#24 - Top of 2018

Seventh Wonder - Tiara (Frontiers)

Seventh Wonder were among the best prog metal hopes of the late 2000s, with their latest album "The Great Escape" receiving rave reviews from progsters and metal-heads alike.  Between then and now, the band's singer Tommy Karevik joined power/sympho metallers Kamelot, inescapably putting the future of Seventh Wonder in question. However, the band return last year after 9 years of silence with Tiara. Here, the band continues to  blend their brand of melodic prog sound with more AOR-friendly passages and power metal pinches, creating a worthy successor to "The Great Escape", which while not on equal footing, is still an excellent record for power/prog fans. Highlights of the album include "Dream Machines", "Exhale" and beautiful "Against the Grain". This record truly caught everyone by surprise showing that the band is still alive and kicking! Now all we can do is await their return to guide us to new power-prog adventures!



93.8/100


Below is the music video for "Tiara's Song"

#25 - Top of 2018

Primordial - Exile Amongst the Ruins (Metal Blade)

The sombre sounds of these proud Irishmen echo once more as if hearing the steps of a Republican dissident heading to the gallows. In their 9th full length, the band continues in the same vein of all their previous releases since 2005's "The Gathering Wilderness". To those unfamiliar with the band, they play a blend of doom/black with mostly clean vocals, incorporating folk and post influences. In "Exile among the ruins", there is a certain tendency to re-approach their black metal legacy, with opener "Nail their Tongues" referencing the Lutheran Reformation, while followup "To Hell or the Hangman" has a more folk/punk aesthetic to it.  The rest of the album balances between an energetic revolutionary release and a solemn acceptance of the dark age we find ourselves in, while packing gigantic riffing and of course the -as always- exceptional vocal performance of   Nemtheanga.  Single "Stolen Years" deserves an extra notion, with a more approachable simpler tune, Nemtheanga's vocals almost unrecognisable, sounding as a bonus song from a Lake of Tears album in the late 90s. Overall, this work is as excellent as its 2 predecessors in this decade, and while not re-inventing the wheel, there are hints in it indicating that the next album from the band might be a very different one!

93.7/100

Below are the music videos for the titular track and "To Hell or the Hangman"

#26 - Top of 2018

Refuge - Solitary Men (Frontiers Records)

Rage have always been a household name in European power/heavy metal circles, powered by the uber-manly vocals of Peter "Peavy" Wagner. Refuge are essentially a reunion of the classic 88-93 lineup of the band, whose magnum opus "The Missing Link" included of the most beloved songs of the band, such as "Firestorm" & "Refuge". This reunited line-up of  Peavy (bass/vocals)with Chris Efthimiadis (Drums) and Manni Schmidt (guitars), revives the craftsmanship of the old days of the band,  that some of the contemporary releases of Rage seem to eschew in favour of a more modern sound. Some real gems of the record include , but are not limited to the power anthem "The Man in the Ivory Tower",  the creeping power of catchy Savantage-esque "Living on the Edge of Time", the straightforward power of "We Owe A Life to Death" and the defiant closer "Hell Freeze Over".  This is one of the best releases of Peavy this side of 2010 and definitely a fitting (parallel?) continuation to the legacy of Rage!





93.5/100

Below is the music video for "The Man In the Ivory Tower"