The months and the TOP WAVES follow each other with their share of surprises. Who would have bet on "Mute in the Sea" by Berlin Heart as the winner of March?
Let's be honest, nobody... and even if we repeat ourselves, this is what makes the charm of these monthly TOP WAVES. Indeed, what's the point of presenting a list of winners that's already been decided?
If the selection of April does not include as many "big names" as the previous months, we can nevertheless underline the presence of the last Saxon, without forgetting the return of the pioneer of the female glam rock, Suzy Quatro. As every month, the selection is eclectic, everyone should find his account between the releases of Nad Sylvan, Galaad and the unexpected returns of A.C.T. and Liquid Tension Experiment for the progressive part, without forgetting the last Thunder, Blaze Bayley, Cannibal Corpse and the very expected Gojira.
But before knowing who got the votes of the editors of Music Waves, let's see what the French charts have in store for us (source Snep).
The three places of the podium are occupied by SCH (third last month), Damso and Naps, artists who are for most of us unknown. And as every month, we have to go down further in this ranking to find musicians who "speak to us" with "Let the Bad Times Roll" by The Offspring (41st in the ranking), "The Battle at Garden's Gate" by the phenomenon Greta Van Fleet in 119th position, followed by the entries in 120th place of the reissue of "The Who Sell Out" by The Who and the live "Louder Than Noise, Live In Berlin" by Motörhead (128th). As for "Power Up" -like the members of AC/DC- it seems to be immortal by staying at the 162nd place for its 22nd week of presence.
TOP WAVES - GENERAL
The winner of the TOP WAVES of April is neither more nor less than Galaad who had ended a long hiatus of 23 years by releasing "Frat3r" in 2019. Here we are in 2021 and our Swiss friends return with "Paradis Posthumes" which "reshuffles the cards and shows the will of the band not to make the same record again, using more epic climates by a global sound much more rock with rich arrangements".
"The album is rich of more accessible tracks with a classy and assumed pop rock tendency [...], closer to PYT's solo projects. But it is on the longer tracks that Galaad demonstrates its primary quality of a sense of fluid melody with Genesis and Marillion (first era) like cuttings while asserting a fusional and personal aspect with alternative rock. "
"Galaad continues to forge its legend with "Paradis Posthumes", a perfect fusion of neo progressive rock and alternative rock."
GALAAD Paradis Posthumes
Less surprising is the second place of Gojira, which returns to business 5 years after "Magma", which had marked a new stage in the career of our compatriots, including a nomination for the Grammy Awards.
"at the top of his art, Gojira offers with "Fortitude" a brilliant record, a perfect range of what he knows how to do between brute force and atmospheric melodies." (Noise)
GOJIRA Fortitude
And the last place of the podium naturally goes to Liquid Tension Experiment "that we thought was dead and buried after Jordan Rudess joined Dream Theater in 1999". And if "the release of a third LTE album seemed as improbable as seeing Mike Portnoy join Dream Theater again, [...] here it is, this "LTE3" we've been waiting for 22 years.
"After 22 years of silence, Liquid Tension Experiment delivers a third album of very high quality. Instrumental progressive metal that is as much about technical prowess as it is about the pleasure of playing. (Newf)
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT Lte3
The detailed general ranking
GALAAD: Paradis Posthumes (progressive rock) 20
GOJIRA: Fortitude (Death Metal) 18
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT: Lte3 (Progressive Metal) 14
TEMPLE BALLS: Pyromide (Hard Rock) 13
KIKO LOUREIRO: Open Source (Guitar Hero) 10
BLAZE BAYLEY: War Within Me (Heavy Metal) 9
SETH: La Morsure Du Christ (Black Metal) 8
SWEET OBLIVION: Relentless (Heavy Metal) 8
BRUIT<: The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again (Atmospheric Rock) 7
CHEAP TRICK: In Another World (Rock) 6
ÅRABROT: Norwegian Gothic (Alternative Rock) 5
DEWOLFF: Wolffpack (Rock) 5
A.C.T.: Heatwave (progressive rock) 4
CROWN : The End Of All Things (Post Rock) 4
CRYPTOSIS: Bionic Swarm (Progressive Metal) 4
PSYCHIC EQUALIZER: Revealed Ii (progressive rock) 3
SOLACE SUPPLICE: Solace Supplice (Rock) 3
THUNDER: All The Right Noises (Hard Rock) 3
SUZI QUATRO: The Devil In Me (Rock) 2
REDEMPTION (FR): Three Of A Kind (Hard Rock) 1
MAVERICK: Ethereality (Melodic Hard Rock) 1
NAD SYLVAN: Spiritus Mundi (progressive rock) 1
LEWIS: Inside (Rock) 1
CANNIBAL CORPSE: Violence Unimagined (Death Metal) 1
ISSA: Queen Of The Broken Hearts (A.O.R.) 1
KAMERA OBSCURA: Copycat Vol. 2 (Alternative Metal) 1
TOP WAVES METAL
Having read the general ranking, logic would have it that Gojira is ahead of Liquid Tension Experiment in the metal ranking. It is not the case: the third part of LTE's instrumental experimentations is ahead of the seventh album of the Landes.
This being said, who will complete the podium?
Well, the editorial staff of Music Waves voted for the fifth solo album of ex-Angra and current Megadeth, Kiko Loureiro.
"For fans of modern guitar rock, "Open Source" is a bit of a holy grail in its success in assuming a certain standard proper to the exercise and drawing from a wide variety of sources to embellish its contents [...] If it is not always cited among the references of instrumental metal music, considering his membership in Megadeth elsewhere, "Open Source" is a further demonstration that Kiko Loureiro is part of the elite of the genre." (Nuno777)
KIKO LOUREIRO Open Source
The detailed Metal ranking
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT: Lte3 (Progressive Metal) 25
GOJIRA: Fortitude (Death Metal) 22
KIKO LOUREIRO: Open Source (Guitar Hero) 18
BLAZE BAYLEY: War Within Me (Heavy Metal) 14
SWEET OBLIVION: Relentless (Heavy Metal) 13
SETH: La Morsure Du Christ (Black Metal) 10
SAXON: Inspirations (Heavy Metal) 7
SOL DRACONI SEPTEM: Hyperion (Black Metal) 6
WITHERFALL: Curse Of Autumn (Melodic Metal) 5
KAMERA OBSCURA: Copycat Vol. 2 (Alternative Metal) 5
CRYPTOSIS: Bionic Swarm (Progressive Metal) 4
CANNIBAL CORPSE: Violence Unimagined (Death Metal) 2
BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT: Paint The Sky With Blood (Death Metal) 1
NIGHTFALL: At Night We Prey (Black Metal) 1
STUBORA: Vision Obscure (Heavy Metal) 1
SNAP BORDER: Icons (Neo/Nu Metal) 1
TOP WAVES ROCK
The TOP WAVES ROCK is without appeal, Galaad crushes the debates and leaves only the crumbs. But to whom?
In second place, we find a Finnish quintet, Temple Balls.
"To stand out, Temple Balls decided to mix genres. Thus, this "Pyromide" offers a clever patchwork of melodic hard rock, sometimes metalized, hard FM, even pop, sleaze and glam."
TEMPLE BALLS Pyromide
To complete the podium of this ranking, we find CROWN with "The End Of All Things", a great sophisticated record that loves to play on many indus, post rock, doom and electro contrasts, between instrumental warmth and conceptual coldness" (Calgepo)
CROWN The End Of All Things
The detailed Rock ranking
GALAAD: Paradis Posthumes (progressive rock) 30
TEMPLE BALLS: Pyromide (Hard Rock) 15
CROWN : The End Of All Things (Post Rock) 14
A.C.T.: Heatwave (progressive rock) 13
THUNDER: All The Right Noises (Hard Rock) 10
BRUIT<: The Machine Is Burning And Now Everyone Knows It Could Happen Again (Atmospheric Rock) 9
CHEAP TRICK: In Another World (Rock) 8
SUZI QUATRO: The Devil In Me (Rock) 8
ÅRABROT: Norwegian Gothic (Alternative Rock) 5
DEWOLFF: Wolffpack (Rock) 5
REDEMPTION (FR): Three Of A Kind (Hard Rock) 5
SOLACE SUPPLICE: Solace Supplice (Rock) 4
PHIL MANCA: Dancing Spirits (Rock) 3
PSYCHIC EQUALIZER: Revealed Ii (progressive rock) 3
ISSA: Queen Of The Broken Hearts (A.O.R.) 3
MAVERICK: Ethereality (Melodic Hard Rock) 3
NAD SYLVAN: Spiritus Mundi (progressive rock) 1
LEWIS: Inside (Rock) 1
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT: Ghost Tapes #10 (Post Rock) 1
CHEVELLE: Niratias (Alternative Rock) 1
T.U.R.N.: The United Rock Nations (Hard Rock) 1
WH?LAND: Ii Daft Days (Pop) 1
More informations on http://www.musicwaves.fr/