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The All-Time Greats Thread - Flawless or not.


StefSabbath

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That one album where you can't fault a single song on it, perfect from start to finish. Mine's is Skyforger by Amorphis. I had never heard anything like them prior to hearing it and fell in love with it instantly. I love the melodic rhythms and the overall beauty, finesse and art in each track - it's just a solid album I go back to a lot to relax and think with.

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1 hour ago, audiophile said:

I have two,

Folklore and Superstition from Black Stone Cherry

And

Le Roi Est Viva Le Roi from Enigma. 

I can listen to these over and over again. 

Jeezo, it's been an absolute lifetime since I listened to Black Stone Cherry. Only heard a few songs but I enjoyed them. Can't say for the album you mentioned but glad you have that for yourself. Enigma? Can't say I've heard them. Time for a Google search

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12 hours ago, StefSabbath said:

Jeezo, it's been an absolute lifetime since I listened to Black Stone Cherry. Only heard a few songs but I enjoyed them. Can't say for the album you mentioned but glad you have that for yourself. Enigma? Can't say I've heard them. Time for a Google search

Enigma is a group founded by a guy named Michael Cretu. The style is new age. Their most recognized song is probably Sadness Pt. 1, followed by Return to Innocence. Both have been used in many movies. He travels the world and samples different sounds and rhythms creating his music. 

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2 hours ago, audiophile said:

Enigma is a group founded by a guy named Michael Cretu. The style is new age. Their most recognized song is probably Sadness Pt. 1, followed by Return to Innocence. Both have been used in many movies. He travels the world and samples different sounds and rhythms creating his music. 

Man, I used to love "MCMXC AD", haven't listened to Enigma in such a long time. I wonder if I still have the CD somewhere.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 19/01/2021 at 6:12 PM, audiophile said:

Enigma is a group founded by a guy named Michael Cretu. The style is new age. Their most recognized song is probably Sadness Pt. 1, followed by Return to Innocence. Both have been used in many movies. He travels the world and samples different sounds and rhythms creating his music. 

To me there  not that good, but I do remember a very catchy one of theres from mid nineties called return to innocence. I wouldn't say I like it but definitely a very catchy earworm of a song. 

Anthrax- amoung the living.  What an album. I like it from start to finish. Not everyones favourite but definitely mine. such alot of good headbanging  music. Plus comic book based song  judge dredd. Classic.  Even better live too. Seen them play it for anniversary show in 2017. There one active band live. What a night. ???????

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Slayer- reign in blood. I love that record from start to finish. Not a wasted song for me. Its there peak for me. Definitely the album to get and should think most fans have this already. It's so exciting. Definitely speeded a few times to this by mistake which I'm not proud of? although got away with it ?

 

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I must be on a different wavength than everyone else in the world or have a different definition of "flawless" or I could somehow be misinterpreting the question. Because unlike most people you talk to I don't find it all that unusual to love every single song/moment on an album and rate it 9.5 out of 10 or above. I could easily list 50 albums I feel that way about just off the top of my head, probably a lot more than that. I won't, but I could. I mean I've been a heavy music fanatic since an older kid up the block turned me onto Led Zeppelin II around 1972, so nearly 50 years. That only averages out to one flawless album per year and I know there have been more than that for me. I could probably post 2 of them every week for a year and still have more. I feel like if you're having trouble finding albums you love and that you think are flawless then just maybe you're expecting too much from an album.

 

First two that popped into my head:

Nefarious Dismal Orations 

Shades of God 

 

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8 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Nice to see Fen getting some love. "Winter" is my top pick from them. What did you think of the latest one?

Winter is a work of art but not quite as perfect for me as Carrion Skies - I can't quite say why.  I am a Fen fanboy as all the refugees know so I could go on and on.  I think The Dead Lights a cracker too -  rather more a collection of songs than a complete work of art  - but they maintain their style while remaining fresh, and there are just some great songs - Rendered in Onyx has Fen's trademark big climax for example.

 

Great shirt too.

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This is not terrible Doc. Considering it's grabbed the "post" tag I had to go in ready for the fact that it'd be fairly tame and civilized (and refined as you like to say) but it's not completely un-barbaric and sterile. I dug the quiet parts, only the clean vox made me wince, but at least they kept that shit to a minimum.

Think I might even give the whole album a go from the beginning now, hope I don't regret this. I must say track 2 is not starting off too well. But it'll be OK, it's only just past 7:30 I've got plenty of time to listen to goat metal later after dinner to get the post taste out of my mouth if needed. 

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Alright well I've listened to The Dead Light and Carrion Skies now in their full lengthed glory and while I won't profess to be a zealous born again Fen convert I will say that they are clearly very good at what they do and I can understand what someone might see in them even if they're not quite my cuppa tea. I found Carrion Skies to be much better and more enjoyable than Dead Light, a more cohesive work of art and it held my interest better throughout. Dead Light had more riffs that jumped out at me as just bad and that was quite distracting. The previously mentioned closer Rendered in Onyx was unquestionably the precious gem on that album, set in amongst the other 48 minutes of filler and zirconia.

Knowing you as I do Doc, I knew going in that your beloved London Leatherboys Fen wouldn't be soft and they weren't. But you know me man, not soft just isnt enough. I would need my black metal to have much higher levels of aggression, abrasiveness, hatefulness and evil, and as such I can't in good faith call this band black metal. I will never understand why some people insist on calling bands like this black metal. As an atmospheric post metal band I found them much more enjoyable than let's say Cult of Luna, I'd even say they were probably the best post metal I've heard to date. Which means it's not something I'll be reaching for again anytime soon, but still I am glad I spent these 2.5 hours with your darling band Doc, I think now that I've heard two of their albums all the way through I'll have a much better mental image of who they are and what they're about when you mention them in the future.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Here's an album that would be absolutely flawless to me if it weren't for the nearly 3 minute long intro of static and distant drums. They do have another track set in the middle off the album and an outro track that are ambient, both of which I enjoy very much and think they add quite a bit to the album. Why they would choose to kick things off on their outstanding debut with 2:46 of static is beyond me. I have become accustomed since about the second playthrough to just pretending the intro doesn't exist and starting the album right at track 2 Morphosis. And as such the 49 minute version of the album I listen to is flawless.

Odious Devotion - S/T, Finland

 

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General, I always admire your open mind.  Gonya for giving it a go.  You just need to listen to my favourite Fen song - Walking the Crowpath - you will note the alternating bars of 6/8 and 7/8 in the intro - and and early favourite, The Gibbet Elms, and you can call it a day.

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On 5/1/2021 at 5:23 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Why they would choose to kick things off on their outstanding debut with 2:46 of static is beyond me.

A intro better be real fucking special for me to not consider it filler and skippable.

Case in point, Atlantean Kodex - Course of Empire.

Listen how the intro "The Alpha And The Occident" seamlessly segues into track 2 "The people of the Moon" at 2:11 min. And the into is warranted because keeping them as one track would make the song unnecessary long if you just want to get straight into the meat and potatoes of "People...".

And yes, this is perhaps the most flawless album I've heard, at least in the past 5 years. It's simply amazing from start to finish.

 

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4 minutes ago, Sheol said:

A intro better be real fucking special for me to not consider it filler and skippable.

Case in point, Atlantean Kodex - Course of Empire.

Listen how the intro "The Alpha And The Occident" seamlessly segues into track 2 "The people of the Moon" at 2:11 min. And the into is warranted because keeping them as one track would make the song unnecessary long if you just want to get straight into the meat and potatoes of "People...".

And yes, this is perhaps the most flawless album I've heard, at least in the past 5 years. It's simply amazing from start to finish.

 

I gave that AK a shot man because you posted it. But I didn't make it too far, those clean vocals were just too much for me to overcome. I was expecting black metal from you tbh, I never knew you were into stuff like this, epic power metal or whatever you wanna call it.

I don't have a problem with all intros, only if they're longer than about a minute or so or if they're non-musical and just static or wind or flames crackling or something stupid like that. Agree that intros longer than 30 seconds should always be left as a separate track so I can easily skip them if needed.

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25 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I gave that AK a shot man because you posted it. But I didn't make it too far, those clean vocals were just too much for me to overcome. I was expecting black metal from you tbh, I never knew you were into stuff like this, epic power metal or whatever you wanna call it.

I don't have a problem with all intros, only if they're longer than about a minute or so or if they're non-musical and just static or wind or flames crackling or something stupid like that. Agree that intros longer than 30 seconds should always be left as a separate track so I can easily skip them if needed.

Haha well I'm usually not into the Epic, with very few exceptions. Some mid-era Grand Magus, perhaps some scattered songs here and there, but AK just works for me. I think it's a combination of the great choruses, non-whiney singing and great instrumental hooks.

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5 hours ago, Sheol said:

A intro better be real fucking special for me to not consider it filler and skippable.

Case in point, Atlantean Kodex - Course of Empire.

Listen how the intro "The Alpha And The Occident" seamlessly segues into track 2 "The people of the Moon" at 2:11 min. And the into is warranted because keeping them as one track would make the song unnecessary long if you just want to get straight into the meat and potatoes of "People...".

And yes, this is perhaps the most flawless album I've heard, at least in the past 5 years. It's simply amazing from start to finish.

 

The split with Vestal Claret which had Phil Swanson doing vocals for both bands was pretty good, mainly because I love Phil's vocals. Haven't heard anything else by them that I enjoyed, but they are a very talented band. Just not my cuppa tea.

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