Black Jester

Of the three albums that make up Gothenburg's holy trinity, Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery was the least immediate, with unorthodox song structures that took time to assimilate, while At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul didn't truly cement its classic status until a new generation of American metalcore bands started to copy it riff for riff. In Flames' The Jester Race, however, pretty much announced itself as a masterwork right from day one. More than any other, this is the album that put the "melodic" in melodic death metal. Traditionalists who'd never been able to stomach death metal's brutality were stunned to hear winding, intricate twin-guitar lines lifted from Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and countless European power metal records…

Blue Oyster Cult - The Columbia Albums Collection brings together the group's 14 official Columbia Records albums–including newly-mastered editions of On Your Feet or on Your Knees, Fire of Unknown Origin, The Revolution by Night, Mirrors, Cultosaurus Erectus, Extraterrestrial Live, Club Ninja and Imaginos–alongside two newly-curated bonus discs: Rarities and Radios Appear: The Best of the Broadcasts (a special collection of classic live performances).

Popoloddities is a compilation, which included previously unreleased material.
Having roots as far back as 1959 with The Scavers and later releasing a single Arman Stumpe Dur Express, this Norwegian quintet that released two albums under the Popol Vuh moniker (a Maya mythology-related name), until they became aware of a German band using the same name, they changed their names to Popol Ace. The group went on to release another two albums before folding at the end of the decade. Musically, they sounded much straigjhter progressive rock than their German mystical homonyms: mellotrons and flute parts , funky jazz-rock and softer ballads were among their usual tricks found in their first two albums (S/T and Quiche Maya) under the Vuh name…

In Flames debut album, Lunar Strain, has often been likened to Black Metal and Goth, which is understandable in some ways (Mikael Stanne's croak and the slower, moodier riffs laced with keyboards,) but the fact is, this was just a varied though somewhat disjointed first attempt at creating their sound.
Rooted in Power Metal more than anything, Lunar Strain kicks off with Behind Space, the albums most concise, aggressive song. A great folk melody ends Space and we move on through the title track, Starforsaken, and Dreamscape, of which the first two are fine examples of this album's merit, though the latter is my least favorite from this record. On to the apex of the album, the two parter, Everlost…