Metal Reviews

thought it would be an interesting thread.


I want to say Twilight Time by Stratovarius. That cd is awesome!!

that or sacred talisman by nocturnal rites

I agree with Nocturnal Rites (even though it isn't all that underrated), but I would also say Zonata - Tunes of Steel.

Strapping Young Lad - Self-Titled

Such a great album that for some odd reason everyone seemed to hate on.

Cephalic Carnage - Halls of Amenti

everyone listens to their odd grind stuff but ignores their dooooom..

Pink Bubble Go Ape and Master of the Rings by Helloween. They seem to get dismissed as 'the one before Chamelon' and 'the one after Chameleon'. For Me PBGA was the last breath of the old Helloween before it totally imploded, and MOTR was the first hestitant steps back into credible music. Sure, there was a a bit of hard rock on both albums, but neither are given the credit they deserve.

Also the first three albums by Black Sabbath with Tony Martin on vocals (I haven't heard the final two) are generally ignored, but are all excellent 80s Power Metal. Tyr, in particluar, is a brilliant album. I'd concede Headless Cross is maybe too repetitive (especially the lyrics) but still a great album.

Master Of The Rings is an excellent album. I still don't own Pink Bubbles Go Ape, but I have recently downloaded it and put it on my Helloween MP3 CD for my truck, but haven't actually given that CD a good listen.

I'll add Dio-era Sabbath is sadly underrated!

Oh yeah, to prove a point, this thread would be perfect in a General Music forum.

Quite a few. None power metal, but quite a few all the same.

For one, Isis's pre-Celestial stuff is all but ignored, while it's excellent. Poison Eggs is a great song in particular, but they've never really written a terrible song.

Crowbar is overlooked unjustly.

Red Harvest got no attention whatsoever until their latest album, which wasn't really at all the equal of Sick Transit Gloria Mundi or Cold Dark Matter.

Godflesh's post-Selfless output is largely ignored. Perhaps Songs of Love and Hate, or Us And Them needs an archive review.

Helloween - Better Than Raw. I don't care what oldschoolers say about Helloween "never releasing a good album after Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II." This is my absolute favorite Helloween record. It just has so many fun and energetic metal songs that I simply can't dismiss it the way some people do.

Also, I do think The Glorious Burden is somewhat unfairly rated. Yeah, it was probably the most hyped up Iced Earth album ever. And yes, Tim Owens is no Matt Barlow (not that he really needs to be). But damn it. This is a solid metal record nonetheless. It's also probably IE's most musically diverse album.

Crimson Glory - Transcendence

Some of the best Power metal albums ever made.

"In a world....where dragons rule!"

It's boring! Doesn't stand up to the thousands of listens I expect to put Devin albums through.

I'll say:

Zero Hour - Towers of Avarice ('cause they're awesome)
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor (insanely good songwriting)
Arsis - A Diamond for Disease (best song ever? quite possibly)
Kiuas - The Spirit of Ukko (it may be inconsistent, but its damn good)
Maudlin of the Well - Bath/Leaving Your Body Map (2 of the finest progressive death metal albums ever recorded. their transitions are flawless, their talent is true, their ambition is great.)
Non-Human Level - S/T (NHL > Darkane, and like 99% of other melodeath bands)
Scarve - Irradiant (Dirk Verbeuren is my favourite drummer evor)

Yay!!

I think Better Than Raw is fucking awesome! I've not heard many people talk down about that one, I could swap Better Than Raw with Rabbit Don't Come Easy and repost what you just wrote. I think that is an album that is horribly underrated.

The Glorious Burder is a great album, but I feel like the production is a bit weak, it lacks a heavy, bottom-end. It sort of sounds like it came out in the 80's, to me. The biggest problem with the album is that it comes off sort of like Tribute To The Gods does, a little uninspired. Owens is a great vocalist, but these don't sound like he was singing like they were his songs! The same way Barlow came off a bit weak on most of the songs on Tribute To The Gods. Owens does a great job, but he isn't emotionally involved with the songs, he's just singing them. That's my complaint. I still really like the album, though.


Boring? BAH! There are some killer, killer tunes on that album.

Better Then Raw is one of my fav Deris era Helloween albums it does indeed kick ass how can you not like songs like Hey Lord,Push and Falling Higher in fact other then Keeper 3 Deris sings damn fucking good on this album.

Also I agree on Glorious Burden

Other albums:

Biomechanical-8 Moons
Biomechanical-The Empires Of The Worlds
Highland Glory-Forever Endeavor
Lost Horizon-A Flame To The Ground Beneath
Nightwish-Oceanborn
Nightwish-Wishmaster
Epica-Consign To Oblivion
Symphony X-V
Symphony X-The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Judas Priest-All 70's material
Thunderstone-The Burning
Tarot-Suffer Our Pleasures
Thy Majestie-Hastings 1066

I'll have to disagree and say that most of those albums are generally considered to be very good.

Oh I agree but you haven't been on other music forums most of these if not all are underrated and underappreciated by a bunch of people.

I'm also glad to see someone likes my taste in music

In general, music forums are just a place for people to gather and talk. Aside from this forum I've not come across many where people actually discuss music, or even have basic knowledge in it.

Titan Force - All What It Is, give this band a try and you wont regret it. Harry Conklin sings with this band.

What do you mean "inconsistent". There is not one weak song on that album. It's a fucking 99 (That 1% goes because they didn't include Winter In June). And if we are talking about underrated albums this one isn't one of them. It's still quite new and many people haven't even heard of it yet to make an opinion.

This is my pick for underrated albums:

Arwen - Illusions (much better than the first album, someone rightfully said that the score of 46 should have been awarded to the debut.)

Cans - Beyond The Gates ( Hammerfall will never be this close in releasing a good album)

Celesty - Any (It's fast, cheesy and keyboard heavy but it's so damn good. People just didn't give it a chance simply for what it was.)

Ebony Ark - Decoder ( OK, it's not that underrated, it's just that on MR no one has heard of them and they rock.)

Imperanon - Stained (I think Carnifex first mentioned this band and when I listened to it...man was I for a surprise)

Lunatica - Fable & Dreams ( The reviews ruined this great album accusing it of being Nightwish copycat...idiots)

Taraxacum - Rainmaker ( A simple and carefree melodic hard rock)

Throne Of Chaos - Pervertigo ( Someone promised a review of this not long ago...WHERE IS IT ??? Just a reminder)

This album is so weak. Go on, justify the song with the (c)rapper, I dare you!

Superior : Timeshift Demo,Behind
Carisma : 1825
Jacobs Ladder : S/T ? the one with Sarah Williams on it
Heavens Gate
Shadow Gallery: Carved In Stone, Legacy(Cliffhanger part 2 is a wet dream!!)