Bands (Rock, Prog or more) with great 4th AND 5th albums?

[The Letter M]

A long time ago, many moons past, I posted a discussion here talking about how I found a lot of bands, mostly prog, who had reached a peak in their 5th album, or released a well-received 5th album that has become one of their best, if not more popular album among their respective catalogs.

Well, since then, I've thought about it more and have realized that a lot of bands, not just strictly prog, have had great 4th AND 5th albums, so I wanted to put this out there for everyone to talk about. What are some bands that have had great success with their 4th and 5th albums, either in sales, or popularity, overall fan reception, etc.?

To cover some prog ground, here are some bands with great 4th/5th combos that I think deserve a mention in this topic:
Yes - Fragile, Close To The Edge
Genesis - Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound
Kansas - Leftoverture, Point Of Know Return
Rush - 2112, A Farewell To Kings

And a few in rock:
Queen - A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races
Led Zeppelin - IV, Houses Of The Holy
The Who - Tommy, Who's Next


I am sure there are more out there, but I want to see what you guys come up with! What are some of your favorite 4th/5th combos, or ones that you recognize as being standouts for a band or artist? It's really interesting to see some of these bands, and to think about what they had to get through 3 albums prior, hitting success with the 4th, then trying to top that success with their 5th. I think by the 4th and 5th albums, a band is pretty set in their sound, their ways, and what they are trying to accomplish, and so by then, they've got it all locked in. The band knows what they want, they know what their fans want, and things usually go really well by then!

-Marc.

[Crow]

Pain of Salvation easy
And Opeth is probably a good choice even if I'm more about that 7th/8th album combo myself

[KevShmev]

Good picks.

Neal Morse - One and ?
Flower Kings - Flower Power and Space Revolver
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree

[Phoenix87x]

Metallica- Justice
Tool - Lateralus
Dredg- the pariah
Evergrey- recreation day
Faith no more- angel dust
Fates warning- no exit
Genesis- selling england
Maiden- piece of mind
Pain of salvation- remedy
Queensryche- OM
Radiohead- Kid A

[TAC]

Alice Cooper- Killer & School's Out

[pogoowner]

Came in to mention Kansas, and I'm glad to see they made the OP.

[KevShmev]

Metallica- Justice
Tool - Lateralus
Dredg- the pariah
Evergrey- recreation day
Faith no more- angel dust
Fates warning- no exit
Genesis- selling england
Maiden- piece of mind
Pain of salvation- remedy
Queensryche- OM
Radiohead- Kid A

Marc capitalized AND... Bands (Rock, Prog or more) with great 4th AND 5th albums?...and you still missed it.

[bundy]

A few of my favourites not yet mentioned:

Uriah Heep: Demons and Wizards, The Magician's Birthday
Jethro Tull: Aqualung, Thick as a Brick
David Bowie: Hunk Dory, Ziggy Stardust...
UFO: Force It, No Heavy Petting
Deep Purple: In Rock, Fireball (Only counting studio albums, so didn't consider Concerto... as album no. 4)
Motley Crue; Girls Girls Girls, Dr Feelgood

[BlobVanDam]

Metallica- Justice
Tool - Lateralus
Dredg- the pariah
Evergrey- recreation day
Faith no more- angel dust
Fates warning- no exit
Genesis- selling england
Maiden- piece of mind
Pain of salvation- remedy
Queensryche- OM
Radiohead- Kid A

Marc capitalized AND... Bands (Rock, Prog or more) with great 4th AND 5th albums?...and you still missed it.

I don't know about most of those, but I'll back Justice/TBA anyway, whether Phoenix realized it included the 5th album or not.

Personally I'd say DT (FII is one of my absolute favourites). I'd also say Arch Enemy. Their 4th and 5th are their best imo, although it's a case where I actually consider them the 1st and 2nd albums, because I don't count or own anything with their original vocalist before that.

[Elite]

Dare I say Ulver?

I know they're not exactly 'prog', but they're an experimental group nonetheless. Their fourth and fifth are my favourites of theirs.
So these two:
Ulver - Themes From William Blake's 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'
Ulver - Perdition City



Anathema comes to mind as well. Lots of people think 'Alternative 4' and 'Judgement' are among their best.

Depending on what albums you count from Devin Townsend, you could make the combo 'Physicist' and 'Terria', which is pretty good as well. (Terria is my favourite and I really enjoy Physicist, though many people don't like the latter).

Oh, and add Meshuggah: 'Nothing' and 'Catch ThirtyThree' (the latter is better, if you ask me)

[Zantera]

Porcupine Tree? Signify and Stupid Dream and onward is what most fans seem to really like the most.

[Zydar]

XTC: Black Sea, and English Settlement (my 2nd favourite of them).

[jingle.boy]

All throw out Ayreon with The Human Equation AND 01011001

[SoundscapeMN]

among many artists discographies, it seems the best 2 (or my favorite 2), when they fall back-2-back, happen to be their 3rd and 4th, or 5th and 6th.

[TAC]

UFO: Force It, No Heavy Petting
 

[Stadler]

Kiss:  Alive! and Destroyer, or if you don't want to count Alive! as an album, it works even better:  Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over.

Def Leppard:  Hysteria and Adrenalize (which I like; it's worth it for White Lightning and Tear It Down).

[TAC]

Def Leppard:  Hysteria and Adrenalize (which I like; it's worth it for White Lightning and Tear It Down).

Um, this is the bands that had GREAT 4th & 5th Albums Thread. Not SUCKASSBLOWHARDSELLOUTPIECESOFSHIT 4th & 5th Albums Thread.




 

Kiss:  Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over.

OK, that's more like it.

[Grappler]

Iced Earth - The Dark Saga / Something Wicked This Way Comes

Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King / Gutter Ballet

Megadeth - Rust in Peace / Countdown to Extinction

Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond / Imaginations from the Other Side

[bosk1]

I'll second Metallica and Megadeth.  U2 as well.  And Dream Theater.  I want to mention Neal Morse, but despite Sola being one of my favorites, Lifeline does nothing for me.  Anyhow, a couple of others:

Queensryche:  Empire - Promised Land
Nightwish:  Century Child - Once
Within Temptation:  The Heart of Everything - The Unforgiving

Maiden is interesting.  POM definitely stands out as a great album.  But while Powerslave is certainly iconic and has some great songs on it, I just don't think it's a very good album overall.

[Podaar]

Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King / Gutter Ballet

Good choice.

Based on critic reviews that I happen to agree with.
Mastodon - Crack the Skye, The Hunter

[TAC]

Maiden is interesting.  POM definitely stands out as a great album.  But while Powerslave is certainly iconic and has some great songs on it, I just don't think it's a very good album overall.

I tend to agree. Wasn't a big fan of Powerslave when it came out. I've detailed that a number of times.

I would also add the same sentiment to Countdown, which is why I couldn't list Megadeth.

[Podaar]

Maiden is interesting.  POM definitely stands out as a great album.  But while Powerslave is certainly iconic and has some great songs on it, I just don't think it's a very good album overall.

Piece of Mind and Powerslave are my two favorites, so that works for me.

[jingle.boy]

Nightwish:  Century Child - Once

I'll second this.

Def Leppard:  Hysteria and Adrenalize (which I like; it's worth it for White Lightning and Tear It Down).

Um, this is the bands that had GREAT 4th & 5th Albums Thread. Not SUCKASSBLOWHARDSELLOUTPIECESOFSHIT 4th & 5th Albums Thread.

Agreed.  Hysteria was great; Adrenalize blew chunks.

[Podaar]

Judas Priest would work if The Letter M would change the OP to fourth and sixth. 

[Podaar]

UFO: Force It, No Heavy Petting
 

As much of a UFO fanboi as I am, I just can't endorse this opinion. I will never understand your love of No Heavy Petting...I've honestly tried to listen to it with your ears and I just can't get there. 

[hefdaddy42]

Too much similar-sounding stuff mentioned thus far.

Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River

Eagles - One of These Nights and Hotel California

[MirrorMask]

This is more on the metal side, but Blind Guardian has a 4th album Somewhere Far Beyond and as 5th Imaginations from the Other Side. Can't get better than that.

[Stadler]

Def Leppard:  Hysteria and Adrenalize (which I like; it's worth it for White Lightning and Tear It Down).

Um, this is the bands that had GREAT 4th & 5th Albums Thread. Not SUCKASSBLOWHARDSELLOUTPIECESOFSHIT 4th & 5th Albums Thread.

I have to give you props just for the level of effort put into that.     

As I said, though, I do like it.  I was a fan of "Tear it Down" since it was a Hysteria b-side... which probably gives more weight to your argument than mine.   

[Stadler]

Maiden is interesting.  POM definitely stands out as a great album.  But while Powerslave is certainly iconic and has some great songs on it, I just don't think it's a very good album overall.

Oooosh.   Huge Maiden fan, and if pushed up against the wall, I'm putting Powerslave as my favorite Maiden album.   I love that record (I'm even starting to warm to "Flash of the Blade" and "The Duellists", which aren't really of the caliber of the second side of the record, which is just EPIC. 

[Podaar]

I can't believe I didn't think of this one right away 

Blue Öyster Cult -  Agents of Fortune, Spectres

[bosk1]

Def Leppard:  Hysteria and Adrenalize (which I like; it's worth it for White Lightning and Tear It Down).

Um, this is the bands that had GREAT 4th & 5th Albums Thread. Not SUCKASSBLOWHARDSELLOUTPIECESOFSHIT 4th & 5th Albums Thread.

I have to give you props just for the level of effort put into that.     

As I said, though, I do like it.  I was a fan of "Tear it Down" since it was a Hysteria b-side... which probably gives more weight to your argument than mine.   

White Lightning was fantastic.  And I think you and I see eye to eye on Tear It Down as well.  But aside from those two and the fun-ness of the first single, I felt that album was really weak (although I listened to it a ton back in the day and made sure to see them on that tour).

Maiden is interesting.  POM definitely stands out as a great album.  But while Powerslave is certainly iconic and has some great songs on it, I just don't think it's a very good album overall.

Oooosh.   Huge Maiden fan, and if pushed up against the wall, I'm putting Powerslave as my favorite Maiden album.   I love that record (I'm even starting to warm to "Flash of the Blade" and "The Duellists", which aren't really of the caliber of the second side of the record, which is just EPIC. 

Kinda like with Adrenalize, I feel like this album has three solid songs, and then otherwise falls flat.  The title song, Two Minutes, and Rime and some of my favorites from them.  But I could never listen to the rest of the album again and not miss it.

[Mosh]

Powerslave used to be one of the lesser 80s albums for me too, but now I find when I'm in the mood for Maiden it's the first one I go to.

[RoeDent]

1. No need to apologise/try to justify the genre your albums come in. Thread title says "Rock, Prog or more". Rock is a very large chunk of electric-guitar based music, prog included.

2.

All throw out Ayreon with The Human Equation AND 01011001

Aren't Ayreon's 4th & 5th albums the two Universal Migrator albums?

[Phoenix87x]

Metallica- Justice
Tool - Lateralus
Dredg- the pariah
Evergrey- recreation day
Faith no more- angel dust
Fates warning- no exit
Genesis- selling england
Maiden- piece of mind
Pain of salvation- remedy
Queensryche- OM
Radiohead- Kid A

Marc capitalized AND... Bands (Rock, Prog or more) with great 4th AND 5th albums?...and you still missed it.

Oops, I read it as Or 

My bad

I'll have to re-evaluate the list

[TAC]

As much of a UFO fanboi as I am, I just can't endorse this opinion. I will never understand your love of No Heavy Petting...I've honestly tried to listen to it with your ears and I just can't get there. 

At face value I can understand that. It doesn't have the classics that the other Classic 5 Schenker albums have.  I love how Mogg sounds on it. He is more developed than Phenomenon/ Force It and before the better production of Lights Out. The lyrics are also Moggcrazy. And I frankly think it's Schenker's best album. He absolutely shreds. The solos on Reasons Love and Can You Roll Her 

I think most of the tracks have a low key charm to it.  Belladonna is the most underrated track they have, and Martian Landscape is the perfect ending. I'm A Loser? Awesome!