2007 Best Heavy Metal CDs

The big story with Nightwish has been the very public firing of vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was replaced by Anette Olzon. On Dark Passion Play, all eyes (and ears) are on Olzon, and she comes through. She has a more traditional singing voice, not the operatic style of Turunen. She doesn't have as much power, but sings with more emotion and expression.

Nightwish's music is bombastic, symphonic and cinematic, with keyboards and strings creating a gothic atmosphere. There are also crunchy guitars that add heavy riffs and break off a solo once in a while. Dark Passion Play, whether loud and epic, or subdued and acoustic, is always very melodic with memorable choruses and a lot of hooks.

Clocking in at nearly 70 minutes, Framing Armageddon is an epic, both in length and musical vision. The songs are dense and complex, and unfold with greater clarity and detail with every listen. There's a diverse mix of upbeat power metal anthems, progressive mid-tempo songs and soaring ballads.

Jon Schaffer has pulled out all the stops in his songwriting. He's always been able to craft songs that are powerful, melodic and memorable, but has added in some other influences here. From middle eastern vibes to interludes to a strong musical and lyrical arc, this is a very compelling album. Ripper Owens is one of the best singers in the business, and for this album the vocals are right in his wheelhouse, and he knocks it out of the park.

Shadows In The Light is a devastating combination of originality and brutality. While not quite as experimental as their last release, the songs on this album have complicated and unusual arrangements. The guitar interplay, dissonant riffs and clever harmonies of Robert Vigna and Bill Taylor are outstanding, and even though the music is complex, they never lose sight of the groove.

This album has punishing blast beats galore, but also an ample supply of catchy hooks. Ross Dolan's vocals are death metal growls, angry yet understandable. Immolation is one of the more underrated bands in death metal, and Shadows In The Light is a worthy addition to their impressive catalog of work.

Sworn To The Dark is a sinister and forbidding dose of black metal. You'll hear the droning guitars and frantic blast beats of black metal, but Watain adds a lot of really catchy and melodic riffs and some cool guitar countermelodies. The drumming is also very creative and one of the strongest parts of the album. The vocals fall somewhere in between black and death metal. They are raw and aggressive, but still understandable.

This is a really well crafted album that's menacing, yet melodic. It's sometimes brutal, sometimes groovy, and always evil.

South Carolina's Through The Eyes Of The Dead has a new vocalist for their second full-length. Gone is Anthony Gunnels, replaced by former Premonitions Of War vocalist Nate Johnson.

That's not the only change the band had made for Malice. They have really made a quantum leap. This album is a lot better than their debut. The band's sound has gotten a little more extreme and is more death metal than deathcore. There are still some breakdowns, but overall the sound is more brutal, and Through The Eyes Of The Dead has really improved their songwriting. The songs are intense, but there is also melody and some very catchy riffs.

Ensiferum uses traditional Finnish folk instruments such as bagpipes, kantele, nyckelharpa and bodhrans in addition to the traditional metal arsenal. The result is a distinctive and very appealing sound. Victory Songs is a combination of Viking and folk metal with some black, thrash and even power metal influences.

The best songs on the album are fast and rollicking with great guitar riffs and folk instruments adding a lot of flavor and atmosphere. The mid tempo and slower songs are still good, but when Ensiferum gets their momentum going, they are nearly unstoppable. The vocals are harsh, and a combination of high pitched screams and low pitched growls. There's also a little melodic singing.

Systematic Chaos is everything you want and expect from a Dream Theater album. It kicks off with "In The Presence Of Enemies - Part I," and it is nearly five minutes before we hear the first vocals from James LaBrie. It's an effective way to set the tone for the rest of the songs.

Systematic Chaos clocks in at nearly an hour and 20 minutes. The shortest song is 5 1/2 minutes long and there are several that are longer than 10 minutes. The styles run the gamut from subdued ballads to complicated and progressive epics to Metallica-esque thrash. Dream Theater's lyrical approach is a little different on this album, with several songs based on fantasy, although there are a few with lyrics based on current and personal events.

Gambling With The Devil is straight ahead power metal, heavier and more streamlined than Helloween's past couple albums. The songs are well-written and everything flows well. The atmosphere is upbeat, and in addition to the excellent guitar work of Michael Weikath and Sascha Gerstner, the songs are really catchy and memorable. Tracks like "As Long As I Fall" are compact and radio friendly, and are contrasted with longer more epic songs like "The Saints."

Making the album even better is the performance of Andi Deris. These are his strongest vocals in quite a while. They have power, range, texture and emotion. Even after over twenty years and a dozen albums, Gambling With The Devil shows Helloween still has some gas left in the tank.

Viides Luku: Hävitetty is very diverse, and Moonsorrow avoids being repetitive. The songs have a nice ebb and flow. Spare acoustic parts build into dense and ominous guitars with grandiose choruses, then dial back a notch or two before finishing with a grand climax. You'll hear a lot of mellower folk metal, but they also crank up the intensity into more of a black metal vibe at times.

The keyboards and strings add great atmosphere to Moonsorrow's music and makes the transition from acoustic to electric much more dramatic. The vocals are a combination of Viking black metal rasps and spoken word vocals that are buried deep in the mix along with melodic chorus singing. Thyrfing vocalist Thomas Vaananen also lends his talents to the mix.

Colors is complex and textured with both bludgeoning metal and intricate, subdued soundscapes. Several songs are really long, clocking in at over 10 minutes. But Between The Buried And Me changes things up with constant twists and turns that you don't even notice 10 minutes have gone by. They insert a lot of progressive elements into the songs, along with jazzy, acoustic, psychedelic and mainstream rock that adds a lot of depth and variety.

Tommy Rogers turns in his finest performance thus far. His harsh vocals lend a cutting edge to the music, and his melodic vocals are surprisingly good. He sings with a higher pitched laid back style reminiscent of '90s British alternative singers.