Nas: Illmatic

Snoop Dogg: Doggystyle (LOL, I'm so canon when it comes to hip hop!)

Andrew W.K.: I Get Wet

Chrono Cross OST

The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (not 100%, but so close it will climb there in time, JUST obtained it.)

...others. I'll have to get back to this

I agree with this. He even composed the whole thing on piano. That's fucking kvlt.

As for me, heck, I'm not really to sure... I suppose quite a few Bull of Heaven pieces would get 100% from me, since they're pretty much the best band ever. SleepResearch_Facility - Dead Weather Machine and Deep_Frieze would get 100% from me, As well as Thomas Köner - Kaamos, and most of the early Daniel Johnston albums.

Dr. Dre - The Chronic

This is just one of THOSE hip hop albums. It encapsulates everything that makes the gansta rap genre so enjoyable: a really fat, encompassing production job, nigh-perfect lyrics ranging from popping punk mothafuckas to dgafing like west coast niggaz only can, all delivered with impeccable thought to flow and rhyme. Dr. Dre, in my opinion, demonstrates himself as a FAR superior rapper than Eazy-E, and The Chronic puts everything Eazy did since N.W.A. to shame. And I really can't overstate the utter brilliance of Dre's production: it has always been his forte, and this album created an immediately recognizable and always unforgettable style. The fat, heavy Parliament/Funkadelic bass samples, high-pitched whiny keyboards, and thick, resounding drums... it's all so sleazy, so casual, just so damn COOL. When it comes to the actual rapping, Dr. Dre shows that he's just as comfortable behind a mic than behind a mixing board. Notable featured artists are Snoop Dogg (who's presence makes The Chronic nearly as much his album as it is Dre's) who alternates between quick-paced rhythms and laid-back ones with ease, as well as RBX ("Haven't you eva heard of a... KILLA? ) and Dat Nigga Daz, who has a really jumpy, jagged, quirky style that blends in perfectly with the songs. And of course, who could forget Nate Dogg's crooning of "I heard you want ta fuck wit Dreeeee! Ya picked the wrong mothafuckin' daaaaayyy!" on "Deeez Nuuuts?" The Chronic is one of those albums where you come to love every single damn song on there, and learn them like the back of your hand. "Fuck Wit' Dre Day", "Let Me Ride", "The Day The Niggaz Took Over", "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat", and "High Powered"... every damn song is perfect.

You want to officially try to explore the genre of hip hop? The Chronic is what you need.

Since this thread's been up I've been trying to come up with some ambient discs that garner 100%, and even though there are plenty of candidates, it feels really weird rating them that way. So often it seems ambient simply serves the purpose it was meant for - to create a psychological space - and in that particular way each disc (so long as it's skillfully crafted) stands as more or less a perfect expression of its vision. Absent of the normal attributes of critical quality, such as metered song structure, instrumental skill, etc, the standards of quality become that much more abstract, and it becomes very difficult to judge its "true" worth. It's like trying to pinpoint a value on a scale without any end.

That said, Thomas Köner is wonderful, as Areskelian mentioned, and many discs of his are totally classic. Other people mentioned Biosphere, which I find vastly overrated. Microgravity was terrible, just rather half-baked electronic. I would put his collaboration with Deathprod, Nordheim Transformed, above any of those earlier works, though when I listened back on Substrata recently I did like it more than I had before.

Israeli artist Chaos as Shelter has generated one of the most unique and compelling discographies of dark ambient over the last two decades... anyone looking for some unusual, harrowing work should definitely look in his direction.

Good to see another fan. Awesome work!

He's definitely released some great stuff. I've noticed you rep SRF a lot here and there, lennon; any other drone artists you'd personally put on that same top shelf?
It's funny, you'd think there'd be more artists out there purveying the same sort of static, monolithic, glacial isolationist drone as he and Köner do, as it's such a recognizable formula, but you really don't. However, the lastest Lull disc, Like a Slow River, is totally in that camp and you'd do well to check it out if you like that sort of restrained 'tundra' ambient.

Apartment 213-Vacancy, Man is the Bastard/Crossed Out 7", No Comment-Downsided, Dropdead-1993 LP, Spazz-Crush Kill Destroy

Pretty much the epitome of powerviolence. Pure anger, hatred, and dejection.

Set Fire to Flames-Sings Reign Rebuilder

An ambitious post-rock album that's more about sound and noise than composition. Very nice musique concrete touches.

Do Make Say Think-Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn

The album that got me into post-rock. Unfuckwithable.

Wu-Tang Clan-Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers

The greatest album of hip-hop. Every rhyme is absolutely flawless. Nobody in hip-hop will ever dethrone the Wu.

Nas-Illmatic

After Wu-Tang, Illmatic is the epitome of 90s east coast hip-hop.

Brian Eno-Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtrack, Music for Films, Fripp & Eno -(No Pussyfooting)

Just majestic. Really.

Last Days of Humanity-Putrefaction in Progress, Anal Cunt-5643 Song EP, Insect Warfare 7", Arsedestroyer-Teenass Revolt

Noisy, angry, filthy fucking grind.

Death in June-But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?, Rose Clouds of Holocaust

Dark as hell folk with some hypnotic melodies and an amazing atmosphere.

Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago

A truly emotional album.

My Bloody Valentine-Loveless

Nothing more needs to be said.

There's only 1 non-metal album I've rated 5 stars on RYM and that's Vibrasphere's Exploring The Tributaries and for good reason too, as it's definitely some of the best electronic music I've ever heard.

I've got a few 4.5s though such as In the Court of the Crimson King, Red, Lungs of Life and Souvlaki.

Word. Shame only pop trance gets played on Seattle radio while this gets passed up.

The Beatles - Abbey Road

Come Together has one of my favorite bass lines ever. The album was smart, easy to hum to and still catchy. Other than that, need I explain more?

System of A Down - Toxicity

Say what you want about nu-metal but this was nu-metal's bet representation. Their interesting blend of middle eastern music with hard hitting riffs were smart and in fact extremely catchy to scream-a-long too. Only if all nu-metal were along these lines and then we had something to go on with.

Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around

It his magnum opus. His cover of NIN's Hurt easily outshines the original. His dark voice really captured me and made me want to cry every time I listen to it. Anyone who thinks country is a stupid genre, has to listen to this. The best of the best in terms of country.

Ennio Morricone - The Legendary Italian Westerns

Surprised no one mentioned this yet. Easily one of the best western soundtracks out there. I grew up w/ the songs in this disc.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle

This one may be a compilation but the songs compiled were the best of the best from their career.

Not meaning to bash your opinions, but aren't they just a standard drone band? I listened to several of their pieces streamed from their website, and I enjoyed them quite a lot, but they seemd to me like just another drone song (if monsterously long and certainly the most inaccessable slab of sound ever created).
Not knockin' them here. I enjoyed it. I'm more just looking for an elaboration of your opinion.

They act like one, sure. It's a disguise. Once you really get to know them...

Bull of Heaven are more like a cult, to be honest. As far as real fans of them go there's like what, 200 of us?

Drone isn't all they do, either. I enjoy all of their rock songs and plunderphonics/mashups, those are always hilarious. They've covered a lot of ground already, and there's still more to come. Honestly, if I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life, it'd be them, since they've already have most bases covered (they still don't have any death/grind tracks yet, but they've already said they'll do that).

I really enjoy this album too. Your just a weirdo for not liking it.

Far from perfect, There's maybe three songs I skip, but a very solid & emotional album.

Yeah she has a great voice, from early on when she had a punkier voice to when she... kind of sang more. Otherwise I don't think I'd rate any of Siouxsie and the Banshees' albums 100%, but they did release some killer ones, The Scream and Juju particularly comes t mind.

I never checked Hawkwind before and got curious, awesome stuff.

If classical music could be calssified in albums it would be extremely easy to mention tons of examples.

EDIT: Typos

I - Die Krupps
By far, the best Industrial album I ever heard. Is totally amazing and awesome, better than Rammstein and many many Industrial Rock/Metal bands.

Thin Lizzy's "Bad Reputation" and Blue Oyster Cult's "Secret Treaties" are both killer albums from two awesome bands that spawned many a heavy band in their wake. It is surprising that B.O.C. is not metal enough for this site, but I guess it's a fine line.
Hail!
Myrtroen

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing

This will always be one of my favorite albums of all time. A couple of years ago I bought a Derek Sherinian c-d at a local record store. The guy who rang me up recommended Porcupine Tree to me so for what ever reason decided on this album as my introduction to the band. Maybe its the nostalgia or something but its my favorite album of theirs. They are now one of my favorite bands of all time as well.

I ordered The Incident online to be here in time for Christmas.

In no order...

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
All of his albums are brilliant, but this has to be mentioned as it's the 'iconic' one, famous for its desolate simplicity. Even more special reading about the backstory behind it, like how it was recorded at midnight.

Extreme - III Sides to Every Story
My parents' first compact disc to go with their first hi-fi system, in the early 90s. I have fond memories as a wee child writhing about in the living room singing Politicalamity with my brother. Needless to say the sleeve is knackered to fuck and CD scratched from repeated listens in my pre-teens. I have my own copy, brother asked for his own. It's just incredibly special to us, not to mention what I believe to be great production and wonderful emotional cadences.

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
The most instantly likeable 'ethereal' music for anyone not insistent on listening to 'dark' styles. Completely indecipherable gibberish lyrics as well, which serve to prevent interrupting the flow of the music by attaching too much 'meaning' to the songs - that is, of any meaning to the listener.

Genesis - everything from Foxtrot and Duke
Just go listen and immerse yourself. If you're not converted, my reasoning will be of no help.

David Lee Roth - Eat 'Em And Smile
Can't think of anything pretentious to say, just has a special place in my heart because of Steve Vai's tasteful musicianship and the nostalgia from car journeys.

Also...

Sigur Ros - Takk
Neil Young - Harvest
Sparta - Wiretap Scars
Radiohead - everything up to Amnesiac
Idlewild - everything up to The Remote Part
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Steve Vai - Sex & Religion
Van Halen - 5150
Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

That's basically a 'favourite albums' but filtering out the metal...

Deadwing and The Incident are both great albums. Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, and Fear of a Blank Person are all pretty amazing as well.

All who want to claim this board is elitist: read this thread.

Overrated album with great sonics but weak and inconsistent songwriting? Plenty more needs to be said.

I've got a lot, but I'll try to keep it down to a few. A quick glance through these will reveal fairly quickly what my main listening music is:

Angelic Process- Coma Waering and Weighing Souls with Sand

Stunning noisy shoegaze/vaguely metal/ drone with possibly the best guitar tones ever recorded. Huge (must be heard to be believed) walls of sound, propulsive drumming, surprisingly complex songwriting, completely indecipherable but still amazing vocals.. Fucking amazing. My favourite albums/band in general, by a long way (as my last.fm play count suggests).

Tim Hecker- Harmony in Ultraviolet

One of my favourite ambient albums. Noisy and dense, rather beautiful, vaguely aquatic sounding, stunning tones and drones throughout. Been my "going to the surf" album for many years now.

Eluvium- Talk Amongst the Trees and Lambent Material

Talk amongst the trees has been a favourite as far as layered, interesting guitar based drone goes for some time, I can't get enough of it. Relaxing, well composed and just sounds freakin great. Lambent's a bit of a weirder beast, but it gets 100% based on Under the Water it Glowed and Zerthis was a Shivering Human Image, two songs which consisted of my aurora-listening music while in Iceland and thus will always have a profound part of my life. Really stunning songs, the former's this gentle acoustic-lead bit of ambient, really quiet and beautiful, whereas Zerthis is this 16 minute, two-distorted-chord epic that's just layered to fuck and sounds rad.

Belong- October Language

More ambient/drone, this is a very simple beast, just super distorted and simple melodies that sound fucken awesome and are perfect for many things I love; sleeping on the beach, driving to the beach, getting stoned (on the beach), getting religious on the beach and wishing I was at the beach. Good summer album, too. I kinda view them as the ambient AC/DC; a very simple formula that never changes, but is so consistently awesome that it's good it stays the same.

There's a lot of stuff that gets close; Dead Can Dance, Sigur Ros (brackets and takk), Explosions in the Sky, Amusement parks on Fire, Mogwai and a few million ambient dudes.. But most of those bands have a tendency to put one or two shit tracks amidst their greater songs, so I couldn't give any of them 100%, really.

Non-Metal albums that I'd give 100%? There are a few select non-metal albums that I'd give a perfect score to.

Purple Rain(Prince)- I feel this is Prince's masterpiece album next to The Gold Experience when he was under the male and female love symbol. Purple Rain allowed Prince to rise up the ranks in the 80's in terms of promoting musicianship, excitement, sex, and a great album that went along amazingly with the film itself. As you know he won an Academy Award for the soundtrack.

The album includes two of the most underrated songs in his catalog and that is Computer Blue and The Beautiful Ones. Computer Blue is a classic underrated song that has Prince showcasing dual lead guitar harmonic work similar to Thin Lizzy.


Dangerous(Michael Jackson)- Off The Wall began the legacy of Michael the solo artist after the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons, Thriller made him the definition of the 80's, Bad continued that legacy, and Dangerous was the album where he broke away from the sounds of Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad and eventually he started to explore lyrical themes of politics, world peace, forbidden love, loneliness, and etc. In my opinion I'd say this is Michael's more ambitious/darkest album that he's created.

Songs like Give In To Me, Who Is It, Dangerous, and In The Closet show a different side of Michael that wasn't explored. I'd have to say Who Is It is by far one of the most darkest, depressing, and yet most hauntingly beautiful song that he's written.

American Idiot(Green Day)- I know most will roll their eyes or disagree with me on this. But I'm not a fan of the older Green Day material as I felt certain punk bands didn't appeal to me with their lack of melody, musicianship, and lyrical themes. So I was very apprehensive when I heard Green Day did a concept album/rock opera. Much to my surprise when I read about the songs to see Green Day playing songs that ran to about 9 minutes, 5 minutes, and etc I was curious.

So I purchased the album and I was literally blown away. I didn't know Green Day had this kind of talent within them. Billie grew as a singer/songwriter, Mike grew as a bassist, and Tre has always been a pretty good drummer. One thing I do give certain punk bands credit for is for having pretty good drummers.

However, as I said, to hear these type of lyrics and more melodic/complex sound coming from a punk band really surprised me. I still believe Jesus of Surburbia, Homecoming, and Are We Waiting show the growth of this particular band.

Van Halen 3(Van Halen)- David Lee Roth is the name almost every rock fan mentions when Van Halen is announced or spoken about. David Lee Roth led Van Halen and they were primarily known as a party type band, Sammy Hagar came into the mix and added a sense of diversity to the Van Halen sound. In that case their sound was a little more stripped down, the ballads increased, and their sound was very similar to Sammy's solo material.

When Van Halen 3 was released they had at that time former Extreme lead singer Gary Cherone as their vocalist. The sound was a HUGE departure from Van Halen as it was a lot more progressive, complex, and experimental than say their self titled, Diver Down, 1984, or even 5150. The album showed Gary Cherone adding more an emotional delivery in his vocal performances.

Eddie's guitar playing was definitely a lot more emotional and progressive as well. In a way you could kind of call this their firs progressive rock album.

It received mixed reviews from the critics as most critics and fans wanted David Lee Roth again or even Sammy Hagar. But this album is very underrated in a sense that fans and critics didn't give it a chance. If anything this is Eddie's best performance as a guitarist, Alex's best performance as a drummer, and Michael's best performance as a bassist.

The material was and is a lot more complex compared to their earlier material and when you listen to songs like Once, Josephina, and their epic A Year To The Day shows how the band grew as a musicians. It's a shame they didn't do another album with Gary. I feel Gary added a new sound that could've been explored more.

His vocals on their epic A Year To The Day still gives me chills and it's by far the most emotional performance on the album.

Weak song writing? Theres enough variation for me. It's only overrated because it influenced so much other stuff. That happens to all the big bands/albums.

Also you like Amusement Parks On Fire? I would never have guessed.

I'm starting to really really love the latest Grinderman album. Possibly even better than the debut. Amazing production and tones throughout. The song writing seems better and more varied. A brilliant rock album.

Aqualung by the 'Tull.

Pretty classic. I mentioned Thick As a Brick as probably my favorite classic rock album and what made it so genius was that it was recorded specifically as a response to those critics who erroneously deemed Aqualung a "concept" album. Basically Tull satirized the progressive nature of King Crimson and Yes while still remaining true to their own sound at the same time. When they pulled that off, they produced one of the greatest classic rock albums ever as a result. True genius. Incidently, the album's complex musical structure was that of what would be typical of later heavy metal bands.

Other punk bands lack lyrical themes? Were you listening to exclusively instrumental punk bands?

Really? Varied is exactly why I don't think it's as good. It has lost the stripped down, garagey edge of the debut. Or maybe I need to listen to it more, I haven't given it much of a chance.

Yeah, thinking about it I'd give the APoF maybe a 90% and probably shouldn't have put it up there with sigur, mog etc. Their debut's great though, especially those occaisons were I'm tired and feeling particularly emo.

The weak song writing is based on the fact that literally every song (I may be wrong about this, haven't heard the album for a year or two) is just verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar line repeats a few times (or a lot of times)/verse/chorus etc etc. That's one reason (..among many) that I prefer TAP over MBV, the song structures are a good deal weirder and less predictable.

Yeah the songs are possibly a bit more Bad Seeds than Stooges. I still dig it. Better than most rock albums. Loud volume helps

APOF aren't anything great in my opinion. I remember liking the second album slightly more i think. Maybe they have another one out by now? Check out A Place To Bury Strangers instead i reckon.

Few bands will ever produce anything as grand as TAP. Not much else to say really.

Perhaps I should've elaborated or worded it a lot better. I meant the lack of lyrical quality that other punk bands presented in their music. When I say that I mean the lyrics aren't that well written, unique, or have any thought put into them.

I would give, and have given, Anathema's A Natural Disaster 100%. Not many seem to regard it as highly as I, and I understand it, but to me personally it's one of the greatest albums of all time. Not every song is perfect, but it doesn't need to be.

I ordered a couple of Porcupine Tree c-ds online for Christmas. The full list is posted in the My Last Album Perchase thread in the Metal Discussion section of the forums. However Lightbulb Sun and Fear of A Blank planet are both amongst the list. I am very pleased to hear that I can expect good things from these albums. I also already own In Absentia. It seems to have some of their heaviest songs that Ive heard thus far. I like it alot as well but Deadwing is just a masterpeice to my ears, from begining to end.

1995 by Screaming Headless Torsos. The perfect mix of Jazz and Funk Rock. Everybody in this band is extremely talented and it shows on this album.

Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Bob Dylan - so much of his stuff
Pearl Jam - Ten
Nirvana - Nevermind
Say Anything - ..Is a Real Boy
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Fastway-s/t
If I'm ever in a rowdy mood, It's either Motorhead, or this album.

Screaming Trees-Buzz Factory
Possibly the best grunge album.

Sonic Youth-Sex is Confusion
Just great.

Cop Shoot Cop-Release
see above

And everythin NoMeansNo has released.

john prine-great days
weird al yankovic-running with scissors

both are not metal yet both are awesome!

john prine-great days
weird al yankovic-running with scissors

both are not metal yet both are awesome!