Within Temptation - "Paradise (What About Us?) ft. Tarja"

What about us? Isn't it enough. No, we're not in paradise.

Rating: 9/10

When I heard one of my favorite symphonic metal bands was collaborating with Tarja, one of the greatest symphonic metal singers, to release a song, I was excited and boy did they deliver. This song is absolutely amazing, probably the best symphonic metal song released this year so far, and I absolutely cannot wait for the upcoming album. I listened to this song on repeat for a really long time when I first found it. Interestingly this is one of the very few symphonic metal duets I have heard and I am surprised it turned out so well, Sharon of Within Temptation and Tarja's voices compliment each other perfectly. Also the music video is extremely well done and obviously had a lot of work put into everything about it, unfortunately our small player doesn't do it justice, I would recommend watching this one in full size on youtube. Overall I am extremely impressed so far and can't wait for Within Temptation's new album.

Masterplan - "Crimson Rider"

Holy fire I'm not scared of you, I'll take you to burn, oh yeah, crimson rider I am the baron of the sky, come feel the wind turn.

Rating: 8/10

This song starts off a bit slow, but the chorus is amazing. Masterplan is a German power metal band formed by former guitarist and drummer of Halloween in 2001 and, although I haven't listened to much of their music, this is definitely one of my favorite songs of theirs and they are definitely becoming one of my power metal bands. I think is a song about either the Red Baron or someone going to fight him. It really feels like a song about being a pilot and is very well written.

Epica - "Chasing the Dragon"

What goes around will come around, don't deny your fears, so let them go and fade into light.

Rating: 7/10

Alright, I lied, it turns out there is another awesome song from this album I missed the first time. Epica recently released a "best of" album on spotify and this was on it, having listened to the album extensively found this song to be one of my favorites and apparently I missed it when I first listened to the divine conspiracy. Anyways, this song is very symphonic metal, and that is a lot of the reason I like it so much. It is a very relaxing song and it has been stuck in my head all week, which is totally fine with me. It is a bit on the long side and there are parts of it I like a bit less, but as a whole I love this song. Also for those use Spotify check out their best of here.

Alice Cooper - "Poison"

You're poison runnin through my veins.

Rating: 7/10

I don't know why, but I really like this song, it's a bit outside of the music I normally listen to. I originally discovered it because Tarja did a cover of it which I, like a bit more. I did not post the music video since it is somewhat NSFW, if you want to see it, you can find it on youtube or read about it on wikipedia. The song is very catchy and generally awesome so it is no supprise to me that it is Alice Cooper's number one hit. Interestingly I have actually already posted a song by Alice Cooper, he was the guest vocalist for Avantasia on The Toy Master. I feel the obvious meaning of this song is a forbidden relationship, or one you know you shouldn't be in, however I read a very interesting theory showing how the lyrics of the song could be an analogy for a heroin addict, which I find very interesting. Also, I would kill for Alice Cooper and Tarja to do a duet of this song, but that is unlikely to happen since they are very different artists unfortunately for me.