Edguy - Tinnitus Sanctus

Other than the amateurish debut, this one might get the least acclaim among the fans. Not sure. Regardless, it's my favorite album of theirs, which I seem to be the only person who says. For me, it hits the right balance between being silly and serious, cheesy without being embarrassing.

I was super into power metal in the late 90s (hell, I still ran this board back then... off a home computer with an early cable modem no less, lol), and Edguy was a significant part of that. The 4 albums from 1998 to 2004 (Vain Glory Opera, Theater Of Salvation, Mandrake, Hellfire Club) were huge for me, as was getting the chance to see them live, and those albums remain genre favorites for me. I certainly like the first 2 albums as well, but I didn't get copies of them until later on, so they were not landmark discs for me the way the next 4 were.

If we look at the 2nd decade of their career, well... I'd say Tinnitus Sanctus is probably my favorite of those 4 albums. I thought it had some good songs, and also, it was probably the least cheesy of the 4. Not power metal fantasy cheesy, I mean... I love that kind of cheese, and especially did back then. But I'm not as huge on that "jokey" kind of humor that seems unique to German bands.

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier

Sure, it's longer than it needs to be, but that's the only real complaint I can level against this. I love this whole era of Iron Maiden, and sometimes this is my favorite album of theirs. "Coming Home" and "Mother Of Mercy" are great short songs, and this one has my favorite of Steve's ten-minute epics too.

I got this the day it was released, and have enjoyed it ever since. I saw the tour, where they played 6 songs from the album, and it was a great time. "Mother Of Mercy" and "The Alchemist" are fun shorter punchy songs... "El Dorado" and "Coming Home" are great mid paced melodic songs... "The Talisman" and "When The Wild Wind Blows" are killer epics. In my opinion, "Isle Of Avalon" and "Starblind" get a little wonky in the middle there, but they're still creative songs, and I really enjoy The Final Frontier a lot overall.

Dio - Master Of The Moon

I don't know what people hear that they think "Magica" was better than this record. That one was a steaming pile of shit, while this one is a perfectly acceptable record that's more enjoyable than "Angry Machines" or "Killing The Dragon". I guess I like Dio and Goldy together more than a lot of people.

Well I don't know what the fuck you hear when you listen to Magica, but that's hardly a surprise. It's better than Master Of The Moon... but I still like Master Of The Moon quite a bit. There's some really solid material on there, especially the closing track "In Dreams", which I think is fantastic, and really wish they'd played live on that tour. But yeah, I quite enjoy the combination of Dio and Goldy as well, as I think all 3 albums featuring that partnership, Dream Evil, Magica, and Master Of The Moon, are very good.