Recent content by Detective Beauregard

Love it! What were the other albums? BWP and Ghost Reveries?

Pulling for Opeth because I think this album deserves it. Heroes would come in second. Nothing else this year tickles my fancy. I gave Mastodon’s discography a listen a few years ago, but as far as I’m concerned they peaked at Crack the Skye and have been downhill ever since.

Easy votes for Ghost’s best album, a great start (and probably peak) for Nightwish feat. Floor Jansen, and arguably the most well-rounded and balanced modern Symphony X album (which still preserved their polymetric penchants, unlike Paradise Lost). Book of Souls is a decent album, but voting...

Very much agreed. I also get Winged Hussars vibes from Crossing the Rubicon, and Impaler sounds like something off of Primo or Attero. Sabaton self-plagiarizes a lot, but in these instances it actually doesn’t bother me.

8. The Mountain 7. Affinity 6. Restoration (mostly Crystallized) 5. Aquarius 4. Vector The top three switch A LOT: 3. Visions 2. Fauna 1. Virus What’s your ranking? For what it’s worth, I’ve been a casual fan since around The Mountain and Restoration, but really got into them when they...

I voted for Opeth, as Pale Communion is easily the strongest of Mikael Åkerfeldt’s Growless Vintage Vinyl Fuzzy ‘70s Brigade (this obviously does not include Damnation, one of the sexiest albums of all time). Heroes has some bangers, but as @MrKnickerbocker stated, it started their descent into...

I missed this round! Wouldn’t have changed anything though since Steven Wilson would’ve been my only vote. Contrary opinion, but The Mountain is my least favorite Haken album.

Very much agreed. It’s in my top three on that album along with Lines and Trial. Sad but true. Midnight Messiah has some decent melodies, but as fun of a song as it is on the album it’s quite stale live. The chorus of Night Terror is solid, and the “chorus” of Shadow Man is easily the catchiest...

I found Parasomnia to be underwhelming live - particularly from a vocal standpoint. Maybe it was just the melodies, but LaBrie sounded like he was just going through the motions. The exception was the Shadow Man Incident, which was pretty solid. The musicians were obviously on point as always...

I’ll update my opinion on Parasomnia after I see it performed live in two hours. As of now I think the music is excellent (love the harmonic minor riffage), but the vocal melodies really could’ve used some fine tuning.

My top 6 (in no particular order) are ToT, Images, Awake, FII, DT12, and probably ADToE. Bottom two are definitely 8va and Astonishing. Yes, I think SFAM is great, but I rarely have the urge to listen to it. It’s probably my 7th.

I love it, too.

Have fun! @MrKnickerbocker and I are seeing them in Indiana next Friday.

Can’t say I disagree. Clearly penned by Portnoy.

*whiskey