Best of 2023, Part 2: In Flames, Avatar, Metallica, Nita Strauss, Overkill

Continuing my list of top 20 albums of 2023:

No. 10. NITA STRAUSS – THE CALL OF THE VOID: The long-time Alice Cooper guitar slinger delivers her second solo album, this time shaking things up with a whole host of guest artists (including the boss), as well as some incredible instrumental pieces. The songs with guest stars do tend to take on the flavor of the guest’s band, but that’s honestly not a problem at all as it brings great variety from the melodic death metal influence of “The Wolf You Feed,” featuring Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, to the quirky nu metal of “Dead Inside,” featuring David Draiman of Disturbed, to the all-out hard rock of “Victorious,” featuring Dorothy. But it’s not just guest vocalists that Strauss brings on as we get a shredder's dream collab with Marty Friedman on “Surfacing,” to close the record. Call of the Void is a solid album that should appeal not only to guitar fans, but fans of great rock songs.

Standout songs: “Summer Storm,” “The Wolf You Feed,” “Victorious,” “Winner Takes All,” “Kintsugi,” “Surfacing”

Review: Amaranthe, "Manifest"

I always imagine what the conversation with friends might have been like when Amaranthe decided to get together.

Friend: So are you guys going to be a pop act, a prog metal outfit or a melodic death metal band?

Amaranthe: Yes.

The band has made a decade-long career out of mixing things that shouldn’t go together, and their sixth album, Manifest, continues the tradition. The vocal trio of Elize Ryd, Nils Molin and Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson all give the music a different perspective. Ryd brings the pop hooks and looks, Molin delivers the power and mystery, and Wilhelmsson hammers it home with his death-style growls. Guitarist and primary composer Olof Morck plays them all masterfully in an irresistible genre-blending brand of metal.

Dream Sets: Savatage

If ever there were a setlist that I’m prepared to cheat on, it’s this one. I didn’t, though (mostly).

 

THE MAIN SET 

 

1. “Prelude to Madness/Hall of the Mountain King” (Hall of the Mountain King, 1987). Right off the top, I’m torn. “Hall of the Mountain King” should, by all rights, be the final song. But by now you guys know my love of a good intro leading into a blistering tune to start the show. I’ve always had this vision of the band playing “Prelude” with the thunder crashing, some flashing lights to represent the lightning maybe a few lasers or fast-moving lights, then after that first riff of “Mountain King” when the full band kicks in, everything comes on and the stage and band is fully revealed. It’s my dream show, so that’s what I’m going with.
   

Review: Dimmu Borgir, "Eonian"

Overview

This is Dimmu Borgir's first new music in seven years, and I’ll preface this review by saying that I’m not a black metal fan, and I’m only a marginal fan of the band. My favorite Dimmu tune is “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse,” so if you love the band’s earlier work and black metal in general, you'll probably completely disagree with what I have to say.

What’s hot?

This album is very heavy on the symphonics, and since I’ve copped to the fact that “Progenies” is my favorite song by Dimmu Borgir, it will come as no surprise that I really dig that aspect of it. There’s really not a lot of what I’d call “black metal” here beyond Shagrath’s vocals, and even they don’t always fit the harsh mold you expect. There are also some really nice memorable riffs scattered around the album that I don’t normally associate with the genre. It’s far more symphonic than black, and instrumental album closer “Rite of Passage” sounds almost progressive.

Saturday Night Special: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "First Snow"

To be honest, it just hasn’t felt like Christmas to me this year. I’ve been super busy with work. The weather where I live, for the most part, has been more like summer. My son’s too old for my annual pilgrimage to the toy stores, and as I write this (a week or so before you’ll read it), my tree sits in my living room undecorated. It’s been a strange year.

Part of the reason, I know, is that Santa Claus ended for my son last year, and I think that also took some wonder and excitement out of things for me. So, in hopes of finding some holiday cheer, I turned to an old favorite, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and they delivered.

Review: Savatage, "Return to Wacken"

As Savatage prepares to take the stage for the first time since 2001 today at Germany’s Wacken Open Air Festival, I finally received my copy of their latest release, Return to Wacken.

First off, I’ve got to say that I should have done my homework on this before paying the import price. The title of the album is a bit misleading. I was expecting, perhaps, some live performances from the band’s previous appearances at Wacken. Instead, we have studio versions of songs that the band has performed at Wacken. It’s a bit disappointing to pay a premium for songs I already have, but that said, it’s still a pretty nice collection, if a bit heavy on their later work.

Return to Wacken opens with three bonafide classics for Savatage fans – “Hall of the Mountain King,” “Gutter Ballet” and “Believe.”

Review: Circle II Circle, "Live at Wacken: Official Bootleg"

It may have been a bit surprising to the crowd at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2012 when Circle II Circle took the stage not to play music from their albums, but to perform Savatage’s 1997 album The Wake of Magellan. It was the last Savatage album to feature Circle II Circle frontman Zak Stevens, and one of the more underrated in their catalogue.

Though video of that performance has been available on YouTube for some time, the band has finally released the official audio version of it.

First of all, this isn’t a complete performance of The Wake of Magellan. For one thing, Circle II Circle had only about 40 minutes of set time, and the album checks in at about an hour. A couple of instrumental pieces are cut to make the time, and they don’t perform the two songs on the album originally sung by Jon Oliva — “Another Way” and “Paragons of Innocence.” They also play around a little bit with the order of the songs so they can close with “Blackjack Guillotine,” arguably the album’s heaviest track.

Saturday Shuffle: Savatage, Skynyrd, Billy Idol, Red Eye Gravy, Pantera

Jon Oliva hits a high note, Skynyrd goes creepy with John 5 and Pantera shreds this week ...


Savatage, “Somewhere in Time/Alone You Breathe.” From the album Wake of Magellan (1997). Can I get a hell yeah? Jon Oliva and a piano performing a medley of “Somewhere in Time” from Streets and “Alone You Breathe” from Handful of Rain. This bonus track, for me, is easily one of the strongest performances on Wake of Magellan, and I love the record.

Review: Delain, "The Human Contradiction"

Every now and then, I come across a record that for some weird reason seems to call out to me for a listen despite past history.

When Nightwish’s Imaginaerum came out a few years ago, I wasn’t a huge fan, but it ended up being my favorite record of the year. Likewise, I’ve had a couple of Delain records cross my desk in the past, including their 2009 effort April Rain, which seems to be regarded as their best. They’ve never grabbed my attention.

But as I scanned my available promos over the past weeks, my eye kept hitting on their latest, The Human Contradiction, so finally I decided to give it a listen. Pretty randomly, I picked the song “Stardust” to sample. By the end of the song, I was downloading the full record.

Saturday Shuffle: Alice Cooper, Jackyl, Oliva, Shooter, Volbeat

Not the most memorable shuffle in the history of the feature, but still a few high points ...

"Something to Remember Me By," Alice Cooper. From the album Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011). This ballad was not one of the high points of what was a surprisingly good sequel album by Alice. It's OK, but there are far better songs on the record.

Review: Nightwish, "Showtime, Storytime"

I’ll make a confession at the top of this review that will invalidate my opinion in the eyes of many Nightwish fans, but I didn’t really like the band with Tarja Turunen.

I didn’t dislike Tarja, and in fact own a couple of Nightwish albums from that era — Once (of course) and Wishmaster — but I just couldn’t go all in for the band with those soprano vocals. Turunen is a fantastic singer, and no one can deny that, but at times I thought those operatic tones were, perhaps, a bit too pretty for a metal band.

My opinion of the band started to change a bit when Annette Olzon came aboard. She had a bit more of a rock ‘n’ roll voice that I believed fit the music better and certainly appealed to me more. In fact, the band’s last record Imaginaerum is my favorite and ranked high on my best-of list for 2012.

That brings us to the Showtime, Storytime concert film, recorded at the Wacken Open Air Festival last summer, the band’s first official recording with new singer Floor Jansen. And Wow. Just Wow.

Best of 2013: Hard rock and metal honorable mentions

I'll start my look at the best hard rock and metal albums of the year with a few that didn't quite make the cut, some random thoughts, and a look ahead at 2014.

Honorable Mentions


Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals -- Walk Through Exits Only. Though this record narrowly missed my top 10, it's certainly the most interesting I heard this year. Dubbed by Anselmo as anti-music, the album is loaded with hooks while, at the same time, being very chaotic and jarring.

Saturday Shuffle: Faster Pussycat, Dangerous Toys, Nightwish, Armored Saint, Ozzy

Where else are you going to find Faster Pussycat and Walt Whitman within a few paragraphs of each other? Only in the shuffle ...

Faster Pussycat, “Cryin’ Shame.” From the album Wake Me When It’s Over (1989). So I’ve already confessed my weakness for Faster Pussycat, but this particular song takes a bit of a turn from their usual sleaze-filled fare. It’s a bit more of a blues rock piece and tells the story of Ricky Kasso, “The Acid King,” who killed a teenager in Long Island in 1986, claiming that Satan commanded him to do it. Despite the serious nature of the song, it’s still a very 1980s piece, but it’s still a great tune.

Saturday Shuffle: Living Colour, Ozzy, Crue, Hank III, Powerwolf

A bit hard to sum this week's shuffle up. Newer stuff from an old band, a couple of metal classics, something completely new, and a little neotraditional country for good measure ...

Living Colour, “The Chair.” From the album The Chair in the Doorway (2009). I quite liked this album from Living Colour. I hadn’t listened to the band in years when I picked it up, and I really loved the heavier vibe. That’s on display in this semi-title track. It’s a bashing, gritty tune. Not the best on the album, but certainly reflective of the rest.

Saturday Shuffle: Jackson Taylor, A7X, Nightwish, Hank Jr., Anthrax

A little country, a little rock 'n' roll, and a drum interlude to end...

Jackson Taylor and the Sinners, “Country Song.” From the album Aces n Eights (2009). This song was my introduction to Jackson Taylor and the reason I’m a fan. I’d taken my kid bowling one day and sat through at least a half dozen country radio songs about pickup trucks. Later that night, I discovered this song by accident, and I was hooked. The video, which features Taylor and his band in corpse paint, is a hoot, too.

Review: Oliva, "Raise the Curtain"

If you thought Jon Oliva’s debut solo album would sound like Savatage or Jon Oliva’s Pain, you’ll be disabused of that notion right from the top.

The album opens with the title track, which sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard from the Mountain King before. The largely instrumental five-minute track plays on his 1970s prog and Broadway influences. It sounds a bit like a cross between Yes and Queen’s more bombastic moments, with the only vocals being a show-style gang chorus of “Raise the Curtain.”

Considering the album contains the final unreleased music from his late brother and Savatage guitarist Criss Oliva, one would expect connections to the sound of that band, and they’re here, but not completely obvious. Raise the Curtain, as you can tell from the cover art, is something of a tribute to Criss. The focus of the cover is the piano and microphone, representing Jon center stage, then off to the left is the iconic image of Criss’ white Charvel guitar wrapped in roses, which first appeared on the back cover of Savatage’s Gutter Ballet album. Surrounding them are theater curtains with ghostly images from his past.

Something Borrowed: "We Don't Need Another Hero," Northern Kings/Tina Turner

There’s only so much cheesy awesomeness that you can pack into a single video and song, and Northern Kings get every bit of it crammed into this cover of Tina Turner’s theme for the third Mad Max movie.

For those not familiar with Northern Kings, it’s a side project featuring four of the top singers in symphonic Finnish power metal. It includes Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Marco Hietala (Nightwish, Tarot), Jarkko Ahola (Terasbetoni, Dreamtale) and Juha-Pekka Leppaluoto (Charon). Up to this point, the project has been largely for fun, with the band releasing two albums of symphonic metal covers of mostly 1980s pop tunes.

Saturday Shuffle: Turisas, ZZ Top, Scatterbrain, Down, Ugly Kid Joe

This week's shuffle finds me preparing for battle, digging a little double entendre and laughing along with a forgotten gem ...

Turisas, “As Torches Rise.” From the album Battle Metal (2004). Symphonic, epic, folk battle metal. I don’t like this song quite as much as the title track, but it’s still great fun in a campy sort of way.

Saturday Shuffle: Chili Peppers, TSO, Hardcore Superstar, Uncle Nuge, Girl

A huge hit, a dark signature moment and a couple of overlooked gems in this week's shuffle ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Give it Away.” From the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). I’d much rather the shuffle hit “Suck My Kiss” or “I Could Have Lied,” but this one will do, too. Sure, this album, “Under the Bridge” in particular, marked the beginning of the Chili Peppers’ descent into commercial mediocrity, but there are some great songs on it, too.

Best of 2012: Hard rock and metal Top 10

Editor's Note: This is the second in a four-part series looking at my favorite albums of 2012. 

For hard rock and metal, 2012 certainly wasn’t the best year that I can remember. In all honesty, there were only a few albums that came across my desk that really excited me. The ones that were good were really good, but where I’m usually deciding which ones to toss out of my top 10, this year it was more a case of deciding which ones to put in …

No. 10

 SHADOWS FALL – FIRE FROM THE SKY: This is really the record that I wanted from Shadows Fall after their stellar 2002 release The Art of Balance, which had me proclaiming them the next big thing in metal. They disappointed me on that count with a string of mediocre records, but this one kind of gets the fire back. There’s a nice blend of heaviness and melody, and while some people were disappointed by the heavy dose of melodic singing, I think it offers a great contrast to Brian Fair’s hardcore bark. The album is filled with killer riffs and rocks from start to finish.