Top 20
1. Cain’s Offering – Gather The Faithful
Cain’s Offering delivers an astonishing performance as they push and push you through their album filled with power metal! Spearheaded by Stratovarius singer Timo Kotipelto, who sounds incredibly fantastic, they manage to give you pleasure in every aspect of “Gather The Faithful”.
2. Sirenia – The 13th Floor
One of the best quality albums of this year 2009. Sirenia has proved capable of creating yet another diverse and impressive musical album where allure is a key word along with its more darker elements and melodious composition.
3. Skyfire – Esoteric
4. Luna Mortis – The Absence
5. Epica – Design Your Universe
6. Delain – April Rain
7. This Ending – Dead Harvest
8. Deathstars – Night Electric Night
9. Crimfall – As The Path Unfolds
10. Iron Fire – To The Grave
11. Tyr – By The Light of the Northern Star
12. Månegarm – Nattväsen
13. Lunatica – New Shores
14. Eluveitie – Evocation 1 – The Arcane Dominion
15. Dark Moor – Autumnal
16. Grave Digger – Ballads Of A Hangman
17. Stratovarius – Polaris
18. Alestorm – Black Sails At Midnight
19. Katatonia – Night Is The New Day
20. Candlemass – Death Magic Doom
Best New Band
Cain’s Offering
Disappointments of 2009
Sonata Arctica – The Days of Grays
I am still in love with all of Sonata Arctica’s albums up until Unia which did not reach the same overall level of musical enjoyment as its predecessors. It was not a bad album, not at all but it was not great either. I had high hopes for The Days of Grays that disappeared as soon as I put my ears on the line for it. Featuring even more advanced compositions than Unia and cool creativeness it is not catchy and ultimately fails at thrilling me.
