Lost in Music

[NAD]

Great moments in amazing albums make you sit back and say "damn. That's good..." Particularly amazing moments during these great albums give you the chills. Then there is the Big Daddy of them all, where everything falls into place for perhaps only a matter of seconds and you become completely submerged into aural Nirvana (for lack of a better word). Personally these moments are quite rare, but those brief moments make hunting through hundreds of albums a year all worth while.

Tool - Pushit, the jam section
I lose control of my body about the middle part of this song, everything becomes unglued and I just turn to liquid. Consequently I can rarely listen to this song while driving because I'll get in a wreck. The bass is monotonous, the guitars are kinda everywhere, and the DRUMS... oh my goat the drums. Danny is possessed at this point, like the rhythms he plays are being transferred through his person by some higher musical power beyond the realm of human thought.

Hammers of Misfortune - The August Engine pt. II, first break
Hits the peak with that quick guitar run down the neck, it's like the world I knew just seconds ago is flipped on its side and all things tube amp shall lead us to peace and harmony, or at least musical bliss for just a few short seconds.

Negura Bunget - IV, toward the end
I always forget exactly where this is, but I know it's toward the very end of 'N Crugu Bradului. The double bass is so fast at this point I feel like I'm flying through some black hole at unimaginable speeds. First time I noticed this I was seemingly half asleep, but was really in a trance with the music. Then my eyes shot open and I saw this album in a whole different degree of ass kickery.

If you never get this emotional over music, yer gay. :Spin:

 

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

happens to me with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, most notably on the Lift Yr. Skinny Fists.... recording. and Neurosis as well.

 

[Black Winter Day]

there are only a few songs that i listen to that bring tears to my eyes and give me chills. "supper's ready" is one of those songs. probably my favorite song ever. no piece of music has ever touched me so.

 

[J.]

Arcane Sun. That is all anyone ever needs. All other music is moot.

 

[Demonspell]

I'll name some recent ones

Agalloch - In The Shadow Of Our Pale Comapnion: The whole song is pure genius, but Don Anderson's solo (the second one) always sends me into a state of bliss.

Kayo Dot - The Antique: The opening section is up there with King Crimson's Starless as a perfect example of how to build almost unbearable tension gradually leading to an explosive climax...

Pain Of Salvation - Rope Ends: Since you singled out a drummer in the initial post, I'll use this opportunity to state that Johan Langell has to be one of the most underrated drummers around. Listen to his astounding offbeat rhythms (which still manage to get my head banging involuntarily, especially this song's prechorus) here and elsewhere...

My Dying Bride - Catherine Blake: Normally I don't care for Aaron's growled vocals, but they work perfectly here, and the song, while not varying too much from their usual template, has an awesome conclusion that feels like an apocalyptic battle.

Orphaned Land - last four songs on Mabool: This is how to bring a concept album to a glorious conclusion. These feel like an immense 24-minute epic when listened together, shifting in intensity at all the right moments, capturing the impact of the flood brilliantly, providing an appropriate lead-in and outro, and the guitar lines in track 11 are beautiful.

 

[JayKeeley]

There are loads....here's a few off the top of my head:

Empyrium - Waldpoesie: The nylon string acoustic fading out to the 4-string quartet on track #7. This is the saddest piece of music. Ever. It's like a reflection of the forest saddened that night is leaving to bring daybreak.

Symphony X - Communion & the Oracle: The bit when the 'string' sections come in towards the end..."lift your head up to the sky....". By far, their greatest album too.

Emperor - Cosmic Keys to my Creations & Times: This is just astral without having to be spelled out (a la low-budget black metal crap like Limbonic Art). This feels like gliding above ancient armies marching across glaciers.

Sepultura - Dead Embryonic Cells: That mid-point riff chugged out on the open E. Sounds like a machine gun spurting out in short bursts. The single best moment in thrash ever which forces you to turn up the volume.

Pestilence - Twisted Truth: The main death riff falls into that acoustic moment of brightness - as if someone drew back the curtains from a darkened room. Brilliant, brilliant album. Never gets old.

Negura Bunget - vremea loculi sortit: The best vocal perforance in BM that I've heard. Hupogrammos Disciple is way underrated - he sounds like a wolf emerging from the forest fog, leading a battalion of horseridden warriors.

Mithras - They Came and you were Silent: And lots of other Mithras moments too. It's a headphones required album, and there are tonnes of moments that have you plummeting through a black hole, only to emerge turned inside out.

There's a few more moments from Falkenbach and Arcturus....can't remember the specific songs, but on the first Falkenbach album, there's a song that features a beat up old acoustic guitar and it sounds great - even with the fret buzz - and there's an Arcturus moment on The Sham Mirrors with that grand piano that sounds excellent....

 

[NAD]

Kayo Dot - The Manifest Curiosity, last 3 minutes or so
Quite possibly the most intense moment in music EVAR. At least a contender for it.

Mithras - any guitar solo
Doesn't happen every time I hear one, but if I'm paying attention and nothing else is going on, I think every solo from every track on Worlds Beyond the Veil has gotten me lost at some point or another.

Tool - vocal overdubs toward the end of The Patient
Probably the reason why they're my favorite band, Tool has so many sections that make me question reality for a few seconds. The multiple time signatures and background vocal track harmonizing with the guitar really get me here. Not even my favorite song on the album either.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Emperor - Cosmic Keys to my Creations & Times: This is just astral without having to be spelled out (a la low-budget black metal crap like Limbonic Art). This feels like gliding above ancient armies marching across glaciers.

more friendly algebra from BWD...

Limbionic Art > ITNE

 

[Demonspell]

Replies to specific moments mentioned in this thread:

Jay - I'm pretty sure that piano on Arcturus would be in either Starcrossed or For To End Yet Again...Sverd is amazing, and he rarely gets the credit he deserves being in Garm's shadow...

BWD: The ending of Supper's Ready is one of the most cathartic pieces of music ever...and as for your "Genesis/metal" theory, it might be true...The Knife was heavy as hell for 1970...

NAD: I know I mentioned it in another thread, but you must mention the transition between the first two tracks if you're going to bring up Hammers of Misfortune...how awesome would that be to see done live?

 

[Black Winter Day]

BWD: The ending of Supper's Ready is one of the most cathartic pieces of music ever...and as for your "Genesis/metal" theory, it might be true...The Knife was heavy as hell for 1970...

man... i can't even begin to talk about "supper's ready"... but yeah, the last 4 minutes are MINDBLOWINGLY EMOTIONAL. i've never heard anything like it aside from marillion (who were heavily inspired by early genesis). but seriously... "the guaranteed eternal sanctuary man", the battle sequence and the ending are pure bliss. hell, the whole thing is perfect. i can't imagine how my music-listening could exist without these specific 22 minutes. it makes everything else i listen to seem dull as hell in comparison. i could listen to this song alone for the rest of my life and would not be left wanting. damn, i guess i did end up talking about it, didn't i? my favorite song ever.

have you heard their first live recording (the appropriately titled "live")? "the return of the giant hogweed" and "the knife" are heavy even by today's standards!

 

[Krilons Resa]

Don't forget the other 54 seconds.

 

[speed]

Isis Oceanic when I put it on, I am instantly absorbed.
ANathema's Judgement- especially the first 6 tracks.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Most Tool songs

Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets album

GY!BE

A bunch of Classical music.

A bunch of other shit I can't remember right now...

 

[Black Winter Day]

Don't forget the other 54 seconds.

you're right. my bad.

 

[Krilons Resa]

you're right. my bad.

At least you recognize the greatness.

 

[Black Winter Day]

seriously though... how can anyone NOT enjoy (or at least respect) "Supper's Ready"? the possibility is absolutely unfathomable to me.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Well, you need patience and let the song unfold to really appreciate the brilliance and depth of that song.

 

[Black Winter Day]

bah. i loved it immediately.

and that reminds me... WHAT IN THE HELL IS THE SONG ABOUT? a metaphor for life and love, incorporating war, religion and the apocalypse?

 

[NAD]

NAD: I know I mentioned it in another thread, but you must mention the transition between the first two tracks if you're going to bring up Hammers of Misfortune...how awesome would that be to see done live?

Oh yeah, that's my second favorite moment on The August Engine closely following the one I mentioned. If I ever saw that live I'd have to jump on stage and instigate an orgy with the band.

A Perfect Circle - end of The Noose
"Your haaalo slipping down... your haaaaalo slipping down..." repeated for a few minutes, then softly as the music fades: "...to choke you now." BRILLIANT!

King Crimson - Fallen Angel, first chorus (if you can call it that)
The first time I heard John Wetton croon that first chorus signifies the beginning of my utter infatuation with all things Crimso. Well, either that or:

King Crimson - Book of Saturdays
This is actually how I fell in love with the group, my first experience was Larks' Tongues in Aspic part I, an utter masterpiece of instrumental work, and it is followed by this sweet little ditty, with probably one of my top 5 vocal performances. I knew I was getting into something special within the first 3 syllables of Wetton's voice.

 

[Demonspell]

If I were to start mentioning some of my favorite Crimson & other prog moments this thread could last forever...which is precisely what I want to happen.