17.
Iron Maiden - "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"
Tracklist:
01 - Moonchild
02 - Infinite Dreams
03 - Can I Play With Madness
04 - The Evil That Men Do
05 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
06 - The Prophecy
07 - The Clairvoyant
08 - Only The Good Die Young
1988's seventh studio album from
Iron Maiden is the first album by the band to use keyboards. The previous album had used guitar and bass synths, but this time they went full on with keys and although the results were great by any objective standards, some of the hard-core fanbase were not exactly thrilled by it at the time. I remember being somewhat taken aback by it myself, but I eventually grown to love this album and of course, having placed it at #17 on my all time list of favorite albums, that should be pretty clear. Although the concept was never fully realized and is a bit under developed, the album is still considered by many fans to be the last great "classic"
Iron Maiden album. The key tracks here for me are "Infinite Dreams" "The Evil That Men Do" "Seventh Son" and "The Clairvoyant" but I really, really enjoy listening to this entire album. UP THE IRONS!!
16.
Spock's Beard - "The Light"
Tracklist:
01 - The Light
I - The Dream
II - One Man
III - Garden People
IV - Look Straight into the Light
V - The Man in the Mountain
VI - Señor Valasco's Mystic Voodoo Love Dance
VII - The Return of the Horrible Catfish Man
VIII- The Dream
02 - Go the Way You Go
03 - The Water
I - Introduction/The Water
II - When It All Goes to Hell
III - A Thief in the Night
IV - FU/I'm Sorry
V - The Water (Revisited)
VI - Runnin' the Race
VII - Reach for the Sky
04 - On the Edge
In 1995, let's be honest, progressive rock was pretty dead. Yeah, sure, there were a few bands that were still standing, but the whole progrock scene was stale, bland and lifeless. It lacked an inspiring and remarkable talent. Little did we know that Neal Morse would come out of the great nothing and drop this slab of progressive brilliance on the scene! I have to admit that I didn't hear it until quite a few years later (2001, actually) but I was completely floored when I did! It's a shame he never re-recorded these songs because the production on this album holds it back just a bit, but it also contributes in a way to its charm. Neal Morse would prove to become one of the most prolific progressive rock artists in history, releasing many more albums with
Spock's Beard and
Transatlantic then going on to release a slew of solo albums that are musically incredible, but somewhat lyrically repetitive and weiged down by his religious dogma. Still, there is no denying the underlying genius of this musician and it all started with "The Light."
15.
Pain of Salvation - "Remedy Lane"
Tracklist:
01 - Of Two Beginnings
Chapter I:
02 - Ending Theme
03 - Fandango
04 - A Trace of Blood
05 - This Heart of Mine (I Pledge)
Chapter II:
06 - Undertow
07 - Rope Ends
08 - Chain Sling
09 - Dryad of the Woods
Chapter III:
10 - Remedy Lane
11 - Waking Every God
12 - Second Love
13 - Beyond the Pale
They pounded me and pounded me to get this album but the samples I had heard online did nothing for me. But they kept pounding. Then I bought the album and listened once and posted my profound disappointment. After one listen I thought it sucked. After two listens I thought a couple of the tracks were OK. After three listens I thought maybe I had been mistaken, maybe it was pretty decent after all. By the fourth and fifth listen I came to realize that I had discovered another one of those rare masterpieces that you just don't encounter all that frequently. This album made me into a life-long Daniel Gildenlow fan, and although I have literally hated the last few albums he's released (and yes, I've listened to them multiple times!) I still have a very deep respect and admiration for the artist who created the first 4 albums of
Pain of Salvation, which I think are the best, with "Rememdy Lane" being the peak of Daniel's creative genius. I won't offer "key tracks" here because this album should be consumed in its entirety to be fully appreciated for what it is: A remarkable progressive metal masterpiece.
Topic: KirksNoseHair's Top 50 v. And the #1 album is........ (Read 35680 times)
