| 3.5 great |
| 12 Stones Anthem For The Underdog |
| Ash Meltdown |
| Bloodbath The Fathomless Mastery |
| Borknagar Universal |
| Borknagar Urd |
| Brain Drill Quantum Catastrophe |
| Brain Drill Apocalyptic Feasting |
| Cephalic Carnage Xenosapien |
| Crystal Eyes Confessions of the Maker |
| Not the most original album out there in terms of power metal, but the guitar riffs and solos in particular are very strong, having Daniel Heiman sing on this album won it for me. |
| Damageplan New Found Power |
| Dream Theater Falling into Infinity |
| Dream Theater The Number Of The Beast |
| The band is in top form as usual, Labrie's got a lot of flak for his vocals on here but I feel he did really well, far better than the MOP tribute, and he's hit several real high notes on this one. |
| Dream Theater A Dramatic Turn of Events |
| A real breath of fresh air, everyone sounds inspired and renewed. Myung can finally be heard in the mix and he even does some solos himself, his contributions are more apparent. A lot less wank on this album than on previous ones (although I am at the same time a sucker for technical wank), Petrucci and Rudess play some of the most tasteful solos in their career in Lost Not Forgotten, almost reminiscent of the solo tradeoff in Under A Glass Moon. Mangini did not have any creative input in the writing side of things, so I can't comment on that, but his playing on the album is solid. James sounds particularly renewed in my opinion, his vocals are more organic and his dynamics can be heard more than on previous releases. My minor nitpicks will be that this album is on the softer side, part of why I like DT so much is their metal side as well, what Portnoy brought to the table, and 3 ballads is one too many for any album imo, 2 works just fine for me. DT is far from done, and this album proves that. |
| Dream Theater A View From The Top Of The World |
| Exhumed Slaughtercult |
| Gamma Ray Master of Confusion |
| Godsmack Awake |
| Helloween Straight Out of Hell |
| Hour of Penance The Vile Conception |
| Iced Earth Dystopia |
| In Flames Reroute to Remain |
| In Flames Come Clarity |
| Iron Maiden A Matter Of Life And Death |
| James LaBrie Elements Of Persuasion |
| Judas Priest Painkiller |
| Kiuas Reformation |
| Kreator Enemy Of God |
| Megadeth Endgame |
| Metallica Death Magnetic |
| Origin Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas |
| Planet X MoonBabies |
| Queensryche Empire |
| Slayer Reign in Blood |
| Slayer World Painted Blood |
| Sodom In War And Pieces |
| Staind Dysfunction |
| Stratovarius Polaris |
| Stratovarius Elysium |
| Symphony X The Divine Wings of Tragedy |
| Symphony X Twilight in Olympus |
| Testament The Gathering |
| The Offspring Splinter |
| The Offspring Conspiracy of One |
| Threshold Subsurface |
| Threshold Critical Mass |
| Trivium Shogun |
