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Avenge the Fallen is the gazillionth album from Swedish Power Metal Band Hammerfall. Not really, of course, I think it’s their thirteenth album actually. You recognize yourself right away which is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, you know what you get, but on the other hand, knowing what you get is a little bit boring. And with a bond like Hammerfall, who I place somewhere between mockery of the Power...
Metal Heart is the sixth studio album by German Heavy Metal Band Accept. I first got it around when it came out (yes, I’m that old) and I still have the Vinyl version somewhere. Back in the day, I loved it. I loved how classical music was incorporated into the songs and I had never heard that before. These days, I’m rather disappointed if there isn’t any kind of that classical touch on an Accept...
High Voltage was AC/DC’s first album released in Australia in 1975. It’s a bit confusing since an album with the same name was released internationally the following year. The tracks are not the same though. On the latter, parts of the original Australian T.N.T. album were also included. Or if we should be frank, most of it is from the T.N.T. album. This means that High Voltage in its original Australian Release features songs not...
Blackout is the German Hardrock group’s eighth studio album. It’s been with me for a long time. I first bought it when I was in my early teens on vinyl. I still have it but I haven’t listened to it for quite a while. My memory is not good, but the title track was just as good as I remembered it. Come to think of it. almost all of the songs on Blackout is really...
Powerzone is, if I understand it correctly, Chez Jane’s second album. It looks pretty hard if you dare to judge by the cover but It’s softer than it looks. There is certainly power both in the vocals and the guitar playing though. To me, the songs are good but not great, and I think that’s my curse and really not Chez’s fault. But power can mean different things. You know the Power Ballad formula. You...
Don’t Kill the Dark is Cobra Cult’s second album. They’re fronted by a female singer/guitarist, but I have a hard time hearing the gender of the singer. Now, that I know it, I can hear it, but before I thought it was just a typical Power Metal Vocalist. They usually sing in high pitches. Not that it matters a bit though. I think she does a great job. She fits the music well. It’s pretty...
Firehouse is the self-titled debut album of the American Hair Metal band with the same name (duh!). Looking at various pictures of the band today, there might not be so much hair though. I guess Pop Metal is a better word. It’s somewhat catchier melodies and more radio-friendly rock than classic Hardrock. But there’s not so much difference. But why am I telling you this? If you’re here reading about this band you already know...
Master of Reality is the third studio album by British pioneers Black Sabbath. It’s probably the “hardest” so far. There are still blues scales and stuff as it is most Hardrock acts even today. But I feel like there’s also a step toward what would become Heavy Metal on this album. Of course, we all perceive music differently depending on our experiences. Nowadays, Master of Reality isn’t particularly “hard”. But when it was released in...
Tarantula is the self-titled debut album from this Portuguese band. I’ve never heard or heard about them before but decided to give it a go. The Cover art got me hooked. It’s ugly as hell but it has some of that 8+s charm to it after all. Music-wise it sure sounds like to 80s. I would have guessed even earlier than 1987 actually. It’s a pretty awful-sounding album. Some of the songs are good though,...
Rising Force was the first solo album by Swedish guitar-virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. I remember getting this back in the day on vinyl. I was blown away by the fast runs and the neoclassical style combined with heavy rock or Hardrock. Of course, you can argue that it’s not a solo album at all, that the band itself was called Rising Force and so on. And, given the fact that Yngwie’s discography hasn’t been consequent when...
Automaton is the sixth studio album by Swedish rockers Crashdiet. I have heard them before but only the occasional album. Generation Wild from 2010 I think. Lots of things has happened since then. Or maybe not so much, but that have at lest swapped vocalist since then. I like what I hear, it’s just as I want this kind of Glam Metal to sound. There are catchy melodies and some arrogant attitude (with tongue-in-cheek). It...
Paranoid is Black Sabbath’s second album. It isn’t hard to hear why these pioneer rockers were such an influence on Hardrock and Heavy Metal. Although the music is obviously based on blues scales they manage to make heavy hifs and nice singable melodies out of it. With ease, it seems. During this time it sound a little psycadelic, meaning that it sounds a bit experimental still. They still have not decided what they are or...
