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[spoon_of_grimbo]

I think a lot of NMH fans are in denial about how creepy some of Jeff's lyrics are.

or how much his music flat out sucks.

[Patrick]

Sublime - Sublime

Has two good songs on it.

Yup, that's their best album.

[Beaumont]

Winter in June by Project

Though it's a few years old by now I still turn to this album when I get bored of everything else.

[kyleg]

Giant Metal-Themed Post

Cracking post, although I'd disagree on the Maiden and Priest albums.  Best Priest is between Painkiller or (the one I feel is probably the best to start with), Screaming for Vengeance.  And although I couldn't really decide on a best Maiden one, I'd argue that one or two tracks aside, FOTD is the worst Maiden album.

Good call on Angel Dust though, that's a batshit-crazy-awesome album!

For Iron Maiden, worst is a term that's more or less out of place. In the thirty or so years they have been at it, they've only put out one album (the one with Blayze Bailey instead of Bruce) I'd consider bad. FOTD I definetly don't think is as good as, say Number of the Beast or Killers, but I do consider it a very good album. In retrospect, NOTB is probably best fits the spirit of the thread, though. I'll have to agree with you, that in terms of what Maiden's "one" album is, it's not FOTD.

There must be more metal heads than just myself on this forum. I'll post some more a little later.

[Trynant]

I'm looking at Sonic Youth and am wondering which of their albums I would pick over the rest, and realizing how hard it is to choose from a band that practically reinvents their sound every half-a-dozen years or so...

My personal preference goes to Washing Machine, but Sister and of course Daydream Nation would be up there.

But I really would take Washing Machine over anything else for it's long, meandering, beautiful songs that I think is what SY is about. Or it could be "The Diamond Sea" is just really good 

[imapiratearg]

I would go so far as saying it would either be Sister or EVOL.  Though, I am sure if you asked a lot of Sonic Youth fans, it would almost certainly be Daydream Nation.

However, if I were trying to introduce someone onto Sonic Youth, I would probably have them listen to either Sonic Nurse or Murray Street.

[SrMeowMeow]

R.E.M. - Automatic for the People

This album is just absurdly fantastic even though it veers into sappy more than once. It's amazing though, some of the songs - in particular, Find The River is a haunting masterpiece - just blow my mind in a way no other music really does. Considering my short attention span for music (changing mid-song, etc.) this is one of the few albums I can listen to straight through. It has its share of classic R.E.M. on it too, like Nightswimming and Everybody Hurts. Their sound changed a lot over their long career so it's hard to fully represent it in one album, but I think Automatic for the People is a good start.

To sum up, if you listen to one R.E.M. album ever, listen to this one. If you think R.E.M. sucks, if you listen to one R.E.M. song ever, make it Find the River and you will not regret it.

[SirJuggles]

Ok I'm sorry but here are some CD's that I have actually heard of: (I know I do not have Correct Musical Taste™)

Motion City Soundtrack -- Commit This to Memmory

Their sophomore CD, I have a tough time choosing between this and I Am The Movie. But in the end, I go with Commit because, well... it blends better. Sure, I Am the Movie has a few amazing pieces on it that you can't help rock out to. But at the same time, it has a few that just fall flat, and so you end up enjoying individual pieces. Now not all of CTtM is amazing. But it all has a mood, a feeling that you can get a hold of much more easily. And to be honest, it would probably win on the merits of LGfuad alone.

Brand New -- Deja Entendu

Once again an extremely tough one. This time because, well... each of their CD's marks a very specific time in the band's development, and to be honest they barely sound as though they were created by the same group of people. This is especially obvious in the newest release. But once again, I have to choice the middle CD. To me it captures the most of the youthful energy from when they first formed, as well as incorporating some of the more lyrical maturity they grew into. Not to mention their talent for lyrical allegory.

And I have to address the (much) earlier review of blink-182. Yes, Enema of the State was arguable the CD that defined them. But to me it's still a stage in their development. It is certainly their most well-known CD. But it's still a tad too immature for me. I'd definitely go with Untitled, or maybe Take Off Your Pants. Not to say Enema isn't fun... dang it now I need to go listen to all of those again.

[the_pied_piper]

Rosie Thomas - If Songs Could Be Held

Almost the definition of a female folk singer Rosie Thomas produces beautiful melodies and lyrics on her albums. This is to me the pinnacle of them with it's slow-paced, brilliant folk lyrics and simple acoustic guitar melodies.

Brand New -- Deja Entendu

Once again an extremely tough one. This time because, well... each of their CD's marks a very specific time in the band's development, and to be honest they barely sound as though they were created by the same group of people. This is especially obvious in the newest release. But once again, I have to choice the middle CD. To me it captures the most of the youthful energy from when they first formed, as well as incorporating some of the more lyrical maturity they grew into. Not to mention their talent for lyrical allegory.

I agree with the summary of their work, i.e. each album is quite a big change from the previous one but to me, Deja Entendu is the weakest. Not to say that its a weak album because it certainly isn't but for the youthful energy songs like Seventy Times 7 and Jude Law and A Semester Abroad from Your Favourite Weapon are surely more apparent?
My personal favourite is the newest album TDAGARIOM (abbreviated) whereby they seem to have matured a lot while keeping the same lyrical emotion from the earlier albums.

[SirJuggles]

Hm. Good points. Actually, upon listening to them again for the first time in a while after writing my post, I have to change my choice over to Your Favorite Weapon. Stuff like Sudden Death In Carolina and Soco Amaretto Lime are the real reasons I love them. I can understand what you mean, Devil and God is an amazing album lyrically. But I can't bring myself to fully appreciate all the subtle, sweeping tones in the newer stuff. I know they're more mature and dark and elevated musically and emotionally, but the pop-punk lover in me needs something more accessible (for lack of a better term).

[imapiratearg]

I don't know, Deja Entendu would win for me on the basis that it ends with "Play Crack the Sky," which is a fucking fantastic song and Jesse will never write anything quite like it.

Each of their albums possess a different kind of charm.  Your Favorite Weapon has a youthful energy and some really great hooks, Deja Entendu has got some great catchy pieces and a real bleeding-heart romanticism to it and is more subdued sound, whereas The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me is more bitter and dark and at times is loud and chaotic ("Welcome to Bangkok").  I haven't listened to these albums in forever, though, so I am going from memory.

[Catacombs]

I've never listened to their first album, and the last album starts off well but by half way thru I usually lose interest and go with something else.  So I'd have to go with Deja Entendu being my favorite.

EDIT for stupid typos.

[kyleg]

Less known metal acts:


Amorphis- Tales of The Thousand Lakes

Amorphis has done albums of differing styles over the years before settling on a more HIMesque brand of music starting with the album Am Universum. Tales is far from this. Amorphis was put on the map of the metal world with this album with its blend of folk music, doom metal with alternating death growls and "clean" vocals.

Katatonia- Last Fair Deal Gone Down

This is very gloomy music. The album is very simple and well arranged. The lyrics are very soulful while not over the top(bottom?). If I was to pick 3 metal albums for the indy rock fan to listen to, this would be one of them. The others include Neurosis' A Sun that Never Sets and...

The Gathering- Mandylion

Very moody and atmospheric.  The singer's vocals are stunning and awe inspiring. Some tracks are heavier than others, but in a very pleasant way. This is one of the few bands that have been able to take dissonance and spin it in a way that is beyond novelty. Highest of accolades to the Gathering for this album especially.

[el_loco_avs]

Katatonia

Didn't these guys cover Jeff Buckley's Nightmares by the Sea? Sounded like a pretty solid band. I shall proceed to "check out"  this band yes.

[dancarter]

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

This was a tough one because the album is so difficult to begin with.  A better starting out choice would probably be Too Dark Park, but this one means more.  It's just so dense And scary.  There's a quality here to the music that is not found in any other Skinny Puppy disc, one of depseration, I suppose.  THis is the end and they're really going to be taking everyone with them....violently, but oddly quietly.  I mean that because it's a very intimate album.  Key keeps that steady by being a madman on what has been termed "drumosaurus", a gigantic mishmash kit of analog and triggered drums that's been built and re-built many times over.  His programming and mixing are top notch as well, but I think a lot of the credit for the overall denseness, the mass of sound, goes do Goettel, who joined the band with Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate and his touch is so apparent here you immediately notice his absence now that he's sadly passed on. 

Ogre's lyrics are particulary inward, which is odd for him.  He's usually more politacal in his mindset as he's prone to tackle issues of animal rights or ecological abuses.  This was also one of the few albums where he refused to have the lyrics printed in the tray insert, which only added to the mystiqe.

This is sort of the height of the Key/Goettel/Ogre days of excessive drug use and it definitely shows throughout.  There is a story that follows that on the track Knowhere?, Ogre fell into an drug enduced seizure that was later processed through filters and kept in the track.

Tracks to hear at least once would be Love in Vein, Killing Game, Knowhere?, Mirrorsaw, Scrapyard (probably my favourite track), Lustchance and Dowload but I encourage just a dark room and a rainy night and some headphones to enjoy the hole thing.  Mutiple listens will be rewarded.