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The Great Collection Rediscovery

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adg211288 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jun 2020 at 7:30am
Artist: Opeth
Album: Blackwater Park
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 40 (8 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Now this is one that would have more Last.fm plays logged if I'd been on that site longer. So would Ghost Reveries actually. Surprised to see that it's been five years since I played this one. Time goes too fast and there's too much music around and good albums get forgotten. It was great to play it again.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bosh66 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jun 2020 at 9:41am
^ yep, that's a 5/5 album for sure.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jun 2020 at 5:42pm
Originally posted by Bosh66 Bosh66 wrote:

^ yep, that's a 5/5 album for sure.

Reckon I should review it?Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2020 at 3:12am
Artist: Lovebites
Album: Clockwork Immortality
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 94 (10 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Clockwork Immortality is one of those top notch albums that still suffers in my estimations due to it not being the first one I heard from the group who made it, even if objectively it's more polished than the previous album. It's still the middle album of a trilogy of top notch power metal albums from this Japanese band though, who've delivered a consistency rarely heard in any genre through consequtive releases. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jun 2020 at 3:17am
Artist: Transatlantic
Album: The Whirlwind
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 285 (20 Tracks, most for the main disc - 12 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Transatlantic's best album for my money. I actually saw them tour this one when they played it, the whole 77+ minute suite, in full. In fact that's the very performance released on their Whirld Tour 2010 DVD, the only live release by any band I can say 'I was there!' for. I must get that DVD out again sometime soon. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 at 9:51am
Artist: Spock's Beard
Album: V
Previous Last.fm Plays: 51 (6 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: The only Spock's Beard CD I actually own, although I really should change that (recommendations welcome, although my current inclinations of the Neal Morse era are The Light and Snow, though the latter is hard to get). V is perhaps the most hard rocking Spock's Beard has ever got, despite it also featuring what may just be their most commercial song All on a Sunday, which coincidentally was the first song I heard by them and it put me off going further for years, though I like it more today. However it's the rest of the album which puts this as one of my top prog rock CDs. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 at 4:43pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Artist: Transatlantic
Album: The Whirlwind
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 285 (20 Tracks, most for the main disc - 12 Tracks)
Old Rating: 5/5



Verdict: Transatlantic's best album for my money. I actually saw them tour this one when they played it, the whole 77+ minute suite, in full. In fact that's the very performance released on their Whirld Tour 2010 DVD, the only live release by any band I can say 'I was there!' for. I must get that DVD out again sometime soon. 

New Rating: No Change.

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Was that the Manchester gig? I was there too.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 3:00am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 11:16am
Artist: Running Wild
Album: Gates to Purgatory
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 76 (10 Tracks)
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: Running Wild's debut. Pre-pirate times and firmly playing 80's heavy/speed metal. A raw and fun album, but not my usual first port of call for the band, although I retain I strong fondness for this one. Running Wild is a band I played a real lot of when I first got into them although I haven't been through their work for a while. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 3:47pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

No, London. The one on this: http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/album/transatlantic/whirld-tour-2010(movie)

Ah yes, a bit of research and it's this one I was at recorded in Manchester. I knew I was at one of them that was recorded. I should buy it really seen as I was there, especially as I have most Transatlantic stuff, certainly all the studio albums anyway.


By the way, if you're looking to check out more Morse era Beard then The Kindness Of Strangers is one of the best IMO.


Edited by Nightfly - 28 Jun 2020 at 3:52pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jul 2020 at 4:52am
Artist: Katatonia
Album: Dance of December Souls
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 82 (13 Tracks)
Old Rating: 4.5/5



Verdict: One of a couple of Katatonia albums that I picked up during a doom phase (the other obviously being Brave Murder Day). Can't say that this is a band that has ever appealed to be much after they changed direction, but I have a fondness for the first two releases. Always thought the cover of his one had old school prog vibes, although the music itself is anything but.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Jul 2020 at 8:56am
Artist: Avantasia
Album: The Metal Opera Parts 1 & 2
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 124 / 42
Old Rating: 5/5 & 4/5



Verdict: Special double entry! I've always preferred the first Metal Opera by a great deal, as evidenced by how much more often I've played it. II really clicked with me a lot more this time around though. These are the only albums I own two copies of as well. Both the originals and the Gold Edition boxset. I really should sell one or the one, but can't decide which to part with.

New Ratings: No Change / 4.5/5

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 5:09am
Artist: Transatlantic
Album: Kaleidoscope
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 28
Old Rating: 4/5



Verdict: I haven't played the fourth Transatlantic album half as much as the other ones. I was very hyped for this before it came out because I bloody loved The Whirlwind back then (and still do!) but my impression of this one has only been lukewarm at best (and still is!). The two epics are decent, but not up to scratch as their older ones or those Neal Morse has done solo or with Spock's Beard. Overall it just doesn't click like I want it to.

New Rating: No change, but sometimes I feel like knocking it down to 3.5.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 12:41pm
Artist: Metallica
Album: St. Anger
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 12
Old Rating: 1.5/5



Verdict: Everyone's favourite album of all time...in some alternate universe anyway. Honestly I enjoyed listening to St. anger again. No, it's not a great album. The drum sound sucking in particular isn't something people exaggerate. But I do think there are far worse albums around. Far more boring ones too. And some so blandly inoffensive that they become offensive. Although it didn't work out as successful as they'd planned, you have to at least hand it to Metallica for having the guts to go into the studio and tell Kirk no soloing. Or maybe you don't. It kinda is a product of it's time with the popular metal being in the solo lite alt/nu metal vein so maybe Metallica were just trying their best to remain relevant in the early 2000s without realising what people really wanted from them was some good old fashioned thrash. At least they got the picture better with Death Magnetic. 

For me, St. Anger is a special album though, because it's the album that was my gateway to metal music. I'd never been exposed to metal before this. The heaviest my taste in music got was probably Nickelback, a group I later discovered is widely derided as a whole and not just for one release like St. Anger is for Metallica (I mean, not everyone loves Load and ReLoad, but I don't think they cop as much flak as St. Anger does). It's an odd album to claim as your gateway album, but for me that actually makes it that bit more special and think perhaps my metal journey is more unique than those who hear earlier Metallica or classic heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden or Judas Priest first. 

I really should scrap my old review of this one and see if I can write a Patrick-esque story review about it. 

New Rating: 3/5 - I did actually enjoy a fair bit of it.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Unitron Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 2:17pm
I always like seeing people talk positively about St. Anger. Minus the snare and maybe long-running time, I really don't see much wrong with the album. Metallica are and always have been great songwriters, and that shows on St. Anger. Frantic, the title track, and Some Kind of Monster are honestly among my favorite Metallica songs. Some Kind of Monster especially, it has a really cool grunge-thrash sound to it.

I think if it wasn't for the snare sound, and of course the Napster controversy going on at the time, St. Anger might've been better received. 


Edited by Unitron - 04 Jul 2020 at 2:22pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 2:52pm
It might have been better received as well if the name on it wasn't Metallica. Peoples views, mine included, are often swayed by prior expectations, even if we don't realise it.

It's part of my goal for this project currently to relisten to all the more maligned Metallica albums again before doing any of the classics. I haven't listened to Load or ReLoad for over a decade I doubt except the odd track from them. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Unitron Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 3:30pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

It might have been better received as well if the name on it wasn't Metallica. Peoples views, mine included, are often swayed by prior expectations, even if we don't realise it.

Definitely, there's so many great albums out there that get shit on because they aren't like what came before. Sometimes it can be hard to not go in with any expectations because we often have unconscious expectations even if we aren't thinking of any like you say. I try my best to go into everything with open ears, and I like to think I've gotten better with that over time.

Looking forward to seeing what you think of Load. Probably my second favorite Metallica these days, after Ride the Lightning. I've been in a Metallica mood myself lately, so I might listen through their discog too.


Edited by Unitron - 04 Jul 2020 at 3:35pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jul 2020 at 7:15pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:


Patrick-esque story review about it. 


I got an -esque named after me!ClapLOL

Load and Re-Load did catch a hell of a backlash when they were released, but I think a lot of people went back and re-evaluated their opinions after this arrived, and decided that while they didn't match the first four albums for intensity, there were still bits and pieces which were pretty good. St. Anger was just a turd sandwich through and through. It probably needed to happen though, as a reality check. And it also resulted in Some Kind Of Monster, which makes uncomfortable, but compelling viewing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2020 at 11:05am
Artist: Metallica
Album: Load
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 16 (14 Tracks)
Old Rating: 2.5/5



Verdict: Huh. Unpopular opinion time. St. Anger is a better album than this one. St. Anger may be a bloody faulted release, but it does at least have its moments that keep it interesting. This one is just boring. Not bad, but boring. In some ways I think that's worse. A real slog to get through. 

New Rating: 2/5

Keeper? Nope, but I won't be breaking up the collection.

---

Artist: Metallica
Album: ReLoad
Previous Last.fm Srobbles: 2 (13 Tracks)
Old Rating: 1.5/5



Verdict: Huh (again). Another unpopular opinion time. Although Load and my old rating conditioned me to not go back into ReLoad with any expectations, I found this to be a better album than Load. By a whole fucking lot even. I'll never understand anyone who says Load is superior, because this one at least has several really damn good songs and doesn't drag like watching paint dry.

New Rating: 3.5/5

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2020 at 11:47am
Artist: Metallica
Album: Death Magnetic
Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 5 (10 Tracks)
Old Rating: 3.5/5



Verdict: Apparently I haven't played this in full in all my years on Last.fm. Not sure why, because it's quite obviously the best Metallica album post-Black Album* and certainly their most thrash metal based release since the 80s. It has one of the same problems as St. Anger - songs maybe slightly too long, but they have improved on that front since that album. It's overall a very solid Metallica release that doesn't manage to shit all over their legacy. 

* This view comes from not heard Hardwired since it was released either and I don't actually own Hardwired.

New Rating: 4/5

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