: 5784
CDS: 13418 Songs: 155699
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Jan. 29, 2012 - The Best of 2011!
The Heavy Harmonies "Best of 2011" awards have now been posted.
Visit
this page to see the year's
top pics from Mike, Pete, Ty, and myself.
-Dan
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The Best of 2000!
2000 was a pretty good year for music. Lots of reissues coming
out, a trend that will hopefully continue. There are zillions
of excellent albums that to date have never seen the light of day
on CD, or are so rare on CD as to be nonexistent for all
practical purposes...
I've broken my "Best of" list down into 3 categories:
reissues/compilations, heavy metal, and AOR/hard rock.
I've gone ahead and listed all of the CDs I purchased in
each category so you know what the pool to draw from was
(obviously I didn't obtain every CD that came out this year).
Reissues and Compilations
The Field:
Grim Reaper - Fear No Evil
Grim Reaper - See You in Hell
Annihilator - King of the Kill
Annihilator - Refresh the Demon
Annihilator - Remains
Heavy Pettin' - Heavy Pettin'
Fate - Fate
Heir Apparent - Graceful Inheritance
Heir Apparent - Triad
Gamma Ray - Blast From the Past (2-CD)
Hybrid Ice - Hybrid Ice
Kick Axe - Vices
Legs Diamond - Fire Power
Crystal - Collection
Leviticus - I Shall Conquer
Moving Pictures - The Ultimate Collection
Obsession - Scarred for Life
Pretty Maids - First Cuts... And Then Some
Stryper - To Hell With the Devil + 1
Thrills - 3
UDO - Timebomb
Uriah Heep - Different World
Xcursion - Ready to Roll
The Winners:
3. Trytan - Celestial Messenger. Many fans of CCM music
are familiar with Trytan, a musical clone of the group Rush.
While their album Sylentiger is findable on CD (a moderately
tought find), their other album had never seen an official release...
until now.
2. Winters Bane - Heart of a Killer (2-CD). The
popularity of the latest Judas Priest album spurred demand
for earlier Tim Owens material. Kudos to Century Media for
making it a 2-CD reissue at single-disc price!
1. I-Ten - Taking a Cold Look. A phenomenal masterpiece
of Westcoast AOR. It finally gets the widespread release it
deserves.
Heavy Metal
The Field:
Vanden Plas - Spirit of Live
Mactatus - The Complex Bewitchment
Metallium - State of Triumph
Angel Dust - Enlighten the Darkness
Aska - Avenger
Chapter, The - The Chapter
Dio - Magica
Grave Digger - Excalibur
Hammerfall - Renegade
Heavenly - Coming From the Sky
Iron Fire - Thunderstorm
Iron Maiden - Brave New World
Jag Panzer - Thane to the Throne
Kamelot - The Expedition
Lefay - S.O.S.
Lizzy Borden - Deal With the Devil
Mastermind - Angels of the Apocalypse
Nocturnal Rites - Afterlife
Running Wild - Victory
Silent Force - The Empire of Future
Sinner - The End of Sanctuary
Stratovarius - Infinite
The Sins of Thy Beloved - Perpetual Desolation
Therion - Deggial
The Winners:
5. Steel Prophet - Messiah. Excellent power
metal effort; considerably better than Dark Hallucinations.
4. Symphony X - V. Wonderful symphonic prog metal.
3. Rhapsody - Dawn of Victory. Those pesky Italians
keep right on rolling with an album that easily matches the quality
of their first 2 releases.
2. Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World. Phenomenally
executed, this effort (IMO) is their best yet. Power metal base
with haunting quasi-goth overtones. Fairly dark and moody, yet
full of riffs and powerful melodies (I just *LOVE* the chorus
on "Evolution 169"). I bought this when it came out, but just
found out 2 weeks ago that the European release is a boxed set,
with the disc containing 3 bonus tracks not on the U.S. version.
Doh! You can buy it for $15.00 including shipping from The End Records.
1. HEAVY METAL ALBUM OF 2000: Halford - Resurrection.
What can I say? After the 2 Fight albums and 2wo, I wasn't expecting this.
This is TRUE heavy metal at its finest. There's not a bad song on the album,
and it's a return to a vintage Judas Priest sound. I think this disc surprised
a lot of people with its quality and consistency. Everybody has their
favorite tracks; mine are the title cut and the epic "Silent Screams."
I had the luck of catching Halford live at the final warmup show prior
to his starting the tour with Queensryche and Iron Maiden. Considering
that he played for 1:15 instead of the :30 he was alloted as opener
on the tour, I'm glad I cought him at this show. An added bonus was
hearing him perform Silent Screams live, which he didn't do on the
main tour.
AOR and Hard Rock
The Field:
Young and Fabulous - Young and Fabulous
Von Groove - Drivin Off the Edge of the World
Phil Vincent - Thunder in the East
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Beethoven's Last Night
De Allen - Twisted Inside
Sweet, Robert - Love Trash
Street Legal - Thunderdome
Southern Gentlemen - Exotic Dancer Blues
Radar - RPM
Poison - Crack a Smile...and More!
Passion Risk - Passion Risk
Norway - Arrival
Mr. Big - Get Over It
Yngwie Malmsteen - War to End All Wars
Yngwie Malmsteen - Alchemy
Lucifer Was - In Anadi's Bower
Lotus - Quartet Conspiracy
Elton John - The Road to El Dorado (Ltd. Ed)
Hugo - Time on Earth
Fozzy - Fozzy
Firehouse - O2
Firehouse - Bring 'em Out Live
Kurgan's Bane - The Future Lies Broken
Emerald Rain - Live2K
Doro - Calling the Wild
Demon Drive - Heroes
Danger Danger - Return of the Great Gildersleeves
Britton - Alien Romper Room
Babylon A.D. - American Blitzkrieg
400 Horses - 400 Horses
Angry Tears - Angry Tears
707 - Trip to Heaven
American Dog - Last of a Dying Breed
Teer - Teer
Newman - Dance in the Fire
Two Fires - Two Fires
The Winners:
4. Dark Sky - Believe It. An unknown German band on an unknown
German label. Excellent production and great hooks. Just needs to lose
the ultra-heavy accent...
3. Fair Warning - 4. Great hooks and level of orchestration
we've come to expect. Their production keeps getting better and better.
Unfortunately, Tommy Heart has left the band. AUGH!!!!!!
2. Ten - Babylon. Phenomenal comeback after the somewhat
lacklustre "Spellbound". The addition of Don Airey on keys adds a
nice dimension. Heavier than their previous works, yet still
ultramelodic. The futuristic theme of this concept album is interesting.
1. AOR/HARD ROCK ALBUM OF 2000: Praying Mantis - Nowhere to Hide. This one flew out of left field and
smacked me in the head...HARD. Originally classified as NWOBHM,
this band has been around since 1981. This album is nothing but
pure AOR hooks and harmonies. It is absolutely phenomenal.
The *only* negative to this disc is that the production quality
is not what it could be given the technology available today.
I have never personally rated an album 100/100. If the production
work were better on this album it *would* be 100/100. Even so,
the music is so incredible I give it 97/100 (to give you an idea
of how high a rating that is for me, I have in excess of 3,400
CDs in my collection; perhaps 20 I rate as 95 or better). Yes,
this disc is *THAT* good. Take Wetton-era Asia harmonies and apply
them to pure traditional AOR melodies. Add a nice epic feel with
heavy keys, and you're there.
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