Parama's Accidental Top 50 Albums List! (Current: #1)

[Crow]

#39: Kamelot - The Black Halo

I've never really been a power metal fan. A lot of it is really straightforward and sounds the same. How do you make me interested in power metal? Progging it up a little, obviously. This is an album with a good deal of diversity and a strong concept to tie it together, a lot of elements of both prog and power metal that I do like mixed together to provide quite an epic album experience.

March of Mephisto is a fantastic opener for the album, crushingly heavy and dark. Can never get enough of it. Moonlight is another song I get a lot of enjoyment out of, that intro is one of my favorite moments on the album. The Black Halo is my favorite of the more upbeat songs, and Memento Mori is a fantastic epic that's a pleasure to listen to all the way through, and provides a good sense of closure to the story. The rest of the tracks are all pretty strong as well, I don't think there's a weak track here, but they don't stand out as much.

This was an album I spent a few weeks being obsessed with when I first was listening to it, but I still do revisit it occasionally and it hasn't gotten any worse over time. I've also spun Epica a fair few number of times but I don't think it quite matches this album, and I've never been able to get into Kamelot on any other albums, it all just sounds like standard power metal to me. But they made this album, for which I am very grateful.

[bl5150]

 

[Evermind]

Magnificent album, my favourite from Kamelot.

[mikemangioy]

Ziltoid is a cool Devin record, even though I prefer many other albums to it.

[jakepriest]

you're gonna be pretty pissed that there's no periphery on my list i bet 

Not really. I listen to a lot of bands that I wouldn't place in my top 50. Different strokes for different folks and whatnot. 

[Tomislav95]

I really need to revisit The Black Halo (and Kamelot in general), great album

[TAC]

While they should be right up my alley, I have never really connected with Kamelot.

[jjrock88]

While they should be right up my alley, I have never really connected with Kamelot.

I've checked them out.  Not my thing.

[Crow]

#38: Being - Anthropocene

This is a fairly recent discovery for me and probably has a bit of a newness buff putting it up this high, we'll see. But yeah, this is basically everything I'd want djent to be more like. The guitar riffs and heaviness serve a purpose here, rather than to just be loud, and the music goes far beyond just djent riffs, it's a lot closer to progressive metal but certainly not like any I've heard. There's also a lot of catchy hooks in the songs that pull me in enough to be able to appreciate what's going on, and a concept running throughout that I admittedly don't 100% understand yet (vaguely, at least).

A few songs I'd point out in particular are DNA, which is pretty diverse and interesting and builds up to a really nice chorus in the second half, Perpetual Groove, which is... yes, what it says on the tin, Sorrow, a really good and unique ballad I quite like, and Air Atlantic, basically the climax of the whole thing, that intro is perfect and the chorus is perfect and I love it. The only questionable decisions I have are the random dubstep in Escape (whyyyyy) and the fact that the album does end with about 8 minutes of symphonic bits reprising earlier parts of the album... maybe it makes sense in context but it goes on far too long. Certainly an album I'll definitely be revisiting more, though.

[TAC]

What are the vocals like?

[Crow]

they're clean vocals, mid-range
occasionally growls
like 2000 guest vocalists too

this is the only way spencer sotelo made it on my list 

[jakepriest]

I'm gonna give the album a listen. It has two Periphery cameos, so it can't be that bad right? 

[Sacul]

Gave the songs mentioned a listen, and they felt pretty generic to me  Guess I just prefer DMM's take on djent.

[Crow]

i do need to listen to more DMM

after the 6 albums i just got
and the roulette that's coming up almost definitely within a month from now
and the various new releases coming out in the next few months for me

so like, maybe before the end of the year??? 

[Sacul]

I feel you'll like ECO a lot, so give it a spin whenever you can - it's not even that long, just 37 mins

[Crow]

i did listen to it once, i've listened to EGO and Bilo 3 once too but none of them left a huge impact at first listen, though not much does with me anyways so ehh 

[Sacul]

Those are all growers at best - it took me some time to get used to David's style, but when it clicked, I fell in love with him 

[Crow]

practically everything is growers for me, music needs a fair few spins to click for me, most of the time

i only worry when i get past the number of spins most stuff tends to click at for me (3-5 is a good number)

'cause at that point if it doesn't click it probably won't ever (re: Coma Ecliptic, on one hand I know it's fine, on the other hand I can't get into it at all, still, something like 10+ spins later)

[Crow]

#37: Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

What's this band, I'm sure nobody here has ever heard of Porcupine Tree, or Steven Wilson, or -
Yeah. Something people actually know for once, who'd have thought?

For me, this album starts of really strong. Blackest Eyes and Trains are two of the best Porcupine Tree songs, in my opinion, and Lips of Ashes is a very nice softer piece. I've always really liked Gravity Eyelids, too, good quiet bits and a good heavy instrumental in the middle. But it all comes to a screeching halt with Wedding Nails, which, at this point, I can't stand anymore, I actively skip it and I -hate- skipping songs on albums, even if I'm not a huge fan of them. Prodigal is alright, and then .3 is another of my favorites, that bass groove is stellar. Creator is another song I'm not so keen on but it's still listenable. Heartattack In A Layby is probably the darkest and most emotional Porcupine Tree song for me, period, another favorite. And Collapse The Light Into Earth as well, that piano line and the build up and the singing and everything.

This album would be way higher if not for Wedding Nails and Creator. Over half the album is fantastic, with most of the rest being pretty good, but the presence of a song I can't stand and another I'm not very fond of bumps it down a fair bit, unfortunately.

[Bolsters]

Anthropocene isn't bad, definitely some really good stuff but it contains a few tracks that I always skip, aswell. It's one of the first djent albums that I came to appreciate though.

[Sacul]

Fantastic, flawless album  . Can't believe Drown With Me didn't make the cut - easily top 3 of the record.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Not my favorite PT album but it's PT, so that still makes it great.

[mikemangioy]

Nice choice, although I disagree on Wedding Nails and Creator, they're two of my favorites.

[Crow]

#36: The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta has always been an interesting group. Combining a harder rock sound courtesy of At The Drive-In with spanish folk, jazz, and progressive rock elements, you get... a very unique band, with a tendency for experimentation, LOTS of experimentation. I don't think they ever did it better than their first album, though. The songs here are more tightly written than on Frances the Mute or Amputechture, leaving the 60 minutes here feeling like more than the 75 or so minutes those two albums provide. And... don't get me started on Bedlam, that might top a 50 worst albums list.

It's a very consistent record, to the point where it'd be futile for me to try and point out which songs I like more than others, because I like all of them, a lot. If I had to point to -any- at all, I'd say I like Cicatriz ESP and Televators sliiightly more, but not by much. I've still never been 100% sure on the concept here (which is fair since the lyrics are very... out there, to say the least) but with the vague details I know I kind of get it. I'm here for the music anyways, and while I wish The Mars Volta had continued down a path like this, I can't say I dislike their next two albums, at all, both are pretty good but not quite as good as this one.

[Elite]

Great album!

[mikemangioy]

NOOOOOOOOOW I'M LOOOOOOOST

[Sacul]

LOoOOoooOoOooOoooOOOOSSST

[Crow]

#35: Pain of Salvation - BE

Another band I hope nobody is surprised to see on my list... yeah, Pain of Salvation are pretty great. This album was probably actually the one that got me into the band, oddly enough, though it's not my favorite from them. The concept is strong and the album and story work together instead of one dominating the other. This is also a more diverse album, incorporating folk, classical, and blues elements along with the rock and metal elements of previous releases (though that isn't to say their previous albums were one-note at all).

The highlights for me are... lengthy. A lot. Pluvius Aestivus is a very pretty piano piece with minor other orchestration that really evokes the feeling of rain well. Lilium Cruentus is a straightforward but strong rock song and the orchestration really makes it work. Dae Pecuniae is absolutely hilarious and awesome and pretty on-point, basically everything Scarsick should've been but wasn't. Nihil Morari is a bass-driven prog metal song that has a ton of great buildup and powerful moments. Latericius Valete is a small instrumental track with a huge dark atmosphere, I absolutely adore it, especially given its role in the story. Omni as well, an organ and vocal piece that is just dark as hell, humanity's dying breath basically. And Iter Impius is a great power ballad, that's all there is to say about it, it's pretty much flawless. I love a lot of this album to death and honestly it's probably a bit low on this list but too late to change it now. Though... looking at the rest of the list and what's above it... it may well just be in its right place, haha. I think this is the point of the list where every album left I'm MADLY IN LOVE WITH so. What keeps it from being higher is that I'm not in love with quite everything, and the story can be a bit overbearing at times, but that doesn't detract too heavily from what is otherwise a great progressive metal album.

[Crow]

wow nobody cares about PoS, rude

[Sacul]

wow nobody cares about PoS, rude

Exactly.

[wolfking]

Now we're talking, such an incredible album.  Perfect description of a concept album, the whole thing is a wonderful journey that keeps you captivated from start to finish, love it.

[Crow]

#34: Devin Townsend - Terria

This is one of those albums where there's no weak tracks, at all, but at the same time nothing that really stands out. Just a solid hour and a few of really good metal. Terria has a very full sound and generally a slower one, with crushing riffs and tons of atmosphere and soundscapes. It's a very full but polished album; whereas his previous albums up to this point were either one or the other (Ocean Machine being very polished, but not as full, while Infinity and Physicist being very full, but not as polished) but this was the point where both of these came together to produce an instant classic.

Olives serves as a quiet intro, until it explodes into a wall of sound halfway through, and it makes a very good sample of what's to come. Mountain and Earth Day have a similar structure of crushingly heavy intros and choruses, with more rockin' triplet feels for the verses inbetween, though Mountain's is a bit lighter than the heaviness around it. Deep Peace is probably the highly of the album, a much calmer song with a textured lighter intro that soon turns heavier, with a delicious instrumental section in the middle that I absolutely love. Canada and Nobody's Here are two more similar songs, both take a slower, sluggish approach to the sound of the album. Down And Under is a great upbeat and mostly-instrumental track, where the voices that come in eventually only add to its oddly bright sound for the album. The Fluke is just a straight upbeat rocker that doesn't end up sounding out of place at all and injects some energy into the album that keeps it interesting. Tiny Tears is another sluggish, though more longform song, the climax of the album for sure. Stagnant is a bit more upbeat and brighter with one of the catchiest choruses I've ever heard.

It's hard to really say which songs are the best and worst, and there's really no point to it because the album never loses its pace or quality, delivering a great experience from beginning to end.

[Bolsters]

I'll be listening to BE after my roulette. Evermind sent me a track from it that I liked.

I've never heard Terria.

[Crow]

Iter Impius, right? I'd say that's my favorite by a slim margin but I like a lot of the album and it's best experienced as a whole anyways.
And correct this travesty at once.

i think it's funny because the gap between #38 and #50 isn't that huge, really, but the gap between #35 and #38 is comparatively massive... that's probably the result of how I organized these albums prior to setting rankings in stone 
though looking at we entered tier 1C at Ziltoid and won't leave it until entry #30 so maybe my initial tier list was a little flawed, haha... 
(Tier 1 was the MUST INCLUDES, Tier 2 was the MAYBE INCLUDES, and I broke each down into three subcategories; the top 13 tier 1C is basically my "top 10 material for sure" tier, which I couldn't end up restricting to only 10 woops, the next 17 were slightly below top-10 quality but still very damn good, and the next 10 were "definitely including this but I'd never consider it for my top 10" albums. but apparently my top 30 should've been like my top 35 considering the massive cutoff point there 

[wolfking]

Iter Impius, right? I'd say that's my favorite by a slim margin but I like a lot of the album and it's best experienced as a whole anyways.
And correct this travesty at once.

It's one album I refuse to listen to single tracks from.  Iter Impius of course does work on its own, but the full thing needs to be appreciated.