You must listen to the album below you: canon edition - Games

LedZep

Oh my bad, didn't see this until the morning. Go with Chill Out.

To redeem myself, here's a bit about Bathory. Their first 2 songs were on a Scandinavian metal compilation released by the label whose owner was Quorthon's father. No nepotism here though, as they were the last minute replacement for a band that backed out, and the unexpected success of those 2 tracks was a small miracle. On the back of that success they (or rather Quorthon with a whole different band, still calling themselves Bathory) recorded the debut s/t, considered by most to be the first black metal album. It's thrash/speed metal with occult imagery that would later be the defining characteristic of many first wave black metal bands in the 80s. They'd be legends if the only thing they did was the first 4 albums, but then there was the "other" Bathory. I can only imagine the shock of fans when they heard Hammerheart lol. It's the first Viking metal album, and there were hints of this Viking style on Blood Fire Death, however, that one still had a comfortably black metal style. So, this "Viking metal" is in fact Viking themed music like EyeKanFly said, and a pretty loose genre. The emphasis is often on the epic style and keyboards, with mostly clean vocals. But not always, and there's a lot of bands who play a mix of black and Viking, or progressive and Viking metal, or other combinations.

So TLDR for EyeKanFly: Viking metal is a loosely defined style, if you liked this Bathory sound you should definitely go for their 90s work. Twilight of the Gods is pretty equal to Hammerheart. It just dawned on me that Viking-style Bathory is a great intro to metal in general. Well liked even by the most hardcore gatekeepers, yet has accessible and interesting sound Very Happy

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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

EyeKanFly
Head Bear Master/Galactic Emperor

Age: 33
Location: Gotham

LedZep wrote:

Oh my bad, didn't see this until the morning. Go with Chill Out.

To redeem myself, here's a bit about Bathory. Their first 2 songs were on a Scandinavian metal compilation released by the label whose owner was Quorthon's father. No nepotism here though, as they were the last minute replacement for a band that backed out, and the unexpected success of those 2 tracks was a small miracle. On the back of that success they (or rather Quorthon with a whole different band, still calling themselves Bathory) recorded the debut s/t, considered by most to be the first black metal album. It's thrash/speed metal with occult imagery that would later be the defining characteristic of many first wave black metal bands in the 80s. They'd be legends if the only thing they did was the first 4 albums, but then there was the "other" Bathory. I can only imagine the shock of fans when they heard Hammerheart lol. It's the first Viking metal album, and there were hints of this Viking style on Blood Fire Death, however, that one still had a comfortably black metal style. So, this "Viking metal" is in fact Viking themed music like EyeKanFly said, and a pretty loose genre. The emphasis is often on the epic style and keyboards, with mostly clean vocals. But not always, and there's a lot of bands who play a mix of black and Viking, or progressive and Viking metal, or other combinations.

So TLDR for EyeKanFly: Viking metal is a loosely defined style, if you liked this Bathory sound you should definitely go for their 90s work. Twilight of the Gods is pretty equal to Hammerheart. It just dawned on me that Viking-style Bathory is a great intro to metal in general. Well liked even by the most hardcore gatekeepers, yet has accessible and interesting sound Very Happy

This is awesome, appreciate the info! I'll certainly check out some more Bathory. Quorthon seems like a really interesting person and I'd like to check out more of his work. Seems like he/they were real pioneers of Scandinavian metal and its sub-genres!

1)

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Chill Out by The KLF
Speaking of pioneers who worked in a variety of different genres... I've listened to The White Room which is incredible, but for whatever reason I tend to mix up The KLF with other other British late 80s/early 90s ambient techno/house musicians like The Orb, The Sabres of Paradise, and mostly 808 State, none of whom I really enjoy despite their similarities to The KLF. If I had distinguished The KLF and 808 State in my mind and remembered how much I enjoyed what I've heard from The KLF, I would've certainly thrown Chill Out into the bold "really wanna listen" category.

Well... turns out Chill Out is a lot different from The White Room. Former is closer to ambient, latter more upbeat dance-pop, while both being house music. Honestly in some ways it's hard to believe they're by the same band. Chill Out had more in common with The Orb, Sabres of Paradise, and 808 State compared to The White Room, but despite that, I enjoyed Chill Out much more than albums by the other bands.

Chill Out gives the sense of being zonked out of your mind and traveling around the US by bus, car, train, or some combination thereof. Sometimes you have bits of nature noises in the background, sometimes feels like crowded highways or cityscapes, sometimes more industrial, and sometimes you get radio static or other stations in the background (e.g. when "In the Ghetto" by Elvis or "Albatross" by Fleetwood Mac are sampled). Seems like this was really the intent as the song titles mostly have to do with traveling, specifically in the south and southwest US and northern Mexico, along with references to some of the most popular music from this area ("Wichita Lineman" and Elvis). There's also some more ethereal samples like Tuvan throat singing and re-imaginings of other KLF songs (some which were re-re-imagined for The White Room). It's all over the place but also fits together so well.

Well sometime shortly after The KLF released The White Room, they fired machine gun blanks into a crowd, dropped a dead pig on stage, and deleted their whole discography, retiring from music for nearly 30 years with only very minor appearances during that time. Well apparently a year ago, they began to re-release all their old music, albeit with major edits.

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Come Down Dawn by The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu For good measure, I also listened to this: the 2021 re-release of Chill Out, which is heavily edited so as to remove the samples for which original licenses expired (to avoid copyright infringement). This drastically changes the dynamic of the original album, and unfortunately suffers for it. However, they did also lean even more heavily into the "journey across the US" concept with the track titles each taking the listener from one town to another, starting in Brooklyn and ending up in Mexico City. The string of tracks from Mobile to San Rafael towards the end of the album seem like they may be addition of some new material, and this presents the most interesting part of the re-release in my opinion. For what it's worth, The White Room Director's Cut was also released this past year and while more faithful to the original than Come Down Dawn, it's still not as good. Worth listening to though IMO.

Well anyway, I have a newfound appreciation for The KLF now, and like Bathory, I'm now inclined to delve more into their 80s catalog. This looks like my longest "review" so far, mainly because I went down such a rabbit hole during and after listening to the assigned album. Chill Out is a solid 3.5/5 (The White Room was 4/5). This definitely warrants re-listens though, and I won't rate it for sure yet since I listened to Chill Out and Come Down Dawn back-to-back, so they may now be sort of blending in my mind.

2)

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Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem This is great, ended up at #30 for the year for me, but could easily fluctuate higher in the future.

3)
Mercury's Top Albums of the 1990s
The albums I'm most looking forward to are in bold, but I'm open to all of them!
31. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
45. Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell by Social Distortion
48. And She Closed Her Eyes by Stina Nordenstam
56. March 16-20, 1992 by Uncle Tupelo
57. His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) by Little Walter
58. Ocean Machine: Biomech by Devin Townsend
61. Heartwork by Carcass
62. Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer
67. Left Hand Path by Entombed
71. Most Things Haven't Worked Out by Junior Kimbrough
(feel free to pick anything, not just the bold ones. I've decided I'm going to see this list through the end)
_________________
51 Washington, D.C. albums!

LedZep

(1)

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Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem
Found this one on deepcuts' best of the year list. Been following Oliver for years on YT, pretty good choice if you're on the hunt for some in depth music talk/reviews in video format. The album explores various themes, but it's mostly centred around sexuality, pleasure, heartbreak and love. As one could guess from the title. The lyrics are emphasized on several tracks, the biggest single "I Do This All the Time" included. I wasn't too impressed with the lyricism, but it served its purpose and provided a relatively unique perspective on these subjects. Rebecca Lucy Taylor's point of view is consistently interesting. The music is also "good but not quite great" level. I love that she goes for a unique, not very mainstream, yet catchy and captivating style of electropop. However, not too many songs resonated with me, nor did I find any of them to be catchy enough to be classified as a "banger". The only song I didn't like was How Can I Help You, which was too weird and frantic for its own good and ended up sounding like a one-off experimental interlude. Despite those few cons, the diverse, off-kilter brand of pop songwriting here has made me respect Self Esteem a lot. Looking forward to another listen, maybe it'll grow on me. Not chart material currently (but still good), low 7.5/10

(2)
Let's throw you right in the middle of the 90s Scandinavian scene with Left Hand Path. Not sure if you'll like it, but at least you'll hear the title track, which is an absolute classic.

(3)
2021 and 2022

Plebeian Grandstand - Rien ne suffit
Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time
Aesop Rock & Blockhead - Garbology
Sadness - _____
Ill Considered - Liminal Space
Kaatayra - Inpariquipê
Springtime - Springtime
Lamp of Murmuur - Submission and Slavery
Arca - Kick iii
--
Wilderun - Epigone
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

1. Isolationism

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Death In The Nursery by Legend

Go get a world map or a globe. It doesn’t really matter which. Blow off that dust. And cast your eyes on (old) Jersey. Did you know it was a small island off the coast of… France?! I sure as hell didn’t! But, it explains everything about the NWOBHM band Legend. It explains why their sound is so unique. Why they couldn’t get a record contract and instead had to go the whole DIY route. And most importantly, it explains why you've (most likely) never heard about this album until now.

Because this is a THE Prog Metal Holy Grail of the early 80s. With Rush moving in a less metallic (but equally interesting!) direction in the early 80s and Fates Warning and Queensryche still a few years away, Legend kept the torch lit with Death In The Nursery. Remember. They did this themselves so the production, which would have been fine for most NWOBHM bands, doesn’t really make these prog epics shine as much as they should. But, after a couple of listens these songs reveal themselves just fine. This is definitely one of those hidden gems where all those RYM and YouTubers prove their worth!

Twisted Evil

2. The first GREAT metal album of 2022?!?!

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Epigone by Wilderun

3.

RYM 1982 Metal Chart and then sent through the Reponiumnn

Judas Priest - Screaming
Iron Maiden- Beast
Rush - Signals
Saracen - Heroes, Saints & Fools
Motorhead - Iron Fist
Manowar - Battle Hymns
Legend - Death In A Nursery Twisted Evil

More - Blood & Thunder
Stan Hubbs - Crystal
Tank - Filth Hounds of Hades

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

1.

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Live At The Jazz Cafe, London by D'Angelo

(For some reason, the BEA year on this was really off. Like, multiple years late and no reissues came out during that year off. So now I've fixed it, and this has lost 100% of its points...)

For this one, I listened to the version on streaming, which has the entire concert instead of trimming off 20 minutes. It's a great live album as expected, recorded just a few months after the release of his debut. If you like Brown Sugar, you'll almost certainly like this too. D'Angelo's vocals are butter-smooth, expressive, and sensual as usual. The band and backing vocalists are rock solid too. D'Angelo has never missed, and Live At The Jazz Cafe, London is no exception. I wouldn't recommend this as a point of entry, but definitely worth checking out if you love his studio albums and want more. 4/5.

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2. This list is totally foreign to me, so take it from the top.

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3. Alphabet Game, Cohort 17 (3 picks left)

A2: The Shadow Of Your Smile - Astrud Gilberto
B: Wish You Were Here - Badfinger
B2: You In Reverse - Built To Spill
B3: The Last Waltz - The Band
B4: It’s My Way! - Buffy Sainte-Marie
C: You Should Be At Home Here - Carissa’s Wierd
C2: Twelve Deadly Cyns… And Then Some - Cyndi Lauper
C3: Brahms: Symphonie No. 4 - Carlos Kleiber & Wiener Philharmoniker
D: 1990 - Daniel Johnston
D2: Masterpieces By Ellington - Duke Ellington And His Orchestra
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Tha1ChiefRocka
Yeah, well hey, I'm really sorry.

Location: Kansas

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In Search Of Ancient Gods by Absolute Elsewhere

Starts off pretty good with some Mort Garson, Brian Bennett kind of cheesy, but fun Progressive electronic, but it delves into some rote Proginess on the second half. It loses some of it's funky edge that the first track in particular has, too. Bill Bruford is on the drums, so that's cool, but it's not one of his more engaging performances.

Oh, and the dude whose books this is based off of? Yep, the same dude that started all of the Ancient Aliens pseudo-science. Very Happy

Bay I'll go with Daniel Johnston.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/IsaacOvH...all_time_/

Wheelz of Steel-Volume One
Overdeth- King Arthur's Final Battle
Stormcry- The Dawn of the Mega-Metal
Exterminator- Total Extermination
Complete- God Awful

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/ElNapalm...ic-cheese/

Andrew Wartts and The Gospel Storytellers- There Is a God Somewhere (I really want to find this one)
Carmen Electra- Carmen Electra
Charanjit Singh- Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat
Concrete Rubber Band- Risen Savior
Damian and The Criterions- Avant Garde

Purplepash
ranker, rater, & music list maker

Gender: Male
Age: 54
Location: Western Australia

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Straight Up by Badfinger

This is the second Badfinger album I've heard, and it's just as good as No Dice, maybe slightly better. A little bit power pop, a little bit pop rock, a little bit soft rock and just some well written and performed songs that are easy to like. A sold 7.5/10, and 37/52 for 1971.

Those descriptions of the metal albums are great. Make me want to both hear and not hear the albums Laughing

Try Wheelz of Steel.

Top 38 Music Albums of 1971 by Repo (3 picks left)

3. In Search Of Space by Hawkwind
5. In Den Gärten Pharaos by Popol Vuh
6. Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses) by Grateful Dead
7. Anne Briggs by Anne Briggs
8. Kazemachi Roman by はっぴいえんど [Happy End]
10. Yesterday's Wine by Willie Nelson
11. Teenage Head by The Flamin' Groovies
12. Ash Ra Tempel by Ash Ra Tempel
13. Fireball by Deep Purple
14. Bonnie Raitt by Bonnie Raitt

Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call

Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis

1.

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Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen

I have had my moments of really being in near-awe of Springsteen. Some songs of his are perfect and incredible and even manage to get me fully buying into the heroism or tragedy of these characters and situations he’s talking about. There has yet to be an LP of his that really made me deel this way. Born to Run is pretty damn good, as is Nebraska as is large chunks of The River and even this album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. But never yet has an LP of his struck me as a real classic to my ears. Not sure why, maybe I just don’t vibe with the sentiment or his passionate voice. I also, musically, don’t love that fist pumping rock sound with the horns and the powerful drums and drum fills and the biting guitar lines and the melodramatic-by-design sincerity of the music.

This album has several stand outs and songs I really really enjoy. Namely, “Badlands” is a killer opener, “Racing In The Street” strikes me as one of the rare moments when I really feel myself move emotionally with the music, and the closing title track is also pretty great. There are other songs that are famous and revered and I like them well enough. But, mostly, this album doesn’t do too much for me. It certainly wasn’t the album to win me over to the Bruce Springsteen fan club. After 2 listens for this game, I feel I know this album well enough and I am glad I have heard it. It certainly is more tragic and desperate in tone than Born To Run which is an interesting development. 3/5 or so to my ears.

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

@Purplepash, I remember vaguely really REALLY liking this:

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In Den Gärten Pharaos by Popol Vuh
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3.

CHANGE!

Highest ranked albums on BEA that I have not heard or effectively haven't:

114. Amnesiac by Radiohead/2001 (I don't remember much about this outside of it being from the same recordings as Kid A and having a similar sound...? I think I may be wrong. But yeah I have never been interested in listening to this in the last 20 years nearly. which is weird because the albums before and after in their discog are quite well worn.)

122. Demon Days by Gorillaz/2005 (I have heard this once or twice and I never got the hype. I remember it being pretty good. But I don't remember enough about it at this time.)

153. Moving Pictures by Rush/1981 (I heard this recently, don't remember it much. I remember they were a very very tight group but I didn't vibe with the album much. But I wanna give it another shot or 2.)

170. Quadrophenia by The Who/1973 (I have never listened to this all the way through. I know, I know... damned shameful.)

176. The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse/1997 (Yep, I have heard this... but I never really really closely listened. I used to love the Moon and Antarctica. But somehow I had never really gotten into this one and can't remember much about it.)

178. Absolution by Muse/2003 (I have never heard a single Muse album all the way through. This band is probably the MOST BEA of classic bands. I have often seen their albums high on BEA charts and wondered if this was some kind of error. I thought it was generally accepted that Muse sucked... but maybe that is just my snobbery coming in. I will give this a chance if picked.)

183. The Origin of Symmetry by Muse/2001 (And another one. Same as the other muse. Pick whichever you think would be a better introduction of whatever is the better Muse album.)

197. AM by Arctic Monkeys/2013 (I have never really been into this famous band. But their debut and second albums are pretty good. This I've never heard.)

204. L.A. Woman by The Doors/1971 (For as long as I can remember I have been puzzled by the appeal of the Doors. Recently I admit I have enjoyed their first album and second as well. But yeah I have never quite had that moment when it clicks. But this ios the next one I have not heard as far as I know. So here it is for consideration.)

219. Random Access Memories by Daft Punk/2013 (Never been a huge Daft Punk fan to say the least. But I have at least heard several times Discovery. Never heard this in full or if I did it was once when it first came out. Don't remember much except that its funky and fun.)
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

EyeKanFly
Head Bear Master/Galactic Emperor

Age: 33
Location: Gotham

1)

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Left Hand Path by Entombed
Really wasn't into the vocals on this. There's no sense of any sort of melodic structure in the vocals, and the lyrics might as well be in Swedish because they're completely unintelligible. What I find interesting about this is that the singer neither wrote any of the lyrics or the music. So why was he even in the band? I guess making those guttural sounds takes its toll and maybe the rest of the band members didn't feel up to it. Apparently Entombed's follow-up album has a different singer lol, I might have to check that out to decide if that's what forced me not to enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

Other than the vocals, the rest of the parts are great. The best is the "buzzsaw" guitar which I think was either invented by them or at least just heavily associated with them. The drums and bass are great, but they don't get a chance to stand out as much as the guitar(s). And the guitars do a great job of mixing the fast-as-fuck thumping of thrash/death metal with the melodic side of metal that seems more particular to the Nordic countries.

This album was at its absolute best during guitar solos and intros to songs before the vocals kicked in. But man, the vocals just really don't do it for me. Low 3/5 since I think I did still like it as a whole and appreciate the killer instrument work.

2)
Sorry to hear you didn't like Bruce, Mercury. If neither Born to Run, Darkness, The River, or Nebraska clicked, then it's probably a lost cause unfortunately. Though maybe consider Springsteen on Broadway? It's the same songs but with just him and his guitar, so it's stripped of all the arena rock flair that the E St Band is known for. Idk, if you were into the stories in the songs, it might be worth a shot.

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Origin Of Symmetry by Muse
And of course I gotta go with this. It's not always I get to recommend the #2 of my overall chart, and what was the #1 for a long time before being supplanted by Bruce. Muse holds a special place in my heart, they were one of the central bands I listened to during my formative years, I realize they're not for everyone. The thing I appreciate most about Muse is they always have top-notch production, to the point that they're almost always over-produced. Interestingly, this album was co-produced by Tool's producer. And I can't stand Tool though I appreciate their production quality. I think Muse suffered from being popular on the coattails of Radiohead. While Muse clearly isn't as innovative, I think they play their strengths REALLY well. The lack of innovation only started to hurt them a few albums later IMO. Oh but if you didn't like Bruce due to the arena pomp, well... Muse sort of dials that up to 11. So, sorry if this doesn't land well with you.

3)
Mercury's Top Albums of the 1990s
The albums I'm most looking forward to are in bold, but I'm open to all of them!
31. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
45. Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell by Social Distortion
48. And She Closed Her Eyes by Stina Nordenstam
56. March 16-20, 1992 by Uncle Tupelo
57. His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) by Little Walter
58. Ocean Machine: Biomech by Devin Townsend
61. Heartwork by Carcass
62. Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer
71. Most Things Haven't Worked Out by Junior Kimbrough
72. Obscura by Gorguts
(feel free to pick anything, not just the bold ones. I've decided I'm going to see this list through the end)
_________________
51 Washington, D.C. albums!

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

EyeKanFly wrote:

If neither Born to Run, Darkness, The River, or Nebraska clicked, then it's probably a lost cause unfortunately.

I'm not so sure about that. Mercury, have you ever heard his debut? It's great and is his most Dylanesque album.

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Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen
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