Ultimate Paradise

So yeah, I planned on doing this for a long time (I know my plans predated my Umineko love), but I never got around to it. But hey, now I have; my taste in music is infamous and few users share my opinions (even my fellow metalheads), but that just gives me more reason to do this. So yeah, I'll start right now.

25. Across the Dark - Insomnium Down with the Sun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEnLbPiQ-WM), Against the Stream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4VXehnieU), Weighed Down With Sorrow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QySZZm0jf34)

So, courtesy of the guests, I found this:


All I can say is lolfuckingwut. I'm wearing a **** T-shirt for this album right now for Christ's sake. Anyway, I think my love for this album increased along with my love for emo metal in general, and this definitely compliments that love pretty well. Not the best Insomnium album, but that doesn't really say anything about how good this album is as much as it would for the other one.

yessssss

While I will almost 100% not love any of this I salivate at anything like this conceptually so gogogogogo

you didnt even listen to that **** bro

yeah i know but still

i'd salivate just the same if rondam made a 25 dumb viking band or whatever he listens to list

I will be reading and listening to this whole topic. Here's hoping you finish it.

Even if my taste in music is almost a minor meme on this site, I would like some degree of serious responses. I do like this **** after all, and I want more people to like it.

Of course, everyone and their grandma knows who Insomnium is, solol.

Well being serious I will definitely be following this.

And I think I'll be getting this album. Though I had never heard of Insomnium. >_>

I LIKE ABOVE THE WEEPING WORLD MORE THAN THIS OLO

So does that mean another of their albums is higher on the list?

Five bands appear more than once on this list. Insomnium is one of them.

24. Mare Nostrum - Stormlord

Neon Karma - http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Ur-Y3hxuIyY
Mare Nostrum - http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hMs398QhHOk
And The Wind Shall Scream My Name -  http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0Qd845gMPJ4

I find this album is fairly inspirational beyond the "epic" structure of the songs; Stormlord had existed for 17 years up to this point and had always had a good concept, but their musicianship was fairly lacking when they began. However, they kept improving with each release, and this is basically the culmination of their efforts. It impresses me when a band could exist for so long and still manage to continue to top themselves; it's more glorious than any scenario that they have ever used in any of their songs

Those got progressively better, I thought. Pretty good.

Hmm? All of these notable tracks start with the track that I liked the most. It looks like we already have a legitimate dispute!

doho

23. Sinthetic - Shade Empire

Pain and Pleasure: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BYgSV-7S078
Designed for Blood: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3dK8k-50cME
Human Sculpture: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=MU3AqxT-Nts

I like Shade Empire's first two albums for their musical imagery; Intoxicate is completely hideous (aside from Ravine), which feels great in a raw way. Sinthetic, on the other hand, blends an ugly and beautiful images together to create its sound; it's disruptive and disturbing, and manages to also be epic and aesthetically appealing at the same time. Of course, this would probably pass by someone who isn't into extreme metal, but at least this writeup will give someone a laugh.

EDIT: Also, it really helps that Pain and Pleasure is the best track that Shade Empire has ever made.

I agree with what you said.

22. Humanity Dethroned - Dark Empire

Possessed (We Are One): http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VbYh48RM71k
Humanity Dethroned: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zMtSVtanYTo
Haunted: http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=afYqEcotCaI

I think that the energy that was sapped from Persuader when they released When Eden Burns was transferred to Dark Empire for the purpose of Humanity Dethroned, since this is a lot thrash-ier than the previous Dark Empire release. It's like Jens Carlsson forced Persuader to transfer its blood to Dark Empire in order to make it more awesome. Oh, speaking of Jens Carlsson, he's no longer with the band; apparently the band managed to get Tad Morose's ex-vocalist Urban Breed to replace him, but he also left (hopefully to start on the next Pyramaze album). I think that this band is doomed, but at least this is awesome. Oh, I'll close with a fun fact: this is the only metal band from the US that's on my MP3 player.

Best stuff yet... which makes sense, I guess.

Mare Nostrum= one of my favorite songs by them. Almost 7 minutes of amazing. My favorite part is when the harp comes in with the ocean in the background, and what soon follows after. When the guitar comes back in with the woman singing, followed by the double bass with the final scream... sweet ****.


Edit: <3 Shade Empire as well

I'd say that all of the albums that I'll list have a standard deviation of about 3. Depending on my mood, that might not be better than everything than something close to it, or it might be better than the next album. There's no way that #25 will ever rival #1, though.

21. Above the Weeping World - Insomnium

Mortal Share: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4WWtUm8BeGY
Last Statement: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OdHpRAad_-g
At the Gates of Sleep: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=U-6YTW427Io

So yeah, TBizzle, you should have been patient. Here's my favorite Insomnium album; I like it for the same reasons that I like Across the Dark with the added bonus of liking the melodies found in this tracks a bit more. Not much to say that hasn't already been said, so eh.

Of course, he intervenes to be an idiot and when he gets his wish, he doesn't do anything.

20. In Search of Truth - Evergrey

Mark of the Triangle: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TP6p6c9NHNM
The Masterplan: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vVXKCXWTaSw
Watching the Skies: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7I7bgpSlHcI

I think that this was the second modern power metal album that I listened to (before MaSu's Redeemer), so I guess this has a special place in my heart. Beyond that, it's still an amazing album and is easily the zenith of Evergrey's career; it's probably one of the most approachable albums that I've encountered. Unfortunately, Torn is supposed to be a terrible album, so I guess Evergrey's future has become questionable.

Pretty good stuff. Second song was only okay.

Congrats, everyone who ever listened to this album thinks you're a total, **** idiot.

Success.

Alright, so I had an extremely shitty week. Time to continue this.

19. The Blue - Novembre

Deorbit: http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=IQ4Mmc7V3zw
Zenith: http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=-ol_AwsBqIU
Bluecracy: http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=0E5pYO2QhWo

Also from that one topic:


Oh yeah. Well, I can't remember what the one song sounds like and I can't be **** to listen to it, but still. So yeah, emo metal. Slightly less emo than some things to come, but whatever, that's neither here nor there. I love Novembre and I'm among the rare few who thinks that their latest offerings are better than Novembrine Waltz (which after the hype that was assigned to it, ended up being really disappointing when I got around to listening to it), and The Blue is no exception. I regularly find myself putting the last three minutes of Deorbit on repeat, but that's not to sell the rest of the album short.

18. The Diarist - Dark Lunacy

Snowdrifts: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KVrMRTw29G0
Heart of Leningrad: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4i2Z9aQJHXc
Aurora: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=9vBiiShzFjc

Oh boy, it's Dark Lunacy.

So, I'm listening to Weaver of Forgotten for the first time right now. It's not as big of a disappointment as Mercenary's Metalcorephosis, and I'm getting some amount of enjoyment out of it, but how do you go from The Diarist to this? I guess that's what happens when every band member from your previous set-up leaves the band. I guess that it's not as big of a blemish on their career as the one on Mercenary, but I still have the right to question this band's future. But still, it's not too bad; I wonder why every Dark Lunacy fan is bashing this album when every Mercenary fan is praising their latest dropping, but I assume that it has something to do with it being impossible to be a philistine if you like Dark Lunacy.

Oh wait, this is about The Diarist. Well, all I need to say is that it's Dark Lunacy. The descriptions that are necessary involve why this is so low, which is the fault of less memorable tracks than normal and some of the worst transitions that Dark Lunacy has ever made. Of course, that says little, except in relation to this album's title track, a transitional song that is aggressively awful.

I LIKE THAT ALBUM

Gonna retract something:


Hahaha, no. I was going to put Zero Nexus here, but then I realized that Zero Nexus has no **** reason to be above either of these two albums. That, and because this album actually does deserve to be up here, if not because it's superior to Sinthetic. I actually had a lot of issues with 19-17 (which, along with my depression, kept me from updating this list), so I ended up replacing all of them; go me! All of the replacements felt pretty natural, though, and this one is no exception. This isn't going to happen again because I know that I like the rest of my list, so...

17. Intoxicate O.S. - Shade Empire

Ravine: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bVPINzkMblY
Chemical God: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PhMwMVuuSIQ
Bloodstar: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=EskDw9SgltQ

I'd say that this is roughly on par with Sinthetic in quality, and on a good day, this might not be up to par with Sinthetic. That said, I like this album more; this is what really sold me on Shade Empire after Sinthetic failed to completely attract me at the time. This is the counter-argument to Sinthetic; whereas Sinthetic is beautiful, this album is **** ugly as sin. Don't be fooled by Ravine's strange presence on this album, because the rest of it is loud, twisted and very industrial. All of this while the vocalist adopts an even more disruptive and twisted tone to compliment this work. That said, those are compliments; those details are what makes this album interesting and entertaining. This hasn't elicited as many compliments as Sinthetic or even Zero Nexus (for whatever reason), but I found this album to be much more memorable than its siblings.

Also, I wonder how many albums I'm going to go through before Random realizes that I'm updating again.

16. Immortal - Pyramaze

Year of the Phoenix: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ADD8aUVlkgk
The Highland: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=16byHO-PxQk
Shadow of the Beast: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_AKwgStqIsI

In the same vein as The Diarist, the placement of this album does not need to explained from the position of why it's good, it needs to be explained from the position of why it's not higher. To be blunt, Matt Barlow can't fill Lance King's shoes and driving the band towards a thrashier edge doesn't work as well as the previous set-up did. Of course, the benchmark that Pyramaze has set up is monolithic; this speaks less for the quality of this album and more for everything else Pyramaze has released. Pyramaze is still amazing, so they've still managed to make this album excellent, if not up to par with Pyramaze's previous efforts.

ten down i think i can stop updating now

...nah.

15. Undead - Tad Morose

Servant of the Bones: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gTJiU8wPy6I
Corporate Masters: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=GyTYY7tey8o
Intro / Lord on High: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=eGLz3FLVUFs

Songs from this album were pretty hard to find, so the latter two aren't among my favorite tracks on the album. If you can, check out Order of the Seven Poles and No Wings to Burn.

Right after a Pyramaze album, how about that? So yeah, Urban breed is an amazing vocalist and this band is **** awesome. In spite of the fact that this album is relatively recent, it is actually pretty damn reminiscent of the releases of plenty of classic metal artists, both of its genre and from the days when metal just was. I don't give classic metal artists a whole lot of credit, including those that really deserve it, but this album really attracted me and I have no problems with actually giving it some semblance of the credit that it deserves. Gotta say, Urban breed-era Tad Morose was great in general, and I can certainly say that I'm expecting something great from Pyramaze now that Urban breed is fronting them.

Making up for lost time...

14. When Eden Burns - Persuader

Judas Immortal: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8wI4GrwVl9U
Sending You Back: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=RaZoVz-77HY
The Return: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=X_np0qN3s4s

...introducing the third member of my favorite bands ever, Persuader is here! Oh god, this album is epic; not many people place it alongside Evolution Purgatory or The Hunter for that reason, but I love this album for that trait. The epic tone of When Eden Burns is what made The Return and Sending You Back memorable. Of course, this album has lost quite a bit of intensity in exchange for this song, so I guess that we can't have all of the nice things in one package. It's a great trade, though; I would have rather had this than another Evolution Purgatory.

I think that I'll start making comments for the upcoming album from now on; I'd call them hints, except they're all going to be ridiculously vague. Anyway, next album... gee, I'm glad that I could find all of the videos for these songs.

13. Faustian Evangelion - Manufacturer's Pride

The Weak: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=xi5q0xHbC8Y
In Credo: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_GF69Il4mZs
Bleed Out The Sin: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=-brmGRyRjSo

This would be my third most played album on Last.fm; turns out that was enough to bring the band into my top ten, but then again, Scar Symmetry is there as well (not for long, though!). I don't know how to describe it, but I like the little touches to this album; ambient portions and other bits and pieces really make this album. This album has a recipe that sounds questionable (melodeath + synths is pretty much a killing description for most metalheads; it brings plenty of bad memories of In Flames and its legion of followers), but this album really did it well. It's still pretty aggressive on top of having a synth-aided atmosphere, so I guess that helps. I suppose that my only real problem with the album is that it doesn't really end with a bang in any form, but that's not to speak against the quality of any track on this. Eh, I dunno, this write-up probably sucks; when it comes to most of my favorite underground melodeath albums, the best description for why I like them is because I do.

Next album... well, of course this will be on this list, it's pretty **** obvious.

The Diarist was good. Quite liked the vocal harmonies.
Intoxicate O.S. was cool too. That first instrumental was nice with the piano.
And I have that Pyramaze album, so yeah.

Catching up. I'll get to the others in a bit.

Undead was quite good. I think Breed will be a good fit for Pyramaze.
When Eden Burns is the best thing you've posted so far. I'll definitely be looking into Persuader.
Faustian Evangelion was pretty good, though I couldn't see what really distinguished from some of the other stuff in here.

Faustian Evangelion was something that I just really ended up liking. I can't really say why it's up here because it doesn't have a lot of reason to be here beyond "it just is."

All the reason you really need.

12. Melancholy Beast - Pyramaze

Forsaken Kingdom: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8We9JbgXvWM
The Journey: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=dCsUbg_Cdk0
Legend: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=0917-X-D530

Lance King is a somewhat polarizing vocalist, mainly because of how high-pitched his voice is. However, his voice lends itself to the variety of power metal that Pyramaze plays, so it usually either improves the band or serves as another reason to detract it; it's not as often when someone likes the band, but dislikes Lance King. Obviously, I'm in the former group; I think that Lance King is a great singer and that his voice really supports each story in each song or across the entire album. I drastically prefer him to Matt Barlow performance, but that speaks less for Barlow than it does for King. Lance King's tenure in Pyramaze also created a powerful, yet extremely melodic variety of sound for the band that is preferable to Immortal's. For this album, the adjective in the title is apt; the atmosphere does sound rather down, which molds with the melody quite nicely. The final product creates something that I really like, yet I've never found either an alternative or a rival for it beyond the second of this band's offerings.

Next album... is definitely there for the same reason as Faustian Evangelion. Nothing stands out from it, but I still really liked it in spite of that. I don't think that this next write-up will be very good, even by my standards.

11. Silent Echoes - D Creation

Asleep: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=GbLF2eAT1DU
Fadeaway: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5dcYMhNX7oE
Drifting Forever: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jPGKXgEFU-M

D Creation is another underground melodeath album that I've really grown to like. Visually, this is the most played album scrobbled to my Last.fm account, but there is one other album that has more plays due to unique circumstances. Asleep is the second most played track on my account without any technicalities in the way and, true to form, it's definitely a track that I would rank as a melodeath masterpiece. This is another album that would be contested for its take on melodeath; namely, it has the highest pitched male clean vocals that I've ever heard and it's not focused on being heavy. This album is incredibly melodic; it's easily among the least extreme melodeath albums in existence. It's something repulsive to traditionalist, but the structure of this album is how I would like it, though; it's a ridiculously fun piece that is sorta relaxing as far as melodeath goes. This album is something that sounds incredibly good, but is never intrusive, out of place or exhausting; Silent Echoes is easily the most listenable melodeath album that I've ever encountered.

The reasons why the next album is present should be pretty obvious once I post the album title.

Not bad. Reminded me of Scar Symmetry somewhat.

The vocalist clearly has a million similarities to Christian Älvestam (If I'm correct, he also looks exactly like him), but the album feels more refined than any Scar Symmetry release. I suppose that it helps that it's not as obvious of a power metal/melodeath fusion as Scar Symmetry, nor is it as energetic, I suppose.

Lulz.

fuk yeah top ten soon

Opening up my top ten with...

10. Devoid - Dark Lunacy

Take My Cry: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=FrdI0KVrGL0
Fall: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UEHzmGgfXeM
Varen'ka: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Mlh8vPYc4lg

Devoid is easily Dark Lunacy's roughest effort, even when considering Weaver of Forgotten. It's unrefined in both metal and melody, its production is incredibly spotty and songs themselves have some strange song structures, often topped off with song lengths that should have been trimmed down by several minutes. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Devoid is an amazing album with some of the greatest melodies Dark Lunacy has ever produced and is easily Dark Lunacy's heaviest album in spite of the fact that it's also their most melancholic. The album is bogged down by a slow start, namely a solid, but uneventful set of opening tracks, but eventually transitions into what clearly serves as a reminder of what this band would eventually become. The album's end is significantly greater than its beginning, culminating with all three of the example tracks and more notably with Take My Cry, whose end is quite simply the greatest thing in the history of melodic death metal. Devoid is incredibly rough, but manages to be a great listen, if not a slightly inconsistent one.

Next album is contested within the band's fandom, and I have no **** idea why outside of the fact that "hur, it isn't br00tal nuff."

9. Materia - Novembre

Aquamarine: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TTLdQhDEF8M
Jules: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KjV_PpYPTiE
Verne: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=NEV_X9mo8oM

This is, without a doubt, Novembre's least extreme album. Not to say that Novembre was that heavy to begin with, but this makes The Blue and Novembrine Waltz look like Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends." This is topped off by the fact that 90% of the vocals are clean, which is a stark contrast from Novembrine Waltz and something that was not continued by The Blue. But you know what? Who ****ing cares? This album is absolutely beautiful; it's without any doubt the most gorgeous album in the entire list, and it still makes an awesome metal album. Out of all of the clean metal vocals that I've encountered, Carmelo Orlando's voice ranks as the second best. His talent is not in the least bit wasted during the effort, and it basically serves to reinforce something that is already amazing. So yeah, I'd like to repeat something:


When I said this, I ****ing meant it.

Next album is the last non-power metal release for a while. It's also the third-highest melodeath album on my list.

8. 11 Dreams - Mercenary

World Hate Center: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Tm0DfCZjxe0
11 Dreams: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PnjeWhQaJL0
Loneliness: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ACY4I2MBz4c

How the **** do you go from **** 11 Dreams to Metalcorphosis? Oh yeah, they went from Architect of Lies to Metalcorphosis. But still, Architect of Lies was pretty cool; hell, it was a runner-up for this list along with The Hours that Remain. How do you go from a great album to lolmetalcorphosis. It's like Cryptopsy suddenly becoming a deathcore band; how does a decision like this come to fruition?

It's pretty obvious that Mercenary spent the greater part of their career getting less and less intense. Starting out as a pretty heavy melodeath band, they slowly started leaning towards melody, and 11 Dreams stands at the point of equilibrium. It's more balanced than Everblack or First Breath, and it's more interesting than Architect of Lies and The Hours that Remain. I think that 11 Dreams is the only album to really justify its track lengths; there is no reason for First Breath or The Hours that Remain to be longer than an hour, but 11 Dreams manages to pull it off just by being... well, balanced. It drops most of the thrashy elements that plagued Everblack (except for World Hate Center, which oddly enough manages to be the best track on the album in spite of the fact that it takes a lot from the lesser two of Mercenary's first five albums), amplifies the melody and goes down a progressive power metal structure while maintaining a melodeath sound. Oddly enough, it works perfectly; it ropes the listener in with a killer of an opening track and keeps their attention with a great combination of melodeath and prog power metal song structures.

Oh god, that is the worst write-up that will ever be on this topic, oh god.

Oh, speaking of power metal, guess what subgenre the next four albums are going to be? The presence of all but one of these have been alluded to, so take a guess for the next album.

What's "mallcore"?

(http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/489/1300941408836.jpg)

That was the first time I had ever heard of heavy metal. When my parents heard of that, they went "oh boy..."

12 years later...

7. Legend of the Bone Carver - Pyramaze

The Birth: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=wX5hPxMwnPs
The Bone Carver: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=qw7ZnzCxUDY
Tears of Hate: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3Ye2iCYPQL0

Pyramaze has the distinction of being the only band that has its entire catalog on this list (ignoring the single band on this list that has only released one album). The band that came the closest to accomplishing this as well was Shade Empire, with Zero Nexus just barely failing to make the cut (and getting axed when I realized that it shouldn't be here). Admittedly, I have a few bands yet to come that probably would have contested this if I had actually listened to their other albums, but even then, it wouldn't be as impressive of a feat as Pyramaze has achieved. There's a reason why I hold this band in such high esteem, after all.

As a concept album, this runs on a different set-up than Melancholy Beast, even if the general sound and structure are similar. Bone Carver does not possess the fairly consistent mood of Melancholy Beast; the ongoing story of the album demands alterations to the mood as the plot advances, so we encounter such themes as hope and triumph alongside the downtrodden themes of Melancholy Beast. Every last bit works; Lance King weaves a great story, while the band jumps from one mood to another seamlessly as the story progresses. In the end, the album ceases to be merely a display of fine musicianship; Bone Carver makes a push into further territory by becoming a great story. This is, without any doubt, Pyramaze's finest hour, and it really speaks volumes of an album's quality when it manages to be the highest point for a band that has consistently released amazing works throughout its existence.

Three more power metal albums remain. This next one is probably the thrashiest power metal album on this list.

I'm going to do another right now, while I'm listening to it.

6. Evolution Purgatory - Persuader

Strike Down: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zBYmRtYYhNI
Sanity Soiled: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_6PdMWY8-r8
Godfather: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Qgiet5vGiXM

For a while, I used to prefer When Eden Burns over this, likely because it's the first album that I heard from this band. It's a fairly recent development that I've really gotten into this album, but now that I'm here, I'm in deep. This album is absolutely badass; it doesn't become epic by using flourishes like When Eden Burns did; it's epic just because it's just so **** awesome. As far as power metal that I like goes, Evolution Purgatory is very straightforward, but so much talent is put into its creation that this detail ceases to matter. Actually, it's not that it ceases to matter; it's what makes this effort so effective. This album doesn't attempt to find a gimmick or singular trait to attach itself to, it just starts naturally and culminates in something amazing. Every last thing in this album works; there is no fragment of any track that doesn't dig itself deep into every single fiber of your being. Even when it's not pounding your face in, it still has the capacity to grab you and not let go. Evolution Purgatory is simply an extremely powerful effort from a band that desperately needs to resurface and release another amazing album.

Two more power metal albums left. If there's any album that manages to be lengthy, yet doesn't overstay its welcome, this is it.

um

Legend of the Bone Carver is an amazing album title.

Opening my top 5 with...

5. A Flame to the Ground Beneath - Lost Horizon

Highlander (The One): http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OffF0e2h4TU
Pure: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SYdbLfLnIHk
Lost in the Depths of Me: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=v7joi4dKmkM

Oh boy, here we are. I have not had the pleasure of listening to Lost Horizon's debut, but it would likely have been on this list as well if I had. So, this is the most epic album on this entire list. Daniel Heiman is probably one of the most well-regarded vocalists in all of modern metal, and this is justified. Heiman can hit pretty much every note and pull every single fluctuation of his voice off perfectly. Of course, if you have ever heard of Lost Horizon, you've encountered many people who are perfectly willing to go on about him at length, so discussing him is beating a dead horse. This album has six tracks minus interludes, and pretty much all of them are very long. Highlander is and shall be the longest track I will post in this topic. There's no filler in any of these songs; no part of any song isn't integral to the final product, and further on that subject, no part of any song is expendable. There are no problems, no lost interest, nothing at all but probably the greatest time you'll have with power metal. Highlander stands at 12 minutes, and this is too short. I can't say that this is my favorite power metal album, but I can objectively say that this is the best power metal album on this list by a wide margin. This album is filled with nothing but epics; it's fairly progressive and it's not very heavy, but this album still manages to make Evolution Purgatory up there look like a nursery rhyme.

Next album is my highest-ranking power metal album, from a band that goes in and out of metal in general. Oh yeah, and it's pretty much the funnest album on this entire list; I've listened to it more than any other album ever.

4. Redeemer - Machinae Supremacy

Through the Looking Glass: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IXzHSxYvg-I
Oki Kuma's Adventure: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=akn75K6naws
Elite: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=939jpDE6qRU

Here we are, my favorite power metal album and the least metal album on the list. Redeemer is Machinae Supremacy's heaviest effort, in that it doesn't occasionally slip in and out of the territory of metal. Actually, Machinae Supremacy is pretty damn hard to categorize in general, but power metal is the closest subgenre that they reach, not to mention that Redeemer definitely is power metal. Anyway, this is the most played album on my Last.fm, but it's not displayed as such due to the fact that Redeemer has two releases, with a standard and Underground edition; I've used both at different points. It's not the most extreme album around, nor is it the most impressive, but out of every album I've ever listened to, this is the funnest one. It's the first modern power metal band that I've listened to, so I do place some sentimental value on it, but it doesn't really change just how much fun it is to listen to this album. The entire thing is completely entertaining from start to finish and extremely easy to replay without a diminished effect. This is another album that doesn't really deserve its place on an objective level; all of the previous three albums are definitely better than this. However, I absolutely love this album and I prefer listening to it over pretty much any other album in existence; on a list of my favorite albums, this definitely deserves this place.

The next album is very strange. It comes from the only band on this list that has only ever released one album, and it's the only member of its genre on this list. This is also the highest-ranked album on the list that isn't melodeath, so...

3. Tesla - Herrschaft

Human Soul: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=G2SZv7GclX0
Under Perfect Control: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KERiOyHcnFA
I Am The One: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=grx-6pL5sqI

Let's face it; electronic metal sucks. Rather, it's not so much the concept that sucks, it's the execution; I mean, I like electronic and I like metal, and I should like both combined, but nobody actually knows how this is done. Very few electronic metal bands have any clue of what they are doing.  It's not uncommon to run into a band that doesn't do anything outside of play metalcore or nu metal with some basic synths thrown in that calls itself electronic metal. There is quite a base for black metal, both raw and symphonic, that add electronic influences, but they hit the same wall. From another camp, we have bands have heavy electronic influences, but don't know how to fuse these elements with metal. It's not common that a band does it right, though this is probably because, if Herrschaft is any indication, this world cannot contain so much awesome.


Well, not quite, but close. Herrschaft is heavily bent towards the electronic side of the subgenre; it's not mere playtime with synths, it's full-on electronic with metal influences. Yeah, this is definitely more electronic than metal; songs don't run under metal structures, they run under electronic structures and the metal supplements them. However, at its peak, this album is still powerful enough to keep up with Persuader. This band knows how metal and electronic works, and they know how to fuse them. In spite of the fact that this isn't pure metal, it feels like it; this album is very effective. Due to its lack of metal structures, it's not consistent at all; it goes from extremely powerful tracks like Human Soul and Apocalypse Child to slower, almost progressive tracks like Under Perfect Control and I Am the One. Everything is pulled off splendidly, though; nothing feels gimmicky or half-hearted, everything comes off as an excellent mixture that definitely deserves to be dubbed as a representative of what electronic metal should be.

The final two albums are melodeath. With that said, there is no good reason for anyone who knows what kind of music I like to fail at guessing this next album. Hey, TBizzle, you're likely to read this before I post again. Tell me, what album is up next? You should know.

IDK LOL

2. Forget Me Not - Dark Lunacy

Through the Non-Time: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=he9E_Mweyzo
Serenity: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3E4icx7U8Cg
Fragile Caress: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PbcPdi_JPQg

So yeah, Dark Lunacy is the greatest band ever. Well, ignoring Weaver of Forgotten.

This is Dark Lunacy's best album, and their tightest effort. This album is **** amazing; it's beautiful, powerful and captivating, it's everything that I'd want to see from Dark Lunacy. The song structure is very similar to the Diarist, but leaves significantly more of an impact. The album's quality is significantly tighter than Devoid, and with melodies rivaling some of Devoid's best. Serenity was the track that introduced me to this band (and on a negative note, it introduced me to Elfen Lied. Search for this song on YouTube and you'll see why), and it stands with Through the Non-Time as Dark Lunacy's best songs ever. ****, you know what? I cannot begin to describe how awesome this album is, because it comes off as something that's completely evident in and of itself. Forget Me Not is a masterpiece within a lagging subgenre of sell-outs and derivatives.

But, this isn't the best album ever. Next up, well... if you searched around, you could get this one. But if nobody could tell that #2 was going to be Forget Me Not, this isn't going to be obvious at all.

Persuader is still awesome.
Lost Horizon was pretty fantastic. I was trying to think of who that singer reminds me of, but I realized that he's easily better than whoever it was. So versatile.

Listening to Machinae Supremacy stuff now.

Machinae Supremacy was alright. Had some really cool parts in there.
Herrschaft is really awesome.

number oneeeee

You guys should have searched for this quote:


I'll pull up the source:


Well, that was not quite true, but then again, even I acknowledged that. There's a bit that I chopped out. Half of it was related to Umineko bull****, but one part was fairly vital.


1. Grave New World - Soulfallen

We Are The Sand: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=wiZ7rNHi9mk
A Hearse With No Name: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=wjznRlXFq5I
Grave New World: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=xkTdmJ47JUQ

Every other song on this album

Actually, this is this band's sophomore effort; I have never listened to their first album, and I am pure scum for never doing this. Given the place of Grave New World, one can only speculate where that would fit.

However, this is Grave New World. Oh man, there are no words for this, but I'll try to cobble up a description befitting of this album. Of course, I have an extremely heavy bias towards Forget Me Not, and if an album manages to triumph over it, all the more credit to it. This album transcends amazing, excellent or pretty much any other extremely positive descriptor. Grave New World simply is. This is probably the heaviest melodeath album on this list, likely drawing from the black metal influences that it wears on its shirt; with force alone, this album is already staggeringly powerful. But obviously, it doesn't rely solely on this to create the final product, it brings in the very best melodies in the entirety of metal. Yes, I'm making such a boast. This band destroys every other competitor in this regard, including pretty much every effort from amazing bands like Dark Lunacy, Insomnium and Novembre. These melodies don't merely cause me to react; they cause me to tremble; in spite of how incredibly melancholic this album is (if Materia and Devoid are "dark," this is a black hole), Grave New World is incredibly, overwhelmingly powerful. I have never encountered an album that can plow right through me as well as this majestic release.

You know what? I have a better summary than this. This album reminds me of my favorite song ever, Lyfthrasyr's Bloodlust. It's like this entire album is entirely comprised of Bloodlust, except even better. Actually, I'm sorry; I called this a majestic release. This is not merely a "majestic release;" it's more radiant than Rigel and it's bigger than VY Canis Majoris. This is an effort of galactic proportions.

There you go. Maniac's 25 top metal albums. Cue the laughter, I actually finished a list, and with a ridiculous simile no less.

Quite good. I like it a lot.

This has been fun. It's given me a lot to look into.

I'LL GET AROUND TO LISTENING TO SOME OF THESE SOMETIME. ALSO, THIS HAS INSPIRED ME TO TRY TO THINK OF MY 25 TOP ALBUMS AND MAKE A TOPIC LIKE THIS, SO LOOK FORWARD TO POSTING ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU HATE EVERYTHING I LIKE.

*Awaits*

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH. IT'LL PROBABLY BE A WHILE BEFORE I DO IT OLO.

(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdcA30GArOmg6gfcqrVrbLcXJtPD5T68t4DlKkmI86ziFb0aIx-A)

Random, if you were to take the bands on this list and rearrange them, how would they be ranked?

Hmmm... I don't feel like it would be too different. I generally agree with how you've ranked it, or at least I felt like each album was better than the last for the most part. I think if I were to do it, all of the power metal would shift toward the top while a lot of the melodeath would shift downward. Specifically, I would move both Persuader albums towards the top.

If that's not what you meant, let me know. Feeling a bit all over the place today.

I was more curious about exact placements, but then again, I'm sure most of these albums would mold together to form a "pretty good, but no emotional investment" tier. I do have a better way to approach this question, though: which 5 or 10 albums on this list are your favorites?

Evolution Purgatory
When Eden Burns
Legend of the Bone Carver
Grave New World
A Flame to the Ground Beneath
Tesla
Immortal

These are the ones that stood out to me. Which is to say, when I went back through the list, I remembered what each of these sounded like. Ranked them in rough order.

so what has changed

Virtually everything. This list is pretty god damn embarrassing.

Of all of these albums, the only ones I still regularly listen to are Tesla, Grave New World and Undead. I'll occasionally listen to a few others like the Insomnium albums, The Blue and A Flame to the Ground Beneath. I don't listen to Pyramaze or Dark Lunacy anymore, period. Hell, I make fun of Pyramaze these days, especially after that aggressively mediocre release last year. I'll play a Persuader song every now and then, and usually only like, 4 specific tracks. There's way too much mediocre melodeath on here, like Stormlord, D Creation and Mercenary. This list is basically just a messy conglomeration of mistakes of youth, so it's pretty amusing in retrospect that I used to be so hostile towards everyone who ever went "meh" to all the genuinely mediocre stuff I aggressively pushed as the best things ever.

Honestly, as much as I talk about music, I usually tend to listen to the same things over and over, and the diversity of music I listen to isn't very broad. Even with bands that I actually like, I often have huge gaping holes in their discography: never heard the other Lost Horizon album, never heard the first two Insomnium albums, only heard one other Tad Morose album, etc. As these write-ups probably revealed, I'm not particularly analytical when it comes to music beyond simple blurbs that ultimately describe very little to someone who has never heard that music before (and in general, I'm pretty bad at describing things I like unless they're absolutely superlative). I would dare say -- and this list is proof -- that I don't feel like I have the "maturity" to actually compile a good "best albums ever" list, or one that could possibly come anywhere close to satisfying me at least. This topic should have just been "hey, here's a bunch of stuff that Maniac thinks is cool right now and that you've probably never heard of before", because that's essentially what it was.

Also, I don't listen to as much metal anymore, so there's that.

the other lost horizon album is pretty ok and i'm listening to insomnium stuff right now

What sorts of things do you listen to instead?

shoutacore

As you know, one of my buddies got me into Bemani. Pretty damn late in the game since it looks like a lot of their legendary franchises are in their twilight years, but I guess that means there's a pretty huge backlog to go through. Parallel to that, since j-core/doujincore is showing up in Bemani at an alarming rate, I've been getting into that stuff. Not that far into either, though I've been brushing up on who the new major players in J-core are now and kinda diving in. I've been getting deeper into that shit than I have been getting into metal recently; I've only checked out a handful of metal albums so far this year.


i logged in earlier to check on updates and decided to respond to random's question later. at the time, i was listening to usao. he's a pretty damn good DJ who makes some cool bro-core stuff (that I've shared across the site), but he's also a reaaally friggin' creepy shotacon. so you're actually a lot closer than I'd like to admit

It's alright, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix beat women, and Michael Gira is allegedly a rapist. Being a fan of an artist who is a bad human being is inevitable.

What exactly is j-core/doujincore/lolicore and all that stuff? And what are some good example?

that reminds me that lolistep is a thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO6lLBkzct8

i think i've lost enough of my soul such that i enjoy this song fully unironically.

-------------------------------------------------------------

There's probably a more clinical definition, but I always associate j-core and doujincore as basically being the same thing -- weird chimeric denpa/EDM music centered primarily bred fan circles that distribute music independently at Comiket. Think Touhou music, essentially: Stuff like IOSYS, DJ SHARPNEL, a lot of the stuff distributed by HARDCORE TANO*C and some EXIT TUNES stars like Ryu*.

There's probably someone in a rush to pedantically correct that definition, and that person can fuck themselves straight off the planet as far as I'm concerned. J-core is largely garbage, but I get some entertainment out of a bit of it. There's a very large periphery around that culture that shares some, but not all, of its trappings and that's the fun stuff.

i think i'll hijack my old topic to post silly shit

like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYoB2Tj3LR8

remember how i used to like this band when i was 15? yeaaaaah...