Angelic Warlord Top 25 From 2016

I am in the process of finalizing my annual list of favorite/best albums from the previous year and here is what I have for 2016 (please let me know if anything is missing or seems awry):

1. Oblivion Myth – Inside The Mirror
2. The Neal Morse Band – The Similitude of A Dream
3. Theocracy – Ghost Ship
4. Michael Sweet – One Sided War
5. InnerWish – InnerWish
6. Wytch Hazel – Prelude
7. Stairway – Power & Glory
8. S91 – Behold The Mankind
9. The World Will Burn – Severity
10. Big Chris & D’Bare Bones Band – When Your Time Comes
11. Hypersonic – Existentia
12. Dan Cummins – Storm
13. Pylon – A Lament
14. The Union Of Sinners & Saints – Self-Titled
15. PEO – Welcome To The Party
16. Eden’s Way – Can’t Get Enough
17. Vox Heaven – Self-Titled
18. Faith Head – Are You A Faith Head?
19. Philadelphia – Warlord
20. Amos – Jade
21. Energema – The Lion’s Forces
22. My Darkest Time – The Last
23. Razorigami – Embracing A Temporal Exile
24. Pastor Brad – Storm The Gates
25. Various Artists – A Celebration of the Death And Resurrection

Thanks,

Andy

I made the top ten?  Thanks!!!!!

Congrats, Chris!

No Joshua's Creed???

No Joshua's Creed, One Bad Pig, or The Union Of Sinners and Saints? 

Hey, its all relative to tastes.  My top 10 looked different, but I love seeing what other people picked as their favorites.  I am just thrilled to be a part of this.

Maybe my EP that I hope to start on soon will be on next year's top 25.

alldatndensum wrote:

No Joshua's Creed, One Bad Pig, or The Union Of Sinners and Saints? 

It is completely relative, and Dynamis tends to like the progressive stuff more, so it's not surprising to see that One Bad Pig isn't on the AW list.  I am a little surprised to not see Joshua's Creed on the list....especially given that Faith Head did make the list.
But like you said, much of it just comes down to personal tastes.

Thanks for the Honorable Mention, guys!

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No Joshua's Creed, One Bad Pig, or The Union Of Sinners and Saints? 

Actually, I have got The Union Of Sinners and Saints at number 14.  Joshua's Creed was a very tough cut, but I have been inspired to add to the list 5 honorable mentions in which Joshua's Creed will be included (along with perhaps the new Narnia). 

Look for the final version to the article to be online either later this week or this weekend.

The punk/wave/skate rock of One Bad Pig falls outside the sites style guidelines.

I keep meaning to get Oblivion Myth, but having only heard samples so far I'm not sure I would have rated them #1. JMO of course, but I would have put Theocracy, InnerWish, and Michael Sweet in the top three spots. 

As for the others, I agree with whomever stated above that opinions vary but it's interesting to hear yours.

I personally haven't heard Pylon's Lament, but I really didn't like The Eternal Wedding Band and am therefore gun shy about getting another one. I know, it was a re-issue of an old release and may not be indicative of how they sound now, but none the less...

I notice Skillet Unleashed didn't make your list. Probably just as well... I think they've peaked.  Their latest sounded a lot like the one before it, which kinda sounded like the one before that one. :/

I was uber excited for the Philadelphia release, and then uber disappointed with it. I would probably have put Skillet on the list before that one. Narnia is a good "honorable mention", as I was equally disappointed with that one. However, I do think it was better than Philadelphia's. :/ For that matter, I haven't really been impressed with Stairway either, so there's another I might not have included.

And as for that "Big Chris" guy ... he doesn't even like European power metal, so how can he be any good.  Joe- 

"Top <whatever>" lists are always crazy, as it is rare that anyone agrees with you 100%.

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"Top <whatever>" lists are always crazy, as it is rare that anyone agrees with you 100%.

Sometimes it is hard to get someone to agree with 10% of it!  Some folks would have theirs filled with black and death metal and the subsequent genres that all sound the same.  I could care less.  I am buying less and less progressive metal as it begins to sound the same with the keyboards coming in at the same time and the non-stop use of the double bass pedal on the drums.  It isn't progressive--its cookie cutter just like everything else.

So, this year I am determined to not just buy something because everyone else does.  If it doesn't grab me at first, I should probably leave it alone.  If that means I skip something like the new Deliverance or Sacred Warrior projects, then so be it.  I'd rather buy two albums I love than 30 that I only like some of.

I will say that Pylon's A Lament is quite a bit different from The Eternal Wedding Band.  TEWB was their first real full release and it had some doom along with some psychedelia styles.  Plus the production of A Lament is top notch.

Oblivion Myth's Inside the Mirror is a solid progressive metal album.  And while Theocracy has always had progressive elements, they lean more towards power metal styling.

Hey guys this is Alan from The World Will Burn.  WOW!  We are honored to have been listed in the top 10 albums of 2016!  When will this be posted?  We will certainly want to brag about it!  Congrats to alldat and all the other bands as well.  If you guys haven't see it, we have a new video to one of the songs from SEVERITY.  You can see it above.  Our new album comes out soon and I sure hope we make the list in 2017!

Nice list!  Need to still get about half of those.  I did like Wovenhand's Star Treatment from last year.

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Hey guys this is Alan from The World Will Burn.  WOW!  We are honored to have been listed in the top 10 albums of 2016!  When will this be posted?  We will certainly want to brag about it!  Congrats to alldat and all the other bands as well.  If you guys haven't see it, we have a new video to one of the songs from SEVERITY.  You can see it above.  Our new album comes out soon and I sure hope we make the list in 2017!

It is more than like going to be this weekend that the final article will be online- still have a LOT of work to do.  I first need to finalize the top 25 in that I received at the 11th hour a submission from a previously unknown band that released its album late last year (so one of the top 25 is going to end up being an honorable mention).  And once that is complete, give everything a couple of re-writes and do the formatting in Dreamweaver.

I also have a LOT of work to do on this weekends update to the site.  Yesterday I started work on a review of the solo album from Holy Soldier guitarist Michael Cutting, Unspoken.  The problem, however, is that as the review progressed it took more of a form of a Holy Soldier review instead.  So what I decided to do is re-write the review of the Holy Soldier debut I currently have online and let that provide foreshadowing to the review of Unspoken, which will be uploaded the following week.

But once the final version to the article is online (hopefully this Saturday?) I will be sure to let everyone know.  I also want to thank everyone for their thoughts and feedback at the same time.

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Nice list!  Need to still get about half of those.  I did like Wovenhand's Star Treatment from last year

G252BRO, welcome to CHM.  Would you please fill us in more about the details to Wovenhand.  I am always looking for new bands to cover and review.  Thanks,

Oh dude, you don't know Wovenhand?!? Your world is about to change! They're not metal though but they are oh so gooooooooooood...

kerrick wrote:

Oh dude, you don't know Wovenhand?!?  Your world is about to change!  They're not metal though but they are oh so gooooooooooood...

I'm all for alternative sounds, but I couldn't get into these guys at all.

First I would like to welcome the new CHM member.
Welcome GS52BR0.

Dynamis wrote:

Quote :

No Joshua's Creed, One Bad Pig, or The Union Of Sinners and Saints? 

Actually, I have got The Union Of Sinners and Saints at number 14.  Joshua's Creed was a very tough cut, but I have been inspired to add to the list 5 honorable mentions in which Joshua's Creed will be included (along with perhaps the new Narnia). 

Look for the final version to the article to be online either later this week or this weekend.

The punk/wave/skate rock of One Bad Pig falls outside the sites style guidelines.

For those sitting on the edge of their seats, here are the five honorable mentions:

1. Zephaniah - Reforged
2. Joshua's Creed - Joshua's Creed
3. Sweet Crystal - 5 Carat Rock
4. Narnia - Narnia
5. Bjorn Stigsson - A New Beginning

Dynamis wrote:

For those sitting on the edge of their seats, here are the five honorable mentions:

1. Zephaniah - Reforged
2. Joshua's Creed - Joshua's Creed
3. Sweet Crystal - 5 Carat Rock
4. Narnia - Narnia
5. Bjorn Stigsson - A New Beginning

I haven't heard of the band Zephaniah.

alldatndensum wrote:

Quote :

"Top <whatever>" lists are always crazy, as it is rare that anyone agrees with you 100%.

So, this year I am determined to not just buy something because everyone else does.  If it doesn't grab me at first, I should probably leave it alone.  If that means I skip something like the new Deliverance or Sacred Warrior projects, then so be it.  I'd rather buy two albums I love than 30 that I only like some of.

I agree, in 2016 I only bought two new releases.
The new PEO  and Big Chris.

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I haven't heard of the band Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a European power metal band from Indiana that has been compared to Dragonforce.  Zephaniah brings the same type of dual guitar attack.  Lyrics are the usual power metal variety: dungeons & dragons, swords, knights, etc.

Dynamis wrote:

Quote :

I haven't heard of the band Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a European power metal band from Indiana that has been compared to Dragonforce.  Zephaniah brings the same type of dual guitar attack.  Lyrics are the usual power metal variety: dungeons & dragons, swords, knights, etc.

Well I can think of at least two people here that won't like them.   I checked them out on youtube, what I could find anyway. Not bad, although the production isn't very good. Too much drum and not enough vocal.

I noticed in your review of their latest CD you seem to indicate you are not too crazy about the common trend of D&D and fantasy-based lyrics that many European power metal bands tend to follow. Despite that, have you ever checked out Seven Kingdoms? No, they're not Christian either, but they are a favorite of mine.