At Best Music Ever it doesn’t go unnoticed how awesome modern rock and metal are. Regarding these two genres, one of the greatest things that has come about in the last decade has been the influx of female voices.

Evanescence, Flyleaf, and Nightwish are three perfect examples. I’ve already covered two of those bands and now it’s time to share the third!

Nightwish is a little different from the other two in that the vocals do not lead as much as they are a complimenting instrument. The singer lacks the raw power Amy Lee of Evanescence has, but that’s not to suggest they’re lacking. You’ll find that Nightwish’s music is heavier than Evanescence, heavier even than Flyleaf.

Nemo is a utterly unique song and I’m quite certain that you haven’t heard anything quite like it before. Let’s get it on!

P.S. Stay tuned for some news coming up later this weekend. Also, some updates are rolling out to the site this weekend so things are going to be a little wonky for an hour or two on Saturday evening. Just a heads up!

Justin here. For years my favorite band has been HIM. We’ve featured one of their albums before (and it’s only a matter of time before we get around to the rest of them).

Recently however a new group has taken that favorite band position: Avantasia. If you live in North America you probably haven’t heard of them before so let me give you a quick rundown…

• Avantasia is a side project headed by Tobias Sammet, the lead singer of Edguy. So far there are five albums.
• The genre is “melodic metal” which is semi-symphony backed. Awesome.
• It’s a “metal opera” meaning that there is a coherent story told over each album. Of the five albums two complete story lines have been detailed, most recently that of “The Scarecrow.”
• As if this wasn’t amazing enough, the idea behind Avantasia is to feature as many iconic metal and rock names as possible. Guest appearances have included vocalists from Helloween, Scorpions, Kamelot, Judas Priest, and a plethora more (full list here), and musicians from many of the same and equally well known bands. It goes to say that the music is…umm…incredible.
• Oh, and it’s just the right amount of artsy too:

The Scarecrow Trilogy tells the “tragic story of a lonesome creature, emotionally isolated from his environment and suffering from a distorted sensory perception. His feelings for the love of his life unrequited, and he sets off on a journey exploring his left-hand path, striving for inner peace, ploughing his way to approval and eventually facing temptation at the inner depths of the human soul.”

One story, three albums, incredible music. If you’re a fan of metal/heavy rock, definitely check them out. Below are links to the trilogy on Amazon (yep, those are affiliate links because it’s awesome). Enjoy.

Part I: The Scarecrow

Part II: The Wicked Symphony

Part III: Angel of Babylon

For metal lovers, Catch ThirtyThree is a modern-day masterpiece. What makes it so special is that it has very unusual concept: think of this CD as a 47 minute long song, strategically divided into 13 parts.

It’s very rare when concept albums provide a perfect musical experience throughout the entire album, but believe us when we say that Catch ThirtyThree delivers.

There’s a good chance your mind will be blown.

Highlights: Entrapment, In Death – Is Life, Shed, Sum

This week we stumbled upon Animals as Leaders; once we heard them we knew they needed to be on this site. This is progressive metal at its best.

‘Tempting Time’ is the first track off of their amazing debut album. Make sure you grab it so you can brag to your friends about how you found them first.

For those of you who enjoy metal, you obviously know how legendary Pantera is. But for anyone else who wanted to get into the band but didn’t know where to start, this is it.

‘The Great Southern Trendkill’ has two distinct parts to the song: a thrash-heavy first half followed by almost two minutes of guitar-solo heaven. Hell yeah.

At 11 minutes and 11 seconds, ‘Rosetta Stoned’ is one trip of a song; but hey, isn’t that the kind of thing that Tool is known for?
There’s just so much in this song to love – it’ll take you a long time to get bored of it.

PS: Currently, Amazon.com only sells Tool songs on CD, not individually.

‘I’ve Been Sober’ is by far the best song off of DevilDriver’s latest CD ‘Pray for Villains’. We’re not saying that the CD doesn’t deliver – this song is just that good.

… and come on, that outro is one of the best things we’ve heard all year. Excuse us while we go listen to it and drool some more.

If this is the first time you’ve heard of Threat Signal, stop reading this sentence and go give this song a listen right now. It’s ok, we’ll wait.

Amazing, no? You’re welcome for just finding you your new favourite band.

Wait a second… metal mixed with reggae?

That’s right! Skindred has their own unique sound; one of those weird combinations that just work. ‘Nobody’ is a hard-hitting track that you won’t soon forget. Do yourself a favour and pick this bad boy up!