1. Fates Warning - Perfect Symmetry (1989), Voivod - Nothingface (1989), Mastodon - Crack the Skye (2009)We've come to it at last: my Number One album(s) of all time. As I mentioned the other day, this spot is a rather big tie between three
incredible bands and three
incredible albums. Picking a single one from these three would be a Herculean task and I think they all deserve the spot. So screw it; these guys all win.
a. I can imagine quite a few of you are probably surprised to not see Awaken the Guardian here. For the vast majority of the past year, as I wrote and rewrote quite a few different drafts of this list, I can confirm that it
was here. In spirit, it still is. But that's the thing; you guys all already know how much I love that album. I don't need to talk about it, because you guys all already know what I'd probably say about the album.
Furthermore, I don't think Perfect Symmetry has ever really gotten the proper credit it deserves. When it comes to Fates Warning, I usually hear people talk about Parallels, Awaken the Guardian or A Pleasant Shade of Gray. Hell, I even have heard a fair amount of praise go towards No Exit too. All of which are incredible albums and deserve a fair amount of respect. But the way I see it, Perfect Symmetry was a game changer in the progressive metal scene.
Back in the late 80's, prog metal basically fell into one of two camps: either you were incredibly melodic (Queensryche) or you were incredibly technical (Watchtower). Fates Warning took both and combined them into one. This was done on Perfect Symmetry by both the hiring of drummer extraordinaire Mark Zonder and the complete reinvention of how both Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti both wrote their music. The guitar duo cast aside the pummeling Sabbath and Thrash riffs of the past, replacing them with more unusual, angular chords, harmonics and celestial solos.
Another aspect that Perfect Symmetry has to its advantage over the latter Fates albums (this also applies to Awaken the Guardian and No Exit) is the inclusion of Frank Aresti as a songwriter. I love Jim Matheos's work as a songwriter, don't get me wrong, but I think even his mind has its creative limits. Aresti shares the workload here, writing three terrific songs completely on his own (A World Apart, The Arena, Static Acts) and co-writing perhaps the band's greatest songwriting achievement ever with Matheos and former bassist Joe DiBiase: At Fates Hand.
At Fates Hand is one of the most breathtaking songs I have ever had the pleasure of listening to and one of my all-time favorites too. The melancholic sound of the strings and piano open the song and lead it into the eerie dirge where Ray Alder softly sings of an apocalyptic sea. Alder, who improved by leaps and bounds from his preceding album, does everything right. He doesn't oversell the song, only singing from his heart. His performance, while hardly anything technical, is truly
haunting. The song then builds into a prog frenzy between Matheos, Aresti, DiBiase, Zonder and features a terrific guest appearance from keyboardist Kevin Moore. Aside from his terrific solo, Moore does a brilliant job at setting the perfect musical backdrop to add to the mood for the rest of the band's work.
I often like to compare bands to film directors (i.e. Chuck Schuldiner to Stanley Kubrick): Fates Warning is the Ingmar Bergman of Metal.
Favorite Tracks: The whole damn thing, but Part of the Machine, Nothing Left to Say, A World Apart and At Fates Hand are all particular highlights.
b. Around the same time Perfect Symmetry came out, Voivod released their own masterpiece: Nothingface. Last night, Scorpion jokingly mentioned how his first listen to In the Name of God changed the way he looked at music. The same can be said for me, in regards to this album. I have always been a fan of atypical metal bands. Bands that are smarter and find ways to naturally stand out from the crowd musically and bring out top quality music. It was what led me to discovering progressive metal to begin with. It was what led me to discovering bands such as Mastodon or Conception.
But I still wasn't prepared for Nothingface when I heard it for the first time.
This album is incredibly chaotic. Snake's punk vocals over Piggy's King Crimson-esque riffs and solos, Blacky's thick blower bass and Away's impeccable drumwork? It's all just an absolute mess and yet somehow it
works. The madness all adds up to a strange musical vision that could have only either come from a genius or a madman.
This album combined Punk with Black Sabbath, King Crimson and Pink Floyd to create a dark and psychedelic album that was incredibly ahead of its time. While I absolutely adore their cover of Pink Floyd's Astronomy Domine, I still wish Nothingface had gotten more success in its time for the band's own musical accomplishments on the album, such as Pre-Ignition.
Favorite Tracks: The whole thing, but Missing Sequences, Pre-Ignition and Sub-Effect are all personal highlights.
c. I did not see this one coming. When I first got into Mastodon a few months back, I initially thought that I would love this album right away and that it had to be the band’s masterwork. But I was left rather disappointed and confused when I finished listening to it for the first several times, while repeated listens to Blood Mountain and Leviathan only made me love those albums more and more. I finally got Crack the Skye back in January, but I still thought that Leviathan was better.
But about two months ago, I was up in Fayetteville to attend one of my friend’s gigs. While that night turned out to be a disaster, due to a long number of reasons, I think that was the night where I started to really appreciate Crack the Skye. While we all waited for the bands to start playing, the DJ played all sorts of different metal classics, such as Black Sabbath, Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead.
Then all of a sudden, Oblivion came on and I flipped my shit in excitement. My friend had a good laugh at my reaction and I’m sure that a few others there probably wondered what the heck was wrong with me, but I didn’t really care. I was listening to Mastodon, for God’s sake. On top of that, Oblivion was finally making some sense to me.
Since then, I have been listening to the album more and more frequently, with each new listen offering more rewards and a better appreciation for the album.
Favorite Tracks: Again, the whole thing, but I think the title track is the quintessential Mastodon song.
Full List of Mister Gold's Top Fifty Albums50. DragonForce – The Power Within
49. Opeth – Still Life
48. Black Country Communion – Afterglow
47. Dio – Dream Evil
46. Slayer – Hell Awaits
45. King Diamond – Abigail
44. Anthrax – Spreading the Disease
43. Kreator – Pleasure to Kill
42. Helloween – The Dark Ride
41. Control Denied – The Fragile Art of Existence
40. Iced Earth – Night of the Stormrider
39. Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
38. Dream Theater – Awake
37. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
36. Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
35. Tool –Lateralus
34. Crimson Glory – Transcendence
33. Kamelot – Karma
32. King Crimson – Red
31. Rainbow – Rising
30. Iron Maiden – The X Factor
29. Queensryche – Promised Land
28. Van Halen – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
27. Yes – Fragile
26. Queensryche – Rage for Order
25. Yes – Relayer
24. Kamelot – The Black Halo
23. Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Dehumanizer
22. Metallica - … And Justice For All
21. Rush – Clockwork Angels
20. Bruce Dickinson – Accident of Birth
19. Megadeth – Rust in Peace
18. Seventh Wonder – The Great Escape
17. Savatage – Hall of the Mountain King
16. Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith
15. Rush – Grace Under Pressure
14. Conception – Flow
13. Megadeth – Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?
12. Arch/Matheos – Sympathetic Resonance
11. Fates Warning – A Pleasant Shade of Gray
10. Iron Maiden – A Matter of Life and Death
9. Conception – In Your Multitude
8. Judas Priest – Painkiller
7. Savatage – Edge of Thorns
6. Nevermore – Dreaming Neon Black, Dead Heart in a Dead World
5. Voivod – The Outer Limit, Mastodon – Leviathan
4. King Diamond – “Them”
3. Death – Human, Symbolic
2. Bruce Dickinson – The Chemical Wedding
1. Fates Warning – Perfect Symmetry, Voivod – Nothingface, Mastodon – Crack the Skye
Topic: Mister Gold's Top 50 Albums - "Here at the End of All Things" (Read 46754 times)