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Name: Adam Westlund Email address: adamw (at) metal-observer (dot) com Function: Reviews Compatible styles: Power Metal, Viking/Folk Metal, Heavy Metal and Melodic Death Metal. Incompatible styles: Gore, Metalcore, Brutal Death, True Black Metal, and the pretentious and silly sides of Progressive and Gothic Metal. I’m not particularly interested in Thrash either. And of course, I dislike Nu-Metal a lot (and I don’t consider it Metal.) Thoughts on the main Metal genres: Black Metal: Good if it is spiced up with symphonic, folky or melodic elements, but rather dull in its basic form. I like bands like SUMMONING and DIMMU BORGIR, and those are often not even counted as real Black Metal bands. Death Metal: I like it, especially the Melodic Death Metal, but I think that Death Metal succeeds to be both interesting and extreme at the same time in a better way than Black Metal. I listen to AMON AMARTH and WINTERSUN, for example. (Don’t dare call AMON AMARTH Viking Metal; the genre doesn’t depend on the lyrics.) Thrash Metal: I think that most Thrash is pretty boring. The only stuff I have liked is some very early METALLICA songs and one or two songs from HEATHEN. Power Metal: This is where I entered Metal. I have heard many more PM bands than bands from any other genre and like most of it. I do not appreciate the extreme cheesiness of RHAPSODY OF FIRE, though. I am more into the Progressive Metal: BLIND GUARDIAN must be counted as Progressive these days and they are my favourite band, but Progressive usually either means bands that sound like DREAM THEATER or bands that sound like OPETH, and they do not receive high grades in my book. Doom Metal: I haven’t listened to much Doom Metal. My only real experience of it is CANDLEMASS, and I think the little I have heard from them is decent. Gothic Metal: Not my cup of tea. EPICA are ok, WITHIN TEMPTATION have done a few good songs, but TYPE O NEGATIVE and the rest I have heard from this genre is not that good. I think CRADLE OF FILTH are ok though. Melodic/Heavy Metal: I like most of this; after all it is the basis of all the music within the Metal genre. IRON MAIDEN, SAXON and other bands in the NWOBHM have been very important for Power Metal as well. MANOWAR is counted to this category in my opinion and I like them a lot too. Nicknames: - Time at TMO: Since July 2007 How came to TMO: Through Alex Melzer, who had read my Metal Archives reviews. The best thing as a TMO writer: To be able to follow the new stuff in my favourite music genre. The worst thing as a TMO writer: To find mp3 links …
Statistics: Reviews 94 Reviewing methods: Sitting by the computer screen, not doing anything else than listening or maybe reading the lyrics at the same time, while I am trying to draw conclusions and make parallels to what I have heard before. Birthday: 18th of March 1988 Birth town: Present location: Job: I write reviews for a website which helps people to choose the right products, mostly computer games, DVD-players, cell phones and stuff like that. Languages: Swedish, English and pretty good German. Hobbies: Pet peeves: Racism, injustice, brats and the Phobia(s): Claustrophobia and worries that the worst will happen all the time. I, about myself: I am a history nerd, with an intellectual touch. I am a sucker for epic stuff. Give me Tennyson and Tolkien! Describe yourself in 5 words: Kind, open, babbling, naïve and nerdy. Funny childhood story: When I received candy from a friend of my grandmother, she (my grandmother) asked me what the proper response was (she meant “thank you”, of course) and I said: “I don’t like this sort of candy”. How I came into Heavy Metal: A friend of mine played “At The End Of The Rainbow” by HAMMERFALL for me and I fell for the choir parts in the chorus and the epic mood. Later I found LUCA TURILLI and from that day I have been dragged deeper and deeper into Metal and started to like more of the extreme side of it. First Metal CD ever bought: Probably “Wishmaster” by NIGHTWISH (I am not pleased with that being my first, actually). Most embarrassing CD in your collection: Without question STAR QUEEN - “Faithbringer”. It was cheap and I knew little about the band. Well … it sucks. First Metal concert: HAMMERFALL and STRATOVARIUS, in early 2005 I think. What did Metal teach me about life: That there is much epic stuff that I had not discovered earlier in life. Favourite music listening place and why? Walking outside, because then the music and I can be alone and don’t give a shit about the troublesome world around me. Most prized Metal possession? Probably my plectrum from Pierre Wilhelmsson in MÅNEGARM. Band & previous band experiences: I have played a little in a very unofficial band that during some time had the name TWILIGHT PATH, which was some kind of Power/Folk Metal. I am not that musically skilled, however, so my part was mostly to write good lyrics (which I did). ;) But recently a friend of mine asked if we should start making some music again … so maybe. Instrumental talents: Jew’s harp … ;) Favourite bands: BLIND GUARDIAN, FALCONER, ENSIFERUM, MÅNEGARM, HAMMERFALL. Least favourite bands: All Nu-Metal bands, STAR QUEEN, NATTEFROST, ROTTEN SOUND. I also dislike METALLICA, STRATOVARIUS, DREAM THEATER and OPETH, but their music is much better than that of the earlier mentioned bands. Sound you’d like to have banned: Hiphop and RnB Most overrated bands: OPETH, DREAM THEATER, METALLICA Most underrated bands: MÅNEGARM, DARK EMPIRE Most influential band: For Metal, without a doubt IRON MAIDEN. They are the greatest in so many ways! For me personally it is probably HAMMERFALL because they got me into Metal. Favourite musician: Hansi Kürsch, Jari Mäenpää, André Olbrich, Erik Grawsiö, Stefan Weinerhall Favourite album cover: SAXON - “Heavy Metal Thunder” or BATHORY - “Blood On Ice” 10 favourite albums: I’ll do a ranking, just because I like that stuff … 10. IRON MAIDEN - “Brave New World” I know that you are supposed to think that “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” or “The Number Of The Beast” is the best IRON MAIDEN album, but “Brave New World” is one step ahead of them in my book, mainly because IRON MAIDEN take a step into a more modern style here, and succeed brilliantly. Another factor is that I one day discovered “oh, shit, are all these great songs on the same album?” I had never thought about that before. 9. HAMMERFALL - “Legacy Of Kings” It was very hard to choose the best HAMMERFALL album, but “Legacy Of Kings” has both “At The End Of The Rainbow”, which got me into Metal, and epic and speedy songs like “Heeding The Call” and “Stronger Than All”. 8. FALCONER - “Falconer” Now it is starting to get really hard to rank them … “Falconer” is a fantastic album, with the feeling of a medieval troubadour joining the ranks of a talented Power Metal band. “Mindtraveller” is one of my favourite songs and the rest of the material is solid and really, really good! The song structures combined with the really competent musicianship bring forth a real masterpiece. 7. BLIND GUARDIAN - “Imaginations From The Other Side” This is often seen as the best album from the German Power Metal masters, but for me the more pompous releases which followed it reach a higher level. Nevertheless, this album contains a great mix of good fantasy-inspired lyrics, Power Metal that goes beyond the norms and a pure strength that Blind Guardian have lost a bit later on. Songs like “Born In A Mourning Hall” and “Another Holy War” really live up to the name Power Metal. 6. MÅNEGARM - “Vredens Tid” This album has two sides. One part of it lives on from the old Pagan Black Metal heritage of MÅNEGARM and leads up to songs like “Frekastein” and the title track. The other side of the album gives us a whole new style: a Viking Metal that is based upon real Scandinavian Folk and alternates between being full of melancholy, beauty and poetry, and being so extremely catchy that the listener is stunned. If the whole album had the quality of the three songs “Sigrblot”, “Dödens Strand” and “Hemfärd”, this would, without doubt, be my favourite album. Those three songs alone in an album would still fit in on this top 10 list! 5. FALCONER - “The Sceptre Of Deception” This album is in my opinion the best of FALCONER, even though Mathias Blad only sung a few lines here and there, and Kristofer Göbel could not match his performance. The medieval influences are musically less present here, but the feeling still remains. This is a concept album, and that plays a great part in me liking it so much. I think that the continuity of a concept album often makes the overall result stronger. Apart from that, the story they used is one from Swedish history, and I have been extremely interested in that since I was a small child, so I found out by myself what the album was about before I read it. Many singing styles and a medieval feeling work together to put this album on its fifth place on my list. By the way, the song “Under The Sword” may be the most underrated song ever, even by its creator. It is absolutely stunning! 4. BLIND GUARDIAN - “A Night At The Opera” I would really like to place all the albums that are left on a shared first place, but I have chosen to try to separate them. “A Night At The Opera” is a complex masterpiece, which shows the advanced song-writing BLIND GUARDIAN are capable of. Songs like “Battlefield”, “Punishment Divine” and of course “And Then There Was Silence” are extremely catchy, interesting and well-played. The fantastic lyrics of Hansi Kürsch are also unique for the band. What places this one after the following three is that there are a couple of weaker songs and that the cover art is worthless. 3. ENSIFERUM - “Ensiferum” This album shows how great the result may be when Jari Mäenpää’s full genius is put in motion. The Viking chanting and melodies, the folk elements, the Melodic Death-inspired riffs and Jari’s fantastic growls make this one of the best albums I have ever heard. This album was the one that made me accept growled vocals, and that broadened the field of bands I could like a lot, of course. ENSIFERUM are still a great band, but without Mäenpää they will probably never reach this quality again. 2. MÅNEGARM - “Vargstenen” With this album MÅNEGARM took an enormous leap from really good to superb for me. The album is probably the strongest release, in overall-quality, that I have ever heard. They use the folk influences to perfection, many of the melodies are extremely memorable and vocalist Erik Grawsiö goes from Black Metal growling to clean singing with excellence. There is not one bad song on here, and songs such as the title track and “Vedergällningens Tid” are among my all-time favourites. This is also a concept-album, which may help explain my appreciation; the archaic lyrics of Pierre Wilhelmsson play a great part in the music of MÅNEGARM. 1. BLIND GUARDIAN - “Nightfall In Middle-Earth” This is, and has been for the last four years, the best album I know of. The special brand of Power Metal that these guys play makes this a musical masterpiece, together with the story-telling mood and the progressive and choir-stuffed song structures. For the lovers of “The Silmarillion” by JRR Tolkien it is even better because of the nice references to the book and the poetical retelling of Tolkien’s tales. Five albums that were close to get on the list but just missed it: ENSIFERUM - “Iron” WINTERSUN - “Wintersun” MANOWAR - “Warriors Of The World” HAMMERFALL - “Renegade” HAMMERFALL - “Crimson Thunder” Favourite films: “The Seven Samurai” by Akiro Kurosawa, “The Lord of the Rings”-trilogy by Peter Jackson, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” by Monty Python, “A Night at the Opera” by the brothers Marx, “The Seventh Seal” by Ingmar Bergman and “Dr Strangelove” by Stanley Kubrick. Favourite books: “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion” by JRR Tolkien. Favourite food: Traditional Swedish food. Favourite drink: Pepsi or maybe Elderberry juice Favourite smokes: I don’t smoke. Which song should be played at your funeral? “Glory To The Brave” by Hammerfall, but maybe I don’t deserve such a message. Idol (s): No-one Person you‘d like to meet: No-one special; I wouldn’t have anything important to say. Catchphrase: I don’t think I have one. Biggest thrill in life (so far): Going to Metal concerts. AMON AMARTH may be the best of them all, but BLIND GUARDIAN and IRON MAIDEN were great as well. Goal in life: To be happy. Secret: I am a servant of Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. And by the way, you cannot pass! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the shadow! You cannot pass. 5 favourites links:
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