I typed this way back when the album was first released but I totally forgot to post it! It was only when I was cleaning up my desktop that I realized I hadn't published it…

Thanasis Lightbridge has finally released Dol Ammad’s latest album Cosmic Gods: Episode I - Hyperspeed.

The first time I gave the CD a whirl, I couldn’t make up my mind whether I liked it or not. There are some changes that make it sound a bit different than it’s predecessors. For example, Hyperspeed offers speedier drums and more blast beats. If you were expecting…

Well, this was unexpected! After visiting the Dol Ammad/ Dol Theeta homepage for a while and seeing the forum full of spam and no updates I was beginning to lose hope. Thankfully my despair turned to joy and surprise.

Thanasis Lightbridge has been busy whipping up some Dol Ammad material. This digital EP gives us a small sample of what's to come. Let's take a look at what we have on this 26 minute EP.

There are three original songs, a cover and a choir version of a song from Ocean Dynamics

Let's talk about the cover and choir…

2008 was a pretty wild year for me in terms of music. There were gems, stinkers, revivals…the works. 2008 was a pretty slow year in terms of how many different artists and albums I listened to, simply because I didn't find out about many new bands that piqued my interest. That being said lets take a look at each of the candidates.

Falconer - Among Beggars and Thieves
Among Beggars and Thieves was one of those albums I was most anxious to get my hands on. After their last offering, Northwind, I wanted to see if Falconer could continue to…

Ah yes, how I have waited for this! Dol Theeta is a side project of Dol Ammad mastermind Thanasis Lightbridge. Goddess is Dol Theeta's first piece of work. And what a first piece of work it is!

The quickest way to describe Dol Theeta is by calling it "Dol Ammad Lite". I use "lite" in the sense that the wall of sound from Star Tales and Ocean dynamics isn't there, but is instead replaced by something easier to digest and appreciate on the first listen. I think Dol Theeta is a bridge that makes the move to something like Dol…

You might be wondering why I'm writing Album of the year without even having posted any reviews or anything this year. Well, to put it simply, I did review a few albums, but I forgot to back up the reviews last time I formatted and I'm too lazy to retype them up. For each of the nomineees I'll give a quick rundown on what I though of the album and why it was nominated. Here are my choices in no particular order:

Dark Moor - Tarot
This one was released fairly early in the year but I knew after a…

Yeah it took me a long time to get around to doing this but hey, I've been quite busy. I'm not gonna waste my time talking about best album for each genre or anything like that. Instead I'll just talk about what albums I thought stood out regardless of genre (in no particular order), and pick one for my album of the year.

Dragonland - Astronomy
Astronomy is Dragonland's fourth album, following the excellent Starfall. While the album is thoroughly enjoyable (see my review) and has good repeat value, it doesn't have that magic touch that makes it a truly…

Dragonland happens to be one of those bands that I can grab all their CDs, put them (and listen to them) in chronological order, and see how the band has matured and improved over time. Their first two albums were standard power metal fare. Their third offering was an entirely different beast. The increase in song quality from first and second was clear as night and day. Not every song was brilliant, but there were a couple that were. I knew that given this sudden change, and the quality of Starfall, Dragonland could do better, and with Astronomy they…

I was originally planning to write this one before x-mas, but I had a really good reason to wait. Read on….

If you take a quick look at my last.fm charts, you'll see that Angra is my top artist. There is a good reason for that - namely, they consistently put out amazing albums, until now that is. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Aurora Consurgens, but its not my favourite Angra album by a long shot.

For those who don't know, Aurora Consurgens is a book though to be written by philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas. The original text…

So here I sit with an album I thought was gonna be unable to top Dol Ammad's first effort, Star Tales. Star Tales was a fantastic album from start to finish. I kept thinking what kind of tricks is Thanasis Lightbridge going to have to pull to make their next album better than the first?

Trick Number One. Tweak the mixing and production. The first album suffered from guitars that blended in a bit too much with the music, but that is remedied here. The guitars sound crisp and clean, and can easily be distinguished from other sounds,…

Why so many entries all at once? I finally have time to write up some thoughts on some albums for 2006, so I might as well do as many as I can at once :)

I'm done for today, but I'm not done overall. There are still some other albums I want to post my thoughts on, including, but not limited to:
Angra - Aurora Consurgens
Dragonland - Astronomy
Dol Ammad - Ocean Dynamics

I will post more thoughts when I have time (most likely all at once like this time) since spare time for journal entries is scarce :(…