7th and 8th

[KevShmev]

I think most music fans would agree that most artists do their best work early in their career, but some still do great stuff well into their careers.

What bands/artists did some of their best work ever on both their 7th and 8th studio albums?

First ones I thought of:

Rush: Permanent Waves / Moving Pictures
Styx: The Grand Illusion / Pieces of Eight
Genesis: A Trick of the Tail / Wind and Wuthering

[Mosh]

Iron Maiden has Seventh Son, but fell off with No Prayer.

If you don't count Clouds (since it's more of a soundtrack album), Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here by Floyd.

Frank Zappa has Hot Rats and Burnt Weeny Sandwich, two of his best albums.

Maybe not their best work ever, but Train Of Thought and Octavarium (especially the former) were strong efforts from DT.

[DragonAttack]

Good call regarding Styx.  I never give a thought to their first four albums.

But, 'Revolver' and 'Sgt. Pepper' would top the bill.

[SoundscapeMN]

Marillion: Brave / Afraid of Sunlight
Porcupine Tree: Lightbulb Sun / In Abenstia
Savatage - Edge of Thorns / Handful of Rain
Pink Floyd: Obscured by Clouds / The Dark Side of the Moon
The Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder / Traveller's in Space and Time
King Crimson: Red / Discipline

[SwedishGoose]

IQ with Seventh House and Dark Matter

Magnum with Wings of Heaven and Goodnight LA

[MirrorMask]

Judas Priest were already legends when they released Painkiller in 1990.

[Elite]

Opeth: Damnation (meh) and Ghost Reveries

Bob Dylan (?) - Highway 61 is his sixth, so that's a shame

Anathema: A Natural Disaster & WHBWH

The Beatles - Revolver & Sgt. Pepper
    This one is slightly 'wrong' since they had different releases in Europe and the US, even though Wikipedia names these two as their 7th and 8th




Pain of Salvation - Road Salt One & Two

[Crow]

Opeth - Damnation (great) and Ghost Reveries (amazing) 
Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun & In Absentia are also good picks
Enslaved's 7th and 8th are Below the Lights and Isa, I don't have the latter but it's one of their most highly rated, but I do have Below the Lights which is pretty good stuff

[MirzekDT]

Pain of Salvation - Road Salt One & Two

Actually for me this is honest answer. I love those two albums, their raw energy and emotions. Even the production is great I can totally see where Daniel was coming from. Majority of my favorite Pain Of Salvation tracks are from Road Salt albums.

[Elite]

They're generally the least liked PoS albums, but for me that's mostly because their first five are so ridiculously strong. I really enjoy the Road Salts fot what they are and think they're great in their own regard. They just don't compare that well to the others.

[krands85]

Anathema: A Natural Disaster & WHBWH

This is a great choice. Another one I thought of is Vanden Plas with Netherworld Parts 1 and 2.

[Zantera]

Anathema - A Natural Disaster/We're Here Because We're Here
Cardiacs - Sing to God/Guns
Converge - Axe to Fall/All we Love we Leave Behind
Dir En Grey - Uroboros/Dum Spiro Spero
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance/Night is the new Day
Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets/The Eye of Every Storm
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream/Let Love in
Opeth - Damnation/Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia/Deadwing
Swans - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity/Love of Life
The Beatles - Revolver/Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me/Disintegration
Thrice - Beggars/Major Minor
XTC - The Big Express/Skylarking

[Stadler]

The Stones - Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed (counting UK releases only)
Zeppelin - Presence and In Through The Out Door
Whitesnake - Slide It In and Whitesnake (this depends on how you count the two "David Coverdale" records)
Yes - Relayer and Going For The One (my favorite album of all time)
Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die

Though all of these are second to The Beatles.  When your 7 and 8 are Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, it's kind of game over. 

[Kwyjibo]

Toto - The Seventh One and Kingdom Of Desire, the most diverse Toto albums and probably my favorites
Journey - Escape and Frontiers, especially Escape is an alltime classic

[KevShmev]

Good call on Porcupine Tree, Opeth and the Beatles!!

Judas Priest were already legends when they released Painkiller in 1990.

Most random post ever. Well done.

[twosuitsluke]

Only ones I've got that haven't been mentioned:

Millencolin - Machine 15/True Brew
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication/By the Way
Testament - Demonic/The Gathering

Some may disagree but favourites of mine for sure

[Mladen]

Great idea for a tread. 

Iron Maiden has Seventh Son, but fell off with No Prayer.

Unfortunately. It's such a shame.

The Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder / Traveller's in Space and Time

Very good obscure choices. I like both of these albums, especially the latter, which is my favorite of theirs right after the first two. 

Speaking of Elephant 6 Collective, of Montreal needs to go into this category - many fans would argue The Sunlandic twins and Hissing fauna are their best albums.

[Luoto]

If we're talking strictly 7th and 8th, Amorphis have Eclipse and Silent Waters. I think their 12th is the best though

[DragonAttack]

The Beatles - Revolver & Sgt. Pepper
    This one is slightly 'wrong' since they had different releases in Europe and the US, even though Wikipedia names these two as their 7th and 8th

It is not slightly 'wrong' (not shouting, just stating).  The UK editions were what the band created from those sessions, and released with the track listings the band wanted.  Capitol Records compiled their own editions here, with no concerns over the band's artistic decisions, until the band demanded that Sgt. Pepper be the same.  The Stones dealt with the same issues.

[Elite]

The Beatles - Revolver & Sgt. Pepper
    This one is slightly 'wrong' since they had different releases in Europe and the US, even though Wikipedia names these two as their 7th and 8th

It is not slightly 'wrong' (not shouting, just stating).  The UK editions were what the band created from those sessions, and released with the track listings the band wanted.  Capitol Records compiled their own editions here, with no concerns over the band's artistic decisions, until the band demanded that Sgt. Pepper be the same.  The Stones dealt with the same issues.

Learned something new then. Thank you

[SoundscapeMN]

another:

Cloud Cult - Light Chasers/Love

The Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder / Traveller's in Space and Time

Very good obscure choices. I like both of these albums, especially the latter, which is my favorite of theirs right after the first two. 

Speaking of Elephant 6 Collective, of Montreal needs to go into this category - many fans would argue The Sunlandic twins and Hissing fauna are their best albums.

yeah I suppose among Dream Theater fans The Apples are obscure, and truth be, I know many of their fans prefer the earlier works. I guess those last 2 really work best for me, although to be fair, I haven't spent tons of time with a lot of their earlier albums (although I actually own a few of them on CD, I just haven't managed to listen to them too much yet).

I hope we see something from them again soon, and if you read Wikipedia, they've been on a break since around 2012, after the death of Bill Doss their keyboardist. I think Robert Schneider was effected so much by that, he decided to take a break from music, and went back to school. But it says there is another album in the works.

As for of Montreal, sadly, I have never been able to fully get into them. A lot of it has to do with the vocals, but also the size of their catalog. They have what, 15 albums? lol. I guess I see them as a little like a band I absolutely adore in Apes and Androids, but A&A's I not only tolerate, but love the vocals. Kevin Barnes style of almost metro-sexual style of singing has often thrown me off. Even when he guested on Janelle Monae's 1st album, I wasn't all that crazy about it. But perhaps I haven't heard the right songs or albums, because they share enough in common with Apes and Androids, I could love them.

[Zook]

Turns out a lot of my favorite band's 7th and 8th albums aren't their best.

[Mindflux]

The Apples in Stereo: New Magnetic Wonder / Traveller's in Space and Time

Good call. Those are both excellent, and I don't think I've ever found another Apples In Stereo fan over here on DTF!

[Mladen]

That makes three of us. I was also wondering why we haven't seen anything new by The Apples in such a long time, and I have just now learned of their keyboard player passing away. That's too bad.

Anyway, SoundscapeMN, if you ever decide to give of Montreal another chance, you might want to go with Satanic panic in the attic. Stylistically, it has a lot in common with the two Apples albums you listed. It is also probably one of the albums where Kevin isn't all over the place vocally, he's fairly moderate.

Back on topic, what about Depeche Mode? Violator is huge and Songs of faith and devotion is also a fan favorite.

[Crow]

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia/Deadwing

oh wait i see where i screwed up & this makes this even better these are literally the best two PT albums

[Mosh]

I know Coma Ecliptic got mixed reviews on here, but if the next BTBAM album is just as good they will definitely make this list for me. I thought Coma Ecliptic was possibly their best album.

[Mindflux]

That makes three of us. I was also wondering why we haven't seen anything new by The Apples in such a long time, and I have just now learned of their keyboard player passing away. That's too bad.

Anyway, SoundscapeMN, if you ever decide to give of Montreal another chance, you might want to go with Satanic panic in the attic. Stylistically, it has a lot in common with the two Apples albums you listed. It is also probably one of the albums where Kevin isn't all over the place vocally, he's fairly moderate.

Back on topic, what about Depeche Mode? Violator is huge and Songs of faith and devotion is also a fan favorite.

Yeah Bill Doss passing really punched them in the gut.  I know Robert is working on finishing some Olivia Tremor Control with those guys.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Green Day had American Idiot & 21st Century Breakdown. AI was obviously huge for them, 21CB was a bit of a drop-off but still a great record.

Doubt many would agree, but Splinter and Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace are two of my favorite Offspring albums.

Hello Hurricane and Vice Verses are easily Switchfoot's best albums to date.

[TAC]

Thin Lizzy-  Johnny The Fox (very underrated) and Bad Reputation.
UFO - Obsession and Strangers In The Night.....(skipping Live In japan)
Alice Cooper - Muscle Of Love and Welcome To My Nightmare
Anthrax - Stomp 442 (awesome) and Volume 8
Deep Purple - Who Do You Think We Are and Burn
Gary Moore- Run For Cover and Wild Frontier

[KevShmev]

Even though the band changed singers, I have to throw these into the mix:

Van Halen: 5150 / OU812

[King Postwhore]

They were on a run with Sammy.  Good call.

[Anguyen92]

Hello Hurricane and Vice Verses are easily Switchfoot's best albums to date.

Good shoutout to Switchfoot there.  I, too, enjoy a fair amount of songs from Hello Hurricane and really enjoyed Vice Verses (especially, Afterlife, Dark Horses, Rise Above It, Souvenirs, and Where I Belong).

[The King in Crimson]

King Crimson - Red & Discipline (two of my favorites actually)
Rush - Permanent Waves & Moving Pictures
Yes - Relayer & Going For The One

I would agree with Anathema and Porcupine Tree too.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Anthrax - Stomp 442 (awesome)

Excuse me, wot

[jingle.boy]

Although Allied Forces is their magnum opus (album #5), Thunder Seven and Sport of Kings ain't bad for Triumph.

Shocked I'm the first to mention Highway to Hell and Back in Black.  Not sure they have anything better than those two.

Spock's Beard is clearly the exception to this, considering 2 of their WORST albums were 7 & 8 (Feel Euphoria & Octane)... though, I really like Octane.