Here's the first batch!
#64: Three Days Grace – One-X (2006)
Alternative Metal/Hard RockThe second studio album from the band that’s pretty much famous for their simple instrumentations by now. I had a hard time picking my favorite, but One-X got the upper hand in the end. It’s just like Steal This Album!, something I return to to just rock out a bit, while TDG also has some of those ‘emotional’ songs, they don’t tend to be as strong, well with a few exceptions. The ex-singer of this band, Adam Gontier, used to be one of my favorite rock-metal vocalists, known for his
husky voice (don’t know if that’s the best term for it), he was basically the main attraction of the band for me, so it’s a shame I only saw them live after he left the band. TDG has a lot of post-grunge-y aspects, but the in your face guitar riffs definitely lean more towards alternative rock/metal. I’m very unaware of how familiar these guys are around here, aside from a few songs I expect to be pretty well known.
Favorite song:Riot: If it wasn’t clear already that Three Days Grace are all about writing simply structured catchy songs, then this song will definitely clear that up, obviously being about starting a Riot, this is one of those songs that gets the whole crowd pumped up during a concert. Nothing complex, but if you’re looking for simple anthemic rock, you’re at the right place here.
Other recommendations:Animal I Have Become: If you don’t like the first few seconds (bass intro), then don’t bother, because that’s probably the grooviest part of the song, although I gotta say the chorus is awesome too, my favorite chorus off the album.
Never Too Late: This is one of those exceptions, Adam Gontier can indeed write good emotional songs. Being about overcoming suicidal tendencies (atleast that’s my interpretation), has very strong vocal deliveries, and a super powerful chorus which perfectly defines my choice of words when I said “husky voice”.
Get Out Alive: This song just became one of my favorites because the drums were interesting, not even challenging, just interesting to play, and left a lot of space to improvise. Eventually the song as a whole just started growing on me.
#63: Dream Theater – Octavarium (2005)
Progressive MetalIt should go without saying that Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands, but there’s still a lot of albums that didn’t make it to the rankings, so why did this one? Well, at first I only liked Panic Attack, and I had already read about the idea behind the album (8 songs, each in consecutive order going one octave higher and stuff), which intrigued me to give the songs on here a second chance, I was still too impatient at that point to listen to a 24-minute song, but in the end it became a DT masterpiece in my eyes. I guess I care more about the mixing process than I thought I did, because this seems to be mixed very well compared to most of the other albums. Moving on to the songs, there’s nothing that drags down the album, even TALW and IWBY which I disliked for a long period of time, don’t disappoint anymore, These Walls and Never Enough are middle of the pack for me, they both have some really awesome moments, but don’t strike me as particularly unique either. Being the 8th studio album, James still manages to keep the vocal performance on par, although there’s way better albums to show that, what really stands out in the individual tracks are the instrumentals.
Favorite song:Sacrificed Sons: Nope, it’s not Octavarium anymore, this beautiful 9-11 tribute was a late grower for me, but like I mentioned, it’s not just James being excellent (I feel like singing his own lyrics tends to make him perform better), but in Sacrificed Sons, it’s the fucking awesome instrumental section that some people may find misplaced, I personally dig it a lot, and it has some of my favorite DT riffs
Other recommendations:Octavarium: I shouldn’t need to recommend Dream Theater songs to a Dream Theater Forum, you all know this one, let it speak for itself.
Panic Attack: Amazing intro, leads into what is literally an assault of instruments, heaviest song of the album.
The Root of All Evil: To this day I believe that this was the best concert opener DT ever had, it has the most energetic intro, and a beautiful chorus, what better contrast can you ask for?
#62 System of a Down – Steal This Album! (2002)
Nu-MetalMan, this album brings back some memories, I know 2002 doesn’t seem all that old, but when you consider I was almost turning 7 years old by the time, it’s pretty self-explanatory. This is one of those albums that has a lot of short tracks on it, which is basically S.O.A.D. in a nutshell for you, they’re also the only band who manage to make such amazing songs like Innervision, staying around or under the 3 minute mark. What this does for the album as a whole is not an awful lot, which makes it hard to rank, because to me it remains a record of randomly ordered songs, but the songs are all very solid S.O.A.D. songs. So yeah, album flow is definitely not great, but I merely return to this album for some fun, but also strong emotional songs, there’s no need for any stories within the songs or the album here. After Toxicity it was quite a task to continue their spree, but Steal This Album! More than sufficed.
Favorite song:Roulette: Everyone who is familiar with S.O.A.D. knows they’re not only about the short extraordinary songs, they also have super emotional/heartbreaking songs like this one, made complete with a moving acoustic guitar solo. I usually don’t recommend this band to a lot of people because it’s pretty weird for most, but this song, I recommend to everyone.
Other recommendations:I-E-A-I-A-I-O: The most fun song on the album, has a great chorus that everybody can sing along to, and energetic whacky lyrics in the verses.
Innervision: One of those songs with very well thought out lyrics that they tend to have a lot, but what I like most is Serj’s vocal performance overall.
Chic’N’Stu: I guess this is what you’d call a guilty pleasure, because this is easily the weirdest song I’ve ever heard from these guys, and that’s saying a lot. (the song is about pizza, proceed at own risk)
Topic: ToN's Top 50 Albums! #1: Just Push Play (Read 27853 times)
