Finding decent sized artwork images for these is brutal.
30. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories) A natural inclusion really, as this album is considered a classic of modern prog and one of the best-done revivals of the classic 70s prog sound. Lyrics are not as strong as Steven Wilson’s usual work, but the album features some incredible moments throughout. The production is as clean as expected, with a lot of added warmth that brings out that 70s feel. Solid album overall. As expected, the overwhelming darkness can be a bit much at times, which makes the album feel a bit one-note emotionally at times. Still, the album has a nice balance between beautiful melancholic moments and epic jazz fusion instrumental showdowns.
29. Steven Wilson – Hand. Cannot. Erase. I’ve always preferred Hand. Cannot. Erase. to The Raven, with its slick modern sound and more diverse music. HCE holds the honor of having my favorite production on any album ever, and it is one of the albums I always use as a reference when practicing mixing. Unlike a lot of SW’s other works, this album has its share of fairly happy moments (!) which prevents it from feeling as overwhelmingly depressing as his other albums. A nice balance of styles, good lyrics, nice arrangements, epic riffing and catchy melodies make this album a must listen.
28. Dream Theater – Train of Thought While the album is not as diverse or well-structured as some of their other albums, Train of Thought features some of my favorite songs from the band and some incredibly cool moments. This is one of those weird moments in prog where the whole is not better than the sum of its parts. While it is true that the album as a whole can feel a bit one-note, the individual songs work really well on their own and are perfect bite-sized DT snacks. Except Honor Thy Father.
27. Diablo Swing Orchestra – Pacifisticuffs The long awaited fourth album from this Swedish avant-garde swing metal band features the debut of a new vocalist and a unique take on their signature sound. The album features constant string quartets and piano work which gives it a more diverse feel than past albums. Only major fault with it is that there's way too many short intro/interlude/outro pieces that don't fit the album very well (although, I did notice that the themes from "Climbing the Eyewall" show up a few times in those tracks so that was cool). The new singer fits the band like a glove, and I love the addition of a string quartet throughout the album. The album's their most classically focused since Butcher's Ballroom in terms of composition, which I appreciate greatly, and it has some of their most intricate and complex arrangements to date. Also, it's almost annoyingly catchy.
26. Tesseract – Altered State Finally, we move from the 4.5/5 albums to the 5/5 range. And coming in at the bottom of this list is Tesseract’s masterpiece Altered State. This album does not have a dull moment, with the giant extended song cycle feel of the album giving it a sense of unity and cohesiveness. Great riffs, vocal melodies, and fantastic and diverse arrangements (especially for djent!). The main flaw this album has is that sometimes the individual songs don’t work so well on their own, but when listened together it’s quite the experience.
Dunno, thought some tracks by lorde and carly were all over the radio and such these days, but I don't listen to it so maybe I'm wrong 
janelle released her most mainstream-sounding album this year (dunno how well it did commercially), and some friends said it was basically "dude vagina lmao" so I'm not very eager to listen to it 
Well, I've heard Lorde on alternative radio stations, but she's much rarer on pop stations. Outside of Good Time and Call Me Maybe, I've heard CRJ on the radio like...twice. In my life. It may sound strange to us, but those albums were widely considered commercial flops in pop circles.
I haven't much of anything about Janelle Monae. Generally among popheads the accepted "holy trinity" is Lorde, CRJ, and Charli XCX (who I haven't listened to much yet oops). Adele, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Ke$ha, Ed Sheeran, Drake, and Bruno Mars also tend to be pretty popular, if a bit more divisive. Lot of crossover with hip hop, R&B, and rap too, and a hair with EDM and rock..
Topic: Ninjabait's Top 50 Albums (...and 10 other pretty cool albums) (Read 6713 times)