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1.
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Devin Townsend - Empath
(10/10 - Prog - 74mins) An amazing journey through a beautiful dream that I wish never ends. A great summary of basically Devin's entire career, we get everything between the chaotic "Hear Me", the quirky and mysterious "Sprite", and lush ambient on "Borderlands" (And that is naming about 5% of the sounds you'll hear on this album). Go listen to this masterpiece. |
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2.
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Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game
(10/10 - Symphonic power - 68mins) Personally the most emotional album of all time. Not only is it heartwarming and cathartic, but the story grips me in such an unmatched way. On top of that, all 12 tracks are incredible, full of great solos, vocals and keyboard melodies. No PM album will ever come close. Anyone who enjoys the more triumphant and theatrical side of PM and isn't afraid to jerk a few tears in the climax of the title track, should check this out immediately. |
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3.
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Wintersun - Time I
(10/10 - Symphonic/Extreme power - 40mins) The best example of film-score adjacent metal (Turilli, take notes). Great riffs and the overall atmosphere is overwhelming. |
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4.
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An Abstract Illusion - Woe
(9.9/10 - Extreme prog/Melodeath - 60mins) The best hour of death metal I've ever heard. Structured brilliantly, you can feel the emotions resonating from every riff and lyric, with the atmosphere becoming crushingly beautiful towards the end. |
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5.
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Persefone - Aathma
(9.8/10 - Extreme prog - 63mins) Everything on this album works perfectly. The riffs, the solos, the vocals, the symphonic elements, the ambient sounds, the motifs. This band's songwriting skills are off the charts, and this perfect album showcases them at their best. |
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6.
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Aquilus - Bellum I
(9.8/10 - Symphonic black - 61mins) A very dark and ethereal journey through thick forests and along quiet rivers. Production is astounding, the way the vocals come across as a harsh whisper on the wind is goosebump-inducing. |
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7.
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Dream Theater - Dream Theater
(9.7/10 - Prog - 68mins) A consistently solid album with plenty of DT's best songs, no criticism. |
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8.
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Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
(9.6/10 - Prog - 75mins) Holds three of JP's best solos, three of DT's most emotional climaxes, DT's best part of the Twelve Step Suite, LaBrie's best chorus, and more. |
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9.
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Avantasia - Moonglow
(9.5/10 - Symphonic/Power - 70mins) Highlight after highlight, Tobias' best work by a landslide. Leans strongly into all the best parts of his sound while creating some incredible tracks. |
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10.
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Majestica - A Christmas Carol
(9.5/10 - Symphonic power - 41mins) Well written concise songs with great vocals. One of the most heartwarming albums ever. |
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11.
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Against Myself - Unity
(9.4/10 - Symphonic/Prog - 59mins) For female-fronted symphonic metal, this is an unreal masterpiece. Not a weak song to be found (except the bonus track) only great riffs, solos, orchestration and songwriting. |
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12.
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Circus Maximus - Nine
(9.4/10 - Prog - 57mins) For vanilla Prog, one of the best albums ever. Maybe one weak song, but even that one has a great solo. Choruses are effective bursts of energy, a trait many prog bands lack. I've read a few comments saying this album sounds like Coldplay, and to them I say - people, "Burn After Reading" has blast beats on it! |
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13.
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Anthriel - Transcendence
(9.4/10 - Prog/power - 65mins) Very Symphony X-like, but surprisingly even better. Songwriting skills of these musicians is insane. No weak tracks. |
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14.
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Persefone - Spiritual Migration
(9.3/10 - Extreme prog - 70mins) A few minor aspects cause this to fall behind Aathma, but SM is still an incredible and unique masterpiece. The Consciousness tracks are stellar and together make up my favourite instrumental track ever. The one really subtle recurring melody is also fantastic and can be found all over the place. |
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15.
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Devin Townsend - Deconstruction
(9.3/10 - Extreme prog - 70mins) Never really understood why I preferred this to Ziltoid, which I also quite like. The narrative and humour style are different on both albums, and I feel Deconstruction has better balance with quality music, instead of the music driving the story. I really like the absolute clash of styles here, the prog/symphonic/avant-garde/electronic storm. A bit of all eras of DT thrown in. |
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16.
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Devin Townsend - Transcendence
(9.2/10 - Prog - 64mins) When asked the definition of a modern prog album, this will be my answer. Transcendence never leans into the commercialism of Epicloud, nor the genre-bending insanity of Empath, resulting in a diverse collection of mid-range prog tracks, all of superb quality. Just like Deconstruction, it is a consistently enjoyable album with exciting and chill-inducing moments scattered throughout. |
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17.
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Countless Skies - Glow
(9.2/10 - Melodeath - 44mins) Proggy and atmospheric melodeath at its finest. Many highlights in every song, with an uncanny ability to conjure images in my mind. The album cover and song titles suit perfectly, and the vocals sound like a surreal duet of Devin Townsend and Niilo Sevänen. |
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18.
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Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel
(9.1/10 - Extreme prog - 48mins) If we remove the interlude, we have a perfect album. I would like there to be one more proper song, but I doubt NeO could make anything as insanely outstanding as the long songs on this album. Each is a journey on their own, and are the best in the band's discography. I honestly think if we took the three lengthy tracks from here and scattered them throughout the four tracks on Urn, we'd have an absolutely earth-shattering album. |
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19.
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Soen - Imperial
(9.1/10 - Alternative/prog - 42mins) Melodic and melancholic, this heavy mid-paced album is a lovely experience, every time. Atmosphere is unmatched. |
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20.
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Wilderun - Sleep At The Edge Of The Earth
(9.1/10 - Symphonic/Extreme prog - 54mins) An amazing journey through hills and valleys with a low fog hiding the sun... Yes I took that from the album art. Much folkier than Veil, with a flawless structure. |
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21.
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Persefone - Metanoia
(9.1/10 - Extreme prog - 57mins) Another incredible offering from Persefone that dips its toes into perfection (Merkabah, Anabasis) and maintains a focus on a darker and more emotional atmosphere than previous records. |
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22.
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Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events
(9.0/10 - Prog - 77mins) Another solid offering from DT, with each song being a perfect example of how great modern DT is. Very unique atmosphere created in some of the longer songs, and as usual a few smashing choruses ("Bridges In The Sky" most notably) |
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23.
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Jani Liimatainen - My Father's Son
(9.0/10 - Power - 58mins) A great musical achievement from Jani, one that will hold a special place in his fans' hearts. Very melodic and mature for PM, with a great closer. |
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24.
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Nospūn - Opus
(9.0/10 - Prog - 71mins) Another incredible Prog concept album. Structured perfectly, with no weak moments, and a 25-minute double punch climax. Variety put forth is exactly what I expect from a prog album, and even though it results in a couple of moments where I was thinking 'is this really necessary?' It is an easy 9. |
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25.
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Insomnium - Winter's Gate
(9.0/10 - Melodeath - 40mins) The hype is real. The best Finnish melodeath album/song ever. Riffs, melodies and dynamics are incredible. |
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26.
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Aquilus - Griseus
(9.0/10 - Symphonic black - 79mins) Another ethereal masterpiece from this mysterious alien by the name of Waldorf. Longer form and more variety within specific songs than Bellum I, it's not worse, it just lacks a strong structure between tracks. |
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27.
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Wilderun - Veil Of Imagination
(9.0/10 - Symphonic/Extreme prog - 66mins) Reaches a impossibly high emotional peak in the final track, and only falls behind Sleep due to its less solid structure. |
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28.
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Haken - Visions
(8.9/10 - Prog - 71mins) The definition of a prog concept album. Intriguing story, recurring melodies, an incredible conclusion. Never too self-indulgent either... At least by my ears. |
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29.
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Ostura - The Room
(8.9/10 - Symphonic/Prog - 74mins) Executed excellently, symphonies sound absolutely huge with catchy and memorable songwriting and intriguing story. |
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30.
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Equilibrium - Sagas
(8.9/10 - Extreme folk - 79mins) Best folk-adjacent metal album ever. A goldmine of riffs from every corner of the metal spectrum, with the closer being one of the best songs ever. |
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31.
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An Abstract Illusion - Illuminate The Path
(8.9/10 - Extreme prog/melodeath - 69mins) Rumour has it playing "Drop This Planet Of Dust" full blast can summon a blizzard in Alice Springs. Cold blackened extreme-prog done expertly. A nice amount of ambient influences also come as an advantage to this album. |
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32.
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Avenged Sevenfold - City Of Evil
(8.9/10 - Prog/Heavy - 72mins) One of my few gateway albums that still hold up today. Diverse songwriting, and always exciting to return to. Introduction of symphonic elements on "The Wicked End" and "Strength of the World" is nice, and the thrashier songs early on the album are filled with lots of great interludes. |
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33.
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Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter
(8.9/10 - Death/post/sludge/ambient - 60mins) A unique and recent masterpiece, blending genres flawlessly. |
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34.
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Anubis Gate - Horizons
(8.8/10 - Prog - 65mins) An incredible atmosphere full of intellectually driven melodic and chordal songwriting that is unique to Anubis Gate. Intriguing concept too. |
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35.
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Nightland - The Great Nothing
(8.8/10 - Melodeath - 46mins) One of the best recent melodeath albums, symphonies are excellent but never in-your-face, and the atmosphere is majestic. Instrumental track "101 Megaparsecs" gives some strong Ad Astra vibes, and the ending section of "For Once My Name" is probably one of the most emotionally intense blasts of extreme metal out there. |
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36.
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Periphery - Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
(8.8/10 - Prog/Djent - 70mins) Full of excellent highlights both album-wise and career wise. Very proggy for a previously core band. Not all the songs are consistent in quality, but there are a lot of masterpieces, just like 3 and 4. |
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37.
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Periphery - Periphery III: Select Difficulty
(8.8/10 - Prog/Djent - 64mins) "Simpler" songwriting and a few remaining core elements, but still remains one of the band's best albums. After two meh songs, we get nine masterpieces. |
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38.
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Opeth - Ghost Reveries
(8.8/10 - Extreme prog - 66mins) Opeth's brief peak, one which boasted perfect songwriting, production and performances with more than a handful of amazing moments. |
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39.
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Devin Townsend - Epicloud
(8.8/10 - Prog - 50mins) This man can do no wrong. Insanely high energy with an excellent flow thanks to the ambient segues between tracks. A lot more fun than Lightwork, with equal quality in terms of simple songwriting, even making great use of the all-too-common I-V-vi-IV chord progression. Like all Devy albums, it's a huge grower. |
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40.
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Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage
(8.8/10 - Prog/Heavy - 73mins) A nice maturation from their early sound, much heavier and proggy with even more influences, and somehow better solos too. |
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41.
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Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
(8.8/10 - Art pop/Alt metal - 63mins) The songs only use what they require, the melodies are great, the lyrics are unique, and the whole album is a full package - it feels like I've really experienced something when it's over. |
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42.
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Dream Theater - Train Of Thought
(8.8/10 - Prog - 69mins) Insanely heavy album from DT, but one with plenty of highlights. One of few gateway albums that hold up today for me. "Honor Thy Father" is gut-wrenchingly emotional. |
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43.
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Warforged - I: Voice
(8.7/10 - Prog death - 73mins) Essentially one continuous song, which is an effective formula for prog-death. Engaging and unpredictable with great riffs and atmospheric breaks. |
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44.
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Periphery - Periphery IV: Hail Stan
(8.7/10 - Prog/Djent - 63mins) Very high highs, but a few questionable lows, making this one score below P3 and 5. Still has the excellent "Reptile" which makes the whole album more than worthwhile. The midsection of this album makes me question its inclusion on this list but it starts and ends brilliantly. |
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45.
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Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining
(8.7/10 - Pub rock - 47mins) The rare occurrence where I fully enjoy a rock album front to back. This local band's melodic sensibilities took a ridiculous leap on this album (check "Stars of Warburton"), with the songwriting much more mature and less commercial than that on predecessor Diesel and Dust. The lyrical themes feel more interconnected than your average Aussie rock, especially with "Antarctica" serving as a musical and lyrical conclusion unique amongst such bands. |
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46.
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Disillusion - The Liberation
(8.7/10 - Melodeath - 62mins) Lots of heart along with heaviness and downright disturbing moments - the "where were you?" whisper in "The Mountain" sends chills every time. The piano and cello are excellent, and the extensive tight harmony in parts of "Wintertide" is pleasing to the ears. "Between" is technically seperate, but was included in the download I bought, so I will consider it part of the album. It is a great song, a nice hopeful epilogue that doesn't lessen the devastating impact of the official closer. |
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47.
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Karlahan - Exile
(8.7/10 - Extreme prog/symphonic - 56mins) Extremely diverse within the spheres of prog, melodeath, symphonic, and many smaller influences, notably funk and folk. Lovely melodies all around, with great use of choral arrangements, and excellent songwriting, notably in the closer. |
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48.
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Crow Black Sky - Sidereal Light: Volume Two
(8.7/10 - Atmoblack/melodeath - 36mins) Short and sweet, this 4-track atmoblack album is one of the best of the genre. It's unique, with an effective cosmic atmosphere, as well as excellent songwriting, chord progressions and solos. |
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49.
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Devin Townsend - Terria
(8.7/10 - Tree prog - 71mins) Essentially a proto-Empath. Extremely diverse as always, chordal songwriting is excellent, with many sublime melodies and solos throughout. Good ambience with a huge sounding production that isn't perfect but is very good for '01. Even the hidden track is fun. |
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50.
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Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
(8.7/10 - Prog - 77mins) This unsurprisingly ranks in my top 5 DT albums, in part due to my love for Broadway and unhinged theatrics. The storytelling and songwriting here is excellent, with barely any moments of redundancy. |
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51.
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Haken - Aquarius
(8.6/10 - Prog - 72mins) Piano-driven songwriting here is something to behold - combined with their theatrics and eclectic genre shifts, an excellent album awaits. Dark atmospheres and more jubilant choruses are both present, with some seriously groovy riffs. |
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52.
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Against Myself - Tides Of Insanity
(8.6/10 - Symphonic/Prog - 54mins) Best batch of fresh-sounding riffy symphonic metal in a long time. Great songwriting and production, with a closer that stretches beyond my comprehension of the word 'perfection'. |
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53.
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Pentakill - III: Lost Chapter
(8.6/10 - Alternative - 46mins) Lots of influences on a catchy and enjoyable album, including symphonic (midsection of "Lost Chapter", "Edge Of The Night"), djent ("Predator"), AOR ("Redemption"), prog ("Executioner's Calling"), and metalcore ("Aftershock"). I believe this is a virtual band created by game developers (with guest appearances) at Riot Games, with League Of Legends in mind. |
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54.
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Be'lakor - Coherence
(8.6/10 - Melodeath - 61mins) Consistent and groovy with plenty awesome riffs and moments. |
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55.
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Devin Townsend - Lightwork
(8.6/10 - Prog - 103mins) Twenty great Devy songs. Nuff said. |
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56.
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Rhapsody Of Fire - Glory For Salvation
(8.6/10 - Symphonic power - 66mins) Probably the only Rhapsody album I'll ever rate this highly. Everything clicked with this album. Minimal narration, which is for the best since Christopher Lee has sadly passed. Neoclassical shredding is kept to a minimum, and the band seem to have focused on writing some shorter catchy bangers with high quality orchestration. Vocalist is also better than Fabio ever was, even letting loose a couple lines of harsh(er) vocals. |
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57.
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Devin Townsend - Accelerated Evolution
(8.6/10 - Prog/melodic hard rock - 53mins) This one is the proto-Epicloud. Catchy bangers all around, a great bridge between styles old and new. Early-Devy's distinctive wah-drenched major pentatonic warbling is still present from Terria, with some melodies more reminiscent of Empath or Lightwork, as well as many great songs in a hard rock vein. |
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58.
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Epica - The Holographic Principle
(8.6/10 - Symphonic - 72mins) Heavy symphonic metal with death-adjacent influences done right. Lots of highlights with only one of two weak songs. All very consistent, meaning my favourite tracks jumps around a bit, but usually settles on "The Phantasmic Parade" or "Universal Death Squad". |
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59.
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Iapetus - The Body Cosmic
(8.6/10 - Extreme prog/melodeath - 70mins) Interludes, unlike the usual, lift this album greatly, giving it an excellent structure. The space theme is great and shines through the music in a few songs. |
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60.
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The Contortionist - Clairvoyant
(8.5/10 - Prog/post-rock/ambient - 54mins) Very unique in atmosphere with some beautiful melodies and chord progressions, not to mention amazing synth. |
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61.
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Turilli / Lione Rhapsody - Zero Gravity (Rebirth And Evolution)
(8.5/10) - Symphonic power - 53mins) It's an original sound for Rhapsody, to the point where I agree that this should've been released under another name. Turilli takes a fantastic approach to songwriting here, especially in the interludes and choruses. The Latin gets a bit much, but from a musical standing point this album is phenomenal, if a bit repetitive. |
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62.
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Threshold - Legends Of The Shires
(8.5/10 - Prog - 82mins) Hard rocking prog with great songwriting and melodies straight from pop music. Lots of pace changes and incredible transitions, cherry on top is the awesome lyrics. |
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63.
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Elysian Blaze - Blood Geometry
(8.5/10 - Funeral doom - 129mins) In a genre I struggle with, this album is a masterpiece. It's structured brilliantly, and despite the dragging song lengths it remains interesting throughout. Strongly diverse for a doom album. |
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64.
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Cain's Offering - Stormcrow
(8.5/10 - Symphonic power - 58mins) Enjoyability at the max for PM, not too cheesy while maintaining some absolutely epic moments, most notably instrumental track "I Am Legion". |
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65.
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Stratovarius - Survive
(8.5/10 - Power - 58mins) Very enjoyable for PM in '22, no weak tracks, just riff-fueled heaven. |
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66.
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Induction - Born From Fire
(8.5/10 - Power - 58mins) Well written power, highly catchy with wide range of elements like symphonic, disco-esque, death-adjacent and proggy. |
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67.
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Illumishade - Another Side Of You
(8.5/10 - Prog contemporary - 59mins) Beautiful vocals, guitar solos, and songwriting. Nice dose of prog into a relatively commercial album which does wonders. |
