The Great Collection Rediscovery

Artist: 3 Inches of Blood

Album: Advance and Vanquish

Obtained From: Second Hand Shop

Times Previously Listened: 3

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Quite fun extreme power metal, but the high register clean vocals combined with the high shrieks gets a bit grating after a while. Can't say I'd want to own more than one by them. 

New Rating: 3.5/5

Keeper? Yes, just. 

Album: Blacken the Angel

Obtained From: Ebay Job Lot of Someone's Entire Collection

Times Previously Listened: 2

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: It's pretty average, but not without some merit. A 15 minute track that does nothing to warrant its length drags the album down.

New Rating: 3/5

Keeper? Depends on how the others by the artist come off during this review. 

Album: Altered Reflections

Obtained From: Amazon, Full Price

Times Previously Listened: 21, but most of them in 2010!

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: There was never any doubt that this one was a keeper, but it had been a while since I listened to it and to my genuine surprise my Last.fm stats (in case you were wondering where I was getting such precise info on previous listens from) show that most of my listening to the album was done in 2010, with only two full listens logged since then. That's kind shame on me, because this is a meaty, riff driven prog metal gem that kicks as much arse in 2020 as it did in 2010.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Fuck yes!

Album: After Forever

Obtained From: HMV

Times Previously Listened: 3+ (pre-Last.fm)

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: A pleasant surprise in that its a lot better than I seem to remember it being. I had a thing about After Forever when I was getting into symphonic metal but quickly lost interest as I became aware of Epica. I remember this album as being average. It's a lot better than that, and Floor Jansen certainly gets more opportunity to show her vocals off here than Nightwish seems to allow, though I still prefer ReVamp.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Yes!

Album: Frequencies From Planet Ten

Obtained From: Ebay bargain

Times Previously Listened: 3

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: This isn't my usual sort of metal, but it's very enjoyable. I could learn to like it and their genre more in time.

New Rating: 4/5

Keeper? Yep. 

Album: Iced Earth

Obtained From: Second Hand Shop

Times Previously Listened: 5

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I actually spun this earlier in the month, along with a number of other Iced Earth releases. They aren't the kind of band I thought of when starting this project, being one of my favourites, but I thought this debut album deserved an entry, because this one really clicked a lot more with me this time around. Before I'd considered this to have great instrumentation in the USPM/thrash metal vein, but I couldn't get on with the vocals so much. Well, those finally clicked with me when I played this one again, which cements the era of their first three albums as my favourite by the group. 

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Hell yeah!

Album: Wintersun

Obtained From: Cheap Ebay Win

Times Previously Listened: 2

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: There are times when Wintersun has a great sound on this album. The opening belter Beyond the Dark Sun for instance. Unfortunately what makes for a great and punchy short track doesn't always work so well with their tendency toward longer tracks. In fact every track on here is longer than the last one (by design perhaps?). It's starting to outstay its welcome after nearly an hour. I also have serious issues with the way this band operates; they've long reached the point where it just seems like they're taking the piss and I can't imagine any circumstances where I'd want to buy another album they make.

New Rating: Scrapes a 4/5.

Keeper? Yeah.