Retro Albums of the Year 2010's: 2020

[HOF]

1998 is a year where prog really starts to take over in my collection (though most of them after the fact). My first DT album that I owned actually was Once In A Livetime, which I did pick up that year. I’m including it along with Across a Wire because those were both really big live albums for me at the time.

1. Spock’s Beard - The Kindness of Strangers (2 years in a row!)
2. Enchant - Break
3. Liquid Tension Experiment
4. Marillion - Radiation
5. Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios
6. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
7. Van Halen - III
8. Pearl Jam - Yield
10. Counting Crows - Across a Wire
11. Ty Tabor - Moonflower Lane
12. King’s X - Tape Head
13. Neil Finn - Try Whistling This
14. Dream Theater - Once in a Livetime
15. Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis
16. Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up The Girls
17. Niacin - High Bias
18. Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet

[ariich]

Another excellent year, maybe a smidge less great than 1997 in terms of the number of albums I rate 4 stars or higher. But still lots of great albums from a real range of different styles.

1. Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
2. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
3. The Offspring - Americana
4. Soulwax - Much Against Everyone's Advice
5. Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth
6. Devin Townsend - Infinity
7. Freak Kitchen - Freak Kitchen
8. Borknagar - The Archaic Course
9. Arena - The Visitor
10. Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
11. Threshold - Clone
12. Morcheeba - Big Calm
13. Ulver - Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
14. Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
15. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Americana Deluxe
16. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
17. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment
18. Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come

Also good:
AIR - Moon Safari
Anathema - Alternative 4
At the Drive-In - In / Casino / Out
The Beta Band - The Three E.P.'s
Blue October - The Answers
Casiopea - Be
Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios
Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast
The Gathering - How to Measure a Planet?
Helloween - Better Than Raw
Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Power Milk
Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes
King's X - Tape Head
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Moonsorrow - Tämä ikuinen talvi
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
Shpongle - Are You Shpongled?
Elliott Smith - XO
Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers
Symphony X - Twilight in Olympus
System of a Down - System of a Down

[jingle.boy]

And I also prefer Parry on the Elegy albums. I wasn’t terribly enamoured with their earlier ones.

For me it's the opposite. I love Elegy's first three albums, and I'm not crazy about what came after. What I meant is that this is true despite the fact that I probably like Parry more than Hovinga. I mean, Hovinga certainly has a unique style, but the fact that he goes for the stratosphere so often gets a little tiring after a while  The songs are so good, though. I have a particularly soft spot for the debut, Labyrinth of Dreams.

May e I should give ‘em another try then.

[hefdaddy42]

1998

No particular order

The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop
The Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Patricia Barber - Modern Cool
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers
Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
The Lounge Lizards - Queen of All Ears
Massive Attack - Mezzanine

[TAC]

OK I didn't buy a ton of albums during these years but here we go..

1997

Bruce Dickinson-Accident At Birth
Mogg/Way-Edge Of The World
Flotsam & Jetsam-High
Gary Moore-Dark Days In Paradise
Dream Theater-Falling Into Infinity
Fates Warning-A Pleasant Shade Of Gray
KISS-Carnival Of Souls
Queensryche-Hear In The Now Frontier
Alice Cooper-A Fistfull Of Alice

Shows I went to..

1997..3/23..Kiss..Providence Civic Center
1997..4/5..Metallica..Providence Civic Center
1997..9/28..Bruce Dickenson.. The Strand Providence
1997..10/17..Dream Theater..Lupo’s Providence
1997..10/20..Rolling Stones..Foxboro Stadium





1998


Iron Maiden-Virtual XI
Bruce Dickinson-The Chemical Wedding
Anthrax-Volume 8: The Threat Is Real
Metallica-Garage Inc.
Black Sabbath-Reunion


Shows I went to..

1998..7/14..Iron Maiden, Dio..Celeberty Theater Phoenix AZ
1998..9/6..Alice Cooper..Mohegan Sun Casino CT
1998..11/13..Kiss..Fleet Center Boston

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Well after sifting through the 124 albums I own from 1998 I was able to dwindle my list down to 65 I think deserve to be on my list. Here is the full list.

Top 50 of 1998:

1. Arena - The Visitor
2. Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
3. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
4. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment
5. Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth
6. Rush - Different Stages
7. Anathema - Alternative 4
8. Death - The Sound of Perseverance
9. Gorguts - Obscura
10. The Gathering - How to Measure a Planet?
11. The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph
12. Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle
13. Falkenbach - ...Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri...
14. Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers
15. System of a Down - System of a Down
16. Outkast - Aquamini
17. Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns
18. Mystery - Destiny?
19. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
20. Motorpsycho - Trust Us
21. Amon Tobin - Permutation
22. Chroma Key - Dead Air for Radios
23. Appalling Spawn - Freedom, Hope & Fury (The Second Spawn)
24. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
25. The Living End - The Living End
26. Enslaved - Blodhemn
27. Ulver - Themes From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
28. The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
29. Marillion - Radiation
30. Primordial - A Journey's End
31. Devin Townsend - Infinity
32. Solitude Aeturnus - Adagio
33. Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
34. Unwound - Challenge for a Civilized Society
35. Threshold - Clone
36. Katatonia - Discouraged Ones
37. Paysage d'Hiver - Schattengang
38. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?
39. Superior - Younique
40. Evoken - Embrace the Emptiness
41. Bal-Sagoth - Battle Magic
42. Symphony X - Twilight in Olympus
43. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
44. Borknagar - The Archaic Course
45. Goodie Mob - Still Standing
46. Tristania - Widow's Weeds
47. Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
48. Imogen Heap - I Megaphone
49. Paysage d'Hiver - Steineiche
50. Hum - Downward is Heavenward

Fun fact - There are 3 albums with a question mark in the title in my top 50.....

[SoundscapeMN]

kind of surprised by the lack of votes for Jeff Buckley's Sketches album.

I know it technically is just demos, but I've come to conclude I enjoy it a little more than Grace even. There's some fantastic tunes on it, which makes the fact he died before he was able to properly record it, all the more tragic.

[hefdaddy42]

kind of surprised by the lack of votes for Jeff Buckley's Sketches album.

I know it technically is just demos, but I've come to conclude I enjoy it a little more than Grace even. There's some fantastic tunes on it, which makes the fact he died before he was able to properly record it, all the more tragic.

It's definitely great, and I considered listing it.

[ReaperKK]

kind of surprised by the lack of votes for Jeff Buckley's Sketches album.

I know it technically is just demos, but I've come to conclude I enjoy it a little more than Grace even. There's some fantastic tunes on it, which makes the fact he died before he was able to properly record it, all the more tragic.

I like it but I never listened to it all the way through and rated it so I left it off. I'll have to give it a proper spin at some point.

[WardySI]

Pretty good year 1998 considering, and lots of nostalgic value in these...

1. BRUCE DICKINSON Chemical Wedding
2. ICED EARTH Something Wicked This Way Comes
3. FEAR FACTORY Obsolete
4. CANDLEBOX Happy Pills
5. KING'S X Tapehead


And these probably continue in rough order too...

IRON MAIDEN Virtual XI
METALLICA Garage Inc
MONSTER MAGNET Powertrip
PEARL JAM Yield
POWDERFINGER Internationalist
ANTHRAX Volume 8
MAGNITUDE 9 Chaos To Control
HELLOWEEN Better Than Raw
STRATOVARIUS Destiny
VAN HALEN III

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

kind of surprised by the lack of votes for Jeff Buckley's Sketches album.

I know it technically is just demos, but I've come to conclude I enjoy it a little more than Grace even. There's some fantastic tunes on it, which makes the fact he died before he was able to properly record it, all the more tragic.

I've heard it a couple times and it never really stuck with me. I suppose it's time to dust it off for another listen.

[nick_z]

30. Primordial - A Journey's End

This is a band I've often seen mentioned and I've never explored...I see they've been around for a while, although their discog is not huge. Is this album a good place to start? Any other recommendations?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

30. Primordial - A Journey's End

This is a band I've often seen mentioned and I've never explored...I see they've been around for a while, although their discog is not huge. Is this album a good place to start? Any other recommendations?

This is probably the best place to start with this band. They did have 1 album before this (Imrama), but it isn't nearly as good. Then I would just work your way forward through their discography. They progressively get better up to To The Nameless Dead where I think they peaked. But all their albums are good.

Sonically this album is very similar to a mix of Fen and Blut Aus Nord, with maybe a touch of Enslaved.

[nick_z]

This is probably the best place to start with this band. They did have 1 album before this (Imrama), but it isn't nearly as good. Then I would just work your way forward through their discography. They progressively get better up to To The Nameless Dead where I think they peaked. But all their albums are good.

Sonically this album is very similar to a mix of Fen and Blut Aus Nord, with maybe a touch of Enslaved.

Thank you 

[SoundscapeMN]

1999

1999 seems like a year of transition. A lot of the stuff or artists I came to love a few years down the road were just getting started.

But in looking at it a little more in depth, a couple of things stand out.

There is a lot of depth good-very good (3-3.5 stars) albums. And even the albums better than those are not at a shortage.

There's quite a lot of prog metal, neoprog, and modern progressive rock. I remember 1999 maybe being the peak or at least plateau of the underground progressive metal scene. 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 I suppose also fit in there to a point. A ton of bands influenced by Dream Theater were coming out, and oddly enough, many of them pretty good, even as short-lived as they were.

Of course it was the year Dream Theater's Scenes from a Memory came out. A comeback of sorts, and an unexpected one for me, as I wasn't even all that clued into that much of their online activity in 1998 and 1999. Those were the days of dialups and going to the library for the internet of course.

And much the same with Marillion. The album came out and was unaware of it for a few weeks, etc.

SFAM was 1999's top disc as it had a ton of staying power for me. I listened to it for months. James LaBrie admittedly sounded maybe better than he ever had, etc.

1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory
2, Marillion - marillion.com
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Lost Trident Sessions
4. Spock's Beard - Day for Night
5. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
6. Dream Theater - Christmas CD 1999: Cleaning Out the Closet
7. maudlin of the Well - My Fruit Psychobells... A Seed Combustible
8. Opeth - Still Life
9, Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
10. sElf - Breakfast with Girls
11. uneXpect - Utopia
12. Tiles - Presents of Mind
13. Fish - Raingods with Zippos
14. Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
15. Owsley - Owsley
16. Little Hans - Wunderkind
17. Mullmuzzler - Keep it to Yourself
18. 3 - Paint by Number
19. Muse - Showbiz
20, Francesca Gagnon -  Au Dela Des Couleurs
21. Live - The Distance to Here
22. Mr. Bungle - California
23. Yes - The Ladder
24. Nexus - Detrás del umbral
25. I Mother Earth - Blue Green Orange
26. The Tea Party - Triptych
27. Xen - 84.000 Dharma Doors
28. Conditioned Response -In Flagranté Delecto
30. Jim Matheos - Away with Words
31. Pepe Deluxé - Super Sound
32. Zero Hour - Zero Hour
33. The Flower Kings - Flower Power: A Journey to the Hidden Corners of Your Mind
34. Evil Wings - Colors of the New World
35. Queensryche - Q2K
1. Giraffe - Giraffe

Concerts
2/2/99 King's X/Galactic Cowboys - Medina Ballroom Minneapolis, MN

[jingle.boy]

Yipee!  First.

Not mentioned yet:

At Vance - No Escape
Consortium Project - I: Criminals and Kings
D.C. Cooper - s/t
Dream Theater - Cleaning out the Closet
Evergrey - Solitude Dominance Tragedy
Freedom Call - Stairway to Fairyland
Ice Age - The Great Divide
Kamelot - The Fourth Legacy
Luca Turilli - Kings of the Nordic Twilight
Poverty's No Crime - Slave to the Mind
Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands
Royal Hunt - Fear
Secret Sphere - Mistress of the Shadowlight
Spock's Beard - Live at the Whiskey & Nearfest
Ten - Spellbound (got it right, this time!)
Vanden Plas - Far Off Grace
Vanishing Point - In Thought
Vision Divine - s/t

Lots of solid albums there.

[KevShmev]

I almost forgot how strong the 90's ended.

If I did a top 100, four albums from 1998 would be in my top 100, maybe even five, and 1999 would anywhere from five to seven.  Great year for music.

01 Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory
02 Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
03 The Flower Kings - Flower Power
04 Liquid Tension Experiment - Volume 2
05 Opeth - Still Life
06 The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
07 XTC - Apple Venus, Pt. 1
08 Spock's Beard - Day for Night
09 Wilco - Summerteeth
10 Neal Morse - Neal Morse
11 Jeff Beck - Who Else!
12 Yes - The Ladder
13 Pet Shop Boys - Nightlife
14 Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
15 Muse - Showbiz

[ariich]

Slightly fewer great albums for me than the last couple of years, but a lot of good ones still!

1. In Flames - Colony
2. Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
3. Silverchair - Neon Ballroom
4. Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VIII: Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
5. Tower of Power - Soul Vaccination: Live
6. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
7. Opeth - Still Life
8. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
9. Metallica - S&M
10. Engine - Engine
11. The Flower Kings - Flower Power
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
13. Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles
14. Ulver - Metamorphosis EP
15. Alkinoos Ioannidis - Ανεμοδείκτης
16. Hybrid - Wide Angle
17. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Also good:
Amorphis - Tuonela
Anathema - Judgement
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - This Beautiful Life
BT - Movement in Still Life
Cardiacs - Guns
Dark Tranquillity - Projector
Bruce Dickinson - Scream for Me Brazil
Feeder - Yesterday Went Too Soon
Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left to Lose
Gamma Ray - Power Plant
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada E.P.
Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight
Jamiroquai - Synkronized
Machine Head - The Burning Red
Marillion - marillion.com
Mr. Bungle - California
Muse - Showbiz
Randy Newman - Bad Love
NOFX - The Decline
Ocean Colour Scene - One From the Modern
Sinergy - Beware the Heavens
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows - Dead Lovers' Sarabande (Face One)
Spock's Beard - Day for Night
VNV Nation - Empires
Widespread Panic - 'Til the Medicine Takes

[nick_z]

1999...looking back, it's pretty amazing how much music I was purchasing...

The top 15:

Amorphis – Tuonela (Changing their sound again…and another success. “The way” is such an amazing song)
Nevermore – Dreaming Neon Black (Dark, heavy and powerful. One of my favorites from Nevermore)
Anathema – Judgement (a tiny step down from Alternative 4, but still great. And “Deep” is one of my favorite songs of theirs)
Dream Theater – Scenes from a Memory (a great statement from DT, I just don’t consider it a stone-cold classic, or at the top of their discography)
Angel Dust – Bleed (a breath of fresh air in the power scene, really cool album)
DC Cooper – DC Cooper (fantastic album, melodic hard rock/metal with sprinkles of power and prog)
Paradise Lost – Host (went a little too far with the sound, but the songs to me are still very much PL. Not one of their very best, but also extremely underrated, imo)
Opeth – Still Life (to me, this is the real start of Opeth mark II. Great stuff)
Porcupine Tree – Stupid Dream (first successful introduction of a little more “Pop” in their songs)
Slipknot – Slipknot (lots of hype too, maybe, but the energy here is relentless. Clearly, they were here to stay)
Steelhouse Lane – Slaves of the New World (one of my favorite melodic hard rock albums. The guitar work here is insanely good)
Liquid Tension Experiment – 2 (maybe lacking the surprise factor of the first, but plenty of entertainment in here. And When the Water Breaks is fantastic)
Lacuna Coil – In a Reverie (proper full-length debut from the Italians, a little gem of melodic gothic metal)
Grip Inc. – Solidify (another slab of great “modern” metal from Lombardo, Sorychta and the rest of the gang. Fantastic riffs and drumming)
Arch Enemy – Burning Bridges (my favorite Arch Enemy – they kinda lost me after this. Tasty blend of melodic death and classic metal)

The honorable mentions:

3 Doors Down – The Better Life
A.C.T. – Today’s Report
Agalloch – Pale Folklore
Fiona Apple – When the Pawn…
Breach – Venom
Caroline’s Spine – Attention Please
Century – The Secret Inside
Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
Collective Soul – Dosage
Colorsound – Colorsound
Crematory – Act Seven
Cyclefly – Generation Sap
Dark Tranquillity – Projector
Days of the New – Days of the New II
Dillinger Escape Plan – Calculating Infinity
Eleven Pictures – Superficial to the Core
Engine – Engine
Evergrey – Solitude – Dominance - Tragedy
Filter – Title of Record
Foo Fighters – There is Nothing Left to Lose
Gardenian – Soulburner
Gordian Knot – Gordian Knot
Hypocrisy – Hypocrisy
In Flames – Colony
Katatonia – Tonight’s Decision
Korn – Issues
Kreator – Endorama
Lake of Tears – Forever Autumn
Live – The Distance to Here
Meathook Seed – B.I.B.L.E.
Meshuggah – Chaosphere
Moby – Play
Muse – Showbiz
Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
On Thorns I Lay – Crystal Tears
Beth Orton – Central Reservation
Pain – Rebirth
Puya – Fundamental
Queensryche – Q2K
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Samael – Eternal
Sevendust – Home
Soilwork - The Chainheart Machine
Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
Spock’s Beard – Day for Night
Sting – Brand New Day
Sundown - Glimmer
Swan Christy – Today Died Yesterday
Ten – Spellbound
Testament – The Gathering
Tiles – Presents of Mind
To/Die/For – All Eternity
Toto – Mindfields
Tristania – Beyond the Veil
Type O Negative – World Coming Down
Vanden Plas – Far Off Grace
Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want
VNV Nation – Empires
Waltari – Radium Round

The lesser-known prog group is becoming thinner…

Dreamscape – Very
Dali’s Dilemma – Manifesto for Futurism
Event – Electric Skies
House of Spirits – Psychosphere

[ReaperKK]

Closing up the 90's, 1999:

1. Incubus - Make Yourself - 5/5 - One of my favorite albums of all time, watching them play this album in it's entirety 2 years ago was one of my concert going highlights
2. Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream - 5/5 - I didn't initially rank this album this high but it's really grown on me over time
3. Don Ross - Passion Session - 4.5/5 - One of the first albums to get me into acoustic instrumental music, this is my favorite Don Ross record
4. Limp Bizkit - Significant Other - 4/5
5. Creed - Human Clay - 4/5 - Not as good as the debut but really close
6. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory - 4/5
7. Rage Against The Machine - The Battle Of Los Angeles - 4/5
8. Metallica - S&M - 4/5 - Probably my second most watched/listened to live album behind PULSE
9. John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess - An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess - 4/5
10. Opeth - Still Life - 3.5/5
11. Third Eye Blind - Blue - 3.5/5 - Similar to Creed, not as good as the debut but still solid
12. Collective Soul - Dosage - 3/5 - Collective Soul continues to go downhill
13. Mogwai - Come On Die Young - 3/5
14. Sevendust - Home - 3/5
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication - 2.5/5 - Probably one of the worst sounding mainstream albums I've ever heard. This album is one of the few where I've knocked down the rating because of how abysmal it sounds.
16. Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning - 2.5/5
17. Tonic - Sugar - 2/5
18. Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want - 2/5
19. Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose - 2/5
20. DMS - ...And Then There Was X - 2/5

Looking back this is probably my favorite year in music so far, a lot of really great releases.

[WardySI]

1999 came with some big changes in listening, some new genres and whatnot and while that then continued to be a good thing, thankfully Maiden Blaze and Halford and a few others were all just around the corner to ensure some balance in the universe


1. SEVENDUST Home

2. HORSEHEAD Goodbye Mothership

3. DREAM THEATER Scenes...

4. CREED Human Clay

5. QUEENSRYCHE Q2k

CHRIS CORNELL Euphoria Morning
DAYS OF THE NEW Green / II
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE The Battle Of Los Angeles
NEVERMORE Dreaming Neon Black
EDGUY Theater Of Salvation
KATATONIA Tonight's Decision
MEGADETH Risk

[MirrorMask]

There is no contest in 1999. I don't even have to think about it:

1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memory

Absolute and utter masterpiece that will forever hold the symbolic title of my favorite album.

2. Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus - Act I
3. Kamelot - The Fourth Legacy

A bit difficult to fill out the podium, but both these albums are very solid and great.

Also worth mentionings in maybe-order:

Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Rage - Ghosts
Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
Luca Turilli - Kings of the Nordic Twilight
Gamma Ray - Power Plant
Royal Hunt - Fear
Edguy - Theater of Salvation
Therion - Crowning of Atlantis

[hefdaddy42]

1999

No particular order:

Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
Destiny's Child - The Writing's On The Wall
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Opeth - Still Life
Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose
Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
Creed - Human Clay
Spock's Beard - Day For Night

[HOF]

Just now getting around to 1999. A lot of good stuff here.

1. Liquid Tension Experiment - 2
2. Marillion - Marillion.com
3. Spock's Beard - The Healing Colors of Sound
4. The Flower Kings - Flower Power
5. Kip Winger - Down Incognito
6. XTC - Apple Venus Volume 1
7. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
8. Neal Morse - Neal Morse
9. Collective Soul - Dosage
10. Xen - 84,000 Dharma Doors
11. Caroline's Spine - Attention Please
12. Counting Crows - This Dessert Life
13. Platypus - When Pus Comes to Shove
14. Dokken - Erase the Slate
15. Big Franklin - Buy the Ticket Take the Ride
16. Mullmuzzler - Keep It To Yourself
   

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Ended up with 84 albums on my 1999 list, which you can find here. However I had almost 200 albums in my personal collection that I considered. It was very close between Dream Theater and Sigur Ros for the top spot.

Here's the top 50.

1. Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun
3. Incubus - Make Yourself
4. Type O Negative - World Coming Down
5. Opeth - Still Life
6. Dan Swanö - Moontower
7. The Black Heart Procession - 2
8. Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence
9. Paysage d'Hiver - Paysage d'Hiver
10. Dreamscape - Very
11. Emperor - IX Equilibrium
12. Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
13. Esoteric - Metamorphogenesis
14. Anathema - Judgement
15. Windir - Arntor
16. Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
17. Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
18. Bill Bruford's Earthworks - A Part, and Yet Apart
19. The Roots - Things Fall Apart
20. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
21. Gamma Ray - Power Plant
22. Agalloch - Pale Folklore
23. Tori Amos - To Venus and Back
24. Tenhi - Kauan
25. Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight
26. Dolorian - When All the Laughter Has Gone
27. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada E.P.
28. In the Woods... - Strange in Stereo
29. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
30. A.C.T - Today's Report
31. Marillion - marillion.com
32. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
33. Lake of Tears - Forever Autumn
34. Fish - Raingods With Zippos
35. Breach - Venom
36. Testament - The Gathering
37. Anekdoten - From Within
38. Neurosis - Times of Grace
39. The Tea Party - Triptych
40. dEUS - The Idea Crash
41. Chevelle - Point #1
42. Samael - Eternal
43. Today is the Day - In the Eyes of God
44. Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
45. Dornenreich - Bitter ist's dem Tod zu dienen
46. Summoning - Stronghold
47. Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
48. Mr. Bungle - California
49. Dark Tranquillity - Projector
50. Weird Al Yankovic - Running With Scissors

Not mentioned yet:

Rhapsody - Symphony of Enchanted Lands

This came out in 1998.

[MirrorMask]

Let it be known that for 1999 I forgot Virgin Steele's The House of Atreus - act I, which makes me a horrible person.

[SoundscapeMN]

2000

In the year 2000..

This entry was created awhile ago I think when I was doing these the Summer of 2015. Anyway, I have thought about this and have wanted to get back into these, and of course the biggest obstacle with them is time. Looking up dates, etc and then writing blurbs.

And what seems like somewhat of a new approach, I think I may be able to expedite them, much like my Albums of the Year countdowns by skipping the Blurbs, at least for now, and just posting the list/calendar/chronology of releases and release dates of those.

Kevin and PoS are the absolute stone cold classics, and there many records from this year from artists who I consider the best album from that artist (Doves, The Flower Kings, Porcupine Tree, etc)

1. Kevin Gilbert - The Shaming of the True
2. Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element I
3. Fates Warning - Disconnected
4. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
5. Call Florence Pow - These Are the Plans...
6. Transatlantic - SMPT:e
7. Spock's Beard - V
8. King's X - Please Come Home Mr.Bulbous
9. sElf - Gizmodgery
10. Spiral Architect - A Skeptics Universe
11. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
12. Doves - Lost Souls
13. Enchant - Juggling Nine or Dropping Ten
14. White Willow - Sacrament
15. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind
16. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
17. The Flower Kings - Space Revolver
18. Galactic Cowboys - Let It Go
19. Steve Stevens - Flamenco A Go-Go
20. Klimt 1918 - Secession Makes Modern Music
21. Mew - Half the World is Watching
22. VAST - Music for People
23. I Can't Believe It's Not Rock - I Can't Believe It's Not Rock (pre-The Dissociatives)
24. Sculptured - Apollo Ends
25. Chroma Key - You Go Now
26. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
27. Ulver - Perdition City
28. The Appleseed Cast - Mare Vitalis

Concerts
2/11/00 Dream Theater/The Dixie Dregs/The Star People - State Theatre Minneapolis, MN
6/16/00 North East Art Rock Festival
Happy the Man/Anekdoten/Iluvatar/DFA/North Star - Zoellner Arts Center Bethlehem, PA
6/17/00 North East Art Rock Festival
Transatlantic/Par Lindh Project/Il Balletto Di Bronzo/Thinking Plague/Nexus - Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA
8/13/00 Dream Theater - The Quest Minneapolis, MN
8/15/00 King's X/Podunk - The Quest Minneapolis, MN
12/ /00 Chick Corea - The Dakota Jazz Club St.Paul, MN

[ReaperKK]

2000:

1. A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms - 4.5/5
2. Sunny Day Real Estate - The Rising Tide - 4/5
3. Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water - 4/5
4. Coldplay - Parachutes - 4/5
5. Deftones - White Pony - 3.5/5
6. Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia - 3.5/5
7. Godsmack - Awake - 3.5/5
8. Tool - Salival - 3.5/5
9. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun - 3/5
10. Deftones - Back To School (Mini Maggit) - 3/5
11. Explosions In The Sky - How Strange, Innocence - 2.5/5
12. Ulver - Perdition City - 2.5/5
13. Chroma Key - You Go Now - 2.5/5
14. Amoeba - Pivot - 2/5
15. Collective Soul - Blender - 2/5
16. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 - 2/5
17. Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season - 1.5/5
18. D'Angelo - Voodoo - 1/5 - No idea what they hype behind this album is about

Some good stuff here but nothing really remarkable.

[jingle.boy]

The jingle.kids were born in 2000, so I still wasn't doing much (barely any) musical discovery at this time, but there was a lot of discovery done of albums from the turn of Y2K

Not mentioned yet:

Ayreon / The Universal Migrator (both parts)
Bigelf / Money Machine
Elegy / Forbidden Fruit
Enchant / Juggling 9 Dropping 10
Forgotten Suns / Fiction Edge 1 (Ascent)
Ice Age / Liberation
IQ / The 7th House
Iron Maiden / Brave New World (neither of you mentioned this one?!?)
Jorn / Starfire
Journey / Arrival
Magnitude 9 / Reality in Focus
Nightwish / Wishmaster
Nocturnal Rites / Afterlife
Poison / Crack a Smile ... and more!
Rhapsody / Dawn of Veeeektoooorrreeeeeee!!!!
Silent Force / The Empire of the Future
Symphony X / V: The New Mythology Suite
Ten / Babylon
TSO / Beethoven's Last Night
Vanden Plas / Spirit of Live
Vanishing Point / Tangled in Dream

Some real gems up there.

[nick_z]

2000:

As I'm going through my archive, starting now I am adding a star (*) here for albums that were actually purchased later (as far as I can remember):

The top 15:

Nevermore – Dead Heart in a Dead World (for me, the perfect balance of all elements making up the Nevermore sound. A metal classic for the 2000s)
Pain of Salvation – Perfect Element I (POS coming into their own. A journey of an album with many memorable songs and moments)
Fates Warning – Disconnected (Minimalist prog metal? Perhaps predictably, my favorite here is Still Remains, but this is a super-cool album overall)
Spiritual Beggars – Ad Astra (My favorite Spiritual Beggars. Michael Amott is on fire on this one)
Dark Tranquillity – Haven (a darker, moodier version of their sound. Love this one)
Novembre – Classica (back to a heavier sound, this is another great example of the Italians’ unique take on black/death/doom)
Deftones – White Pony (their masterpiece, for me)
Iron Maiden – Brave New World (lots of excitement waiting for it to come out. In retrospect, it might not be one of their very best, but it was so good to have Bruce and Adrian back. Anyway, I'd say overall it didn’t disappoint, and it’s one of the best-sounding Maiden records)
Porcupine Tree – Lightbulb Sun (I’m very fond of this album, their last of the pre-Gavin Harrison era. More stripped-down sound and great songs)
Angel Dust – Enlighten the Darkness (another great one from the Germans)
Everon – Fantasma (more melodic prog goodness)
Symphony X – V (a more “symphonic” version of SymX. Excellent record, before moving on to a heavier version of themselves)
Earthone9 – Arc’Tan’gent (very good “alternative” metal album - I listened to this a lot that year. Sometimes the screamed vocals are a bit much, but there is plenty to enjoy here)
Keith Caputo – Died Laughing (from Life of Agony’s singer, for the most part it’s low key and semi-acoustic…excellent songwriting on this one)
Zeromancer – Clone your Lover (very catchy industrial-tinged goth metal)


The honorable mentions:

The 69 Eyes – Blessed Be
Apoptygma Berzerk – Welcome to Earth
Ark – Ark
At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command
Blaze – Silicon Messiah *
Botch – We Are the Romans
Coldplay – Parachutes
Disturbed – The Sickness
Enchant – Juggling 9 Dropping 10
Fuel – Something Like Human
The Gathering – If_Then_Else
Helloween – The Dark Ride *
HIM – Razorblade Romance
In Flames – Clayman
Kent – Hagnesta Hill
Geddy Lee – My Favorite Headache
Lifehouse – No Name Face *
Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory
Matchbox 20 – Mad Season *
Misery Loves Co. – Your Vision Was Never Mine to Share
Nightingale – I
Nightwish – Wishmaster *
Orgy – Vapor Transmission
A Perfect Circle – Mer De Noms
Primary Slave – Data Plague
Sentenced – Crimson *
Smashing Pumpkins – Machina/The Machines of God
Spineshank – The Height of Callousness
Spiral Architect – A Sceptic’s Universe
Spock’s Beard – V
Stramonio – Seasons of Imagination
Theatre of Tragedy – Musique
Tourniquet – Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm
Transatlantic – SMPTe
Steve Walsh – Glossolalia

[MirrorMask]

Lot of great, solid albums in 2000.

Victory by a tiny little margin goes to...

1. Trans Siberian Orchestra - Beethoven's Last Night

Total masterpiece, I'm a sucker for these kind of stories. Loved it immensely.

2. Iron Maiden - Brave New World

Needless to say, Bruce's return to Maiden sent shockwaves through the metal world!

3. Virgin Steele - The House of Atreus - Act II

A bit more bloated than the magnificent part I, but still an amazing album.

Rounding out the top 10...

Helloween – The Dark Ride
Halford - Resurrection
Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet
Demons & Wizards - Demons & Wizards
Blaze – Silicon Messiah
Nightwish - Wishmaster
Dio - Magica

Definitively worth mentioning:

Therion - Deggial
Sentenced – Crimson
Jag Panzer - Thane to the Throne

Shoutout for:

Rhapsody - Dawn of Victory
Nocturnal Rites - Afterlife
Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
Stratovarius - Infinite
Hammerfall - Renegade

[nick_z]

20. Klimt 1918 - Secession Makes Modern Music

So neat that you are listing this one - it's their demo, even before their full-length debut!

[ariich]

Alright we're into the 2000s, now we're talking.

1. Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element I
2. In Flames - Clayman
3. Ulver - Perdition City
4. The Flower Kings - Space Revolver
5. Spock's Beard - V
6. Fates Warning - Disconnected
7. John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess - An Evening with John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess
8. Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper
9. The Offspring - Conspiracy of One
10. Freak Kitchen - Dead Soul Men
11. Infected Mushroom - Classical Mushroom
12. Morcheeba - Fragments of Freedom
13. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
14. Transatlantic - SMPTe
15. Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite
16. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
17. Arena - Immortal?
18. Green Day - Warning
19. Chroma Key - You Go Now
20. Helloween - The Dark Ride
21. Iron Maiden - Brave New World
22. Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
23. NOFX - Pump Up the Valuum
24. Ayreon - Universal Migrator
25. Sinergy - To Hell and Back
26. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
27. KBB - Lost and Found

Also good:
Blue October - Consent to Treatment
Borknagar - Quintessence
Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors
Cursive - Domestica
Dark Tranquillity - Haven
Gamma Ray - Blast From the Past
Erroll Garner - Trio
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
King's X - Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous
Klezperanto! - Klezperanto!
Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World
Maceo Parker - diaL: MACEO
A Perfect Circle - Mer de noms
Primordial - Spirit the Earth Aflame
Sona Fariq - Sona Fariq
Stratovarius - Infinite
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Beethoven's Last Night
Within Temptation - Mother Earth
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IX

[KevShmev]

2000:

01 Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
02 Transatlantic - SMPTe
03 Radiohead - Kid A
04 Ayreon - The Dream Sequencer
05 The Flower Kings - Space Revolver
06 Spock's Beard - V
07 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
08 Kansas - Somewhere to Elsewhere
09 Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
10 Geddy Lee - My Favorite Headache
11 Ayreon - Flight of the Migrator
12 XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Pt. 2)
13 Peter Gabriel - OVO
14 Ozric Tentacles - The Hidden Step
15 U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

[SoundscapeMN]

20. Klimt 1918 - Secession Makes Modern Music

So neat that you are listing this one - it's their demo, even before their full-length debut!

 

Yeah it's kind of raw, but it works. I'm sure there are some other fans around here, but they seldom get mentioned.

I happen to love that record, and the 2 records that followed it (especially Dopoguerra). Unfortunately the last 2....well when we get to those years, we'll see if they show up or not, lol.