Musical Bliss

[voodoo]

I started this thread over at my other hang out, Living for Metal, and I thought I would do the same here to see what y'all think.

There are many songs out there that seem to take me away to that special place. A place where nothing else matters, only the music. Songs, or even just parts of songs, that will help bring a listener to a musical nirvana, so to speak. Songs that are truly majestic and beautiful, or intense and powerful. Songs that you just can't live without. The songs listed below are all excellent as a whole but they contain some of the most powerful and awe-inspiring musical moments for me - musical bliss.

Deliverance - Opeth. The last 3 minutes are magical.
Octavarium - Dream Theater. The whole song, all 24 minutes worth, are a musical journey I think all should experience at least once in a lifetime.
Demon of the Fall - Opeth. The scream and subsequent chorus are the most evil thing I have ever heard.
When the Water Breaks - Liquid Tension Experiment. Coolest instrumental ever by a prog-metal band.
Hallowed be thy Name - Maiden. The final riff/solo is insanely good.
The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin. When the whole band kicks in near the end. that just screams "Crank it!"
Winters Call (live) - Badlands. Coolest guitar solo in a hard rock song ever.
Eyes of a Stranger - Queensryche. Best album closer ever.
Exit Music - Savatage. Just plain beautiful instrumental. Very soothing.
Fear of the Dark - Maiden. Great sing-along chorus. Full of energy.
Sending You Back - Persuader. Great chorus to sing along with, and overall just a really cool song.
Hangar 18 - Megadeth. The out going solo's and riffs are so \m/. Spent many days and nights "air guitaring" that stuff.
For the Love of Art and the Making by Beyond Twilight. I cannot get enough of this CD. A true masterpiece. Brilliant progressive metal.
Marathon by Rush. The chorus and outro are truely beautiful.
The Necromancer - Rush. The music takes me away to that special place. Very hypnotic. I could listen to that song for days.
Guardian by Fates Warning. The music at the beginning of the song is excellent, but much too brief.
Island in the Stream by Fates Warning. Beautiful ballad, wonderfully crafted. Amazing lyrics and such relaxing music. One of the best ballads from a metal or prog band ever.
Diary of a Madman - Ozzy. Totally love the outro.
Hero - Ozzy. This is the hidden track on No Rest for the Wicked. One of my favorite Ozzy tunes. Brilliant stuff and should never have been hidden.
The first 1:15 of About to Crash (reprise) from the second disc of 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence. That music will ALWAYS get me in a good mood.
Caught in a Web - Dream Theater. The music from minute 3:33 to minutes 4:11 is BEGGING to be blasted at full volume.
Bleak - Opeth. Such a powerful song, lyrically and musically. Despite the title and subject matter this is actually an uplifting song.
Scavenger of Human Sorrow, Bite the Pain, Symbolic, Empty Words, Sacred Serenity - Death. Monster songs from a monster band.
The Coming Curse - Iced Earth. My favorite song by this band, awesome main riff.
D.N.R. (do not resucitate) - Testament. Absolutely killer song, so heavy and agressive. Awesome combination of death and thrash.
Dreamworld - Leverage. Very addictive and catchy song. It's very "poppy" but I don't really care. It brings a smile to my face.

and to make this relevant to Suspyre:
Distant Skies. The instrumental break is awesome, but especially from minute 3:03 to 3:48. Those 45 seconds deserve to be played over and over again at full volume.
Last of the Survivors. I love the vocal melodies.

OK, folks. I only listed metal or rock bands, but there is no need to limit your list to just those genres. I could add lots of other non-rock bands, but I decided to leave those out.

Now it's your turn.

 

[Rev. Clayton]

I'll get to this when I'm not sitting at work...but I'm putting my list together.

 

[voodoo]

Another song to add to my list is Dream Theater's Learning to Live. The ending is magical.

 

[Made of Amazing]

distant tides? >_>

i too will do this after work though

 

[voodoo]

distant tides? >_>

i too will do this after work though

Distant Skies......Damn, what bad goof-up.

 

[Made of Amazing]

rofl, on their own forum too

you should be ashamed

 

[voodoo]

Haha, that was a real f-up....no idea what was going thru my head at the time. Hey, at least I was complimenting the band at the time, right?

 

[Knulla]

Pain of Salvation - 90% of their catalog

 

[Made of Amazing]

Pain of Salvation - 90% of their catalog

besides this:

Opeth - The Drapery Falls, Bleak, The Moor, Ghost of Perdition, Hours of Wealth, Demon of the Fall
Coheed and Cambria - all of the Willing Wells, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, The Light and the Glass, Time Consumer, Delirium Trigger
Porcupine Tree - Heart Attack in a Layby, Fear of a Blank Planet (whole album), Piano Lessons
Kamelot - The Black Halo (whole album)
3 - My Divided Falling, Trust, Amazedisgrace
Death - Symbolic (whole album), Bite the Pain, Scavenger of Human Sorrow
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech (whole album), Depth Charge
Suspyre - A Great Divide (whole album), Father of Hate, I See

among others i can't remember

 

[Rev. Clayton]

Alright...I'm going to change the direction of this one because there would be way too many songs to list, but I'm still going to give something. Here is my list of ALBUMS that give me shivers. Basically I'm talking these are albums that I can listen to back and forth and never get tired of. Also they usually are the kind of albums that change my life (or at least have brightened my soul with their existence).

1) Beyond Twilight - For the Love of Art and the Making - This album completely took me by surprise and is certainly my vote for best album of 2006. Just an incredible piece of art...hands down.

2) Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth - One of the first power/prog albums I bought and is easily my favorite. This is one of the few albums that made me realize that this is the kind of music that I wanted to make.

3) Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite - Another one of the first power/prog albums I got and ranks about neck and neck with NFIME. It was my introduction to Russell Allen...enough said.

4) Metallica - "black album" - c'mon. Was there seriously anything out at this time that even comes close to the awesomeness of this album. (don't answer that) But seriously, this album is a monster.

5) Devin Townsend - Synchestra - I could have gone with Terria too, but I think this album really sums up my feelings for Devin. It's got everything I like about him all jammed up into one album. Great album for long car rides...really sets the mood right for me.

6) Dream Theater - Metropolis II Scenes From A Memory - this album made my senior year of high school much better...and that was not an easy task.

7)Green Day - Insomniac - What an awesome album...changed my life and got me through some hard times.

8) Jump, Little Children - Magazine - probably an unknown band to the few people that visit this forum, but they are one of my favs. Got into this band while I was crushing on a girl at college. Never got to have her, but the album remains.

9) Life of Agony - River Runs Red - Another album that got me through high school.

10) Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction - UNBELIEVABLE.

11) Nirvana - Nevermind - top 5 album of all time...easily. Every song is a classic

12) Opeth - Blackwater Park - This album changed my outlook on a lot of different music. It made me open up my mind to new things and new ideas when it came to music.

13) Pantera - Far Beyond Driven - This album just rocks my socks all the way through.

14) Self - Subliminal Plastic Motives - This album never gets old.

15) Testament - Low - Awesome album for those times that you really need to rock out. Also now that I have met James Murphy and recorded an album with him as the producer, this album gets an even higher rating.

16) Tool - Aenima - what a beautiful display of music.

17) Zero Hour - Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond - I'll be the first to admit I didn't really know who these guys were until we played with them, but holy crap was I missing out. All of their material is really awesome, but the new one with Chris is spectacular.

18) Zakk Wylde - Book of Shadows - This album almost makes me cry and I'm happy I have the orignal copy before it got re-released (Thanks to my brother...love ya duder).

19) Susprye - A Great Divide - I guess I'm biased...but I'm extrememly proud to have made this album. There were a lot of personal demons that got put into the lyrics of this album. 20 years down the road, I know I'm still going to get chills when I put this album on.


That's probably not a full list, but could you imagine what my song list would have looked like...holy crap.

Clay ~ Suspyre

 

[voodoo]

1) Beyond Twilight - For the Love of Art and the Making - This album completely took me by surprise and is certainly my vote for best album of 2006. Just an incredible piece of art...hands down.

Excellent choice!! My #1 for 2006 as well.

4) Metallica - "black album" - c'mon. Was there seriously anything out at this time that even comes close to the awesomeness of this album. (don't answer that) But seriously, this album is a monster.

This never really gave me shivers, but it was good. Wherever I May Roam is a great song, as is Bleeding Me (same album, right?)

6) Dream Theater - Metropolis II Scenes From A Memory - this album made my senior year of high school much better...and that was not an easy task.

SENIOR YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL? Shit, I graduated in '91. Awesome album. I remember the day I got it, listening to it on headphones and being dumstruck by its greatness.

8) Jump, Little Children - Magazine - probably an unknown band to the few people that visit this forum, but they are one of my favs. Got into this band while I was crushing on a girl at college. Never got to have her, but the album remains.

Never heard of 'em, but will check 'em out.

11) Nirvana - Nevermind - top 5 album of all time...easily. Every song is a classic

Used to listen to this album and Alice in Chains Jar of Flies religiously way back when.

12) Opeth - Blackwater Park - This album changed my outlook on a lot of different music. It made me open up my mind to new things and new ideas when it came to music.

DITTO!!!

15) Testament - Low - Awesome album for those times that you really need to rock out. Also now that I have met James Murphy and recorded an album with him as the producer, this album gets an even higher rating.

I prefer The Gathering, but this is good as well.

16) Tool - Aenima - what a beautiful display of music.

Agree wholeheartedly.

19) Susprye - A Great Divide - I guess I'm biased...but I'm extrememly proud to have made this album. There were a lot of personal demons that got put into the lyrics of this album. 20 years down the road, I know I'm still going to get chills when I put this album on.

CHEATER!



Great list all the way around.

 

[MayakuAi]

black seed on virgin soil by old man's child does it for me. the begining is just so amazing and then it just builds...so good!
tool's lateralis is amazing too...

i'm to lazy to come up with a long list, but thats my 2 cents...

 

[Rev. Clayton]

I prefer The Gathering, but this is good as well.

James was also on that album as well...so yes, it also kicks a whole mess of booty.

 

[JeffSuspyre]

i started preparing a whole huge list the other day, but the only one's im gonna add now are "Wings For Marie" parts 1 & 2 by Tool from 10,000 Days. such great songs, and even better live. Also, all of Aghora's latest CD, "Formless," and just about every Porcupine Tree song...

 

[Adam Fiske]

2) Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth - One of the first power/prog albums I bought and is easily my favorite. This is one of the few albums that made me realize that this is the kind of music that I wanted to make.

Just decided to listen to this again today and my god it's still so awesome. I always sit and think about it and how it's probably not as good as I'm remembering it being, but then I pop it in and it seriously just is so good. Listening as we speak.

Also:

Kiuas - The Spirit of Ukko - This album took every genre I love in metal (power, folk, black, progressive) and packaged it into one amazing album where it doesn't just feel like a mish-mash of the genres. Kiuas blends them all perfectly here, and every song is amazingly catchy. They even manage to insert bits of blues, classical, and even what sounds to me like flamenco guitar. Plus, Ilja Jalkanen has my favorite voice in all of metal (or other genres), so that doesn't hurt. And it was only their debut album! The only shortcoming of this album is it's length (only 9 songs at 42 minutes). Kiuas is the only band that I think has the potential to top Nightfall in Middle Earth if they were to make a concept album (and Mikko said he'd love to write one when they have more time and money so it could be huge and perfect).

 

[voodoo]

Been listening to (surprise) A Great Divide today and I finally decided to add to the list The Singer. Best song on the album, I think. I especially like the Dream Theater-esque riff starting at minute 2:38. Very much reminds me of The Glass Prison. I love the aggressiveness of the song as a whole. Even with that aggression there is still tons of melody, beautiful guitar work and sweet vocals.