2007

Another year; 365 days of pure metal carnage that’s what I would define my 2007 to be. With bands like the Metallica, Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc considering India as an important stop for their tours coupled with the return of the N.W.O.B.H.M Gods Iron Maiden, India is finally getting its share of metal/rock action. This brings us to the very heart of all this, the music it self. Looking back on some of the best and the worst metal albums of 2007 it makes me wonder what the coming years holds in store for us.
The very first few months saw the release of albums by some of the best out there but whether their new albums were up to the expectations of the fans is a completely different story altogether.
Leaders of the melodic side of the most extreme genre Death Metal Arch Enemy released ‘Rise of the tyrant’ fall February followed by a release by one of the Big Four of thrash metal genre Exodus’s ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’.
April saw the release of ‘Systematic Chaos’ by the Gods of progressive metal Dream Theatre with a total running time of 78.3 min this was probably the best release of 2007 and ranks right up there in Dream Theatre’s arsenal.
Next up was the most awaited and the most hyped about return of Megadeth with United Abominations which not surprisingly again featured a completely new line except for Mustaine. The album was considered as one of the biggest failures of 2007 as were the previous two albums none of which won any certification i.e. platinum, gold, etc.
The year also saw releases in the power metal genre with the pioneers of the genre Symphony-X and Helloween releasing ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Gambling with the devil’ respectively.
2007 also saw the return of two of the most famous and controversial Black Metal bands in Dimmu Borgir’s-‘in sorte diaboli’ and Mayhem’s-‘ordo ad chaos’ both of which were received quite well with the fans.
Some of the other releases worth noting were Dillinger Escape plan’s-“Ire Works”, Pig destroyer’s- “Phantom Limb”, Behemoth’s- “The Apostasy”, Dark Tranquillity’s-“Fiction”, Chimaira’s-“Resurrection”, Marduk’s –“Rom 5:12” Amorphis’s- “Silent waters”, Machine head’s-The Blackening, Korpiklaani’s-“Tervaskanto”, Nightwish’s-“Dark passion play”, Iced Earth-Framing Armageddon.
Well, that about sums up 2007.With the music industry booming and expanding by leaps and bounds unaffected by rampant piracy in India as well as abroad we can only wait in watch what 2008 has in store for us.