Now for some serious business...the Top 20
20. Novembre- Dreams d’ Azur: I tried not to list bands on here twice, but I felt I had too in some cases, especially with Novembre. As I previously said, this is an outstanding band and all their albums are top notch, including this one. This is actually a re-recording of their debut album,
Wish I Could Dream it Again. This must've been one of the strongest debut albums from a band I've ever heard. Throughout the album there is a very strong and gloomy atmosphere looming, making each song have a more full and involving sound. The heavy parts are usually just as interesting as their melodic interludes, and the vocals add immense depth to this already deep album.
19. Dredg- The Pariah, the Parrot, and the Delusion: Dredg's latest effort did not disappoint. This band just gets stronger with each release, and this albums proves the pattern. Probably their most catchy, involving, and thoughtful album yet, TPTPATD stays strong the whole way through. Although the number of songs can get a make it a more tiresome journey, it doesnt make it any weaker. The album stays true to the alternative rock sound they adopted in
Catch Without Arms, and in this album they continue to add more to that formula, all the while still exploring new and exotic sounds and experimentations throughout. This is my favorite Dredg album.
18. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory: My favorite hip hop/rap album of all time. The beats here are groovy, hard, and laid-back, all at the same time. Now, when it comes to rap, I hate the whole "girls are objects, look my bling" kinda attitude. Its an immediate put-off. Fortunately, this album has much more interesting topics to talk about, from the shady music industry, to the unnatural rise of date rape cases, to woman not being themselves. The rhymes have a natural flow to them, never sounding forced. Another thing that suprised also suprised me was the lack of obsessive profanity, something that stood out. Sure there is some cursing here and there, but its not to an excessive or offensive degree, and never takes away from the overall message of a song.
17. Madvillain- Madvillainy: Another rap album, but from a more abstract artist. I absolutely love the way MC Doom raps on here. He's very laid back, but very...well, abstract in his rapping. He almost has a conversational style of rapping, and the beats behind it (Provided by the famous Madlib) do a fantastic job of complementing the vocals. Another interesting thing about this album is that overall, the track are very quick and very short, lasting only 1-3 minutes (My favorite song,
Accordion, lasting only 1:55). This actually works very well for the album, since it cuts out all the filler and only leaves whats necessary, making this album very strong the whole way through.
16. Poe- Haunted: This album truly lives up to its title. Because im lazy, im going to copy/paste what I wrote about it when I made a topic for it:
"Although the album was released back in 2000, I just got it after hearing how good it was. And after listening to it, I can see why its called "Haunted".
I was driving home at around midnight on the quiet highway when I remembered I had just put the album on my Zune, but havent listened to it yet. So i decided to take the time at that point and put it on. Im pretty sure that 1). Listening to the album at night when its very dark and quiet and 2). knowing the background story behind the album made this listening experience one of the most interesting I've had. I have to admit that when the very first track came on, I got chills throughout it and it kinda scared me, and the first track isnt even a song
From Wikipedia:
The album also featured samples of audio recordings made by Poe's late father, film director Tad Danielewski. The cassettes were found by Poe and Mark after their father had passed away and were literally audio-letters to the two of them that spanned back as far as their birth. Thus, the album is usually interpreted as a real woman (Poe) singing tributes to her deceased father (who sings back) even while telling the story of a group of fictional characters (from House of Leaves).So basically she rearranged these "audio" letters so that she and her deceased father are "talking" to one another, and even singing in some points. The idea sounds original and interesting, but when you actually listen to it...well, it took my breath away.
So anyways, I recommend this album. And if you really wanna give it a true proper listening, do it at night/in the dark, with nothing distracting you.
(Taken from:
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=6800.0)
Topic: Volk's Top 50 Albums! (Read 15295 times)
