James’s Best of 2014 Lists
TMO Festival Review: The Best And The Worst Of Soundwave 2015
Breaking down the best and worst of the Soundwave festival’s 2-day stopover in Melbourne.
TMO’s Best Albums of 2014
You’ve waited with bated breath for 12 months (and a bit), but the moment of reckoning is finally here. Voted on by the one and only Brotherhood of ‘The Metal Observer,’ feast your eyes upon the top 20 albums of 2014!
TMO Albums of the Month: January 2015
The TMO team pick some choice cuts from this month’s offerings.
An Intermediate’s Guide to the World of Japanese Power Metal
I mentioned that Japanese power metal could be bizarre and off-putting back in my Beginner’s Guide to Japanese Power Metal. But for all the bands I mentioned and described, there really wasn’t that much in the realm of bizarro. Pretty much all the bands had rather accessible music with little to no genre experimentation. I’m […]
Still on Our Minds: A TMO Update on Adrian ‘Covan’ Kowanek #2
Following last September’s update on the health and condition of former Decapitated vocalist Adrian Covanek—who was left unresponsive and under full medical and familial supervision after a tragic tour-bus accident in 2007—another bit of news, some of the most hopeful yet, has arisen.
“I can’t imagine being without those lyrics.” – A TMO Interview With Marcus Siepen: Part 2
In the second and final part of our interview with the Blind Guardian guitarist, we talk books, Game Of Thrones, The Wire and the integral role storytelling plays in his music.
“Blind Guardian is a metal band. Period.” – A TMO interview with Marcus Siepen: Part 1
The Blind Guardian guitarist talks about his band’s ambitious new album, Beyond The Red Mirror, and revisiting Imaginations From The Other Side twenty years on.
The Once and Future Thrash: Top 30 Thrash Albums of 2014
Last year was the first year I took the massive amounts of thrash music that smothers my inbox and credit card statements and ranked it into a top thirty list. It was a grueling endeavor that consumed most of my time in the latter part of November and early December, but I was able to […]
Procreating the Wicked: The Year’s Best in Slime
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Procreating the Wicked; the year’s best in slime, grime and filth. Here is where the year’s filthiest and foulest examples of old goat metal can be found. The best of the best in those amalgamous forms of metal including bits of black, death, thrash, heavy, speed and whatever other […]