Author Topic: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #1 "Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?"  (Read 47918 times)

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Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #105 on: January 09, 2015, 01:10:31 PM »
Just listened to this song/album a few days ago, oddly enough.

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #106 on: January 09, 2015, 02:59:14 PM »
I had it in my top 50, so maybe it was me who introduced you to it :neverusethis:. Amazing song, great musicianship and fucking epic solo. Hey, finally something in which we agree on :lol.

Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #107 on: January 09, 2015, 03:05:18 PM »
I had it in my top 50, so maybe it was me who introduced you to it :neverusethis:

Definitely no, it was about a year ago.

Sorry guys, I'm not at home now and don't have an access to PC here (and have the images switched off here), so the responses to the other posts and the next (disastrous) update will come tomorrow.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #108 on: January 09, 2015, 03:07:21 PM »
I had it in my top 50, so maybe it was me who introduced you to it :neverusethis:

Definitely no, it was about a year ago.

Sorry guys, I'm not at home now and don't have an access to PC here (and have the images switched off here), so the responses to the other posts and the next (disastrous) update will come tomorrow.

I think he was responding to my post. But yeah, I've had the album for two or three years now, I just hadn't listened to it in a while.

Offline Nick

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #109 on: January 09, 2015, 05:27:37 PM »
Yikes, can't believe I'm seeing Unia on a top 50 list. I'm glad they tried to open up and do new things, but there was a ton of miss and not a whole lot of hit on this album. They've since put out some better ones.

Karma is a great choice, but really, any of the 4 main Kamelot albums is going to be a great choice.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #110 on: January 11, 2015, 03:52:02 AM »
Yikes, can't believe I'm seeing Unia on a top 50 list. I'm glad they tried to open up and do new things, but there was a ton of miss and not a whole lot of hit on this album. They've since put out some better ones.

Not even close.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #111 on: January 11, 2015, 05:03:38 AM »
Yes to Unia (Nick fails as usual) and double yes for Light of Day, Day of Darkness. I had it somewhere around #46, but it would definitely be around my Top 25 now as well. Amazing song.
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Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #39 "No man can quell the suffering"
« Reply #112 on: January 11, 2015, 05:58:24 AM »
Alright, after my two days absence the updates are back at full force with two or three posts a day!

About the Savatage t-shirt now that I looked at the pics: yeah, the quality deeply sucks.

About the growls on LoD, DoD: there are truly very little of them.

About the next disastrous update: I'm dreading it a bit, but as I decided to be honest with myself when I was compiling the list, I'll just go ahead with it. Though, if I recall correctly, Scorpion should approve this one. Here goes...

#39
Nostradamus
Judas Priest
Genre: heavy metal
2008


Whatever credibility I’ve got in this thread with my previous updates, I’m sure as hell going to lose it now. Well, I guess I will have to build it up again with other 38 updates. I definitely wanted to put a reunion-with-Rob album here, and I feel like it’s the best choice out there, not to mention it immensely grew on me in the last two years or so, and I rank it among the best Priest works to date. Angel of Retribution was strong enough, Redeemer of Souls turned out to be quite weak, in my opinion, but Nostradamus is what reignited my love for Judas Priest lately, and that's the biggest reason why it's even here.

Judas Priest is iconic British heavy metal band formed in 1969 (think about it, 45 years ago!). There were a hell lot of lineup changes and I won’t go through it now, you can read Wikipedia for those. Nostradamus was performed by Rob Halford on vocals, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton on guitars, Ian Hill on bass and Scott Travis on drums. Don Airey was guesting on keyboards, and Pete Whitfield is credited for strings.

Nostradamus is the band’s attempt to do a concept album, and while almost everyone I’ve met say it’s a travesty and failure (except my best friend who happens to love it too), to me it’s nothing but a success. The record is driving, heavy, filled with strong melodies and epic orchestral arrangements, with atmospheric and emotional slow short pieces in between. If often gets overlooked somehow, but the amount of stunning material on Nostradamus is stupendous, in my opinion. The first disc offers a hell of a ride, while the second one loses the quality a bit in the middle; it gets all the steam back with title track though. I admit, the record is kind of on a simple side regarding musical decisions, but in this case it’s definitely an advantage.

I’ve seen a post on DTF that Nostradamus is a chore to get through, and this is the opposite of how I feel. The album lasts a hundred minutes, and when Future of Mankind ends, I can’t say it was a long ride, it feels like only thirty minutes or so passed. I can name only two tracks that really drag on the record, namely Death and New Beginnings, because the latter is pretty bad. Otherwise, Nostradamus is a fine piece of music, very accessible, powerful and ambitious. This is easily the most listened Priest record for me (but I'm not saying it the best Priest record); I don’t seem to grow tired of it at all.

Favourite tracks: Revelations, Persecution, Alone, Nostradamus, Future of Mankind

And of course Nostradamus exists in a glorious 48-pages hardcover artbook, and I’m a sucker for this kind of things. Really love the artwork, the way the lyrics are presented and the overall quality of it. Great stuff.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #39 "No man can quell the suffering"
« Reply #113 on: January 11, 2015, 06:27:58 AM »
Honestly, I never gave Nostradamus a chance.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #39 "No man can quell the suffering"
« Reply #114 on: January 11, 2015, 08:35:52 AM »
Yes yes yes yes yes. Have all my yes. All of them. This album is so brilliant. So many good songs. Pestilence and Plague is a Top 5 Judas Priest song for me, no joke.

*puts it on again immediately*
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Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #115 on: January 11, 2015, 11:39:18 AM »
Yes yes yes yes yes. Have all my yes. All of them. This album is so brilliant. So many good songs. Pestilence and Plague is a Top 5 Judas Priest song for me, no joke.

*puts it on again immediately*

Knew you would like it. I recall it made #6 on your list while everyone was thinking you were trolling after that Lulu post, or something like that.  :lol

And while I have all the Scorpion's yes (yesses?), and before we return to metal stuff again, you have another obligatory Steven Wilson appearance, and again, probably not with the album people often see on this kind of lists:

#38
Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree
Genre: progressive rock
2000


When Storm Corrosion appeared in this list, I think it became totally obvious at least one Porcupine Tree album will show up too and here you go. I don’t think Steven Wilson is outright genius and makes the best music in the world, but hey, man’s got talent for sure, and everything he’s doing is really worth checking out, for you will probably find at least one or two tracks appealing to you. Of course, there are highs and lows among his works, and Lightbulb Sun is an indisputable high.

Everyone knows that Porcupine Tree is an English band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987. They released ten studio albums, most of them being incredibly successful and quite unusual for the genre. On Lightbulb Sun the band consisted of four musicians, Steven Wilson himself on vocals, mellotron and other instruments, Richard Barbieri on keys and synths, Chris Maitland on drums, and Colin Edwin on bass. Few guest musicians are present on the record, as well as The Minerva string quartet.

Lightbulb Sun is the album some people consider a forerunner of PT perfect streak of albums from In Absentia to Fear of a Blank Planet. The sound is consequently going from light to more dark and ominous on this run, and this record is still pretty hopeful despite the lyrics themes running through the songs. It’s an interesting contrast, because the title track, Shesmovedon, Feel So Low are sounding quite uplifting to me compared to other Steven’s work, but the lyrics aren’t uplifting at all. Some tracks are genuinely heavy and somber, with pronounced bassline and more metal approach, like Hatesong and the longest track on the record, Russia on Ice (this opening riff!). And of course there are few annoying (in a good way) tunes too, see Four Chords or Last Chance, which has a spoken part that is one of the most irritating things I’ve ever heard on SW/PT records, including On The Sunday of Life, and probably my only complaint about the album, and it’s a shame, because the rest of the song is quite awesome. Human behavior. Human something. Human stuff. I can’t help but scowl at this part. It irritates me.

Nevertheless, Lightbulb Sun is as consistent as it gets. It invokes this strong feeling all the songs definitely belong to one record, despite all the differences. It doesn’t drag and feels quite cinematic, and even thirteen minutes long Russia on Ice doesn’t spoil this experience; enhances it, in fact, and this is truly an achievement. You can listen to this album as a whole or just to a few pieces, your impressions likely won’t differ at all; you’ll either like it or not. This album doesn’t feature any of my top 3 PT songs, but it doesn’t matter; each song is a good representation of Lightbulb Sun, except maybe the third and fifth track, but they’re welcome exceptions in the whole big picture. Try it.

Thanks.

(I know I'm pulling this off every time I speak about Feel So Low or this album in general. Whatever.)

Favourite tracks: Shesmovedon, The Rest Will Flow, Hatesong, Russia on Ice, Feel So Low

Also, the acoustic part in Lightbulb Sun (track) from 2:43 to 3:01 totally reminds me of the beginning of Ayreon’s Day Five: Voices. Just thought I mention that.
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Offline mikemangioy

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #116 on: January 11, 2015, 11:52:13 AM »
Lightbulb Sun is truly one heck of an album, good pick there. I love how it's the predecessor of something as dark as In Absentia, but at the same time is the happiest PT record. One cool thing is the shift of mood that happens in Russia On Ice (which is among my favorites), it sounds like the prelude of what's going to happen in the next few albums. Great stuff.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #117 on: January 11, 2015, 11:55:08 AM »
 :corn
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #118 on: January 11, 2015, 12:21:22 PM »
Difficult to completely get into that Priest album. Some great material on it, but desperately needed to be condensed into 1 disc

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #119 on: January 11, 2015, 06:50:18 PM »
I always hated Nostradamus but revisited it a year or so ago, and if you trim it down, it's actually a pretty decent album.  Light years better than the shitty last one.

Lightbulb Sun was my first PT album and I think it's pretty fantastic.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #38 "Each second seems like a lifetime"
« Reply #120 on: January 12, 2015, 08:08:59 AM »
LBS is alright, but has always been one of my least favorite PT albums.

Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #121 on: January 12, 2015, 08:20:19 AM »
Back from work and back to updating this thing.

Lightbulb Sun is truly one heck of an album, good pick there. I love how it's the predecessor of something as dark as In Absentia, but at the same time is the happiest PT record.

Yeah, I think that's why Lightbulb Sun appeals to me. I like Steven's dark, brooding side, but we have plenty of those albums, and Lightbulb Sun is something unique for me.

Difficult to completely get into that Priest album. Some great material on it, but desperately needed to be condensed into 1 disc

I always hated Nostradamus but revisited it a year or so ago, and if you trim it down, it's actually a pretty decent album.  Light years better than the shitty last one.

While I definitely can see where you are coming from, and maybe even agree with that a bit, I love it the way it was released.

And the update itself, here it comes.

#37
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
Genre: heavy metal
1982


After a five-albums run of the records released in a new millennium I think the time is ripe for a good old classic heavy metal record by the good old heavy metal band. I mean, even people unfamiliar with the metal scene heard something about Iron Maiden, and I don’t even want to start talking about how influential this album is. There might be lot of debates of which IM’s album is the best and how this one is not the one, but for me the choice is really no brainer.

While I think nearly everyone reading this surely knows who those guys are (you can skip to the next paragraph in this case), let’s go for a little description anyway. Iron Maiden is an English heavy metal band founded 1975 and became successful in 80s. They’ve put out fifteen studio albums, the latest release dated 2010. Among those there are such the famous releases like Powerslave, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time, and of course The Number Of The Beast. Bruce Dickinson (who has just joined the band at that time) provided the vocals for the record, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith played guitars, Steve Harris did the bass and Clive Burr (who left the band shortly after) played drums here.

I’m pretty sure this album was discussed to death here, so I’ll try to make this as concise as I can and as this album is. That’s one of the advantages of The Number Of The Beast, in my opinion. It lasts less than 40 minutes and there’s so much awesomeness in there it’s astounding. There are flat out rockers (or should I say metallers?), there is wonderful power ballad, there is also one of the most epic and awesome metal songs ever created, yet the album feels like it lasts like five minutes or so. I promised to stay concise, so just a few things more to say and we’ll move on to the next one. First, all songs here are at least good, and some of them are remarkably brilliant. Second, Bruce Dickinson’s voice carries this record to the whole next level. Third, Hallowed Be Thy Name is one of my favourite metal songs. I think that’s it.

I do understand where those «Powerslave / SSoaSS / other album is better» opinions are coming from, because they’re, well, opinions, and of course I can’t call anyone wrong on these, but damn. The Number of the Beast is one of the best things Irons have ever done, and it’s one of the best things in 80s metal overall. I do think there are better pieces of work in the whole metal genre in that decade and they are to appear later in this list; they weren’t made by Iron Maiden though.

Favourite tracks: Children of the Damned, 22 Acacia Avenue, The Number of the Beast, Hallowed Be Thy Name
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Online jjrock88

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #122 on: January 12, 2015, 09:07:07 AM »
Classic

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #123 on: January 12, 2015, 09:16:45 AM »
One of the most important albums ever made.

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #124 on: January 12, 2015, 09:38:37 AM »
Well, can't deny Maiden. Not my favorite, but still awesome  :metal
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Offline ThatOneGuy2112

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #125 on: January 12, 2015, 11:32:22 AM »
Well, can't deny Maiden. Not my favorite, but still awesome  :metal

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #126 on: January 12, 2015, 12:05:58 PM »
One of the most important albums ever made.

Agreed. It should be on everyone's list!

Was #3 or #2? on mine.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #127 on: January 12, 2015, 12:32:00 PM »
Another set of replies and another update just before I'll go to sleep. I know only four hours passed since the previous one, but as at working days I'm awake at home for about precisely four hours, that's the schedule, I guess.

Classic
One of the most important albums ever made.
Agreed. It should be on everyone's list!

Hell yeah to all three of you. Thinking about it, maybe I should've swapped it with the one that comes next, but you know, all these #37 and #36 and whatever numbers don't really mean a lot, as I love all the fifty albums I've got here. And besides, the next album is definitely the one I've listened to the most in 2014. I'm not sure how many spins I gave it, but you can be sure it's a lot. It is...

#36
Imaginaerum
Nightwish
Genre: symphonic power metal
2011


It’s, eh, time for a story now. I’ve got into Nightwish around or maybe shortly after the release of their sixth studio album, Dark Passion Play. I liked the band for their fine blend of classical operatic vocals and more aggressive and modern approach, obviously was a fan of Tarja voice and all that stuff. Then the band parted ways with Tarja and hired Anette, and DPP was released. I was severely underwhelmed with this new album and kind of gave up on Nightwish since. The news about Imaginaerum sparked my interest back, but after I watched the video for Storytime I was incredibly disappointed. I don’t even remember what irked me so much about the song, but as the result I didn’t explore Imaginaerum further for a long time, missed their concert in Moscow on their recent tour; all in all, did a lot of stupid things. :lol I totally gave up on Nightwish back then.

Speaking of Nightwish, it’s one of the most famous Finnish metal bands. Their style can be described as symphonic power metal with a lot of orchestrations and lots of female lead vocals; male vocals are usually present too, though. Nightwish was created in 1996 by Tuomas Holopainen, their keyboardist and main songwriter, and Emppu Vuorinen, the band’s guitarist. Those two have never left the band. Jukka Nevalainen, drummer, joined the band shortly after its creation; Marco Hietala, current Nightwish bassist and vocalist joined sometime around 2001. The third band’s founder, Tarja Turunen, was replaced with Anette Olzon around 2006 or 2007; Anette was replaced with Floor Jansen in 2012, when the band was touring. The vocals on Imaginaerum are provided by Anette.

So, how did I rediscover Imaginaerum after my initial strong disappointment with the single? In 2013 I was buying some Sonata Arctica stuff in Mad Supply shop, an online music store working with bands like Amorphis, SA, Ensiferum, Nightwish and so on, and since the delivery costs for one item and for two of them were identical I needed to order something else and I went for Imaginaerum digipack. I’ve placed an order, it had arrived and I placed the digipack on my shelf and didn’t listen to the album for six more months for some unfathomable reasons. Then I finally give this album a spin and, guess what, I wasn’t impressed at all again. Ghost River was too random for me with Marco going wild in this pre-chorus, I Want My Tears Back felt too commercial, Scaretale was completely awful, you get it. Apparently, I was just biased in the worst way, and maybe wasn’t in the right mood for this record. I’ve ripped the disc, put the files on my phone and forgot about it.

Then I was going back home from work by train and something made me to put this record on. It was nearly the weekend, exhaustion and tiredness crept on me and I fell asleep just as I found a place in the train. I jerked awake after some time and Turn Loose the Mermaids was playing in my headphones. I was amazed how magnificently simple and beautiful the composition was, how Anette’s voice was so fitting for it, how could I ignore this song for all these years. I started to pay attention and the rest of Imaginaerum blew me away that day. The whole album turned out to be so magical and breathtaking. From the stunning opener Taikatalvi, through jazzy Slow, Love, Slow and purely bombastic Last Ride of the Day to calm, depressing spoken part in Song of Myself, and finally to the orchestral reprise of the record in self-titled instrumental track, this album is marvelous. Even Scaretale went from “awful” to just “not as good as the rest”. I think Scaretale – Arabesque sequence is the only reason this album is here and not in Top 20.

Sorry, this writeup ended up a little long (well, I’ve warned you guys these are going to be longer as the list progresses on), so let’s wrap this up. The whole band obviously did great on the album, but I think Tuomas deserves a special mention for Imaginaerum. This man has a huge talent as a composer; the way he wrote all these songs to fit Anette’s vocal abilities, to make her voice truly shine, it’s remarkable. The bold decision to go with six minutes of spoken text in Song of Myself is polarizing enough, but I think it’s quite a fine way to end a concept album, and the music behind the speech is so glorious and sad. I get chills every time I hear the “It was us, roaming the rainy roads…” passage with violin playing on the background, and another round of chills just before “Beyond all mortality we are...” part. It’s the pinnacle of Imaginaerum for me.

Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album

Favourite tracks: Taikatalvi, Storytime, Turn Loose the Mermaids, Rest Calm, Last Ride of the Day, Song of Myself
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #128 on: January 12, 2015, 12:55:24 PM »
Never gotten into Nightwish. Not really into female vocals for some reason.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #129 on: January 12, 2015, 01:02:24 PM »
Heck yes NOTB. 

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #130 on: January 12, 2015, 01:54:27 PM »
I love Lightbulb Sun :heart

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #131 on: January 12, 2015, 01:59:59 PM »
Of course I'm going to approve of Beast, classic and very important album.

I have a copy of that Nightwish but I have yet to even listen to it once.  :lol  I should find the cd and give it a spin.  I'm a pretty casual Nightwish fan, nothing hardcore.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #132 on: January 12, 2015, 02:17:47 PM »
Imaginaerum is awesome, though the horrible spoken bit at the end of Last Ride of the Day kinda lowers the album a bit. Still great, though.

And I love Scaretale, might be my favorite song on the record.

Offline Big Hath

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #40 "Night divide day, day erase night"
« Reply #133 on: January 12, 2015, 08:52:45 PM »
This is the second time I see this album in a top 50, might have to check it out.

that was the seventh time LOD, DOD has been mentioned in a top 50 list.
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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #37 "The sands of time for me are running low"
« Reply #134 on: January 12, 2015, 08:57:21 PM »
One of the most important albums ever made.

Agreed. It should be on everyone's list!

Was #3 or #2? on mine.

#3
Winger would be better!

. . . and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Offline Evermind

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #135 on: January 12, 2015, 09:33:25 PM »
Never gotten into Nightwish. Not really into female vocals for some reason.

I can't say I'm into female vocals much, unless it's a well-executed concept album or something (or Floor Jansen), but Nightwish is a welcome exception.

I have a copy of that Nightwish but I have yet to even listen to it once.  :lol  I should find the cd and give it a spin.  I'm a pretty casual Nightwish fan, nothing hardcore.

I recall you were saying pretty much the same thing in 2012. :lol

Imaginaerum is awesome, though the horrible spoken bit at the end of Last Ride of the Day kinda lowers the album a bit. Still great, though.

It's in the end of Song of Myself, and I think it becomes irritating when all the music stops and the narration goes into "Ever seen the Lord smile? All the care for the world made beautiful a sad man" part. Before this part, I think it's very good.

This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Online wolfking

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Re: Evermind's Top 50 list v. #36 "A catnap in the ghost town of my heart"
« Reply #136 on: January 13, 2015, 04:31:12 AM »
I have a copy of that Nightwish but I have yet to even listen to it once.  :lol  I should find the cd and give it a spin.  I'm a pretty casual Nightwish fan, nothing hardcore.

I recall you were saying pretty much the same thing in 2012. :lol

Yeah, I think I remember saying that too.  :lol
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline Evermind

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Speaking of well-executed concept albums...

#35
The Dream Sequencer
Ayreon
Genre: progressive rock
2000


It’s no secret Arjen Lucassen is one of the musicians whose work I’m incredibly fond of, and of course at least one of his albums will grace this list with its presence. Undoubtedly, Ayreon is the biggest and most famous Arjen’s project, and the one most appealing to me. Every Ayreon album has a few defining features telling you it’s obviously Ayreon, but there are clear-cut distinctions like different mood for each album depending on the concept, handpicked set of guest singers for each record and so on. All Ayreon albums are quite unlike each other, and at the same time they’re all so similar.

So, let’s get into the details. Ayreon, as you’ve probably guessed, is a musical project organized by Dutch musician Arjen Lucassen, specializing mostly in progressive everything genre, with a random addition of folk, ambient and whatever. Ayreon basically consists of two members: Arjen himself and drummer Ed Warby. All other musicians are being invited to perform by various means of communication, and their number usually varies greatly. Let’s see, on latest Ayreon effort, The Theory of Everything there are seven main vocalists, while on 01011001 (I’m very proud I remember how this title goes) there are seventeen of them, and I’m not even talking about instrumentalists here. Every album features a concept, except Actual Fantasy, and these concepts, while sometimes not without some amount of cheese, are usually quite fascinating.

The Dream Sequencer does feature a concept too, being the part of two-album story called Universal Migrator, and this two-album concept is a part of even bigger concept started with The Final Experiment in 1995 and finished with 01011001 (yay) in 2008. So, it’s a concept in a concept in a concept, and I would’ve called it conception, but that’s the band Roy Khan was in before Kamelot. Alright, I’ll start talking sense now. The Dream Sequencer is hugely underrated in my opinion. I admit, the concept is far from my favourite here, but the way it’s executed, the way it’s presented through this soulful music is enough to place it in my list. The tracks are truly evocative, and when the first note of the prelude starts you become deeply immersed in this story, reliving the memories of our fictional protagonist about Mars, first manned lunar landing, creation of Stonehedge and other significant historical moments. The music can be described as exquisite progressive rock with electronic elements, Hammond organ and lots of clean, space-like guitar solos by Arjen. Those solos actually remind me of David Gilmour playing, even though Arjen clearly has his own recognizable style, and the record feels like Pink Floyd to me in several places. The whole album feels solid and has a lot of magnificent tracks, but there are lows that I can’t overlook — namely, Temple of the Cat is pretty boring and The First Man On Earth overstays its welcome for me. The song is alright, but it feels out of place; I think I would’ve preferred Druids flow directly into the last track, the reprise.

There is nearly no dialogue on The Dream Sequencer, every track has one or two vocalists representing the personality of our protagonist in a certain period of time. While the choice of vocalists may seem weird from the first glance, it works excellent. That is quite the opposite for Flight of the Migrator, which has a brilliant selection of singers but fails to reach the same quality this album has (although I know some people think otherwise, again looking at you Kade). And don't get me wrong, I love Arjen's heavy side, and I love metal overall, but something in Flight of the Migrator just isn't working for me. Overall, The Dream Sequencer might be not the best starting point for someone unfamiliar with Ayreon, but it’s a hell of an album, and one of the best Arjen has ever created.

Disclaimer: for the most satisfying experience you should listen to the whole album

Favourite tracks: My House on Mars, 2084, One Small Step, And The Druids Turn to Stone
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline mikemangioy

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Told you I'd find something to disagree on, the tracks you mentioned are my favorites  :lol

Great album though.
Because Mike is better than Mike

Offline Sacul

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Still have to listen to this, but haven't yet because the pre-THE albums aren't my cup of tea.