Maiden33's Top 25 Albums of 2011

[Maiden33]

Fret not, those who yearn for Progressive, Power, and Traditional/Melodic Metal recommendations from the board's resident guru!

I won't be ready to begin posting for another week or so, but what I'm planning on doing is kicking off on Wednesday, December 7th and post 1 album every day from then through the 31st, counting down to 1. I may post an "honorable mentions" on the 6th, or somewhere else along the way. I'm pretty sure I've nailed down which albums to include, just gotta nail down specific rankings.

I opted out of doing more of a general "year in review" which include shows, because I went to an overall low number of shows this year, that a top 10 would be absolutely pointless. I think I went to like 12 or so, including the Armored Saint show I'm going to this Friday.

[MPF]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

Fret not, those who yearn for Progressive, Power, and Traditional/Melodic Metal recommendations from the board's resident guru!

I won't be ready to begin posting for another week or so, but what I'm planning on doing is kicking off on Wednesday, December 7th and post 1 album every day from then through the 31st, counting down to 1. I may post an "honorable mentions" on the 6th, or somewhere else along the way. I'm pretty sure I've nailed down which albums to include, just gotta nail down specific rankings.

I opted out of doing more of a general "year in review" which include shows, because I went to an overall low number of shows this year, that a top 10 would be absolutely pointless. I think I went to like 12 or so, including the Armored Saint show I'm going to this Friday.

I wait for this every year.

[SomewhereInTime72]

I want this.

[Spiner202]

I have the feeling this list might be my favourite. Bring it on

[Sanitarium78]

Cool, a year end list around here where I may have actually heard of the bands and some of the albums that are on it

[Maiden33]

Provided I can get all the relistening in that I want to do today - I should be posting my 5 "honorable mentions" tomorrow, and then kick off the proper countdown on Wednesday at #25!

[Seventhzealot]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

Provided I can get all the relistening in that I want to do today - I should be posting my 5 "honorable mentions" tomorrow, and then kick off the proper countdown on Wednesday at #25!

I'm using the exact same format on my FB apart from the fact that I'll probably do 12 honorable mentions

[Maiden33]

Actually I decided to kick this off in some capacity today with my "5 Biggest Disappointments" of 2011. I like these albums varying degrees - from thinking some are pretty solid and just outside of my top 30-35, to thinking some definitely suck. But the purpose of this is just acknowledging which artists let me down the most. These are in no particular order.

01 Edguy - Age of the Joker
Despite how much I was scared when Rocket Ride came out, and how much Tinnitus Sanctus didn't exactly change anything, I was still hopeful for a new Edguy album. They've been one of my favorite bands for years, Hellfire Club is one of my favorite albums ever made, and Tobias Sammet wrote and released 2 great albums in 2010 with Avantasia. Sadly all my hopes were in vein. I wouldn't say this flat out sucks, there are a handful of tracks I enjoy, but for the first time in the band's career, there are less tracks I enjoy than ones I don't, and a couple of them just flat-out suck. I would say this band is pretty much done at this point, sadly.

02 Dragonland - Under the Grey Banner
Dragonland started out as the band their name would lead you to assume they are - cheesy power metal, but in 2004 they began to change directions with their outstanding album Starfall, and the evolution continued with 2006's Astronomy. I really loved the niche these guys began to carve out for themselves, so it saddens me that guitarist Olof Morck has apparently decided to continue to push that style 5 steps too far in the new project Amaranthe, while Dragonland have somewhat returned to form. That's not REALLY the problem though - the songs just aren't very good. I wasn't even compelled to listen to this album more than twice.

03 FullForce - One
FullForce are a supergroup of Prog/Power musicians, including Cloudscape vocalist Michael Andersson, Hammerfall drummer Anders Johansson, ex-Hammerfall guitarist Stefan Elmgren, and Carl Johann Grimmark of Narnia and Rob Rock fame. I had high expectations for this project, but ultimately, it just didn't deliver. I think songwriting is mainly to blame - the songs just aren't as strong as they should be.

04 Scheepers - Scheepers
The Ralf Scheepers solo album - this one just kinda sucked. This album had a great roster of guests, and I do like Ralf/Primal Fear, so I was definitely expecting to at least get a few great tracks out of it - and opener "Locked in the Dungeon" started off pretty strong. But overall this disc is just pretty damn disappointing.

05 Jag Panzer - Scourge of the Light
It's been almost 7 years since the last Jag Panzer album - long enough that I was wondering whether or not this would even happen. I loved Casting the Stones, and always have been a pretty big Jag Panzer fan - so it honestly really, really bummed me out when this dropped and I was just very underwhelmed by it. Nothing about this is genuinely bad, I just think it's not as good as it should have been - there's nothing much that made me want to keep listening to it. Sadly the band have now parted ways with this as their swan song - but if it took them this long to release an album like this, maybe it was for the best.

[Spiner202]

It's nice to finally see some Metal albums I recognize on a list (even if they are on a disappointments list).

Originally Posted by Maiden33

01 Edguy - Age of the Joker
Despite how much I was scared when Rocket Ride came out, and how much Tinnitus Sanctus didn't exactly change anything, I was still hopeful for a new Edguy album. They've been one of my favorite bands for years, Hellfire Club is one of my favorite albums ever made, and Tobias Sammet wrote and released 2 great albums in 2010 with Avantasia. Sadly all my hopes were in vein. I wouldn't say this flat out sucks, there are a handful of tracks I enjoy, but for the first time in the band's career, there are less tracks I enjoy than ones I don't, and a couple of them just flat-out suck. I would say this band is pretty much done at this point, sadly.

I actually think this album is better than Tinnitus Sanctus. There are a few really cool tracks (the first two and "Two out of Seven") and the rest is certainly listenable. Obviously he's doing way better with Avantasia, and I don't expect Edguy to be amazing again, but I'm not that disappointed with this album (nowhere near my top 10 though). What is disappointing are their recent setlists.

03 FullForce - One
FullForce are a supergroup of Prog/Power musicians, including Cloudscape vocalist Michael Andersson, Hammerfall drummer Anders Johansson, ex-Hammerfall guitarist Stefan Elmgren, and Carl Johann Grimmark of Narnia and Rob Rock fame. I had high expectations for this project, but ultimately, it just didn't deliver. I think songwriting is mainly to blame - the songs just aren't as strong as they should be.

I still haven't heard this one, but I expected a lot out of it. I'm one of the biggest HammerFall fans there is, so I've been waiting since Stefan left Hammerfall for him to return to music.

[MPF]

I have to agree with all 5 sadly. They were all pretty damn disappointing.