Evermind's v2 Top 50 Albums Thread v. Only once in a lifetime (#1)

[jingle.boy]

Riiiiiiiiggghht.

I haven't looked at the booklet is eons.  Never caught that.

As for any insights... I got nothing.

[Evermind]

And actually let me post the next one to keep the discussion going. Fogey followers, you may want to skip this installment, which would probably be a good call.

#13
The Congregation
Leprous
Genre: progressive metal
2015
Recommended to me by: Tomislav and DTF band thread

They say three is a magic number, and it certainly seems important enough at least when my enjoyment of a popular band on DTF is concerned. Like with Circus Maximus, I only managed to get into Leprous on a third try. The first one was with Forced Entry, which didn’t succeed, and I’ll get into the details a bit later for that; then I received The Price in my first roulette, which was indeed quite decent (BEEHIVE!), but I ended up half-heartedly checking out the album and turning it off during the first minute of Third Law with both the riff and the vocal line annoying the shit out of me. Third time was the charm, though, as I’ve got Bilateral the song from Tomislav in my second roulette—and still I didn’t delve into their discography until 2017, but at least they made my list of bands I intended to listen to.

I honestly don’t remember which album I tried first. I think I might’ve heard The Cloak randomly hitting recommended YouTube videos and seeing Leprous in there, and then autoplay pulled the official video of The Price which brought the memories of my first roulette back (BEEHIVE!), and I think I decided to give The Congregation a second chance then.

The Congregation is a very chorus-oriented and rhythms-oriented album. Most of Leprous music is, but it especially shows on this record. I love good choruses (BEEHIVE!), which will be obvious once the Top 10 hits—at least six albums there have godlike choruses on almost every song—and on this particular album, all songs are united by catchy as hell choruses. Now, the thing is, the rest of the songs is also well thought out, with complex guitar and drum rhythms, and while perhaps slightly less, but still a lot of attention to the structure and sound of verses. See, I feel this is where their latest album, Malina, suffered mostly: the choruses remained of the same quality, but the verses there are a bit underwhelming. The Congregation offers a good amount of variety between songs and while there are repetition, I seem to remember a particularly similar drum rhythm in both Red and Slave, the rest of the album has enough ideas for each song to stand out on its own. You have frantic verses in Third Law, which I warmed up to since 2015, slow and ominous pace of Slave, almost playful verses of Moon and tentative, quiet verses of The Flood or Lower. On Malina there is some variety, but the verses are blurred for me, and I won’t be able to tell the verse from Coma from the verse of The Weight of Disaster or the newly released Golden Prayers.

Even though this record is quite long, it’s always a pleasure to revisit it, and of course sing along to every song’s chorus. Seriously, they are that good.

Favourite songs: The Price (YouTube, Spotify), Slave (YouTube, Spotify), Lower (YouTube, Spotify)

#12
Bilateral
Leprous
Genre: progressive metal
2011
Recommended to me by: Tomislav and DTF band thread

Bilateral is considered an essential album from Leprous, and after my first blunder with Forced Entry, I seriously struggled to understand how come this album is so loved among the community. When I started listening to other Leprous album than The Congregation, this was the one I was most eager to explore, and after the first listen, this was a huge disappointment. Almost gone were the majestic choruses, the sound was different, almost atonal in some places, the growls were used less sparingly and gracefully, the song structures were all over the place. But as I mentioned way back in the Bent Knee write up, this album ended up growing on me immensely to the point where I adore it.

While I’m still not that keen on Forced Entry, and by “not that keen” I mean “I don’t think that’s their best song, which seems to be a popular opinion among Leprous fans”, I do think this song has a lot of potential, a very tight instrumental section and one of the most beautiful moments on the album during the quiet second verse. But it’s not Forced Entry that makes this album so awesome, it’s the rest of the songs like incredibly fun Restless where you can just feel this growl in the chorus is coming—would be a blast to see this live, that’s for sure—the ever-building up Mediocrity Wins with its chorus ascending to the skies before delivering the final line, and the classic progressive Painful Detour, where Leprous almost seem to be playing it safe for the sake of their listeners after having just taken them on a wild ride.

And most of all, when you get into this album, it just sounds like a lot of fun. The band seems to have incredible chemistry, and this record has a lot in common with one of the records from my Top 3, it just gives off this vibe of pure inspiration and carelessness about the general reception it would receive—the band is just doing whatever the hell they want and shape it into the form of songs. While records like The Congregation and Malina seem more polished and less spontaneous, this sounds almost exactly like the album art looks: lots of different things are put together in one big picture and for some reason it works flawlessly once you manage to unravel it. Only the art doesn’t quite work, because it looks kind of ridiculous, but otherwise the comparison is quite apt.

Having seem Leprous live on their tour for Malina, it’s a shame Bilateral only gets one song in their current setlist, and worst of all, we got Forced Entry for the encore, which is literally my second least favourite song from this record (Waste of Air takes the cake here). But not counting that and almost a total lack of crowd interaction, the show was amazing as we’ve got both The Price (BEEHIVE!) and Slave, The Flood, The Valley and a lot of Malina stuff too. One of the few shows where I was incredibly entertained just from watching the drummer do his thing; would go see them again if I get the chance.

Favourite songs: Restless (YouTube, Spotify), Mediocrity Wins (YouTube, Spotify), Painful Detour (YouTube, Spotify)

[Crow]

yeah, these are the best two leprous albums for sure 

[Elite]

yeah, these are the best two leprous albums for sure 

Indeed

Bilateral is #2 of all time for me.

[Lethean]

I would throw Coal into the mix as well, but I'm happy to see two Leprous albums here.

Forced Entry is phenomenal though.

Also, Leprous' live show is better as it is now than it would be if there was more crowd interaction.  They say "thank you so much" every so often, but otherwise keep the show moving, allowing for the most amount of music to be played and also not ruining the totally cool vibe that they have going on.

Anathema and Seiges Even were also great choices btw. 

[mike099]

I just adore Bilateral and Tall Poppy Syndrome.  These two albums are so different from the rest of the Leprous records - so much prog and quirky.  Painful Detour is my favorite off Bilateral and  White is my favorite off of Tall Poppy Syndrome.  By the way, I love Waste of Air - this one would be a great song for the concert crowd.

[Podaar]

Goddamit. I can't listen to these entries fast enough to keep up. Slow down so we can climax at the same time!

Karmakanic was very nice. I'll revisit this one for sure.

I won't say it "clicked", as the phrase goes, but I actually enjoyed my run through of The Mountain! This is probably the fifth time I gave it a chance so this is a giant step forward in my relationship with Haken.

On to Manifestation of Progress...

[jingle.boy]

I've tried Leprous.  Didn't click.

[Crow]

yes, we know you don't like modern prog metal bands 

[wolfking]

I've tried Leprous.  Didn't click.

[Ruba]

The Congregation and Bilateral... My favourites from Leprous and two nigh-perfect records!  I can't really say which one I'd prefer. Bilateral is more playful and experimental, but The Congregation has amazing songwriting and killer choruses on nearly every damn song.

Also, I fucking adore Forced Entry and I'm thankful I got to see it live. To my opinion it should be their Master of Puppets/Metropolis in a sense it should be played in every concert.

[jingle.boy]

yes, we know you don't like modern prog metal bands 

I don't like the modern prog-metal bands that you like.  There's LOTS of modern prog-metal bands that I like

[Podaar]

Okay, just finished Manifestation of Progress. My overall impression: chock full of sumptuous and attention grabbing riffs! I really liked this a lot!

Since it was the third album I listened to today, my ears are a bit exhausted so I'll probably give it another go later tonight or tomorrow. My gut tells me that a second run through will be even more rewarding.

[lonestar]

Tried them, seen them live, they just aren't for me.

[Sacul]

I've tried Leprous.  Didn't click.

 

[Bolsters]

I got Drawing The Lines of Mortal Existence in a roulette from Chad and didn't think much of it. I thought it was a pretty standard, unoriginal prog epic that, outside of only a few sections, bored me. I stand with Indiscipline.

yeah, these are the best two leprous albums for sure 

Yes.

[Evermind]

Goddamit. I can't listen to these entries fast enough to keep up. Slow down so we can climax at the same time!

I originally wanted to finish by Christmas, but sure, I'll slow down a bit to finish around the New Year. You should check this new one and perhaps there will be some stuff for you in the Top 10 too!

To all the different opinions: I'm glad to see the discussion! Leprous is really hit or miss, glad it was a hit for me.

Next update is kind of weird, and I'll post only one today so we can crack the Top 10 separately. I'm not expecting a lot of feedback on this one, but I'm curious to read your predictions for Top 10. Also, this has to be the most off-the-rails writeup ever.

#11
Árstíðir
Árstíðir
Genre: campfire music
2009
Recommended to me by: Tyrias

When I was younger and still haven’t moved closer to the city’s center, as I mentioned in Dead End Kings writeup, we lived by that huge national park stretching out for miles and miles, just this endless forest with wild life, glides and lakes, valleys and hills, beautiful landscape all around. Even before I was born, my grandpa, his wife and my parents, young adults back then organized a little cozy place a few miles into the park right in the middle of the actual forest, with wooden benches, an isolated place for building a fire so it wouldn’t spread to the rest of the forest—and there was enough old dead pine trees to cut without damaging the actual living trees too. Sometimes a few strangers would stumble upon that place and leave some garbage there or steal a few things my family brought there, and then my folks would diligently clean it up and restock the supplies, only hide them better now. That was their private place in the forest, and sometimes they would head out there early in the morning and return back home deep in the night.

I was brought there when I was like 3 or 4, I guess, and since then we’ve been regularly visiting, and I’ve developed an affinity to that place. It held a lot of our family gatherings, the siblings from all around the town would drive or use public transportation to get to that subway station at the end of the line, and then walk about 20 minutes to our apartment, change into the forest clothes and then walk these few miles together to this place. A lot of fun was had, but one by one they had other concerns in life and stopped coming, and then it was only a few people, and then I moved out to another apartment. I haven’t stopped going there when everyone did, but getting up at 6 A.M. to go there with a 90 minutes commute to our older apartment where my grandparents lived and then spend another hour to just get to the place—it was a bit tedious. Still I went, until I found a job in 2012 and since then I had to get up at 5 A.M. every working day—and it was really not an option to keep doing it at weekends as often as we used to do it. I wanted my precious sleep, as I pretty much do every day now. You know how little children don’t want to sleep during the day? Oh how stupid we are at that age.

While we still gather there sometimes, usually at our grandparents’ birthdays, there were two times when I was there with my best friends who could make it there—some of them live in other cities, and some had another plans for that day—both times we’ve gathered there on the New Year’s Eve (not entirely sure the term is correct, it’s the night from Dec 31st to Jan 1st), spending the night there. No gadgets, no lights, just the darkness around us, softened by the white blanket of snow around us, and illuminated by the campfire, logs cracking in it, as we’re huddling around it for warmth, telling jokes and stories, singing together, out of tune, without guitars as it’s too cold to bring them, just enjoying the nature and this rare opportunity to sit together and talk, enjoy each other’s company. Enjoying the rare opportunity to throw caution to the wind, to throw our worries into the fire and just spend a night without having to worry about anything in the world. Even when no one is talking, the silence is comfortable. The logs in the fire fill it. And as everyone watches the flames, you don't need to be a clairvoyant of some sort to know that while yes, the life may throw a couple of curveballs in our way, but this night would be remembered and would cheer everyone up on their bad days during the next year. And sometimes a small memory like this is all you need.

This is what the self-titled album of this band, Árstíðir, reminds me of.

Favourite songs: Ages (YouTube, Spotify), Sunday Morning (YouTube, Spotify), Síðasta Kveðjan (YouTube, Spotify)

[Bolsters]

I'm a casual Arstidir fan, pretty sure it was Tyrias who got me onto them as well by sending them in a roulette. I don't think I have heard this particular album yet though.

[mike099]

Just purchased ‘Who’s the Boss in the Factory’ on iTunes for 4.99.  I really like ‘ Let in Hollywood’ and Eternally part 2.

[Evermind]

I'm a casual Arstidir fan, pretty sure it was Tyrias who got me onto them as well by sending them in a roulette. I don't think I have heard this particular album yet though.

I have their first three albums, haven't got their latest yet, and this one is my favourite by far.

[Bolsters]

It looks like their latest and this one are the only two I haven't heard.

[Tyrias]

I was expecting to see this album, glad to see I was right. It's probably my favourite by them as well, so if you like their style you should check it out.

Also, I'm curious to see if there'll be a Susanne Sundfor album in the top ten, if I remember correctly you really loved the song "The Brothel" when I sent it to you a few years back.

[Evermind]

I was expecting to see this album, glad to see I was right. It's probably my favourite by them as well, so if you like their style you should check it out.

Also, I'm curious to see if there'll be a Susanne Sundfor album in the top ten, if I remember correctly you really loved the song "The Brothel" when I sent it to you a few years back.

Read and find out!

Gather round, folks, here we are, getting into the Top 10 and therefore into some really good stuff, although your opinions may differ, of course. Let's get to it!

#10
Hymns for the Broken
Evergrey
Genre: progressive metal
2014
Recommended to me by: DTF band thread

I’m going to be honest with you, guys, this one is a little bit on a cheating side. I was familiar with Evergrey before I registered on DTF in 2013, and found the run from In Search of Truth to The Inner Circle to be quite enjoyable, however the three albums after that I couldn’t stomach, so after two listens to Glorious Collision I gave up on this band. Now that might come as a surprise to some, but it doesn’t help that I’m not a huge fan of Tom Englund’s voice (I know, right?)—I like it in small amounts, which is why I always made sure not to overspin the Evergrey albums I liked—and it also didn’t help that the albums weren’t quite up to par to that perfect run of three records. Then I saw all the praise King of Errors, the new single, was getting, clicked on it and loved the song so much I ended up buying the album. So DTF is responsible for this record gathering dust on my shelf, so perhaps it’s not quite cheating after all.

I may like Hymns for the Broken even better than any previous Evergrey material, because of a few factors. The mix and the production here is way better, and somehow, while I realize this is classic Englund type of singing and not at all different from the earlier records, somehow this album made me like Tom’s voice way more. Perhaps it’s also the mix, or the overall atmosphere of the songs, but it always used to irritate me how he did those wailing multiple changing of notes during one syllable, how he always draws out the “ty” (also changing notes during it) in words like “possibility”. Those are nitpicks, but they stood out to me. And they are on Hymns for the Broken too, only they don’t bother me here. I guess the songs themselves are responsible for that. And they made me more tolerant to Tom's voice overall, too.

After joining DTF, I found out that Tom also appears on a lot of different projects, like Phantasma and Epysode. I knew he was on Ayreon, but I actually have no clue which parts on 01011001 are his, because I honestly don’t remember his voice there. Probably a lot of The Fifth Extinction, if I had to guess. And now, of course, he’s also the lead singer of Redemption.

It looks like that the follow-ups to this album failed to reach the heights of this album, which raised the bar to impossibly high levels of quality. The Storm Within, while good, is nowhere as good as this one, although it’s art makes for a perfect t-shirt, which I bought when I saw them on tour (see Need writeup), and it’s one of my favourite shirts nowadays. I only had one listen to The Atlantic so far, as the website with the promo only allows streaming and not downloading, and I do most of my listens on the commute, but if that one listen is any indication, it looks like Hymns for the Broken will remain the crowning achievement of this band for me, as the whole album, and songs like the title track, the first single, and the one-two punch of awesomeness at the end of the record, just continue to blow me away with each and every listen.

Favourite songs: King of Errors (YouTube, Spotify), Hymns for the Broken (YouTube, Spotify), The Grand Collapse (YouTube, Spotify)

[Crow]

Evergrey? More like........ Evermind
i've somehow never listened to these guys besides the piano version of the title track here you sent me

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I’m going to be honest with you, guys, this one is a little bit on a cheating side. I was familiar with Evergrey before I registered on DTF in 2013, and found the run from In Search of Truth to The Inner Circle to be quite enjoyable, however the three albums after that I couldn’t stomach, so after two listens to Glorious Collision I gave up on this band. Now that might come as a surprise to some, but it doesn’t help that I’m not a huge fan of Tom Englund’s voice (I know, right?)—I like it in small amounts, which is why I always made sure not to overspin the Evergrey albums I liked—and it also didn’t help that the albums weren’t quite up to par to that perfect run of three records.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about Evergrey.

I knew he was on Ayreon, but I actually have no clue which parts on 01011001 are his, because I honestly don’t remember his voice there. Probably a lot of The Fifth Extinction, if I had to guess.

If I remember correctly he had vocal parts on the majority of the songs. I know he is on Age of Shadows, Liquid Eternity, Beneath the Waves, Newborn Race, The Fifth Extinction, Unnatural Selection, and The Sixth Extinction. Probably others I'm forgetting about.

[jingle.boy]

Hymns almost surpasses Recreation Day and In Search of Truth, but those two are God-tier.  Hymns is just demi-god-tier.    

As for his (and everyone's) parts on 01011001 ... https://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/ayreon/01011001.html

I'm looking forward to The Atlantic - hoping it's more like Hymns than it is like The Storm Within - not that the latter isn't good, it's just not great

[Evermind]

You just gave me a lot of "wow, that's Tom Englund?" and "wow, that was also Tom Englund?" reactions. I even remember all these passages and still I'm not really sure it's Tom on these. I've got to listen to 01 again, I guess.

It's 11 P.M. and I'm working this weekend, I think I'll pass on posting the next update today and just do two of them tomorrow.

[wolfking]

An absolutely amazing album.

[Evermind]

Getting up at 5 A.M. on weekends sucks. I'm so knackered right now.

#9
Number Seven
Phideaux
Genre: progressive rock / art rock
2009
Recommended to me by: Dr. DTVT

Every once in a while, someone on DTF recommends me an utterly obscure album by a similarly obscure band, and I happen to fall in love with it. You may argue that Phideaux isn’t even that obscure really, that he has nine or ten studio albums, that he was singing on Ayreon’s 01011001, but in all honesty, I’ve almost never seen Phideaux being discussed anywhere, and even on DTF it’s a rare occasion—maybe a bit less rare now that his long-awaited latest album called Infernal is out, but still. And that’s a shame, because at least three albums by this project are spectacular progressive rock releases, and if I didn’t set the rule of no repeats unless the albums are drastically different or unless I feel like cheating a bit, both Snowtorch and Doomsday Afternoon would’ve appeared somewhere in Top 40. As indicated by this album’s placement, however, not only I consider Number Seven to be a stellar release, I also consider Phideaux to be one of my best DTF discoveries, courtesy of Mason sending them in my second roulette. What’s ironic is that I don’t own any of his albums’ physical copies, which I probably should rectify soon with all those overtime hours I’m putting in these last two weeks.

And what is so alluring about this band and album? I guess it could be the use of different vocalists, but instead of doing it the way of Avantasia and Ayreon where each singer represents his and her own character, Phideaux seems to simply utilize the voices available to fit the songs and enhance them. It might be the general sparseness of electric guitars and a lot of piano and strings and woodwinds, which kind of makes his music similar to Big Big Train, only I happen to enjoy it more. It could be the incredible sense of melody Phideaux Xavier has, and while some would say he’s not gifted with great singing capabilities, he makes the best use of his own voice and employs some pretty much unknown, but fantastic singers—kind of like Steven Wilson does. It also might be that this band insists on doing the things their own way, because I haven’t heard another album like Number Seven, and while other albums by Phideaux aren’t quite on that level, I would say this band has certainly found their own identity, and has been maintaining it for a long time now.

While you may think of this as of hipster prog rock, judging by the questionable cover and by the fact the album is a concept record telling a story about the dormouse who is the main protagonist, I urge you guys to try it. This is certainly not the conventional progressive rock Neal Morse or Mystery or IQ are doing, but it doesn’t make it less valid or enjoyable. Unless I’ve sent you this in your roulette—and there are a few people that received it either from me or Mason, Chad and Parama included—and you didn’t like it, I invite you to give this album a spin. If by the 30 minutes mark you are still not convinced, then skip it and come back for the next installment, and if you are convinced, congratulations on discovering this band.

Favourite songs: Waiting for the Axe to Fall (YouTube, Spotify), Gift of the Flame (YouTube, Spotify), Love Theme from Number Seven (YouTube, Spotify)

[Elite]

Never heard this one. I might try it.

[Bolsters]

I'm curious to read your predictions for Top 10.

I'm only going to look at things I sent in your roulette and speculate as to whether they might appear.


The Bonding was my highest scoring song, but it's an amazing song on a mediocre album. I think Edenbridge would only appear in this list if you listened to their best album as well, MyEarthDream. However I'm guessing you went no further than The Bonding, so they won't.

My next best scoring songs were from Arion and Pantommind, the latter having a decent chance to appear and the former having appeared already.

Thunderstone got a mixed review and average score (7.5) so no idea if you listened to that album. But I think it's a great album, if you did listen to it there's a good chance it could appear, but I'm going to guess that you didn't.

Circle of Illusion got the same score but no one I've sent them to liked them all that much. So even if you had listened to the album (going out on a limb and guessing that you didn't) I don't think it would make this list in any case.

I had two 8.5 songs (Burnclear and Pandora's Box). The Burnclear album is really only decent, not worthy of being in the top 10 here even if you listened to it. Pandora's Box is a strange album with some amazing songs but some weird filler tracks, I can't imagine you rating it as a whole this highly, but you likely haven't heard it anyway.


So after all that I predict that Pantommind's Searching For Eternity is the only other thing I might possibly have contributed to this list.

[Evermind]

Finished another exhausting day at work, only 6 working days left until the holidays. I think I'll be doing one update each day and finish this on 30th with this schedule. I won't take a break for Christmas, I figured if you guys are interested you'll just catch up afterwards.

Never heard this one. I might try it.

I think if I played in your roulette, I would've sent it. Looks like your kind of album.

So after all that I predict that Pantommind's Searching For Eternity is the only other thing I might possibly have contributed to this list.

Could be. Sometimes the recommendations aren't even that direct, I may see someone praising the shit out of the album and check it out just out of curiosity.

Regarding Edenbridge, I actually considered checking out MyEarthDream, but the album name looked silly so I didn't listen to it. I'll rectify that.

#8
Theories of Flight
Fates Warning
Genre: progressive metal
2016
Recommended to me by: DTF band thread

It should be expected for this Top 10, but I suppose this one will drive the point home: almost—with one or, depending on how you look at it, two exceptions—all remaining records and bands in this list are very well-known on DTF. Take Fates Warning, for example. I’ve heard of them before DTF, but didn’t enjoy much of what I’ve heard (parts of A Pleasant Shade of Gray and a few other songs I don’t quite remember not), and then Darkness in a Different Light came out. I decided to buy it on a whim, listened to it, and it did nothing to change my opinion. The mix was lifeless, the songs plodding and Ray Alder’s voice wasn’t doing any favours for that record.

With Theories of Flight, I noticed the new song posted in Fates Warning thread, and was hooked after one listen. This album does everything Darkness in a Different Light fails to do, and it does it on an entirely different level. The band sounds as energized as ever, as if they found that second wind. I’m not sure what’s the reason for their inspiration was, if there was any, but this album seems like it simply can’t do anything wrong. Only 50 minutes long with the same style throughout and two epic 10+ minutes songs, Theories of Flight never gets boring or mediocre. The mix improved significantly from the previous record, and Ray Alder sounds better than ever, reinvigorated and alive with passion. His performance on both Darkness in a Different Light and The Art of Loss had me worried about his voice, but this record, and the subsequent live release, Live Over Europe—which became one of my favourite live releases from this decade—proves the worries were unfounded. In fact, the songs from DiaDL sound way better on that release than they do on the studio version.

Almost all the songs have a certain fun groove to it, and the pace never slows down to be plodding. The closest it comes to the heavier, slower approach is in the second half with Like Stars Our Eyes Have Seen, which, coincidentally, is probably my least favourite song here—and it’s still very good! The first half of this record is a gold mine of progressive metal, the run from the opener, From the Rooftops to White Flag is unbelievable. And it’s not only Ray Alder that shines here. I always used to say (well, in my head) that if I notice what the drummer is doing, then he must be doing either a great or a very poor job, because I usually don’t pay attention to drums at all. On Theories of Flight, every song makes me pay attention to them—Bobby Jarzombek’s playing is intense and fun, all the different beats and drums and toms (is that a thing?) and tomtoms (is that also a thing?) and cymbals (he even has one behind him, that’s the first time I saw something like that) and whatnot settings the groove for the songs. You may have noticed by now that I have no clue about drums and drumkits whatsoever.

I wish I could’ve caught Fates Warning on this tour in Europe, but the dates didn’t align and they didn’t come to Russia, but this record makes me hopeful that they have another one in them, and while they’ll have a mighty difficult time topping this—and the impressive thing is, it’s their twelfth studio album—I’m curious what they will come up with.

By the way, I’ve been trying to get into their back catalogue, deciding to revisit A Pleasant Shades of Gray first, and while I enjoyed it more than I remember, I’m not eager to spin it again except for a few movements (the final one is great, for example). I’ve heard a few songs from both Alder and Arch eras, but I’ve no recollection of them except for the ones featured on Live Over Europe. I’d welcome any suggestions!

Favourite songs: Seven Stars (YouTube, Spotify), The Light and Shade of Things (YouTube, Spotify), White Flag (YouTube, Spotify)

[mike099]

Great record in Theories of Flight.  I tried going back thru the bands older material, but come back to this album.

[jingle.boy]

Theories is my one-and-only FW album that I own.  DiaDL and Art of Loss were mediocre at best, imo.  I'd asked for FW recc's from the Hard Rock/Classic Metal thread, and I remember being directed to Parallels and Disconnected, along with Inside out and FWX.

[Evermind]

I really like Art of Loss, but not because of Ray's performance, mostly because of the brilliant songwriting.