Against all odds, last month, LizZard had crushed the votes of the TOP WAVES with his new album "Eroded" despite the highly anticipated releases of the latest Evergrey "Escape of the Phoenix" or "The Darkest Skies Are the Brighest" by Anneke Van Giersbergen.
And the selection of this month of March suggests a fierce struggle when we know that we have in competition releases of Alice Cooper, Evanescence, Serj Tankian and Epica, without counting the ever increasing number of French releases with the opuses of Amon Sethis, As a New Revolt, Automata, Berlin Heart, Courroux, Gaëlle Buswel and so many more.
But before discovering the results of this TOP WAVES, as it is from now on of tradition, let us throw an eye on french charts (source Snep).
For this month, the three albums that occupy the podium exempt us from pretending to know what we are talking about. Unless the third named is the former goalkeeper -among others of Paris Saint-Germain and now a sports journalist- converted to rapper, Djaja & Dinaz, SCH or Alonzo are totally unknown to us.
And as every week, we have to go further in the ranking to find less "urban" artists with the entry at the 34th place of "The Bitter Truth" of Evanescence or more surprisingly, the duo Smith/Kozen for their eponymous album which arrives directly at the 70th position without forgetting the "old" ones who are still present with the entries respectively 154th and 165th of "Inspirations" of Saxon and "We Need Hope" of Little Bob Blues Bastard. And still on the "old timers" level, AC/DC continues to stay at the 84th position with "Power Up".
TOP WAVES - GENERAL
Should we see in the above ranking a foretaste of what the TOP WAVES would bring us and the crowning of Evanscence after ten years of studio silence? Once again, lost... If Music Waves is a more and more popular site in terms of its more and more numerous readers, the fact remains that your site does not necessarily put the most popular music in the "mainstream" sense of the term, preferring them to talented artists unfortunately not always highlighted.
This month, it is Berlin Heart which is honored.
Vincent Blanot, head of the group, has listened to many artists who have inspired him but "far from copying what has been done before and being an ersatz of these different listenings, [he] makes it a strength to offer a very personal and protean work, between progressive rock, ambient and electronic."
"Mute In The Sea" is a record of great richness where the most beautiful melodies rub shoulders with sound experimentation. Berlin Heart signs a first album of great class of progressive and ambient electro." (Calgepo)
BERLIN HEART Mute In The Sea
In second position, we find Wheel two years after the slap "Moving Backwards".
Certainly, the band "draws inspiration from the shamanic Tool of "10,000 Days" and the Karnivool of "Sound Awake", two extraordinary albums that were there before Wheel. But with even more balance, power and control, 'Resident Human' places this band among the progressive and alternative metal bands to watch closely." (ProgRacer)
WHEEL Resident Human
To complete this already beautiful podium, we find a new French representative Amon Sethis who "in 2014 had charmed the editorial staff of Music Waves with "The Final Struggle", a rich record, between Orphaned Land, Opeth and Symphony X."
"Amon Sethis has taken a big step forward and confirms its position as a leader of a new hexagonal progressive metal. "Part 0 : The Queen With Golden Hair" is a superb sonic adventure novel, a record strewn with lyrical flights of fancy or more intimate moments between death, symphonic metal, progressive and intimist passages" (ThibautK)
AMON SETHIS Part 0 : The Queen With Golden Hair
The detailed general ranking
BERLIN HEART: Mute In The Sea (Alternative Rock) 19
WHEEL: Resident Human (Progressive Metal) 14
AMON SETHIS: Part 0 : The Queen With Golden Hair (Progressive Metal) 13
GAELLE BUSWEL: Your Journey (Rock) 12
IOTUNN: Access All Worlds (Progressive Metal) 11
EPICA: Omega (Melodic Metal) 7
ONSÉGEN ENSEMBLE: Fear (Progressive Rock) 6
RONNIE ATKINS: One Shot (Melodic Hard Rock) 6
WIG WAM: Never Say Die (Melodic Hard Rock) 5
EVANESCENCE: The Bitter Truth (Neo/Nu Metal) 5
KOSTAS SAMPANIS: Autumne (Guitar Hero) 5
LABYRINTH: Welcome To The Absurd Circus (Melodic Metal) 5
3.2: Third Impression (Progressive Rock) 5
ALICE COOPER: Detroit Stories (Hard Rock) 5
LITTLE BOB BLUES BASTARDS: We Need Hope (Rock) 4
THE PRETTY RECKLESS: Death By Rock And Roll (Hard Rock) 4
RICKY WARWICK: When Life Was Hard And Fast (Melodic Hard Rock) 3
SERJ TANKIAN: Elasticity (Alternative Rock) 3
DARK BUDDHA RISING: Mathreyata (Doom) 3
ALEX CARPANI: L'orizzonte Degli Eventi (Rock) 3
COURROUX: Ii (Rock) 2
ANGELINE: We Were Raised On Radio (A.O.R.) 1
NILS PATRIK JOHANSSON: The Great Conspiracy (Heavy Metal) 1
PRINCESSES LEYA: L’histoire Sans Fond (Heavy Metal) 1
SIRENIA: Riddles, Ruins & Revelations (Melodic Metal) 1
TOP WAVES - METAL
In these conditions, what does the TOP WAVES METAL have in store for us?
Well, for once, the rule is not respected, namely that the winner is Amon Sethis - ranked third in the general ranking - which precedes Wheel finally subscribed to the second place in our rankings. So, who will complete this podium? Iotunn 3rd metal album of the general ranking ? Well no, as for the two first places, the TOP WAVES METAL wants to be particularly contradictory this month by varying the pleasures and it is Epica which inherits the last place of the podium.
After a "The Holographic Principle" released in 2016 that was a turning point in the band's career, the Dutchmen are back with a new opus that "promises to be just as ambitious as its predecessors. Tackling the question of the meanders of life and the labyrinths that it brings in the human thought, the album is a pavement of more than 70 minutes that you have to tame like a big show movie. We find the essence of the Epica sound with a subtle balance between strength and melody and a very present cinematographic side. The recipe works and it is not yet that it will wear out. Epica is still the boss of symphonic metal. (Noise)
EPICA Omega
The detailed Metal ranking
AMON SETHIS: Part 0 : The Queen With Golden Hair (Progressive Metal) 25
WHEEL: Resident Human (Progressive Metal) 22
EPICA: Omega (Melodic Metal) 17
IOTUNN: Access All Worlds (Progressive Metal) 15
EVANESCENCE: The Bitter Truth (Neo/Nu Metal) 7
HEART HEALER: The Metal Opera By Magnus Karlsson (Melodic Metal) 5
HORSKH: Wire (Industrial Metal) 5
KOSTAS SAMPANIS: Autumne (Guitar Hero) 5
LABYRINTH: Welcome To The Absurd Circus (Melodic Metal) 5
DARK BUDDHA RISING: Mathreyata (Doom) 5
NILS PATRIK JOHANSSON: The Great Conspiracy (Heavy Metal) 4
CULT OF LUNA: The Raging River (Post Metal) 3
ATOMIC ROCKET SEEDERS: Atomic Rocket Seeders (Alternative Metal) 2
SIRENIA: Riddles, Ruins & Revelations (Melodic Metal) 2
MANUEL BARBARÁ: Moonrise (Progressive Metal) 2
PRINCESSES LEYA: L’histoire Sans Fond (Heavy Metal) 1
3 DREAMS NEVER DREAMT: Another Vivid Detail (Progressive Metal) 1
TOP WAVES ROCK MARS 2021
The TOP WAVES ROCK has less surprises. Indeed, once it is established that Berlin Heart has won the votes of the general ranking, it is logical that it takes the first place of this ranking.
In second place, we find Gaëlle Buswel, fourth of the general ranking who failed to reach the podium by one point. Gaëlle Buswel, whose career we have been following for nearly ten years, offers an album that should allow her to cross "without any doubt a new level."
"Your Journey" is of a bewitching and dizzying richness. Navigating between blues, rock, folk and soul, as groovy as melancholic, powerful as delicate, it will hypnotize all those who will take the time to dive into it and who will not be able to stop listening to it again and again. If the crown of French rock is sometimes lacking a few diamonds, it has just acquired a wonderful jewel here. (Loloceltic)
GAELLE BUSWEL Your Journey
In third position of this ranking, we find the last Alice Cooper to date knowing that "2020 could have been a fateful year for Vincent Furnier. Having been contaminated by the insidious Covid19, the king of shock rock could very well have gone down to hell. After having felt the icy breath of death at close quarters, the singer, now recovered, has decided at 73 years of age to make a return to his roots in the Detroit that saw him born."
With his new release, "Alice Cooper pays as much tribute to his hometown [...] as he does to his discography. With its playful spirit and detonating guitars, the new album "Detroit Stories" has nothing to be ashamed of and invites the listener, new or old, to new journeys in the Cooperian geography." (Adrianstork)
ALICE COOPER Detroit Stories
The detailed Rock ranking
BERLIN HEART: Mute In The Sea (Alternative Rock) 23
GAELLE BUSWEL: Your Journey (Rock) 20
ALICE COOPER: Detroit Stories (Hard Rock) 13
ONSÉGEN ENSEMBLE: Fear (Progressive Rock) 11
THE PRETTY RECKLESS: Death By Rock And Roll (Hard Rock) 11
SERJ TANKIAN: Elasticity (Alternative Rock) 7
LITTLE BOB BLUES BASTARDS: We Need Hope (Rock) 6
3.2: Third Impression (Progressive Rock) 5
COURROUX: Ii (Rock) 5
RONNIE ATKINS: One Shot (Melodic Hard Rock) 4
GRANT HAUA: Awa Blues (Blues) 3
ALEX CARPANI: L'orizzonte Degli Eventi (Rock) 3
AUTÓMATA: Autómata (Post Rock) 3
WIG WAM: Never Say Die (Melodic Hard Rock) 2
YUNGBLUD: Weird! (Alternative Rock) 1
More informations on http://www.musicwaves.fr/