Author Topic: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #1 "Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?"  (Read 47930 times)

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Offline ErHaO

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #17 "Constant longing for the perfect soul"
« Reply #245 on: January 21, 2015, 03:38:38 PM »
There are A few albums here I never took the time to explore. But as I like all familiar albums on your list at the least, I will check those out. You have good taste  :metal And who cares about artist repeats if it is really good  ;D

Online Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #16 "Come wind, come snow, come winterland..."
« Reply #246 on: January 22, 2015, 08:01:31 AM »
There are A few albums here I never took the time to explore. But as I like all familiar albums on your list at the least, I will check those out. You have good taste  :metal And who cares about artist repeats if it is really good  ;D

Thank you! Hope you'll enjoy those albums.

About repeats, yeah, as I said, I initially wanted to do 1 album per artist, but some of them are too good to left them out. Anyway, this is the last repeat in the streak, and then we move on to the exciting stuff more or less.

I think a year ago this one and #27 (Epica) would be swapped, but as of now, I think this is the best Kamelot work (have you noticed I really love Kamelot? Yes? Alright then.)

#16
The Black Halo
Kamelot
Genre: progressive power metal
2005


After Karma and Epica we have finally reached the point when the best Kamelot album makes an appearance. After the immensely strong release Epica was, I guess there were some worries about how the second part of the story will match it in quality. Needless to say, all of them turned out to be unfounded, for The Black Halo raised the quality bar even higher, proceeding with exceptional storytelling, depicting Ariel’s sorrow and regret over his decisions in life, pondering the whole meaning of it; the musicianship stayed top notch too, with more pronounced progressive edge added to the songs.

I guess you can say Epica was more action-packed and thus more in the power metal department, while The Black Halo is mostly filled with the protagonist’s reflections and thoughts, and the music mirrors this, being more progressive, thoughtful and darker as a whole. Being still under Mephisto’s control in the beginning, Ariel slowly gets what is happening as the story goes forward; the grief for his loss and the anger with Mephisto’s blatant lies are skillfully expressed through the aggressive and tragic songs’ sections, one alternating with another; of course, Roy Khan’s singing assists in achieving this a lot.

The album’s structure is curious, it opens up in an energetic way with heavy March of Mephisto when Ariel seems to have no idea what he’s doing; then loses steam a bit with The Haunting as the man starts to realize what the hell is going on and what he has just done; finally, the album reaches its otherworldly beautiful turning point in Abandoned, where the protagonist begs the higher forces for forgiveness, unheard, and understands he will never see his beloved Helena again, as he won’t be able to enter heaven after his inevitable death. After this the record begins to pick up the speed again as the confrontation between the two main characters happens, going from leveled pace of Moonlight to rapid power metal in Nothing Ever Dies. The story is wrapped up in a grand way in Memento Mori, the sprawling epic composition clocking at nine minutes, which does a magnificent job bringing the whole storyline to a satisfying ending. That is, until the cheapest plot device ever comes into play in Serenade, revealing that the whole story was a “play set for a New Year’s Eve festival”, thank you Wikipedia for the explanation, because I really couldn’t wrap my brain around this fact for a while. And it’s not even the song is bad or something, I just hate when such things happen, be it in literature, concept albums or movies.

If you dislike power metal, but still trying to find something from the genre you would like, this is probably your best choice out of the whole Kamelot discography. It’s not the power metal people usually except to hear (see Helloween), and it comes with a beautiful story behind it, and of course I’m biased but damn, it’s a mighty great record. It’s incredible how Kamelot managed to create this spectacular run of albums from The Fourth Legacy to The Black Halo, literally releasing a masterpiece every two years. I guess that shows the amount of talent and incredibly musical ideas these guys had back those days; but I also should say in defence of Silverthorn, this album has grown on me a lot and probably surpasses The Fourth Legacy now. The mighty trio of Karma – Epica – The Black Halo remains untouched though. Who knows, maybe they’ll nail it with their new record in 2015?

Favourite tracks: The Haunting (Somewhere in Time), Soul Society, Abandoned, Moonlight, Nothing Ever Dies, Memento Mori

Since those write-ups are all written in advance, I don’t know if you will be reading this, Sacul (and apparently you are reading this!), but if you do: Memento Mori has a great flow and isn’t disjointed at all.

By the way, among the remaining 15 albums in this list only three bands appeared in this list before, so it’s going to be (I hope) a bit more interesting.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline TAC

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #16 "Come wind, come snow, come winterland..."
« Reply #247 on: January 22, 2015, 08:13:22 AM »
I've tried Kamelot a few times. They are a band that I should like, but they just haven't clicked with me.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Online Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #16 "Come wind, come snow, come winterland..."
« Reply #248 on: January 22, 2015, 09:29:15 AM »
I've tried Kamelot a few times. They are a band that I should like, but they just haven't clicked with me.

I totally know this feeling. I feel the same way about quite a few bands, Anathema for example.
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Online Evermind

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On we go to the Top 15! This is the really odd one, maybe the most odd one in the whole list, seriously.

#15
Enter
Within Temptation
Genre: symphonic gothic metal
1997


Growls. This album has them. There are quite a lot of growls.

(Watch TAC, bl5150 and jjrock88 tuning out instantly.) Alright, now onward.

How come there is an album with load of growls sitting comfortably at 15th place? I’m not sure I will be able to provide any satisfactory explanation for this, to be honest. Enter was among the first metal albums I’ve ever heard. I don’t remember exactly how I’ve discovered it though. What I know is that after all these years I still hold it in high regard; for me, Enter was Within Temptation at its finest, with beautiful female lead vocals contrasting with meaty growls among the sea of ringing, mysterious sounding keyboards. It all went sequentially downwards after Enter; while Mother Earth and The Silent Force were still good enough, The Heart of Everything is just average for me, The Unforgiving didn’t impress me at all, and I hadn’t even bothered to check out Hydra, which, come to think of it now, is weird, and I probably should do it someday soon.

Within Temptation is a Dutch band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt; they are married and have three children, by the way. I don’t know what genre the band is playing now, but it used to be symphonic metal with some rock and pop influences later on. The band had a few lineup changes since Enter, they seem to have problems with drummers, the graph on Wikipedia shows there were eight drummers overall. Both Sharon and Robert were in the band since the beginning, along with bassist Jeroen van Veen, so obviously all three of them are present on Enter; there is also Michael Papenhove on lead guitars (Robert plays rhythm guitars and does those growly parts, by the way), Martjin Westerholt on synths and keys, and Ivar de Graaf on drums.

So what’s the big difference between Enter and other growls-filled albums I can’t stand? As I said, I have no idea; it was the first album with such harsh vocals I discovered, surely this has something to do with it, but other than that, I’m clueless. So I’ll just get down to describing the record instead of comparing it with something else. The “beauty and the beast” vocal approach is hardly anything exciting, and while Sharon is excellent singer, I can’t say the same about Robert, whose growls I would label as average at best. Yet somehow I often find myself thinking how seamlessly they fit into the picture, and wonder how the record would sound with someone else delivering those lines; coming to conclusion I may have not enjoyed it with anyone else. I don’t know, it all comes down how familiar you are with the album; I can’t imagine myself accepting any changes. Even if there were three Mikael Åkerfeldts in their prime offered to sing instead of Robert, I wouldn’t change a single thing about Enter. So, yeah, about the music. It’s kind of pointless to describe every single song, for the album is consistently great in quality and consistently dark in atmosphere, just what you would naturally expect from symphonic gothic metal record. Some song are female-fronted only, like the opener called Restless; some are featuring growls, like Candles, the biggest highlight of this record; there are even guest growls provided by George Oosthoek on Deep Within; and finally, you can even find an instrumental on Enter.

Initially I wanted to write more about the music, but somehow my thoughts drifted away in totally different direction and I ended rambling about almost anything except the music itself. I’m not going to rewrite it though, because, well, sometimes rambling is a good thing! So I guess I’ll just reiterate that Enter is one hell of an album, growls sometimes can be fine with me, everything is great and we’re getting closer and closer to top ten. Whoo!

Favourite tracks: Restless, Enter, Pearls of Light, Grace, Candles

Wow, but this “welcome to my home” line in the title-track is cringeworthy. :lol
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Sacul

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I think I'd have appreciated Memento Mori a bit more in the album context, and knowing about the story of it. But still, the intro and outro have nothing to do with the rest of the song - at least I couldn't find any reprises nor references when I listened to it  :P .


And with Anathema, you can try their doom metal albums (Eternity is ccool) or the ones from their depressing, dark period (either Alternative 4 or Judgement). Even their last albums might have enough cheese for your tastes (try the songs Angels Walk Among Us and The Gathering of Clouds). If nothing works, then I can blame your tastes ;D .

Offline bl5150

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I really only got into WT properly with The Unforgiving - I really like Sharon's "chest voice" but didn't really care for the falsetto /gothic stuff off the earlier albums and so only liked the odd track (eg. Stand My Ground). And that's without the growls  ;D 

I'll check out the suggested tracks though.

I'm only a 99.9% growl free zone - there is the odd exception.   After Forever's s/t album made my top 50 - Floor Jansen (and the songs) were so damn good on that , so the odd growl wasn't enough to put me off.   That's a rare thing though.
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Online Evermind

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Well, WT really moved on from growls on the next few albums. Stand My Ground is actually very nice.

Try Restless, it doesn't have growls and represents Enter atmosphere just alright (but it's actually gothic stuff, so , well  :lol )

And yeah, no one can resist Floor's growls, including me.  ;D
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Online wolfking

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Black Halo is epic.

Never checked WT.
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Online Evermind

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Never checked WT.

Huh, didn't expect that.

Now we're gradually going back in time with the next four or five albums.

#14
Remedy Lane
Pain of Salvation
Genre: progressive metal
2002


Pain of Salvation is one of those bands that are difficult to get into, but if you do and they click with you, the result will be overwhelmingly rewarding. I’ve heard a lot of opinions about their music, both positive and negative, and also some thoughts about Daniel’s general attitude, mostly negative. I also heard their albums were quite complex and sometimes with unusual quirky elements which can easily turn the listener away. So, naturally, I was approaching them warily. I spent a few days thinking what should I start with, and essentially it came down to only two albums, The Perfect Element pt.1 and Remedy Lane. I picked the latter first, and that is probably the reason it’s in this list, and TPE isn’t.

Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band formed in early 90s, though they existed since 1984 under the name Reality, until the band was renamed (duh, obviously). I also feel a need to mention I don’t really like name “Pain of Salvation”. Well, anyway. The band’s founder, songwriter, lyricist, vocalist (huh) and frontman is Daniel Gildenlöw, and it just dawned on me I don’t know the names of other members at all (except Ragnar, but that’s another damnable story). Booklet of Remedy Lane says there was Kristoffer Gildenlöw on bass, Johan Hallgren on guitar, Johan Langell on drums (all three also provided backing vocals), and keys were played by Fredrik Hermansson.

My first listen to Remedy Lane left me in complete awe. The thing that most impressed me, I guess, is how smoothly the whole piece works despite all the weird things, like major awkwardness of Fandango or something suspiciously sounding like rap in Ending Theme. I don’t know what was more surprising to me, the presence of such unfitting elements or the notion I really loved them and was blown away with how naturally they fit in the picture. The second impressive thing, which may rival the first alright, was Daniel’s vocals. The way he delivers them, dramatically different each time depending on situation; sometimes it’s something close to humming and then it’s angry raged person shouting and nearly growling recklessly at the mic. Seriously, he goes high and low, soft and harsh, and this is another big reason why this record is so diverse. Dripping with a solid number of musical reprises scattered along the record, Remedy Lane is a fine example how to write a complex concept album blending a lot of genres and influences from everywhere. Sometimes the band keeps it simple yet effective, like on Undertow, while other, long tracks such as A Trace of Blood and Beyond the Pale are tricky and intricate; and the latter is also nearly godlike; so all tracks has something to like and almost nothing to dislike.

Ain’t that a perfect reason to place a record this high in the list? When the album is over an hour in length but the journey is so enthralling you never notice this; when nearly each song is so complicated it unveils more new elements with each listen, making every listening experience worthwhile; when the album makes you feel such a wide range of emotions; well, I don’t even need to look for some superficial flaws. This record deserves all the praise it gets.

Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album

Favourite tracks: Ending Theme, A Trace of Blood, Undertow, Second Love, Beyond the Pale
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Offline Elite

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YES. I knew it from the thread title. I'm a huge fan of PoS and this album as many DTF'ers will know probably. My favourite track from the album is Rope Ends, without a doubt. How come that's not in your list? Also, the expanded edition adds the track 'Thorn Clown', which is a gem as well. Amazing album, getting to see it played live in full last October was quite a great experience :)
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Sacul

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 :corn

Offline Zydar

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The only PoS album I really enjoy :tup
Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline Crow

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your thread title got me here

TPE1 and Remedy Lane are both legendary though I prefer the former but I certainly won't complain about the latter. Idioglossia in particular is one of my favorite songs, EVER, ever. A Trace of Blood, Undertow, Rope Ends, Beyond the Pale, all absolutely fantastic songs too.

Offline bl5150

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I enjoy 3 or 4 tracks on this ,with my fave being an instrumental and this album is the best of theirs that I've heard..  And that says it all I suppose..........not a band I've really connected with.
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Online Evermind

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My favourite track from the album is Rope Ends, without a doubt. How come that's not in your list?

Because it's *drumroll* not my favourite!

Amazing album, getting to see it played live in full last October was quite a great experience :)

What about Ragnar? I've heard he sang a huge chunk of the album (and saw a video of Undertow, where he indeed did that thing). I would've been pretty pissed off if that happened, I'd want to hear Daniel singing the album.

The only PoS album I really enjoy :tup

Well, I enjoy TPE pt. 1 too, but it's nowhere near this one for me now.

your thread title got me here

I was almost counting on it!

I enjoy 3 or 4 tracks on this ,with my fave being an instrumental and this album is the best of theirs that I've heard..  And that says it all I suppose..........not a band I've really connected with.

No surprise here I guess.  :biggrin:

Now we're going back for seven years from Remedy Lane to this pinnacle of (more or less modern) power metal music:

#13
Imaginations from the Other Side
Blind Guardian
Genre: power metal
1995


Blind Guardian always had a bit of detached place on a power metal scene. Maybe that comes from the fact they played speed metal in the beginning, or maybe it’s because they have those very recognizable vocals; anyway, when it comes to power metal talk, somehow it’s always Helloween, Gamma Ray and such stuff most people I know are raving about, and Blind Guardian is always left somewhere aside. That doesn’t change the fact they’ve put out one of the best albums in the genre, a real milestone for the band too. And Imaginations from the Other Side isn’t even that different from previous band’s work, Somewhere Far Beyond, it’s just the songwriting became tighter, melodies grew stronger and Hansi is screaming his lungs out like a madman. All this resulted in nearly every song being a hit and killer live.

Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 under the name Lucifer’s Heritage. After releasing a few demos they’ve signed a contract with No Remorse Records and changed their name to what we have now. Going from thrash / speed metal on their first two albums, the band began shaping their current approach with their next records, and in 1995 they’ve released their fifth studio album, Imaginations from the Other Side. Hell, this band was quite prolific back in those days, and now you have to wait like four or five years for their new output. This album features the band’s unchanging frontman and vocalist Hansi Kürsch, who also played bass for this record; double guitars are played by another band’s founder Andre Olbrich and Marcus Siepen, while drums and percussion are provided by Thomas Stauch (who left the band somewhere around 2005 before A Twist in the Myth). Blind Guardian specializes on the epic, bombastic songs about ancient myths and legends, fantasy stories and sagas like A Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time and so on, and even has the whole album devoted to Tolkien’s Silmarillion, so if fantasy is not your thing, either try to not listening to the lyrics too hard, or stay away from this band.

As I said before, what really makes this album special is the unrestrained, crazy vocal delivery by Hansi. The songs like The Script for My Requiem are just insane, there are so much reckless screams my head wants to explode, and in this case, it’s a good thing. Actually, Imaginations from the Other Side has a lot of similar aspects compared to Somewhere Far Beyond and further Blind Guardian work, filled with multi-layered vocals, random verses (it’s quite difficult to find two exactly same verses on Blind Guardian song) where Hansi just screams one line, then shouts the other and here you go, have an epic pre-chorus and chorus now, and here comes the next verse totally unlike the first, enjoy. And the thing is it seems to be done so effortlessly, however it works stunningly, confirming the amazing songwriting talent of the band. Take the title track for example, there are three verses, they are all memorable as hell, you’ll probably will be able to remember them after just two or three listens, but they are completely different in structure. Well, all the heavy numbers except for maybe Another Holy War and I’m Alive (which, by the way, are great too) are simply mindblowing, and the ballads (there is in fact one, but I weirdly consider Mordred’s Song as a ballad too, I don’t know why, it’s totally not) are beautiful as always.

I love Blind Guardian’s work from Somewhere Far Beyond (1992) and onwards, except one average twist they’ve been consistently great with their outputs. There is one thing that pisses me off though, every time they’re playing live Hansi is saying something along the lines “You’re great audience, we’ll see you again really soon! Goodbye!” and then you have to wait for five fucking years before they’re coming to your city again. I guess that’s some kind of joke, like that orchestral album they’re teasing us for what, ten years already? Otherwise, Blind Guardian is a great band (they’re releasing another album in January 2015, color me excited); and Imaginations from the Other Side is an amazing, innovative and kicking-ass-all-around album, and looking in my list now, I guess that’s the last pure power metal album I’ve got. That makes it the best in the genre for me, I think!

Favourite tracks: Imaginations from the Other Side, A Past and Future Secret, The Script for My Requiem, Mordred’s Song, Bright Eyes, And the Story Ends
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline mikemangioy

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Always wanted to try POV and Blind Guardian are pretty great
Because Mike is better than Mike

Online Evermind

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Always wanted to try POV and Blind Guardian are pretty great

Pain of... Valvation?  :lol
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Offline bl5150

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Mike..............focus on DTF and not whatever else it is you're downloading  ;D
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Offline Sacul

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Online Evermind

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Mike..............focus on DTF and not whatever else it is you're downloading  ;D

 :rollin

:corn
:justjen

You should like the next one. But, well, it's coming tomorrow.  :lol
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline mikemangioy

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Mike..............focus on DTF and not whatever else it is you're downloading  ;D

whoops  :blush ::) :lol :rollin

Because Mike is better than Mike

Offline Sacul

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That's not what she said.

Offline TAC

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I cannot get into Blind Guardian. Honestly, they hurt my ears. Hansi's voice hits a frequency that I cannot handle, and the music is way to dense for me.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Online wolfking

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Two more simply brilliant albums.
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline jjrock88

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I cannot get into Blind Guardian. Honestly, they hurt my ears. Hansi's voice hits a frequency that I cannot handle, and the music is way to dense for me.

Me too

Online lonestar

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Yeah, I can see how IQ can be not someone's cup of tea too.

(And RJ didn't respond. I am mildly surprised.)


Give me some time man, I do work....  (Road of Bones fuck yeah  :metal :metal :metal  )

Saw them live opening for Metallica circa AJFA. :RJ:
Who? Yngwie?

Yup, it was a Day on the Green, the line up being Victory, Rising Force, Metallica, Ratt, Y&T, and Scorpions.


Highlight for me was Metallica and feeling up my first titty during Ratt: Metal, beer and boobs, does it get any better folks?

Online Evermind

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I cannot get into Blind Guardian. Honestly, they hurt my ears. Hansi's voice hits a frequency that I cannot handle, and the music is way to dense for me.

Me too

Well, I think sometimes they put too much layers on some songs (for example, I enjoy songs from A Night at the Opera in live rendition more, except And Then There Was Silence of course), but otherwise I obviously can't agree.

Yup, it was a Day on the Green, the line up being Victory, Rising Force, Metallica, Ratt, Y&T, and Scorpions.

Highlight for me was Metallica and feeling up my first titty during Ratt: Metal, beer and boobs, does it get any better folks?

Yeah, that's one hell of lineup right here.

Give me some time man, I do work....  (Road of Bones fuck yeah  :metal :metal :metal  )

Now we're talking! And speaking of fuck-yeahs, you should appreciate the next one too.

Going back in time to 1987, at #12 we have...

#12
Clutching At Straws
Marillion
Genre: progressive rock
1987


No pompous epic stuff that pumps your blood in this update; instead we’re taking the deeply emotional journey into the wrecked life of 29 years old man named Torch, the miserable protagonist of Clutching At Straws. The mostly mellow atmosphere with occasional emotional outbursts backed up with lots of clean guitars, perfect keyboard arrangements and incredibly audible bass helps you imagine a vivid picture of protagonist’s life and supports the spectacular storytelling in the lyrics penned by Fish. If I was ranking the albums solely by the strength of lyrics, this magnificent work would rest on #1 untouched, because the way Fish handled such a poignant theme of consuming all alcohol there is to numb the pain from all the shit happening around, creating quite striking and yet intricate lyrics, that deserves the whole admiration in the world.

Marillion is a British rock band founded back in 1979. They’ve released seventeen studio albums; Clutching At Straws was the last Marillion album with their original vocalist Fish, who was later replaced by Steve Hogarth. The band has quite a stable lineup, so the other four musicians appearing on this album are still in the band as of now. They are Steve Rothery on guitars, Pete Trewavas (who is also playing in Transatlantic) on bass, Mark Kelly on keys and Ian Mosley on drums. There is also a female voice on a few tracks provided by Tessa Niles, and the backing vocals on a track called Incommunicado are performed by Chris Kimsey.

Of course, Clutching At Straws isn’t here only because of outstanding lyrics, but also because it’s simply mindblowing from the compositional standpoint. The whole album feels like a one big scenario, spinning and unfolding the story stepwise; and Fish soft and soulful vocal delivery makes me despise the protagonist mildly, and at the same time I’ve discovered I’m a bit compassionate about this whole situation pictured in the album. I love the amount of versatility Fish shows here also, how his voice grows a bit raw and harsh at the most intense moments of the record. There are not a lot of those moments though, the record is overall calm and serene, with a lot of subtle instrumental touches making you appreciate it more and more with each listen, but when the record hits those energetic sections it becomes even more emotional. This contrast works really well especially within the context.

I think it’s worth repeating: I definitely think this is one of my favourite concept albums from the lyrical and emotional points of view. Probably the only reason it’s not in Top 5 is the fact there’s a few sections I’m not fond enough, the longest of those is the whole Incommunicado, and it’s still very good. But since the rest of the album is bloody brilliant, I’m really willing to let this one pass. The awesomeness of those parts when the music finally breaks free out of this mellow reverie really surpasses and whites out every moment I’m not fond of. It is beyond any description, just listen to “Racing the clouds home” part in White Russian for example (even though I’m not even sure how it’s related to the concept, but anyway!). Marillion created a masterpiece with this record, and I would say it was their creative peak. Yeah, Fish left the band after this album, and the band carries without him just fine; but his (nick)name is forever written in Clutching At Straws booklet, and among all the band’s musicians it’s him I’m giving a lot of credit for this record in my write-up, because I just love those lyrics, and his voice fits the album so much.

Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album

Favourite tracks: Hotel Hobbies + Warm Wet Circles + That Time of the Night (The Short Straw), Just for the Record, White Russian, Sugar Mice, The Last Straw

And the apex of the record in The Last Straw never gets old and blows me away just every time I’m doing the full listen of the album.

If you ever come across us don’t give us your sympathy
You can buy us a drink and just shake our hands
And you’ll recognize by the reflection in our eyes
That deep down inside we’re all one and the same

We’re clutching at straws
We’re still drowning…
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Offline Scorpion

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Crazily good album. Yeah, I agree with you that Incommunicade isn't quite as good as the rest, but Torch Song through to The Last Straw is one of my favourite stretches in music by any band, ever.
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Clutching at Straws :hefdaddy

Sugar Mice and Warm Wet Circles are my favorite songs. I also like Incommunicado, although it sticks out like a sore thumb on the album (a bit like Hooks in You on Seasons End).

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Crazily good album. Yeah, I agree with you that Incommunicade isn't quite as good as the rest, but Torch Song through to The Last Straw is one of my favourite stretches in music by any band, ever.

Basically the whole album except Incommunicado is amazing, I had a tough time picking favourite tracks. Torch Song and Slainte Mhath are both brilliant, but I had to omit them just because other songs are so great.

Sugar Mice and Warm Wet Circles are my favorite songs. I also like Incommunicado, although it sticks out like a sore thumb on the album (a bit like Hooks in You on Seasons End).

Love that you picked two most soulful songs as your favourites. I just love Fish performance on these.

Next update in six hours, when I'll get home.
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Offline TAC

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Not a big Marillion guy but I do have Straws. I highly prefer Script though. By a mile.

would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #11 "Gray sky where it should be blue..."
« Reply #277 on: January 24, 2015, 12:17:37 PM »
Not a big Marillion guy but I do have Straws. I highly prefer Script though. By a mile.

Oh, man, well, just... no.

Well, let's go to the oldest album in the list, ever.

#11
Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Genre: classic / progressive / hard rock
1969


I’ll be honest, I have no idea what kind of rock this record represents, so I just put those different ones in the “genre” field. I’m open to suggestions though!

If you remember that fancy diagram I’ve posted in the opening post, there was that small section for albums from 60s; it was actually 2% or exactly one record. In this regard, Deep Purple is certainly a unique work of art, and not only in this regard. Don’t get me wrong, I love the band and their work, but they tend to have a few tremendous songs on each album, while the rest of CD is filled with mediocre songs. Let’s see, just off the top of my head: Burn has the title track and Mistreated; In Rock has Child in Time and, uhm, what else, Speed King as an opener (I hadn’t listened to that album for years! Wow. I don’t remember any other songs from it. I remember this album was great, that’s all. I need to rectify that as soon as possible); Machine Head is more consistent with all the hits like Pictures of Home, Lazy, Highway Star and come-on-who-doesn’t-know-that-song Smoke on the Water, but still doesn’t quite match the superb quality of their self-titled record.

And now it’s time for obligatory introduction. Deep Purple is an English rock band founded in 1968. The self-titled album is their third studio output, so as you can see, the band was quite prolific in those days, and they kept releasing their albums every year until the band’s split happened in 1976. They’ve had a lot of lineup changes over the years. There may be a lot of arguing which musicians were essential to the band and defined their sound and such stuff, and I don’t want to touch that subject; I’ll just say Deep Purple had two musicians I’m hugely fond of, if I was making my Top 10 Favourite Musicians Ever list, they definitely would’ve been there, maybe even in Top 5. I’m talking about Deep Purple keyboardist and Hammond organ player (you just can’t omit the mighty Hammond when you’re talking about him) Jon Lord, and their guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. I’m not saying any other members weren’t important, I will never say that, but as it happens, they’re just those two guys I’m paying most of my attention when I spin any Deep Purple record. So let’s keep talking about their lineup for the self-titled album. Of course there is Ian Paice, the seemingly irreplaceable DP drummer; there is also Lord’s friend Nick Simpler on bass, and finally there is Rod Evans on vocals. Obviously Ian Gillan is the most known Deep Purple singer, next one would probably be David Coverdale in 73-75, then JLT, and some people tend to have this mildly surprised look when you tell them there is also Rod Evans, who performed on the first three DP records. I’ve got to say, he did a splendid job here on this album.

I wrote a lot in the intro and about the lineup, huh. Alright, let’s talk about the album itself now. Deep Purple clocks at about forty-five minutes; there are eight tracks, which is about the usual amount for the band, most tracks are around five minutes in length except a short instrumental Fault Line, The Painter (though if you combine those two you’ll get slightly more than five minutes), and the possibly longest song in Deep Purple catalogue, classical-Lord-influenced piece called April. The tracks has a diverse attitude to them; Chasing Shadows lets Ian Paice shine, featuring a distinctively pronounced drumming rhythms, Blind is somewhat calmer until the distorted solo by Blackmore comes up, Bird Has Flown has a bit wacky, eccentric feel to it, and so on, you get it. There is also one cover on the record, called Lalena, which is actually a more than decent and successful attempt; it’s a peaceful harbor among the whole bracing, invigorative atmosphere. And I won’t even start talking about April, which must be the best Deep Purple song ever written, you just have to experience it yourself. If you followed this far into the list and still interested, do me a favour and give it a try. It’s a shame this song weren’t played live as far as I know when the guys had the chances, and now it’s too late already. Sigh.

Both Lord and Blackmore decided to walk their own roads after Deep Purple. First, in 1976 Ritchie was already recording stuff with his band Rainbow, Jon went on with his solo career along with Whitesnake; then they’ve reunited in 1984 in Deep Purple again, putting out a successful Perfect Strangers. After a few years in the band, Blackmore left again to perform medieval and folk music with Blackmore’s Night, Jon was pursuing his solo career more and more. The guys had a lot in common, musically, and a lot of differences too, but in the end, I’m forever grateful to both of them, and of course to the rest musicians as well who were at Deep Purple until the first split, for making such a timeless art of music.

Favourite tracks: Blind, Lalena, Bird Has Flown, April

And now we’re done with 80% of this list, but of course the best is yet to come. That’s it for today updates though, top ten starting tomorrow, where we shall be getting into the undisputable classics territory, along with a few modern masterpieces, and of course there is an odd, unexpected album somewhere in there too which I never saw making an appearance in any list.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Online lonestar

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #11 "Gray sky where it should be blue..."
« Reply #278 on: January 24, 2015, 12:37:32 PM »
Clutching at Straws..... only no. 1 on my list. Not a mistake on that album, hands down the best lyrics ever written, and so, so personal. Just brilliantly perfect.

Offline mikemangioy

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #11 "Gray sky where it should be blue..."
« Reply #279 on: January 24, 2015, 12:46:07 PM »
Interesting DP pick.
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