Sonic Firestorm / DragonForce (2004)

1. My Spirit Will Go On

2. Fury of the Storm

3. Fields of Despair

4. Dawn Over a New World

5. Above the Winter Moonlight

6. Soldiers of the Wastelands

7. Prepare for War

8. Once In A Lifetime

9. Cry of the Brave

The debut album was very sensational yet also rough and unrefined ore. With this album, they basically continued the same music direction. As they did with the last album, they still stuck with speed except the ballad track 4. However, there was a lot of improvement in this album. First, the sound production was much improved from the last album. Second, the song arrangements and melody lines were better deliberated. Some of the songs in the last album sounded redundant, but the songs in this album is well arranged.

I listened to this album at CD store. From the beginning of track 1, the dramatic metal journey had begun. DragonForce world goes quick with speed. My personal highlights are tracks 1 and 6. They still shows strong obsession to speed, yet they also brought more variety in rhythm and riffs. Because of that new attempt with arrangement, it makes the fast parts stand out even more. Melody lines have better hook, and each song became more distinguishable from other songs. This album was a big step-up for the band and made me looking forward to the next one.

☆☆☆☆

Unbreakable / Scorpions (2004)

1. New Generation

2. Love 'em Or Leave 'em

3. Deep And Dark

4. Borderline

5. Blood Too Hot

6. Maybe I Maybe You

7. Someday Is Now

8. My City My Town

9. Through My Eyes

10. Can You Feel It

11. This Time

12. She Said

13. Remember The Good Times

14. Dreamers (Japanese Release Only)

15. Too Far (Japanese Release Only)

This is my all-time favorite Scorpions album. It strongly reminds me of their '70s era, and for some reason, the songs really hit me emotionally.

Sound-wise, the album is heavy and dark, yet the melodies recall the Uli Jon Roth era. At the same time, it blends that classic vibe with modern production, catchy hard rock elements, and the power ballads that made them famous in the '80s.

Back in the '70s, the Scorpions weren't big in the U.S. yet, but they were already quite popular in Europe and Japan. I believe the reason they resonated so much in Japan back then was their beautiful minor-key melodies. Their songs weren't overly commercial yet, but they had a distinct atmosphere that perfectly matched Japanese musical sensibilities. It wasn't as pop-oriented as their '80s work, but it captivated Japanese fans. This album captures that exact same magic.

At first, I was really surprised by the sound. It was extremely heavy! Some songs are down-tuned to C. Perhaps this album and Humanity: Hour I are the heaviest albums in their catalogue, but it really matches the musical direction they were heading in at the time.

Tracks like "New Generation", "Love 'em Or Leave 'em", "Deep and Dark", "Maybe I Maybe You", and "Through My Eyes" all have a great '70s vibe. I’d call "Maybe I Maybe You" a 21st-century version of "Holiday." Of course, the album also features fantastic ballads like "She Said" and "Dreamer". "Dreamer" is only a bonus track on the Japanese edition, but it instantly became one of my favorite Scorpions songs. It's truly one of the best pieces they've ever written, and I honestly don't understand why it wasn't included in the worldwide release. It also features more upbeat songs like "Blood Too Hot", "Someday Is Now", "My City My Town", and "Remember The Good Times", which will surely please '80s fans.

They continued this musical direction on their next album, but shifted back to a more pop-oriented hard rock sound with Sting in the Tail. To me, this album represents the best of both worlds ('70s Scorpions & '80s Scorpions).

☆☆☆☆☆

The Burning / Thunderstone (2004)

1. Until We Touch The Burning Sun

2. Break The Emotions

3. Mirror Never Lies

4. The Star Man

5. Spire

6. Sea Of Sorrow

7. Side By Side

8. Drawn To The Flame

9. Forth into The Black

10. Evil Within

Their last album had good metal songs yet bashed as a copy of Stratovarius by some critics. I don't know if they heard that or not, but this album was a big step up! The surprise started from track 1. They brought a mid-tempo song at the beginning. The song is very progressive and arranged well. It was a happy surprise for me. Track 2 is a typical Stratovarius type speed metal song. There are some more of the same kind of speed metal songs. However, the highlights of the album are track 1 and 9. They are very progressive and dramatic. In this respect, it is little similar to Masterplan.

This musical direction was even extended in next album, and the band started getting out of typical speed/power metal music.

☆☆☆☆

Dance Of Death / Iron Maiden (2003)

1. Wildest Dreams

2. Rainmaker

3. No More Lies

4. Montsegur

5. Dance Of Death

6. Gates Of Tomorrow

7. New Frontier

8. Paschendale

9. Face In The Sand

10. The Age Of Innocence

11. Journeyman

This album is another memorial one. The final concert of "Dance Of Death World Tour" was the first live show that I watched with my own eyes. I still remember that day. I just turned 18. That concert has two opening acts, Sonata Arctica and Arch Enemy. They were both great, but Iron Maiden totally ate them both. Their performance was more than exciting. It was fantastic!!

Anyways, that was enough for my story. I think this album was the real crucial moment for the band. Fans welcome last albums with open arms because of the return of Bruce and Adrian. Nevertheless, this album was the one that they had to prove themselves. This was the album they had to show the real ability, and they did it!! The arrangement of each song was more developed. I think it is due to the last tour they had. Three guitarists really united as a team.

1. Wildest Dreams

A catchy opening number. Another Adrian's rock song. It seems like writing an opening song became one of his assignment.

2. Rainmaker

It has a beautiful typical Dave melody. I always loved his songs such as "Dejavu" and "Judas Be My Guide" because he always write beautiful melody, and he did another one with this song. I was really happy to hear this song live because his songs were often not played at concert.

3. No More Lies

Typical (whenever I talk about Iron Maiden, I used this word a lot. I am using in good terms of course) Steve's song. Very progressive and dramatic.

4. Montsegur

A powerful metal tune. Bruce's vocal is outrageous. 

5. Dance Of Death

The title track. Very dramatic and beautiful. I still clearly remember that Janic, the main composer of the song, was dancing as he played the main melody of this song at concert. 

6. Gates Of Tomorrow

Starts with impressive riff. This is another good rock tune.

7. New Frontier

The first and the only song that was written by the drummer, Nicko Mcbrain. It has good progression in the middle. 

8. Paschendale

The tone and feeling of the album changes all sudden with this song. It has very unique intro riff. This is the first progressive song that Adrian Smith wrote. Usually, he writes more simple and straight-forward songs, but this was his first attempt to write a long song. The result was amazing! This song is very dark and dramatic. The song has good intonation between quiet parts and loud parts. This song was definitely one of the highlights in this album. You can picture the battle of war when you listen to this song.

9. Face In The Sand

Starts with beautiful and dramatic intro. This song was the first time that Nicko used double pedals (It is really unbelievable to see what he can do with one pedal!). 

10. The Age Of Innocence

This song has dark tone at the beginning and verses, but the song changes to major key and has chorus with bright tone.

11. Journeyman

Their first acoustic ballad. This song was originally played by electric guitars, but then they played with acoustic and recorded. I am very glad that they decided to use this version. The most beautiful and dramatic ballad they have ever written.

Every single song in this is amazing, and the album became impeccable. They proved that the band is still active and full of energy and magic!!

☆☆☆☆☆

St. Anger / Metallica (2003)

1. Frantic

2. St. Anger

3. Some Kin of Monster

4. Dirty Window

5. Invisible Kid

6. My World

7. Shoot Me Again

8. Sweet Amber

9. The Unnamed Feeling

10. Purify

11. All Within My Hands

 





When I heard the rumor that Metallica's next album would be fast and aggressive, I was really excited. I was not a big fan of "Load" and "ReLoard". Even though I admit the quality of the songs in those two albums, that was not really what I expected from this band, so I was hoping that they had gone back to their roots.

 

My first reaction of this album was like, ".....OK. I need to figure out what is happening." It was way beyond what I was expected. In fact, it was not anything like their past albums. Yes, it was fast and aggressive, but the sound production was really raw, guitars were down-tuned, songs were long and comlicated in different way from "Justice", and surprisingly all of the songs did not have Kirk's guitar solo!!

 

They mentioned in interviews that they had jammed to compose each song instead of James and Lars writing most as they had done in the past. Yes, I could see that. In fact, it almost sounded like they were still jamming and not going through arrangement process.

 

This album was a controversial and arguable piece. I saw a lot of negative reviews on internet. I can understand their opinions and agree most of the parts. However, I still admit the fact that I was very happy that they had played songs with aggression and power.

 

☆☆☆☆

Rabbit Don't Come Easy / Helloween (2003)

1. Just A Little Sign

2. Open Your Life

3. The Tune

4. Never Be A Star

5. Liar

6. Sun 4 The World

7. Don't Stop Being Crazy

8. Do You Feel Good

9. Hell Was Made In Heaven

10. Back Against The Wall

11. Listen To Flies

12. Nothing To Say

"The Dark Ride" was a chaotic album musically and created a huge split in the band. After the tour, Roland and Uli were fired and formed "Masterplan". Many people were wondering what would await this band. When they returned, I was wondering what kind of music direction they would head to. Weiki emphasized about returning to their root and the music that fans were expecting of this band.

When I first heard the lead single, track 1, I thought it was fairly good. I felt the positive energy from the song. What surprised me was that the song was written by Andi. It has been Weiki's job (not intentionally, I think) to write  typical Helloween style power metal songs until the last album. It really shows that Andi is truly the member of this band and one who carries DNA of Helloween. Andi's name is credited in 7 songs in this album. It is really impressive how many ideas he has. 

Overall, I think the album is fairly good. The new guitarist Sascha already has shown his composition skill in this album. He become one of the important pillar of this band. This album was also that Markus started his talent as a songwriter. Track 9 was played on their later tour. Nevertheless, the album is not very exciting in their standard. If this album was released by a new band, it would be really impressive, but I want to expect more from Helloween since they are the pioneer of melodic power metal. 

☆☆☆☆

Delirium Veil / Twilightning (2003)

1. Gone To The Wall

2. At The Forge

3. Jester Realm

4. Delirium Veil

5. Return To Innocence

6. Under Somber Skies

7. Seventh Dawn

8. Enslaved To The Mind

9. Masked Ball Dalliance

10. The Escapist (Japanese Release Only)

11. Affection Seeker (Japanese Release Only)

There are many bands that I love. But, there have been only few bands that gave me “shock.” One of such bands was this, Twilightning. Unfortunately, this band broke up with three full-length albums and one EP. I am really hoping that these guys will come back in the scene together. When I listened to their music for the first time, I thought I had some electric shock or was struck by thunder.

This band is probably categorized as Power Metal. However, its music style is not just typical power metal. All songs have unique riffs, and its progression changes such unexpected ways. It is really hard to describe with words. Every song changes and progresses its form in very unique ways. Even though, it’s categorized as a power metal band, there are only two typical fast power metal songs. Most songs are either mid-tempo or high mid. Nevertheless, you never get bored because of their excellent song writing skill.

They were also very skilled musicians for new comers. The twin lead guitar in the intro of Track 2 gave me goose bumps. I still remember that well. This band definitely did not receive recognition and fame they deserved. I hope the market, audience, and metal fans will open larger space for future new comers with great skill and talent like this band.

☆☆☆☆☆