Nathan’s Top 30
2015 was another excellent year. While there are some fairly obvious candidates for a top 30 I missed out on or discovered too late in the year (Nechochwen, and Obsequiae to name two) there was still plenty of good material out there this year. Here’s some of it:
Sonata Arctica: Paasilinna
Author: Marko J. Ollila Publisher: Paasilinna Paasilinna chronicles the career of Sonata Arctica, the lives of its members, and the members’ thoughts on various periods in the band’s history. Having originally been released only in Finnish in November 2014, Paasilinna didn’t receive an English translation until a month later in December, and a printed copy […]
SHOW REPORT: Kamijo (Los Angeles, California)
It’s not every day that a Francophile vampire from Japan with an unhealthy obsession with roses decides to put on a concert in the United States… Live at Beyond the Stars in Glendale, California on June 4, 2015.
TMO’s Best Albums of 2014
You’ve waited with bated breath for 12 months (and a bit), but the moment of reckoning is finally here. Voted on by the one and only Brotherhood of ‘The Metal Observer,’ feast your eyes upon the top 20 albums of 2014!
“I can’t imagine being without those lyrics.” – A TMO Interview With Marcus Siepen: Part 2
In the second and final part of our interview with the Blind Guardian guitarist, we talk books, Game Of Thrones, The Wire and the integral role storytelling plays in his music.
“Blind Guardian is a metal band. Period.” – A TMO interview with Marcus Siepen: Part 1
The Blind Guardian guitarist talks about his band’s ambitious new album, Beyond The Red Mirror, and revisiting Imaginations From The Other Side twenty years on.
A TMO Interview with Geo from Enceladus
A Beginner’s Guide to the World of Japanese Power Metal
It can be bizarre. It can also be off-putting. But it’s an entirely new realm of the sub-genre that can afford some great new bands and masterpieces to listeners. The power metal scene has really blossomed since the arrival of X Japan in the ’80s, and since then it’s been taken to new heights and […]
A TMO Interview With Falconer
The Metal Observer recently had the chance to speak with the legendary founder and driving force behind Falconer, Stefan Weinerhall. Returning with the band’s eighth studio album, Black Moon Rising, which recently dropped on Metal Blade Records, Weinerhall speaks about the intensity of the new album, his approach to songwriting and influences, among other things.
