Albums that influenced and inspired you
- Thread starter schenkadere
- Start date
^Yes, the first Rainbow albums are amazing.
I have many influences, but if we're talking about where I'd be taking my influences with my songwriting etc. Here are some albums, which really influenced me and my drumming:
Wintersun - Wintersun, this album still amazes me, everything there is just great and Kai Hahto's drumming is simply unbelievable.
Porupine Tree - Stupid Dream, In Absentia, Deadwing and others, well, this is pretty close to the kind of music which I would want to do, I just love this stuff, and the drumming is perfect.
Symphony X - Divine Wings, You know why it's great
Pink Floyd - Animals, Greatness!
Edge Of Sanity - Crimson and Crimson II, Well, these albums blew my mind, Dan Swanö is amaaaazing and Crimson II is another example of what he can do alone! He's a huge influence to me and I would love to be able to be so diverse and be able to make albums like that
Many others too...
I have many influences, but if we're talking about where I'd be taking my influences with my songwriting etc. Here are some albums, which really influenced me and my drumming:
Wintersun - Wintersun, this album still amazes me, everything there is just great and Kai Hahto's drumming is simply unbelievable.
Porupine Tree - Stupid Dream, In Absentia, Deadwing and others, well, this is pretty close to the kind of music which I would want to do, I just love this stuff, and the drumming is perfect.
Symphony X - Divine Wings, You know why it's great
Pink Floyd - Animals, Greatness!
Edge Of Sanity - Crimson and Crimson II, Well, these albums blew my mind, Dan Swanö is amaaaazing and Crimson II is another example of what he can do alone! He's a huge influence to me and I would love to be able to be so diverse and be able to make albums like that
Many others too...
The albums that inspire me? There's a lot, but these are the top 5 right now:
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Yes - Relayer
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Rush - Hemispheres
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Yes - Relayer
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Rush - Hemispheres
ashakilee
Frau
Still Life and Ghost Reveries, i suppose Damnation. Dig those bells.
Ashes of the Wake, Lamb of God
Frail Words Collapse, As i Lay Dying
El Cielo - Dredg
The Captain's Package self titled album
The Mabobs
The Mars Volta.. Frances the Mute
Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Primus
Angel Dust, Faith no More
Absolution, Muse
many others i guess..
Ashes of the Wake, Lamb of God
Frail Words Collapse, As i Lay Dying
El Cielo - Dredg
The Captain's Package self titled album
The Mabobs
The Mars Volta.. Frances the Mute
Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Primus
Angel Dust, Faith no More
Absolution, Muse
many others i guess..
Eternal Dragon
1337AD
I started playing keys about 12 years ago, and guitar about 6 years ago. I was influenced by most of the modern prog that people have mentioned.
Lately my improvisation seems to be subconsciously affected by a few bands....
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Made me start playing a bit weirder
Secret Chiefs 3 - Made me start playing more arabic
Jaga Jazzist - My newest influence. I found myself playing like them the other day..... somehow.
But I guess my biggest influence lately would be a guy called Sorabji, who was a fantastic pianist. A lot of people think his stuff is just garbage, but I think it's brilliant. Because of him I've been playing around with a lot of random stuff, and experimenting with playing within no key. Sorta like patterns rather than key signatures. I don't think he wrote without key sigs (because he was an extremely intelligent man), but I've found that doing it that way achieves a similar result.
Lately my improvisation seems to be subconsciously affected by a few bands....
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Made me start playing a bit weirder
Secret Chiefs 3 - Made me start playing more arabic
Jaga Jazzist - My newest influence. I found myself playing like them the other day..... somehow.
But I guess my biggest influence lately would be a guy called Sorabji, who was a fantastic pianist. A lot of people think his stuff is just garbage, but I think it's brilliant. Because of him I've been playing around with a lot of random stuff, and experimenting with playing within no key. Sorta like patterns rather than key signatures. I don't think he wrote without key sigs (because he was an extremely intelligent man), but I've found that doing it that way achieves a similar result.
EyeballKid
Shyamalan'd
Metallica was the band that made me pick up a guitar, and the first song I learned was Welcome Home (Sanitarium). So, I've got to say Metallica - "Master of Puppets"
Iron Maiden - pretty much everything. This was my first introduction to melodic metal to a very European degree.
Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation. Probably has influenced my vocal and rhythm guitar writing more than any other band.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid. The education of the metal "riff".
Anthrax - Sound of White Noise. Taught me how to use heaviness and dissonance to a greater degree.
Joe Satriani - everything. Made me want to play lead guitar. Has forever changed my left-hand technique and favored scales/modes.
Then came...
Tom Waits - Rain Dog/Mule Variation
Common Rotation - The Big Fear
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
and the acoustic, folk-playing me was born.
Iron Maiden - pretty much everything. This was my first introduction to melodic metal to a very European degree.
Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation. Probably has influenced my vocal and rhythm guitar writing more than any other band.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid. The education of the metal "riff".
Anthrax - Sound of White Noise. Taught me how to use heaviness and dissonance to a greater degree.
Joe Satriani - everything. Made me want to play lead guitar. Has forever changed my left-hand technique and favored scales/modes.
Then came...
Tom Waits - Rain Dog/Mule Variation
Common Rotation - The Big Fear
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
and the acoustic, folk-playing me was born.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
SyXified
Member
Great thread idea.
I started playing guitar in '99 I think, and this was the same time I started getting into music seriously and learning composition / song analysis.
Metallica: Master of Puppets - instantly got me into the genre of metal as a whole the first time I heard it on the radio. The album influenced all my early guitar development.
Megadeth: Rust in Peace - showed me that Metallica was not the be all and end all of metal. I learned that song structure could have variety and still be cohesive if done correctly. I developed all my rhythm chops riffing out this whole album. Marty's soloing with all the exotic peppering and clever dyanmic control showed me the next level of lead guitar. Dave's soloing showed me that often times feel and applicability to the song are as important as hitting the 'right' notes.
Yngwie Malmsteen: Alchemy - opened me up to neoclassical and showed me what guitar virtuosity is all about. Also opened me up to power metal.
Dream Theater: Images and Words - opened me up to prog, complete ridiculous musicianship, odd time signatures.
Symphony X: V - opened me up to the symphonic power metal genre and showed me how strong a concept album with impressionist influence could be as a unified whole.
Gamma Ray: Somewhere Out in Space - IMO represents perfect power metal writing and the right marriage of drama, unity, and overall purpose.
Children of Bodom: Hatebreeder - showed me that when black metal is done right it actually kicks a ton of ass.
Cradle of Filth: Cruelty and the Beast - an unbelievably cool album unlike anything else, such cool atmosphere, unconventional use of guitars, vocals as rhythm in all sorts of Shakespearian meters.
I started playing guitar in '99 I think, and this was the same time I started getting into music seriously and learning composition / song analysis.
Metallica: Master of Puppets - instantly got me into the genre of metal as a whole the first time I heard it on the radio. The album influenced all my early guitar development.
Megadeth: Rust in Peace - showed me that Metallica was not the be all and end all of metal. I learned that song structure could have variety and still be cohesive if done correctly. I developed all my rhythm chops riffing out this whole album. Marty's soloing with all the exotic peppering and clever dyanmic control showed me the next level of lead guitar. Dave's soloing showed me that often times feel and applicability to the song are as important as hitting the 'right' notes.
Yngwie Malmsteen: Alchemy - opened me up to neoclassical and showed me what guitar virtuosity is all about. Also opened me up to power metal.
Dream Theater: Images and Words - opened me up to prog, complete ridiculous musicianship, odd time signatures.
Symphony X: V - opened me up to the symphonic power metal genre and showed me how strong a concept album with impressionist influence could be as a unified whole.
Gamma Ray: Somewhere Out in Space - IMO represents perfect power metal writing and the right marriage of drama, unity, and overall purpose.
Children of Bodom: Hatebreeder - showed me that when black metal is done right it actually kicks a ton of ass.
Cradle of Filth: Cruelty and the Beast - an unbelievably cool album unlike anything else, such cool atmosphere, unconventional use of guitars, vocals as rhythm in all sorts of Shakespearian meters.
EyeballKid
Shyamalan'd
Hell yes indeed! I was not expecting to find any other Chapman fan within 1,000 miles of this board. Hah.
And, oh yeah, I also forgot Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction. Very influential.
Okay, here we go... (I'm a bassist, just in case anyone wonders):
Rush - everything, especially the albums between "Permanent Waves" and "Hold Your Fire"
I'm still amazed at how many kinds of different basslines and little licks for different kinds of music Geddy Lee has come up with over the years, using mostly "conventional" bass playing.
In those six albums alone, there's quirky prog, funky stuff, laid-back reggea, fast riffs bordering on punk and pulsing bass synth sounds.
Dream Theater - Images And Words
This album more or less put the bass on the map as an instrument for me. Still contains some of Myung's most tasteful and original playing with a gorgeous tone on top.
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade Of Grey
Joey Vera is an awesome bassist in his own right, and while he added something to every Fates Warning record he has played on, this album should serve as his masterpiece.
The versatility on display here is astonishing, especially for a "metal" record (which it actually isn't). APSOG contains technical riffing, smooth fretless playing, punching slap (with an awesome tone!) and effect-laden minimalistic riffs all rolled into one.
Enchant - Tug Of War
While I've come to like most Enchant albums more than this one over the years, "Tug Of War" rightfully is a part of this list for much the same reasons as APSOG above.
Ed Platt is a masterful player with a great sense of rhythm and an excellent choice of notes, and it shows here in a bootload of tasteful bass grooves and breathtaking slap and tap breaks. I hope his recent endorsement of Conklin GT7 basses doesn't mar his style with "extended range" clichés.
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Somewhat of an odd choice, being a straight-up metal record, but inside that niche, Eddie Jackson's playing is a perfect fit. Plus, the production is simply perfect. Still for my money one of the best metal albums ever made.
Queen - Queen II & A Night At The Opera
John Deacon is pretty much a god of all things four strings. He always stays in the pocket, but all the same is instantly recognizable with his effective basslines and trademark little doodles. I love his acoustic bass playing on the latter album.
Led Zeppelin - II
Uriah Heep - Demons & Wizards
Two albums with fantastic and totally musical bass playing. JPJ's work on "II" is especially noteworthy for ranging from soft, almost tender grooves to crunching power chord stuff. "II" generally features some of the most awe-inspiring rhythm work in rock ever.
Some more bassists I admire, but haven't had the chance to deeply delve into their work yet:
Stanley Clarke (one of the very few jazz bassists I really like... he has that certain spark and punch most of his colleagues lack in my ears... for the record: I'm not a fan of Jaco Pastorius at all)
Stu Hamm (I've been using his hybrid technique of classical guitar-style finger picking and tapping to create melodies for quite some time without even knowing him)
A couple of bands that have influences the way I conceive guitar riffs:
Tool, Black Sabbath, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera (I definitely prefer single-note riffs built from scales or modes to standard chugging powerchord metal stuff)
Rush - everything, especially the albums between "Permanent Waves" and "Hold Your Fire"
I'm still amazed at how many kinds of different basslines and little licks for different kinds of music Geddy Lee has come up with over the years, using mostly "conventional" bass playing.
In those six albums alone, there's quirky prog, funky stuff, laid-back reggea, fast riffs bordering on punk and pulsing bass synth sounds.
Dream Theater - Images And Words
This album more or less put the bass on the map as an instrument for me. Still contains some of Myung's most tasteful and original playing with a gorgeous tone on top.
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade Of Grey
Joey Vera is an awesome bassist in his own right, and while he added something to every Fates Warning record he has played on, this album should serve as his masterpiece.
The versatility on display here is astonishing, especially for a "metal" record (which it actually isn't). APSOG contains technical riffing, smooth fretless playing, punching slap (with an awesome tone!) and effect-laden minimalistic riffs all rolled into one.
Enchant - Tug Of War
While I've come to like most Enchant albums more than this one over the years, "Tug Of War" rightfully is a part of this list for much the same reasons as APSOG above.
Ed Platt is a masterful player with a great sense of rhythm and an excellent choice of notes, and it shows here in a bootload of tasteful bass grooves and breathtaking slap and tap breaks. I hope his recent endorsement of Conklin GT7 basses doesn't mar his style with "extended range" clichés.
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Somewhat of an odd choice, being a straight-up metal record, but inside that niche, Eddie Jackson's playing is a perfect fit. Plus, the production is simply perfect. Still for my money one of the best metal albums ever made.
Queen - Queen II & A Night At The Opera
John Deacon is pretty much a god of all things four strings. He always stays in the pocket, but all the same is instantly recognizable with his effective basslines and trademark little doodles. I love his acoustic bass playing on the latter album.
Led Zeppelin - II
Uriah Heep - Demons & Wizards
Two albums with fantastic and totally musical bass playing. JPJ's work on "II" is especially noteworthy for ranging from soft, almost tender grooves to crunching power chord stuff. "II" generally features some of the most awe-inspiring rhythm work in rock ever.
Some more bassists I admire, but haven't had the chance to deeply delve into their work yet:
Stanley Clarke (one of the very few jazz bassists I really like... he has that certain spark and punch most of his colleagues lack in my ears... for the record: I'm not a fan of Jaco Pastorius at all)
Stu Hamm (I've been using his hybrid technique of classical guitar-style finger picking and tapping to create melodies for quite some time without even knowing him)
A couple of bands that have influences the way I conceive guitar riffs:
Tool, Black Sabbath, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera (I definitely prefer single-note riffs built from scales or modes to standard chugging powerchord metal stuff)
Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
I've always been a big fan of Rush's 80's period, too. I find the earlier stuff to be too high-pitched for me, and the new stuff kind of bores me. I think the best melodies in Rush's music came from their 80's period.
Absolutely. It's hard to believe he recorded the whole album on a 4-string! Unfortunately, Myung is generally overshadowed by Petrucci in most of DT's work. It's a shame. By the way, I love Myung's bass in A Change of Seasons, and Falling Into Infinity has some nice bass grooves.
Joey Vera has always been one of my favorite bassists, from way back when with Armored Saint. You should check out Symbol of Salvation (if you haven't already)... there's some nice bass riffs on there. Great album.
I agree. Iced Earth-style chugging can be fun if you're playing guitar, but on bass, it gets real old. That's one of the things that drew me to Symphony X's bass-playing style. Even when the bass is doubling Romeo's rhythm guitar, the riffs are still fun to play and not overly complex for no reason (see recent DT). A great example of this would be the riff in Walls of Babylon before the verse starts. It's all single notes, but powerful as hell.
Not quite. "Take The Time" goes to a low C#, but other than that, the whole album can be played on a four string (which is fine with me). I believe he already had the Tung six string basses at the time the album was recorded, though... one can be seen in the "Pull Me Under" video.
Concerning Rush, I generally agree. However, I'm a big fan of their two latest albums and probably the biggest "Vapor Trails" nut on these forums. The emotional content that album conveys is incredible.
SyXified
Member
^ For me, Cradle of Filth is exactly what its name indicates
With that aside, I really value your approach to each one of those albums.
On every other Cradle album, and nearly every other black metal album I have ever heard, I am in complete agreement with you. But Cruelty and the Beast is an anomaly. I don't even consider it so much part of the black metal genre - to me it represents what black metal ought to be instead of what it generally is. If you haven't given that particular album a listen, you may want to find the time to give it a shot - take it from someone whose entire black metal collection consists of that album and the first 3 from CoB... everything else I can't stand.
On every other Cradle album, and nearly every other black metal album I have ever heard, I am in complete agreement with you. But Cruelty and the Beast is an anomaly. I don't even consider it so much part of the black metal genre - to me it represents what black metal ought to be instead of what it generally is. If you haven't given that particular album a listen, you may want to find the time to give it a shot - take it from someone whose entire black metal collection consists of that album and the first 3 from CoB... everything else I can't stand.
Sounds interesting.
I really liked CoB's first 3 albums. So as you recommended, I'll give 'Cruelty and the Beast' a listen as soon as I have a chance to.
Thanks mate!
Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
I just meant from a position-changing standpoint; there's a lot of position shifts playing that album on four strings.
I liked a few of the tunes from Vapor Trails (Sweet Miracle, Ghost Rider, One Little Victory, and the title track), but a lot of them lacked the sound that made Rush special to me. Snakes & Arrows is a bit better in my opinion (I love the instrumentals, Far Cry, and Larger Bowl), but I miss the keyboards a lot. I don't know... their music seems to have a bit more of a poppy sound now.
You have good taste, I dont know anything about Enchant but otherwise....
Oldschool that I am Im glad to hear you appreaciate these. Two others that always impressed me was any work by Felix Papalardi {sp?} of Mountain and the first two Chicago albums "Transit Authority" and "II" contain some spot on bass work.
I like Stanley too
Interestingly enough I believe my old friend and bassist that is no longer with us called his bass "stormbringer"
Incidently, I went to the Images and Words concert and if memory serves me Myung was playing a bass with a very wide neck, meaning more than 4 strings. He was all over the thing too, which I found interesting, my cassette and my truck stereo needed much to be desired so I never thought the bass stood out very much, that and I dont typically listen to the bass, especially in metal where its burried under guitar riff laden music. Damn us guitar players......
Dude, Led Zep II is THE album for drums and bass in rock.
I also saw you mentioned RATM. Dude, Brad Wilke and Timmy C. are INHUMANLY tight. Holy shit, the grooves on the first album are the best ever.
You should listen to Tower of Power for killer bass, too.
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