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

[Crow]

Yeeeeaaahh the reason this is my favorite is that it has very little of the Ayreon cheese 

[mikemangioy]

Yeah, it's definitely less cheesy than the rest of the albums, my warning was a bit in general.


#29: Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect
Extreme Prog Metal, 2009

The first of many appereances of this band in this particular list, is their 2009's record.
Between The Buried And Me are a band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina - and they are capable of writing the most insane batshit crazy chaotic material. Harsh vocals, distorted guitars, tricky time signature changes, dissonant chords and whatnot. But along that idea , there are also beautiful moments of melody and unexpected twist and turns genre-wise especially.

The Great Misdirect is probably the most varied of BTBAM's albums as it focuses on multiple sounds ideas:
we have Obfuscation that is pretty much technical/melodic death metal all the way through, preceeded by the intro Mirrors, that's all in clean guitar. Disease, Injury, Madness starts out like that, but then turns into a jazzy/country song. It's a beautiful song that does all of its transitions really well, one of the most fluent by BTBAM. Fossil Genera is part of the Parallax story, talking about the Night Owls, godlike creatures that continuosly destroy civilizations in order to evolve. It has three distinct sections: the first is some great ragtime/honky-tonk quirky metal madness, the second section is more in the style of Colors, the preceeding album: at times it gets really heavy, and other times really crazy but then it all climaxes in the epic third part which is like an anthem-like type of section. Shivers everytime. It's a seriously underrated song, and I'm just realizing that now. Desert Of Song is the most straight forward BTBAM song in history, being a 5-minute country-rock piece. The band, even being an extreme prog group, does this stuff extremely well. Infact, the whole album is more melodic than the rest of the stuff from these guys. The last track, Swim To The Moon, one of my favorite songs by the band, is 17 minutes of pure ectlectic goodness. In  17 minutes this goes from DT-styled prog, to samba, to country, to death metal, to punk, to thrash metal and even folk music. What the hell. How.

BTBAM over the course of this year have become one of my favorite bands ever, and this album was crucial to the process, being more accessible than the others, I got into this one fairly quickly.

[Tomislav95]

I'm not big BTBAM fan but I heard this one few weeks ago and liked it very much. I should give it another spin asap

[Elite]

Damn, this has to be the slowest moving Top 50 thread ever, barring those that never were finished. You're taking ages, man!

[mikemangioy]

Damn, this has to be the slowest moving Top 50 thread ever, barring those that never were finished. You're taking ages, man!

I just started it over. I'm just taking my time and not putting  any deadlines for the posts - I know it's slow but I feel relaxed at least.

[sneakyblueberry]

Never listened to any BTBAM after Colors tbh.  I should maybe give this a hoon at some point.

I'm glad that there is significantly less Green Day this time around, but I imagine you've probably saved up your top three for ¡UNO! ¡DOS! and ¡TRE! :neverusethis

[mikemangioy]

Never listened to any BTBAM after Colors tbh.  I should maybe give this a hoon at some point.

I'm glad that there is significantly less Green Day this time around, but I imagine you've probably saved up your top three for ¡UNO! ¡DOS! and ¡TRE! :neverusethis

Nah, they're all tied for number 1
BTW, do check out late BTBAM stuff. It's all glorious.

Since I'm slow, yeah, let's some double updates for the next few days:


#28: Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Vintage Prog Rock, 2013

This album helped me a lot getting into Steven's solo stuff. It was easily the most fun to listen to and the most "ear friendly" let's say, and mind that I'm talking about a period before HCE came out. In this record Steve presents the idea of going back to a 70s prog rock sound, and of course, succeding that goal. Each song reminds me of a particular artist, and even though everything does feel "old", there are slight ideas of modern stuff thrown around as well.

In typical Steven fashion, this is kind of a concept album, with each song being a ghost story involving the same ideas that he has always thrown to us: isolation, ghosts, murders, love and whatnot. Add in the excellent band put togehter for the recording process and the subsequent tour, you have a hell of a lot musicianship: 2/3 of The Aristocrats, Nick Beggs, Adam Holtzman and long-time collaborator Theo Travis, accompany Steven throughout the whole album, and you can hear how much they put themselves into the music.

Luminol is half bass-driven groovy stuff, half spacey ballad, Drive Home is a sad song about a sudden departure (or was it?), The Holy Drinker is extremely fun and groovy, a story about a man challenging the devil in a drinking game, The Pin Drop has soaring melodies that make me shiver everytime and then the two closing tracks are among the best songs that Steven has ever written. The Watchmaker is a Genesis-esque journey through the troubled love life of a watchmaker, with a twist in the end, and the title-track, The Raven That Refused To Sing, is just one of the most astonishingly beautiful songs ever. The feels are really strong in that one. Might be Steve's saddest song.

Overall: this is a damn good record. Hell, I could say that for every album on the list, but this one is top notch for production, consistency and coherence.




#27: Muse - Origin Of Symmetry
Alternative/Hard/Space Rock, 2001

Muse had a big boom of success after the first record Showbiz. Unexpected success since this is one of the most eccentric, crazy, and kind of sick albums that a band so mainstream could've ever done. Origin Of Symmetry is Muse at their most creative, and will be like that for a while. All sorts of keyboards, synths, string sections are in this album making it one huge thing. The fuzz effect often added to the guitar and bass at times too, give this album the element of craziness. It gets you off guard, because it begins with New Born and Bliss, which both are pretty normal sounding alternative tracks, but after a space-ballad such as Space Dementia, which ends with some wicked noise and distortion, the album goes full nuts. The sheer energy of Hyper Music and Plug In Baby, the sophisticated Citizen Erased and Micro Cuts, and then other kinds of atmosphere, with the creepy Screenager, the funky Darkshines, a cover of Feeling Good, a pretty well-known song written in the sixties. To end it all, we have the enormous Megalomania, a pipe-organ driven anthem.

Overall, this is another fun album, and if you really want to have lots of good time, just pop this one in if you're in the mood for Muse. The serious stuff will come afterwards.

[jakepriest]

Origin of Symmetry is a great album. I still prefer Resistance and Absolution, but it's nice to see it on the list.

[Tomislav95]

Great update
TRTRTS would probably be in my Top 50 as well. Muse is band I started listening to just few months ago (silly me) so I'm not familiar with whole album but I know some songs.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Origin of Symmetry is the only Muse album I’m all that fussed on. It trails off a wee bit at the end though, I find. I probably haven’t listened to it in years now.

[Sacul]

The Raven has like 2 great songs, and lots of filler imo - one of Steven's weakest albums. The title song is glorious tho 

[Scorpion]

OoS is great - definitely my favourite Muse album. Citizen Erased is killer.

[Big Hath]

Never listened to any BTBAM after Colors tbh.  I should maybe give this a hoon at some point.

I'm glad that there is significantly less Green Day this time around, but I imagine you've probably saved up your top three for ¡UNO! ¡DOS! and ¡TRE! :neverusethis

yeah, their latest is really good




Muse has now been mentioned 13 times in top 50 lists, but that was the first for OoS.

[sneakyblueberry]

I've been listening to The Raven over the last two days, I quite like it. Guthrie Govan is what drew me to it at first, that guy is a beast.  I'm glad he gets a couple face melters on this album.

[mikemangioy]

#26: Devin Townsend - Terria
Progressive Rock/Metal, 2001

This one sounds big. If Ocean Machine sounded dense like an ocean, Terria sounds big, large, vast, like those Canada praires that Devy tells us about in a song.
Terria indeed, feels also like a journey, and given that it was inspired by one, Devin for sure did write something majestic. Yeah, majestic is the term I'd use for this record.

At times kind of unsettling, Terria uses grand choruses and/or vocal lines, with an immense delivery (this is one of Dev's best performances) especially on tracks such as Earth Day (undoubtly one of Devin's best songs), The Fluke and Stagnant.
The album also has those moments of pure calm and sweetness, a grand type of it, once again. Deep Peace is a perfectly fitting title for that song, when I hear it I imagine a hot day of summer but with a chilly breeze. Being outside, watching the panorama and whatnot. Down And Under, instead, makes me happy like a child, and given that it's instrumental, that's quite a thing to do. And then Canada, oh god. That's another one of the best songs for sure, it sounds like the climax of the album, since it's about the ispiration that Devin had from the country.

This feels truly like a journey through an epic landscape, and everytime I listen to it, I'm more and more amazed and joyed by this beautiful music.

(yeah, I know, huge cover, but it's the only one available!)
#25: Ben Levin Group - Freak Machine
Avant-Garde/Prog rock, 2015

Yet another album from this year, this one's pretty short, but it doesn't mean that it's not intense. Remember Bent Knee? Well, this is the guitarist's solo project, and it involves also other members from that band.

Well, what could one say about this... thing? It's one of the most freaky and eclectic albums that I've ever heard from today's music, but also feels creative.
Everything has this crazy and dissonant atmosphere to it that make you go mad, and the twist and turns in this record are many to keep you interested from the first listen.

There are just four tracks, all named after the album, but each one is very different. The first one is probably the craziest one. A 9/8 crazy dissonant riff accompanies Courtney's high falsettos screaming "SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENED HERE" and then it goes through prog, pop, symphonic and even rap. Totally crazy, but it works so well. Track 2 is more of a ballad, a beautiful ballad, might I add. I get shivers listening to it, and it might be my favorite track from this. Track 3 is divided in two parts: the first one is an instrumental symphonic-influenced piece and the second one is a circus-like madness, once again, towards the end of the song everything gets slower and slower and heavier.. it gets creepy too. Track 4 is the darkest one. At this point the character is desperate (I'll talk about the concept in a sec) and there's quite the creepy part halfway through. But then it gets all interrupted by a pop finale, drenched in autotuned vocals. Wow.

Freak Machine's concept is about a man that proves love for a woman that doesn't for him, so he is desperate and shoots himself. The album starts when he pulls the trigger and ends with the bullet getting stuck in his head, killing him. In between, there's all of his thoughts.
Isn't that... just plain awesome?

Like the whole record is, check it out, there are some amazing perfomance videos on Youtube of the whole thing.

[jakepriest]

Man your updates are taking ages.

[Scorpion]

Terria is my second favourite album of all time. Superb in every aspect.

[pain of occupation]

Never heard of him, but it sounds interesting; I'll try and check him out.

In other news, Swim To The Moon is a part of the Parallax series, not Fossil Genera.

[Sacul]

Freak Machine here? Damn son 

[Big Hath]

just keeping this on page one

[Elite]

Man your updates are taking ages.

Damn, this has to be the slowest moving Top 50 thread ever, barring those that never were finished. You're taking ages, man!

Seriously. Either get on with it, or just stop altogether. You've taken six weeks for half a list, not even counting the undinished list you did before that. I'm cringing every time I see this thread because it still hasn't finished. What the hell os taking you so long?

[Sacul]

Because there is only one albums list going on besides this, so as long as he isn't cockblocking someone else, mike can take all the time he needs imo.

[mikemangioy]

Because there is only one albums list going on besides this, so as long as he isn't cockblocking someone else, mike can take all the time he needs imo.

This, plus I've taken somewhat of a pause from the interwebs, 'cause school has started/personal stuff/trips, all in the past three weeks. And overall, I'm just taking my time because I can. Come at me, bros
BTW, now I'm back on it and I'll try to keep the pace as steady as possible.


#24: Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Progressive Rock, 1973

The second half of this list is opened by yet another classic Pink Floyd record.
The most classic of them all, probably.

The Dark Side Of The Moon is capable, with its 42 minutes, and flowing structure, to take you on a journey like no record can. As far as concept records, this one is pretty much among the best ones.

I won't say much about it since we all pretty much know this one, but it was one of the first records I ever fell in love with. Beautifully composed, planned out and recorded. A true masterpiece.

A journey through the human mind, the human history and the human thinking. It just screams "GENIUS" all over it, and it's another timeless piece of music.

[jakepriest]

I'm not the biggest Pink Floyd fan, but I do enjoy The Dark Side of The Moon whenever I listen to it more than the other Pink Floyd albums. 

[mikemangioy]

#23: Devin Townsend Project - Addicted!
Pop Metal, 2009

Similarly to Destiny Potato's debut, Devin in this album decides to give us some poppy tunes to jam out to.
With the help of the amazing Anneke Van Giersbergen on guest vocals, this album is so fun and feels like a concert, because the wall of sound is very similar to what you'd hear live, sonically speaking, and each song is connected greatly to the other, making a great setlist/conter-like experience.

If you really wanna have tons of fun, but also go quite heavy and dramatic a few times, this album is the way to go.

[Sacul]

OH BOY YES. Love DSOTM, but love Addicted even more - top 5 album for me 

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Maybe I should give Devy another chance and spin a couple of his stuff. We had a bit of a falling out, you see.

Addicted in particular just never grabbed me, but I'll see how I feel about it again after a few more listens.

[jakepriest]

Addicted! is a top 3 Devin album. I love everything about it and even the abomination of a song called "Bend It Like A Bender" doesn't subtract from its awesomeness.

[Sacul]

Bend it Like Bender fucking rocks, dude 

[jakepriest]

Bend it Like Bender fucking rocks, dude 

It's one of my least favourite Devin songs, but I get why some people might like it. I just find the beat, riff and "HEEEEY BOOOOOOY" incredibly annoying. 

[mikemangioy]

It's one of my least favourite Devin songs, but I get why some people might like it. I just find the beat, riff and "HEEEEY BOOOOOOY" incredibly annoying. 

I can see your point, but at least it's freaking fun live.


#22: Opeth - Watershed
Progressive Death Metal, 2009

After Blackwater Park and the other albums that came afterwards (including the splendous Damnation and Ghost Reveries) Opeth decided to turn the knob of progressiveness up a few notches. In this album Mikael and co. go for a cleaner sound, making more clean parts than heavy distorted and scary ones.. but those moments in the album are probably the heaviest Opeth got in the portion of their career I know about, at least. So we got beautiful pieces, like Burden and Porcelain Heart, along with pure brutality in tracks such as Heir Apparent and The Lotus Eater, while the highlight of the album is for sure a piece that has the two elements combined together beautifully, like Opeth can. My favorite Opeth record 

[Crow]

I do like Watershed a lot, yes. It's not an album I listen to a lot but I enjoy it when I do.

[Tomislav95]

I do like Watershed a lot, yes. It's not an album I listen to a lot but I enjoy it when I do.

It's same with me. I really should spin it today. It may even be in my top 3 or 4 if Hex Omega clicked with me but sadly, it never did.

[Crow]

i really like Heir Apparent, Burden, and Hex Omega, while the rest tends to be good but never on my mind as much.
i also kind of dislike porcelain heart at times because one of the riffs is literally just the grand conjuration's main riff played in a different rhythm

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Watershed is my favorite Opeth album.