In this thread I will be going through my CD collection, revisiting albums I believe I've played very little or not for a long time, with a focus on albums bought in job lots, second hand shops and cheap blind purchases on ebay and Dodax. I'll going to try to check at least one album off from those I want to hear again every day. 

This is the collection I'll be working through, though I did belatedly notice there's one album missing. But that doesn't matter because that's probably one I'll sell anyway. There may be some I post here that I will sell. 

https://www.listchallenges.com/adams-mostly-metal-cd-collection-may-2020-update" rel="nofollow - https://www.listchallenges.com/adams-mostly-metal-cd-collection-may-2020-update

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: Becoming

Obtained From: Online, Cheap, Probably Ebay

Times Previously Listened: 6 (didn't realise it was so many)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: This is the kind of album that makes me realise just how much I need to revamp my ratings system, much like I've just done for movies. I mean it's nice enough atmospheric black metal, but it's also quite forgettable. I didn't even realise I'd previously listened to this six times (could have sworn it was no more than three at most) and also after only playing it for a 7th the other day I already find I can't recall much about it.

New Rating: 3/5

Keeper? Maybe. Something obviously drew me to it more times than I realised. In Danger Zone though. 

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: The Mantle

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

Times Previously Listened: 4

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: While I don't think this will become an album I will listen to too often, when the mood strikes it hits the spot just right and is a rather unique entry in my collection. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yes

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: Penthos

Obtained From: Ebay, cheap and near blind

Times Previously Listened: 3

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Not a ground-breaking tech death album that will be my first choice of the genre to play, but it's pretty solid, with some hints at greater potential to come.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yes

What's the tall one on the top shelf?

I also own the albums separately because of that job lot I bought. Really should have sold them at the time but one thing I always disliked about the Gold was that you didn't get the original artworks in any form. 

Only album I've put on sale so far is the one I missed from the List Challenge, which is Periphery - Periphery II. Not really my thing at all. 

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: Spellbook

Obtained From: Gift From the Artist

Times Previously Listened: 6

Old Rating: 4.5

Verdict: Apparently I haven't listened to this since 2013! This one man death/thrash metal act actually gave me this for free so I could review it, a proper retail copy and not a CD-R as some other bands have sent in the past. It's a damn fine little album that I'm surprised I left this long before picking up again.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yep. 

The only others from my collection I currently have a mind to sell - providing they don't click when they're revisited as part of this project - are albums from the collection I bought that I didn't enjoy too much. Which is basically the Anathema ones after a certain point, two Avantasia ones (that I have the Gold Edition of anyway) and the Saviour Machine ones (I remember liking the debut only). 

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: Theatre of Tragedy

Obtained From: Second Hand Shop

Times Previously Listened: 3

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Gothic Death-Doom Metal in the 'beauty and the beast' formula. Works well and more death-doomy than many in this style. From what I recall it's my favourite of this band's albums, of which I have several more I'm less familiar with to go through.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Definitely. 

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: Colony

Obtained From: Free gift for subscribing to Metal Hammer UK back in the day

Times Previously Listened: Unknown (pre-Last.fm), got to be at least 3.

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Good news, it's not worse than I remember. Bad news, it's not any better either. In Flames remain one of those bands that I still don't get the hype for. I have a couple of other releases from them, one more from the same free gift as this and one from a second hand shop, but I recall liking this one the most so things look bleak for those two. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Just about. 

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.

Album: Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Obtained From: Second Hand Shop

Times Previously Listened: 2

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I don't exactly make much of a secret that thrash metal and I aren't best friends or that I have some issue over the ongoing reverence afforded to the so called Big 4, but I do enjoy Megadeth somewhat. I've never been blown away by anything they've done, despite managing to accumulate five of their CDs (all second hand), but that's more than I can say for the other half of the Big 4 (hint the other half does not include Metallica). This re-listen to one of their most well known records didn't change my mind on them. It's solid to my ears, nothing more. I still have a nagging feeling that I've had for a while though that I should at least also own Rust in Peace, but I still haven't bothered to take the plunge on it. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yes.

Album: Blood in Our Wells

Obtained From: Online, somewhere or other

Times Previously Listened: 8

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: I didn't really need to re-listen to this one to know how I felt about it, but it had been a while. It's an excellent atmospheric/pagan black metal release. I've always found Drudkh's other work pretty solid, but this one had that something that's special yet undefinable. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? What do you think?

Creed - Human Clay?

adg211288 wrote: I'd have to have listened to that to begin with to revisit it.

Why do you have it then?

I could never stand Stapp's voice on their singles that used to do the rounds on TV. I certainly never wanted to listen to a whole album of him. 

Really should have put it in the charity shop box by now. 

Album: Dehumanizer

Obtained From: Market Stall

Times Previously Listened: At least 2 (pre-Last.fm)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: It's not as spectacular as Heaven and Hell from the Dio Sabbath albums, but it's pretty solid with a few great standard tracks like I. According to my Last.fm I haven't played it since 2010, so it was nice to hear it again. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Obviously, it's Sabbath. 

Album: Section X

Obtained From: Online

Times Previously Listened: 11

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Sometimes I really why how I manage to leave it so long between old favourites like this. Apparently I haven't played it in full since 2013. That's a real shame on me situation. I must make myself play it more often. A progressive metal masterpiece if ever there was one.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Fuck yeah!!!!

Album: Interval 01: Parallel Infinities - The Inner Universe

Obtained From: Gift from the artist 

Times Previously Listened: 11

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: It's been a while since I played the first album of Lascaille's Shroud in full, though my favourite track Extinction: Swarming the Sun (which features sound clips from Mass Effect) is often in extra rotation. It's actually much more progressive than I recall this first one being and while not as accomplished on all fronts as the later releases, I still enjoy it very much.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yes.

Album: Icons of the Dark

Obtained From: Ebay, either cheap on its own or part of job lot.

Times Previously Listened: 3

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Myrk's sole album from 2003 is a pretty standard black metal affair. The kind of album where you've heard one in the style, you've heard them all, so the best way to rate it is how good are that at that style. Well, Myrk (whatever happened to them) were a pretty solid sounding unit on this album. The song-writing is not what you'd call spectacular but it's also very far from crappy C-Grade BM and they know how to hit hard and with conviction. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? The cheapest copy on ebay is actually in excess if £17.50 (I certainly didn't pay close to that a few years ago) but they'd have to shift the decimal point to the right to make it worth parting with.

Album: For the Love of Art and the Making

Obtained From: Amazon

Times Previously Listened: 10

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: It makes sense to quickly go onto this one given how much I enjoyed rediscovering Section X. Beyond Twilight's third and final album is structured as one long song broken up into 43 small fragments. The idea was for it to be able to be played in any order, giving a different experience each time, but I personally never found a CD player with a smooth enough randomiser for that to work. It's damn good as presented though, but unlike Section X it isn't quite as good as I remember it being. Now, why the fuck did I never buy their debut The Devil's Hall of Fame when I had the chance? I'm off to try and rectify that right now.

New Rating: 4.5

Keeper? Hell yeah!

Album: On This Perfect Day

Obtained From: Amazon

Times Previously Listened: 13+

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: It's been a while for this one from Arjen Lucassen's many projects. More melodic prog rock than I remember it being, with bursts of metal adding a light/heavy dynamic. Another one that I listened to a lot about a decade ago but hasn't left the shelf for a few years. It's not my favourite Lucassen work but it's one that doesn't deserve such neglect as well. My last spin was in 2015 according to Last.fm data. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Absolutely. 

Album: Ænigma

Obtained From: Online

Times Previously Listened: 6

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: I remember being blown away by this in 2013, but it's not a release I've returned to much since with one spin clocked by Last.fm in 2016 between then and this latest listen. It's still impressive and great to rediscover and I should probably check out more of their stuff.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Hell yeah.

Album: Borknagar

Obtained From: Ebay

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 68 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Borknagar is one of those bands I periodically have phases with and as such have accumulated a high number of plays on Last.fm, but I always struggle to accept as an actual favourite band. There are a couple of releases of theirs I love, some very good ones and some merely solid ones. This debut is their most pure black metal record and certainly them at their most raw, a far cry from what they're doing now, and my first step on going through their discography, both the ones I own (which will all feature on this blog) and the ones I don't. Maybe this time around I'll finally convince myself that they're a favourite. As far as this one goes it's in the 'very good' group, but it's not one I'd reach for as often as the two favourites. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yep. 

Album: The Olden Domain

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 96 (8 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: One of the two best Borknagar albums. This is them at their most Viking Metal. Some call the debut Viking as well, but I don't really hear it too much there. I didn't really need to revisit this one as part of this project, but I thought I may as well write about every album I own on CD when I play it for the first time since starting this. This one was one those albums that it took me a long time to actually pick up after first checking it out. If I liked most Borknagar records this much I'd easily count them a favourite band. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Oh yeah. 

Album: Quintessence

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 199 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Borknagar's other best album and the one I've played the most often. This is the point where they started to get more progressive, but still very rooted in black metal. It has some of the most epic (melodic) black metal tracks I've ever heard on it. By rights it's another one that doesn't need an entry on this blog, but I'm all in now. Maybe one day every CD I own will have an entry here. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? No...nah just kidding. 

Album: Empiricism

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 78 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: This is actually the Borknagar album I've owned the longest. I've been a bit up and down in my appreciation of it since day one. On this listen I liked this one a lot more than I remembered and it's pushing me more toward accepting Borknagar as a favourite band. 

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Yep. 

Album: Winter Thrice

Obtained From: Amazon

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 59 (9 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: The last of the Borknagar albums I physically own, though I should probably try to fill the gaps based on this run through the majority of their work (I skipped over the non-metal album, though I do remember liking it). This one finds them firmly in blackened melodic progressive metal vein transitioned to on Urd and is also the last to feature Vintersorg on vocals. It's a pretty fine album, but it doesn't get my blood boiling the way earlier Borknagar at their best did. However I could see this era of the band growing on me a lot more, especially with having also streamed Urd and latest album Truth North again.

New rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yep.

Album: Refuge Denied

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 203 (9 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Now here's an album I played a damn lot of around the time I got it, with some of its tracks played double the amount of times I've spun the whole album. However it hasn't had an outing since late 2017 when I spun it in tribute to Warrel Dane who had just suddenly died of a heart attack. It all come flooding back to me though. This is one mighty fine slice of USPM. I know a lot of people seem to favour Into the Mirror Black, but I always preferred this one.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Hell yeah. 

I highly recommend it. I've got more into their newer stuff with this run through their discography, but the early ones are definitely my favourites. 

I need to start listening to them full stop!

Album: Awakening From Abyss

Obtained From: Amazon

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 308 (12 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Okay, so I definitely didn't need to rediscover this one since it's only a few years old and I've played the thing to death already, but since I decided to write about every album I own (except ones I buy since starting this project, unless it's still ongoing years later, which could be likely since I have almost 1000 CDs) I figured I'd write a little bit about it here. Lovebites are the kind of band that subvert expectations: an all female power metal group from Japan who by association exist in the scene of J-Pop and Visual Kei bothering Japanese metal artists which have produced a number of other all female power metal acts. Then you hear them. And you realise that their music owes as much to the German Teutonic school of power metal (meaning it's speed/thrash metal influences) as it does to more famous Japanese power metal exports. Some may prefer their following releases (as an aside note the Morbid Angel-esq naming convention of their main releases!), but for nostalgia reasons this debut remains my favourite by them. 

New Rating: I'd give it 6 out of 5 if the system let me.

Keeper? It's very nearly number #1 album I'm voting for in the Best of Decade and honestly could get there in the last couple of weeks of voting, so what do you think? 

I have no idea what album 30 will be since apart from my Borknagar run I'm very much doing these based on my whim alone. 

"I'm very much doing these based on my whim alone"

Then how will you know what you've already reviewed when you get to #697?

Album: Maestro

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 196 (11 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: One of the best albums of the last decade, though I'm not quite as fond of it as I am their previous album Underwatermoon. The 2020s should hold even greater things from this group.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yep.

Album: Lustdriven

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 77 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: I really should drag the Kiuas out more often. I really should see if I can find the albums I don't have too. The thing with Kiuas is that for a band with a rather unique sound to them (thanks to the voice of Ilja Jalkanen) they're actually easily to forget about, because they're a quintessential example of a band who split far too soon. 2010's Lustdriven was their fourth and final album. It's probably my favourite of the four, so they went out on a high, but this is one act I really wish was still around as I've always felt we never quite got the defining Kiuas album. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yep.

I'd put this on par with Underwatermoon. Play them both regularly.

Album: Into the Mirror Black

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 108

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: The second Sanctuary album is one that I've been on the verge of giving five stars every time I listen to it, this time being no exception. And yet there's something undefinable that stops me every time. Maybe it's because I've played Refuge Denied considerably more and I just don't find this one to have quite the same level of energy as its predecessor, even though it too is an essential record from US power metal canon. 

New Rating: No Change, though I still don't rule out it one day clicking up to 5 star status.

Keeper? Obviously. 

Album: Arntor

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Track Last.fm Scrobbles: 50

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Windir number among the most tragic of metal act stories. The brainchild of one Terje 'Valfar' Bakken, between 1997-2003 he turned out some of the best albums that melodic black metal has to offer, Arntor being the second of them. In early 2004 Valfar set out on a walk to his family's cabin. A snow storm blew in, and he never arrived. His body was found three days later. He was only 25 at the time of his death. I'm not sure that there's any act that can truly fill the void Windir left behind. For my personal part Arntor is the record that I've clocked the least plays on Last.fm for out of the three I own, for no particular reason that I can think of. I ought to see about completing my collection with the debut one day. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Hell yeah!

Album: Reformation

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Scrobbles: 122

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: The second Kiuas album and the one I've had the longest. Made sense to revisit this now while waiting for their others albums to arrive, which I managed to pick up yesterday. I don't quite like this as much as Lustdriven, featured here earlier, but it's close. A great band gone before their time.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Of course.

Album: Static Tensions

Obtained From: Discogs

Total Previous Scrobbles: 112

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: This record exists in a style I don't listen to much or know much about, but I sure do like it a lot. I played it a lot in 2018, the year I picked it. Until the ones I've recently ordered arrive this is the only main Kylesa album I own (the other is a compilation). They're definitely a band I can see myself spending more time listening to. An unusual band line-up as well in that there are two drummers. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Hell yeah. 

I tried this one once. Won't be trying again...

Album: Reality Dysfunction

Obtained From: Ebay, came with another album that I was looked for.

Total Previous Scrobbles: 14

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I actually got this in a lot of two albums on Ebay. The other one was the reason I bid so this was extra. The lot was sold as 2x technical death metal CDs. The other one, the one I wanted, was just that. This one, which is also tagged as technical death metal on RYM, certainly isn't. Really not sure how this album has been so badly misrepresented. It's actually an okay progressive metal album (with a tie to Haken), but it's let down by the vocals, which are very up and down in quality. 

New Rating: 3.5/5

Keeper? Just about. 

Album: Porta Obscura

Obtained From: Online

Total Previous Scrobbles: 218

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: I got into Coronatus when I was going through a metal with female voices phase. They had a more unique setting in that they didn't pair a female vocalist with a male vocalist (often a growler), but a second female vocalist, which really appealed to me, as did their multi-lingual writing style mixing English, German and Latin songs. I've lost track of the band a bit on more recent releases and all the line-up changes they've had (seriously this band changes members like it's going out of fashion), but this early album still hits the spot.

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? yes. 

Album: Black Sabbath

Obtained From: Market Stall

Total Previous Scrobbles: A bloody shameful 18 (7 tracks)

Old Rating: 4/5 

Verdict: It could probably be seen as shameful the amount of time I actually spend listening to Black Sabbath as a self-respecting metalhead, especially this icon first album that is considered the birth of our genre. It could be seen as even more shameful that it's one of only a few records I've even heard by them. Or that my old rating was 'only' 4 stars. They are definitely a band I should give more appreciation to. 

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Yep.

I find this album surprises me nearly every time I listen to it. It's like "oh yeah, it's 50 years old. Like the old tunes, but don't expect too much." And then I'll notice something I hadn't noticed before and think "Fuck! They did THAT 50 years ago! Amazing!"

Album: Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows

Obtained From: Direct from record label

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 76 (7 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I definitely sold this one a bit short when I reviewed it at merely four stars. It's such an unusual sounding death metal record. I would readily call it avant-garde. Haven't listened to it for a while but it really floored me after some time away from it.

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Yes

Album: The Blackening

Obtained From: er...may have been in store, don't actually remember on this one.

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 13 (would be more, but this came out a couple of years before I joined Last.fm)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Now here's one that I remember playing a lot when it came out (in my pre-Last.fm days - it's hardly come out since then). Instrumentally it's a pretty fine, though often long-winded, groove/thrash metal record from Machine Head, a band who has never interested me beyond this one album, in big part to their descent into nu-metal periods. I find some aspects of the lyrical delivery a bit immature for my taste though, such as the second song where the first line is Robb Flynn screaming 'fuck you all!!!' which may have been acceptable to the teen ears who bought the album but thirteen years later the same ears realise this kind of almost teen angst was coming out of a 40 year old Flynn and his (mostly) older cohorts and it just doesn't wash. It's an album that's aged fucking badly in that regard with the notable exception of Aesthetics of Hate, which was written about the Dimebag Darrell murder and still feels as poignant in 2020 as it did in 2007. 

This album was also incredibly hyped back in 2007, especially by Metal Hammer magazine in the UK and I admit to being among those swept up in Machine Head (or Machine 'Fucking' Head, as MH and fans tended to religiously call them) fervour. But as is evidenced by how little the bloody thing's graced my speakers since, it's not a record that's stood the test of time. The extra sad thing being that from whatever else I've ever encountered by Machine Head, this is most likely the best the overrated act ever got. 

New Rating: 3/5

Keeper? Barely. 

Album: Hirngemeer

Obtained From: Online, possibly Dodax

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 18 (3 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: Now here's one of the weirder entries in my collection, as if you couldn't tell by the cover. A mix of depressive black metal with the avant-garde, this is the kind of album that only fits a niche mood. I described it in my review as sounding like something out of a nightmare and completely unhinged and that's still the impression I get every time I drag it out. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yep.

Album: Pneuma

Obtained From: Online

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 81 (6 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Who'd have thought that the debut album from a then new band sent to me unsolicited by a record label would end up becoming a release I love so much? It actually took me too long to buy this on CD, but is now a key part of my collection. Hail Spirit Noir is easily one of my favourite bands now. 

New rating: No Change

Keeper? Hell yeah. 

Album: Oi Magoi

Obtained From: Online

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 67 (7 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Although in some ways the second Hail Spirit Noir album is even more accomplished than the first, it's one of those cases where nostalgia wins the favouritism race. I've actually had it longer on CD though and it further cemented their reputation as one of my favourite bands.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Naturally. 

Album: Mayhem in Blue

Obtained From: Amazon

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 113 (6 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: My favourite of the black metal Hail Spirit Noir records. Latest album Eden in Reverse marks a change in direction for the band and that kind of makes sense listening to it with these first three, but especially this one. The band has achieved a lot in their original genre and will go on to no doubt do so in their new progressive incarnation. Only time will tell which Hail Spirit Noir graces my speakers more regularly, but between Mayhem in Blue and the new one they've sure made two back to back masterpieces that are very different from each other.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Of course. 

Album: Beyond the North Winds

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 74 (9 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: An interesting blend of metal with dark folk and ambient to create a rather unique folk metal experience, Sig:Ar:Tyr has proved an act I don't reach for too often in the long term, but still a great experience for when the precise mood strikes. 

New Rating: 4.5/5

Keeper? Yep.

Album: Serenades

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 10 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Anthema was one of those bands I ended up with a lot of CDs by in a job lot of someone's entire collection that I bought on Ebay and this marks the first time I have ever listened to any one of the albums a second time. This debut seemed okay on first listen, but it didn't wear too well on the revisit. In fact a lot of its quite boring to my ears. 

New Rating: 3/5 (could go lower)

Keeper? Not really. We'll see how the rest of them go. 

I think I have three Anathema CDs cos I got them real cheap, but I have never warmed to the band.

Album: Sola Scriptura

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 50

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Until the one I picked up earlier today arrives, this remains the only Neal Morse solo album I actually own physically. Likewise I also only own one Spock's Beard album which will feature on this blog at some point. In both cases I'm really not sure why that is, because both albums number among my favourite prog rock albums, especially this one, which is likely the closest Morse has ever come to making a full metal album. Like with the rest of his solo work the Christian theme may be off putting to some (this particular releases is a concept album about the life of life of the German theologian Martin Luther), but I've never found Morse to be excessively preachy (and generally not at all), so it's a shame if anyone steers clear of his solo work for that reason. It's been too many years since I played this one, but it's as strong as ever. I still think he called in favours with God and got the ghost of Layne Staley to lay down some vocals on The Conflict. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Yep.

Album: Ghost Reveries

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 134 (8 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: My first Opeth album. I still remember my first experience with them, listening to The Grand Conjuration on YouTube and how blown away I was by it that I immediately set about collecting every one of their albums. I definitely don't take this one off the shelf often enough these days, although it has seen more listens than some I've said that about on this blog. The band lost me for a bit during their prog rock current era (despite being a fan of Damnation) but I've since found more appreciation for those releases as well. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Fuck yeah!

Album: Blackwater Park

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 40 (8 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Now this is one that would have more Last.fm plays logged if I'd been on that site longer. So would Ghost Reveries actually. Surprised to see that it's been five years since I played this one. Time goes too fast and there's too much music around and good albums get forgotten. It was great to play it again.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Naturally. 

Reckon I should review it?

Album: Clockwork Immortality

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 94 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Clockwork Immortality is one of those top notch albums that still suffers in my estimations due to it not being the first one I heard from the group who made it, even if objectively it's more polished than the previous album. It's still the middle album of a trilogy of top notch power metal albums from this Japanese band though, who've delivered a consistency rarely heard in any genre through consequtive releases. 

New Rating: No Change

Keeper? Hell yeah.

Album: The Whirlwind

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 285 (20 Tracks, most for the main disc - 12 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: Transatlantic's best album for my money. I actually saw them tour this one when they played it, the whole 77+ minute suite, in full. In fact that's the very performance released on their Whirld Tour 2010 DVD, the only live release by any band I can say 'I was there!' for. I must get that DVD out again sometime soon. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yep. 

Album: V

Previous Last.fm Plays: 51 (6 Tracks)

Old Rating: 5/5

Verdict: The only Spock's Beard CD I actually own, although I really should change that (recommendations welcome, although my current inclinations of the Neal Morse era are The Light and Snow, though the latter is hard to get). V is perhaps the most hard rocking Spock's Beard has ever got, despite it also featuring what may just be their most commercial song All on a Sunday, which coincidentally was the first song I heard by them and it put me off going further for years, though I like it more today. However it's the rest of the album which puts this as one of my top prog rock CDs. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yeah and I need more Beard. 

Was that the Manchester gig? I was there too.

Album: Gates to Purgatory

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 76 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: Running Wild's debut. Pre-pirate times and firmly playing 80's heavy/speed metal. A raw and fun album, but not my usual first port of call for the band, although I retain I strong fondness for this one. Running Wild is a band I played a real lot of when I first got into them although I haven't been through their work for a while. 

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yep. 

Ah yes, a bit of research and it's this one I was at recorded in Manchester. I knew I was at one of them that was recorded. I should buy it really seen as I was there, especially as I have most Transatlantic stuff, certainly all the studio albums anyway.

http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/transatlantic/more-never-is-enough%28live%29" rel="nofollow - http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/transatlantic/more-never-is-enough(live)

By the way, if you're looking to check out more Morse era Beard then The Kindness Of Strangers is one of the best IMO.

Album: Dance of December Souls

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 82 (13 Tracks)

Old Rating: 4.5/5

Verdict: One of a couple of Katatonia albums that I picked up during a doom phase (the other obviously being Brave Murder Day). Can't say that this is a band that has ever appealed to be much after they changed direction, but I have a fondness for the first two releases. Always thought the cover of his one had old school prog vibes, although the music itself is anything but.

New Rating: No Change.

Keeper? Yup.

Album: The Metal Opera Parts 1 & 2

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 124 / 42

Old Rating: 5/5 & 4/5

Verdict: Special double entry! I've always preferred the first Metal Opera by a great deal, as evidenced by how much more often I've played it. II really clicked with me a lot more this time around though. These are the only albums I own two copies of as well. Both the originals and the Gold Edition boxset. I really should sell one or the one, but can't decide which to part with.

New Ratings: No Change / 4.5/5

Keeper? Yes, one copy anyway. 

Album: Kaleidoscope

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 28

Old Rating: 4/5

Verdict: I haven't played the fourth Transatlantic album half as much as the other ones. I was very hyped for this before it came out because I bloody loved The Whirlwind back then (and still do!) but my impression of this one has only been lukewarm at best (and still is!). The two epics are decent, but not up to scratch as their older ones or those Neal Morse has done solo or with Spock's Beard. Overall it just doesn't click like I want it to.

New Rating: No change, but sometimes I feel like knocking it down to 3.5.

Keeper? Yeah, but not by much. 

Album: St. Anger

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 12

Old Rating: 1.5/5

Verdict: Everyone's favourite album of all time...in some alternate universe anyway. Honestly I enjoyed listening to St. anger again. No, it's not a great album. The drum sound sucking in particular isn't something people exaggerate. But I do think there are far worse albums around. Far more boring ones too. And some so blandly inoffensive that they become offensive. Although it didn't work out as successful as they'd planned, you have to at least hand it to Metallica for having the guts to go into the studio and tell Kirk no soloing. Or maybe you don't. It kinda is a product of it's time with the popular metal being in the solo lite alt/nu metal vein so maybe Metallica were just trying their best to remain relevant in the early 2000s without realising what people really wanted from them was some good old fashioned thrash. At least they got the picture better with Death Magnetic. 

For me, St. Anger is a special album though, because it's the album that was my gateway to metal music. I'd never been exposed to metal before this. The heaviest my taste in music got was probably Nickelback, a group I later discovered is widely derided as a whole and not just for one release like St. Anger is for Metallica (I mean, not everyone loves Load and ReLoad, but I don't think they cop as much flak as St. Anger does). It's an odd album to claim as your gateway album, but for me that actually makes it that bit more special and think perhaps my metal journey is more unique than those who hear earlier Metallica or classic heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest first. 

I really should scrap my old review of this one and see if I can write a Patrick-esque story review about it. 

New Rating: 3/5 - I did actually enjoy a fair bit of it.

Keeper? Yes.

I think if it wasn't for the snare sound, and of course the Napster controversy going on at the time, St. Anger might've been better received. 

It's part of my goal for this project currently to relisten to all the more maligned Metallica albums again before doing any of the classics. I haven't listened to Load or ReLoad for over a decade I doubt except the odd track from them. 

Definitely, there's so many great albums out there that get shit on because they aren't like what came before. Sometimes it can be hard to not go in with any expectations because we often have unconscious expectations even if we aren't thinking of any like you say. I try my best to go into everything with open ears, and I like to think I've gotten better with that over time.

Looking forward to seeing what you think of Load. Probably my second favorite Metallica these days, after Ride the Lightning. I've been in a Metallica mood myself lately, so I might listen through their discog too.

I got an -esque named after me!

Load and Re-Load did catch a hell of a backlash when they were released, but I think a lot of people went back and re-evaluated their opinions after this arrived, and decided that while they didn't match the first four albums for intensity, there were still bits and pieces which were pretty good. St. Anger was just a turd sandwich through and through. It probably needed to happen though, as a reality check. And it also resulted in Some Kind Of Monster, which makes uncomfortable, but compelling viewing.

Album: Load

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 16 (14 Tracks)

Old Rating: 2.5/5

Verdict: Huh. Unpopular opinion time. St. Anger is a better album than this one. St. Anger may be a bloody faulted release, but it does at least have its moments that keep it interesting. This one is just boring. Not bad, but boring. In some ways I think that's worse. A real slog to get through. 

New Rating: 2/5

Keeper? Nope, but I won't be breaking up the collection.

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Artist: Metallica

Album: ReLoad

Previous Last.fm Srobbles: 2 (13 Tracks)

Old Rating: 1.5/5

Verdict: Huh (again). Another unpopular opinion time. Although Load and my old rating conditioned me to not go back into ReLoad with any expectations, I found this to be a better album than Load. By a whole fucking lot even. I'll never understand anyone who says Load is superior, because this one at least has several really damn good songs and doesn't drag like watching paint dry.

New Rating: 3.5/5

Keeper? Yes, surprisingly. 

Album: Death Magnetic

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 5 (10 Tracks)

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Apparently I haven't played this in full in all my years on Last.fm. Not sure why, because it's quite obviously the best Metallica album post-Black Album* and certainly their most thrash metal based release since the 80s. It has one of the same problems as St. Anger - songs maybe slightly too long, but they have improved on that front since that album. It's overall a very solid Metallica release that doesn't manage to shit all over their legacy. 

* This view comes from not heard Hardwired since it was released either and I don't actually own Hardwired.

New Rating: 4/5

Keeper? Yes and I should give it more attention.