Albums like The Astonishing

[jingle.boy]

Oh, there's also IQ/Subterranea

[Podaar]

The best rock opera/concept album of all time is: Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa.




Sheesh.

[Cool Chris]

I hear lots of Jesus Christ Superstar (the 1970 recording with Ian Gillan) in TA. That version of JCS is one of my favorite albums of all time. It definitely has a 70s vibe, but still rocks pretty hard (I mean, Ian Gillan is Jesus, for Christ sakes!) and has epic moments, without 10+ long songs. And you don't have to know, care, understand, or appreciate anything about the story of Jesus. Though of course a basic understanding of the gospels helps.

[jcmoorehead]

Jeff Lynne's War of the Worlds

Jeff Wayne* 

But yeah, The Musical Version of the War Of The Worlds is fantastic and definitely worth listening to.

I love that album so much, haven't heard it for a while 

"no Nathaniel, there must be more to life"
Anyway, it beats the Tom Cruise movie by a long shot! 

Because of all the hype with The Astonishing I've been in a rock opera mood the past week so I've found myself listening to The Astonishing, various Avantasia albums and War Of The Worlds.

War Of The Worlds was one of the first albums I ever heard as a child, so always had a special place in my heart.

[Enigmachine]

Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element, Remedy Lane

Dude, where's 'Be'? By far their most ambitious and eclectic work just like what TA is for DT. All their other albums are great, too.

sure, it's ambitious.  I actually listened to it very recently.  I can't recommend it.

Fair enough. The album is quite polarising from what I've seen (but so is TA).

[kaos2900]

Came in here to vouch for Ayreon's The Human Equation as well, and also throw a bone out for The Theory Of Everything. Both are two of the best albums that resemble anything like The Astonishing that I can think of off the top of my head.

I'll agree, if you want something heavy, SB might not be the way to go, though I'd suggest Neal Morse's Sola Scriptura, which is his heaviest, most metal and guitar-driven album to date, and it's a concept album!

Other than that, I can't really make any other recommendations that haven't already been mentioned above.

-Marc.

This. The Human Equation is heavier than the theory of everything but they are easily my two favorite Ayreon albums. If you want heavy go with Human Equation first though Theory of Everything has more of an Astonishing feel.

And Sola Scriptura

[Evermind]

To clear the things up, I agree that The Human Equation is better than The Theory of Everything (ever so slightly for me, though), but I think the latter is more like The Astonishing, with loads of short tracks and recurring melodies and all that.

[ariich]

I dunno, they are super-short tracks mainly just to break up into manageable chunks what is really just 4 massive songs. I can sort of see why people made that connection when we first saw the tracklist, but once we knew track lengths and the fact that TA actually has distinct songs in almost every case, I think it's more a traditional opera, far more resembling THE.

[ZirconBlue]

A more obscure album (even though it has JLB on it): 

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon.

[LordCost]

Be by Pain Of Salvation is another ambitious concept album like The Astonishing

[Evermind]

I dunno, they are super-short tracks mainly just to break up into manageable chunks what is really just 4 massive songs. I can sort of see why people made that connection when we first saw the tracklist, but once we knew track lengths and the fact that TA actually has distinct songs in almost every case, I think it's more a traditional opera, far more resembling THE.

Maybe you're right, but I wasn't coming from the rational side. It's just that, TTOE reminds me of TA more than THE does. I still don't think a lot of songs on TA work quite well on their own because of the story chunks inserted here and there (When Your Time Has Come, A Life Left Behind and so on - they're standalone songs alright before the story part from other character appears at the very end and ruins the flow for me). THE doesn't do that, and even where it does (Day 10 in the end, Day 12 in the beginning and so on) it's coming off flawlessly and very smooth.

I'd say TA is maybe a mix between THE and TTOE if you look at the structure, but in terms of the actual music Ayreon wins it for me and it's not even close.

[ich bin besser]

Flaming Row - Elinoire

Oh. Yes. 

[jingle.boy]

A more obscure album (even though it has JLB on it): 

Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon.

Agreed.  I was thinking this.  And if one is looking for JLB fronted, not-so-heavy prog music, Frameshift's Unweaving the Rainbow is also a good place to listen.

[hefdaddy42]

The Human Equation is the one that comes to mind for me.

[Dr. DTVT]

Not sure what to say to help you out on this one.

Get a lobotomy?

I just read his first sentence and decided this guy is too far gone to help.

[LudwigVan]

Coheed and Cambria's entire discography is one big epic concept album. That band certainly qualifies as "different".

[Architeuthis]

Check Operation: Mindcrime as well 

This!

[JLa]

I am a bit surprised nobody has mentioned Leonardo - The Absolute Man. It even features JLB. It was released on Magna Carta several years back - give it a listen. It's not mind blowing or anything, but it has some cool moments.

Nikolo Kotzev's "Nostradamus" is also a great rock opera. Fantastic orchestrations. Joe Lynn Turner does lead vocals.

[Lowdz]

I am a bit surprised nobody has mentioned Leonardo - The Absolute Man. It even features JLB. It was released on Magna Carta several years back - give it a listen. It's not mind blowing or anything, but it has some cool moments.

Nikolo Kotzev's "Nostradamus" is also a great rock opera. Fantastic orchestrations. Joe Lynn Turner does lead vocals.

I'd recommend both of those.

[SebastianPratesi]

It's not a concept album, and the music is not exactly in the same genre, but The Beatles by The Beatles is an album I find similar to The Astonishing: a double album with 30 tracks (the band's longest), featuring different styles (pop, hard rock, ballads, folk, electronic), with many guest musicians plus an orchestra. Plus, some recurring motifs throughout (the guitar picking in "Dear Prudence"/"Julia").