October 2007 Best Heavy Metal CDs

The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A is the latest Exodus release, and it's another good one. Thrash metal is all about the guitars, and Exodus has two excellent ones in founding member Gary Holt and Lee Altus. Their distinctive riffs and complex solos are the backbone of the band. This album also features the return of original drummer Tom Hunting.

The songs are thundering and powerful, and also very memorable. This is the second Exodus album for vocalist Rob Dukes, who jumped in and fit in perfectly on the last album. He is even more comfortable here and displays powerful, intense and emotional vocals. There are never any huge surprises on an Exodus album, but you know you are going to get first class thrash music.

On Dark Passion Play, all eyes (and ears) are on new vocalist Anette 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. Bassist Marco Hietala also supplies male vocals on a few songs and does a good job.

It opens with the 14 minute epic "The Poet And The Pendulum," which sets the stage. Nightwish's music is bombastic, symphonic and cinematic, with keyboards and strings creating a gothic atmosphere. There are crunchy guitars that add heavy riffs. Dark Passion Play, whether loud and epic, or subdued and acoustic, is always very melodic with memorable choruses and a lot of hooks.

Beyond The Permafrost is blackened thrash metal with influences of both Bay Area and European thrash along with a little New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The songs are fast and streamlined with great guitar work from Nate Garnette and Scott Hedrick. They have an excellent groove, and the black metal influence adds a dark and somewhat ominous vibe.

Chance Garnett is Skeletonwitch's vocalist, and he uses both a high pitched evil black metal rasp and a low pitched death metal growl. The songs, although aggressive and extreme, are also very catchy with some memorable melodies. Beyond The Permafrost is an impressive album that should appeal to old school thrash fans, modern thrash fans, black metal fans, and metal fans in general.

Helloween's latest is Gambling With The Devil, one of their strongest efforts in quite a while. It's straight ahead power metal, and a little heavier and streamlined than their past couple albums. The songs are extremely well-written and everything flows very well. The atmosphere is upbeat, and in addition to the excellent guitar work, the songs are really catchy and memorable.

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.

Legacy Of Evil finds Limbonic Art taking a more aggressive approach. The symphonic elements are still there with orchestral keyboards that are elegant and atmospheric, but the emphasis is on the black metal. The guitars are more prominent than the keyboards this time around.

It's also a nicely balanced effort. There is a good combination of songs that are slower and melancholy with faster, more evil sounding tracks. Daemon's black metal vocals are the dominant style, with only some brief melodic or clean vocals. That also makes the album sound more aggressive and brutal. There are a few lulls, but Legacy Of Evil is a welcome return for Limbonic Art, and shows the black metal veterans are still developing their musical legacy.