Concert Hopper Chris' Favorite Metal Albums of 2020
Ad Infinitum. Press photo by Napalm Records.
With most of 2020 lost to fans of live music, we have had to make do with new album releases to get our fix. To that end, Concert Hopper's three resident metalheads (Editor in Chief Xerxes Tzolis, Album Review Editor Chris Griffy, and Metal Prophet Richard Davenport) have each compiled their list of favorite releases, which will be released over the next few days. The lists show just how diverse the “metal” umbrella is, with each bringing a different sub-genre preference to their list. Chris’ list leans heavily into his love of progressive, power, and symphonic metal.
Ad Infinitum- Chapter I- Monarchy
When we released our mid-year list of favorites, this album was #5, the last on my list. 6 months later it has been the album I've found myself returning to more than any other. This is as strong a debut as I've seen in years, led by the pure power of vocalist Melissa Bonny, who can hit symphonic high notes as well as Simone Simons and growl like Angela Gossow. I hope the “Chapter 1” in the album's title means there is a Chapter 2 coming in 2021, because I need more of what Ad Infinitum is serving up.
Demons & Wizards- III
Edit from Concert Hopper Chris: This album and this list came out before it was revealed that D&W co-founder Jon Schaffer was among those rioting in the Capitol on 1/6. I endeavor to keep an artist’s personal politics from influencing my musical reviews, but sedition is a different animal. I stand by the quality of this album but can’t in good conscience support the band anymore. I still love and support vocalist Hansi Kursch (who is German so removed from American politics) and his primary band Blind Guardian. I’m leaving the album title up because to remove it completely would be to pretend it didn’t happen.
Nightwish- Human:II:Nature
For their second studio album with vocalist Floor Jansen (the best female vocalist in metal today and arguably ever), Nightwish continues the themes explored on 2015's Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Band leader and primary songwriter Tuomas Halopainen's exploration of the balance (or more accurately imbalance) between nature and technology, best exemplified in “Noise”, which highlights how the fake reality of social media taints our reality.
Conception- State of Deception
Damn, is it nice to hear Roy Khan back in the metal saddle. After leaving Kamelot in 2011, he retired from music until 2017 when he reformed his pre-Kamelot band Conception, which released their first full-length album State of Deception this year. Any worries that a half decade of retirement might have dulled Khan's soaring vocals is banished from the first note.
Archon Angel- Fallen
2020 must be the year of the return because, unless you have been lucky enough to get the “East” version of Trans-Siberian Orchestra in your city, former Savatage and CircleIICircle vocalist Zak Stevens has been missing from the music world. That changed in 2020 when he formed Archon Angel with Secret Sphere guitarist Aldo Lonobile. Unfortunately, they picked a bad time to form a new band, playing exactly one concert (on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise) before COVID-19 shut down touring. But if Fallen is any indication, when the concert world finally returns, Archon Angel is a band you should be willing to travel to see.
Khemmis- Doomed Heavy Metal
Colorado doom metal revivalists Khemmis are as fearless as a band gets, and that fearlessness is on display with their new EP Doomed Heavy Metal. A mix of covers and live cuts, Khemmis gives a Black Sabbath-esque makeover to a bluegrass standard (“A Conversation With Death”) and manages to make the usually bad idea of trying to cover metal god Ronnie James Dio work with a cover of “Rainbow in the Dark” that retains their style but shows a respect to the source material that was not present in the hipster “ironic” idiocy that was Killswitch Engage's “Holy Diver.”
Ensiferum- Thalassic
One of the things I most love about folk metal is the ability to learn the lore and stories of other countries while I rock out to great music. Ensiferum brings me that ability on Thalassic with songs like “The Defence of the Sampo” while utilizing the addition of clean vocalist/keyboardist Pekka Montin to delve into a less silly than Alestorm but no less fun bit of pirate metal with songs like “Run From the Crushing Tide.” Even the goofiness of “Rum, Women, Victory” is mitigated by crushing riffs and thundering double bass drums.
Unleash the Archers- Abyss
While they tend to be lumped into the “power metal” camp because of their lyrical content, at their heart Canada's Unleash the Archers are as pure an old school NWOBHM band in the vein of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as has come along in decades. Driven by the insane vocal range of Brittany Slayes, Abyss continues the concept storyline begun on their last album Apex. It's a fun sci-fi/fantasy story for those who want to read up on it, but you can walk in with no knowledge of or interest in the story and just revel in the unabashed homage to true heavy metal that is Unleash the Archers.
Live Albums:
Dee Snider- For the Love of Metal Live
If you only know Dee Snider from the cartoonish MTV video for Twisted Sister's “We're Not Gonna Take It”, you are missing out on one of the best kept secrets in metal. Twisted Sister (and all of Dee's subsequent bands and solo projects) approach thrash in their intensity. His influence can be seen on his 2018 release For the Love of Metal, which featured everyone from Jamey Jasta to Alissa White-Gluz. But Dee is best appreciated in a live environment, where his boundless energy is on full display. For the Love of Metal Live is taken from a Bloodstock performance and mixes new songs with Twisted Sister classics and even one song (“Ready to Fall”) from his tragically underrated post-Twisted Sister band with Savatage's Al Pitrelli, Widowmaker (the inclusion of which alone would make it my favorite live album of the year).
Kamelot- I Am the Empire Live
I mentioned earlier how nice it was to see Roy Khan back in the music world, but that doesn't mean his former band Kamelot is dead. Current vocalist Tommy Karevik has perfectly walked the “replacement vocalist” tightrope of respecting the original material while leaving his mark on the band's new albums. Proof is in the band's I Am the Empire Live, which may be the most perfectly produced live album I've ever heard. Every note is crystal clear and highlights not only the vocals of Karevik but also those of guests Charlotte Wessels (Delain), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Lauren Hart (Once Human), and frequent Kamelot collaborator Elize Ryd (Amaranthe). Right now, Kamelot is as consistently great as any band on the power metal scene and I Am the Empire Live shows why.