Concept Albums

[Wither]

Hey yo! I was wondering if any of you know any concept albums?
Here is the criteria I'm preferably looking for:

1. Rock/metal band please. Any categories of them work.
2. Not Ayreon. I already know it.
3. Has a strong plot and has many characters (not just associated with one or two characters).
4. Fantasy.
5. Has a little or a lot romance involved....yeah.

Thank you! If it doesn't fit in any categories, try to fit it to as much as possible.

And I got this idea because of The Astonishing!

[Sacul]

3. Has a strong plot and has many characters (not just associated with one or two characters).

Maybe you should get a novel

Just kidding, I know a few concept albums but that don't really fall into that description. Except maybe The Wall.

[Calvin6s]

Maybe you should get a novel

Nice.

[Heavy Metal Hippie]

Leonardo is JLB btw.

https://www.magnacarta.net/leonardo/

[Calvin6s]

I don't really yearn for concept albums (although I can appreciate them).  But you wouldn't be complete without a tribute to concept albums without the Planet X concept *song* (yup song) King of the Universe.

[SebastianPratesi]

Mm, of the concept albums I know/like, here are some which fit (some of) your criteria. All of them fit 1 and 2, though:

• My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (2006)
  Also fits 4. The story about a character called "The Patient" whose death comes in the form of a parade. There are one or two other characters, though - one of which is voiced by Liza Minelli in the song "Mama" (the "Lord Nafaryus"/"Three Days" of this album). You can check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7c2tQdwdU, the first single/video of the album, and similar to "Brother, Can You Hear Me?".
• Científicos Del Palo - La Histeria Argentina (2013)
  Also fits 3. This is an hour-long concept album which narrates the story of Argentina from 1806 to 2012. Each of its 16 songs focuses on an specific part of the history, or talks about a president or other important 'characters'. The lyrics are in Spanish, so obviously it might be a problem if you are not familiar with the language, but you can listen to the album (and read the lyrics) for free in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tur6l95J3ug. Pretty cool music, if you ask me. Think Zeppelin + Chili Peppers.
• The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute (2005)
  Also fits 3 and 4. OK, there are many characters (each song focuses on a member of a family), but there isn't a strong, linear plot. And, it's mostly fantasy, but based on a diary found by one former member of the band before he died. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBQLnEGHNk was the first single, but the whole album is all over the place - in my opinion, the most musically interesting and diverse album released in the 2000s.
• The No Smoking Orchestra - Time Of The Gypsies (2007)
  Also fits 3 (and I think 5). I don't remember much about this one story-wise (other than it being the soundtrack to an old Kusturica film), but it's interesting to me because besides being a 'punk opera', you get to listen to some Bosnian music and other European ethnic influences. It features many (male & female) singers too. The songs "Crazy About Money" and "Lorenzzo" are really cool.
• The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs (1999)
  Also fits 5. It's a triple album of 69 songs about love in its many forms, between many gender combinations, love to many things, etc. I have yet to listen to it in its entirety, but the song "I Don't Want To Get Over You" is one I enjoy a lot.
• King Diamond - basically any album
  Also fits 3 and 4. The creepiest yet most entertaining stories in concept albums I've seen in a long time (I just discovered the band last month). If you like horror stories/movies, you'll like this band.

[chaossystem]

Would the album have to match everything your list?

If not, there are some good ones that I can recommend, such as:

Dio-Magica

Iron Maiden-Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Queensryche-Operation:MindCrime

Pretty much anything by The Alan Parsons Project

[Bolsters]

Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle
Ayreon - The Human Equation

[Sacul]

Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle
Ayreon - The Human Equation

2. Not Ayreon. I already know it.

Failure Swift strikes again 

[Bolsters]

Oh. Well, try this one then:

Ayreon - 01011001

[Enigmachine]

So you want Wither to re-listen to Ayreon's discography?

[Train of Naught]

The Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium

Not as good as Frances The Mute IMO, but I like the concept better. Songs like Televators and Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt become much more interesting when you know about the story. Televators is probably one of the most depressing songs I've heard.

[Evermind]

I'm not sure I can offer something that fits every single requirement of yours, but here goes...

Flaming Row - Elinoire

I won't even bother to describe it, loads of different singers, compelling plot. If you liked Ayreon, just go get it. This is awesome.

Kamelot - Epica / The Black Halo

It kinda revolves around one character, but there are four characters in the whole concept overall, and it's excellent power / progressive metal anyway. Very strong plot relying on the spiritual and philosophical themes, like discovering meaning of life and all that. It really fits all the requirements except the characters: the protagonist, Ariel, has the most vocal lines in the story and the other characters have only some short parts here and there. Um, maybe not so fantasy, but then again, The Astonishing and The Human Equation aren't fantasy too.

Avantasia - The Scarecrow / The Wicked Symphony / Angel of Babylon (called "The Wicked Trilogy")

Really excellent, features lots of different characters voiced by different singers and genre styles, but has quite an abstract plot. I mean, it's traceable through all the songs, but you have to pay attention and put your imagination to use to make sense of the story. Regarding "fantasy", see Kamelot's write-up.

Avantasia - The Metal Opera

Classic power metal through and through, this has somewhat cheesy fantasy plot yet a handful of characters and great musicianship.

Avantasia - The Mystery of Time / Ghostlights

Another story with mostly unfollowable plot (if you don't have the booklet with the story for the first album, you're screwed, and the second album doesn't even feature the story in the booklet), but really great music and different characters voiced by different amazing singers.

Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit

Well, this isn't fantasy and it features only two characters (and another character in passing), but this is excellent anyway. Some romance involved and really strong plot overall, one of my favourite concept effors.

[SoundscapeMN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozNJmOYttTw&list=PLhrglt2nmIGjIlH1A4qR03PuQ-h76ZnX4

[Elite]

Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

[ronnibran]

Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

You can read about the plot here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Falls

Although reading it would give some plot spoilers, so don't read about it if you want to check it out unspoiled.

[jingle.boy]

Evermind nailed it.  As for Flaming Row:

The story of “Elinoire”:  It is about a young British family. Lea and Adam Baltwin are in the prime of their lives, having great jobs and living in prosperity. Lea becomes pregnant. But during the birth of their daughter Elinoire, Lea dies. Adam never overcomes the sudden death of his beloved wife and lays the blame on Elinoire. Over the years he cannot build up an ordinary relationship to Elinoire. Adam’s father Cyrus Baltwin takes over the role of the father figure. But after some years some true facts about the previous life of Lea are revealed. Was Lea’s death really fate ? The story is told by the real characters, their emotions (love, rage…) and some virtual ones (Time, Destiny, Death, Spirit ...).


As for Avantasia, I always thought "The Wicked Trilogy" would be the best name for that trio of albums, but I'm quite certain it's called "The Scarecrow Saga".

Other suggestions:

Spock's Beard / Snow
Transatlantic / The Whirlwind
Vanden Plas / Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld I
Vanden Plas / Chronicles of the Immortals: Netherworld II

[Evermind]

As for Avantasia, I always thought "The Wicked Trilogy" would be the best name for that trio of albums, but I'm quite certain it's called "The Scarecrow Saga".

Um, Chad, I've got proof. Here's the photo of the deluxe edition of The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. You can see the additional book with photos and extra content in the middle called...

[Jamesman42]

My favorite conmcept albums are the following:

Ayreon - THE
DT - WDADU
DT - IaW
DT - Awakes
DT - FII
DT - SFAM
DT - SDOIT
DT - ToT
DT - 8VM
DT - ADTOE
Neal Morse - all 4 albums he did when he went Jesus
Transatlantic - The Whirlwind

[twosuitsluke]

All of Coheed and Cambria's albums bar the latest (it is their first without a concept) fit the bill. They are like my 3rd favourite band ever.

They tick all the boxes you mentioned, however the plot is quite complex and not the easiest to follow. It's also ridiculous at times (I'm looking at you Second Stage Turbine Blade) but well worth it. There have been accompanying comic books but as far as I'm aware they haven't covered the whole story with what they have published so far.

Seriously can't recommend them enough!!

[jingle.boy]

As for Avantasia, I always thought "The Wicked Trilogy" would be the best name for that trio of albums, but I'm quite certain it's called "The Scarecrow Saga".

Um, Chad, I've got proof. Here's the photo of the deluxe edition of The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon. You can see the additional book with photos and extra content in the middle called...

Well there you go.  I remember when I was doing my writeups for these a few years back for my Top 50, I always though it was the Wicked Trilogy, but everything I found on the interwebz referred to it as The Scarecrow Saga.  Glad to be wrong.