As the title says.
Ayreon - Back when I first got the program soulseek, one day I opened up my soulseek folder and saw that an Ayreon album, The Dream Sequencer Part 1 specifically, had been downloaded. I didn't remember telling it to, but I figured, it's here so I'll try it out. I listened to the song Dragon On The Sea and thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool...a little different though." Listened to the rest of the album and fell in love. Next trip I took to my favorite CD store, Quonset Hut, I looked for the band. I saw this album there and nothing else, so I went ahead and picked it up. Been an obsession ever since. They're one of those groups where the more you find out about them, the more they impress you...with me at least. I discovered it's prettymuch one guy behind the band, who gets 8 or so new singers for each album. The albums are largely about the decline and self destruction of mankind, following the path of a blind minstrel who receives visions from the future. It's a very interesting tale. Their later albums didn't always follow this suite, such as the recent Human Equation, which was more about the experiences that shaped one mans life. Regardless, Arjen Lucassen, the man behind Ayreon, has yet to put out an album under this group that I didn't enjoy.
Opeth - As my interest in metal was peaking, I was advised to go to www.ultimatemetal.com for some Black Metal recommendations. I had browsed the forums for a month or so, then found myself at Borders with my mom asking me if I wanted to get any CD's. I thought to try some new stuff, so two of the bands I had heard a lot about on Ultimate Metal came to mind. Symphopny X and Opeth. I just picked the longest albums they had for each band, The Odyssey and Morningrise, respectively. When I got home I listened to Opeth. I heard loud, heavy music on the first track and htought, hey, this sounds like it has potential. It had a pounding chorus with a vocal style (Death growls) I was just getting used to...this part really blew me away. Then something happened, somehting that didn't happen in the music I listened to at the time. The heaviness stopped and in its place was a long, very repetitious acoustic segment. It shifted between the two style throughout the song, and my initial reaction was disapointment because I thought this meant it'd be ****ty....but as I listened I just became amazed at the beauty of it, such as the vocals at 6:40 into the song. I listened to the song again and from then on I was definately hooked. I looked back at some of the stuff I was listening to previously....Metallica, Immortal, Macabre....it just made music like that look like people mindlessly banging on guitars and yelling. Opeth had a profound effect on me, not simply making me adore their music, but it actually made my interest in other types of music re-emerge. If you told me in 8th grade I'd be listening to Yanni and Simon & Garfunkel when I'm 18, I'd laugh at you. Opeth are responsible for a large part of my maturity when it comes to music.
Tool - This one was a much more gradual process than either of the above. I had been recommended Tool many times, had people tell me "download the song stinkfist!" etc. Listened ot a couple songs by them, they seemed alright, but nothing that really caught my interest. I had a stoner friend named Chester tell me I should get their album Aenima. This guy tended to know some good bands as well so this made my interest in Tool raise a little. Then I met a guy named Kyle. He lives in Louisiana and is responsible for a large portion of what I listen to today. He was really into them, and he had me listen to their song 46&2. I listened to Tool very carefully that time...for the first time really. It was very intruiging music. After becoming a big fan of 46&2 I looked to their newest album, which I had heard pieces of. Schism and Parabola became regulars on my playlists. I slowly became a bigger and bigger fan, but not until I read a certain webpage did I become obsessed. This website made me very interested in Tool. I remember talking with my friend Dan at lunch about how Tool used a lot of math when arranging their music....drums specifically. I had read up on that a little. This piece just blew me away though, it made me realize I had been missing out on a lot of what Tool was about, an djust listening to their beats and not their music as a complete package. Next time I went out to my second favorite music store, Record Exchange, I bought every full length album Tool has released and I've yet to feel anyhting close to regret. I've studied their music since then and I'm continually blown away by its depth and creativity. I can't think of a single thing I've ever anticipated as much as Tool's new album.
Death - This is another band I owe thanks to Ultimate Metal for. I heard so many people talking about this band. For some reason I had the idea that they were just another stupid death metal band in the vein of Cannibal Corpse, a group that just plays fast and talks about killing people. I downloaded a few songs and I was impressed by the musicianship...at times it was a bit generic and immature, but it was levels above other bands of their genre. Eventually I go tmy hands on a copy of The Sound Of Perseverance, and as a drummer I was impressed with it fromt he very first song, which began in a drum solo. I think if I picked an earlier Death album I might of disregarded them as generic Death metal, because their later albums were much more progressive than their early stuff. This album featured catchy melodies, some of the best riffs I've ever heard and a simply crushing sound that hooked me. I began exploring them more, realizing how introspective their lyrics were. The combination of unique, progressive metal that was also heavy and good to headbang to, along with their intelligent lyrics about emotions, dreams and so forth made me a huge fan.
Pink Floyd - Somehow, during my years of exploring progressive and classic rock, Pink Floyd remained largely overlooked by me. I shrugged them off, being turned off by the number of people that seemed to listen to nothing but Floyd and Zeppelin yet call themselves die-hard classic rock fans. They had a few songs I enjoyed....money was cute and catchy, with decent lyrics as well. Another Brick In The Wall..who doesn't know that song? Nice and catchy with a weird sound to it. Dark and bitter, but not in the most obvious of ways. It wasn't until I got their DVD of The Wall that I realized that like Tool, I had overlooked yet another band my stoner friend Chester had recommended I listen to. I ended up downloading about 30 of their albums and since I've been opened up to the beauty of their music. Chester always told me to get Animals and now I see why. He told me, listen to th e song Pigs (Three different ones), and dammit, that's probably my favorite Floyd song now. The ****** was a psychic. Their long, instrumental songs just clicked with me. I'm the type that like shtose sort of moments in music, where you can just mentally wonder then have a verse come back in and make you realize that you're still listneing to the song. Definately a fan of their more psychadelic, older material.
Rush - On the same visit to Quonset Hut where I picked up my first Ayreon album, I had it in my head to look for 2112 as well. someone on another forum, PGNX I believe, had told me this was "The album" to get, period. When I first got it, I didn't exactly agree. Something for Nothing, the last track, was a catchy, straight-forward rocker that I enjoyed. Train To Bangkok had an intro that made me laugh, but otherwise I was unimpressed with the album. That was at my friend Kyles house. When I had my first real listen to it at my house, I went through the song 2112 completely and the album became of much higher value to me. The song was epic, it told a complete story within itself I discovered after reading the lyrics. I listened to this song for about a week and was impressed more with each day I heard it and listened to the instrumentals and how complex, detailed and simply cool sounding specific parts were. The rest of the album I still didn't care for...that took about half a year for me to get past the idea that 2112 contained a killer title track, a cool rock song at the end but otherwise had pointless songs on it. After 2112, I picked up Chronicles for 5$. It was a compilation of their works from the beginning up to about 1990, on two CD's. It was perfect for me at the time. I adored every song off disc 1, their earlier stuff. It really caught my attention. Disc 2 I didn't care for the more modern tracks as much at the time, but that era of Rush has definately grown on me.....Grace Under PRessure and Signals are two of my favorite Rush albums. After that I picked up any Rush album I saw that was a good deal, and I've enjoyed every single album of theirs I've purchased very much. I now own somewhere between 15 and 20 Rush albums.
Ayreon - Back when I first got the program soulseek, one day I opened up my soulseek folder and saw that an Ayreon album, The Dream Sequencer Part 1 specifically, had been downloaded. I didn't remember telling it to, but I figured, it's here so I'll try it out. I listened to the song Dragon On The Sea and thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool...a little different though." Listened to the rest of the album and fell in love. Next trip I took to my favorite CD store, Quonset Hut, I looked for the band. I saw this album there and nothing else, so I went ahead and picked it up. Been an obsession ever since. They're one of those groups where the more you find out about them, the more they impress you...with me at least. I discovered it's prettymuch one guy behind the band, who gets 8 or so new singers for each album. The albums are largely about the decline and self destruction of mankind, following the path of a blind minstrel who receives visions from the future. It's a very interesting tale. Their later albums didn't always follow this suite, such as the recent Human Equation, which was more about the experiences that shaped one mans life. Regardless, Arjen Lucassen, the man behind Ayreon, has yet to put out an album under this group that I didn't enjoy.
Opeth - As my interest in metal was peaking, I was advised to go to www.ultimatemetal.com for some Black Metal recommendations. I had browsed the forums for a month or so, then found myself at Borders with my mom asking me if I wanted to get any CD's. I thought to try some new stuff, so two of the bands I had heard a lot about on Ultimate Metal came to mind. Symphopny X and Opeth. I just picked the longest albums they had for each band, The Odyssey and Morningrise, respectively. When I got home I listened to Opeth. I heard loud, heavy music on the first track and htought, hey, this sounds like it has potential. It had a pounding chorus with a vocal style (Death growls) I was just getting used to...this part really blew me away. Then something happened, somehting that didn't happen in the music I listened to at the time. The heaviness stopped and in its place was a long, very repetitious acoustic segment. It shifted between the two style throughout the song, and my initial reaction was disapointment because I thought this meant it'd be ****ty....but as I listened I just became amazed at the beauty of it, such as the vocals at 6:40 into the song. I listened to the song again and from then on I was definately hooked. I looked back at some of the stuff I was listening to previously....Metallica, Immortal, Macabre....it just made music like that look like people mindlessly banging on guitars and yelling. Opeth had a profound effect on me, not simply making me adore their music, but it actually made my interest in other types of music re-emerge. If you told me in 8th grade I'd be listening to Yanni and Simon & Garfunkel when I'm 18, I'd laugh at you. Opeth are responsible for a large part of my maturity when it comes to music.
Tool - This one was a much more gradual process than either of the above. I had been recommended Tool many times, had people tell me "download the song stinkfist!" etc. Listened ot a couple songs by them, they seemed alright, but nothing that really caught my interest. I had a stoner friend named Chester tell me I should get their album Aenima. This guy tended to know some good bands as well so this made my interest in Tool raise a little. Then I met a guy named Kyle. He lives in Louisiana and is responsible for a large portion of what I listen to today. He was really into them, and he had me listen to their song 46&2. I listened to Tool very carefully that time...for the first time really. It was very intruiging music. After becoming a big fan of 46&2 I looked to their newest album, which I had heard pieces of. Schism and Parabola became regulars on my playlists. I slowly became a bigger and bigger fan, but not until I read a certain webpage did I become obsessed. This website made me very interested in Tool. I remember talking with my friend Dan at lunch about how Tool used a lot of math when arranging their music....drums specifically. I had read up on that a little. This piece just blew me away though, it made me realize I had been missing out on a lot of what Tool was about, an djust listening to their beats and not their music as a complete package. Next time I went out to my second favorite music store, Record Exchange, I bought every full length album Tool has released and I've yet to feel anyhting close to regret. I've studied their music since then and I'm continually blown away by its depth and creativity. I can't think of a single thing I've ever anticipated as much as Tool's new album.
Death - This is another band I owe thanks to Ultimate Metal for. I heard so many people talking about this band. For some reason I had the idea that they were just another stupid death metal band in the vein of Cannibal Corpse, a group that just plays fast and talks about killing people. I downloaded a few songs and I was impressed by the musicianship...at times it was a bit generic and immature, but it was levels above other bands of their genre. Eventually I go tmy hands on a copy of The Sound Of Perseverance, and as a drummer I was impressed with it fromt he very first song, which began in a drum solo. I think if I picked an earlier Death album I might of disregarded them as generic Death metal, because their later albums were much more progressive than their early stuff. This album featured catchy melodies, some of the best riffs I've ever heard and a simply crushing sound that hooked me. I began exploring them more, realizing how introspective their lyrics were. The combination of unique, progressive metal that was also heavy and good to headbang to, along with their intelligent lyrics about emotions, dreams and so forth made me a huge fan.
Pink Floyd - Somehow, during my years of exploring progressive and classic rock, Pink Floyd remained largely overlooked by me. I shrugged them off, being turned off by the number of people that seemed to listen to nothing but Floyd and Zeppelin yet call themselves die-hard classic rock fans. They had a few songs I enjoyed....money was cute and catchy, with decent lyrics as well. Another Brick In The Wall..who doesn't know that song? Nice and catchy with a weird sound to it. Dark and bitter, but not in the most obvious of ways. It wasn't until I got their DVD of The Wall that I realized that like Tool, I had overlooked yet another band my stoner friend Chester had recommended I listen to. I ended up downloading about 30 of their albums and since I've been opened up to the beauty of their music. Chester always told me to get Animals and now I see why. He told me, listen to th e song Pigs (Three different ones), and dammit, that's probably my favorite Floyd song now. The ****** was a psychic. Their long, instrumental songs just clicked with me. I'm the type that like shtose sort of moments in music, where you can just mentally wonder then have a verse come back in and make you realize that you're still listneing to the song. Definately a fan of their more psychadelic, older material.
Rush - On the same visit to Quonset Hut where I picked up my first Ayreon album, I had it in my head to look for 2112 as well. someone on another forum, PGNX I believe, had told me this was "The album" to get, period. When I first got it, I didn't exactly agree. Something for Nothing, the last track, was a catchy, straight-forward rocker that I enjoyed. Train To Bangkok had an intro that made me laugh, but otherwise I was unimpressed with the album. That was at my friend Kyles house. When I had my first real listen to it at my house, I went through the song 2112 completely and the album became of much higher value to me. The song was epic, it told a complete story within itself I discovered after reading the lyrics. I listened to this song for about a week and was impressed more with each day I heard it and listened to the instrumentals and how complex, detailed and simply cool sounding specific parts were. The rest of the album I still didn't care for...that took about half a year for me to get past the idea that 2112 contained a killer title track, a cool rock song at the end but otherwise had pointless songs on it. After 2112, I picked up Chronicles for 5$. It was a compilation of their works from the beginning up to about 1990, on two CD's. It was perfect for me at the time. I adored every song off disc 1, their earlier stuff. It really caught my attention. Disc 2 I didn't care for the more modern tracks as much at the time, but that era of Rush has definately grown on me.....Grace Under PRessure and Signals are two of my favorite Rush albums. After that I picked up any Rush album I saw that was a good deal, and I've enjoyed every single album of theirs I've purchased very much. I now own somewhere between 15 and 20 Rush albums.
