So here are my impressions:
Morgana Lefay - Instant love. What for an amazingly great band. I think I could easily put nearly everything they've released on this list, cause their early stuff is just as great as their later ones. But I have to agree that
Grand Materia might be their most impressive and exciting album to date and the darkest too, so i will put this on the list.
Angel Dust - I think I like
Bleed very much. The Vocals are great, the riffs even greater and I felt that the songwriting was perfectly balanced.
Lovely intros and the don't let the songs drag even by a bit.
Aquaria - First i have to admit that I didn't expect very much here (probably because of the shitty band pic
), but damn was i blown away by this band. I like both of their releases almost equally, but I have to go here with R'Vannith again, so i will put
Shambala on this List.
I felt that they're were a little more going on there and i love that tribal feel on songs like Into The Forest. Great frontman too, with a very variable voice.
Suspyre - I have decided that I will neither go with their debut here (hasn't impressed me too much) nor their later work (too proggy), but I was quite fine with
A Great Divide and I think that this album works for me.
It has enough Power Metal appeal and interesting elements to put it up here. I especially liked the softer ambient-like and neoclassical parts here.
DGM - This was a tough decision for me. First of all, almost all their songs are catchy as hell and a lotta fun to listen to and they're technically almost perfect. I like the unrelentless riff-o-rama of Frame and the fabolous songwriting of Different Shapes, but the album which hooked me the most was surprisingly their 2003 release
Hidden Place. It's more straightforward than their later releases, but i think that's what I liked about it so much. It has a strong focus, but never feels boring or uninspired, and, maybe that sounds a bit silly here, but I found it quite beautiful and touching at times. But we can all agree with one thing: They know how to write amazing riffs.
Cloudscape - Have to disagree with both of you again.
Although Crimson Skies and Global Drama are both good works in their own respect, their self-titled debut is the album which takes the cake for me here. For a simple reason: I found it to be alot more catchy, powerful and fun to listen too, but without appearing stale. ^^
Last Tribe -
The Uncrowned: Don't need many words here. Very good album with fantastic guitar work and a nice proggy edge.
Kiuas - Although The Spirit Of Ukko has some nice parts which I liked quite a bit (especially the folky ones), I don't think that their style appealed me totally and I found the growls very off putting here. Talented musicians, not quite my cup of tea, needs a few more spins probably, so i'll save them for later. Across the Snows is an amazing song though.
Nocturnal Rites -
Shadowland: So here we go again, dungeon and dragons, fabulous fantasy metal, cheesy battle hymns (although i like this stuff quite often
). But this time someone hit the nail on the head. What for an powerful and pleasing album. Love*3
Viper - Reminded me somehow of the Keeper-era Helloween (which I like).
Nethertheless
Theatre of Fate sounds for me like an fantastic oldschool heavy-power metal album and is of course an overlooked gem by any means. Yes and great neoclassical approach to their music.
Eldritch -
El Niño: One of my absolute favorites here. I was totally amazed by nearly everything from this album. Great, powerful vocals, fantastic thrashy riffs and an overall captivating atmosphere. This is going to land very high on this list.
Triosphere - Another hard one. I like both their releases very much. But i think I go with your recommendation (
The Road Less Travelled) here again, what I found overall more interesting with a nice mixture between the nice mellow parts and the powerful technical riffs. And damn what for great vocals.
Viathyn - They really catched me off guard. Amazing songwriting, and again a nice transition between softer and often quite folkish sounding and the very good metallic parts. I've got the feeling that this band will grow even more on me in the future.
Crystal Eyes - Catchy indeed, but none of their works impressed me much enough to put them on this list for now. Chained, easily their best, needs another chance maybe. Mhh, I think I'll decide that later. ^^
Axxis - I have to say that I found
Doom of Destiny much more pleasing than their other works. But then again none of their albums really blowed me away. But I think it's good enough to get added here.
At Vance - Leaved me very unimpressed. I don't think that they 'll make it. Will give them another chance in the future, but for now I found them too bland.
Anubis Gate - Very proggy and very good. The Detached is a fantastic album no doubt and very rewarding, but then again I found A Perfect Forever a lot more powerful and the vocals on this are easily better in my opinion. There is just so much great going on, on all of their albums, so it's quite hard to decide an obvious favorite after only a few couple of spins. They'll make it high here, but before I've to revisit them a few times.
Beautiful Sin -
The Unexpected: They really stay to their titles. You wont know what to expect, but then their beautiful music strikes on you pretty effective. I love the vocals too, both male and female ones. Also one of my favorites till now.
Eyefear - I have to mention the very good use of the keyboard here, which adds right enough depth to the music as needed. I would also go with
The Unseen, which offers very good musicianship on all levels.
Karelia - Again a tough decision for me.
Usual Tragedy isn't that special of an album, but his nice transition between Power and Symphonic/Gothic Metal is just my style.
Restless on the other hand with his electronic/industrial influences is far more original and interesting, but it seems for me that they don't work perfectly here. But with that case that both albums deliver something noteworthy for me, but are very different to each other, i decided to put them both on the list. So Karelia is the first band with more than one album on here. ^^
Keldian - Journey of the Souls = Killer. Great riffs, diverse and nice vocals and an overwhelming, spacey atmosphere made this an incredibly pleasure to listen to.
Outworld -
Out of this
world? Not quite, but nearly as good as the last one, which says a lot. The music is just excellent, the riffs, both with an thrashy and proggy edge, are extremely original and consistent, the vocal delivery is very impressive too and this album overall is an absolute winner. No doubt: Some really great stuff here.
Seven Kingdoms - I've found the female vocals to be sometimes very unimpressive and sometimes quite nice, but the music is good, really good even, great riffs with a nice classical touch on them, what I really appreciate. I'm not totally sure yet if they've got what it takes or not, but I think I'll save them for later, too.
Shadowkeep - I agree with Jeff, these unknowns deserve the fame. And so I will put them with a quiet conscience on this list. Because? Because they deserve it. I don't see any faults with
The Hourglass Effect. Great vocals, great technical riffs and a little bit on the atmospheric side too.
Tarot - First I have to admit, besides their famosity I've never heard of them till know. What is a shame, because they're good.
I would go with
Crows Fly Back too, which I've found more captivating than there earlier work.
And yes they're sounding quite dark and I like it that way. ^^
And we all know that Marco is just a fantastic vocalist.
Voyager -
I am the ReVolution: Sounds silly but they're not too far away from this statement for me. It sounds really fresh, but on top of that really good. Some of the songs hooked me pretty hard, because they're very catchy too. I'm sure I'll visiting this album quite often in the next weeks and months. You spoke about a hidden gem in your Review Ag Fox and I agree. ^^
As for now, this is clearly one of my favorites.
Serenity -
Fallen Sanctuary: Quite good, although I didn't impressed me as much as I hoped it would be. I've even going this far to say that I've enjoyed the non-metallic parts a lot more than the metallic ones. On the other side of the coin, we have a very good vocalists as well.
Not sure about it yet, will be revisited another time, but I think it deserves to be here.
Fairyland - I loved their debut instantly. But this can't be said about their latest output
Score To A New Beginning, because this goes even beyond that. Yes, i found it to be that great. Cheesy as hell, yes we all aware about that, when it comes to music like this, but it's just so beautiful and it really manages to evoke pictures of long lost grandeur in my mind. And when an album is capable of something like that, you know it can't be that wrong of a choice. I love it.
I will start now to put some of them down here.
If you guys have something to add, please let me know. I'm open for everything.
And when they're on the list, the last word hasn't to be spoken there of course, there isn't something like a determined ranking. I will be putter around this list quite often in the future, change some positions here and there.
Maybe I will add some commentaries on every album too.