Week 26: Opeth - Nectar

The artist: Opeth have become a big name in heavy metal over the last decade. Not only are they well established for the mixture of death metal, progressive rock and acoustic elements all in one, they made a breakthrough with Blackwater Park in 2001 which in ten years can already be seen as a classic metal record standing next to Rust in Peace, Paranoid, etc. Mikael Åkerfeldt has also become a big name for heavy metal musicians and with his death metal vocals passing back and fourth with clean singing, Even with a formula they've used since day one, Opeth have managed to make some twists and turns with the raw feel of the first two albums Orchid and Morningrise and the all-acoustic and no-metal Damnation (as well as possibly the upcoming album Heritage). Opeth's success has gone as far as putting them in a high class venue like the Royal Albert Hall which they had to make a live CD+DVD for and I feel proud to have seen that special show for them.

The album: Morningrise is the second Opeth album and still contains the raw sound production which Orchid had. Morningrise is very notable for having every song lasting at least ten minutes long minus the bonus demo track. Some may think these songs are long for the sake of long but this album is rich in quality, although Black Rose Immortal (the longest Opeth song to date) isn't a song for beginners. Songs such as Advent and To Bid You Farewell have become Opeth classics and one has to wonder why Mikael Åkerfeldt opposed this album at a later point. Morningrise may not be the most accessible Opeth album but it's still damn good.

The song: Nectar starts off with an interesting intro. Starting with drums then introducing the bass (which is crystal clear here) and then the guitars. The bass proves to be very useful here and is a prime example of how sound productions should be executed to make the bass audible. The song goes through changes throughout with an acoustic piece around 1:33 in which quickly goes back to the metal. There's another acoustic section six minutes in which contains a strong classical feel. It's an unpredictable move if you've not heard the song before and the acoustic section is a personal favourite for Opeth's acoustic elements. It's a very moving part that is favoured very well with the drums and the bass once again which is a huge plus.

There's so much to say about the musical structure in Nectar and the lyrics are just the icing on the cake. The song is a bout a huge negligence of love that is never spoken out to the significant other. Overall, Nectar is an excellent song from Opeth with great appreciation for the bass as well as showing some of the best acoustic pieces from the band. This song is one of many reasons why it's a close second to Blackwater Park.

Week 25: Saxon - Machine Gun

The artist: Saxon are one of many bands who were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in the late 70s/early 80s. Although they never had the critical acclaim Iron Maiden and Judas Priest had during their golden days, Saxon have managed to stick around since the formation of the band and have released 19 albums throughout their time and recently released Call to Arms. Saxon have their top hits with 747 (Strangers in the Night), Princess of the Night and Wheels of Steel. However, there is more to Saxon than that. Listen to Battalions of Steel from Into the Labyrinth and realise the great material Saxon have going beyond their classics. The later days of Saxon have a touch of power metal to their music and considering they have Charlie Bauerfeind for their sound producer (also the producer for Blind Guardian, Helloween and HammerFall, some of the biggest power metal bands out there), the slight change of direction is no big surprise.

The album: Wheels of Steel is part of the Saxon classic trio (Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law and Denim and Leather). Unfortunately, the lesser known songs don't stand out that well in the album barring one. With songs like 747 (Strangers in the Night), Motorcycle Man, Machine Gun and the title track, it's still an album worth hearing for traditional metal fans.

The song: Machine Gun kicks off with a short solo which is immediately ended by the killer speed riff for the song. This song is another fine example of ending off an album with a speed metal number. That's not all to the riffs, though as the vocal breaks show an even better riff that would go well with action movie sequences like bread and butter. When hearing this song, it's hard to not think of an Arnold Schwartzenegger or Sylvester Stallone action movie when listening to this part as well as the lyrics. The lyrics sound like Rambo going through an enemy base and doing what it takes to kill his enemies. Why hasn't this song been used in any action films? Overall, Machine Gun is one of Saxon's greatest songs for being the speed metal closer of the album and all around sounding like an ideal song for action films that make you want to go through a battlefield and start killing enemies like crazy yourself.

Week 24: Strapping Young Lad - Aftermath

The artist: Strapping Young Lad was Devin Townsend's heavier project. Devin Townsend's solo project has a diverse sound but SYL were more focused on their musical style. It's hard to define the band with a single metal subgenre but it's easy to describe them as "Heavy as a really heavy thing." SYL originally started off as a solo project by Devin Townsend as a response to all the bullshit in the music industry. Anger is a common theme in their music and those who don't like the nature of angst may get turned off by this but see it from a different perspective and see how the use of anger energizes music, especially Strapping Young Lad's works. The rage went on for five albums and disbanded a year after the release of The New Black due to Devin wanting to focus on his solo project only. Unfortunately, the return of Strapping Young Lad isn't likely for the time being but for now, let's look back on the great music Devin & co. played.

The album: SYL was a wind of change to the musical style of the band. The industrial elements heavily declined on this release as well as implementing stronger death and thrash metal influences. Devin Townsend's vocal range was more developed as well. In addition to the musical changes, the self-titled album feels more coherent than its predecessors and stands out as the most consistent release SYL had to offer. This album features eleven tracks that were written to kick some ass really hard! The sound ranges from high tempo tracks such as Relentless and Dirt Pride and slightly more complex structures with Bring on the Young, Aftermath and Force Fed. It's hard to make an album that sounds more pissed and enraged than this masterpiece.

The song: Aftermath starts off with some relentless drumming and makes it a really cool intro for the song. It also helps with the chugging riffs you hear around 40 seconds in and this has to be one of the finest examples of chugging riffs in heavy metal. It's very technical, heavy as a really heavy thing and very memorable. Even if chugging riffs aren't your thing, this song has at least a good riff of that kind. The drums are also insane but rhythmatic (wait, that isn't a word?). Unfortunately, not much can be said about the bass considering the sound production drowns the bass. The lyrics talk about war and using it in the name of religion as well as reflecting on recent wars at the time. For a song that's 6 1/2 minutes long, the lyrics are rather minimal. That's not a bad thing, though since the main focus on the album overall is the relentless instruments. Overall, Aftermath is one of the best songs as well as one of the most chaotic from Strapping Young Lad's self-titled album with technical chugging riffs, Devin's angrier tone and incredible drumming from Gene Hoglan.

Week 23: Bathory - Baptised in Fire and Ice

The artist: Bathory was a one man band held by Quorthon. Although the history of Bathory had other band members as well, it was mostly just Quorthon who played all the music. Bathory is highly praised for being a pioneer band for not only black metal but also viking metal. To be credited for being a huge influence in two genres is quite an achievement. Quorthon recorded many great releases with Bathory such as Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods and Blood on Ice. His later works were a planned Nordland quadrilogy. However, Quorthon only lived long enough to finish two of those albums. He died of a heart failure on 3rd June 2004 and it only makes sense for me to pay a tribute to Quorthon this week to remember him and his contribution to heavy metal.

The album: Hammerheart was released in 1990 and is one of the groundbreaking metal releases in 1990 along with Rust in Peace and Painkiller for its major contribution to viking metal. Hammerheart continues the path to move away the black/thrash metal sound the first few Bathory albums had and also maintains the more complex structures of songs Blood Fire Death boasts. Although Hammerheart is the most recognisable Bathory album, especially with One Rode to Asa Bay having a music video on MTV, it's hard to help but think one song doesn't get as much appreciation as the other songs. After all, it's one song the all-star tribute band Twilight of the Gods didn't play for the live shows or played the least.

The song: Baptised in Fire and Ice starts off with a catchy beat which is shortly followed by Quorthon's chants with "Fire and Ice". The chants in the song give off a great atmosphere and although it's not the only song that uses choirs and chants in Hammerheart, there's something about this song that has a stronger choir feel to it that's almost as good as what you hear in One Rode to Asa Bay. This song reflects rebirth and the early life of a viking who travels across the seas far away from home, traveling across snow and crossing through fire. The said viking also remembers these days later on in his life when he was baptised.

Baptised in Fire and Ice has mid-pace riffs that are heard throughout the album but from the guitar performance, the highlight has to be the solo halfway through the song. It lasts for a minute and even goes side by side with the choir which again, gives off a great atmosphere to the song and has to be one of the best moments in Hammerheart. Overall, Baptised in Fire and Ice is rather under appreciated and deserves more credit for the chilling choirs which even goes along with the solo for the song. It's not a song to skip when listening to this album.

Week 22: Fear Factory - Leechmaster

The artist: Fear Factory are undoubtedly a major industrial metal band. They've attained mainstream success in metal and although they've had ups and downs, Burton C. Bell does what he can to manage the changes in the line-up of the bands. After the downfall of the band over personal differences, Bell ended the band in 2002 but returned a year later with the bassist Christian Olde Wolbers taking over guitars making way for Byron Stroud on bass. This line-up only had two albums and then went on a hiatus but returned a few years later with the triumphant return of Dino Cazares. However, there was more hardship since Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera were replaced by Dino Cazares and Gene Hoglan respectively. Despite more personal issues, Bell has moved on with the band and put out a great comeback with Mechanize. Here's hoping for the machine to go on to release more great albums.

The album: Soul of a New Machine is Fear Factory's debut album released in 1992. The industrial metal elements were well present here but what made this album stand out to the others was the presence of death metal. Unfortunately, Bell wasn't a great death metal vocalist so the changes in Demanufacture were for the better. However, it isn't all about the vocals for heavy metal so you have to consider how well the instruments are executed here. The riffs from Dino Cazares were very rough and Raymond on drums were aggressive. Of course, they still continued the aggression for the other albums but Soul of a New Machine no doubt has a different feeling to the rest of Fear Factory's music.

The song: Leechmaster starts off with a chugging riff that is heard throughout most of the song. It may be repetitive but if it's such a great riff that's energizing, it's worth hearing it again and again. Credit has to be given to Dino Cazares for doing both the guitar and bass for this album and he deserves a mention for the awesome riff here. The chorus also shows another riff from Cazares as well as some relentless bass drumming from Raymond Herrera. This was one of Raymond's finest moments in the band and it's a shame there's been a hardship with him and Burton C. Bell. Unfortunately, the lyrics aren't so great. They feel very basic and at times it feels like Burton is just shouting out "Pain! Love! Pain!" for the sake of shouting. Overall, death metal vocals may have not been Burton's medium but the rest of the band easily makes up in this song for the great riffing and aggressive drumming.

Week 21: Symphony X - The Communion and the Oracle

The artist: Symphony X are a key band in progressive metal who also mix power, symphonic and even neoclassical metal elements to their music keeping their versatility. The band is well known for having Michael Romeo and Russell Allen in the band who are the two that define the Symphony X style, despite Allen not being in the band until the second album. With Allen on board, Symphony X have released great albums such as The Divine Wings of Tragedy, V: The New Mythology Suite and The Odyssey. In the recent years the band take more time on the albums with Paradise Lost taking 5 years to come out after The Odyssey and the upcoming album Iconoclast coming out four years after Paradise Lost. It's better to take your time than to rush out a release.

The album: V: The New Mythology Suite is the concept album released in 2000 covering several subjects such as Atlantis, Egyptian mythology and astrology. The album contains many great tracks such as Evolution (The Grand Design) to kick off things right after the prelude, the instrumental On the Breath of Poseidon and the fantastic 12 minute closer Rediscovery (Part II): The New Mythology to make a climatic ending for The New Mythology Suite. There's actually a strange coincidence Symphony X had with Spock Beard who too made their fifth album in 2000 named V. Both bands have stated these events as complete coincidences, even though Spock Beard ended up making an eighth album in 2005 with "oct" in the title just like Dream Theater with Octavarium.

The song: Communion and the Oracle starts off with an acoustic intro which is shortly followed by some excellent keyboard performance which stands as a true highlight throughout the song. Russell Allen on vocals doesn't start until a minute in and this song provides some of the lightest and softest vocal performances from him but for a ballad it works like a charm. Communion and the Oracle fits in the astrology side of the album with the topic of unbalance between day and night. The solo part is only the beginning of the end of the song and the orchestral elements become much stronger together with the last verse that put Allen at the very best for his singing talent. Overall, Communion and the Oracle is a brilliant song in V: The New Mythology Suite that shouldn't be underestimated at all. This is where the band shows some great work with acoustic guitars, keyboards and vocal performance.

Week 20: Dio - Egypt (The Chains Are On)

The artist: Ronnie James Dio was an icon in both heavy metal and hard rock. Ronnie was in several bands before forming Elf which is where he put his foot in the world of rock and roll. After Elf disbanded, Ritchie Blackmore approached Dio to be the vocalist for his new band Rainbow. Dio left Rainbow after musical differences with Ritchie Blackmore. Dio disagreed with the wind of changes and found himself replacing Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. His time with Black Sabbath in the 80s was short but sweet with Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules. Dio's next musical direction was to form a band of his own with Vinny Appice and release Holy Diver which the title track, Stand Up and Shout and Rainbow in the Dark have become metal anthems.

Today marks the day Ronnie left us all after a long battle with stomach cancer. 2010 was a bleak year for heavy metal with losses such as Dio and Peter Steele from Type O Negative. To pay a tribute to the holy diver and the man who popularized the devil's horns in rock music, here is metal song of the week for Ronnie James Dio.

The album: The Last in Line is the follow-up to the classic Holy Diver. Although The Last in Line doesn't quite a hold a candle to Holy Diver, it's still a great album with yet more classic Dio songs such as We Rock, The Last in Line, I Speed at Night and the epic album closer Egypt (The Chains Are On) that shouldn't be underestimated.

The song: Egypt (The Chains Are On) addresses the exploitation of the people of ancient Egypt. The song starts off with an oriental intro which perfectly fits with a song about Egypt. The riffs are slow in this epic number but not everything can be rushed with fast riffs. This is one of the slower songs from The Last in Line and it's a song that finds the right tempo. One of the highlights from this song has to be the following lyrical section with "You've seen them walking on the water / You've seen flying through the sky / They were frightening in the darkness / They had rainbows in their eyes" This is where Dio truly shows the beauty of his vocal talent as well as great songwriting. The last line with "They had rainbows in their eyes" is hard to avoid relating it to Rainbow and be seen as a nod to the band. The solo following this section has an Egyptian feel to it which is why the slow tempo of the song is highly appropriate.

Egypt (The Chains Are On) is one of the most epic works by Ronnie James Dio and although he passed away a year ago, this is legacy he left us with and we have to be grateful for what he has done in the realm of heavy metal.