Monster Albums

I dont like prog metal at all, and usually listen to blues or classic players mostly. However, images and words is one of the most used cs ive got. I tend to listen to it every day and sometimes few times per day.
Youll never see dream theater on mtv , at least not on mtv europe and im not sure if theyve got any videos BUT images and words IS a monster album. You dont have to sell 20 million copies to influent all the other people around. A great example can be Stevie Ray Vaughan who ifnluented ALL the players from kirk hammet, to eric clapton, without being shown on mtv all day long.

This is hilarious. Im just your average young guitarist who logs on to this site every now and then to chat about bands and learn a thing or two on guitar!

Slow driver - What are you on about? have you even read what Ive been saying?!?!? If you formulated your arguments in a mature and gramatically correct manner then maybe we'll get somewhere.

Aiwass - I didnt even bother reading your massive post! And by the sounds of it you didnt read my first post!! The albums you stated arent what I was asking about! You said it was my problem I hadnt heard of the bands like it was an issue!

The whole point of this thread was pretty simple!

Im snobbish against musical tastes?!?! Have you seen my CD collection. Some people need to lighten up here :) Cheers Eggman, looks like your the only one here who can read properly!

Bye, Im off to play pool

my monster album is Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth. it's personally my favortie album of all time as well as probably their biggest one. not that i care, but it's called the greatest power metal album ever. titles like those are nice, but they don't make an album "monster" being mainstream and selling a ****load of an album doesn't make them monster either. how many people would say that N'Sync's albums are monster. they went platinum.


to me a monster album, is one you can listen to for hours on end and ten or twenty years from now people will be still talking about it. it defines the group or the genre and is overall really special. of course everyone can have their own "monster" albums and that's great

'Appetite For Destruction', 'Nevermind' or 'Slippery when Wet (lol)'
Will there ever be albums like this again that just blow people away across the board?


That was your question, so an expected answer was a name of an album
Aiwass named images and words.
From what i can see, he did answer your question.

Images and Words is DEFINATELY a monster album. Dream Theater is one of the best metal bands out there, and that album really put them in that position (i've always though that Alive and Falling Into Infinity were a bit weak)

I'm not slow dRiver for Christ's sake!:) It sounds funny, though
My grammar sucks, alright. I'm not a native speaker so I'm kind of exused. You are also sometimes sloppy whith your expressions.
And I have read what you are saying and I still think it does not make any sense to me. The whole idea of monster albums is veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeryyyyy subjective. To me neither of the albums you mentioned are any monster.(maybe nevermind was, yeah nevermind is monster, okay). I am not, though, one of those guys who only look for the newest indie band and try to be cool and stuff.
I really got pissed by what you said to aiwass about the pocket sized bands. In this respect let me ask you this question: Do you need to see some music on MTV, on the charts to actually consider it monster? Is that what you are saying?
Also, antother thing to consider -- these monster albums you mentioned are produced by some huge, monster producers. I guess Mike Clinck did AFD(I may be wrong about this one), Bob Rock did The Black Album, and Bouch Vig(?) I guess did Nevermind. Please have in mind that these guys know what they are doing, they know how to produce the music to be apealing to the mases. You have to be aware of that when you judge music -- indipendent bands at the same time do not have the oportunity to work with such names, to use the premium gear...
So yeah, there is really a lot to think about when discussing the monsterity(funny word) of an album. I guss we should leave that discussion, it's so subjective.

Note:Dimmu Borgir worked with the Prague orchestra/philharmonica I believe.

Anyway,this monster album thing is quite simple.

Youve got the chart toppers that get a large amount of radio time and sell millions of albums(eg.Black album).

then youve got albums like 'Reign In Blood'(slayer)that get no airtime or exposure to the masses and sell hunderds of thousands.

And then youve got the bands that have a cult following,but are obscure(exhorder),get no airtime,exposure and sell maybe just a few thousnd+ albums.

They ALL have impact,but on different levels(with exeptions).

The Black album made heavier music more accesible to the listener...not sure how influencial it was as a guitarist.

Reign In Blood set the standard for thrash/speed metal and influenced millions.

Exhorder created a style of thier own and influenced many including pantera(I wont get into that).

Lots of bands fall in between these three levels of 'monsterness'.
Thats my outlook on it all.

If you rely on radio or eMTyV to bring you the latest in chart busting monsters then your only getting one piece of the pie.The same goes for the other levels of monster albums.

Personally,I stay away from mainstream like the plague since its fueled by money and sales,not talent or musical impact.I dont think that makes me an elitist...I just prefer integrity in music.Mainstream is just one big sad bandwagon...
Well thats a different debate all together.

Later! \m/

Note the amusing juxtapositioning of the following sentences within the SAME posting!

[i]
Aiwass - I didnt even bother reading your massive post!
[/B]

And

[i]
Cheers Eggman, looks like your the only one here who can read properly!
[/B]

I read that! Doctor heal yourself!

Monster albums? What would be a monster album for me would be different to what would be a monster album for Axl. Personally I'm more interested in what albums inspire the kinds of progressive musicians I listen to than what makes a killing through MTV sales. The fact is, particularly as video and TV are increasingly dominant over radio, beauty sells more than talent.
Sales go down as melodies become longer because fewer people can get to grips with more complex music. Short catchy hooks are fine as far as many people are concerned.
There is such a thing as musician's music; more syncopation, stranger scales, more modulations, longer melodic lines, wider chords, more technical prowess etc.
Knowing most of Dream Theater's music and having heard some symphony X I think that Aiwas's tastes are more of this ilk.

Here are my Monster albums:

Rush: Exit Stage Left 1982
King Crimson: Indiscipline 1984
Joe Satriani: Surfing with the Alien 1987
Pearl Jam: Ten 1991
Shaun Baxter: Open Invitation 1992
Extreme: Three sides to every Story 1992
Joe Satriani: The Extremist 1992
Hellecasters: Hell III: New Axes to Grind 1992
Dream Theater: Awake 1994

I forgot to mention Yngwie Malmsteem who is one of the most influential rock guitarists of all time and is a staggeringly phenomenally talented player. I wouldn't know what album to choose though not being well enough aquainted with his music.
I think someone who knows about jazz should make a posting with their favourite players; jazzers are REAL musicians.

Just to let everyone know, Yngwie Malmsteem does not influence me at all. I don't even think I've ever heard any of his music, and I've done pretty good without him.

For yngwie...Rising Force IMO.
I envy a good jazz guitarist.Youve got to know theory and have some exellent technique.

Metalisbest,From bands youve mentioned in past posts it seems you stick with nu metal.Heres some suggestions.

Yngwie Malmsteen-Rising force
Lamb Of God-New American Gospel
Children Of Bodom-Hatebreeder
Meshuggah-Chaos Sphere
Morbid Angel-Altars Of Madness
Death-Sound Of Perserverence
Decapitated-Winds Of Creation
Immortal-Sons Of Northern Darkness
In Flames-Jester Race
Krisiun-Black Force Domain
Arch Enemy-Burning Bridges
At The Gates-Slaughter Of The Soul
Soilwork-Steel Bath Suicide
Scar Culture-Inscribe
Cryptopsy-Whisper Supremacy

And I could go on forever,but that should introduce you to many other bands.

Later! \m/

I'm not all into nu-metal, but no one talks about anything else on here. I've heard some of those bands' music before, but I'm not into shred that much, but I'll check em out. Thanks bro.

I just got Meshuggah's "Destroy,erase, Improve" through the post today. I've listened to it once and I'm extremely impressed with the standard of playing, lots of complex rhythms perfectly executed and the guitar and drums particularly impressed me. I'm not sure I'm that into the full on metal thing though; does anyone know if Fredrik Thordendal has any solo albums? As someone mentioned on another thread it sounds like he's jazz influenced. He reminds me of a cross between George Lynch (Gruesome tapping and heavy tone) and Holdsworth (wicked legato, odd timings, creamier tone he uses in places) and he uses a lot of volume swells. If you like your metal gruesome but brainy you should check these guys out.

I'm not sure if thordendal has any solo/side project stuff,but I know he has produced alot of great bands in his studio.

Hey guys, now I'm on a machine with broadband so it's easy to search for these things. I've got a couple of links to reviews of a thordendal solo project:
http://www.dvsrecords.com/edgeoftime/e12/r12atmo.shtml
http://www.his.com/~sha3u/reviews/sol.html
sounds like this is a similarly uncompromising but high quality product.