#10 - Top of 2016

Van Canto- Voices of Fire (earMUSIC)

No introduction is needed for the unique a Capella metal band, Van Canto, who continue differentiating from the initial path of covering songs to making their own music with the power of their voices (and a drummer)! The captivating narration by the amazing actor John Rhys-Davies that starts/ closes the record and binds the songs together (best known as Gimli) adds to the epicness of the album.
The band moves from quick-paced epic songs like the blasting "Battleday's Dawn", the chorus-based "Dragonwake" (which starts off low key before turning into a blasting song) and the intriguing "Time and Time Again" (with its more groovy vibe)! However, it doesn't end there, as there are more highlights of the album in the second part with the multi-layered "The Oracle", the powerful "The Betrayal", the catchy "The Bardcall" and the amazingly structured "To Catharsis" showcasing perfectly what Van Canto are amazing at doing, making the listener want to sing along both the lyrics as well as the backing vocals! Rakkatakka!



95/100

Below is the official music video for "The Bardcall".

#11 - Top of 2016

Psychedelic Witchcraft - The Vision (Soulseller Records)

Psychedelic Witchcraft is an Italian band which perfectly balances doom, blues and (of course) psychedelic rock elements with their debut album! "The Vision" is an impressive debut album showing the band's unique sound and attitude. It sets the mood with the amazing guitar riffs of "A Creature" before moving to the bluesy and catchy "Witches Arise"! Throughout the record the captivating vocals by Virginia Monti, the diverse guitar riffs by Jacopo Fallai and the powerful drums by Mirko Buia, elevate the songs, adding their touch to the classic 70's psych blues vibes! There are a number of elements dominating each song, with examples like the energetic "Demon Liar", the psychedelic "Wicked Ways", the darker "The Night" and lighter ballad-like "The Only One That". The hard-rocking "War" and the genuinely catchy "Different" wrap up the album which ends with the "Magic Hour Blues", a solid ending to a great album full of psychedelic sounds and occult themes. An amazing first step to a a journey into the occult psych rock path!


95/100

Below is the lyric video for the song "Magic Hour Blues".

#12 - Top of 2016

Kai Hansen & Friends - XXX-Three Decades In Metal (earMUSIC)

Kai Hansen has been in the epicentre of power metal music for almost three decades now; whether from the position of Helloween's Guitarist, Gamma Ray's Singer-Guitarist or supporting other bands in their first steps. This album serves as a retrospective for Hansen, with a narrative following his long career and the hurdles he had to overcome in his way to becoming who he is today. Along the way, a number of his friends and collaborators over the years also pitch in to give this album a celebratory tone worthy of Kai Hansen's long career. Piet Sielk (Iron Saviour),Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, ex-Gamma Ray), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Tobias Sammet (Edguy), Michael Kiske (Place Vandome - ex-Helloween), Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), Marcus Bischoff (Heaven Shall Burn) and Michael Weikath (Helloween) are only some of the names guest starring in this ambitious project, all paying their tribute to their mentor or comrade. A fantastic power metal experience worth having a listen for all fans of Kai's long career. Here's to the next 30!


94/100

 Below is the music video for "Born Free"

#13 - Top of 2016

Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence (Inside Out)

In the lucky number 13 for 2016, we have the latest endeavour from Devin Townsend Project. After a short break from new material in 2015, Devin is back and, as always, delivering the goods.
The album starts with the chorus-heavy "Truth" (a rendition from the Infinity album) with Anneke van Giersbergen (DTP's usual partner in crime) singing first with Devin's vocals joining in later as the song finishes abruptly, reverting to soft whispers, leading directly to "Stormbending". This is a very "typical" DTP song with Devin's soft vocals taking central stage, before a guitar-driven part of the song which directly leads back to Devin's singing concluding with the chorus joining in, creating a very spiritual ending to the song with the chorus and Devin singing together. "Failure" is a more heavy song - starting with the bass and the drums and leading to an amazing riff. The choral part of this song is superb and is definitely one of the "hits" of the album. An instant classic composition! "Secret Sciences" is a more prog-oriented pieces with with keyboards having a strong influence on the melodic lines and off-tempo riffs contributing to a very metal piece with a beautiful solo at the 4 minute mark. The rest of the album flows beautifully with "Stars" and "From the Heart" being highlights of the second  half. The closer "Transdermal Celebration" is a cover, but despite that, it matches the mood of the album and constitutes a very good closing statement to another engaging record by Devin and co.

94/ 100


Below is the music video for "Stormbending".

#14 - Top of 2016

Sellsword- ... And Now We Ride (Independent)

In number 14,  we are introduced to Sellsword, an epic heavy metal band coming from "the barren plains" of Yorkshire. They  released their debut album "... And Now We Ride" in 2016 independently, and it is truly one of the best albums of epic metal music to come out of the UK for ages! After the mood is set with the intro "...and Now We Ride", "The Warrior" gives the listener the first taste of epicness, while the "Battleground" gives a heavier note! The mix of epic and heavy elements is successful thanks to the lead vocalist's powerful voice (Stuart Perry), the melodic riffs (by Henry Mahy and Jacek J. Mazur) and heavy drums (Alex Brandsen)! The epic element is present throughout the album  with a number of highlights including the amazing "Rise and Take Command", the "Against the Wind" (with its awesome sing-along chorus!), the riff-based "Ashen Hand" and "The Siege"! The record concludes perfectly with the interesting and more theatrical "Meet Your Maker" in all its over-10-minutes glory! In its mission to conquer the world, this Mercenary metal band is bound to capture the interest of all power metal fans with their debut album! Hopefully this is only the first quest of this band of Barbarians!

93/100

Below is the lyric video for the song "Against The Wind".

#15 - Top of 2016

Fury - Lost in Space (Broken Road Records)

Fury are a four-piece heavy metal band from Worcester UK, that in 2016 released their second album from a small local label. Despite their relative obscureness in the worldwide scene, they have been well-established in the local circuit for years and have been building on their good local reputation to branch out and play in more and more venues around the country. This album is their best effort yet and among the most genuine albums released in 2016. Hearing Fury you can tell that these guys are genuine and not another boring copycat label band playing the same things that used to sell last year. The album kicks off with the epic titular track with the warm inspiring vocals of Julian Jenkins and keeps you invested throughout its duration with songs that range from really heavy old-school tracks (like "Sons of War" & "Star Trippin'" ) to a really epic anthem ("A Tale of Silver") which acts as an epilogue to this inspiring heavy metal tale. A real gem worth a listen by all fans of real heavy metal.


93/100

Below is the audio for the title track.

#16 - Top of 2016

Marillion - F.E.A.R (earMUSIC)

Marillion return in 2016 with F.E.A.R. (Fuck Everyone And Run), their new album that through a very introverted and pessimistic tone is frighteningly reflective of the the times we live in. Marillion have been on a streak of excellent albums (as can be witnessed by the previous excellent "Sounds that can't be made") and this album is another gem that despite it's pessimistic cynicism, delivers high quality progressive rock music and is truly what is called "Food for Thought". Five-part opener "El Dorado" is very slow to reveal itself and initially comes across as disjointed fragments and only after hearing it multiple times does it start sounding cohesively as part of a whole. Lyrically the album recounts the plight of immigrants, and the roadblocks they face, with a very bitter and cynical edge to it.
`Living in Fear' is a more compact song, pondering about fear and how it creates barriers between people, dividing us. The lyrics are again very pessimistic with the highlight being "There's a price to pay, living in fear is so very dear". "The Leavers" is much more optimistic to its predecessors, packing a great real warmth. The band juxtaposes itself as 'leavers' versus the 'remainers', who lead a normal life, and cannot understand the way of life of the band until a moment, when in concerts, the band and its audience share their experiences and transcend their positions becoming a whole.
`White Paper' is an emotional ballad, with the band sounding personal and relating how personal relationships can be affected in the age of Fear. The album culminates with "The New Kings". This is a truly heavy and venomous piece with anger directed at the current status quo and how everything seems to be dictated by Big Money and concludes with the almost fatalistic  ""Remember a time when you thought that you mattered/Believed in the school song, die for your country/A country that cared for you -- all in it together?/A national anthem you could sing without feeling used or ashamed./If it ever was more than a lie, or some naïve romantic notion/Well, it's all shattered now./Why is nothing ever true?.../On your knees, peasant. You're living for the New King."
The album concludes with "Tommorow's New Country", that tries to aleviate the blow from the new Kings and close the album on a more positive note than the bleakness promised in "The New Kings".
The album is very political and for this it may not appeal to some who want their music to be separate to their political views, but for everyone else that lives in the real world, F.E.A.R. is a thought-provoking piece of progressive rock music that will live on as a testament of the times will live in.

93/100

Below is the audio for "The New Kings" track.

#17 - Top of 2016

Twilight Force - Heroes of Mighty Magic (Nuclear Blast)

"Heroes of Mighty Magic" is the second full-length album by the Swedish power-adventure metallers, Twilight Force and it offers everything that the fans of this genre might want from an album including: exciting keyboard-driven anthems (by Blackwald), clean high-pitched vocals (by frontman Chrileon), catchy&fast guitar solos (by Aerendir and Lynd), excellent musicianship with symphonic-neoclassical elements and the perfect amount of cheesiness, which ranges from the pompous titles of the songs (such as the intro song "Battle of Arcane Might" and "Flight of the Sapphire Dragon") to the pure fantasy-loaded cover of the record which seem like they were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons!
To top this up, the record also includes some impressive guest singers such as Joakim Brodén of Sabaton (in the title-song "Heroes of Mighty Magic") and Rhapsody Of Fire’s Fabio Lione (in "There and Back Again" which is one of the highlights of the album with all its 10-minute might)! Although some listeners might find the album over-the-top, it is an amazing example of true power metal that can make everyone excited and ready to join in an epic adventure!



93/100

Below is the music video for the song "Flight of the Sapphire Dragon".

#18 - Top of 2016

Headspace - All that you fear is gone (Inside Out)

Headspace is a band formed as a collaboration of Adam Wakeman (son of legendary Yes keyboardist, Rick Wakeman) and Damian Wilson (Threshold). Lee Pomeroy (ex-Archive) is on the bass while Pete Rinaldi (ex-Hot Leg) is on the guitars and Adam Falkner in drums. This is the band's second release with the very interesting "I am anonymous" being released back in 2012. Here, the band exceeds their debut, both in songwriting and album cohesiveness and produce an album of veritably contemporary progressive music, with elements from 90s progressive metal and 70s progressive rock mingling effortlessly. What truly separates this album from similar well crafted bands are the vocals of Wilson which truly put this over the top. Songs such as "Polluted Alcohol"(with a southern feel), "Your Life Will Change” or “Killing You With Kindness” are a very good indication of how the band has progressed in terms of songwriting and how they can produce very different songs that still sound as parts of the same whole due to the cohesiveness demonstrated throughout this release. However it is in big epic songs that Headspace truly shine. And this album has two such moments of progressive brilliance, the "The Science Within Us", a Yes-esque epic and "Secular Soul", the album closer. It is there that all elements found throughout the album converge, ideas intermingle and the album reaches its finale with a big emotional bang.

93/100


Below is the music video for "The Science Within Us"

#19 - Top of 2016

Opeth -Sorceress (Nuclear Blast)

In 2016, Opeth released the third album of the new phase of their career, with "Sorceress" following in the footsteps of "Heritage" and "Pale Communion", with a really progressive rock feeling, taking the band further away from its metal roots, while at the same time, paradoxically, bringing some metal elements back! This is a very interesting release in terms of the progress & ongoing transformation of the band, while at the same time their musicianship remains at very high levels! The album kicks off with the interlude "Persephone" which directly leads to the title track, an interesting prog piece with constant changes in pace. It is followed by the mystical and progressive, but equally Opeth-esque "The Wilde Flowers", and while "Will-O-Wisp" is more solemn and personal, "Chrysalis" breaks out in a progressive orgasm of riffs and a very 70s feel, while retaining a more contemporary edge. "Sorceress 2" is more of an acoustic interlude which reprises the themes of the title track flowing into "The Seventh Sojourn", a mostly instrumental track which features some of the most "Opeth" melodies in recent memory. "Strange Brew" starts off slow and quiet and slowly adds some guitar touches before going full prog and then returning to its silent solemnity, coming full circle. "A fleeting Glance" is another masterpiece of blending the quiet with the powerful - with a very emotional solo- as most songs contained here, while "Era", which closes out the album, is a very experiential piece with a very strong chorus part. 
A very good effort, which while not reaching their creative peak in the progressive rock/metal genre (which was probably "Heritage"), is still an incredible musical journey worth exploring by any fan of the progressive scene.


93/100

Below are the official lyric video for the title track and the music video for "Era".