Last year was a big dive back into metal year for me. I had put away my electric guitar in favor of my acoustic for, oh maybe 8 or so years.
I completely missed out on Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death, and The Final Frontier.
That said, I really didn't like DoD the first spin. At all. I think the only song that stuck out was Paschendale, but it still seemed a little underwhelming.
Now this record has some of my all time favorites:
Dance of Death, Paschendale, Montsegur, Gates of Tomorrow
AMoLaD: Didn't pick up on this album right away either but:
Brighter than a Thousand Suns, The Pilgrim, For the Greater Good of God and The Legacy
TFF: This one nestled in with my ears nicely from the jump. I really enjoyed The Isle of Avalon, The Talisman, The Alchemist and S15-TFF
Mother of Mercy and El Dorado were the two that sounded just meh to me, but they've been growing on me a lot. I was listening to this album today and when MoM started I was surprised how into it I was. El Dorado is one of my favorite more straight forward tunes they've done now.
From the earlier albums:
Running Free
Drifter
22 Acacia Ave, Total Eclipse
Where Eagles Dare (I used to skip this song every time, I always found the power chord riffage part really uninspired, now it sounds powerful and big!)
Heaven Can Wait (Must have always skipped this one too because I barely remembered it but I really like it now)
Public Enema Number One (Not sure how this one is generally regarded, but I love the melodies.)
Childhood's End, Wasting Love
Most of the X-Factor (still need more spins here as I can't even remember how many of them sound based off their titles.)
Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger (Wow, love this tune, it is repetitive but the fast guitar work towards the end saves it for me and I always look forward to that part, enough where I don't mind listening to the rest, or actually enjoy it.)
Nomad, Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Just goes to show you, a lot of times your first, second... one hundredth impression can change.