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A window to the west, a blazing star above
Another Ensiferum album, and my feelings about this one are almost the same as my feelings about the others — folk, super-cheesy power metal, and extreme vocals don’t make any sense when you throw them all into a pot together. Subsets of those things can work together, but all three? Nope. That said, the music on this album is perhaps a bit more interesting than on the others, and the extreme vocals seem a bit less annoying than on the other albums as well. The intro track is great, and “Eternal Wait” stands out for its lack of growls, though the clean vocals are a bit amateurish. But at the end of the day, I can’t take these guys seriously at all, and they can’t stand up to a much more appealing (and much less growly) Amorphis album. Congratusorrylations, @Night Prowler, but the choice here is clear. Winner: Amorphis
Empire flirts with poppy cheese in places, but the production is so good, and large swaths of the songwriting are so good that it’s hard to hold it against them. This was not the album I expected after Operation: Mindcrime, and it’s certainly not as good as that all-time classic, but it’s still a top-tier Queensrÿche record that consistently delivers the goods. (Though I could easily go the rest of my life without hearing“Comfortably Numb”, I mean, “Silent Lucidity” again.) Putting this up against a glass gargler seems unfair, even if the music underneath the growls is quite good, but that’s the luck of the draw. Sorry, @Forostar, but Yaxollin’s nominee takes this one easily. Winner: Queensrÿche
I don’t remember a single song off of this Vuur album after listening to it. The singer’s voice is really thin and feels like a bad fit for the thicker guitars. I remember it being a little proggy, but I honestly can’t remember a single melodic line or lyric from it after the fact. It wasn’t bad in any way, it just left almost no impression at all. While half of the Opeth album has an extreme vocal problem, the other half is great, and even the tracks with glass gargling are still memorable. Sorry, @Black Wizard, but @The Flash ’s nominee is the superior one here. Winner: Opeth
Mastodon is one of those bands where I understand why others like them, but they never really clicked with me. Part of it is the really rough vocals in places, part of it is the stoner rock tropes slathered all over what might otherwise be an appealing chunk of hard prog rock. I will say that a lot of the vocals were better than I expected on this album, and there were several tracks that I liked (“Stargasm”, “The Hunter”, “The Sparrow”, etc.), along with the stuff I didn’t care for at all (“Blasteroid”, “Spectrelight”, etc.). Meanwhile, the Riverside album is a pleasure to listen to all the way through, with high quality musicianship and songwriting. Sorry, Night Spambler, but @Lampwick 43 ’s choice comes out on top here. Winner: Riverside
Empire flirts with poppy cheese in places, but the production is so good, and large swaths of the songwriting are so good that it’s hard to hold it against them. This was not the album I expected after Operation: Mindcrime, and it’s certainly not as good as that all-time classic, but it’s still a top-tier Queensrÿche record that consistently delivers the goods. (Though I could easily go the rest of my life without hearing
I don’t remember a single song off of this Vuur album after listening to it. The singer’s voice is really thin and feels like a bad fit for the thicker guitars. I remember it being a little proggy, but I honestly can’t remember a single melodic line or lyric from it after the fact. It wasn’t bad in any way, it just left almost no impression at all. While half of the Opeth album has an extreme vocal problem, the other half is great, and even the tracks with glass gargling are still memorable. Sorry, @Black Wizard, but @The Flash ’s nominee is the superior one here. Winner: Opeth
Mastodon is one of those bands where I understand why others like them, but they never really clicked with me. Part of it is the really rough vocals in places, part of it is the stoner rock tropes slathered all over what might otherwise be an appealing chunk of hard prog rock. I will say that a lot of the vocals were better than I expected on this album, and there were several tracks that I liked (“Stargasm”, “The Hunter”, “The Sparrow”, etc.), along with the stuff I didn’t care for at all (“Blasteroid”, “Spectrelight”, etc.). Meanwhile, the Riverside album is a pleasure to listen to all the way through, with high quality musicianship and songwriting. Sorry, Night Spambler, but @Lampwick 43 ’s choice comes out on top here. Winner: Riverside
