Your Five Favorite Albums of All Time

[ColdFireYYZ]

In no particular order:

1. Rush - Signals: Top to bottom this album is perfect. I even love the unpopular songs, Chemistry and Countdown.
2. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory: My favorite concept album. There's not one bad moment.
3. Anathema - We're Here Because We're Here: The whole album flows incredibly well. Even though I love all the tracks Summernight Horizon is one of my all time favorite tracks.
4. Steven Wilson - Grace For Drowning: According to last.fm, this is my most listened to album. I'm actually listening to it now as I type. This album has pretty much everything I was expecting and more. Raider II is one of the best epics ever recorded.
5. Joe Bonamassa - Sloe Gin: I listen to this album almost weekly. Excellent blues rock with a number of enjoyable acoustic songs, especially the reworking of Around The Bend. The title track, a cover song, blew my mind when I first heard it and was even more awesome live.

Honorable Mentions:
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Marillion - Seasons End
Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
Yes - Going For The One
Camel - Moonmadness
...and many more.

[senecadawg2]

Ravenheart, your writeup for NIN Downward Spiral in your top 50 list compelled me to buy the album today. Just finished it for the first time. It appeals to my darker/angrier side.

    It also appeals to my darker/angrier side as well. Sometimes, I just need that album. Some shit goes down that just gets to me so much, to the point where I feel like I'm gonna explode and putting on that album really helps me chill out. And that's the reason why, sadly, I don't listen to it that much, since most of the time I'm in a pretty good mood. (and end up listening to Pretty Hate Machine or With Teeth).

Yeah... I probably won't listen to it too much because of this.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

No particular order. Definitely don't have a definitive list, but lately it'd be:

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Toss-up between this and In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country, but that's an EP, so I didn't feel like including it. It takes a bit to get, but Boards of Canada makes me feel something no other group can come close to achieving. At the risk of sounding like I'm on acid, shrooms and other psychedelics, every group out there, no matter how great or emotionally effective will always be just music to me, yet BoC seems to make me feel something beyond that.

Massive Attack - Mezzanine
It's really hard to put my finger on exactly why I love this so much. But it's catchy often, it's entrancing in it's groovyness, every song has the vocalist(s) to compliment it perfectly, and everything just comes together into possibly my favourite album to listen to at night.

Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
My favourite VdGG album is an ever-changing thing. Right now it's this. There is no album on earth that is even close to it's style in any way. Possibly the most one-of-a-kind album I have ever heard. Peter Hammill is both my favourite vocalist and lyricist in music, and he really shines here.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
People either hate this album because of Jeff Mangum's voice, or they totally love it to death. I am the latter. His voice is a very acquired taste, because he has no vocal ability whatsoever, but after some listens you begin to see that it actually works. The songs have some of those most odd, abstract, yet strangely awesome lyrics I've ever heard. The melodies are beautiful, and the album as a whole is just breathtaking. The greatest indie album of all time.

maudlin of the Well - Bath
I could never explain why I love this album so much. It's just perfect. The songs are all amazing in their own ways, it's very diverse so every song sounds fresh and never redundant, and the production compliments the music very well. Every single song has it's share of amazing moments, or are just amazing as a whole. Flawless album.

[skydivingninja]

I promise I'll get the artwork up at some point.  These are all albums I consider perfect in every way.

1. Wish You Were Here-Pink Floyd

2. Moving Pictures-Rush

3. Lighbulb Sun-Porcupine Tree

4. Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen

5. Bat Out of Hell-Meat Loaf

Two years later...not too far off actually.

1. Lightbulb Sun-Porcupine Tree
2. Moving Pictures-Rush
3. Addicted-Devin Townsend Project
4. Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen
5. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3-Coheed & Cambria

Oh shit looks like I just finished my top 50 thread!   Of course I just looked through the whole thing and there were so many rankings that have changed in those few short months.  Maybe I should do another one.  I could probably finish it by 2013! 

[Ravenheart]

Matt, I've never been so proud.

Ravenheart, your writeup for NIN Downward Spiral in your top 50 list compelled me to buy the album today. Just finished it for the first time. It appeals to my darker/angrier side.

    It also appeals to my darker/angrier side as well. Sometimes, I just need that album. Some shit goes down that just gets to me so much, to the point where I feel like I'm gonna explode and putting on that album really helps me chill out. And that's the reason why, sadly, I don't listen to it that much, since most of the time I'm in a pretty good mood. (and end up listening to Pretty Hate Machine or With Teeth).

Yeah... I probably won't listen to it too much because of this.

I've listened to it many, many times, and still listen to it frequently. I guess that says a lot about me. 

[crazyaga]

I dont get all the people who call Laterlus "An experience" really.
its a great metal album, but its most definately NOT an experience.

[DebraKadabra]

So, may I ask what makes you say that Lateralus is NOT an experience?

[Fluffy Lothario]

10. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
9. Black Sabbath – s/t
8. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
7. Yes - Close to the Edge
6. Soundgarden - Superunknown

5. Sigur Rós - ( )
4. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
3. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2. Tool – Lateralus
1. Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert

Nowadays:

1 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2 Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert
3 Sigur Rós - Takk...
4 Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
5 (Sergei Rachmaninoff – 3rd Pianoconcerto - exclude if you like)

6 (5) Shakti – Shakti with John McLaughlin
7 (6) Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
8 (7) Grateful Dead – Live/Dead
9 (8) Soundgarden – Superunknown
10 (Ludwig van Beethoven – 6th Symphony - exclude if you like)

In case of excluding the two pre-album pieces:
11 (9) Yes - Close to the Edge
12 (10) Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

[crazyaga]

So, may I ask what makes you say that Lateralus is NOT an experience?

because it doesnt really drag me to its own world....
it's definitely a fantastic album, i just wouldn't call it an experience.

here some albums that i consider to be truly an experience: (espicially when listened from start to finish)
Maudlin Of The Well - Bath
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun
Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Radiohead - Kid A
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

there arent many really...

[DebraKadabra]

I'd definitely agree on DSTOM, for sure.  Not familiar at all with the others you mentioned, but I got your point with the one I do know.  I'd ALMOST agree, were it not for Lateralus/Disposition/Reflection, but that's the beautiful thing about opinions.

[MondayMorningLunatic]

I went with 10 because I'm just a cheater like that:

1. Ocean Machine: Biomech- Devin Townsend
2. Anathema- Weather Systems
3. The Cure- Bloodflowers
4. Pixies - Doolittle
5. Porcupine Tree- In Absentia
6. The Beatles- Revolver
7. Pantera- Cowboys From Hell
8. David Bowie- Scary Monsters
9. The Decemberists- The Crane Wife
10. John Coltrane- Giant Steps

Power Windows by Rush and Images & Words are very honorable mentions.

[necrotomist]

Just scrolled through my iphone and selected my fav. albums on there at the moment in alphabetical order:

BTBAM - Colors

Carach Angren - Lammendam

The Dear Hunter - Act II

Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction

Dream Theater - Images and Words

Emperor - Prometheus

Ihsahn - Angl

Ion Dissonance - Minus The Herd

Nile - Black Seeds of Vengeance

Opeth - Ghost Reveries

Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

Protest The Hero - Fortress

Spawn of Possession - Noctambulent

Symphony X - V

Unexpect - In A Flesh Aquarium

Unitopia - The Garden


Edit: saw someone mentioning Dillinger Escape Plan's Miss Machine album earlier, hell yes, thanks for reminding me of this masterpiece, It has been ages since I listened to it!

[senecadawg2]

So, may I ask what makes you say that Lateralus is NOT an experience?

because it doesnt really drag me to its own world....
it's definitely a fantastic album, i just wouldn't call it an experience.

here some albums that i consider to be truly an experience: (espicially when listened from start to finish)
Maudlin Of The Well - Bath
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun
Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Radiohead - Kid A
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

there arent many really...

Choirs of The Eye certainly is quite the experience.

[Zantera]

Hmm. The only one I'm 100% sure about is Oceansize - Frames being nr1. After that I would have these albums: (in no particular order)

*Mr. Bungle - California
*Dir En Grey - Uroboros
*Sigur Rós - ( )
*Radiohead - In Rainbows
*Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
*Ulver - Perdition City

[Gadough]

Updated Top 5:

1. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2. Between the Buried and Me - Colors
3. Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
4. Eisley - Room Noises
5. Savatage - Streets: A Rock Opera

[ZKX-2099]

I have to switch out my 4 or 5 spots to make room for Deconstruction.

[PuffyPat]

Honorable Mention: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
In my opinion this is the best album by one of the best sax players ever.

5. Dream Theater - Train of Thought
The first Dream Theater I ever heard. My mom borrowed it from a friend and when I heard I knew I was in love.

4. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
Who doesn't love a concept album about partying?

3. Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen
Not many times do I turn down listening to a track off this album. I just love everything about it.

2. Brand New - Deja Entendu
My favorite album of my favorite band. This record has gotten me through some pretty tough times in the past few years.

1. Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy
I don't what it is about this album, but I love every single song, and listen to at least one of them every day.

I was young and naive when I made that list two years ago; I also hadn't heard of The Mars Volta yet...

1. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Have You Seen My Prefrontal Cortex

2. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath

3. Brand New - Deja Entendu

4. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

5. Ambassadors - Litost

Write ups to come later... maybe.

[Silent Man]

My list is somewhat dated (as myself), and shows what I consider the most epic and groundbreaking at the time they were released. And had the most influence on me and my musical development.

1. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced
Not many young ppl today will know how much this meant for the rock music in years to come, and how it went to be like as it is today. I was there, with my ears growing into our old TV with a mono radio. Didn't have anything else to listen to, and couldn't play it loud enough, as my mom and dad would complaint as soon as they heard anything else than 'easy listening' music...

2. The Who - Quadrophenia
Many would think that their first LP with 'My Generation', 'The Kids Are Allright', 'I Can't Explain' would be the most influencal at the time - because it really was. This band _invented_ heavy guitar banging like noone else at the time. Hendrix had his origin in blues ('Red House' f.ex.), The Who came from Rhythm & Blues. But I choose Quadrophenia, because I think that was the band's masterpiece (also because I like concept albums). 'Tommy' was also a concept album, but with it's 'pop style', it was miles away from the burning darkness and depression I heard in 'Quadrophenia'.

3. Yes - Close To The Edge
True prog music had it's birth with, amongst other bands, Yes. The tight drum and bass combo, Bill Bruford and Chris Squire, became legendaric. They didn't become 'popular' like Who and Hendrix (both of these were frequent on the single hitlists), as they did typically did longer songs and concept albums ('prog')...for the first time, I was joining the 'inside crowd', the relatively few ppl who listened to bands that the public didn't know much about. You can say that they became more famous as time went on. But I can still meet ppl today, at my own age (61), who never heard about Yes...

4. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
After years of listening to Yes, I found Genesis. I got dragged into their musical world, and I enjoyed it so much...I played this LP again and again, I don't how many years...maybe 10. That's quite much by today's standards! Of course, I enjoyed all their LPs almost equally, but should I choose one, it should be this.

5. Dream Theater - Images & Words
No explanation needed. Just when I thought that real music was replaced by punk, rap, hip hop, 'new age', house...and all that which I never got into, DT came along and secured my musical desires for...the next 20 years or so. I don't have to repeat what you all think about this band (it is DTF after all). And at this time, they seem to have inspired a lot of new music coming, may I mention Haken f.ex. I'm sure there are lots of others, well I know, because I read pretty much about about what you ppl like in DTF!

My .2
Poul

[Nick]

Good pick on the Genesis album, that's definitely their best I think.

[Zydar]

Good pick on the Genesis album, that's definitely their best I think.

I agree. I had it on my Top 5 also.

[Ravenheart]

3. The Cure- Bloodflowers
8. David Bowie- Scary Monsters

I like you.

[ZeppelinDT]

Guess he forgot to put pictures 

Are my pictures not working?  They show up fine for me... :/

[HarlequinForest]

Guess he forgot to put pictures 

Are my pictures not working?  They show up fine for me... :/

It just shows a single period where the pictures go.

[Ħ]

I wonder if it's a sign of poor musical taste that my top albums are mostly from the same artist.

[crazyaga]

I wonder if it's a sign of poor musical taste that my top albums are mostly from the same artist.

its a sign that means you are not exposed to enough music imo..
but each one has its own taste , so dont listen to me

[Ħ]

I try to listen to new stuff all the time, though.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

So, may I ask what makes you say that Lateralus is NOT an experience?

because it doesnt really drag me to its own world....
it's definitely a fantastic album, i just wouldn't call it an experience.

here some albums that i consider to be truly an experience: (espicially when listened from start to finish)
Maudlin Of The Well - Bath
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun
Kayo Dot - Choirs Of The Eye
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Radiohead - Kid A
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

there arent many really...

Choirs is my definitive favourite album ever, but I haven't listened to it in a bit so I didn't include it. Agaetis Byrjun, Kid A, and Bath (as you've already seen) would all make my top 50.

[DebraKadabra]

I wonder if it's a sign of poor musical taste that my top albums are mostly from the same artist.

It IS your list though...

[Ruba]

You guys know numbers 5 and 1, right? Well, I'm not going deep in (no one sees what I do here) to details with them, at least for now.

5.Queensrÿche - Promised Land



1.9:28 AM
2.I Am I
3.Damaged
4.Out of Mind
5.Bridge
6.Promised Land
7.Dis Con Nec Ted
8.Lady Jane
9.My Global Mind
10.One More Time
11.Someone Else?

What, PL over Mindcrime? Definately. Dark, slow masterpiece. After Empire's hard rock band turned towards progressive rock and here's the result.

4.Ministry - Filth Pig



1.Reload
2.Filth Pig
3.Lava
4.Crumbs
5.Useless
6.Dead Guy
7.Game Show
8.The Fall
9.Lay Lady Lay (Bob Dylan cover)
10.Brick Windows

This album is just... interesting. I love all songs, that's why it is so high.

Ministry is an industrial metal band. Its members were on Filth Pig Al Jourgensen (guitars, vocals, programming, mandolin, harmonica, piano) and Paul Barker (bass, vocals, programming). Also there were a lot of studio musicians, I remember now Mike Scaccia (guitars) and William Rieflin (drums).

Some might know them from hits "Jesus Built My Hotrod", "N.W.O." and "Just One Fix". They are on Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs, which is their most popular album.

But I still love Filth Pig more.

The opening track Reload is the heaviest song on the album. Everything is distorted; guitars, bass, vocals and drums. Very brutal song. Extra points from the mandolin solo: my 5th and 4th favourite albums have both mandolin.

The second track Filth Pig is a chill out song, based on Barker's bass line. Tempo is slow, guitars play only power chords there and there. It has my favourite lyrics on the album. Very catchy. Jourgensen plays a harmonica solo here.

Lava is industrial song and based on very heavy guitar riff. Jourgensen growls and I don't find accurate lyrics from anywhere: no one has heard what he is singing  , Maybe the lyrics aren't the main point here. To soft the heaviness a little, there's a little sample, where woman (?) sings lava. It is looped many times and sounds good. Chorus is very catchy. Fade out ending is great, the only imaginable way to end a song like this.

Crumbs is maybe my second favourite. It has some shaky groove and headbang riffing. The groove is the key word. It's just  . The last half of the song is instrumental and contains the only movie samples on the album and wacky lead from Scaccia.

Useless is a slow song. Paul Barker sings it, and his performance is top notch. It has quite dark mood.

Dead Guy is my least favourite. It has nice bass lines and good guitar riffs, but it's too repetitive.

Game Show is a masterpiece. The build-up to the chorus riff is just perfect music. Lots of feedback guitars, the best vocals on the album and  drumming. Bass lines are great... wait, every song has great bass lines.

The Fall is a flashback from The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste. That album has heavy guitar riffs over electronic drum beats. This song just doesn't have guitar riffs. It has multi-layered electronic drum beat and power chords, which changes with the bars. The best thing in the song is piano, which kicks in half way the song. It brings beautiful, sad mood to the song.

Lay Lady Lay is straightforward, at least when compared to other songs. It is uplifting. I don't know the original version, but I don't think it Bob Dylan used distorted bass or distorted slide guitar. The chorus is just awesome, I love that guitar melody.

Brick Windows is musically uplifting, but I don't know about the lyrics, are they serious or what. They make crack every time. Driving electronic drum beat continues throughout the song. The time signature is a bit strange, I don't know if it is 5/4 or 5/8 (help me -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtFefQIgTPw).

Sorry my repetitive English.

3.Animal Alpha - You Pay for the Whole Seat, But You'll Only Need the Edge

Sorry, if I try to get the artwork, it gives just a big bunch of url. Here, have a photo of Agnete from the tour:



1.Pin You All
2.Master of Disguise
3.Fire! Fire! Fire!
4.Alarm
5.Breed Again
6.In the Barn
7.Even When I'm Wrong, I'm Right
8.Tricky Threesome

The heavier AA album. Brutal energy and some soft ballads to calm down the fury.

Animal Alpha was on this album Agnete Maria Kjolsrud (vocals), Christian Wibe (lead guitar), Christer Andre Cederberg (rhythm guitar), Lars Imre Bidtnes (bass) and Kenneth Kapstad (drums).

Pin You All starts with hi-hat clicks and "PIN YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"-scream. This track has a lot of screaming. Riffwork is fucking heavy. From heavy verses the song goes to slower chorus with very high vocals. Bridge is awesome and well done in the music video. The "I WANT THE NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMEEEES"-scream after the last chorus is the best scream I've ever heard  . When I'm singing this, I don't get even close. Oxygen runs thin.

Master of Disguise has a proggy intro (some strange time signature?), which is repeated as a instrumental section. The heavy songs here are not tinkering, they're agressive. When it sounds good and makes you mosh, it is good. The verses are awesome and the choruses are slightly different, the first and the last explode to your face after soft start and the second continues from the verse. A great chorus. Outro has 14 step jump in vocals (Maaa-STEERR of disguuuiiiiiiseeee). The ending whisper is cool.

Fire! Fire! Fire! is another heavy song. Fucking heavy intro with awesome lead (this is also repeated later), lighter verses and fucking heavy choruses.

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Instrumental section has awesome screams. The other chorus (You'll standing...) has one of the highest Agnete vocals ever. Blastbeat ending!

Alarm is by now my favourite Animal Alpha ballad. It's their heaviest ballad. Beautiful verses, and choruses are heavier, but Agnete sings them cleanly also. Bridge is fucking  . It has heavier vocals and great drumming. Drumming is overall great, maybe Kenneth Kapstad is better drummer than Thomas Emil Jacobsen (Pheromones, Animal Alpha EP), but the difference isn't big. The last chorus is lovely.

Breed Again is my least favourite, but still 5/5. VERY HEAVY riffing, there's some prog metal there. Solo just kicks ass. Chorus kicks ass. Kickass song. Verses are kinda oriental and have beautiful singing, when elsewhere she sings heavily.

In the Barn seems to be a harmless little ballad with awesome guitar riff, but there are horrible things underneath. Singing is clean throughout, but creepy guitars come in second verses, and the sad mood turns into scary. The bridge (He rolled over...) is very scary. And the build-up to the last chorus. I don't know have I ever had that bad shivers I once had. The mood is perfectly in lyrics, also.

Even When I'm Wrong, I'm Right has a heavy beat and fucking heavy guitar riffing (quite many songs have fucking heavy riffs). Agnete sings mysteriously in the verses and throws in  screaming in choruses. Awesome solo here. I don't get the lyrics the slightest, but they're badass.

Tricky Threesome is the only mid-tempo song, not exactly heavy, but not a ballad. The most Pheromones-ish song on the album. Many stylistic changes and the best of Agnete of the album here. The song has the only "real" guitar solo of the album, between the first chorus and the second verse. Great intrumental section and very beautiful chorus.

More adult album than Pheromones. Everything is top notch in this album, and the best thing is, that they've done something even better... 

2.Animal Alpha - Pheromones



1.Billy Bob Jackson
2.I.R.W.Y.T.D.
3.Bundy
4.Most Wanted Cowboy
5.Catch Me
6.101 Ways
7.Deep In
8.My Droogies
9.Bend Over
10.Remember the Day

Their debut, rockier and more experimental. Lots of cool songs.

Thomas Emil Jacobsen plays the drums on this album.

Billy Bob Jackson is kinda introduce song. Verses don't have vocal melodies, it's just like... melodic speaking. Or shouting. Heavy song, but differently than the heavy songs on the next album. Tempo is quite slow and riffs pound. One of my favourite AA guitar songs. Chorus is one of their best, and it has VERY high vocals. Nice solo and after solo-section is one of the crazy moments on the album.

I.R.W.Y.T.D. (it took me a month to solve the acronym) is "happier" song. Drum-based intro, and then in kicks  . Jazz. Very low vocals and after that in kicks screaming I can't do (I do sing these songs. Some of them sound quite awful then.). Melodic catchy chorus with again, VERY high vocals. Nice instrumental section, and three guitar solos. Nice outro chorus and and strange ending. This song is less than 3 minutes long and is still deeper than any of the Iron Maiden's 00's "epics".

Bundy was the song, that made me a fan. It wasn't BOOM like it was with DT and Pull Me Under, but I like this song more than PMU ever. PMU has some magic wibe, but this song is a) scary b) sexy c) hard-rocking. Athmospheric bass-driven intro and then comes a part I cannot describe. Then fucking main riff comes. Verse is nice, but after that comes a part, which made this non-radio-friendly (this was in two Electronic Arts games and is their biggest hit). The radio pop fans would crap their pants when the music stops and she starts to scream "SHUT YOUR FACE". Chorus is just perfect. As perfect as chorus can be (again no one sees what I do here). But those letters. The screaming part and the second verse are quite scary. Chorus is scary AND sexy. The "I'm coming to get you"-part is scary AND sexy. Geez, I don't wanna know, what she wanna do to the one for whom this song tells about. Music video is flawless, as is the song.

Most Wanted Cowboy is a rock song with very melancholy mood. Chorus is  , many great vocal melodies. I don't exactly get the lyrics, but it's a love triangle in Wild West. In first verse sings the other man, in second verse sings another man and both in the chorus. As a rock version (music video) the song is great, but what it misses, is the slow, jazzy part. Other instruments fade after angry "Shoot me"-part, drums start play jazz comp and Agnete starts her moaning as a woman, who cannot decide between two men. After that comes a cool build-up, which goes to slow, short "Bartender..."-part. Build-up starts again and there comes the exploding "BAAAAAAAAARTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENDEEEEEEEER, SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" and my all-time favourite guitar solo. Last awesome chorus, intro riff getting slower (what was it?) and there it is. A perfect rock song.

Catch Me is a straightforward rock song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQwh9p4b8yM

101 Ways is another total jewel. Very beautiful singing and dark verses. The thing is, what she is singing about. To sing about murdering her husband/boyfriend (or girlfriend, as well as I know their lyrics, it might be) that beautifully, there's some deranged beauty. Chorus is great. Outro is my favourite AA outro, the chorus theme and the

La la la
La la la la la la la

is just so beautiful.

Deep In is the weakest song on the album, but still 5/5. Heavy mid-tempo song with dark riffing, verse with low vocals and great chorus with VERY high vocals (have I wrote this sometimes earlier?).

My Droogies is the most insane song here. It's just crazy. You go crazy when you listen it. Drum intro, in comes guitars with power chords. Agnete asks "Have you seen my boys?". Verses are great, especially the second half (what a riff, what singing!). It has multiple parts. My favourite part comes in the middle:

Duh, you know who I'm talking about, when I say four guys in tuxedos and one dog in tue tue
Duh, you know who I'm talking about, when I say four guys in tuxedos and one dog in tue tue

You are
Yes you are
You are my vulva

You are
Yes you are
You are
My
Vul-vahh

You can guess has this part ruined sentences beginnining "You are" for me  . Just crazy.

Bend Over, I wouldn't recommend this song for people under 15 (Violet, close your eyes). Very effective riffing, and then Agnete comes screaming distorted "Bend over, let me slap your pretty and fat ass" (don't worry people with tiny ass, your turn comes also). Very catchy chorus. After second chorus comes some blues guitar and then FUCKING. BRUTAL. SCREAMING. And the scream that ends the blues part, be careful if you try it, your head might explode. Drums get faster, and we get to the outro. I move very strongly in this part. The rhythm, riff, vocals and the "Bend me over"-background vocals just make dance.

Remember the Day is very sad  . When they play usually very loud, this song is very quiet. Agnete sings very beautifully. Background is very small, there are only a couple of sad guitars and a little keyboard. Lyrics are the best ever.


1.Metallica - Master of Puppets



1.Battery
2.Master of Puppets
3.The Thing That Should Not Be
4.Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
5.Disposable Heroes
6.Leper Messiah
7.Orion
8.Damage inc.

A band with medium musical talent used it all and made the best album ever. Different kinds of songs and heavy.

The top three has only 5/5 songs. I'd like also include Animal Alpha EP, but it has only 4 songs and is 16 minutes long.

I'll write more later.

[Jirpo]

Nice writeups!

My top 10 at the moment (no writeups - I'll save that for when I eventually do a top 50 thread! ). Couldn't pick just 5. In no order. Included a few albums by bands where they have two or more albums that are both in my top 'tier' of albums. Put the album I prefer first.

Opeth - Still Life, Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries
Sigur Ros - ( ), Takk...
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Agalloch - The Mantle, Ashes Against the Grain
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, Yanqui U.X.O.
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Nest - Trail of the Unwary
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

[Lowdz]

Just realised I missed something rather important from my list.

[Jirpo]

Just realised I missed something rather important from my list.

[ZeppelinDT]

Guess he forgot to put pictures 

Are my pictures not working?  They show up fine for me... :/

It just shows a single period where the pictures go.

Dammit.  Gonna try this again.



#1



Great music.  Great vocals.  Captivating story.  It's got everything you could ever ask for in an album.


#2



Side B medley might be the most perfect music ever recorded.


# 3



My most listened to album on last.fm, and with good reason.  The album is so diverse and just takes you on a brilliant musical journey from start to finish.  Everything on this album is exactly where it should be.


#4



One of those albums that I can just completely lose myself in.  I just hit play and my consciousness disappears for a few hours.  H's voice is so powerful on this one.


#5



There's a reason it's a classic.


Honorable Mention