Albums that you consider to be a band's best work...

[Cheiron]

I'd say its reputation is pretty well deserved

If one listens to Cold Lake without knowing the drama around it, or without repeated listens of earlier Celtic Frost material (thus having no real attachment to the band), the album is quite good. It's good music. I don't know how people can be upset at that album, but then turn around and listen to Disturbed. It's often as if people want their bands to maintain more 'integrity' than they have.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

If one listens to Cold Lake without knowing the drama around it, or without repeated listens of earlier Celtic Frost material (thus having no real attachment to the band), the album is quite good. It's good music. I don't know how people can be upset at that album, but then turn around and listen to Disturbed. It's often as if people want their bands to maintain more 'integrity' than they have.

Well - I loved the band before COLD LAKE - got into them by Morbid Tales or Emperors Return (can't actually remember that) - AND I read all the reviews "CL" was getting. Then, one of my favorite journalists at that time, Mark Day (from either Metal Hammer or Metal Forces) wrote a review saying something along the lines of it being a great melodic thrash metal disc rather than an avantgarde death metal album that we were used to from Celtic Frost, and I decided to buy the album contrary to what all the other reviewers adviced any CF fan to do. So, the moment it became available in Denmark I picked it up, and looking at it from the "melodic thrash metal" perspective, the album was awesome back then and still to this day is.

c.

 

[Fizrider]

Most people say Toto's "IV" is their best but I think "The Seventh One" is it. Also:

No fair, I claim first usage of Toto IV in this forum. I'm sure you have violated some form of netiquette.

While "Pieces of Eight" and "Grand Illusion" got most of the great pub, I think my favorite from an artisitc point of view was Styx's Equinox.

 

[arnavut]

I think the one album that fits this criteria the best for me is...

Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol

Hand down this is my favorite Sabbath album, but most fans would tar & feather me for saying so!

~Brian~

This....even though I'd take Dio over Tony, but the songs on this album...Iommi's best work.

 

[arnavut]

Dio - Dream Evil

 

[nomisofsiman]

The two that immediately pop up in my head are:

Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather (well liked by most, yes but it's rare for someone to say it's their best. I think it is.)

Black Sabbath - Sabotage (It pisses me off to no end when people say how great the first five Sabbath albums are, yet they don't include this masterpiece)

 

[labrekk]

PRETTY MAIDS-Spooked
MOTORHEAD-Bastards
SABATON-Coat Of Arms
TANK-War Machine
VOLBEAT-Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood
BLACKFOOT-Siogo
UFO-The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent
ANNIHILATOR-Set The World On Fire
SAVATAGE-Power Of The Night
ANTHRAX-Spreading The Disease
BRUCE DICKINSON-Accident Of Birth
CHASTAIN-Mystery of Illusion
EVERGREY-The Inner Circle
FALCONER-Grime Vs. Grandeur
HELLOWEEN-The Dark Ride
KAMELOT-Dominion
KISS-Animalize
MEGADETH-Youthanasia
TESTAMENT-The Ritual
NOCTURNAL RITES-The 8th Sin
PRAYING MANTIS-Sanctuary
RAGE-Soundchaser
SAXON-Metalhead
STRATOVARIUS-Dreamspace
THRESHOLD-Dead Reckoning
URIAH HEEP-Wake The Sleeper
VOIVOD-The Outer Limits

 

[nomisofsiman]

HELLOWEEN-The Dark Ride

I wouldn't consider it their best as nothing will ever top the first two Keeper albums; however, after those I would agree that this is their best. Totally underrated.

 

[labrekk]

I wouldn't consider it their best as nothing will ever top the first two Keeper albums; however, after those I would agree that this is their best. Totally underrated.

I was never that big a fan of the Keepers discs, so for me, TDR is their best. I also prefer Deris to Kiske...

 

[nomisofsiman]

I was never that big a fan of the Keepers discs, so for me, TDR is their best. I also prefer Deris to Kiske...

I also do prefer Deris as a singer to Kiske. He's much more diverse, but to me, nothing defines power metal more than those Keeper albums. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

[Jasonic]

Well, to be fair, so many bands mentioned here have different "eras" of the band.

When it comes to a band like Helloween, you will have some who can't listen to anything past the JUDAS EP, you have others who think all band members died after KEEPERS II, and then finally folks who never cared for Kiske, so they pick a random Deris disc to call their favorite.

Back on topic though, THE DARK RIDE for whatever reason has always been the black sheep amongst the entire catalog (Well, to be fair, we can include CHAMELEON, but I honestly have never seen anyone claiming it to be their all time fav Helloween disc). TDR has a lot of amazing tunes.

 

[Diabolik]

THe Dark Ride is a great disc and one that I put off getting for a while since I heard so much bad things about. Very underated album.

 

[Corsair]

TDR is actually my favorite helloween album. No joke.

Some others:

Gamma Ray - Power Plant (Fans seem to not like it so much for whatever reason.)
SYL - The New Black (most people prefer City, and fewer, Alien. TNB gets no love.)
Opeth -Ghost Reveries (with the fan favorite being Blackwater Park)
Hypocrisy - Self Titled (Black sheep, for sure. Fans think it's not metul enuff. They're full of shit.)
Faith No More - Album of the Year.
Voivod - The Outer Limits. I also quite enjoy Angel Rat and Negatron. Not terribly fond of much else by the band, to be honest.
Summoning - Stronghold (vs. Dol Goldur?)
Solitude Aeturnus - Downfall (Fans, even the band seem to -loathe- this one. not sure why.)
Bruce Dickinson - Skunkworks
Black Sabbath - Tyr
Candlemass - From the 13th Sun
Emperor - Prometheus: Discipline of Fire and Demise
Pantera - I am the Night (not ashamed.)

 

[Heavenly Call]

Megadeth - Youthanasia (damn those songs are catchy!)
Hammerfall - Renegade

 

[nomisofsiman]

Thought of one more.

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

 

[dcowboys311]

Thought of one more.

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

Smart man.

 

[MartinW]

FALCONER-Grime Vs. Grandeur
KAMELOT-Dominion
NOCTURNAL RITES-The 8th Sin

Hahaha, oh man, at least no-one can claim that these albums don't fit the thread's criteria.

 

[skyrefuge]

Well, to be fair, we can include CHAMELEON, but I honestly have never seen anyone claiming it to be their all time fav Helloween disc

Excellent research as usual!

Some others of mine:

Helloween - Chameleon

Neil

 

[Sir Exar Kun]

(Well, to be fair, we can include CHAMELEON, but I honestly have never seen anyone claiming it to be their all time fav Helloween disc).

OK, I know I'm going to hear no end to this..... But I have to do it. "Chameleon" actually IS my favorite Helloween disc! And I am not making this up, either! I am more a fan of the proggy side of metal than the pure power metal, and while I enjoy almost all the Helloween albums ("Pink Bubbles" just does not cut it for me, and "Walls of Jericho" was just too damn raw), "Chameleon" brought in an eccentric vibe that never reached any of their other material. "I Believe" is one of my favorite songs PERIOD.

I totally understand why Helloween fans dislike this album. It is without question a very different beast than anything else they recorded. Nonetheless, I love this disc beginning to end....

.....and let the comments begin......

 

[Jasonic]

Excellent research as usual!



Neil

Fair enough my friend. I did not read THIS entire thread.
In general though, when people speak of underrated HELLOWEEN discs, two come primarily to the surface, in THE DARK RIDE and PINK BUBBLES.

Sorry, Chameleon can barely be called a HELLOWEEN album. It does not even remotely reflect their core sound of all their three eras.

That's not to say there is anything wrong with someone liking it, or even claiming it to be their favorite.

That would be like saying DISSIDENT ALLIANCE was your favorite JAG PANZER album. That's just too far off the beaten path of what was intended by this thread.