WebRaider's Top 50 Albums - v. Breaking All The Rules

[WebRaider]

Just a minor preview to a thread I'm sure everyone will be interested in... lol. I have somewhat held back from jumping into topics to keep some of my musical interests a mystery. So after I'm done expect me to be a little more active around here. Whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen. 

As far as the list itself, this was extremely tough for me. Music is very important in my life and to have to whittle it down to even 50 selections was very difficult. I approached this as a deserted island list so I purposely avoided adding too many albums from certain bands/artists to have more of a rounded out list. Outside of that I'm breaking all the rules...



I'll start off breaking the rules by listing a compilation album which didn't quite make the list that should throw everyone for a loop.





Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend: 1951–1964 [2003]





Sam Cooke: known to many simply as The Voice!


First, I know this is considered a greatest hits type of album. Cooke only had one release that was truly considered an album because during the time he was alive and recording they mostly only released singles and many of these songs were never released on an LP. When he met his untimely demise at 33 years of age, his business manager and RCA entered a long, long feud and so for a long time Cooke's work was never widely distributed. Also this particular release is not so much a greatest hits collection as it is a broad retrospective of his career.

Now, I figure that many of you on a prog-metal band forum are not highly probable to enjoy a singer from the 50's who was a great pioneer of Soul music. And most of you would likely consider some of the songs he recorded a bit cheesy but you have to consider the time period he lived and recorded in. When I listen to this album I allow myself a bit of romanticism of the era and I focus on Sam's voice. Sam Cooke's voice is one of the greatest of all time for any genre of music. PERIOD.

It took me a long time to really allow myself to enjoy most of his music because to me at the time and likely to many of you now, I considered it to be just old fogy music. I have to thank my mom for her constant beach music soundtrack and my dad who listened to Journey and Rod Stewart which allowed me to open up to Cooke. Sam Cooke influenced countless singers in any genre going forward including Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, The Rolling Stones on to the aforementioned Steve Perry (Journey) and Rod Stewart who took a great deal of his style and sound in their own.

Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones) : “Sam Cooke is somebody other singers have to measure themselves against, and most of them go back to pumping gas!


Check out: "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Bring It On Home To Me", "Cupid"





TL/DR: Now that I've thrown everyone for a loop, don't worry there will be much more contemporary music coming. Just had to show some respect to The Voice!  Top 50 coming real soon!

[WebRaider]

Well that went over about as well as thought it might...lol..... Here's the first 5 from my Top 50 list. Maybe it'll generate more interest. 



50. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine [1992]




I've always been a sucker for heavy music with a groove. Take guitarist Tom Morello's great playing and ability to create infectious licks add the power and rebellious lyrics of Zach de la Rocha and I'm sold. From the moment I heard "Killing in the Name" I knew this was a special band. The band's groundbreaking debut album is relentless from beginning to end and at the time of it's release RATM was likely playing heavy/hard rock better than most, and while I don't consider them a rap/rock act, their lyrical flow was also probably better than many at the top of the Rap/hip hop charts.


Check out: "Killing in the Name", "Know Your Enemy", "Freedom"
 





49. Havok - Time Is Up [2011]
 



I discovered Havok looking for newer metal bands and they were right down my alley. A force in the new wave of thrash metal, they sound like someone lifted them right out of the bay area thrash scene in the 80's and fast forwarded to today. The band is much more technically skilled than some of those 80's bands though.

These young guns are excellent musicians. Drummer Pete Webber and bassist Jesse De Los Santos pummel you throughout every track, lead guitarist Reece Scruggs riffs and shreds all over the place and guitarist/lead vocalist David Sanchez is a perfect thrash front man. If you are a metal fan, particularly if you are a thrash metal fan I highly suggest you check into this band and this album Time Is Up.


Check out:  "Covering Fire", "Prepare For Attack", "Killing Tendencies"






48. Dokken - Tooth and Nail [1984]




This may be a bit of a curveball pick. "Hair Metal" really takes a bad rap at this point in my opinion (although I understand it). What many overlook is the early era from late 70's through the early 80's there were some very solid hard rock/metal albums well before many of the bands 'jumped the shark' or were forced to go in certain directions by the record industry.

Tooth and Nail features probably my favorite intro track ever "Without Warning" which is an instrumental featuring the superb guitarist George Lynch. When people get into the best guitarist, drummer etc. arguments today, I feel they really are just arguing which styles they like better or who's tone they prefer (cue the mangini face). I've always loved Lynch's tOne.

Tooth and Nail finds the band at their best. Don Dokken's vocals were great, Lynch was on fire on guitar and the bands songwriting was never better as it still had an edge. If you like guitar this album is worth it to check out Lynch's solos alone IMO.


Check out: "Without Warning/Tooth & Nail", "Don't Close Your Eyes", "When Heaven Comes Down"






47. Queens Of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris (Tour Edition) [2007]




This is the first of a couple albums where I chose to select a specific edition of the release....This one in particular due to the addition of "Era Vulgaris (Richard File Remix) (featuring Trent Reznor)" which is exceptionally cool.

I really enjoy the whole of the Queens of the Stone Age catalog. For me, Vulgaris was a step away from their normal sound while still maintaing who they are. Era Vulgaris still finds the natural stoner rock grooves and Hommes unique vocals but changes it up by adding a little more electronic like influences off and on along with moody melodies. I find this album more level from top to bottom but maybe not having quite as many hit songs as their other releases.


Check out: "Turnin' on the Screw", "Era Vulgaris (Richard File Remix) (featuring Trent Reznor)", "Make It wit Chu", "3's & 7's" 







46. Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios [1998]





This was an album I found on these forums. I hadn't heard of Chroma Key before but had always been a big fan of Kevin Moore's work with Dream Theater, so I had to check them out. I started with Dead Air for Radios and I connected with it right away. It's often dark, ambient and melancholic featuring electronic elements and samples which would be familiar to those who know Moore's work in DT.

Something about this album reminds me of a more modern Steely Dan or Peter Gabriel. The playing is tight, the songwriting is very good and to the point but at the same time experimental. After a few listens the melodies had seeped into my consciousness and I was hooked.


Check out: "Colorblind", "Even The Waves", "Undertow"

[Ultimetalhead]

Havok is sexy. The other albums are pretty good as well.

[ariich]

Love the RATM and Chroma Key albums! the QOTSA is pretty good, although far from my favourite of theirs.

Don't really know the other two. Good start though!

[WebRaider]

Havok is sexy. The other albums are pretty good as well.

Good to see someone else give some love to Havok. Surprised I haven't heard much mention for them on the 2011 best albums list around here. It's a pretty kick ass album.

Love the RATM and Chroma Key albums! the QOTSA is pretty good, although far from my favourite of theirs.

Don't really know the other two. Good start though!

I understand about Era Vulgaris. I love their whole catalog but I do enjoy how EV sounds a bit different overall than the rest of QOTSA's work.

[jingle.boy]

following.  You're starting out pretty wide range from thrash metal to atmosphere.  Neat.

[WebRaider]

following.  You're starting out pretty wide range from thrash metal to atmosphere.  Neat.

Thanks! Yeah I didn't even notice it but my tastes can be all over the place sometimes. 

[JRundquist]

I like where this is going.

[WebRaider]

45. Pearl Jam - Ten [1991]




Time for me to get on my soapbox...The pick of this album leaves me a bit conflicted. I'm not the type of music fan that only likes the greatest hits and there are a million Pearl Jam fans that would accuse me of that when I say I only really like Ten (to combat that I'd point out that I LOATHED "Jeremy" possibly their biggest HIT, for the longest time).

I wasn't a huge fan of the direction Pearl Jam took musically after the release of their debut. For my ears I rarely heard any of the passion that they put into Ten going forward and that is what I loved most about this album. Eddie Vedder sang with an intensity I haven't heard from him since and the band seemed to take Kurt Cobain's comments about too many guitar leads to heart, as they rarely showcased those chops in subsequent releases.

Even though Pearl Jam became a different band in my ears afterwards, Ten is ammmmaaaaaazing! I still get goosebumps listening to the majority of the album. There's just something electric underneath the surface for me. From beginning to end the passion and power in each song is astounding. Maybe I'm missing that in the later PJ albums (I just don't hear it) but I'll always love Ten.

This whole album is very good and features hits like "Even Flow", "Alive", "Jeremy" and "Black"  but I'll recommend some maybe less known/played tracks.



Check out: "Why Go?" , "Deep", "Release"







44. Candlebox - Candlebox [1993]




I was surprised to see another member of the board list this band and album in their list but they deserve it. Candlebox is an underrated band from the grunge era and their self-titled debut album really shines. The band is just a great hard rock band that were lumped with the grunge scene because of the time and they came out of Seattle and yet were dumped on because of their use of actual melody and guitars. And you'll find lots of that on this release. Guitarist Peter Klett is a gem on guitar and Kevin Martin has a great and powerful rock voice. I also thoroughly enjoy the rest of their albums but if I had to choose just one, this would be the one.

"You" and "Far Behind" are the big hits here but I'm gonna recommend a few which might be less known:



Check out: "Rain", "Don't You", "He Calls Home", "Arrow"







43. Dave Matthews And Tim Reynolds - Live at Radio City [2007]




I'm kind of cheating here with a live album but it's so worth it folks! With just Dave and Tim and their guitars on stage it creates something else entirely in my experience.I was a vague fan of Dave Matthews for a long while. I enjoyed several of the bands hits and owned Crash which is a very nice album unto its own. For years I'd heard about Dave Matthews Band's live performances and never really got around to checking into it. I was listening to Pandora (ty God for that invention) and heard one song off this album and it turned my head fast. Not too long after that another song off this album came up and once again I was like "yeah!". So with that, I got this release.

Live at Radio City is just Dave and Tim with their acoustic guitars performing Matthews' biggest hits and some great unreleased songs and covers (I'm not a huge fan of Neil Young but I LOVE the interesting cover here of "Down By The River"). I'd never have believed that two guys could put together such an exceptional performance by themselves. I'd be remiss to not mention how great a guitarist Tim Reynolds is and he's able to fill up the space missing from a full band. I think it actually adds to the performance, there's just some sort of magic here and the recording sounds spectacular as it was recorded for a Blue-Ray dvd release. You have to hear it to get a feeling for
what I mean but hearing is believing!



Check out: "Bartender", "Save Me", "Lie In Our Graves", "Down By The River" Neil Young Cover





42. Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors [2011]




Heard the single off Arrows & Anchors "Musical Chairs" and instantly was interested in the band. I checked around on DTF and heard many positive things about the band so I checked out this album and was blown away. It's melodic, crushingly heavy (sometimes both at once) and experimental. It took me a little to wrap my head around some of the song ideas but the music was so exceptional it was quite easy to give the album time to grow on me. I love how many different musical influences the band incorporates throughout making for a fairly eclectic musical adventure. I even love the musical interludes. It's not an easy album to describe for me, but trust me it's excellent music!


Check out: "Whiskey & Ritalin", "Musical Chairs", "Golden Parachutes"






41. Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time [1986]




My first Maiden album! My brother had been a fan for years and it took me a little while to come around to them at first. With the release of Somewhere In Time, I started to give them a listen even though I was still under 10 years old. Somewhere In Time is solidly among my favorite Maiden albums and it changes from time to time but I'm listing Somewhere In Time ahead of the others solely out of nostalgia of it being my first (This is where my brother would be twisting my arm and saying "Powerslave!"). I know to fellow fans this ranking is kinda low but there are times I'd have it in my top 10 so for the moment it's here, somewhere in time it's way up the list



Check out: "Caught Somewhere In Time", "Wasted Years", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Deja Vu"

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Some great albums coming up. Nice.

[WebRaider]

Some great albums coming up. Nice.

Thanks! I remember reading over yours and how experimental/proggy (is that a word?)  it was. Lots of good stuff there too

[jingle.boy]

Was never a big fan of Pearl Jam ... I guess I just rebelled against Everything and anything that was even close to grunge. Somewhere In Time is one of my fav Maiden albums. I had it on vinyl. Think either that or 7th Son popped my Maiden cherry (although a little older than 10)

[WebRaider]

Was never a big fan of Pearl Jam ... I guess I just rebelled against Everything and anything that was even close to grunge. Somewhere In Time is one of my fav Maiden albums. I had it on vinyl. Think either that or 7th Son popped my Maiden cherry (although a little older than 10)

I can absolutely understand that. What I like about Ten was the guitar was still prominent basically making it a rock album much more than a grunge album. To me grunge at it's purest was much more like punk, with an updated label for the record industry.

Bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden regardless of being slapped with that label continued to essentially play hard rock/metal. Solo's, heavy guitars and riffs, harmony etc. It's all there.



I think I was like 9 when I started coming around to Maiden. I would have likely done so earlier but my brother scarred me by putting on "The Number of the Beast" cutting the lights off and throwing me in a dark room...

[wolfking]

Tooth and Nail, Ten and SIT 

[Zydar]

Maiden

SIT is constantly alternating with 7th Son as my favourite Maiden album.

[wolfking]

Was never a big fan of Pearl Jam ... I guess I just rebelled against Everything and anything that was even close to grunge. Somewhere In Time is one of my fav Maiden albums. I had it on vinyl. Think either that or 7th Son popped my Maiden cherry (although a little older than 10)

I know what you mean.  I was into grunge and then I discovered Maiden, Priest etc.  I sold everything I had that was not metal to get into metal.  I regretted it later and have re purchased all Pearl Jam cd's I sold.  Great band and Ten is just magical.

[ariich]

Nice to see Fair to Midland in there! Excellent album, although I do still prefer the previous one.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Some great albums coming up. Nice.

Thanks! I remember reading over yours and how experimental/proggy (is that a word?)  it was. Lots of good stuff there too

Thanks.

[WebRaider]

Tooth and Nail, Ten and SIT 

Glad to see some Tooth and Nail appreciation. Afraid I was going it alone there... seriously it's such a cool album.

Maiden

SIT is constantly alternating with 7th Son as my favourite Maiden album.

Those two are up at or near the top of my Maiden list and my brother prefers the earlier albums but they all are so good.

Was never a big fan of Pearl Jam ... I guess I just rebelled against Everything and anything that was even close to grunge. Somewhere In Time is one of my fav Maiden albums. I had it on vinyl. Think either that or 7th Son popped my Maiden cherry (although a little older than 10)

I know what you mean.  I was into grunge and then I discovered Maiden, Priest etc.  I sold everything I had that was not metal to get into metal.  I regretted it later and have re purchased all Pearl Jam cd's I sold.  Great band and Ten is just magical.

I never rebelled against any music as long as I could find quality and true passion behind it. I watched the documentary "Twenty" and it seems the death of Andrew Wood along with Vedder coming to grips with his emotions over discovering his real father really fueled much of the passion found in Ten.

Nice to see Fair to Midland in there! Excellent album, although I do still prefer the previous one.

I really like Fables from a Mayfly a lot but something pulls me to Anchors more often.

[WebRaider]

40. Maxwell - Embrya [1998]




I'm not sure if anyone on this board will dig this or not but it's a classic in my life. This is a go to album for go time, if you catch my drift!

Seriously though this album has a sublime flow about it. Maxwell is an amazing singer and this is him at his pinnacle. Embrya is much more sophisticated and lush than his debut as he melds R&B/Jazz/Funk/Soul throughout seamlessly. Lyrically it's very sexy yet intelligent and at times very poetic. The music plays like a dreamy sequence of moods and events, all woven together by relaxing rhythms, seductive vocals, and well-done arrangements. It's almost like Maxwell is Neo Soul's prog artist, lol.

Aside from the fact that if you put this album on when you're with that special person it's almost guaranteed to set off immediate sparks.... You can put this album on anytime and just chill to some excellent music.



Check out: "Everwanting: To Want You To Want", "Drowndeep: Hula", "Know These Things: Shouldn't You", "Submerge: Til We Become The Sun"








39. Deftones - Diamond Eyes (iTunes deluxe edition) [2010]




From one of the best sounding sounding Neo Soul/R&B albums (Embrya) to one of the best sounding rock/metal albums in my opinion. You could also play these back to back for a nice sexy time sound-scape.

Until I heard Diamond Eyes I was uncertain of how I really felt about the Deftones. There'd be times where I would love some of the songs they had out and then hear something else and it wouldn't click. It all clicked with this album as it's a perfect execution of all that the Deftones offer. Heaviness, metallic churning, melody, electronic and synth, ambiance and of course Chino's unique vocals.

Producer Nick Raskulinecz does an amazing job managing these various aspects within the album and its just a beautiful record. I chose to list the (iTunes deluxe edition) due to the addition of the exceptional covers "Do You Believe" from The Cardigans and "Ghosts" of Japan. Adding these is just like the icing on a cake that finally sends you into a diabetic coma...



Check out: "Diamond Eyes", "You've Seen The Butcher", "Rocket Skates", "Sextape", "Risk"








38. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral [1994]




The first album to really scare me. Before The Downward Spiral, I'd listened to plenty of dark music or music that others would freak out over but it's like the principle behind horror movies not being scary to some people. Because in general the majority of scary movies don't feel real. This album was real and I could see the pain in many around me that this music seemed to speak to. Let me clarify that this music didn't scare me in the sense of it being horrific music. Its just the feelings clawing out from within the music itself I could see in the people of the world. I'm certain that's just what Trent Reznor intended.



Check out: "March of the Pigs", "Closer", "I Do Not Want This", "Hurt"








37. Tool - Ænima [1996]




Most of you are likely familiar with Tool and their sound. If not I'd have to describe it as dark, heavy, mysterious and intense . From their debut going forward they have tested the boundaries of those descriptors. Ænima finds them dead-perfect center. It's the bands second album and in my opinion is more polished musically and sound-wise than their fine debut yet retains the edge and rage the band seemed to begin with. That's not to say they don't still have that ferocity just that they perfectly embraced it here and released it while exploring their musical chops. I enjoy all of Tool's music but if I was forced to choose one it'd be this one because I can get a little of everything that they have to offer.



Check out: "Eulogy", "Forty Six & 2", "Pushit", "Ænema", "H."








36. Queensryche - Promised Land [1994]




Listening to this as I type this up just leaves me baffled as to what happened to this band after this great album. Promised Land isn't as lauded as Operation Mindcrime or Empire but the music here is stellar. The fact that this album went platinum during the peak of the grunge era speaks to the quality of the release. I really like the production and each song offers a much different feel throughout, although it seems every time I play one song off of this cd I have to listen to the rest. One of the main things I love about Promised Land is that its extremely atmospheric (if you've heard it you know what I mean).



Check out: "I Am I", "Promised Land", "One More Time", "Someone Else"

[ReaperKK]

Holy hell WebRaider, you and I have incredibly similar taste.

Awesome to see RATM on here, it's a great album that I spun a lot. "Candlebox" and "Dead Air" made my top 50 so I'm pretty passionate about those albums. "Arrows & Anchors" still hasn't surpassed "Fables" but it's still a very solid album. I'm a huge DMB fan and "Live at Radio City" is a great album but too long for me to listen to in one sitting, had I been there I would've enjoyed every second of it but to just sit and listen to it, I'll usually put one album on at a time.

[Ravenheart]

Great to see some love for The Downward Spiral!  Trent Reznor's music has been a huge part of my life for the past 7 years.

[jingle.boy]

PL is a great album. Might have to go spin it now to remind myself.

[Jamesman42]

ryan told me it needs more dream theater

[Gorille85]

Great to see some love for The Downward Spiral!

YES

[Fluffy Lothario]

On the Dave and Tim album: it's good, but I tend to only listen to highlights when I play it.

Musts are:
Bartender
Stay or Leave
Old Dirt Hill (I like the original, unlike most people, but this version is reeeeal good, and a strange surprise)
Eh Hee
Crash into Me
Lie in our Graves (I'm not sure why that Tim solo works so well, on paper, you'd assume it to be a snooze, but it's pretty great)
Some Devil

Also, I still haven't heard it, but their earlier album, Live at Luther College or something like that, is meant to be even better.

[pain of occupation]

cool Queensryche choice...
i think only days ago i saw this album being slammed somewhere on this board, but Promised Land is actually the only Queensryche album ive ever been able to get into. it might be that i just happened to get it at the right time in my life, or that i just havent given the rest of their catalog (aside from Q2k or whatever it was called) enough of a chance, but to me it felt far superior to their more identifiably 'classic' albums that everyone seems to love.

[WebRaider]

Holy hell WebRaider, you and I have incredibly similar taste.

Awesome to see RATM on here, it's a great album that I spun a lot. "Candlebox" and "Dead Air" made my top 50 so I'm pretty passionate about those albums. "Arrows & Anchors" still hasn't surpassed "Fables" but it's still a very solid album.

Yep, I recall following your list that we had similar tastes in music.

I was very glad to see someone list Candlebox as they are very underrated. I've seen them in concert about 4 times I think now. I can't remember specifically who it was on this forum that turned me on to that Chroma Key album but I fast fell in love with it. I'm growing into Fables but maybe I like Arrows and Anchors more at the moment as that is what got me into the band? Regardless they are both exceptional albums IMO.

[WebRaider]

Great to see some love for The Downward Spiral!

YES

Great to see some love for The Downward Spiral!  Trent Reznor's music has been a huge part of my life for the past 7 years.

I really like a lot of Nine Inch Nails/Reznor stuff but TDS is a classic. As I noted it's so damn emotionally dark in almost every aspect.

[WebRaider]

I'm a huge DMB fan and "Live at Radio City" is a great album but too long for me to listen to in one sitting, had I been there I would've enjoyed every second of it but to just sit and listen to it, I'll usually put one album on at a time.

On the Dave and Tim album: it's good, but I tend to only listen to highlights when I play it.

Musts are:
Bartender
Stay or Leave
Old Dirt Hill (I like the original, unlike most people, but this version is reeeeal good, and a strange surprise)
Eh Hee
Crash into Me
Lie in our Graves (I'm not sure why that Tim solo works so well, on paper, you'd assume it to be a snooze, but it's pretty great)
Some Devil

Also, I still haven't heard it, but their earlier album, Live at Luther College or something like that, is meant to be even better.

Oh I agree it is quite a long album overall. I enjoy his normal albums a great deal but for me there's something magical about this performance and I'm not usually a big fan of live albums.

I really like all those songs you listed Fluffy but I'm a fan of just about every song on the album. I do generally pick through them if I'm pressed for time though.

[WebRaider]

cool Queensryche choice...
i think only days ago i saw this album being slammed somewhere on this board, but Promised Land is actually the only Queensryche album ive ever been able to get into. it might be that i just happened to get it at the right time in my life, or that i just havent given the rest of their catalog (aside from Q2k or whatever it was called) enough of a chance, but to me it felt far superior to their more identifiably 'classic' albums that everyone seems to love.

PL is a great album. Might have to go spin it now to remind myself.

There are some who don't hold Promised Land among their top work and there are those like pain of occupation
who kind of relate to it better than the rest of their material. And I can understand why. While the high quality production and progressiveness is there in PL it seems a bit different from their early work. Maybe it's something in the song writing? Regardless I love pretty much all the Queensryche stuff up through PL.

ryan told me it needs more dream theater

Oh hell no. Who listens to that crap? With all those amazing musicians and such.

[wolfking]

Aenima and Promised Land 

[WebRaider]

35. The Devin Townsend Band - Synchestra [2006]




I suppose to some it may be a bit of a surprise to list this particular Devy album. Synchestra took the longest of all Devin's work to click with me. I think partly due to people highly recommending earlier work like Ocean Machine and Terria or later work like anything from the DTP. So I just overlooked Synchestra for a while even though I had listened to it off and on.

I think this album contains just about everything Devy. For me it's much like taking all the material of DTP and compressing it into one disk. After completing Synchestra he likely noted how all over the place he was and wanted to express each area individually through the work in DTP. Having said that I'm not sure I'd recommend this for someone's first Devin listen. While it's not as chaotic as something like Deconstruction it's just something I had to ease into. It seems most Devin fans love a lot of the songs from the first half of this album but while I love the whole thing, I am a HUGE fan of everything from song 8 (Gaia) on... it sounds so massive and epic.

 

Check out: "Triumph", "Gaia", "Pixillate", "Judgement"








34. Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. [1997]




Before all the ballads and love songs most of you might know them for (although those aren't all bad IMO), Incubus was a funk metal band. Their early sound was greatly influenced by bands such as Mr. Bungle. During this time period the band was funky, heavy, and most important of all, energetic.S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was quite aptly named as this album seems much like a science experiment gone RIGHT. It blends metal, funk, jazz, and trip hop and also has some tasty samples, hell it even has a sax solo in "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)". Although fusing all those genres into any one song much less album might seem difficult, I find that the band pulled it off beautifully here. I love the heavy, jazzy, spacey sound of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. My favorite song probably is the heaviest/craziest off this album in "Nebula". If you've never heard early Incubus I recommend checking out this album.



Check out: "Vitamin", "New Skin", "Nebula", "Calgone"








33. Protest The Hero - Scurrilous [2011]





I heard "Sequioa Throne" a good while back and loved it but was scared away by the few cookie monster moments within so I never really gave PTH an in depth listen. With the release of Scurrilous I happened across the video for "Hair-Trigger" and thought it was great but was still hesitant so I asked about them on DTF and people recommended a listen because there were less rawrrr, rawrrr moments. I'd describe the band's sound as break-neck... you think you know where you're going and they hit the breaks and throw it in a different gear; and I LOVE IT!

I've seen a few people less excited about the sound or song writing on the latest album. Rody Walker can sing like a mf'er so for me it's absolutely not necessary for those cookie monster growls anyway but I've come around to the older material too. I also appreciate the songs here being more relate-able than most on their previous albums. I believe Scurrilous is Protest The Hero coming into their own and see even greater material in their future. This is damn good stuff!



Check out: "C'est la Vie", "Hair-Trigger", "Moonlight", "Tongue-Splitter"








32. Pantera - Cowboys From Hell [1990]




Ah! Here we have a nice slab of metal. Cowboys From Hell was released at the perfect time. Pantera had been in the hair metal scene in the 80's (which I don't look down on as most do) but it was time for a change. Beginning with this release Pantera helped guide metal into a new era.This album was released at a perfect time for me as well. I was just coming into my teenage years in 1990 and was looking for something with a bit more edge. I remember finding this album while on a school field trip to the mall at Christmas. My friends and I went straight to the music stores and started digging through everything they had. I didn't buy it but a friend did and on the trip back home he was like man you've got to listen to this! OMG the RIFFS, SOLOS, RAGE!!!!

Vulgar Display of Power is very good too but I have a connection with this album plus I kind of like Phil's range on his vocals at this early point in their career. Dime never failed to amaze me with his playing and he certainly is one of the best metal guitarists ever. His work here put everyone who played guitar on notice that they had best step their game up. Cowboys was a kick in the ass and still remains so today.


Check out: "Cowboys from Hell", "Cemetery Gates", "Domination", "The Sleep" -Dat SOLO!



 



31. Dio - Holy Diver [1983]




So many great things have been said about Ronnie James Dio since his passing. I fully believe that none of it was just in the moment as sometimes happens with someones death. He really was such a likeable guy, someone who did so much to elevate the metal scene and clearly had an amazing voice. I struggled with my choice of his albums to list here but it's almost impossible to not list Holy Diver for me. It's a definite classic of the genre and to some extent it allowed him to step out from the shadow of the big bands he had been in previously. Another album I was exposed to very early and although I've heard it a thousand times it still makes me want to throw up the horns! This was DIO.


Check out: "Stand Up and Shout", "Holy Diver", "Don't Talk to Strangers", "Straight Through the Heart", "Rainbow in the Dark"

[obscure]

mmm I'm intrigued... this thread something for me.... following mister....

[WebRaider]

mmm I'm intrigued... this thread something for me.... following mister....

Awww shucks.    Thank ya! I hope you like some of the stuff and maybe find something to look into as well. I'm all over the board but generally like everything everyone else around here enjoys.