A Yuletide Apocalypse

2007: This Year in Metal
2007 was a quality year for metal; fans saw major releases from Symphony X (after 5 years of waiting!!), Sonata Arctica, Nightwish (5 years!), Turisas (3 yrs), Ensiferum, Dimmu Borgir, Twilightning, Winds, Vintersorg, Finntroll (3-4 yrs)

the scene
BEST ALBUMS:
Amoral - Reptile Ride
Ensiferum - Victory Songs
Lyric:

He will ride across land and time
To find a way through this endless night
There’s a storm in his heart and the fire burns his soul
But the wanderer’s part is to ride alone

Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup
Mechanical Poet - Creepy Tales for Freaky Children
Miseration - Your Demons – Your Angels
Nightwish - Dark Passion Play
The first album of the “new Nightwish”, with a wrenching switch from Tarja’s infamous majestic, vibrato-heavy opera to new singer Annette’s thinner, more ‘lyric’ (?) style. Yet what this difficult transition exposes most of all, is Tuomas’ flexibility as a songwriter. Or perhaps he was moving in this direction and felt held back by Tarja’s operatic elements? In any event, the new songs are epic in their own way, with soaring chorus’ that even had moments worthy of the requisite “shudder”. Looking around on YouTube, As for Anette, I’m conflicted in my feelings. Watching some videos of her singing old songs live is a harrowing experience; at times her voice’s thinness and lack of power are made embarrassingly clear, while at others she seems to give the songs a new twist that allows her to sing them without getting booed off the stage. To make things worse, there are instances where it just isn’t clear whether she is butchering, or rejuvinating the material (though it is significant to note that the YouTube responses where uncharacteristically positive). I guess the important thing is that she’s able to at least pull the songs off, though she may not “do them justice”. I’m guessing that they weren’t looking for a “new Tarja”; but wasn’t the operatic element kinda central to the whole “Nightwish” thing? However, given the drama and politics between Tuomas and Tarja, her departure seemn unavoidable. That they weathered the loss of such an iconic and central figure (for many, Tarja was Nightwish), and continue seemingly unfazed on their journey is impressive (granted, the gap between Tarja and Tuomas had been growing for many years, so this was not so “sudden” as it seems. In the end, as a lover of music, and especially that of the metallic and heavy variety,
Highlights: Amaranth, Cadence of Her Last Breath, The Poet and the Pendulum Raintime - Flies and Lies

Sonata Arctica - Unia
Symphony X - Paradise Lost This was easily one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2007. Personally, I found it a bit lacking in originality, with a few stand-out songs, but too much filler in-between, which for a band of Symphony X’s caliber is just unacceptable. Standout song: Eve of Seduction Other notables: The Sacrifice, Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia). Then again, how does one follow up a masterpiece like The Odyssey?

Therion - Gothic Kabbalah This album was a pleasant surprise. My first Therion album was Secret of the Runes, a nearly flawless piece of Therion-y brilliance. Then came the double release of Lemuria and Sirius B, a monumental dissapointment. I tried to like them, I really did! So suffice it to say my expectations were not high for Gothic Kabbalah; boy was I surprised when I set it a-spinnin’. In true Therion fashion, this album scores high in consistency, with quality song-writing across the board. Several tracks stand out as exceptionally well crafted: Trul, and Three Treasures

Winds - Prominence and Demise
This was one of my favorite albums of the year, and really caught me by surprise. Winds combine a brutal, often hammering rhythm section and heavy rhythm guitar with progressive metal songwriting and despair-laden clean vocals. It sounds a bit like heavy progressive metal, but you find yourself encountering a passage of furious blast-beat wall of sound, cutting into a laconic and melodic interlude. And it mostly works. Consistency of song-writing is the albums sore spot. The songs are all pretty good, but only a few stand on their own. Each blends into the next, and . the album falls into a trap that often plagues progressive metal acts; . The songs are well crafted, and I wouldn’t say porly written, but there aren’t enough riffs that make you go “WOW!” and remember the song for the next few hours, or days. Symphony X is an example of a band that successfully combines jazzy dissonance and unpredictability with fuckin awesome riffs and big memorable chorus’. I like big choruses. I’d say this is a promising album from an up-and-comming band that has room to mature. I’m excited to see what they come up with next. Winds’ biggest asset is their unique sound; no other band fields their combination of death metal brutality with proggy song-writing and vocals, in such a neat package.

Serenity - Words Untold & Dreams Unlived
This album is forgettable save for one track: Reduced to Nothingness. I returned again and again trying to find other points of value on the album, but they just aren’t there. But Reduced to Nothingness really is Power Metal at its best, with nice pummeling guitars to remind you this is METAL after all.
Turisas - The Varangian Way

Månegarm - Vargstenen
Moonsorrow - V: Havitetty
Mors Principium Est - Liberation = Termination

Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant
I was wary when I first picked up this album. After Wages of Sin, I’d seen Arch Enemy become insanely popular, and release several albums that just didn’t excite me like WoS did (which was the first album with Angela on vox). Everyone else seemed to love them, but none struck me with the intensity of WoS, which is still one of my favorite albums. But Rise of the Tyrant was another one of 2007’s pleasant surprises. With a sobering maturity, the songs have a heavy individuality, and the uniqueness of Arch Enemy’s sound really shines through. A band with immense talent: the Ammott brothers on guitar, and Angela Gossow, one of the best death metal vocalists around and, being a woman, she’s turned the male-dominated death-metal scene on its head!

Cerberus - Dispute the Truth
Daath - The Hinderers
Dark Tranquillity - Fiction
Kameot - Ghost Opera
Detonation - Emission Phase
Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli