AKPHAEZYA “Anthology IV: The Tragedy Of Nerak”

ALTAR OF OBLIVION “Grand Gesture Of Defiance”

ANATHEMA “Weather Systems”

ATKINS / MAY PROJECT “Valley Of Shadows”

BEDEMON “Symphony Of Shadows”

CANDLEMASS “Psalms For The Dead” CETI “Ghost Of The Universe”

COUNTER WORLD EXPERIENCE “Music For Kings”

DARK PRINCESS “The World I’ve Lost” DEPTH “Memento Mori” (EP)

DUBLIN DEATH PATROL “Death Sentence” EARTHEN GRAVE “Earthen Grave”

EUROPE “Bag Of Bones”

GRAND MAGUS “The Hunt”

I AND THOU “Speak”

KREATOR “Phantom Antichrist”

JOHN LAWTON & DIANA EXPRESS “Power Of Mind”

MAGNUM “On The Thirteenth Day”

MARCUS MILLER “Renaissance”

MY DYING BRIDE “A Map Of All Our Failures”

PAUL GILBERT “Vibrato”

PYRAMID THEOREM “Pyramid Theorem”

RANDY GEORGE “Action Reaction”

SPEAKING TO STONES “Elements”

THE ARISTOCRATS “Boing! We’ll Do It Live”

THE CHANT “A Healing Place”

THE KEITH EMERSON BAND “Three Fates Project”

THERION “Les Fleurs Du Mal”

TOWARDS DARKNESS “Barren”

TRIOSCAPES “Separate Realities”

WINTERSUN “Time I”

Y&T “Live At The Mystic”

YOSSI SASSI “Melting Clocks”

Epica – Requiem for the Indifferent Freedom Call – Land of The Crimson Dawn Jeff Loomis – Plains of Oblivion Kamelot – Silverthorn Marduk – Serpent Moon Naglfar – Teras Paradox – Tales of the Weird Rage – 21 Spheric Universe Experience – The New Eve Wintesun – Time I Yngwie Malmsteen – Spellbound Zonaria – Arrival of the Red Sun

Not to be disappointed by these upcoming movies: Iron Man 3, Die Hard 5, The Hobbit Part II, Oblivion, The Wolverine, Thor: The Dark World, Red 2, Archorman: The Legend Continues and Stark Trek: Into Darkness.

Wintersun’s Time II.

A great deal of great metal releases.

A great metal year with loads of great music!

Shadowside – Inner Monster Out

Accept – Stalingrad Sonata Artica – Stones Grow Her Name

Kamelot – Silverthorn

Grand Magus – The Hunt

Asia – XXX

Firewind – Few Against Many

Threshold – March of Progress

Eclipse – Bleed And Scream

Magnum – On the 13’th Day

Bonrud – Save Tomorrow

David J Caron – Throu Ever-Ending Black

Circus Maximus – Nine

Jimi Jamison – Never Too Late

Cloudscape – New Era

Love.Might.Kill – 2 Big 2 Fail

Kiss – Monster

Youngblood – No Retreat

Van Halen – A Different Kind Of Truth

I hope on a sunny and warm festival in Solvesborg in June!

I wish that Van Halen finally will come to Sweden for a gig.

I want to be healthy and to have a awesome comeback on the race track (running).

I would like a sunny, cold day with wind in my back the 3’rd of March when I skii the 90 km in Vasaloppet.

In April will Bill Champlin, Bobby Kimball (ToTo), Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) and Steve Augeri (Journey) create a magic night in Lycksele and we will stay on the same hotel all night long!

Night Ranger, Overland, Work of Art, Snake Charmer, Bon Jovi, W.E.T, James Christian, Steve Lukather, Brother Firetribe, Degreed and Krokus will release new albums!!

That my daughters 10 year old classmate will recover from the world’s most terrible and unfair disease! Hope you can find the strength girl!

Judas Priest return with a brilliant album. Slayer likewise. No rain at Wacken. Peace and love and happiness stuff.

” Beyond the Bridge sets the bar very high for all, not just for debut albums, but all progressive metal acts to follow!”

Affector – Harmagedon

” My heart is fulfilled with joy and sadness at the same time. Joy, since I was honored to review this progressive masterpiece from Affector. Sadness, if the predictions are coming true, maybe our precious world will come to an end.”

Stealing Axion – Moments

One of the year’s best contributions to the almighty and blooming “djent” scene.

” These are the newfound kings of the “djent” throne and progressive groove metal has a new name, pronounced “STEALING AXION”. This is as important as the universe itself, and hands down…my metalbrain has experienced some of the most intense and breathtaking eleven epic ‘MOMENTS’ in my yet short life as a metal reviewer.”

Gnosis – Monuments

“The quintet has constructed a new gigantic ‘monument’ of extraordinary size and power, to stand out among the other progressive metal acts out there, bringing something very unique and a refreshing sound to the already overpopulated “djent” scene.”

Threshold – March of Progress

2012 will be remembered as the Year of Damian Wilson with his leading role in Threshold and Headspace. Threshold delivered maybe their best craftsmanship with this release ever.

Wintersun – Time I

8 years of wait…and then frontman Jari has finally returned with his supercomputer from the future to produce the best melodic death metal piece delivered in many years, even though it was a very short listening experience…

Teramaze – AnhedoniA

“The band just delivered one of the best progressive thrash metal albums since many years, and I hope we will not have to wait 4 years again for the next release. If yes, we can find comfort until then, by feeding our ears with this masterpiece.”

Syqem – Reflections of Elephants

Was introduced to this prog act by one of my friends, and what a delightful surprise it was. A polished prog gem & debut introducing a very unique blend of electronica (dupstep) and prog metal.

Circus Maximus – Nine

One of my prog metal favorites of 2012, and after five years of wait this quintet from Norway had one hell of a comeback with this release.

“With this release most of the technical acrobatic tricks from the debut lay buried deep down in the earth, but what we now get from these musicians is so much more than that. It is feelings told with mesmerizing melodies and heavy tunes, which will haunt your dreams forever”

Periphery – Periphery II

“This musical journey has been an endless cycle of listening for me. The album has so much to offer with its uncountable flavors and juiciness and has succeeded in gluing my ears to the speakers for many hours of listening”

Kamelot – Silverthorn

Roy left Kamelot , and it was announced that Tommy Karevik of prog metal act Seventh Wonder would replaced him. Did he succeed? Indeed he fits like a hand in a glove.

“Silverthorn” should be a thorn in the side of Kamelot sceptics. Pun intended!”

Headspace – I Am Anonymous

“Well, this album combines the strengths of Dream Theater, Threshold, A Perfect Circle, Rush and Yes and melts it all into a perfect symbiosis. The music simply captures you and takes you on a sonic journey beyond the stratosphere”

Damian Wilson & Co. nailed it.

Speaking to Stones – Elements

7 Horns 7 Eyes – Throes of Absolution

” Still it must be one of the best progressive death metal experiences released this year. My ears are still glued to my earphones and can’t escape this beast from hell.”

Arjen Anthony Lucassen – Lost in the New Real

Finally this young man has returned from his home planet called Netherlands with the next solo release in his career.

“This jewel is more in the vein of Ayreon in the early years. With help from some unique talents on board, Arjen is able to deliver one of his most creative works since “Into the Electric Castle” that melds different music styles so seamlessly. The high diversity of this release includes contrasting styles such as prog, rock, metal, folk, industrial and even pop.”

Hemina – Synthetic

A great debut by these newcomers to the prog scene, and what a great opportunity to kick off my new career as a reviewer of PoM.

Distorted Harmony – Utopia

This could be a wish child of legendary melodic prog metal group Fates Warning and prog maestros Dream Theater…enough said!

Suspyre – Suspyre

Ethereal Architect – Monolith

Katatonia – Dead End Kings

“Dead End Kings” is the best dark and melancholic album this year!

Hopefully, it will be another great year in the company of my great colleagues and metalheads from Power of Metal \m/.

Wintersun – The second part of the epos “Time” Seventh Wonder – It’s time for frontman Tommy Karevik, who has been touring and tearing up the stages all over Europe this year with Kamelot, to return to his old prog roots with SW. Headspace – A follow up to their debut masterpiece “I Am Anonymous”, yes please \m/ Rumors are true…Finn Zierler (Beyond Twilight) will return with a new super group called “Zierler Projects”…Hopefully, he will unleash the debut during 2013. I’ll be waiting very patiently…

I’ll will certainly be praying for another amazing year with many new prog releases to be raining down upon our metalheads \m/