Jirpo @ Ah, you're probably right there, that's what I get for updating when I'm tired.
My bad, but on the contrary here are the next three albums!
20. Bass Communion -
Ghosts on Magnetic Tape (2004)
My only pure ambient-album on the list, Bass Communion is one of Steven Wilson's projects where he makes ambient/drone-music, "Ghosts on Magnetic Tape" is the project's fourth studio album.
What makes this album stand out among the other BC-albums is the dark atmosphere, think about some of Edgar Allen Poe's work, this album would fit almost like a soundtrack to one of his texts.
The album-title fits perfectly, because there are sounds and noises on this album which are hard to describe, the sources could be almost anything, and that is what makes it so frightening, yet interesting.
I remember when I first heard this album, it was when I was heavily into Porcupine Tree and Blackfield, and to earn more fanboy points I wanted to check out SW's other projects, but also due to interest. I started out with this album by recommendations, and I listened to it in headphones one dark night, there was a storm outside, and the clock was somewhere around 2 A.M, so it was dead quiet here, I felt so alone.
The music really managed to grab me, peak my interest and get me very excited. While the other BC-albums are very good as well, this one is my current favorite.
Favorite songs: I, III & V.19. Pendulum -
Immersion (2010)
Time to shake this list up a bit with Pendulum, a band that is very different from the rest on my list. While the band has it's roots in Drum n Bass-music, they have slowly progressed from that sound towards a more electronic rock sound, with a few progressive elements in their music. On their third album "Immersion", they really mix a lot of different genres, and you'll find songs fitting under many different subgenres of Electronica.
Another thing that made me very interested in this album when it came out was the fact that it has 3 collaborations, Steven Wilson is featured on "The Fountain", In Flames plays on the song "Self VS Self" and Liam Howlett of The Prodigy plays on "Immunize". To earn some extra fanboy points, I was actually a fan of this band way before this album came out, I discovered them back in 08 already.
What makes this album so good is a combination of variety and quality, while many fans compare this album to the band's debut "Hold Your Colour", it's really hard to compare two albums that are so drastically different. HYC was much more a DnB-oriented album, meanwhile Immersion has almost one song for each subgenre, but after the band's second album "In Silico" (which I still think is great btw), the variety comes in as something very fresh.
While I don't feel particularly interested in checking out a genre like Dubstep, I have no problem with it in a Pendulum song, because they manage to take something and make it their song. Another hilarious thing is that when you have heard Pendulum quite a lot, you'll start noticing that every song has the same drum-pattern, and the drums seam to go KA-BOOM all the time, maybe I just have been listening to the band for too long.
Like I said, this album is so amazing because the individual quality on songs, but also on the variety it offers. "The Island" is a great example, part 1 is a more house-oriented song that you could probably hear at a club or something, part 2 is where hell breaks loose, and it's quite drastically different from the first part, apart from sharing the main melody. The Fountain is a very nice and catchy tune, perfect result of SW collaborating with Pendulum. The In Flames-collaboration is also pretty unique, and I would love to see more "heavy guitars combined with DnB" in the band's sound, because it's pretty badass.
This album is really strong overall, but a song that really shines for me is the closer: "Encoder", which is catchy and simple, yet has an epic ending (suiting the album) and sounds very much Pendulum still.
I might also add that I love the artwork on the album.
Favorite songs: Encoder, The Fountain, The Island (both parts) & Under the Waves.18. Porcupine Tree -
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
Time for my favorite Porcupine Tree album, "Fear of a Blank Planet" ranking in at number 18. If someone had asked me two years ago, this would have been my all time favorite, but I haven't really listened to PT much since I burned out on them (about 1 ½ years ago), so the fact that it has dropped isn't THAT surprising.
While many people tend to talk about the lyrics on this album, I really don't find myself much of a lyrics-person, a song doesn't have the best lyrics if it's great in other ways, and while many people hate on the "theme" of this album, it doesn't bother me.
The album is quite possibly Porcupine Tree's heaviest album, but it's still not a full out heavy album, it's more of a modern progressive masterpiece, this album has a darker and more "epic" atmosphere then the other PT-albums.
The album contains 6 songs, clocks in at roughly 50 minutes and is nothing less then perfect. I wouldn't want to change a single second on the album, because I think it's THAT good.
Picking favorite songs on an album like this is hard, we have "Anesthetize", the 17 minute track which becomes many people's favorite, and while it's a superb song indeed, I find myself liking the slightly shorter songs more. "Sleep Together" is one of the best closing-songs I know, incorporating electronic-music into PT's sound like if they did it all the time, it suits the song perfectly, and the way the song closes the album with the strings of doom and the climax at the end... candy to my ears.
We have "Way out of Here" which despite it's mentioning of an "iPod" remains one of the band's sadder songs, it was written in dedication to a young girl who was a fan of the band, who died at a very young age. We have "Sentimental", which I think is superior to it's twin-song "Normal" (while the latter is still good), we have "My Ashes" which is quite possibly one of the band's best ballads in the 00's, and has some of the best lyrics by the band in latter years. The opener, the self-titled "Fear of a Blank Planet" is quite possibly the closest the band will get to Prog Metal, it starts off with some great acoustic guitars but soon becomes very heavy, and the middle-section/solo is just heavy. "Anesthetize" as I already mentioned is the long song, the epic song. While it can be divided into 3 pieces, as a whole it's just a beast.
Favorite songs: Sleep Together, Way out of Here, Fear of a Blank Planet & Anesthetize.
Topic: Zantera's top 50 albums (Finished!) (Read 24077 times)
