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Best albums

- Sabaton - Primo Victoria
Utterly bombastic! Great riffs in the veins of classic Running Wild, Manowar and Gravedigger, majestic choirs, great vocals, good variation and overall fantastic melodies easily make this one qualify to this list.

- Astral Doors - Evil Is Forever
Dio+ Black Sabbath = Astral Doors! The Swedes do it again and prove that their debut masterpiece Of The Son and the Father was no coincidence. Still fantastic vocals by Patrik Johansson but with better songs, fuller production with an even greater sound, Evil is Forever kicks some serious ass. Damn this rocks!

- Primal Fear - Seven Seals
They broke their pattern and delivered the album of their career. Darker, more symphonic, much more variation, great vocals by Scheepers and one of the best metal productions ever!

- Masterplan - Aeronautics
Taken from Tommy's review: "It's very melodic and not at all complicated"! One of the best metal vocalists out there in Jorn Lande continues to prove his worth and with this natural sequel the band almost almost delivers the goods as splendidly as they did on the fantastic debut.

- Savage Circus - Dreamland Manor
What else is there to say? Blind Guardian in all honour but this is amazing! Persuader members Jens Carlsson and Emil Norberg together with Thomen Stauch… A must buy for every Blind Guardian fan!
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Runner ups:
Nocturnal Rites - Grand Illusion, Gamma Ray - Majestic, Paragon - Revenge, Kaledon - Way Of The Light, Kamelot - Black Halo, Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys-The Legacy, Timeless Miracle - Into The Enchanted Chamber, Thy Majestie - Jeanne D'Arc
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Biggest disappointments

- Running Wild - Rogues En Vogue
I was sceptical already when I heard the title and it unfortunately seems that the glorious days of the band might be over. If the next album doesn't deliver I totally give up on them. Truly sad to say about my oldest power metal favourites but there it is: the pirate ship seems to be sinking and not even Captain Kasparek might be able to keep it from happening.

- Dark Moor - Beyond The Sea
Initially when the band split up I was very positive to the self titled former Dark Moor album. That one was originally written for Elisa's way of singing and I've come to realise that's probably why I enjoyed it so much. But Beyond The Sea though takes the band down a path that's way too far from what made me rate this band so highly before. No standout tracks at all, the symphonic happy metal approach is as good as totally absent, the ultra catchy choruses gone and the great guitar solos seem to have been forgotten.

- Stratovarius - Stratovarius
A desperate try to show the fans and the metal world that the band was back and that everything was well and forgotten. But this is an album that for me could have remained in the studio and never seen the lights of day. Timo Tolkki is brilliant in his best form but unfortunately he also has very low lowest levels in his compositions and this is definitely a proof of that.

- Tarja out of Nightwish
If everything that's been said from the other band members is true, they made the right decision firing her, but it's still a big loss for both the band and the world of metal. Sure, they'll recover but things will never be same again…

Happiest/biggest news

- That the metal world is still flourishing like never before and that I'm alive and well to be there to take part of it!

- The new members in the Staff. You know who You are and You do an amazing job!!!