Maidenfans Best Albums of the Millenium: 2001

vote for any albums that you want to move up (read the post for details)!

  • Total voters
    8
Detective Beauregard said:
Just listened to Toxicity in full for the first time ever. Wow, it is exactly what I thought it would be.

Incredible Songs: N/A

Great Songs: N/A

Bad Songs: Prison Song, Needles, Deer Dance, Jet Pilot, X, Chop Suey!, Bounce, Forest, ATWA, Science, Shimmy, Toxicity, Psycho, Aerials, Arto

I’ll give them credit for being original, but seriously, that guy’s voice makes me want to put my head through a brick wall.
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Good shitpost!

If you legitimately cannot hear the quality in at least the three singles (Chop Suey, Toxicity, and Aerials), but think that the 79 minutes of edgelord bro prog on Lateralus is genius then you are beyond help.
 
Shmoolikipod said:
Only now remembered this, he never heard the song and he makes up his own drum part for it. I really love these videos.
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This series is awesome. It's really weird to hear a guy like Greg, who has basically spent his career leaving space for big personality musicians, playing something as intricate and wacky as SOAD. I actually really like his simplified verse parts.
 
LooseCannon said:
Why would I want to see? Ugh, it just all sounds like pathetic wankery to me.
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I know the pieces fit, man. You just gotta pry open your third eye and spiral out. Keep going. Cut away, snip away, and sever your insecure delusions. Once you reach the bottom of the undertow you’ll be sober enough to escape the prison song of your intolerance. And don’t forget your pen.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
This series is awesome. It's really weird to hear a guy like Greg, who has basically spent his career leaving space for big personality musicians, playing something as intricate and wacky as SOAD. I actually really like his simplified verse parts.
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Their versions are always great imo, but they sound so out of place when you already know the song. This version of the chorus is illegal. But I watched some of these videos for songs I don't know, and it's not like I could tell ya "yeah, no way that's how it's really played". A bit like when you only know a cover version and think that's the original.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
If you legitimately cannot hear the quality in at least the three singles (Chop Suey, Toxicity, and Aerials), but think that the 79 minutes of edgelord bro prog on Lateralus is genius then you are beyond help.
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The music is solid fun metal, but I can’t take the vocals, bro.

Lateralus and the albums Tool has done since are not “bro prog,” brah. I’d call a lot of the pre-Lateralus stuff (like the track Ænema) bro prog, but the only pre-Lateralus song that I really like (46 & 2) is not bro prog, let alone edgelord (whatever that means lol).

It’s okay to be wrong sometimes, broseph.
 
Updated Power Rankings
  1. Opeth - Blackwater Park =
  2. Iced Earth - Horror Show =
  3. Tool - Lateralus =
  4. Kamelot - Karma +5
  5. System of a Down - Toxicity +8
  6. Gamma Ray - No World Order -2
  7. Kreator - Violent Revolution -1
  8. Avantasia - The Metal Opera -1
  9. Sonata Arctica - Silence +1
  10. Devin Townsend - Terria +2
  11. Emperor - Prometheus -6
  12. Lost Horizon - Awakening the World -4
  13. Megadeth - The World Needs a Hero -2
  14. Converge - Jane Doe =
Lots of movement in the middle, as there were a few advocates for lower ranked albums and a couple albums that jumped up due to having the highest vote share. Toxicity and Karma each jumped into the upper tier thanks to having the second highest and highest vote shares respectively. Karma will need to outvote the top three more to move up any higher. A few albums paid a steep penalty by having 1 or 0 votes, those ealbums are Prometheus, Awakening the World, and The World Needs a Hero. These albums will either be more competitive in a lower seed or they will end up staying in the bottom four. It's a tough group though with several pet favorites on Maidenfans.

Mosh said:
Oh god guys please don’t make me unironically defend Tool and SOAD.
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It doesn't seem like these bands need defending, as they are each now sitting comfortably in the top
5 and received among the highest vote shares in the first round, although I'm curious if that will hold up. I will offer a couple thoughts on each though, as I think they're interesting albums that represent a pretty important time in Metal history for better or worse.

Toxicity - I'm going to come out and say that some of the best songwriting in this year is found on this album. The vocal harmonies, the constant push and pull between Malakian's poppier sensibilities and Serj's more avant leanings makes this a really unique product that works more than it should. Prison Song, Deer Dance, Chop Suey, the title track, and Aerials are massive songs for good reason, I defy anyone to find a more creative album that came out of the nu metal era. You can make the case that they are maybe more alternative rock or even progressive rock with more in common with Radiohead than Iron Maiden, but these guys are an important gateway band, and one of the better ones I would add.

Lateralus - Obviously there is an element of feeling like solving a math problem when listening to Tool, but I think some of the comments in here are swinging in the other direction of dismissing music because it's challenging. Lets not forget that Schism is likely in the 100 most recognizable rock songs of all time. Not bad for a nearly 7 minute song with a bunch of odd time signatures. Their ability to make complicated music catchy and memorable is something that I can think of only one other rock band being capable of, and it's a band that is highly respected around here. I don't disagree that the album has some bloat, but there are at least 5 all timers on here that at least justify the album ranking in the mid to upper tier.

Look, neither of these are bands that I actively go out of my way for, but some of the takes here are nuts. I think there's something to be said for Tool and SOAD being able to penetrate the mainstream the way they did at this time, and I genuinely think they were just as important to preserving Metal as bands like Maiden. I think they respected the tradition more than the Korns and Linkin Parks of the world, and a lot of the exciting things happening in and out of Metal today can at least be partially attributed to these albums gaining unprecedented mainstream recognition. Turn on the radio right now or fire up a trending pop hits playlist on Spotify and tell me with a straight face you wouldn't rather be listening to Schism.

I'll be following up later to try and campaign for my personal favorite on this list.
 
Voting for: Iced Earth, Kamelot, Avantasia, Sonata Arctica, and Lost Horizon, the latter of which definitely should be closer to the upper-middle of this list.
 
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Mosh said:
Lateralus - Obviously there is an element of feeling like solving a math problem when listening to Tool, but I think some of the comments in here are swinging in the other direction of dismissing music because it's challenging. Let’s not forget that Schism is likely in the 100 most recognizable rock songs of all time. Not bad for a nearly 7 minute song with a bunch of odd time signatures. Their ability to make complicated music catchy and memorable is something that I can think of only one other rock band being capable of, and it's a band that is highly respected around here. I don't disagree that the album has some bloat, but there are at least 5 all timers on here that at least justify the album ranking in the mid to upper tier.
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Spot on. Three of my top Tool tunes are The Grudge, Parabola, and the title track, while Schism and The Patient are nearly perfect in my book. I even like Ticks & Leeches as an anti-screamer guy (that chorus is excellent). I can understand the dislike for Tool’s earlier more immature sound, but I feel like Lateralus is the album where they went full-on science rock and just embraced it. I also very much like Fear Inoculum.

Also who is the other rock band?

Mosh said:
Look, neither of these are bands that I actively go out of my way for, but some of the takes here are nuts.
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I was being humorous with my post on SOAD. The singles from Toxicity are quite catchy, but I wasn’t exaggerating about the vocals. Not my cup of tea.
 
I actually like his voice too. The guitarist (forgot his name), on the other hand, should never have been allowed to open his mouth while recording.
They have a few good songs, but mostly I find little of interest in their music.
 
Confeos said:
I actually like his voice too. The guitarist (forgot his name), on the other hand, should never have been allowed to open his mouth while recording.
They have a few good songs, but mostly I find little of interest in their music.
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This is the reason why I fell off of SOAD after Toxicity. That dude's obnoxious voice became as prominent as Serj.
 
Updated Power Rankings
  1. Avantasia - The Metal Opera +7 (!)
  2. Kamelot Karma +2
  3. Opeth - Blackwater Park -2
  4. Tool Lateralus -1
  5. Iced Earth - Horror Show -3
  6. System of a Down - Toxicity -1
  7. Gamma Ray - No World Order -1
  8. Kreator - Violent Revolution -1
  9. Sonata Arctica - Silence =
  10. Devin Townsend - Terria =
  11. Emperor - Prometheus =
  12. Lost Horizon - Awakening the World =
  13. Megadeth - The World Needs a Hero =
  14. Converge - Jane Doe =

Some pretty major movement at the top with Avantasia and Kamelot taking the top two spots as a result of having the highest vote shares. I anticipate there are going to be some angry prog fans that help Opeth claw its way back up to the top, but it'll be interesting to see whether Avantasia can hold the #1 spot. I would consider it an upset victory if it holds, considering this is not a band that has a storied relationship with the forum the way Opeth and Iced Earth do.

I want to throw in a good word for my favorite album on the list, currently sitting toward the bottom is Devin Townsend's Terria, which, and I don't use this word lightly, I consider a masterpiece. Earth Day has gotten a lot of attention on the GMSC, but the album is much deeper than that. It's heavy but also incredibly melodic. It has the signature wall of sound, but it also contains some genuinely intimate moments as well. As a concept album inspired by the terrain of Townsend's native Canada, it is incredibly well executed. To me it's the #1 album here with a bullet, closely followed by Blackwater Park.

Diesel 11 said:
Throwing Converge an extra vote because it's 1,000x more important to music history than The World Needs a Hero.
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It seems to me like every year is destined to have one all time classic album that Maidenfans just doesn't like. In 2000 it was Dopethrone, this year it's Jane Doe. I'll be curious to see what other critical darlings get whooped on here.
 
Terria is a bit hit and miss for me, but when it hits, it hits. Deep Peace has one of my favourite solos of all time, and Nobody's Here probably makes my top 10 Devin songs.
And yes let's just keep Blackwater Park at the top, I had a great time today listening to new stuff but nothing holds a candle to it. Though I'll be happy with Avantasia finishing high. More vocalists = more awesome.
 
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