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Emeritus
Reviews 28
Approval 98%
Soundoffs 21
News Articles 11
Band Edits + Tags 12
Album Edits 315
Album Ratings 833
Objectivity 67%
Last Active 05-11-22 11:58 am
Joined 09-17-08
Review Comments 16,303
| A Journey Through Music
I guess maybe I'm just a visual person, but a lot of my favorite albums are ones that conjure up vivid imagery and take me to a certain place and/or time. These are ten of my favorite albums and where they take me when I put them on and slip away. | | 1 |  | Opeth
Ghost Reveries
This is probably my favorite album of all time. It does all three things perfectly that I consider great music should do. Telling a story, painting a picture, and conveying emotion. Akerfeldt takes me on this journey through a Victorian wonderland. All I can see when I hear Ghost Reveries is the wonderful gothic architecture and furnishings. Then when presented in the context of the story, it truly is haunting in a very unique way that's both romantic and ethereal. | | 2 |  | Agalloch
Ashes Against the Grain
Most of you know how powerful this album is. It's like a spirtual experience for me hearing it. This redefines the idea of storytelling through the medium of music. Agalloch rely on little vocal and lyrical presence and let the music sculpt the images and events. Ashes places me amidst the beauty of the wooded mountainside. It is presented so magnificently as a bastion and a refuge. Then it becomes under seige. Fire has been set to your wonderous home and citadel. You literally feel the contempt as John cries out "The god of man is a failure." No other moment in music have I felt so forsaken and alone. Then with the ambient track, it all sinks in. The devistation. The ruin. Everything is gone. Everything is lost. | | 3 |  | Darkspace
Dark Space III
They put the idea forth with their name and image, but they most definately deliver with their music. No other band I've come across gives off that spacey vibe like Darkspace. Truly epic atmospheric black metal. All the most beautiful images of the cosmos collide when I hear this album. I get the sense I'm floating through the unimaginable vastness of space, being witness to the beauty of all the stars, nebulas, and black holes. Nothing makes you feel more insignificant. It's like the soundtrack to string theory. | | 4 |  | Paysage d'Hiver
Paysage d'Hiver
So there's like a blizzard. An evil blizzard. That raw-ass production makes me feel like I am in the kvltest snowstorm imaginable. Wintherr manages to capture the desolation of beauty of an icy netherworld. And I love being a part of it. | | 5 |  | Yes
Close to the Edge
What an immense album. In my books, this is THE definitive prog rock album. It always brings me a certain joy hearing it. I can't help but drift away to the serene and mystical landscapes Roger Dean has drempt up and associated with band's magical music. Close to the Edge perhaps best relates to the surreal worlds he's created through his craft and those that have been inspired by it (the sky world in Chrono Trigger and the world of Avatar come to mind). Floating islands, magnificent flying machines, and boundless supernatural structures are my playground, and Yes' wonderful music brings about a peace that is hard to describe. | | 6 |  | Baroness
Blue Record
A lot of bands call themselves "southern metal." Baroness really is, because they take me there every time I listen to them. The Blue Record calls to mind my annual trips to Savannah and the wonder they brought. It's such a beautiful city with the immense population of centuries-old oak trees draped with Spanish moss. The Blue Record invokes that beauty of the south: the mountains, the lakes, the swamps, the marshes - all of it. | | 7 |  | Summoning
Oath Bound
Summoning make some epic medieval-inspired black metal, that's for damn sure. And I find this to be the shining jewel among their legacy. I picture myself as the great Witch King of Angmar flying high atop my winged beast in search of the ring bearer. I lead hordes of creatures into battle for sake of throwing Middle-Earth once again into an age of unfathomable darkness. Thoughts of Mordor and the halls of Minis Morgul fill my imagination. With Oath Bound's triumphant music, I get the sense that the Return of the King should have had a very different ending... | | 8 |  | Elysian Blaze
Levitating the Carnal
Elysian Blaze is a truly fantastic one-man blackened funeral doom outfit. This album is a diverse exercise in what dispair can really sound like. I get the feeling I'm wandering through the halls of some ancient, elaborate building, unlocking its myseries and beholding its vastness and beauty while contemplating the doom the awaits us all. I find a secret underground passage leading to the Catacombs and witness the horrors of the plague through the cobwebbed skeletal remains that litter every nook and cranny of the eerie maze of tunnels. | | 9 |  | Mayhem
Ordo ad Chao
As I've pointed out in my review, this is such an underrated (or perhaps a misunderstood) album. It's has such a rich and really purely evil atmosphere. Mayhem's own unique approach to dissonant black metal is quite a remarkable one, made especially so by Attila's amazing vocal performance. He's constantly mixing it up and just sounding crazy and evil as fuck. I really feel like I'm in some old torture chamber somewhere with Hellhammer's bludgeoning drumming and Blasphemer's intense tremolo picking acting as sensory deprivation. Attila's vocals and lyrics creep into my ears, making me fear for my very life. I can almost smell the blood and sweat of his past victims. | | 10 |  | Ensiferum
Ensiferum
Jari is, in my opinion, one of the greatest melody writers of all time. The melodies and layers of sounds on Ensiferum's debut put me in the shoes of a great viking warrior. I lead my men through mountains and caves and fjords and rivers. Odin is at my side as I charge into battle, and there is no chance of defeat. | |
AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | The herb helps too. | Nagrarok
10.16.10 | I like 5, but somehow I can't really go up into it fully, as much as I would like to. | ImpendingSpoon321
10.16.10 | 1, 2, 5, and 10(although i prefer moonsorrow) are great. Haven't heard the rest | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | I'm pretty shocked none of the album art fucked up. Makes this list a whole lot better. | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | I love Moonsorrow too. But 10 is far and away the best folk metal album of all time. | DiceMan
10.16.10 | Wait, Ghost Reveries is supposed to be telling a story? wtf? | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | Well, it is a concept album with exception of the last track, which doesn't fit with the story. But it is a beautiful song and does fit in the context of the album. | Jethro42
10.16.10 | your #1 is my #1
I prefer The Mantle over your #2
and 5 = YESSSSSSSSSSS | DoubtGin
10.16.10 | needs more variety
but 5 might be the best prog album ever | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | Sure, it's mostly metal, but none of these albums sound anything alike. | Thangorodrim
10.16.10 | Oath Bound us great but Stronghold is my favorite Summoning album | Jethro42
10.16.10 | I can hardly name my very best prog albums since they are legion. | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | Yes, I'm sure they're great in number. There are so many classics. | Helvete
10.16.10 | i love you | patroneyes
10.16.10 | tl;dr | Spec
10.16.10 | Trying to get featured eh? | Helvete
10.16.10 | tool | AngelofDeath
10.16.10 | Lol. Not really. I've made plenty of feature-worthy lists in the past couple weeks. Doesn't really matter to me one way or another. They're for the people. | Hawks
10.18.10 | 1 - Probably my second favorite Opeth album and the album that got me into them.
2 - Possibly the best album by one of the greatest metal bands around.
4 - You described it perfectly so there's really nothing for me to say.
7 - This one actually bored me. I would pick Dol Guldur or Minas Morgul for a great Summoning album.
9 - Definitely the most underrated Mayhem album and my second favorite after De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Gets way too much shit around here.
10 - Really good folk metal/melo-death. Haven't listened to it in ages though. | AngelofDeath
10.18.10 | Thanks. If you haven't heard 3 or 8, I suggest you rectify that as soon as possible. | zarquan99
10.21.10 | I listened to The Mantle while walking around in a misty forest |
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