Happy new year, dear friends. After a semester's absence, I am once again a KVRX DJ. My first regularly-scheduled show is tonight at 8pm cst, and I'm going to share my top 5 songs of 2012 with you. If you can't tune in, here they are, along with some fun facts. (If you're a regular listener of my show, you know I love me some fun facts.) I tend to gravitate towards heavy metal with great melodies, so that's what you can expect from these songs. And if you like what you hear, tune in every Friday night at 8pm cst so we can be radio buddies. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!
5. Alcest - Autre Temps ~ Alcest plays such beautiful, dreamy music. I'm glad that they are getting so popular stateside; when I saw them in concert last spring, the venue was packed. Still, the atmosphere was so ethereal that I felt like I was the only one there.
4. Sonata Arctica - Losing My Insanity ~ Tony Kakko, Sonata Arctica's vocalist and main songwriter, originally wrote this song for Ari Koivunen's solo album Fuel for the Fire. I heard Ari's version first, so it is my favorite, but it's cool to hear it performed by the original songwriter as well. I saw Sonata Arctica in concert in Tampere (Finland), and had not purchased this album at the time, so it came as quite a surprise to hear them play it. Probably the most surreal musical moment of my entire year...
3. Amoral - This Ever Ending Game ~ The highlight of my entire time as a DJ was definitely interviewing Amoral, one of my very favorite bands. They describe themselves as "classic rock for the 21st century," and they do indeed have a great, catchy, hard-rockin' sound. They came all the way from Helsinki to perform at SXSW 12 and put on a great show! Hope they return soon.
2. Amberian Dawn ~ Cold Kiss - This song features Timo Kotipelto of Stratovarius and Cain's Offering (two of my favorite bands, the latter being exteremely underrated) as a guest vocalist. Amberian Dawn is one of my favorite bands of all time because of their great sense of melody, symphonic elements, and classical-style singing. These two voices together are just magical, and the chorus is wonderfully catchy.
1. Kamelot - Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife) ~ This is probably Kamelot's most grandiose song ever, and yet, one of their catchiest. It's a perfect blend of the epic tendencies of their earlier work and the moody darkness of their more recent releases. Seeing them in concert with Nightwish was one of my musical highlights of last year.
The obvious choice ~ If you have ever listened to my show before, you've probably noticed that Nightwish is my favorite band. In keeping with KVRX's none-of-the-hits policy, however, I cannot play their music on my show because they have entered the Billboard top 40. So you won't hear Nightwish on my show tonight as one of my top songs of 2012, but of course, their album Imaginaerum was one of my favorites of last year. Here is my favorite track from that album.