Author Topic: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #1: love is the dance of eternity  (Read 46839 times)

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Offline Zantera

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #490 on: April 21, 2016, 04:37:32 AM »
i dunno, i find the songs all too drawn out and directionless, and i don't like the vocals on the album much either. i legitimately have no clue what they were going for on the album. it's like, post-metal-ish but only kinda? i really don't know. it's been a frustrating album tbh.

The change in direction is really refreshing IMO. It's a more atmospheric album and most importantly it's different than their first. Away/Absent is probably even my favorite song of theirs. It's not AS consistent as their first album, but highs are as good IMO.

Offline senecadawg2

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #491 on: April 21, 2016, 09:54:08 AM »
That Obsidian Kingdom cover makes me feel really sad, but I can't put my finger exactly on why that is......

And by your writeup, it seems like the music would evoke a similar response. I'm curious to hear it, but nervous as well.

MotW is always nice to see, but I agree with Zantera on Kayo Dot>MotW, particularly Choirs of the Eye, Hubardo and a third album which I'm having an impossible time choosing.
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Offline Zantera

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #492 on: April 21, 2016, 09:56:07 AM »
That Obsidian Kingdom cover makes me feel really sad, but I can't put my finger exactly on why that is......

And by your writeup, it seems like the music would evoke a similar response. I'm curious to hear it, but nervous as well.

MotW is always nice to see, but I agree with Zantera on Kayo Dot>MotW, particularly Choirs of the Eye, Hubardo and a third album which I'm having an impossible time choosing.

Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue ;)

Offline senecadawg2

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #493 on: April 21, 2016, 10:01:49 AM »
Yeah that's a great one, but.... Blue Lambency Downward, Coffins on Io and even Coyote.... *shrugging emote*
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Offline Zantera

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #494 on: April 21, 2016, 10:14:25 AM »
Yeah that's a great one, but.... Blue Lambency Downward, Coffins on Io and even Coyote.... *shrugging emote*

Not to derail Elite's thread completely, but relevant:

1. Choirs of the Eye
2. Hubardo
3. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
4. Coffins on IO
5. Blue Lambency Downward
6. Coyote
7. Gamma Knife

(Gamma Knife a notch below the rest)

Elite can use this list for his future Kayo Dot exploration.  :hat

Offline Sacul

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #495 on: April 21, 2016, 10:15:35 AM »
i dunno, i find the songs all too drawn out and directionless, and i don't like the vocals on the album much either. i legitimately have no clue what they were going for on the album. it's like, post-metal-ish but only kinda? i really don't know. it's been a frustrating album tbh.
This. Mantiis is on my top 50, so I had high hopes for this new one, but I just don't get it.

Offline Crow

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #496 on: April 21, 2016, 10:17:55 AM »
it's not that I don't get atmospheric metal, I've gotten a crapton of atmospheric metal in just the last year alone, and this one is the absolute worst of them all tbh

Offline 425

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it's probably too "out there" or just plain chaotic for me.

When it's Sacul saying this, I can pretty well be assured that the album in question isn't for me.


Neither of the last two seem to be up my alley at all  :-\
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Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #498 on: April 21, 2016, 12:42:27 PM »
Just droppin in to say that the maudlin album is incredible, though I think I prefer Part the Second by a bit.

Also I would love to get my hands on a physical motW album, but alas. It is not to be. :(

Offline Onno

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #499 on: April 21, 2016, 12:55:01 PM »
Bridge Across Forever is pretty good but I like the Whirlwind way more I think. DSOTM is of course amazing. Never could get into Maudlin and I've never heard the Obsidian Kingdom album, so I need to check that one out probably.

Offline ThatOneGuy2112

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #500 on: April 21, 2016, 01:12:18 PM »
Jeebus you update fast. :P

Going back to DSOTM, while I still much prefer Wish You Were Here and Animals comes really close, Dark Side is still a fantastic, timeless album that deserves every bit of praise it gets. I wouldn't call it overrated at all. It's a completely holistic and cohesive album experience that's still a perfectly good benchmark for what the definite "album experience" should be. And I say this while Dark Side isn't even a top 30 album for me.

That maudlin album is great, as well as Leaving Your Body Map. Hard to pick a favorite of the two for me honestly.

Offline Elite

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #10: it seems just appropriate
« Reply #501 on: April 21, 2016, 01:50:07 PM »
And by your writeup, it seems like the music would evoke a similar response. I'm curious to hear it, but nervous as well.

Try it, I think you hav the right mindset beforehand. It's not really an easy-listening album anyway.

Elite can use this list for his future Kayo Dot exploration.  :hat

Thank you! I actually own Choris of the Eye, so I'll start by giving that more spins.

it's probably too "out there" or just plain chaotic for me.

When it's Sacul saying this, I can pretty well be assured that the album in question isn't for me.

Time for Sacul to already remove that nice signature of his :lol

Jeebus you update fast. :P

2 albums a day is what I'm doing, roughly around 11 in the morning and evening, my time. In fact, #9 is coming up later tonight (probably in less than an hour or so, since I'm tired). I was toying with the idea of doing 1 a day for the top 10, but I figured that this is a good pace anyway. Maybe I'll do one a day for the top 4 (since the even numbers are the ones I post in the morning).

---

To all other people who responded, thanks for keeping the discussion going! :)
« Last Edit: April 21, 2016, 01:55:13 PM by Elite »
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Elite

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #502 on: April 21, 2016, 02:22:29 PM »
Posting this now, because I'm dead tired. Probably not the albuk you expected by this band..

You'll probably have something by Porcupine Tree,

Yes.

I'm guessing In Absentia.

Nope:

---

9. Porcupine Tree – Signify (1996)



Here’s a band that was obviously bound to show up at some point in this top 50. I had my favourite Steven Wilson solo record already and the only reason I knew of his existence back when he released this solo record was basically because he was once in a band called Porcupine Tree. This band was my go-to band during my last year in high-school. I think that I honestly know all their songs by heart and can sing the lyrics to almost all of them. I barely listened to anything else during that year. To think about that now is very weird, as there are a couple of their records I have not heard in a long time.

Why did I choose this album as my favourite? Well, to be honest I’m kind of kicking myself in the head for setting the rule not to include any live albums. The choice would have been very obvious and I would have put ‘Coma Divine’ in here as my favourite Porcupine Tree album. That would also be the true answer; not only is ‘Come Divine’ my favourite release by Porcupine Tree, I also believe it’s the best live record I have ever heard. It contains their best work from their old days (more on that later) and they adapted some stuff to make it sound better live. The only downside to ‘Coma Divine’ is that it does not contain the song Dark Matter, my favourite Porcupine Tree song and quite possibly the best song Steven Wilson has written in his extensive career.

Musically, Porcupine Tree have gone through quite some different phases. Starting out as an atmospheric/progressive rock band, they can be heard to imitate Pink Floyd (among others) on some of their earliest releases. Featuring relatively few vocals compared to later releases, the band relied for a large part on instrumental soundscapes, as can be heard on ‘Up the Downstair’, ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ and ‘Signify’. Around the year 2000, the band starts experimenting with more pop-structures on the albums ‘Stupid Dream’, ‘Lightbulb Sun’ & ‘In Absentia’. The three albums that follow are considerably heavier than the first seven. ‘Deadwing’, ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’ and ‘The Incident’ see the band moving into almost metal territory, vastly different from their first years, 20 years earlier. I deliberately did not mentions the band’s debut-album, nor any of the many EPs and extra releases they have made, for they would detract from the overall storyline. I can heartily recommend everything the band has done though, at least to get an idea of how they evolved.

Having divided the band’s history into arbitrary ‘phases’, I guess you could say the first one is my favourite. Yes, I realise ‘In Absentia’ is generally considered their best and I even had that one at #5 at my first list, but truth be told; I think ‘Signify’ is all-round a more interesting album (read the ‘other stuff by this band part’ below as well) although it’s very close. Like I said, ‘Signify’ contains my favourite song by them, but there’s also a bunch of other amazing tunes on here. By no means do I include this album ‘for the hell of it’, choosing between some of their albums is very tough and I honestly think that this is their best. If not, then it’s at least my favourite.

The album starts with the instrumental title-track, followed by the amazing Sleep of No Dreaming. The first time I ever heard this tune, I was listening to the aforementioned ‘Coma Divine’ while having a shower. I actually got out of the shower to check what song the CD was on, because the chorus is so good. Up next is Pagan, a short interlude track, which is followed by the two-part Waiting. The first one includes some lyrics, while the second part is instrumental and almost feels like a jam based on drum-rhythms and spacey keyboard sounds.  Next up are Sever, perhaps the most standard song on the disc and Idiot Prayer, another instrumental full of keyboard sounds that’s clearly been inspired by house music. Every Home is Wired is vocally the most interesting song on the album, with layers upon layers of vocals in the chorus. Intermediate Jesus then is my favourite of all the album’s instrumentals; it’s groovy and even a little funky, yet experimental at the same time. I would not be surprised if this song is the result of a jam session of sorts. “Light Mass Prayers” come next, which is a very weird interlude track consisting of keyboard choirs and actual vocals fading in and out. Dark Matter then finishes off the album. I already spoke about how this is my favourite Steven Wilson song, but I dare not try to explain why this is the case. I might fail completely. It has to do with the song being unpretentious, yet progressive, featuring a great chorus and the ending guitar solo is simply glorious.

I know this album doesn’t really appeal to everybody and I don’t think you should force yourself to like it either. I’m a great fan of Porcupine Tree (and Steven Wilson in general), and hold a lot of their material dearly and even love quite a bunch of it. If anything, making me have to choose between a couple of albums of theirs just shows how consistent their discography is, even though there is quite a difference in style. I would not say this is their most accessible album and I must admit it took me considerably longer to fully get this one, but once it clicked and once I could appreciate this… it has since been one of my favourites ever.

Favourite song: Dark Matter
Other songs worth checking out: Sleep of No Dreaming, Intermediate Jesus, Waiting
Other stuff by this band: God, where do I start? I can’t really imagine someone reading this who hasn’t delved into Porcupine Tree at all. Based on my placement of this album, you could say I prefer PT’s earlier work, but the fact is that I find most, if not all of their albums great. My second favourite by them would be ‘In Absentia’ (and I curse the one-album-per-artist rule specifically for not being able to include that album here), but I also love ‘Up the Downstair’ and ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ (two earlier albums that are stylistically similar to ‘Signify’). Of the band’s later work, I think ‘Deadwing’ and ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’ are his best (after the aforementioned ‘In Absentia’, of course). Porcupine Tree are another band with way too many good records and I can’t give an accurate account of all their stuff in this short write-up, so ask me, if you want.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2016, 02:35:11 PM by Elite »
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Onno

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #503 on: April 21, 2016, 02:41:37 PM »
I love PT (and SW's solo work even more) and I really like this album but I've always liked Gavin-era PT albums way better than the rest.

Offline jakepriest

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #504 on: April 21, 2016, 02:42:10 PM »
I can’t really imagine someone reading this who hasn’t delved into Porcupine Tree at all.

Why hello there.  :loser:

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #505 on: April 21, 2016, 02:54:49 PM »
I can’t really imagine someone reading this who hasn’t delved into Porcupine Tree at all.

Why hello there.  :loser:
Why would you do that? (or why wouldn't :P)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, I was planning to relisten some of PT albums and I put Signify on my smartphone first because I know I like it but I don't know it well as albums after it. Will relisten soon.
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I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline jakepriest

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #506 on: April 21, 2016, 03:06:47 PM »
I can’t really imagine someone reading this who hasn’t delved into Porcupine Tree at all.

Why hello there.  :loser:
Why would you do that? (or why wouldn't :P)

I unfortunately don't really have the time to check out a band that doesn't immediately strike me as something I really want to listen to. The stuff I've heard I thought was okay, but not stellar enough to convince me to check out entire albums of it.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2016, 03:28:50 PM by jakepriest »

Offline Crow

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #507 on: April 21, 2016, 03:13:20 PM »
been spinning this one recently, I like it and dark matter is great but it's not one of my favorite PT albums

Offline Zantera

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #508 on: April 21, 2016, 03:15:07 PM »
Definitely one of the best PT albums! I think FOABP might be my nr1, but Signify and Stupid Dream are close.

Offline Kwyjibo

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #509 on: April 21, 2016, 10:50:18 PM »
Great record, up there with the best. Might not be my overall favorite but it's definitely the best from their earlier phase.
Must've been Kwyji sending all the wrong songs.   ;D

Offline Elite

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #510 on: April 22, 2016, 01:55:25 AM »
I thought this one would get mixed reception. Good to see many people liking this record as well though :) I think a top 5 by me would have Signify, IA, FOABP, TSMS and Up the Downstair in it. For some reason, I could never really get into both 'Lightbulb Sun' and 'Stupid Dream'.

jake; based on the music you listed to, I think PT would not be enough metal for you.
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Offline Evermind

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #511 on: April 22, 2016, 02:05:39 AM »
Lightbulb Sun and In Absentia are my favorites by PT, followed by Deadwing I think.

Signify is alright though.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #9: crushed like a rose...
« Reply #512 on: April 22, 2016, 02:09:38 AM »
FoaBP, Deadwing, Lightbulb Sun, Stupid Dream, In Absentia. Don't know the rest well enough to rate them (and I consider myself PT fan ugh).
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Offline Elite

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El Cielo

How did you know?  :eek

---

8. dredg – El Cielo (2002)



Based on the remainder of this list, I think I can say that this is my favourite rock album ever. If you look how this album gets categorised, you can find various genres that correspond with the music on this album, although neither ‘alternative’, ‘experimental’ or ‘progressive’ is truly fitting in my opinion. In fact, ‘art rock’ might very well be the best term to describe the music heard on this album. dredg are predominantly a rock band, as their line-up is that of a rock band, but at times they sound very much different from what you would expect from a rock band.

‘El Cielo’ is Spanish for ‘the sky’ or ‘the heaven’ or a word for a loved one like ‘sweetie’. The album is often regarded as a concept album, because it focuses on one theme mainly in lyrics. In fact, the main inspiration from this album came forth from a painting by Salvador Dalí titled Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. This painting, in combination with sleep paralysis formed the backbone of what would become this album. The album booklet contains letters written by sufferers of sleeping disorders with descriptions of various experiences with or relating to sleep paralysis. These letters have been incorporated into the album’s lyrics. Furthermore, the band has been quoted to say that this album should be listened to while looking at the Dalí painting, as the band have described their album as ‘drawing music’. Arty-farty much? A bit, probably.

The album contains 16 tracks, of which five are short interlude tracks with the word ‘Brushstroke’ in the title. The other 11 tracks vary in length from a little over 3 minutes to almost 7 minutes and are quite different in style, although all of them make very clever usage of instruments and sounds. A good example of this is the interlude track Brushstroke: Walk in the Park which starts with snapping fingers, followed by almost classical piano and violin. About halfway through, the violin starts making deliberately out of tune glissandos. The last minute of Sorry But It’s Over, a ballad earlier on the album, consists of weirdly distorted voices, but in such a way that it sounds very musical and it actually ties in very well with the rest of the album. On Triangle, a favourite of mine from this record, the band mixes different songs into and come close to recording haunting verses, but not before you hear the almost out-of-place intro of the track.

Out of placeness (or rather; trying new things and not being frightened by whatever the result may be) seems like a recurring theme on this album; because even though the band throws a lot of stuff around your ears musically, never is there really anything that doesn’t fit on the album at all. Not even the only time the band gets very heavy in Of the Room does it feel out of place. Some of the most experimental stuff happens on the second half of the album, starting with Brushstroke: Reprise, an almost literal reprise of the album’s first proper track, only now the sound has been muddied. By the way, speaking about the album’s first track, listen how awesome the drums sound while panning from left to right and having slight volume changes throughout the song, it’s these small things that makes this album such an amazing listening experience. Of the Room contains some of the strangest lyrics on the album, but the instrumentation behind the vocals might even been weirder, especially in the verses. Those drums and guitars are not doing what you’d expect them do to – and who ever used sighs as percussive ‘instruments’? Brilliant! Brushstroke: An Elephant in the Delta Waves has singing in an unintelligible language (apparently something that is common to people experiencing sleep paralysis). While It Only Took a Day is a good track and one of the few driving rock tracks on the record, it’s the last two tracks that are definitely highlights of the album. Whoa Is Me is arguably the catchiest song – and it has a saxophone playing along as well – on the record, but it’s the final track on the album that is my absolute favourite. I will not even try to describe The Canyon Behind Her at all, because this is one of the rare instances where I don’t think words can do a song justice. Probably my favourite piece of music ever, that’s all I can say about it.

Although the band states in Eighteen People Living in Harmony that “art is dying”, them releasing this album proves otherwise. Although I have no idea how I should listen to this album whilst watching the Dalí painting and what transcendental experience I should get from that, the whole idea that this band went to lengths creating this record says enough probably. Having this album tie in with sleep paralysis and using this sleep disorder as an inspiration is also quite creative and makes from some unique tracks and sounds. I think for an art rock album, dredg have succeeded not only creating something that is actually catchy and listenable, but also one that can be listened to for years to come, with there always being something new to discover. There’s tons of stuff happening on this album that I haven’t even mentioned here. I love this one, and even though it dropped down from #3 on my very first list, there’s no way this album is leaving the top 10 anytime soon.

Favourite song: The Canyon Behind Her
Other songs worth checking out: Whoa Is Me, Triangle, Same Ol’ Road
Other stuff by this band: Of the band’s other records, ‘The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion’ comes closest to this one stylistically. I can also recommend ‘Catch Without Arms’, a more pop-oriented record. Whatever you do, stay away from ‘Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy’.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2016, 04:33:24 AM by Elite »
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Train of Naught

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Yes!  :hefdaddy absolutely loving this album (thanks to bizkit for selling it to me). As soon as I saw the album name I knew it'd live up to its name, it really has that 'heavenly' sound.

Definitely going to check out the albums mentioned. My favorite songs are the same except for Triangle, would swap it with Sorry But Its Over.
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline Zantera

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Amazing album and definitely the best Dredg album! Unfortunately Chuckles killed off most of my enthusiasm for the band and I haven't listened to them in years, but El Cielo is definitely a great one. I don't know, maybe they were more of a phase-band for me, but like I said, haven't felt any major pull to return to their albums lately.

Offline Mladen

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A good album by a good band, although a very challenging listen sometimes. Catch without arms, on the other hand, is very accessible, and I find The Pariah also listenable.

Offline Train of Naught

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Anyone else think the riff in the chorus of Sorry But It's Over a LOT like Muse? Can't quite put my finger on the exact song but it's from OoS (Feeling Good maybe?), it's not a complaint though, I love it.
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Offline Elite

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Feeling Good is not originally a Muse song.
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Offline Sacul

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Very good album, one I should listen to more often - such gorgeous choruses.

Offline Train of Naught

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Feeling Good is not originally a Muse song.
I know, that's not my point though

And I just came home and checked it, Feeling Good was indeed the song I was talking about.
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Offline Elite

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What will #7 be?
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Sacul

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California, or Bilateral.

Offline Elite

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Re: Elite's top 50 albums v. - 3 Years Older: #7: the sun sets forever...
« Reply #523 on: April 22, 2016, 03:12:20 PM »
 :eek

Not exactly, though its slightly in the same vein!

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7. Opeth – Blackwater Park (2001)



‘Blackwater Park’ is, like ‘El Cielo’ probably here to stay in the top 10. There’s no doubt that this album is here to stay in the top 10 for quite some time to come. Though I lump this album In the same sentence as the previous one, my love for ‘Blackwater Park’ goes much farther back than that for the dredg album in the previous update. Plus, where the dredg album is simply a bunch of great music tracks linked together on the album (yes, I’m trivialising, read the previous update to know how I feel about the album), this album by Opeth did something I would not have thought would ever be possible in my music preferences up to that point: it made me tolerate, appreciate and later love growls. This might be insignificant to some, for me this was a turning point in the music I could listen to.

I must have been around fifteen or sixteen when I first heard Opeth. It was before ‘Watershed’ was released, so definitely before 2008. Although I don’t know how old I was exactly, I remember very well my first listening experience with Opeth. I was browsing new music, and came across this band. On Youtube, the track The Drapery Falls was recommended, and, being the curious music explorer I am, starting listening. I loved what I heard, and I was surprised I never heard this band before. The beauty of the song struck me and… then the growls came in. I was distraught, turned it off almost immediately. How could they do this to this beautiful track? It ruined the song, or so I thought. Something happened then and there, because I would return to the same song not much later and I’m 100% sure that it was mainly through this track that I got to appreciate growls. I understood what they were doing with the growls, that the band had multiple facets and that growling would be one of them. The best music-related lesson I ever learned is that there can be no ‘heavy’ if there would be no ‘soft’ to contrast the heaviness; The Drapery Falls is a fantastic example of that. It would turn out to be not only favourite of the album, but also my favourite Opeth track. It’s funny how one track can switch your stance on growls forever. Although I can’t really stand bands that do nothing but growls (for there has to be something to contrast the heaviness), this is the track – and later the album – that turned out to be a turning point.

Despite being my favourite, I doubt that it’s actually the ‘best’ track on the album. In past survivors on DTF, Bleak would come out as the album’s best track and honestly, I agree. Composed very different than the almost ethereal ‘Drapery’, Bleak features singer/guitarist/mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt growling in the verse, and him singing clean in duet with no-one other than Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree in the chorus. A lengthy middle section finds the band departed from the progressive death metal sound heard in the beginning of the track to acoustic clean guitar playing with clean vocals. The chorus returns once again, and the song comes full circle at the end with a return to growls.

Opeth are pretty much a metal band (you could contest that nowadays, considering their last two releases, but on this album there’s no question about that), but despite this, they do not often write songs that are based on riffs. And when they do, the riffs as such are not really that obvious.  A lot of their material is based on chord progressions and melodies. Actually, most of their songs feature at least one section of acoustic guitar playing, which is also the thing that made them stand out from all the other (progressive) death metal bands when they started out. Harvest is a track that has no distorted guitars or growls whatsoever, and Patterns in the Ivy is a completely acoustic instrumental. Dirge for November starts with an acoustic passage with vocals, erupts into heavy metal goodness and ends with a 2-minute clean guitar passage. As these examples should exemplify, Opeth are good at doing multiple things – but the thing they do best is combine stuff that’s seemingly incompatible.

I’d say Opeth has a very distinct sound to them, one that is the most apparent on this particular record. They’re heavy, but they are melodic as well. They can easily switch between calm serenity and pure brutality where needed and this is made possible mostly by Åkerfeldt’s great aptitude as both a clean singer and a grunter. Opeth is a band that relies mostly on repeating sound textures in the shape of chord progressions, rather than on concrete building blocks in the form of riffs or extreme technical parts. They have guitar solos, although they’re very situational, nor ever overly virtuosic.

Basically every song on this album is fantastic, or else it would not stand a chance against the rest of their excellent discography, but apart from the two tracks I’ve ignored completely (here’s a shout out to both The Leper Affinity and The Funeral Portrait!), there’s one more track I feel I should highlight in particular and that’s the closing track from this album. Blackwater Park, the album’s title-track contains everything there is about Opeth packed into 12 minutes. Let’s just leave it at that, this write-up is long enough as it is already. I don’t really have much to say anymore on this particular record to be honest. Opeth were such an important discovery for my musical taste development and I still listen to them quite often. Like with pretty much every album in this top 10, I could theoretically go into detail on every single track, but it would be better to just listen to the actual album.

Favourite song: The Drapery Falls
Other songs worth checking out: Bleak, Blackwater Park, Harvest
Other stuff by this band: My other favourites by them are ‘My Arms, Your Hearse’ and ‘Still Life’. Generally ‘Ghost Reveries’ is considered a fan favourite, an excellent album as well. The band adopted more of a prog-rock style on their latest two albums, the growls are absent there. The band’s first two albums feature heavy black metal influences. Overall, you can’t really go wrong with any album, if you know what to expect beforehand.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline Crow

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Sacul is probably looking at your old top 50s