My Favourite Albums

Hauntingly beautiful rock album. On paper Marbles is way too long for its own good, should be boring and stuff... but it isn't anything like that. The music here is nothing short of hypnotic and captivating, perfectly suited for its overblown running time. Most of the songs here are among their best ones, and epic Ocean Cloud especially is one of my favourite rock songs of all time.

I used to be a huge fan of Fish-era Marillion and in my fanboyish rage dismissed their later albums, but Marbles finally opened my eyes. Hogarth-era Maillion is less raw and unpolished than the original one, but it feels even more subtle, modestly elegant and well-aged, like a good wine. Marillion is one of the best active prog bands out there, and it most probably will stay that way no matter who's the singer.

The best live album ever. Considering how good Straits were live, it's shouldn't come as a surprise that I also think it's one of the best albums ever.

Like the title says: it's all about chilling out and having some good time. In other words it's a kinda concept album about a car trip from one place to another with lots and lots and LOTS of sampling and imaginative soundscapes.

I had already forgotten how much I loved Edgar Froese until I recently had accidental pleasure of listening to his early solo albums again. These are actually much better than the albums he made with Tangerine Dream. I guess this type of improvised ambient music works better when done solo.

Love Over Gold is the most non-commercial album Straits did, mixing their brand of pub rock with jazz and prog influences. Sadly, they never got this good or adventurous again after this.

I had forgotten about this one. At one point of my life I used to listen to this beast constantly. There's not a single weak song, but the whiny singing might get on somebody's nerves.

This is basically a record full of soloing, not just with a guitar but violin, saxophone, drums, bass... And not just that, but it's also ridiculously enjoyable and groovy jazz rock album that has truly stood the test of time.

Klaus Schulze is another German giant I've loved for years now. He's the only one of the old guard that has managed to keep his quality consistently high even after all these years. This is his best album ever, and the latest re-release with bonus material is even more awesome.

Generator at their bleakest. I've read this was the type of music they were originally going for, but the record company wanted something more happier and warm-sounding. In hindsight the band was right, since this is universally hailed as their masterpiece and one of the finest comeback albums of all time.

Surprise!

Synth pop with a mix of cheesy 80's hard rock edginess doesn't get much more fun and catchy than this. It's Japanese anime stuff, yes, but the music was always the best thing in this show to begin with.

Good stuff. I love it to death.

Prog from Australia with a huge amounts of nice guitar melodies and memorable songs. I reckon they changed their style radically after this and have never made anything nearly as great again.

One of the most enjoyable prog rock albums ever.

I remember listening to this melancholic rock album as soon as it got out. It struck me immediately like a lightning, there's not a single bad song. I know they have done lot great stuff before and since, but nothing comes close to this masterpiece.

This is my favourite metal album of all time. This is where the art of Maiden was masterfully refined to the max without any sign of weakness. In fact, even the weaker songs here are some of my favourites of all time.

Less black metal and more folk/viking oriented than their later albums. I think this is where they were at their best, this and Kivenkantaja. Every song is a winner here.

Another one from Klaus. Would you believe this is actually soundtrack to a porn film? Judging by the music alone, the film itself must be the most awesome trippiest film ever made!

You want some guitar? This here's probably the finest ever guitar album ever made. It's like having Beethoven, Mozart and Bach jamming, the quality is so good you wouldn't believe it. The reason it's this low is because I haven't been listening to it as often as the others above it, some of which have been on my playlist since I was a teenager.

I think this must have been one of the first albums I ever got. The style is epic pagan metal with lots of choirs and stuff, it's still one of the best ever in the genre. The band changed their style significantly after this, so this remains their greatest achievement in my eyes.

This record pretty much revived the whole doom metal genre back in the early 2000's. It really isn't that hard to see why, since the album is as flawless as it gets. I love it.

The finest album WASP has managed to put out so far, and most probably will stay that way, since Crimson Idol is a masterpiece. Not just as a metal album, but concept too. The story itself is full of drama and powerful symbolism and allegories most similar records usually lack. Blackie knew damn well his concept albums.

In my opinion this is the best thing Rush has ever released. It's a live album, with the best songs of my favourite era of theirs. Even the live performances are top notch.

The crowning achievement of technical thrash metal. There's very few better metal albums than this in existence even today. It gets even better when you actually try out, play it with an instrument and really understand the quality of the songwriting here. That's how I became a fan of Coroner.

Even though it's called "metal", it's actually experimental fusion-jazz. In my opinion this is Allan at his best, the man has so unique style and crazy refined technique that you can pretty much pinpoint every song he has played in.

One of the most awesome live records ever produced. Aside from Metal Fatigue Allan was at his best during late 90's and early 2000's, so you know it's mind-blowing stuff.

Some of the world's leading fusion musicians join their forces to create something insanely cool, and the result is just that and much more. Even though I thought I knew everything Allan Holdsworth and Frank Gambale had to offer, I just keep finding more and more of this good stuff.

Note. This album is so full of information it's almost unlistenable for people not familiar with this kind of stuff.

One of the greatest albums ever, regardless of musical genre.

One of my favourite Italian prog albums. It's a modernized rock version of Dante's Divine Comedy with all the bells and whistles one would expect from an Italian prog band. The cover art is awesome.

The cover of this album says it all: long-haired metal dude fighting a motorcycle ninja in a dystopian Brazilian favela. This has all the best bits of both European and American power metal, but none of their weaknesses. The result is as flawless and fun as it sounds.

You want some more guitar? It doesn't get much better than this!

Words cannot describe how much I adore this album. It's just so good, like anything on this list of mine. Every time I listen to The Headless Children I just find something new to love.

Masterpiece of jazz-prog with surprisingly dark edge to it. Not until lately did I actually read the lyrics, and the album got even better in my mind because of them. One of the greatest rock albums ever made.

If it wasn't for that one annoying song, this would be my favourite metal album of all time. Of course I'm talking about that stupid "Can I Play With Madness". What were they thinking!?

Rush can do no wrong. Here they perfected their 80's synth-oriented approach, and I just love it to death, even if it is a little outdated production-wise.

Simply put, the greatest video game OST ever made. I can't think of any other that comes even close.

This is one of those albums you show to people who really want to know what heavy metal is all about. This is like Painkiller but years before Judas Priest did it, every song kicks all sorts of asses. My only complaint here is that beyond the awesomeness it's not really that creative today as it was back in the day, but even then it's ridiculously awesome.

The best of Tangerine Dream.

French answer to Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese. Pretty damn good space music, but damn rare and expensive.

Nobody has ever done another similar album, not even Devin Townsend himself. This must one of the angriest, most insane metal records ever made, and I don't mean just the songwriting and the performances, but the production too. It's all crazy, but also crazy good!

Want to know my gut reaction when I first heard it back in the late 90's?

"How many hands and feet does that drummer really have!?"

This album used to be my favourite from Froese, but I guess I've grown a little out of it over the years. David Bowie was a huge fan of this record, and for a very good reason.

For many people this is pretty much one of the best metal records ever made, but I find one or two of the songs rather mediocre, so It's not the best for me. Regardless, Dave and the boys were on the top of their game here, the soloing of Marty Friedman is still insanely as creative and timeless as guitar melodies ever come. The dude is still known for his work here, even after everything great he's been doing all these years.

The first masterpiece of Iron Maiden.

I guess for many people this is the best thing they ever put out, but I think the massive popularity has worn some of the charm off from my point of view. It's still a great album, but not THAT great.

More atmospheric Generator. Originally they wanted to make a way rawer two-disc album, but the record company didn't accept the plans. In hindsight the record company people might have been right, since this is just amazing prog album and made them relatively "big".

I remember reading that Flemming Rasmussen wasn't happy with Master of Puppets, since they had so tight deadline and had to rush it to the markets, so he decided to use the original plans here. The result is crazy good melodic thrash metal with only one weaker song, and even that's a cover. The band has never made anything remotely this good since.

My ultimate gym soundtrack. This album is so intense it will make you train like a champ just by listening to it.

After some of the more spaced out albums Pink Floyd decided to make something more simple, but just as great as those albums were. The result is a masterpiece, loosely based on Animal Farm by George Orwell.

The final masterpiece of Fish-era Marillion. I remember this being tougher album to get into than the previous ones, but now I think they seriously matured and finally found their own voice here.

You could put any of their albums here. Threshold is all about quality songwriting without the instrumental porn of Dream Theater. I think this might be their most rocking and heaviest records, so that's why it's also my favourite.

This is where King Crimson started to get really damn good.

I remember this album coming out of nowhere and blasting my brains out. Exodus was pretty much dead band in the 90's until they reformed and joined forces with Andy Sneap. This album frigging kills, it's still one of the best in the genre.