Just Saying Goodbye

Alas, this is my last post on this site of my own creation. As regular readers can tell, since my stroke, I have not kept up this site very well. Physically I am fine; it is not anything medical, its just my musical tastes have changed. Before the stroke and before that, my life while I was going through a divorce, I was needing a musical source to let out my frustrations. I am proud, glad, and thrilled to say hard rock and metal took me there and back again.

I have mellowed to a degree, and I really do not play hard rock as much. I still love Kamelot, but without Roy Khan, it is not the same. I still love Deep Purple, but I prefer the classic Ritchie Blackmore days, which is going on 40 years ago. I still love Nazareth, but the new albums are not half as good as the others. Classic Black Sabbath and Classic Blue Oyster Cult will always be among my favorites, but the production from those bands over the last few years have been minimal at best.

I cannot stand the thrash, the screamer, the falsetto deep leather voice junk that is permeating metal today. No sense fighting it, but the power metal I like (Savatage, Rough Silk, Kamelot, Stratavarious, and the like) are not putting out the volume they once did and the music actually has sounded unoriginal and reduntant to me, as of late.

I have embraced more Americana Music as of late and have been enjoying more blues and folk music.

My very special thanks to my internet friend Martin Popoff for his guidance, his books, and his encouraging words. Martin is the best writer/critic in the hard rock/heavy metal music world. No one is better.

My special thanks to my friends who have visited and to all who have chanced by to read and take an interest.

Any and all comments are welcomed. if you enjoyed this site, please send me a comment. if you thought this site was annoying or silly, also let me know.

Fo my final blog post on Sweetwood's Metal Moments, I offer my top 30 Hard Rock/Metal albums. They are in No particular order other than the first three are numbers 1-3 as the greatest hard rock/metal albums, ever! Well at least in my most humble opinion.

1. In Rock--Deep Purple
2. Sabatage--Black Sabbath
3. British Steel--Judas Priest
4. Lights Out--UFO
5. Fire of Unknown Origin--Blue Oyster Cult
6. Blizzard of Oz--Ozzy Osbourne
7. Rising--Rainbow
8. The Black Halo--Kamelot
9. The Metal Opera I and II--Avantasia
10. Machine Head--Deep Purple
11. Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken--Hammerfall
12. Alive--Kiss
13. Circle of Life--Rough Silk
14. Streets A Rock Opera--Savatage
15. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath--Black Sabbath
16. Epica--Kamelot
17. Moving Pictures--Rush
18. The Number Of The Beast--Iron Maiden
19. Eric the Red--Tyr
20. Hair of The Dog--Nazareth
21. On Your Feet Or On Your Knees--Blue Oyster Cult
22. Winterheart's Guild--Sonata Arctica
23. Ghost Opera--Kamelot
24. Gutter Ballet--Savatage
25. Screaming For Vengence--Judas Priest
26. Heaven and Hell--Black Sabbath
27. Soundtrack to Heavy Metal (the movie)--various Artists
28. Signals--Rush
29. Infinite--Stratovarious
30. Power Of The Dragonflame--Rhapsody

Older metal and hard Rock will always be with me. ROCK ON!