MikeMangioy's top 50 albums v.2: v.2 - v. The top ten

[Crow]

i still loathe TDEN and most of the album isn't that special to me, but it was one of the more accessible albums at least 
Repentance and The Ministry of Lost Souls are pretty great, ItPoE isn't awful but I'm never compelled to listen to it much, Constant Motion the same, ehh
putting this above Ocean Machine is silly to me though 

[jakepriest]

I actually really dig this album compared to most people on DTF.
The only track off the album I dislike is TMOLS. Every other track is killer. 

I doubt it would make my top 50 if I made one though. There are still like 5 DT albums I enjoy more.

[sneakyblueberry]

everyone is nuts about this guy on this forum, I really should have a listen sometime but I'm like do you even Kayo Dot? DO YOU EVEN MAUDLIN OF THE WELL?!

Bath is brilliant. Have a listen sometime.

Oh I totally agree, and know it back to front

SC and BCSL are two DT albums everybody seems to dislike compared to the latest two, but I think they're vastly superior.

[Sacul]

This album has some great tunes, and it's lots of fun in genreal, but I prefer like 6 DT albums to it

[Crow]

SC is like 4th to last, BC&SL is 3rd, ADTOE is 6th or 7th overall prob, WDADU and DT12 switch from worst and 2nd worst depending on how tolerant I am of 80's on a particular day.

i think i've said my album listing like a thousand times so everyone will know what's coming when i first have a DT album come up in my list 

[mikemangioy]

#43: System Of A Down - Steal This Album!
Alternative Metal, 2002

System Of A Down are this crazy american band, with armenian origins. The band plays this strange kind of metal, psychedelic but harsh, sweet but insane - they're just all over the place. The band started with the most batshit insane stuff with their debut album, then took a more "normal" route with their latest albums, Mezmerize and Hypnotize, but it truly is Steal This Album that has the most variety, and is the most complete album to represent SOAD well.

Infact, there are insane songs: Chic N' Stu with its psychotic vocals about consumism, I-E-A-I-A-I-O with some incredibly fast toungetwisters, Pictures with a silly marching rhythm and Fuck The System, literally a fucked up song. But there's also the bright side of things with melodic, shiver-inducing songs: Innervision, Mr. Jack, Highway Song, Ego Brain, the beautiful acoustic Roulette and Streamline. Not to mention the anti-war anthem Boom! that is one of my top ten SOAD tracks. The rest of the tracks are both heavy and melodic, a perfect balance.
If you were to start with SOAD, start with this one and Toxicity, just because the latter is a classic and Steal This Album is a perfect representation of the band. Also, this is the first record that I ever bought with my own money, so it has a personal value to it.

Underrated, great album that everybody should give a chance to.

Recommended songs: Chic N' Stu Innervision Boom! A.D.D. Mr. Jack I-E-A-I-A-I-O Highway Song Fuck The System Thetawaves Roulette Streamline

[Train of Naught]

YES!!! My 2nd favorite SOAD album, and most definitely worth a spot in the top 50, Roulette, Innervision and I-E-A-I-A-I-O are the best.

[jakepriest]

The only SOAD album I listen to as a whole is Toxicity, but I know Innervision and I-E-A-I-A-I-O off this album. Have to listen to the whole album sometime when I'm in the mood for something crazy.

[mikemangioy]

#42: Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Progressive Rock/Metal, 2005

Porcupine Tree is one of the Wilson's products, and notably his most famous and well recognized. The band started off in the 90s providing some serious psychedelic and space rock soundscapes, went on in the latter part of the decade to more of a pop/alternative rock period, with the albums Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun (directly below this one in my rating) and in the 2000s developed a heavier, more focused sound, and this is the second album of that period: Deadwing.

Significantly lighter than its predecessor In Absentia, Deadwing presents a melanchonic yet dreamy atmosphere, provided by the concept of this album: ghosts. This was actually gonna be a movie, but then Steve ended up not finishing the script. This album also does a relatively good sum-up of the history of the band, providing psychedelia, in pieces like Glass Arm Shattering, or the first portion of Arriving Somewhere... But Not Here (probably my favorite PT song), pop singer-songwriter sensibilities in Lazarus, and just straight off kickassery in songs like Shallow, Halo and Open Car. The melodies in this record are just beautiful, and very well written and the production is masterful, too. What the hell, we're talking about Steven Wilson here. But also the other guys: Richard Barbieri and his textures, Colin Edwin and those damn tasty bass lines and Gavin Harrison. A drum god. Period.

Recommended songs: Shallow Halo Arriving Somewhere... But Not Here Mellotron Scratch  Open Car The Start Of Something Beautiful

[Tomislav95]

Finally something I like
Album without fillers IMO. Mellotron Scratch is one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard, Arriving Somewhere is something special, too. Also, Lazarus will always have special place in my heart, being song that get me into PT and persuaded to check other songs/albums (along with Trains).

[Sacul]

Great álbum.

[wolfking]

Deadwing is a fantastic album.

[mikemangioy]

#41: Opeth - Blackwater Park
Progressive Death Metal, 2001

Opeth are well-acclaimed by the whole world of metal. Before becoming the 70s revival band that they are today, the style that made the band famous is blending together death metal and progressive metal, creating a whole menacing, distorted and eerie vibe, but with cool twists, and long songs, and concepts and an extremely well done fluent songwriting, which in Blackwater Park shines.

Blackwater Park is the peak of the perfect "Progressive Death" concept. It's neither too progressive, nor too death metal. The songs all near the ten minutes in length (three of them exceed it) and they all feel very adventorous and exceptionally eerie. Opeth are really capable of creating this atmosphere which is absolutely almost concrete, when I listen to Opeth I can actually feel the coldness, and it's almost like winter is raging upon me. Wow, that sounds black metal.

With that said, there's not really a song to mention apart from the others, because admittedly the album is all samey, but my two favorite tracks are Bleak, which features Steven Wilson on vocals, a song that is perfectly balanced between acoustic and destructive powers (and the transitions are all perfect), and Blackwater Park, one of the best dark songs ever written in history.

If you haven't given a chance to this album, what the hell are you doing here.

Recommended songs: The Leper Affinity Bleak The Drapery Falls Blackwater Park

[Tomislav95]

Awesome album, one of Opeth's best. Like you said, that transition in Bleak is perfect. I think when I first heard it I knew clean vocals will kick in just by change of key

[Elite]

Too low!

[Sacul]

Good album, but I prefer Damnation way more

[Crow]

I can comment Deadwing now 
I disagree that Deadwing is a lighter album than In Absentia, the only really heavy songs on the latter are Blackest Eyes (not that heavy), Gravity Eyelids (but only for part of it), Wedding Nails, Creator, and Strip the Soul (again only part of it) and none of them are as heavy as the heavy stuff on Deadwing. Shallow, Halo, the instrumental of Arriving Somewhere, Open Car... all sound heavier to me 
to be fair Porcupine Tree never really gets that heavy to begin with, compared to prog metal bands, or especially compared to Opeth, so

[mikemangioy]

It's a relatively heavy thing, Parama 


#40: Muse - Drones
Alternative/Hard/Progressive Rock, 2015

Muse are a band that I've always admired because they are really creative in what they do, and very eclectic, but they are also one of the most popular rock bands globally right now. That lightens my heart.

With Drones, the band has decided to take a step back from the previous albums, that heavily featured keyboards, electronica and orchestras, to deliver a more stripped-down release, with most of the song being just the three of them playing. Well, did it work?
We have an album that has some of the best songs in ten years for the band, songs like The Handler or motherfucking Reapers, easily in the top ten best Muse song, even top five. It's just that good. But then you also have a lot of fun stuff in the album, with songs like Psycho, Revolt and Defector. The band also did not seem to forget their symphonic influence that much, when you look at The Globalist, 10 minutes of strings and pianos, with 2 of 'em being a heavy 7-string riff that builds up to the world destruction. Yeah, did I talk about the concept?

This is Muse's first actual concept record, talking about a man selling himself to the army and becoming a drone operator. After a while he realizes that he's being controlled and that he was the actual drone, so he escapes and sets himself free. But then there's a twist. I see many personal connections in this story, so this album feels important to me, and also because it reminds me of the beginning of this summer which was some of the best times of my life so far. Infact, that's why it's so high. And, that's why Drones always puts a smile on my face.

Recommended songs: Mercy Reapers The Handler Aftermath The Globalist

[jakepriest]

  Drones is an amazing album that would definitely make my top 50. Though I'm not a fan of Mercy, it seems like a Starlight rehash to me. Dead Inside should be in there.

[Anguyen92]

Yeah,  I quite liked Drones.  Dead Inside, Mercy, Reapers, Revolt, and Defector are my favorites from it.  Will probably crack my fave five albums of the year.

[mikemangioy]

#39: Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da
Groove/Industrial Metal, 2009

Rammstein are kind of "the ugly duckling" in the list. Really guys, a german-singing dance metal band? That sounds pretty trash. But they do it so well, that I don't even care. Even though I introduce this like 'em, this album is not dance metal, it is infact from their latest period which aims towards a more straight metal, groove with industrial influences from their past.

Precisely, we're talking about the band's latest album "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da". Let's go track by track this time:
Rammlied opens the album with this ominous songs about (not kidding) the return of Rammstein. It sounds really pretentious, but that's what I like about it. It's like a march of war, and manages to sound very creepy actually. Ich Tu Dir Weh features a simple, but heavy riff with morbid lyrics about torturing a band - this is easily one of Rammstein's most explicit songs, but funnily it has the simplest and cleanest of their music videos. Hah. It's also pretty catchy. Waidmanns Heil is a hymn to hunting, it's a very fun song with an anthemic chorus that will stuck with you by the time you listen to it just once. Haifisch is a triplet feel song, with a slight jazz influence (featuring brass) - this song is notable for its music video that makes sense only if you saw the other music videos by the band. Truly a work of art. B******* and Weiner Blut are the meanest songs on the record, being both dark and heavy with Till Lindemann's voice being exceptionally low and menacing, but those two tracks are separated by Frühling In Paris, easily my favorite Rammstein ballad, with a hugely emotional chorus in french. I really love it. It sounds huge and epic. We have then probably the most known song, for all the wrong reasons (lol porn), Pussy. The negative thing is that they abused of this song for promoting the record, infact the deluxe edition of the album, for no reason whatsoever, comes with dildo molds of Rammstein's penises. Yes, you read that right. Well, the song? It's not bad, but easily my least favorite in the album. The title-track, though, oh my god. This song is one of my top Rammstein's and I just love everything about it: the stop-and-go riff, the amazing chorus, the emotion, the vocals - a good damn song. The final two tracks are also great, Mehr and Roter Sand, the former being this strange atonal bipolar thing, and Roter Sand having a symphonic influence.

Overall, this album flows very well and it's a very fun listen. Also, best Till Lindemann performance.

Recommended songs: Rammlied Ich Tu Dir Weh Weidmanns Heil B******** Frühling In Paris Wiener Blut  Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da

[Scorpion]

Great album. I remember being disappointed at the release, but it's grown on me a lot.

You should check out the bonus disc if you haven't already - Donaukinder, Halt and Führe mich are all excellent - the former two would definitely be in my Top 5 of this album.

[jakepriest]

Rammstein is the band that got me into rock and metal. It's one of my top 5 bands.
LIFAD is my least favourite Rammstein album though. I really liked it when it came out, but it's aged pretty badly compared to Rosenrot, Reise Reise and Herzeleid.

Frühling in Paris is probably my least favourite Rammstein ballad. Roter Sand does it much better.

You should check out the bonus disc if you haven't already - Donaukinder, Halt and Führe mich are all excellent - the former two would definitely be in my Top 5 of this album.

Agree with this 100%.

[Scorpion]

Also, while I understand not liking it, Pussy wins points for sheer ridiculousness. It's still a weaker song, but no song with the line "Blitzkrieg mit dem Fleischgewehr" can be all bad - at the very least, it always makes me grin.

[mikemangioy]

Also, while I understand not liking it, Pussy wins points for sheer ridiculousness. It's still a weaker song, but no song with the line "Blitzkrieg mit dem Fleischgewehr" can be all bad - at the very least, it always makes me grin.

Oh, absolutely. My critique is towards the abuse of it being in the record  Overall it's a fun song.
I will check out the bonus tracks!

[mikemangioy]

Actually, while I'm at it - have a bonus entry:


#38: Bent Knee - Shiny Eyed Babies
Art/Pop/Soul/Prog rock, 2014

This is the smallest band in the list, in terms of success. This group of Berklee students last year came up with their second record, Shiny Eyed Babies, and brought something really new and creative to the table.

Bent Knee have this amazing musicianship which they use to make simple pop/soul songs turned into epic pieces of shivering musical goodness. And I am not kidding, each song in the album is like that. From the most simple piano ballad, to the most eccentric thing, like the opener (after the short intro) Way Too Long. A sharp electricity and raw energy infects that song, and being the first one I've ever heard from the guys (and gals), it truly left an open scar and an unborn love for the group, which I carried on up until two months ago, when I decided that it was time to explore.
The record has some brilliant songwriting and musicianship, but the true best moments are the build-ups. The build ups are so intense, and the release is even more intense, and the music is really capable of using Courtney Swain's vocals perfectly even when she turns into a demon, like at the end of Sunshine, a deceiving ballad. Other great tracks are In God We Trust, Skin (just puts an insane smile on my face), Battle Creek, which really provides a dramatic picturesque type of vibe, and my personal favorite track, Being Human. There's no way to describe it, just listen to it and be amazed.

Please, please, please give these guys a listen. They are amazing and deserve a lot of credit for what they do and what they did.

Recommended songs: Way Too Long  In God We Trust  Battle Creek Sunshine  Skin  Being Human

[Crow]

i went and forgot all about drones the moment I got any other new music beside it, I guess i'm just lame 

[Sacul]

One of the best albums of last year 

[mikemangioy]

#37: Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Progressive rock/metal, 2002

Another entry from Porcupine Tree here, this is kind of their breakthrough album. After a pretty happy album like Lightbulb Sun, the band decided to change completely direction, and get darker and darker and darker, starting exploring metal territories and, hell, even picked up a new drummer: Gavin Harrison. One of my drum heroes.

So yeah, In Absentia features some of the most dark and depressing material by the band, and given that it's a concept about criminals, sex addicts, rapists, necrophiliacs, shameful killers, the music fits the theme pretty well.
Even though it might deceive you with the first two tracks, Blackest Eyes and Trains (what a combo to open a record), which are pretty happy, the rest of the record is pretty "foggy", dark and brooding. Lips Of Ashes is one of the creepiest song that Steven ever wrote, if you haven't heard it, I'll let you discover why when you listen to it. Gravity Eyelids, Strip The Soul are incredibly dark too, while The Creator Has A Mastertape and Wedding Nails have this frantic nature to them. Let's not forget that we're talking about a Steven Wilson production, so feels have to be in there. Yep: Heart Attack In A Lay-by and Collapse The Light Into Earth are there for you, get your tissues.

This is a modern classic, one that everybody should hear at least once.

Recommended songs: Blackest Eyes   Trains  The Sound Of Muzak  Wedding Nails  Strip The Soul

[Sacul]

Still can't believe Drown With Me wasn't originally included on the tracklist. Easily top 3 song of the album.

[mikemangioy]

#36: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Progressive Rock, 1975

This is another prog rock classic, from a classic band. Wish You Were Here provides with its four songs (five considering Shine On You Crazy Diamond as two songs) a melancholic vibe, filled with amazing production and new sound experimented by the band. We open (and close) with an epic song that will forever remain in history I fear, then there's the sad Welcome To The Machine (the title fits with all the synths in this song), that is the ballad of the album along with the title-track, which is another historic piece of music. The other song, Have A Cigar, is nice, fun and groovy.

The theme of this album are the music industry and absence, specifically Syd Barrett's absence from the group. Ironically he came to visit during the recordings, so the album about his absence is the album where he's more present after his departure.

Wish You Were Here is without a doubt, a shining classic and one that everybody should know by heart and praise for its immense glory. Maybe I exaggerated but, what the hell.

Recommended songs: Since it's a flowing concept record, you should really check out the whole thing.

[Tomislav95]

My favorite by PF and it would surely be even higher on my list. I was so surprised when I so documentary about this album on (croatian) national TV few weeks ago, I recommend it to everyone who likes this album.

[Evermind]

Best album ever, my #1.

[Crow]

i'm a freaking lamer who doesn't have any pink floyd on his list, but this and animals just barely missed the cut
i'm probably going to do an honorable mentions post before i get to my top three because there's so much stuff that missed the cut and there's a few albums on my list that probably shouldn't quite have made the cut anyways 

great album though 

[mikemangioy]

#35: Rush - Permanent Waves
Progressive Rock, 1980

This is another album from the classic succession of albums, this time though, by a canadian trio, one of my all time favorites: Rush. There's no need to introduce them since they are so highly-regarded on this forum, so let's dive in what is exactly Permanent Waves.

After getting more and more complex, the band decided to take a step back in terms of arrangements, providing shorter pieces of music, but still pretty intricate and coherent to what they were. I find that doing that can be difficult, infact coming off Hemispheres, which had 4 tracks in 35 minutes, this one has 7 in  35 minutes. And oh God, are they great tracks.

From the classics The Spirit Of Radio and Freewill, which features signature riffs and rhythms by the band, to the most complicated and complex tunes, like Permanent Waves and Jacob's Ladder, which takes you on a journey through the clouds, quite literally, thanks to its dramatic atmospheres and menacing sounding drums (easily one of my favorite Rush songs), this album here is timeless. Truly a must-listen for any prog fan.

Recommended songs: The Spirit Of Radio Freewill Jacob's Ladder Natural Science