Albums that have no business being good.... but are.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

I will concur with everyone mentioning Never Say Die. It's not my favorite Sabbath record and I definitely prefer the early doomy albums by a fair margin, but NSD is really solid and has a lot more value than most would give it credit for. I love the jazzy drumming Ward employs on there, especially on Johnny Blade. Junior's Eyes is also such an addicting song, that bass line is just-- *chef's kiss*.

[wolfking]

Never Say Die is a brilliant album.

[wolfking]

Edge of Sanity - Crimson 2

Edge of Sanity following up their melodic death metal 40 minute opus with another 43 minute single song I believe had fans scoffing.  I discovered both late, but find the follow up almost as good as the first one.  Crimson is an absolute masterpiece and cult status I believe in the melodic death metal world.  THe follow up should have failed, but to me, it didn't.

Which leads me into;

Insomnium - Winter's Gate

The band pretty much idolizes Crimson and was open in coming out and saying the deliberately went out to write a 40 minute song because of Crimson.  They wanted to do something different from what they were doing and drew heavy inspiriation from it.  It sounded a bit daft, but they hit this one out of the park.  Sensational metal masterpiece.  Clocks in at 40 minutes like they intended but not a second is unwarranted.  Excellent.

[Cool Chris]

A bit of an oddball for you prog-metal heads... The Monkees: Headquarters. Without getting in to the details of the history, kicking out successful producer Don Kirschner and giving the guys, who were really only a band in name only, musical and creative control of their third album should have spelled disaster. As Mike said [paraphrasing, I cannot find the exact quote] "It's like we had a good baseball player, a good golfer, a good basketball player, and a good hockey player, and decided to form a football team." Turned out to be a hit, went to #1 for a week, and would have been there longer if that album about Sgt Pepper wasn't released a week later. It is still highly regarded on its own musical merits, for a group of guys, who someone else said [paraphrasing again, I cannot find the exact quote] "it is as if 4 guys who traveled a lot by plane thought they had enough experience to fly one."

[Kwyjibo]

Highlander is an awesome movie!

I don't agree with a lot that is said in this thread but this here is just right.

[MirrorMask]

I thought of one: Savatage's Handful of Rain.

The band was struck by tragedy: Criss Oliva had died the year before. The band as we knew it was basically over, everyone was too grief stricken to consider at the time diving into another album, and so Jon Oliva basically wrote and recorded the album itself. He did EVERYTHING, he wrote it, he played drums, he did everything except the solos, given to Alex Skolnick, and obviously Zac Stevens sang.

So, we have a band emotionally disbanded after the tragic loss of a great songwriter, and a brother in grief writing an album all by himself. Shoud have been a forgivable trainwreck, right? .....hell no. Handful of Rain is a fantastic album and is completey on par with all the other ones. It's not the most famous but there are some seriously great tracks there, included the epic masterpiece Chance.

To even make a good album in those conditions was already something extraordinary. For the album to have one classic track that went on to become one of the most famous songs from the band is basically unreal and shows the greatness of Jon Oliva.

Morbid thought given the wake of Van Halen's passing: I hope he takes cares of his health for many, many years to come, after Criss and Paul O' Neill, we need to live in a world when there's at least an Oliva brother.

[Architeuthis]

Here's two examples of bands that made a great album with a different singer.

 Journey - Arrival
       Steve Augeri replaced Steve Perry on vocals, but it is a really good album the whole way through.

  Boston - Walk-On
        No Brad Delp, yet Fran Cosmo delivered!  This album is a hidden gem and never gets old. 

[IDontNotDoThings]

I doubt many people will agree on this one but:

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II

It's a sequel to a critically acclaimed album released 18 years after the original (long after many people say the band lost their mojo), it contains guest performances that more or less replace the original band, Geoff Tate was famously an asshole to everyone during the making of it (including going ahead with the concept when all the other members thought that a sequel was a bad idea), it was rushed beyond belief, one of the songs literally has MIDI drums that were intended as a placeholder. By all accounts you'd think it was a cynical cashgrab that only disrespects the good reputation of the original...

...& yet I love it.

[Max Kuehnau]

I doubt many people will agree on this one but:

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II

It's a sequel to a critically acclaimed album released 18 years after the original (long after many people say the band lost their mojo), it contains guest performances that more or less replace the original band, Geoff Tate was famously an asshole to everyone during the making of it (including going ahead with the concept when all the other members thought that a sequel was a bad idea), it was rushed beyond belief, one of the songs literally has MIDI drums that were intended as a placeholder. By all accounts you'd think it was a cynical cashgrab that only disrespects the good reputation of the original...

...& yet I love it.

go check out Mindcrime At The Moore then. Great live performance of both OMs and it even ties loose ends in the entire story and both albums. I won't spoil it for you. (a cameo by Ronnie James Dio included)

[Elite]

ki is............

the best album Devin Townsend has ever been part of

[IDontNotDoThings]

I doubt many people will agree on this one but:

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II

It's a sequel to a critically acclaimed album released 18 years after the original (long after many people say the band lost their mojo), it contains guest performances that more or less replace the original band, Geoff Tate was famously an asshole to everyone during the making of it (including going ahead with the concept when all the other members thought that a sequel was a bad idea), it was rushed beyond belief, one of the songs literally has MIDI drums that were intended as a placeholder. By all accounts you'd think it was a cynical cashgrab that only disrespects the good reputation of the original...

...& yet I love it.

go check out Mindcrime At The Moore then. Great live performance of both OMs and it even ties loose ends in the entire story and both albums. I won't spoil it for you. (a cameo by Ronnie James Dio included)

I've seen it, & I love that too

[MirrorMask]

Speaking of good sequels, Land of the Free II by Gamma Ray is a kickass album, and one of the best of their latter era. Not as good as the original of course, but it's chockfull of awesome songs. Nothing wrong with that album except the title.

[wolfking]

Speaking of good sequels, Land of the Free II by Gamma Ray is a kickass album, and one of the best of their latter era. Not as good as the original of course, but it's chockfull of awesome songs. Nothing wrong with that album except the title.

It was close to my fav Gamma Ray album for a long time when released.  It's a blistering album.

[wolfking]

I thought of one: Savatage's Handful of Rain.

The band was struck by tragedy: Criss Oliva had died the year before. The band as we knew it was basically over, everyone was too grief stricken to consider at the time diving into another album, and so Jon Oliva basically wrote and recorded the album itself. He did EVERYTHING, he wrote it, he played drums, he did everything except the solos, given to Alex Skolnick, and obviously Zac Stevens sang.

So, we have a band emotionally disbanded after the tragic loss of a great songwriter, and a brother in grief writing an album all by himself. Shoud have been a forgivable trainwreck, right? .....hell no. Handful of Rain is a fantastic album and is completey on par with all the other ones. It's not the most famous but there are some seriously great tracks there, included the epic masterpiece Chance.

To even make a good album in those conditions was already something extraordinary. For the album to have one classic track that went on to become one of the most famous songs from the band is basically unreal and shows the greatness of Jon Oliva.

Morbid thought given the wake of Van Halen's passing: I hope he takes cares of his health for many, many years to come, after Criss and Paul O' Neill, we need to live in a world when there's at least an Oliva brother.

Good one.  Really excellent album.  Alone You Breathe is as amazing as any other Savatage ballad.

[Lowdz]

I doubt many people will agree on this one but:

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II

It's a sequel to a critically acclaimed album released 18 years after the original (long after many people say the band lost their mojo), it contains guest performances that more or less replace the original band, Geoff Tate was famously an asshole to everyone during the making of it (including going ahead with the concept when all the other members thought that a sequel was a bad idea), it was rushed beyond belief, one of the songs literally has MIDI drums that were intended as a placeholder. By all accounts you'd think it was a cynical cashgrab that only disrespects the good reputation of the original...

...& yet I love it.

The only post De Garmo Tateryche album that's at least passable to listen to. I loved the RJD part.

[Peter Mc]

I’m probably going to be in the minority here, but I’m going to go ahead and throw The X Factor on the pile.

Everything leading up to that album should’ve made it a complete stinkbomb. But it actually turned out very very well. They would wait one more album for the stinkbomb. 😝

Please people, don’t put those two albums in the same league. TXF is a criminally underrated gem, and VXI is a turd. To call it a beer coaster would be in insult to beer coasters.

I agree that The X Factor was decent and Virtual XI is terrible (The Clansman aside). I wasn’t a big follower of Maiden at the time but why would you think it was going to be a stinkbomb? They have been pretty consistent over the years.

[twosuitsluke]

Double Brutal by Austrian Death Machine!

For those who don't know, this is a side project of Tim Lambesis, of As I Lay Dying. It features an Arnie impersonator on vocals and all songs are written about Arnold Schwarzenegger films, often focusing on his many, many one liners!

Sounds terrible right, but it's great (or at least I think it is). It's way better than any of that As I Lay Dying crap anyway 

[IDontNotDoThings]

I’m probably going to be in the minority here, but I’m going to go ahead and throw The X Factor on the pile.

Everything leading up to that album should’ve made it a complete stinkbomb. But it actually turned out very very well. They would wait one more album for the stinkbomb. 😝

Please people, don’t put those two albums in the same league. TXF is a criminally underrated gem, and VXI is a turd. To call it a beer coaster would be in insult to beer coasters.

I agree that The X Factor was decent and Virtual XI is terrible (The Clansman aside). I wasn’t a big follower of Maiden at the time but why would you think it was going to be a stinkbomb? They have been pretty consistent over the years.

ok first of all, how DARE you

[The Walrus]

Speaking of good sequels, Land of the Free II by Gamma Ray is a kickass album, and one of the best of their latter era. Not as good as the original of course, but it's chockfull of awesome songs. Nothing wrong with that album except the title.

LOTF2 doesn't get the respect it deserves. It's fantastic and imo a fair bit better than most of their other albums, certainly anything that came after it, even if the highs don't match the highs of other albums. But it's consistently awesome from start to finish. I remember introducing my then-girlfriend many years ago to Gamma Ray with that record since at the time it was the only one I physically owned (thanks Best Buy! what an odd find to see a lone copy of LOTF2 on the shelf there), and I looked at her last.fm about a week later... just pages of that album played over and over and over   

[Sacul]

I'm not completely sure it fits the theme, but David Bowie's Black star was not only recorded while he was dying of liver cancer, but he successfully hid it from the musicians playing on it, only the producer knew.

Yeah and being his last record and being so good it's unreal.

I'll also add Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Album's a big mess, lyrics are surreal, production is noisy and clipping, sounds like recorded with a potato, guy can't sing in tune, or just sing in general, etc. It's a record that shouldn't work, and for plenty of people it doesn't, but for many of us it does and it's a very emotional experience. It's beautiful.

[LudwigVan]

I will concur with everyone mentioning Never Say Die. It's not my favorite Sabbath record and I definitely prefer the early doomy albums by a fair margin, but NSD is really solid and has a lot more value than most would give it credit for. I love the jazzy drumming Ward employs on there, especially on Johnny Blade. Junior's Eyes is also such an addicting song, that bass line is just-- *chef's kiss*.

Bill Ward sounds great on the album. He’s just a fantastic drummer, one of my all time favorites, so unique.

[Stadler]

I will concur with everyone mentioning Never Say Die. It's not my favorite Sabbath record and I definitely prefer the early doomy albums by a fair margin, but NSD is really solid and has a lot more value than most would give it credit for. I love the jazzy drumming Ward employs on there, especially on Johnny Blade. Junior's Eyes is also such an addicting song, that bass line is just-- *chef's kiss*.

Bill Ward sounds great on the album. He’s just a fantastic drummer, one of my all time favorites, so unique.

See if you can find the VIDEO (as opposed to the audio, which is part of "Past Lives" and the Paranoid Deluxe box) of the "Live In Paris" show from 1970 (it's not actually from Paris; it's from Brussels, I think, but that's what the boot is called).  Ward is a MACHINE in that show. 

[LudwigVan]

Thanks for the tip. I will check into it!

[Elite]

I'll also add Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Album's a big mess, lyrics are surreal, production is noisy and clipping, sounds like recorded with a potato, guy can't sing in tune, or just sing in general, etc. It's a record that shouldn't work, and for plenty of people it doesn't, but for many of us it does and it's a very emotional experience. It's beautiful.

I hate that album

and honestly, I don't even really understand why I do.

[SoundscapeMN]

I thought of one: Savatage's Handful of Rain.

The band was struck by tragedy: Criss Oliva had died the year before. The band as we knew it was basically over, everyone was too grief stricken to consider at the time diving into another album, and so Jon Oliva basically wrote and recorded the album itself. He did EVERYTHING, he wrote it, he played drums, he did everything except the solos, given to Alex Skolnick, and obviously Zac Stevens sang.

So, we have a band emotionally disbanded after the tragic loss of a great songwriter, and a brother in grief writing an album all by himself. Shoud have been a forgivable trainwreck, right? .....hell no. Handful of Rain is a fantastic album and is completey on par with all the other ones. It's not the most famous but there are some seriously great tracks there, included the epic masterpiece Chance.

To even make a good album in those conditions was already something extraordinary. For the album to have one classic track that went on to become one of the most famous songs from the band is basically unreal and shows the greatness of Jon Oliva.

Morbid thought given the wake of Van Halen's passing: I hope he takes cares of his health for many, many years to come, after Criss and Paul O' Neill, we need to live in a world when there's at least an Oliva brother.

I consider Handful of Rain far and away my favorite 'Tage record. Chance is a stone cold classic, but the rest of the record is filled with bangers and flows incredibly well.

[ProfessorPeart]

I’m probably going to be in the minority here, but I’m going to go ahead and throw The X Factor on the pile.

Everything leading up to that album should’ve made it a complete stinkbomb. But it actually turned out very very well. They would wait one more album for the stinkbomb. 😝

Please people, don’t put those two albums in the same league. TXF is a criminally underrated gem, and VXI is a turd. To call it a beer coaster would be in insult to beer coasters.

I agree that The X Factor was decent and Virtual XI is terrible (The Clansman aside). I wasn’t a big follower of Maiden at the time but why would you think it was going to be a stinkbomb? They have been pretty consistent over the years.

I actually thought about bringing up The X Factor myself. My reasoning is this, No Prayer was just horrible and Fear was only a smidge better. Then you lose one of the greatest voices in metal. I absolutely love The X Factor and it helped in the reinvention and rejuvenation of the band.

EDIT: On another note, Savatage's Handful was also one I thought of as well. I agree with that.

[ozzy554]

I’m probably going to be in the minority here, but I’m going to go ahead and throw The X Factor on the pile.

Everything leading up to that album should’ve made it a complete stinkbomb. But it actually turned out very very well. They would wait one more album for the stinkbomb. 😝

Please people, don’t put those two albums in the same league. TXF is a criminally underrated gem, and VXI is a turd. To call it a beer coaster would be in insult to beer coasters.

TXF in My opinion is the most underrated Maiden album. I love the darker direction this album took and it really fits Blaze's radically different voice. I like VXI (Educated Fool and Como Estais Amigos are my favorites) there is no denying it was a step down.

Also the mix did Blaze no favors. He sounds much better on his first few solo albums that were produced by Andy Sneap.

[Lowdz]

I find Blaze's voice to be bland and monotone and can't listen to either of these albums.

[jingle.boy]

I find Blaze's voice to be bland and monotone and can't listen to either of these albums.

[Stadler]

This might even apply to the whole band itself, but here's another one:   Angels and Airwaves, "We Don't Need To Whisper" (though I like "I-Empire" better).

I'm not a huge fan of Blink-182, particularly the whole "skate punk, toilet-humor-with-porn-stars-on-the-album-covers vibe, but when Tom DeLonge left to form AVA, it showed a sharp maturity in both lyrical approach and musical structure.   Their third album, a weighty double set - Love, Pt. 1 and Love, Pt. 2 - which also served as a soundtrack to a movie (I don't know if it's real or planned) takes the concept even farther, and while DeLonge has since proved to be a little...  out there in some of his beliefs, there's no question that this is serious music with legitimate intent behind it.   

[The Walrus]

I find Blaze's voice to be bland and monotone and can't listen to either of these albums.

+1

[Sacul]

I'll also add Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Album's a big mess, lyrics are surreal, production is noisy and clipping, sounds like recorded with a potato, guy can't sing in tune, or just sing in general, etc. It's a record that shouldn't work, and for plenty of people it doesn't, but for many of us it does and it's a very emotional experience. It's beautiful.

I hate that album

and honestly, I don't even really understand why I do.

Yeah I also hated it for many years when I first got into it. Then one day I got back to it and fell in love with it. Can't really explain why, it just clicked hard

[Kwyjibo]

I find Blaze's voice to be bland and monotone and can't listen to either of these albums.

He always sounds like the caricature of a rock singer on those Maiden records, like he's mimicking it but not getting it right. On some songs it's better but some songs are almost unlistenable. And the songs themselves aren't really that great imo, so that doesn't help.

[Lowdz]

I like Blaze. Had a drink with him back in his Wolfsbane days. Nice bloke. Just not a great singer.

[Stadler]

I find Blaze's voice to be bland and monotone and can't listen to either of these albums.

+1

  , at least as regards TXF.  I find moments on Virtual XI that I like a lot; I actually dig The Angel And The Gambler.