…as played on Mostly Metal, 103.1FM, Valparaiso, IN the week of Sun May 02, 2021.

(Sunday 8:00 – 10:00PM US Central, replay Wednesday at 10:00pm … stream on wvlp.org)

This is a tough list. If I remade it next month, there might be a few changes, with some songs that didn’t make it this time coming forwards, depending on the day of the week. There is a large back-log of tracks that could be 10.1, 10.2, and so on. Metal purists might be aghast that I have not included their lengthy works Ghostship and Queen of the City of Ice. Both are great songs, but Ghostship feels a little too weighted by “interludes”; I could include certain parts of the song in this list, but it seemed wrong to break it up. Queen of the City of Ice would be a strong contender, except for the somewhat lengthy voice acting segment towards the back end of the song. Nothing spoils a music track more than voice over acting. Bands: stop it. If you need voice overs to communicate the story, put them between tracks, not on top of tracks. Also looking at you, Seventh Wonder and “One Last Goodbye.”

10. Crystalline Dream, off Carved in Stone (1995).

9. Question At Hand, off Shadow Gallery (1992).

8. Strong, off Digital Ghosts (2009).

7. The Dance of the Fools, off Shadow Gallery (1992).

6. Deeper Than Life, off Carved in Stone (1995).

5. Alaska, off Carved in Stone (1995).

4. Digital Ghost, off Digital Ghosts (2009).

3. The Archer of Ben Salem, off Room V (2005).

2. War for Sale, off Tyranny (1998).

1. Room V, off Room V (2005.