February 2025 Music Additions!

This is The Black Queen here with my monthly Music Collection Update! This is where I gather all the albums I received during the month and present them here to add to my various Collection Wikis!

This month, I went on vacation to Virginia to see my boyfriend and I took him to a record store where I got a few neat additions including a cassette (which I don't include in these posts), all the while my car was getting broken into, so that was fun. Anyways, I also got a couple copies of a new album, one signed! You'll see... In total, I acquired 4 Vinyl [LP]s and 4 CDs! Let's check em out! (Oh also, I got a new phone and now the photos look different... Sorry)

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Vinyl [LP]s

Album; Parasomnia

Artist; Dream Theater

Year; 2025

Genre; Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock

Description & Thoughts;

Dream Theater's 16th studio album and their first with original drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy, following a 15-year departure after 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and replacing long-time drummer Mike Mangini. The album is a concept album surrounding themes of sleep, nightmares, and paranoia, the band's first concept album since 2016's The Astonishing. A highly anticipated release, the reunion of perhaps the band's most classic lineup created immense hype and attention across the Rock and Metal world, culminating to the album's first single Night Terror, which gave the band their biggest hit since their breakthrough single Pull Me Under from Images And Words back in 1992. Other notable singles included the insanely heavy The Broken Man and the self-homage, penned by Portnoy, Midnight Messiah. The opening track In The Arms Of Morpheus showcases the classic instrumental powerhouse within the band, and the epic closer The Shadow Man Incident is a textbook example of Dream Theater's ability to write powerful epics.

^Note: Second copy is signed by John Myung, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, James LaBrie & Mike Portnoy

Album; Powerslave

Artist; Iron Maiden

Year; 1984

Genre; Heavy Metal, Power Metal

Description & Thoughts;

Iron Maiden's 5th studio album. As their lineup of bandmates finally reached a stable point in their career, the band had begun producing more elaborative pieces and expanded their take on lyricism. The intense opener Aces High, written about an Air Raid during the Battle of Britain in WWII, is one of the band's strongest songs, instrumentally, vocally, and lyrically, while the ending 14 minute track Rime Of The Ancient Mariner shows a growth in the band's willingness to take compositions to more progressive and elaborated levels. This leaves a sandwiched album of amazing and electrifying Metal favourites like the title track, of which holds some of the best guitar solos by both Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, as well as the album's catchy lead single 2 Minutes To Midnight.

Album; Cowboys From Hell

Artist; Pantera

Year; 1990

Genre; Groove Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal

Description & Thoughts;

Pantera's 5th studio album and their first following their shift in sound from their Glam Metal beginnings to a sound more influenced by southern blues, Thrash Metal, and slower tempos which would go on to shed light on the dominant genre of the 1990s; Groove Metal, whom Pantera would become the forerunners of. Right from the start, the iconic opening title track kicks in with some instantly memorable and groovy riffs from guitar legend Dimebag Darrell, assisted with a headbanging backbone from his brother Vinne Paul and bassist Rex Brown. Vocalist Phil Anselmo, having debuted his vocal talents on their previous album Power Metal, emphasised the grit and growls of his lower and quick percussive shouting on tracks like Domination and The Art Of Shredding, while also maintaining his soaring high falsetto on Cemetery Gates and Medicine Man, and more aggressively so on Shattered. The album is a cornerstone in Heavy Metal as a whole and the kickoff for the Groove Metal genre.

CDs

Album; Hardwired…To Self Destruct

Artist; Metallica

Year; 2016

Genre; Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal

Description & Thoughts;

Metallica's 10th studio album and one that cemented the band's return to their roots. Following 2008's Death Magnetic which returned the band to their Thrash Metal beginnings, a more favourable reaction was received for the heavier songwriting, while criticising their use of modern production quality. The resulting follow-up featured some of the band's best production since their 1991 self-titled album. Several tracks including Hardwired, Moth Into Flame, and Halo On Fire proved the band's return to form was here to stay and would find themselves among new and old listeners' favourites. However, it's the closing track Spit Out The Bone that best demonstrates the raw and aggressive riffs, drums and vocals that made Metallica one of the biggest bands in the world. This would also be the band's first album on their own label Blackened.

Album; Tubular Bells II

Artist; Mike Oldfield

Year; 1992

Genre; Progressive Rock, Art Rock, New Age, Experimental Rock

Description & Thoughts;

Mike Oldfield's 15th studio album and his second in series with his original debut masterpiece Tubular Bells from 1973. Released 19 years after the original, this sequel to the mangum opus that became famous through the 1973 horror film classic The Exorcist takes on a flavour of 1990s New Age, updating the song's relevance. As opposed to the original single long-song format, this album is divided more regularly into a collection of individual songs. The opening track Sentinel earned Oldfield some long-awaited success back in the spotlight with its groovier rhythms and slightly altered piano melody, but with a dreamier atmosphere of synths, guitars and production. Also released were the two singles Tattoo and The Bell. A couple song titles were inspired by works from writer Arthur C. Clarke, including The Sentinel and Sunjammer, of which relating to the album's consistent theme of science fiction and space.

Album; .5: The Gray Chapter

Artist; Slipknot

Year; 2014

Genre; Alternative Metal, Nu Metal

Description & Thoughts;

Slipknot's 5th studio album and their first not to include two founding , Joey Jordison, whom left the band in 2013 due to health complications, and bassist Paul Gray, whom ed away in 2010 from a drug overdose. The album was named after and dedicated to Gray following an intense mourning period. Alessandro Venturella, among others, assumes bass, and Jay Weinberg on drums following these exists. The album was marked as a return for the band after an unsure six-year absence from the studio, releasing three successful singles ahead of the album's drop, including The Negative One, The Devil In I, and Cluster, all of which becoming instant modern Metal classics, but not without dynamics in feel and emotion throughout. Songs like Sarcastrophe feel true to the band's Nu Metal roots, while Goodbye displays the band's ability to pull back in honour of their lost friend.

Album; We Are Not Your Kind

Artist; Slipknot

Year; 2019

Genre; Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Heavy Metal, Groove Metal

Description & Thoughts;

Slipknot’s 6th studio album and one that seemed to revamp much of the band’s classic sound. This would be the first album recorded primarily without percussionist Chris Fehn, whom was fired from the band earlier that year due to royalty disputes. Fehn would be replaced on the next album, but apart from one track, this remains the only Slipknot album with eight , as opposed to their otherwise uninterrupted reign of nine. Many have compared the album’s aggressive and sludgy tone to that of their first two albums, but also with added melodic choruses, electronic effects and samples that help to modernise the sound. Songs like Red Flag and Orphan showcase this evolution rather well with more emphasis on the heavier side, while songs like Nero Forte and the single Unstainted provide a more classic melodic and commercially friendly variation of their sound. Then tracks like the Spiders and A Liar’s Funeral provide a glimpse at the band’s softer side, reminiscent of their classic songs like Snuff and Vermilion Pt. 2. The album has become a critical and commercial success for the masked Nu Metal legends and has achieved cult favouritism from the fanbase.

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That is all for now! Gonna try to conserve costs before another vacation in April but I've already grabbed a few new things today so we'll see! Until then, Peace And Love!

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~Queen Out