Katt's Top 50 Albums v. I bless the rains down in Africa [#1]

[TAC]

I would've said it's their worst since Siege Perilous but The Shadow Theory exists so there's that. Picking this over Karma, Epica and The Black Halo is honestly sacrilege.

(SPOILERS) Next up on Katt's list:

Metallica - St. Anger
Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name
Helloween - Chameleon
Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse
Iron Maiden - Virtual X

Oh no. I forgot about Sonata Arctica.

[TAC]

OK, I've listened to the first 7 or 8 songs. I can tell already that this is probably the best thing I've heard from them.

It actually sounds original, which cannot be said about everything else I've heard from them. I've considered Kamelot to be one of the most overhyped band going. Honestly they bore me to tears, but this album is actually pretty good.

[The Walrus]

I would've said it's their worst since Siege Perilous but The Shadow Theory exists so there's that. Picking this over Karma, Epica and The Black Halo is honestly sacrilege.

(SPOILERS) Next up on Katt's list:

Metallica - St. Anger
Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name
Helloween - Chameleon
Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse
Iron Maiden - Virtual X

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh. Virtual X is the worst Maiden album by a country mile. Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? St. Anger is an abomination. Stones is fucking awesome.   

Karma and Epica have so much filler it amazes me that people put them on a pedestal. Always has, from the first listen. Never got the hype.

Glad you're enjoying it, TAC!!

[TAC]

Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? 

They most certainly did.

[The Walrus]

Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? 

They most certainly did.

The joke






TAC's head

 

[Evermind]

I would've said it's their worst since Siege Perilous but The Shadow Theory exists so there's that. Picking this over Karma, Epica and The Black Halo is honestly sacrilege.

(SPOILERS) Next up on Katt's list:

Metallica - St. Anger
Sonata Arctica - Stones Grow Her Name
Helloween - Chameleon
Evergrey - Monday Morning Apocalypse
Iron Maiden - Virtual X

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh. Virtual X is the worst Maiden album by a country mile. Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? St. Anger is an abomination. Stones is fucking awesome.   

So you're saying I've got at least three out of five correct.

Karma and Epica have no filler at all. It's like dark-ish power metal at its finest. I don't know. Given that you like Aquaria and Stratovarius, it's bizarre to me how you enjoy Poetry for the Poisoned more than Karma. I just can't wrap my head around that.

Tastes are funny sometimes.

[The Walrus]

There's only 4 worthwhile songs between both of them. Karma, Forever, Farewell, Center of the Universe. Seriously the rest of those albums are booooooring. Poetry at least stirs up some emotion in me. :/

They're just boring and forgettable. Kamelot has a great 3 album run from Halo through Poetry. Outside of that they're way hit and miss. I know I'm in the minority though... bigly.

[Evermind]

There's only 4 worthwhile songs between both of them. Karma, Forever, Farewell, Center of the Universe. Seriously the rest of those albums are booooooring. Poetry at least stirs up some emotion in me. :/

Man, I'm gonna yeet the fuck out of this thread now and come back when the next update is up.

[The Walrus]

HAHAHA. Wait til you see some of the albums in the top 20...

[Lethean]

Kamelot has a great 3 album run from Halo through Poetry. Outside of that they're way hit and miss. I know I'm in the minority though... bigly.

I more or less agree with this. Karma is the first time I heard, so I have good feelings about it, but I don't listen to it very often.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? 

They most certainly did.

The 90's sure were a bad decade for Helloween. Pink Bubbles, Chameleon, Metal Jukebox....

[The Walrus]

Oh by the way, a couple months ago I had a quiet reckoning with myself on a VERY longstanding opinion of mine. It's finally changed. Kade is not going to like it. I had to be super double ultra mega sure about this decision, but I'll make note of it when we get there. Which is actually...

... the next update! 

[TAC]

Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? 

They most certainly did.

The 90's sure were a bad decade for Helloween. Pink Bubbles, Chameleon, Metal Jukebox....

Pink Bubbles has aged really well, and has a bunch of great tunes.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

[TAC]

The Chance
Kids Of the Century
Your Turn
Someone's Crying

All excellent.


The only song I don't really care for is Heavy Metal Hamster which blows.

[The Walrus]

[TAC]

The Chance
Kids Of the Century
Your Turn
Someone's Crying

All excellent.


The only song I don't really care for is Heavy Metal Hamster which blows.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

[mike099]

My first listen to Kamelot and I really like this Album. I really need to check out some of the other albums. 

My first listen to Stratovarius and could not get into this band.

[TAC]

[Grappler]

Stratovarius - Visions better be on this list.  I like Infinite, but Visions is my favorite.  Infinite does some awesome songs though - Hunting High & Low, Phoenix, A Million Light Years Away (I love this one....so very 'not" Stratovarius sounding), and the title track. 

Kamelot - Poetry has some cool songs, but by this time, it was just starting to feel a bit of the same.  "Oh, here's the song where Simone Simons guests....for the third album in a row.  I love The Great Pandemonium though, and Speed from Soilwork is awesome like usual.

[The Walrus]

Trust me... there's plenty of Stratolove to come.

[425]

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh. Virtual X is the worst Maiden album by a country mile. Helloween never released an album called Chameleon, you sure you got that right? St. Anger is an abomination. Stones is fucking awesome.   

Virtual XI is a good album and about 100 times better than Fear of the Dark. Also far superior to No Prayer for the Dying and a decent margin better than the wildly overrated Killers.

St. Anger is... not as bad as people say. It has at least 3 good songs.

Figuring that I should pick up some of Katt's slack with some bad takes.

[Cool Chris]

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh.

Never got the love either, and gave them a solid listen. The music was good, but the singing.... stop yelling every single word!

[Lethean]

I've never thought of Evergrey's vocals as yelling...

[wolfking]

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh.

Never got the love either, and gave them a solid listen. The music was good, but the singing.... stop yelling every single word!

WTF?

Amazing band.

Oh by the way, a couple months ago I had a quiet reckoning with myself on a VERY longstanding opinion of mine. It's finally changed. Kade is not going to like it. I had to be super double ultra mega sure about this decision, but I'll make note of it when we get there. Which is actually...

... the next update! 

Fucking bring it!

[jingle.boy]

I've got to admit, I've never even tried this album given its poor reputation. I suppose I'll have to remedy that soon.

This.  Will spin it later today to see what it is I am (or am not) missing.

[The Walrus]

Hope you like it, Chad! Story time.

I was supposed to have VIP tickets for Kamelot on the Poetry tour. I was all ready to go, and then at the last minute Roy quits the band. Gutted for a whole year (still have the VIP laminate the promoter sent me, though). Then they announced they were coming back with Fabio Lione. The show was awesome! Meeting the band was awesome! Fabio being horrified at us knowing about his dance music and then talking to him for twenty minutes in the parking lot was REALLY awesome!

What was not awesome was only hearing The Great Pandemonium and Necropolis from this album, and I got gutted out of (possibly) ever meeting Roy Khan or seeing him live. We'll see if that changes if Conception plays here. Oh well.

[Stadler]

The only song I don't really care for is Heavy Metal Hamster which blows.

??
!!
??
WTF?

[Stadler]

Virtual XI is a good album and about 100 times better than Fear of the Dark. Also far superior to No Prayer for the Dying and a decent margin better than the wildly overrated Killers.

This was like watching...  the Falcons in the Super Bowl.   First quarter? (Virtual XI)?  Wow these guys came to play.    Second quarter? (FOTD)?  Wow, these guys are the real deal.   Third quarter? (NPFTD)? Oh, my they are going to beat the f***(**g Patriots! Fourth quarter? (Killers)?   HAHAHAHA, Patriots win, Falcons fold like a paper airplane in a wind storm.   

[cramx3]

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh.

Never got the love either, and gave them a solid listen. The music was good, but the singing.... stop yelling every single word!

Yelling? Uh, their singer is fantastic at singing, I don't know most of their music but he sounds awesome on their newest album and I'm not sure he's yelling at all on it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Evergrey isn't that good in general tbh.

Never got the love either, and gave them a solid listen. The music was good, but the singing.... stop yelling every single word!

Yelling? Uh, their singer is fantastic at singing, I don't know most of their music but he sounds awesome on their newest album and I'm not sure he's yelling at all on it.

Yeah, I don't think he yells. He just cant sing well

[The Walrus]

I feel like the outcast who just doesn't "get" a vast majority of the famously popular prog bands. Evergrey is one. I like Recreation Day and SDT when I'm in the mood for them, but sometimes the songs are still too maudlin for my taste. And the two other albums I've heard (ISOT and The Inner Circle) are even more maudlin. And then I heard some stuff from the new album and it's even MORE maudlin. It's the Sour Warheads of prog. Blech. But at my first ProgPower last year everyone was gaga over Evergrey. I dunno, man. Voyager is the cool kind of prog to me

But most of my top 50 is also Froot Loop metal so my opinion ain't worth a buck three eighty

[The Walrus]

42.
AVANTASIA
THE METAL OPERA, PT. II
Power Metal

released August 22nd, 2002 via AFM Records



1. The Seven Angels [14:17]
2. No Return [4:29]
3. The Looking Glass [4:53]
4. In Quest For [3:54]
5. The Final Sacrifice [5:02]
6. Neverland [5:00]
7. Anywhere [5:29]
8. Chalice of Agony [6:00]
9. Memory [5:44]
10. Into the Unknown [4:29]

THE METAL OPERA, PT. II is

Tobias Sammet (Vocals, as Novice Gabriel Laymann / Keyboards / Orchestrations / Bass on 10)
Henjo Richter (Guitars)
Markus Grosskopf (Bass)
Alex Holzwarth (Drums)

FEATURING

Jens Ludwig (Lead guitars on 5, 9)
Norman Meiritz (Rhythm guitars on 10)
Timo Tolkki (Lead guitars on 1, 10)
Eric Singer (Drums on 10)
Frank Tischer (Piano on 1, 4, 7)
Michael Kiske (Vocals on 1, 2, as Druid Lugaid Vandroy)
David DeFeis (Vocals on 1, 5, as Friar Jakob, the Dominican Monk)
Ralf Zdiarstek (Vocals on 9, as Bailiff Falk von Kronberg)
Sharon den Adel (Vocals on 10, as Anna Held)
Rob Rock (Vocals on 1, 6, as Bishop Johann Adam von Bicken)
Oliver Hartmann (Vocals on 1, as Pope Clemens VIII)
Andre Matos (Vocals on 1, 2, 8, as Elderane, the Elf)
Kai Hansen (Vocals on 1, 8, as Regrin, the Dwarf)
Bob Catley (Vocals on 3, 4, as The Tree of Knowledge)

You can read my thoughts on The Metal Opera, Pt. II here if you feel so inclined. Just a couple final thoughts:

I mentioned earlier that I had a quiet reckoning with myself. I championed The Metal Opera II as Avantasia's best and greatest... but I also mentioned a struggle with another album dethroning it. The Metal Opera, Pt. II has finally been overtaken, and now sits as my #2 Avantasia album by a thin hair. In the end it came down to me not enjoying David DeFeis's performance so much, Andre Matos's performance not being quite as enjoyable to me as on another album, and the relative uniformity of the songwriting.

However, the core lineup of this album is so much more power metal than future Avantasia albums, and the guest list is star studded as well. Henjo Richter will forever have a better guitar tone and guitar parts than Sascha Paeth, I stand behind that. And The Seven Angels is one of the greatest power metal epics ever written. The sound of the choirs and guitars on this album is damn near perfect. Any power metal fan must listen to this. If you claim to be an Avantasia fan and haven't heard this album, revoke that claim until you've heard this.

In Summary: An undisputed classic for the power metal genre, highly influential, showcasing Tobias Sammet at the prime of his youth and full-bore power metal era of his career. One of the earliest albums to incorporate a massive lineup of highly praised and musicians who are influential in their own right. Perfect 2000s power metal production, an abundance of harmonized guitars, and just enough sugar to make your dentist hate you. One of my favorites from the golden age of power metal.

Katt's Favorites: The Seven Angels, No Return, Neverland, Chalice of Agony

[jingle.boy]

Perhaps it's because I got 'in' to Avantasia via The Wicked Trilogy, but I just find the two TMO albums to be really good, but not exactly wow-worthy.  There are some fantastic tunes in there for sure, but overall I still place both of them behind the three Avantasia albums that followed them - yes, even Angel of Babylon (but not by much).

Listened to Infinite and Poetry for the Poisoned.  Enjoy'd the latter more than the former, but Infinite was a good listen.  I suppose hearing it without the buildup of the run of albums before it (talking about PftP here) allows me to appreciate it for what it is, and not with any pre-conceived notions or expectations.  This is one Kamelot album that I haven't actually purchased, so I think I'll add it to my library.  Ooohhh... $10, and iTunes is selling a bonus Live at Wacken 2010 disc along with it.  Cha-ching