365 Albums In One Year

A few recommendations for good albums. I’m not sure how many you’ve heard.

Agalloch - The Mantle
Chevelle - Wonder What’s Next
Chevelle - The North Corridor
Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Machine Head- Bloodstone and Diamonds
STP - Core
All four Tool albums. (You won’t regret it)
 
A few recommendations for good albums. I’m not sure how many you’ve heard.

Agalloch - The Mantle
Chevelle - Wonder What’s Next
Chevelle - The North Corridor
Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Machine Head- Bloodstone and Diamonds
STP - Core
All four Tool albums. (You won’t regret it)
Thanks! I’ve marked down The Mantle already, I’ll be interested in hearing Gojira, STP is great but I haven’t heard a full album so that’ll be fun, and I’ve only heard Leviathan from Mastodon so maybe I’ll enjoy that one. Thanks for the recommendations! This is gonna be a blast.
 
Yes but I know nothing about them.
They exist somewhere between metal and pop. They have 3 lead singers, each with a different style of singing (a girl and 2 guys, one of which is a growler). It's like you take the heaviest of metal and the catchiest and most infectious of pop music and put them in a blender. If you're interested, I think this song ("21") summarizes their sound quite well, managing to be both one of their heaviest and one of their catchiest at the same time. Check it out, see if it appeals to you. If so, I'd recommend checking out all of their albums (there are five of them so far).
 
If you haven't heard much Gojira yet then you might as well throw in The Way of All Flesh. That album will kick you in the face. All of the Mastodon albums are pretty good, but Crack the Skye is God Tier.
 
@Number 6 whew, I wasn’t expecting to hear something like that. Not sure if I like it or not; any specific album I should try first?
 
If you haven't heard much Gojira yet then you might as well throw in The Way of All Flesh. That album will kick you in the face.
Yeah I remember a friend of mine liking it. If it’s in this thread, it’s marked down, so I’ll figure out when and where I wanna listen to it.
 
@Number 6 whew, I wasn’t expecting to hear something like that. Not sure if I like it or not; any specific album I should try first?
Well, my favorite is 2014's Massive Addictive. I think it's a nice introduction to the band, but if you're not used to this kind of sound (stuff like "21"), I think their self-titled debut album could work a little better.
 
More suggestions, since you clearly haven't gotten enough yet! :p

Dream Theater
Images and Words
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought

Symphony X
The Divine Wings of Tragedy
V: The New Mythology Suite
The Odyssey

Porcupine Tree
In Absentia
Deadwing

Steven Wilson
Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Haken
The Mountain
Affinity

Riverside
Shrine of New Generation Slaves
Wasteland

Threshold
March of Progress
Legends of the Shires

Ghost
Meliora
Prequelle
 
Should stay that way, worst "metal band" ever.

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They exist somewhere between metal and pop. They have 3 lead singers, each with a different style of singing (a girl and 2 guys, one of which is a growler). It's like you take the heaviest of metal and the catchiest and most infectious of pop music and put them in a blender. If you're interested, I think this song ("21") summarizes their sound quite well, managing to be both one of their heaviest and one of their catchiest at the same time. Check it out, see if it appeals to you. If so, I'd recommend checking out all of their albums (there are five of them so far).
They are Rihanna with guitars.
 
I adore The Chemical Wedding, I love Accident of Birth, I like Tyranny of Souls, and I think that Balls to Picasso is okay. Time to dip into Roy Z's work outside of Bruce's solo career.

HALFORD - RESURRECTION
halford-resurrection-20150812072151.jpg

Album 3/365

Tracks:
  1. "Resurrection" - Not the opening I was expecting, but that opening high note is pretty great and the guitars sound quite nice. Rob sounds great on this song. It's a really strong song, but I don't think it's outstanding necessarily. Still, this looks like it'll be a pretty good album. 8/10
  2. "Made In Hell" - Cool lower vocals here, but god, these lyrics are cheesy as fuck. The rest of the song is decent but not outstanding, and the lyrics hold it back from being what it could have been otherwise. 6/10
  3. "Locked and Loaded" - Decent verse, but damn that chorus is bland. In these days of constant shootings, the lyrics just don't rub me the right way. Bland song. 5/10
  4. "Night Fall" - Much better than the previous two songs, thankfully. Better lyrics and a pretty cool chorus. Not an outstanding song, but it's a nice listen. 8/10
  5. "Silent Screams" - Pretty interesting quiet opening before we hit heaviness. It's some emotional stuff, and I like the lyrics here. The faster bit halfway in is pretty cool. Love the harmonizing high vocals at the end of that section. Great final chorus, too. This is a pretty awesome song. Won't call it perfect, but it's the best thing on here so far and I'll easily come back to it. 9/10
  6. "The One You Love To Hate" - Love this song. I first heard it some years ago on satellite radio and it's one I come back to a lot. Bruce and Rob sound great together, and the lyrics are vague in a way I like. This song is a beast, and it's fucking awesome. 10/10
  7. "Cyber World" - Another pretty strong song, not quite as good as the previous two, but I like pretty much everything here. Was debating what to give it, but overall I think I lean toward the higher score. It's good stuff. 9/10
  8. "Slow Down" - Pretty good riff, pretty good verse, but I'm not so sure about the chorus here. I like a lot of the other stuff here, and if the chorus was a little less wonky, I'd go a little higher in my score. It's definitely a good song, but not as good as the songs I rated an 8 or higher. 7/10
  9. "Twist" - Good god, my mind is spinning. Weird verse, weird chorus, weird song. The music is too happy for its own good. Maybe if this song was done with classic Priest it'd be better, but here... meh. This is even worse than the other songs I didn't care for. 4/10
  10. "Temptation" - Merely okay verse, but it has a better chorus which kinda reminds me of... pop. Something off of Agnetha Faltskog's solo albums, perhaps? It's kind of a nice novelty piece. 7/10
  11. "Drive" - Pretty great, brutal riff and aggressive verse which I like. The chorus is kind of a let-down, though. Overall, it's a decent enough song. 7/10
  12. "Saviour" - Not a fan of this simplistic verse structure. Chorus is a little better but it isn't... great. Was hoping they'd go out on a high note, but this ain't it. Disappointing ending that treads just slightly above average. 6/10
A mixed bag if I've ever heard one. Some of these songs are great, some of them are... really bland. A lot of the issues are ones that you could also bring up with Priest (lyrical content for a start). That being said, Rob sounds great on almost every song, and the rest of the band does a really good job as well. Also, Roy Z does a great job with the production here, which is awesome. Overall, it's far above the rot that was Jugulator, but it's not as good as Demolition (though the high notes [at least "The One You Love To Hate"] are better). It's a solid album with a few too many blunders but enough good stuff to keep it interesting. I can see myself returning to it in future.

Rating: 70%
 
Nightwish continues for Round 2.

NIGHTWISH - OCEANBORN
2.+Oceanborn.jpg

Album 4/365

Tracks:

  1. "Stargazers" - Really cool opening, but I guess that's something you can expect from Nightwish. There's nothing bad about this song by any means, but I can't say it's a style I like much. Still, I can round it up because the cool moments are pretty cool. 7/10
  2. "Gethsemane" - I like this song a lot more though. The blended of metal and symphonics works better on this album than it did on the last album, and on this song it really captures the feel of Christ in the garden. Lovely lyrics, too. 8/10
  3. "Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean" - Some great moments, some not-so-great moments. Interesting song, but not as successful as I'd like it to be. Overall it's good though. 7/10
  4. "Sacrament of Wilderness" - So-so beginning but that ending was immense. 8/10
  5. "Passion and the Opera" - This was a really cool song with a lot of nice melding moments going on. The music plus vocalizing from Tarja makes for some really beautiful stuff. 8/10
  6. "Swanheart" - This song highlights the fact that Tarja isn't exactly the best at pronouncing English words but also that it doesn't matter because she's a fucking master at singing. Another pretty cool song with a lot of cool moments. 8/10
  7. "Moondance" - Nothing more than a cool instrumental, but it needn't be more than that. 7/10
  8. "The Riddler" - This opening sounds like ABBA gone metal. Another good, strong, pretty cool song. 8/10
  9. "The Pharaoh Sails To Orion" - Another song in the same sort of style as "Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean", but I think this one is more successful. Lots of good stuff throughout. 8/10
  10. "Walking In The Air" - Feels like something out of a Beatrix Potter book... and I like it. Great ending to the album. 8/10
Bonus:
  • "Sleeping Sun" - A really nice power ballad. Great stuff. 8/10
None of these songs really come out and grab me in a headlock and keep me there, but they don't have to, because this is a very consistent record that gets better as it goes along, and has no real weak songs. Good stuff.

Rating: 80%
 
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