My Listening Year in Metal Part 1: My Top 10 Most Played Bands of 2021

 In darkness and light, in hope and negativity, in good and bad times rock and metal music has been my constant companion throughout 2021, as it has been for many years, so now it’s time to take a look back at my most played bands, albums and tracks of this year according to the stats provided by Last.FM. I have decided to split this article in 2 parts since it’s probably going to be a little longer than I initially intended.

PART 1 OF 2- MY TOP 10 MOST PLAYED BANDS OF 2021

1. Iron Maiden

2. Helloween

3. Sepultura

4. Overkill

5. Therion

6. Sodom

7.Ozzy Osbourne

8.Megadeth

9.Motorhead

10.Paradise Lost

Iron Maiden took the top spot by a large margin, and how could they not be this year’s winners after releasing this masterful piece of work called “Senjutsu”? In addition to that, I revisited the entire Maiden discography in December, listening to all their studio albums in chronological order because I have decided to post my ranking of their work, so it’s no they wonder they were the detached winners this year, followed by another legendary band, German power metal icons Helloween, which also delighted me in 2021 with their self-titled masterpiece, so it’s great to see that these bands still have a lot of energy and inspiration to create fantastic music.

Things get heavier in the next two positions, occupied by Sepultura and Overkill mostly because I have revisited their early material, without ignoring their last creations either. Anyway, in the case of Sepultura it’s no surprise that I still greatly enjoy their golden years, the period between 1987 and 1993, in which they had a fabulous streak of great albums. As for Overkill, there are two periods of their career I really dig, the former being the late 80s and early 90s, and the latter being the last decade, and especially their most recent creation, “Wings of War.” They never cease to amaze with their vitality after reaching a respectable age as well!

As for the rest of the top 10, Therion keeps symphonic metal in a high position thanks to their accessible last album, Sodom, which also released a pretty good album at the end of last year, represent my most listened to German thrash metal band of the moment, Ozzy is still in the top 10 mostly thanks to the first decade of his solo career, the 80s, Megadeth occupy an honorable 8^th place mostly thanks to their classical period, from the 80s to mid-90s, but I expect them to aim at the top position next year if their new release meets my expectations, Motorhead, although not one of my favorite bands, reach the top 10 since in 2021 I decided to pay more attention to some of the albums in their vast discography which I have ignored in the past, and Gothic metal Paradise Lost add more diversity to this chart since they also have a lot of quality material to revisit from time to time.

Bonus: To see the next 20 positions in my list of bands played in 2021 you can check the playlist at the right sidebar of this blog,

Flashback: Memories of a Journey by the Mocănița Steam Train(2019)

 It’s Saturday morning in the small town of Vișeu de Sus, in Maramureș County, Romania. I have come to this amazing region on a weekend trip to discover some of its treasures, but the highlight of

my journey is undoubtedly represented by the narrow gauge steam train, called in Romanian “Mocănița”, a wonder from the past which is still alive and well as it travels every day across the last forestry narrow gauge steam railway in Europe.

At 9:30 a.m. all the passengers are embarked on the train and the journey can begin. It’s going to take quite a long time for the old train to complete the short 18-kilometer trip along the Vaser River Valley to the Paltin station, which is the final destination for tourists, but speed is certainly not the reason for which I am here; in this case, the whole experience of this hopefully fascinating journey certainly matters a lot more than the destination!

After several kilometers in which the little steam-powered train goes through villages with houses on both sides of the track, the view becomes more spectacular as we enter the forest and the landscape is getting wilder, but the presence of human activity is visible all the time as there are areas in which we can see logs by the riverside waiting to be loaded in the wagons and transported to the home village. Thus, the Vaser Valley forestry railway turns out to be much more than a nostalgia trip for tourists; on the contrary, it still plays an active role and it’s still as vital for the local communities as it was back in the 1930s when it was inaugurated!

All of a sudden the train stops right by the side of the mountain because of a mechanical problem and the unexpected break lasts for about half an hour. Passengers become a little anxious as time passes by, but eventually, the intervention team fixes the problem and the train moves on; the delay means that the journey to the Paltinu station will be completed in 2 hours instead of 90 minutes, as it was scheduled, but the exquisite beauty of the wild landscape soon takes my mind off this small inconvenient as I try to enjoy the last part of the journey. After all, slightly unpleasant events like that make the trip more authentic as the Mocanita has kept its unique appeal precisely because it offers visitors the chance to see what it was like for real to travel by steam train and understand that it was sometimes an uncomfortable, even troublesome experience.

Finally, we arrive at the Paltinu station and we get off the train for an hour and a half. There, in the middle of the wilderness, we can admire the majestic rocky landscape and enjoy some food and drinks. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough food stalls for all the tourists who are hungry and thirsty after such a long journey, so we have to stand in quite a long line, and that is really the most unpleasant part of this adventure, but once get over it we soon forget those less exciting moments and focus once again on the natural splendor and the fresh air which fill our hearts and lungs with joy and vitality.

At 1:20 P.M. the journey back to civilization begins. Once again the locomotive is huffing and puffing as a black cloud of smoke rises into the air and the small steam-powered train slowly makes its way on the narrow railway, allowing me to enjoy the stunning views of the mountain. At around 3:00 P.M. the Mocănița arrives back at the starting point. It’s the end of a long, quite exhausting, but also highly rewarding and unique adventure that I will always remember with great pleasure!

Sunday Morning Chillout in the Park of My Town, Onești

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Sibiu- the City Where The Houses Have Eyes

 

A few years ago I was walking through the old town of the stunningly beautiful Transylvanian city of Sibiu when I noticed several houses whose rooftops had some truly unique features: the windows in the attics looked like eyes. The first house I observed, which had five eye-shaped windows appeared particularly creepy to me, and for a while I kept having an odd feeling whenever I looked at the pictures I made on that summer day.

However, this is not an uncommon sight in the historical center of Sibiu. Many of the houses you can admire there contain such weird and wonderful windows which are known as the “city’s eyes.” The strange feeling I experienced when I first saw the house with five eyes, which was the first one that drew my attention, was that it was alive and watching me!

In a way, those eyes can be viewed as the guardians of the old city. They are located in a public square and some of those houses were built as early as the 15th century, so they witnessed a lot of important events in the history of Sibiu! If I were a writer of horror stories I think the “city’s eyes” would represent a source of inspiration for a scary tale that I would entitle “The Houses Have Eyes.” Anyway, people who visit the old center of Sibiu should keep in mind that the city’s eyes are always watching them!

Of course, those eye-shaped windows are not necessarily creepy, it depends on how each person perceives them after taking a closer look at these weird, but wonderful architectural elements. Nowadays when I look at those pictures again those eyes seem to be looking at me in a much friendlier manner than the one I had in mind when I first saw them. I see them as a gateway to the past of the splendid city of Sibiu, as they seem to encapsulate the rich cultural heritage of this fabulous Transylvanian citadel.

The more I look at those eyes, the more I feel that they are more than simple windows, as they also have the more important purpose of communicating with those who visit the narrow streets and lovely squares of the old citadel, and the message they try to convey is simple, yet extremely powerful: "We are the eyes of the city and we're watching all of you. If you come with good intentions and you want to experience the treasures of this wonderful Transylvanian citadel, you are truly welcome!"