Recent Purchases (Secular/Other)

Gotcha.  Personally, Stones is my least favorite SA album, though I know others who love it!  Ninth Hour is very nice though quite a bit more sublime than their previous material.  Taivo is even more mild and pop-oriented; it's not bad, though very different than their other material.  For their later albums, The Days Of Grays and Pariah's Child are probably my favorites.

There we go:

Equilibrium - Sagas
Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name (ltd. digibook)
Sonata Arctica - The Ninth Hour (ltd. digipack)

Anniversary gift from the wife:

Now you won't have to listen to that crappy Civil War album anymore.

Black Rider wrote:Now you won't have to listen to that crappy Civil War album anymore.

That’s next on my purchase list for secular metal, homey.

Someone has to support the b team.

Black Rider wrote:Someone has to support the b team.

I think of it as charity work.

Pethead wrote:Anniversary gift from the wife:

Are you sure she loves you?
j/k, but I'll only pick this one up on discount for the sole reason of being a completionist.

Andreas89 wrote:

Pethead wrote:Anniversary gift from the wife:

Are you sure she loves you?
j/k, but I'll only pick this one up on discount for the sole reason of being a completionist.

Believe it or not, but this one is even better than Civil War’s!

Have you heard the new Stratovarius? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

I thought it'd never happen:

Viathyn - The Peregrine Way
Viathyn - Cynosure

Plus a t-shirt. I ordered it almost three months ago and I finally got it.

Pethead wrote:Believe it or not, but this one is even better than Civil War’s!

Have you heard the new Stratovarius? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

I have no problem believing that

And I can't tell you yet since I'm not a big Stratovarius fan. Not that I dislike them, they just fail to leave a big impression. I do listen to their new songs sometimes, and what I've heard so far was very adequate. But I haven't sat down with the album yet (Borealist and Steel Arctus are first in queue so I'm not sure when I'll get to it).

Andreas89 wrote:

Pethead wrote:Believe it or not, but this one is even better than Civil War’s!

Have you heard the new Stratovarius? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

I have no problem believing that

And I can't tell you yet since I'm not a big Stratovarius fan. Not that I dislike them, they just fail to leave a big impression. I do listen to their new songs sometimes, and what I've heard so far was very adequate. But I haven't sat down with the album yet (Borealist and Steel Arctus are first in queue so I'm not sure when I'll get to it).

I haven’t listened to much Stratovarius. (I’ve had Episode for a number of years and I do like it). I went into the new one with low expectations, and I was presently surprised overall.

Not that I'm a Tolkki purist of any kind, but when it comes to Strato I'm only interested in Visions, Destiny and Infinite, mostly for nostalgia reasons. I do own Polaris and Elysium, which simply don't do it for me so I'm getting rid of them. But last year I checked Eternal and I was positively surprised, so maybe they rediscovered their inspiration after Elysium.

You know what, all this talk inspired me to check them out a bit more. Apart from the albums I mentioned I never heard any of their other albums to be honest.

Black Rider told me this was his #1 for the year.

Number one overrated album

Black Rider wrote:Number one overrated album

Not around these parts! That “honor” would go to The Brave hands down   .

FWIW, I know you said you don’t like CW’s vocals, but this album is a different singer than previous albums.

This is one of my favorites:

I do like Kelly more than Nils and this isn't bad just too much like Sabaton and I like his voice better for the subject.

Black Rider wrote:I do like Kelly more than Nils and this isn't bad just too much like Sabaton and I like his voice better for the subject.

No one can touch Sabaton for this theme for sure.

I threw a few of these songs on my metal playlist.

Maybe not metal or hard rock per se, but

Outlaws - Outlaws
Outlaws - Hurry Sundown
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

I only wanted that Outlaws debut but it was cheaper to buy a 2CD package with Hurry Sundown (the CD with Outlaws printed on it is Hurry Sundown and vice versa, very confusing)

Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

I picked it up on vinyl in my local record shop on the cheap….always had it on cd but never on vinyl.

The new Skid Row album!

alldatndensum wrote:The new Skid Row album!

Not like classic Skid Row but actually pretty good.

The Marshall Tucker Band - s/t

Thanks again to Black Rider and L8T for the tip

On vinyl:

Rush: Moving Pictures
Impellitteri: Stand in Line
Foreigner: Agent Provocateur