Leather Heart - Comeback - Throwback trad 80s metal

Yeah, it is good, not great. The first song is a killer. The next is very good. After that, the quality varies. Decent retro fun overall though.

Manimal - Trapped in the Shadows - Heavy and melodic power metal ala Priest, Iced Earth. Could probably make the top 50 sooner rather than later.

I like this much more than you do. Top 5 for me, most likely. Killer stuff.

Ram - Svbversvm - Trad heavy metal with much better melodies than before

Yeah, a big improvement over their earlier stuff, though I own their previous album. My favorite songs are those that are most similar to Savatage. The quality seems to decline on the second half of the album.

48. Helloween - My God-Given Right know Helloween can do better though as they are usually in my top 10-15 of any given year.

Their past few albums have not ranked that highly for me, but I enjoyed them well enough. This one did not do much for me, unfortunately.

34. Enforcer - From Beyond

Yeah, fun retrad metal. I own all of their albums.

32. Trivium - Silence in the Snow

I do not like their new direction as much as you do, but I agree that they do it well. This makes my list though I miss the thrashiness.

26. Teramaze - Her Halo
The Aussies left prog thrash behind and went into full melodic prog metal mode on this album.

Yep. One of the biggest disappointments of the year for me.

16. Triaxis - Zero Hour
Manchester based heavy power metallers made their best album yet and by far as well. The female fronted band have a knack for killer pounding riffs ala Firewind, Iced Earth and Mystic Prophecy like you wouldn't believe. Some people may find it a tad difficult to reconcile the lady vox with the power riffing but she fits in rather well in the end. The band does sound musically very manly and I'm left thinking how would the band sound with an amazing male singer. Probably a bit better still is my guess but I'm not denigrating the lady, she's doing a fine job. The music is full of power and melody and shreds harder than most. The band is criminally underrated in power metal circles and really deserves more attention. A brilliant effort!

Yep, quite good. I think the female vocals are a great fit.

14. Symphony X - Underworld

Yep, this seems to be pleasing fans of the old and new. Good stuff.

11. Diviner - Fallen Empires
The debut offering from these Greek chaps blew me clean away in recent weeks and I just can't get enough of it. The band has a lot of ex members from the band Inner Wish which I actually used to love a lot as well. Their new incarnation however is much heavier and held together by the amazing vocals of the front man, Yiannis. This guy really has a divine voice and sings with a lot of power and emotion. The band's song writing is very strong and they take influences from quite a broad range of bands such as Priest, Iced Earth, Manowar etc. It's all about the choruses for me and in this band I find them totally addictive. I wish I had space in my top ten for this band as I enjoy it that much but those spaces are booked as below. For now Diviner have made a fantastic debut to be proud of and a must listen for all melodic heavy metal fans.

Yes, a killer album. Much, much better than Innerwish. In my top tier. So fucking catchy and so damn metal.

08. Tremonti - Cauterize

Earlier in the year, I thought this was a top tier disc for me, but later listens made me notice the inconsistent song quality. Several tunes rule, but others are just decent. Probably second tier for me in the end. We shall see.

07. Ghost - Meliora
The first Ghost album I've liked and their best effort by some considerable distance. Every time I've tried to like the band in the past I just failed to get past the rather insipid songs that tended to meander nowhere. All that is history with Meliora. They took all the mystery and occult moods in the music and turned them into actual songs with memorable hooks that left you singing along with an evil grin on your face. The production was also much better than their previous albums being heavier and punchier. I don't recall the other Papa Emeritus's but this version whilst having a rather nasal thin voice was absolutely perfect for the songs. The album has a couple of dullish moments for me one being Mummy Dust which is OK but pales next to the classic songs. However with the other superbly, moody evil songs, you're left grinning with the devil!

Yep, easily their best. Top tier for me. And I love Mummy Dust!

01. Eclipse - Armageddonize

this album as good as Bleed and Scream? Well that's really debatable.

Huge album for me. Top tier, definitely. Need to listen to B&S again to see if I like this better than that.

Nice list, my man! Thanks for writing it!