Albums you need to listen to before you die

[Behemothic Leviathonic]

Hi, which bands have created the most awesome albums in the world? Get your music reviewer hats on and have a look at my suggestions...

'Alien' by Strapping Young Lad
55 minutes of sheer relentless, flawlessly produced and executed electro metal. Heavy enough for extreme metallers but catchy enough for the mainstream fanatics.
Standout Tracks: Shine, Possessions, Zen

'The Relationship Of Command' by At The Drive-In
Arty, original and unlike any punk you'll ever hear. The musicianship is phenomenal and lyrical matter suitably surrreal.
Standout Tracks: Cosmonaut, Enfilade, Non-Zero Possibility

'Burned Mind' by Wolf Eyes
Pulsating and savage noise and distortion. This kind of 'music' can split its listeners into two categories. Those who love it and those who hate it. One of the most frightening albums i've ever heard.
Standout Tracks: Rattlesnake Shake, Stabbed In The Face, Burned Mind

'Run Come Save Me' by Roots Manuva
One of the few genuine british hip-hop bands without all of the urban pretense and arrogance. The album sound go from heavily modernised dub to quirky & bass-tinged breakbeats.
Standout Tracks: Witness (1 Hope), Evil Rabbit, Dub Styles

What are your favorite albums of all time
_________________
THE ULTIMATE MOVIE!

Alien VS Predator VS Species VS The Thing VS The Polymorph VS The Terminator VS Cthulhu VS Critters VS Tremors VS Nocturnal Hammerheads

[BlackStarDeceiver]

Amon Amarth-Versus the World
definitely one of the best death metal albums out there, and certainly the best viking metal album (sounds silly, i know). in keeping with behemothic's style, standout track is definitely "death in fire"

Dark Tranquillity-The Gallery
dark tranquillity has always been labeled as a pioneer of the melodeath genre, and this album is the reason why. standout track: "...of melancholy burning"

Helloween-The Dark Ride
power metal through and through. there are a couple of subpar tracks, but the rest of the album more than makes up for it, and songs like mr. torture are fun to listen to. standout track: "mr. torture" (of course)

[Behemothic Leviathonic]

Nice albums there BSD, Viking and Folk metal is awesome. That reminds me...

'Nattfödd' by Finntroll
Keyboard heavy, dripping with finnish frost and folk homage. This is 'Troll Metal' at its best.
Standout Tracks: Människopesten, Trollhammaren, Nattfödd
_________________
THE ULTIMATE MOVIE!

Alien VS Predator VS Species VS The Thing VS The Polymorph VS The Terminator VS Cthulhu VS Critters VS Tremors VS Nocturnal Hammerheads

[bono_chick]

Ok, discussing what the best albums, songs, bands etc. are is so difficult for me because I change my mind so often simply due to how that album is "influencing" my life at the time. None fo these are quite with the death metal vibe to this thread at the moment (I leave that to my brother) but here are some albums that never stray too far from my stereo.....

Zooropa - U2: as I'm not so impressed with U2's work post 'Pop' (released 1997), I still find myself drawn back over and over again to this album simply because of the bizarre nature of some of these songs, it's absolute bliss to listen to whilst driving - especially at night. Stand out track: Lemon.

Vast - Visual, audio, sensory theatre: this took a while to grow on me but now that it has I simply can't imagine life without it! In a sense it's metal but it has all sorts of fusions with other musical genres - especially the Tibetan monks chanting on some of the tracks. Truly evocitive. Stand out track: Touched.

Rammstein - Mutter: after a hard day at work nothing beats cruising along the highway on your way home listening to crazy Germans belting out metal songs. You're either going to love or hate this album, I think it depends on whether or not you understand German! If you do then don't buy it, apparantly the lyrics will leave you unimpressed . Stand out track: Zwitter.

Songs of Faith and devotion - Depeche Mode: no it's not a religious album (well at least I don't believe it is). This is DM at their most morbid. Very moody album that's good to listen to if you're feeling a bit peeved, and it's also very thought inspiring. Stand out track: Mercy in you.

I think I better leave it at that otherwise I'll just keep going (which might annoy a few people). Anyway, Cheers!!
_________________
"I've had enough of romantic love, yeah I'd give it up - for a miracle drug" - U2

[Aramor]

EVERYTHING BY METALLICA METALLICA RULES!!! LOVE METALLICA OR DIE A PAINFUL AND SLOW DEATH!!! ahum...
_________________

[Poor Lumpy Pony]

Don't care if you don't like country:
Made some great tracks
His version of Personal Jesus
The Mercy Seat
Damn your eyes
etc

Really obvious I know but
Daft Punk - Homework
_________________
I've always had an interest in radial symmetrty

[NukeTheSiteFromOrbit]

Loveless by My Bloody Valentine

Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices

I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One by Yo La Tengo

[some random guest]

Running with Scissors and Alapalooza (both Wierd Al)
_________________
Alien3 isn't crap, FOX executives are!

[Metal_Pred]

Darkthrone
Immortal
Drudkh
Emperor
Sigh
Trollheims Grott
Woods of Ypres

*thats only the black metal I can think for the moment
_________________
Cogito Ergo Sum....Bitch.

[SGAC]

"Strategy Guide" by 14-Year-Old-Girls
The best way to describe this album is "Nintendo Punk". They incorporate the themes of songs as background and write lyrics to sing over them for a 3 minute (or less) song. If you get a chance, check out the track "Ballad of Rockman".
_________________
I know I'm going to hell, but at least I'm having fun in the process.

[Aramor]

[InvaderJess]

[Crotchfire]

The Album "Nintendo Metal" by a Scandinavian band called Game Over. The song "Little Mac's Confession" is friggin' awesome, and Cataclysmic Clash is cool too. You can find both of them at www.ocremix.org

Little Mac's Confession is from Punch-Out!! and Cataclysmic Clash is from Megaman 3.
_________________
The official MILF-masta of the AlP forums.
In addition to my well-documented exploits, my first two initials are MF. Seriously, I'm not making that up.

[Tantu_Horn]

London Calling-the clash
chocolate and cheese-ween
rift-phish
paul's boutique-beastie boys
la boheme-puccini
man comes around-johnny cash
positively 4th street-bob dylan
gordon-barenaked ladies
_________________
It's a Chigger Bite

[Colos Swarez]

[Sal]

oh man, don't get me started on my Mike Patton fanboy frenzy
apart from FNM (which is brilliant) he made some other spectacular things, most interesting of which are probably
with Mr Bungle - all of the three albums are unbelievable, but the last one "California" is pure poetry... well wicked poetry

with Tomahawk - the self titled album and even more "Mit Gas" - hard rock returns, and it's seriously pissed off!

with Fantomas - the alternative to everything, ultimate metal band; my fave is definitely "The Director's Cut" where they play their versions of classic movie themes

dood, Mike rules...



but i actually wanted to mention something else
recently i've been fascinated by the music of an Icelandic singer/songwriter called Mugison. i got 2 albums of his, "Lonely Mountain" and "Mugiyama: Is This Monkey Music" and he's just been able to find and hit that secret string in my musical sensitivity that only few ever have... wow, that's pathos for ya. anyways, check him out if you dig this kind of acoustic, introspective, isolation-flavored songwriting.
_________________
i have no time for anal love

[Colos Swarez]

I thought Fantomas was utter bollocks to be honest. All of the songs blended into one really long, rubbish song. And although I enjoyed Mr. Bungles's first, the Disco Volante album left me very disapointed. Tomahawk was OK, but that was as far as it went, OK.
_________________
By the time you realise this sig doen't actually say anything it's already too late to stop reading it.

[Sal]

you probably mean the "Delirium Cordia" album, the Fantomas' would-be masterpiece that failed entirely. i agree, this is bollocks, blending tracks into one just for the sake of it, plus it has pretty boring music on it.
that's why i didn't mention this one but the movie themes album. this one has guts!
but that doesn't mean i consider Fantomas or Tomahawk the apex of Patton's creativity. i'll always say that FNM was the best thing he's done.
_________________
i have no time for anal love

[Jyan]

Some interesting choices, not sure many of you will agree with me here.

De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta-Former members of
At the Drive-In put together a top notch album. It chills and warms and makes us all face our humanity and our feelings on death.
Best Track: Televators

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips-A strange mixture of acoustic folk and electronica, this sci-fi-themed album takes music to places it seldom dares venture.
Best Track: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1

Funeral by Arcade Fire-For anyone who ever wondered what Indie Rock is, this is it. The lyricists and all musicians work together to put together an album that works as almost an indie-rock symphony, full of inventiveness and beauty.
Best Track: Rebellion (lies)

In An Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel-If Salvador Dali was an indie musician and not an artist, this is probably the album he would make. With gruesome, bizarre, and sometimes sickening imagery, the album teems with strange but beautifully haunting songs.
Best Track: Two-Headed Boy

Down the River of Golden Dreams by Okkervil River-There's something to be said of songs that speak to the humanity in all of us. This album is full of songs that do just that, each of them invoking a sense of shame or pride, fear or enlightenment.
Best Track: The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion
_________________
"I can't fix something this complex
Any more than I can build a rose."
-Jakob Dylan

[Slow_Burn]

When the Kite String Pops by Acid bath: It's like a strange mix of death metal and psychedelic, Doors-style rock. My personal favorite tracks: Dr. Seuss is Dead, The Blue and Cassie Eats Cockroaches

[Soylent Truncheon]

A Night at the Opera by Blind Guardian. Not just a nod to Queen, but a blistering, thunderous Symphonic Metal masterpiece.

Pop Goes the World by Men Without Hats. Yes, the band that did "Safety Dance." This is one of the happiest pop albums ever.

Live at San Quentin by B.B. King. One the best by one of the best.

Small Change by Tom Waits. Say what you want about some of his mid-80's albums, anything before "Frank's Wild Years" is amazing. Don't ignore "The Mule Variations" either. Less noisy, more goodness.

American Idiot by Green Day. A album that actually lives up to the hype.

Waking the Dead by Three Pints Shy. Okay, that's just blatant shilling for my own music project. Still...
_________________
http://www.threepintsshy.com. Because they're Irish songs about drinking and death.

[Kurosaki Ichigo]

Borknagar - Epic
The vocal on this album just takes you in. It's extremely impressive.

Iron Maiden - Everything except Virtual XI and The X Factor
Anything with Bruce is a must have, anything with Di Anno is recommended.

Dragonforce - Once again, everything
This band should be your favourite band at some point in your life.
_________________

[Munan]

I feel oddly out of place posting the following:

Endtroducing... by DJ Shadow
Fucking amazing. And that really is all I can say about this record, it's just so good, it's scary. When I started rollerblading, this was on my walkman permanently. The music fitted eerily well with rollerblading through deserted industrial and office areas on dark, cold november evenings.

Very/Relentless by the Pet Shop Boys
Arguably, their best. And believe me, the choice is very difficult, but it's the weird bonus-cd in which they take house-music to a whole new level, that makes this one of the best albums in pop-history

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
Simply the best rap album ever.

Music For the Jilted Generation by The Prodigy
An amazing collection of beats, so energy packed and raving wild that it can transform any normal, law-abiding citizen into a hedonistic, pleasure-seeking freak over the course of its 70+ minutes. And this without the use of drugs (well, sometimes at least - It has been reported to put XTC-injected mice into cardial arrest).

Achtung Baby by U2
Again, a difficult choice. But it's the title that made me settle for this album (which indeed contains their most coherent, atmospheric collection of songs to date).

Darat al Ayam by Umm Kholtoum
She was the biggest star among the classical arabian singers and can still move contemporary arabs deeply and profoundly. This album contains only one song, that - over the course of an hour - explores the depth and breadth of the human soul. The Egyptian godess that Kholtoum is takes you on a voyage that will leave you exhausted an exiliarated. It is said that during the six-day war, the Israelis would play Umm Kholtoum, since it made their Egyptian adversaries forget everything and walk right into their arms. Her funeral was literary attended by millions. Download it and judge for yourself!

I'll stop here, but might add a few later on.

Edit:
I can't believe I forgot the following, which must be my all time favourite;

The White Room by the KLF
You know, if Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond had never produced anything worth listening to, they'd still be more interesting than most pop-bands. But in between banging on the ABBA office in Stockholm at three o'clock in the night, demanding an audience with the Swedes to discuss legal matters over them using a sample of their dancing queen and burning a million pounds somewhere in Scotland and calling it art, they did produce the best dance record of all time. Check out the mad energy of What Time is Love?, the acidic quality of Make It Rain, the wild bleeps of 3AM Eternal, the mythical atmosphere of The Church of the KLF, the plain bizarreness of Last Train to Trancentral, the scat singing and block rocking beats of The White Room and the pure pop of No More Tears and Justified and Ancient. Something never before done and not likely to be done again either. Brilliant!
_________________
The Justified Ancient of Mu Mu

[Sal]

[Digitaaliklosetti]