Guns N' Roses - my world (Use Your Illusion II)
Therion - to mega therion (Theli)
Devin Townsend - suicide (Accelerated Evolution)
Indira Radić - agonija (Indira)
To/Die/For - vale of tears (Epilogue)
Heinz Maria Lins - in einer kleinen konditorei (100 Gassenhauer)
Absu - the coming of war (The Sun Of Tiphareth)
Windir - krigaren si gravferd (Det Gamle Riket)
Sonata Arctica - black sheep [live] (Songs Of Silence - Live In Tokyo)
Luiz Melodia - mistério da raça (Chill:Brazil)
Frank Sinatra - strangers in the night (New York New York: His Greatest Hits)
Summoning - the legend of the master-ring (Minas Morgul)
Tori Amos - precious things (To Venus And Back)
Hans Albers - la paloma (Seine größten Hits)


For the beginning of this blog, Today gave me total crap: 'my world' is not a song and doesn't belong on that album. It doesn't belong on any album. Therion's most famous track is unbelievable genius, no matter how often you hear it, you never get tired of the powerful choruses and the great melodies. This phase was the interface between the Death Metal of their early days and the Symphonic/Heavy Metal they started to evolve with the successor "Vovin", and this song is the prototype. Unforgettable and brilliant, and with the perfect balance between vehemence and symphony. Devin Townsend's albums are always an adventure - so is this one.

As for Indira Radić, my God, what should I say: she is the holy Turbofolk goddess. 'agonija' is just endlessly cool, and although I don't understand a single word, the music and Indira's vocals sound like what I suppose means "agony" - well, as much as a Turbofolk song can. If it has to be written down again: I adore Indira Radić, what an amazing voice. Then, Today presented an old friend - I haven't heard "Epilogue" in a long time, but this song was one of my favourites. Thanks to singer Jape Perätalo, they do not sound like a HIM clone (despite the given similarities) and made quite a good album with some really strong lovesick/heartache songs. When I saw that a "100 Gassenhauer" song is up next, I was a little worried - geeze, you can imagine that out of 100 frivolous songs from the 20ies and 30ies, there are some amongst them that just DO NOT make you happy. This one was actually quite nice, and I didn't have to blush listening to the lyrics, but now I realized that this damn melody just sticks - if I only read "Konditorei" somewhere, here we go and I have the song in my head again....

Absu are then definitely not to grasp with only one listen, it was interesting noise. I have to listen to the whole album, and I will, and I want to, they are an incredibly interesting band. I remember the Windir demo song to be loud - I don't remember hell a lot else about it. Well, 'black sheep', ladies and gentlemen, features a Turbofolk melody. Yeah :-) Well, I can hear it anyway - it's the harmony run after the first chorus (and I think the song starts off with the melody as well). Great live version of this song. The next track was from the "Chill:Brazil" sampler I bought for 5 euros many years ago. This double compilation was so worth the money, I can't tell you: excellent Samba and Bossanova tunes, nicely put together and almost without fillers.

What can you say about 'strangers in the night'? One of the most romantic and cleverly written songs ever, sung by one of the most impressive singing voices our planet was ever graced with. This is a definite must have, beautiful and essential. Summoning's track didn't really leave an impression, I do remember the drumcomputer that I felt to be annoying in this song - not one of my Summoning faves. Also 'precious things' passed me by, and Hans Albers sang an alternative version of his famous hit then. Not quite as compact and coherently done as the "original" we all know, I think, but nice to hear his voice again.


--MightySapnish--