#43: Dream Theater – Train Of Thought (2003)
Genre: Progressive MetalIf it wasn’t clear from some of the previous albums, yeah I like me some heavy music, and that’s actually how I started exploring Dream Theater music for the first time, just looking for some of the heavier songs a friend of mine recommended me, the first song was, wait for it,
Endless Sacrifice, yeah that’s a terrible thing to recommend in the category of
heavy songs if you have the entire Train of Thought album in front of you, but I loved it! I’ve always liked when songs have an ominous vibe and build up to a climax of some sort, and Endless Sacrifice’s chorus kicked my ass at the time (and still does some times). I feel like none of the band’s members at the time was at the top of their game, but it was all balanced so well, JP has one of his best solo’s on here, so does JR, MP proved that the outlet of his anger is the key to godhood on Honor Thy Father. I actually think ToT was one of the best albums in terms of JMX albums, so maybe he was at the top of his game here, but I feel like the next album had even better Myung moments. James goes without saying here, so many great moments, from the mellow vocals, to the powerful shit, and even pulling out the grills and golden necklace for Honor Thy Father. I believe this album was created in a very short period of time, about a month of studio time IIRC? That’s just crazy. This album does have some nostalgic value to me, probably the most out of any DT album, not only was it the first album I got a taste of, I also remember some of these songs being played at home by my dad, Stream of Consciousness mainly, I remember that main riff very well.
Favorite song:Endless Sacrifice: To this day a top 10 DT song for me, might be weird, but I think it has everything I want from them, from the slow parts into the heavy chorus, the instrumental section with that trademark JR cartoony bit, but
this is still the best part.
Other recommendations:In the Name of God: Classic riff, both amazing vocals
and lyrics, I don’t think the solo’s do the rest of the song justice but they’re still good.
Stream of Consciousness: Can’t say a whole lot about this, it has a heavier edge than most DT instrumentals and it’s probably my favorite DT instrumental.
Honor Thy Father: Very systematicly chaotic throughout, and I for one, love the part after the crooked step, with the samples and all, builds up tension towards that godlike JR solo.
#42: Avenged Sevenfold – Waking The Fallen (2003)
Genre: MetalcoreAwesome, my first taste of Metalcore, and with that, also one of my last ones. If I wasn’t sure why I had ever bothered with this genre this album would be the answer to my question. If it wasn’t by Avenged Sevenfold I would probably not even have checked it out though, but I’m glad I did. WtF is one of the best intro tracks I’ve heard on any album, like False Awakening Suite had its own aim to start off DT12, WtF creates this haunting vibe, with choir-ish vocals, I would’ve loved if they carried on that vibe, but I can’t complain,
Unholy Confessions is a badass alternative. For anyone who’s not familiar with Metalcore, it’s a lot like Heavy Metal, but with mixed vocals, usually the chorus is 100% clean, and the verses are either mixed or completely harsh vox. What I like most about this album is not the vocals though, it’s Synyster Gates and Zacky. Literally every song on here has atleast one mindblowing riff, whether it’d be one of those very slow and heavy ones like on
Eternal Rest, or the famous
Unholy Confessions riff, they never fail to amaze. I’m glad I have the resurrected (Reworked) version though, because at some times listening to the original could be a pain, vocals in the chorus actually being buried under rhythm guitars. I’m not one to bother too much with production but that was pretty tough. I’d recommend Avenged Sevenfold to a lot of people, but this album is pretty hard to do that with, they’ve taken a significant turn in their career and some say it’s for the best, this album however will always have a special place in my heart.
Favorite song:Second Heartbeat: This is a classic among A7X fans, while being way out of the comfort zone compared to their average type of song, it works goddamn well. Second Heartbeat is a typical Metalcore song, it has harsh vocals layered over cleans in some parts, it has a cool returning chant, melodic guitar solo’s, masterpiece.
Other recommendations:Eternal Rest: Like I said, that riff is awesome, but this song also has one of the best outro’s on the album, if you’re familiar with Heretic from Hail to the King (lol) you will recognize that guitar in the background, because it’s basically the same thing.
Remenissions: Catchiest chorus by far, that aside, its probably the most accessible thing they have other than the famous single.
Chapter Four: I think hearing it live broke the ice for me here, this song is awesome to sing along to, has some of the greatest melodies both vocally and musically of this album.
#41: Alter Bridge – One Day Remains (2004)
Genre: Rock/Alternative Metal(?)Finally I get to talk about Alter Bridge, geez that took too long.. This band, I’m pretty sure I found out about through a youtube video of Metalingus, and I was sure I recognized that song from somewhere, to this day I have no idea where it was from, ‘cause I lterally never watched WWE. I was stunned by this guy’s voice, who is this guy?? Myles fucking Kennedy, my hero. This album, compared to the others, is definitely less metal, it has a lot of classic rock sounding songs, sometimes even leaning towards pop, that you could very well encounter on the radio or something, think of songs like
Open Your Eyes. Being the album that introduced the world to the Tremonti/Kennedy combo, it did exceptionally well on that level, you can hear that everyone’s very comfortable doing their thing on their own instruments, That’s why even when Mark Tremonti does these pretty quick solo’s like on
Burn It Down, it still sounds both relaxing and badass at the same time. The coolest thing about this album though, is that throughout the whole thing, you get that ominous feeling, some pretty dark stuff on here, and I think Myles Kennedy excels at that, like his voice is made for that. While I think Scott and Brian do their job of drums and bass fine, the main attraction here is the combination of the guitars and vocals, though Metalingus has some pretty awesome drumming.
Favorite song:Broken Wings: Such a beautiful song, it seems like a very depressing song, but it’s actually about the silver lining of the situation. Musically, expect some of the best Myles Kennedy performances of his career, along with very dark sounding instruments.
Other recommendations:Metalingus: My introduction to these guys, and a very energetic song on its own, starts out with a cool drum fill and is overall a very strong, melodic metal song.
In Loving Memory: This one hits very close to home for me, so I’m kinda biased towards it, but it’s super strong vocally either way, so if you like Myles’ voice you’ll probably like this too, a very vocal-centered song.
The End Is Here: Man, this is my favorite Alter Bridge closer ever (after Fortress), it starts off with one of the most sinister guitar riffs I’ve ever heard, and Myles fits perfectly to that style, as soon as that first chorus starts, I’m almost shaking.
Topic: ToN's Top 50 Albums! #1: Just Push Play (Read 27920 times)
