The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: Sagas of Iceland

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: One of my favourite bands, Sagas of Iceland is the first of Rebellion's The History of the Vikings trilogy. For me it's an excellent album but the weakest of the three (I also prefer Born a Rebel, the previous album, over this one) by virtue of the other's high standard than through any fault of its own. Many great tracks here though showing off the heavier side of power metal.

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Haunting Tales of a Warrior's Past

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: A USPM/thrash metal gem. Less well known than many in the USPM genre, but this is actually one of my favourites from it. Right up there with the best stuff the likes of Fates Warning, Crimson Glory or even Iced Earth has ever put out.

New Rating: 5/5

Album: The Dream Sequencer

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Ayreon's intentionally least metal release, the first half of the Universal Migrator duo (the other half of which is Ayreon's intentionally most metal release), the Dream Sequencer should on paper appeal to me less than it's heavier counterpart, but this is my favourite of the two albums. While it has a number of lesser songs on it, it also has three of my all time favourite individual Ayreon tracks in My House on Mars, Carried by the Wind and The First Man on Earth. One Small Step is excellent too. 

New Rating: No Change. 

https://www.discogs.com/Chastain-The-7th-Of-Never/release/15542044

Album: A Dawn to Fear

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: One of the more recently acquired releases that I'll put on this blog, having got this on either my birthday or Xmas last year (which are just four days apart), A Dawn to Fear was, for a time, my album of 2019. It gradually got unseated by Opeth though, but remained of course among my most beloved 2019 albums. At the time my early impression was that it was the best Cult of Luna album I'd heard yet, though the eight months since getting it have shown that to be the honeymoon period doing the talking and now I look back on Mariner, their collaboration with Julie Christmas, more fondly once again. This is however, still a masterclass in atmospheric sludge metal. So says the guy who hardly listens to atmospheric sludge metal of course, so take what I say about the genre with a pinch of salt. Believe me when I say though that I still love this album a lot.

New Rating: No Change. 

Strange, wonder what my local record shop was doing with the French version?

Album: Outsiders

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Skyliner is one of those power metal bands that seems to sit between the standards of both EuroPM and USPM, while also bringing plenty of progressive and even technical ideas to the genre. This debut album of theirs started as a 4.5 for me but over time worked it's way up to a 5 star release, which reasserted itself for me on this overdue re-listen. I didn't enjoy the follow-up so much unfortunately and never actually bought it, but I stick by my belief that Outsiders is an absolute gem of a release.

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: As Our Army Grows

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Something I picked up cheap one time years after it was released. I recall at the time that this band was tipped to be very like Iced Earth and to some extent that's valid, but overall they're more at the heavier, thrashier end of the Euro power metal spectrum. As Our Army Grows is a solid album, but it's not one that draws me back very often and I'd all but forgotten what it sounded like before giving it this spin. I guess there's a reason we don't buy some things until we see them that cheap.

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Be Gone

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Pharaoh were one of the first USPM bands I got into. I used to listen to these guys a lot. It's been too long since I went through their work and they've been very quiet for much of the 2010s, their last release being 2012's Bury the Light. One band I really hope has a comeback lined up soon.

New Rating: 5/5