At 11/3/11 08:17 AM, Bahamut wrote:
Best Agalloch album to start with. Which one do you think? I'm considering putting one of their albums on my Christmas wishlist.
To start with? Meaning you never listenned to them? I'd be surprised if it was the case. You've been around this place for much longer than me, and we've discussed them at least 50 times since I joinned. How could you possibly resist giving them a try ?
Anyway. Personnal favorites for me... Ashes Against The Grain wins because of the album's personnality, great atmosphere, the production. I just love the way they play heavy and soft music at the same time on this album. I like how well the chords sound and how weel the leads fit with them. Plus, the drumming on this one is one of my favorite in all drumming history... simple, yet very effective :)
Second favorite will have to be Pale Folklore. It's an amazing album. I find it to be somewhat reminiscent of Ulver's Bergtatt... which is cool! Good production on this one two. It's also a unique album :) Nothing like AATG, but still retains the Agalloch's personnality :)
On another note, Duff, considering how much you oppose 0% reviews that have the slightest compliment, I'm wondering which albums you would define 100%.
Not really that I oppose 0% reviews. But 0% reviews kind of make me wonder why you could want to write a review for the album in the first place. Except if we are talking about bands that you used to love but who released shitty stuff later, like Metallica... or if you hate an album so much it makes your ear bleeds... I can't see what would be a good reason to write a review for the album.
And yes, I think reviews with a 0% with positive elements in the review are dumb and incoherent.
I'm not quite sure which albums I would rate 100% though. I think Ashes Against The Grain would be one. I think I would give Ulver's Perdition City a 100%.
Images And Words by Dream Theater would most obviously be on my list. This album has anything a goood progressive metal album needs. Great riff, fantastic sound production, a great vocalist, great melodic and sometimes more technical guitar, an awesome bass line, greatest keys in history of prog. I dare anyone to say Metropolis Part 1 and Learning To Live aren't prog masterpieces !
For an album to get a 100% score from me it has to be not only one of my personnal favorites (subjective), but it needs to have no obvious flaws, perfect song-writting, and perfect musicianship. The finalt product must sound like this is exactly what the musicians tried to do, and that they achieved it (aka Images And Words or Ashes Against The Grain). There must be uniqueness and personnality in the music, and most important, each and every single track must be a five-star track for me.
Then there are albums I would rate a little lower:
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (95%)
Bongripper - Satan Worshipping Doom (95%)
Blood Red Throne - Altered Genesis (95%)
Agalloch - Pale Folklore (95%)
Blotted Science - The Machinations Of Dementia (95%)
These are some of the albums I would consider almost perfect (or flawed masterpieces). Dopethrone and Satan Worshipping Doom are perfect on every aspect in my eyes, except some of the songs are not quite on par with the best songs from the album.
Altered Genesis, I hate the stupid "We make people suffer!" and "Blood and gore is fucking great!" attitude of most Death Metal bands. I think it's moronic and makes the whole genre look bad. Nothing against some violent lyrics, violent themes, but these guys seem to like to push it too far all the time. Plus, the intro track is just random noise of people screaming... Nothing wrong with concept albums. But this is not a concept album... This piece is useless in the whole mix.
Pale Folklore and The Machinations Of Dementia. For these ones... I don't know. I can't say there is anything missing or that they lack anything or are flawed in anyway. Not much rationnal arguments at this point. The few points taken (or given to those that got 100%) is only for how much I PERSONNALY like the album.
At 11/3/11 04:56 PM, Anti-pie wrote:
GWAR GUITARIST FLATTUS MAXIMUS HAS BEEN FOUND DEAD!!!!!!!
Link
Damn! I see on Last.fm that they have a gig tomorrow in Alberta. Do you know if they are going to finish their tour?
Sad news, really. It's always sad for a band and their fans to loose a musician.