The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: The Book of Souls

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: And so we come to the end of the Iron Maiden studio albums, although their chapter of this project won't really be complete until I also listen to the few live albums I have. Anyway, The Book of Souls. I love this album. I also think it is one hell of an achievement for them to have made their first double album as their 16th studio release (anyone else think they must have thought 'if Priest could do it' here?). For a long album this one goes by very fast for me. And Empire of the Clouds - wow. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Falling Into Infinity

Old Rating: 2.5/5

Verdict: Well aren't I the fool? I listened to this once after getting it, it didn't resonate at all, and this is the first time I've played it since. Likely because my younger self was swayed by its reputation as the bad Dream Theater album. And guess what? It mostly rocks. Not Dream Theater's finest hour by any means, but it's better than boring old Awake by a country mile. Over a decade has passed since I played a single track from this. I have really been selling this one short this whole time. 

New Rating: 4/5

Album: The Divine Conspiracy

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: At this point in time Epica is my favourite symphonic metal band. With Within Temptation going increasingly more alternative and poppy and Nightwish seemingly content to waste all their potential with Floor Jansen, Epica have become like a breath of fresh air. The Divine Conspiracy was the first album I got from them and while I have been known at times to profess a preference to Design Your Universe or The Holographic Principle I have a feeling that this one will emerge as a firm favourite as I got through the albums of theirs that I own. They are a band that I feel like I should own the whole discography by, though this remains the earliest one I have and maybe that's fine as I do feel this to be the album they really found their sound on and I've never felt like picking up Requiem For The Indifferent as I've never seen any confirmation that new presses of the release were actually fixed after the initial was botched. Maybe one say. I find myself drawn back to this album often, especially the song Chasing the Dragon which is one of my favourite songs of all time. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: The Art of Metal

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: This is a tricky one to rate because I love this album but I also cannot objectively say it's a five star release, so I'm settling on a 4.5. This really is a damn fun album though and certainly underrated by most. Hysterica is usually considered 'just' a heavy metal band, but get past the first track and it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't really the case, with the vocals changing to death growls, which then recur through most tracks on that album. The standout is Message From the Dark, a traditional doom metal song (with a few death growls), where the band shows their potential for songwriting with more depth than their usual cheesy fare, which I have to admit can be a bit derivative (Heels of Steel is obviously a play of Saxon's Wheels of Steel). But as I said, it's fun. A lot of fun. Sadly this remains Hysterica's current album with only an EP appearing since. 

As an extra random fact, this album also has the first appearance in the metal scene of vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith, the year before Avatarium released their debut. Although I can't say I can really hear her in the track she's supposed to be on and I didn't even know this for years and always thought the cleans in that track were the band's usual singer. Decide for yourself if you can hear her or not.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Album: Born a Rebel

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Now there's an album cover that screams 'this is metal' at the top of it's voice if ever there was one and the music delivers just that. Hard edged heavy/power metal from great vocals. Been a while since I spun this one. Rebellion are easily one of my favourite bands and although the focus of the band is usually on their History of the Vikings trilogy, this is a damn fine second offering from them. Great to play it again. 

New Rating: No Change.

Album: Metal Church

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Metal Church's best and most pure USPM album (I reject the opinion of anyone who tries to say this is actually thrash). They do an excellent cover of Deep Purple's Highway Star too. 

New Rating: No Change. 

Album: Images and Words

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Unlike Awake, this one lives up to its reputation and continues to impress with each listen, to the point that my last misgivings over the album have dissipated and this is now a top tier album for me. 

New Rating: 5/5

Album: When Dream and Day Unite

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: A solid enough debut that could mostly have done with a stronger production to start with, but the songs genuinely aren't as strong as most of their later work, though I've always really liked Light Fuse and Get Away. 

New Rating: No Change.