What album has influenced you the most?

S4R

gooey
Sep 7, 2001
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.il.us
Just a question to throw out there on the interweb:D What album has influenced you the most? I guess i could also say this as, what album has impacted you the most? For myself, it is Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Not so much musically (although it is brilliant in that respect) as it has lyrically. I can relate to it on many levels, to me it is a masterpiece. Anywho, what is your album?
 
Tough question:

Musically, I have 2 that stand out for me -

The Tea Party - Edges of Twilight
Grip Inc - Power of Inner Strength

Hard to explain why, because there are other albums I also like top to bottom, but these two seem to have implanted themselves deepest in my brain.

But the album that changed me forever was Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffitti:
First, it has Kashmir on it (need I say more), but as a 15-year old in 1975, it was my first taste of a double album, and I wore that LP(s) out over the next few years after I bought it. I always look at Led Zeppelin as the band which took me down the metal path.
 
There have been several key albums that have had a great influence on me. The first, I'm somewhat sorry to say, was Metallica's "Master of Puppets". This was the album that got me into metal. Eventually I realized that there was much better stuff out there...

The next big cd was Dream Theater's "Image and Words". This amazing album got me into progressive music, and opened the door for me to many other underground bands. Dream Theater taught me to truely appreciate music. This was also about the time I started seriously playing the guitar.

Another really important one is "Morningrise". Opeth replaced Dream Theater as my favorite band, and got me into countless other more extreme bands.
 
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
Its with that album that i began listening to music.
It changed my perpective of society and without it, i wouldnt be listening to Opeth etc. :devil:

Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Basically my foundation for more extreme music.

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral / The Fragile
Trent made me wanna buy his albums. Now thats what I call brainwashing. :loco:

Opeth - Still Life
Godamn, this is my favorite album of all time. What more can i say!
 
Innuendo by Queen got me listening to one band actively and paying attention musically to what was going on.

Use Your Illusion I was a big step for me toward something heavier.

The Downward Spiral was my first REAL venture into heavier music, and I amassed a collection of NIN (all the halos but one, to date)

Vempire by Cradle of Filth got me into metal, but Born of the Flickering by Old Man's Child helped me see how different mainland Europe's metal could be.

MAYH was my first Opeth album, and it got me hooked.

Since, I've fallen a little out of the metal groove, and "Up To Here" by the Tragically Hip really got me into other kinds of music aside from all the screeching and growling and biting with the metal teeth. I've broadened my tastes miles in all directions since then.

Most recently, "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd has begun to sink it. I know it'll be the next step for me.

But I suppose it all really began with Queen, who to this day are some of the musicians I respect the most. No one ever was what Freddy Mercury was, and no one ever will be.
 
Metallica- Ride The Lightning
This is the album that got me into metal, changed me forever... :)

Dream Theater- Awake
Really influenced me to develope more of a technical ability in my guitar and bass playing. Amazing musicians

Opeth- My Arms, Your Hearse
My first Opeth album, that is enough inspiration there. But this album, as well as a lot of Opeth, influenced me to write music, and that I could express great feelings through music.
 
id say Type O Negative "october rust" impacted me alot. i love that album. it is to this day my favorite album ever because its so beautiful!!!! if you havent heard this album pick it up (if you like melodic beautiful shit)
 
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti: this was the album that got me to actually pay attention to music.

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloddy Sabbath: that album changed my life...I can't explain...for music to be metal and not noise at the same time was strange for me.

A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden: Not enough words exist for this CD. It is so amazingly better than Iron Maiden ever was. It was the CD that got me into death, black, doom and power metal, (it has all these styles on it, now how can you not love that?) And is still just a notch below Opeth on my scale.

Opeth - Morningrise: music of the gods, need I say more? It changed my perspective of everything, literally.
 
Anathema "Judgement". This is more than simply music to me, more like an experience or revelation. If you analyze only the music part, it may be simple rock, but for me it does everything (almost).

As far as music goes, Opeth "My Arms Your Hearse". This is not my favourite Opeth album, but it really opened up my mind.

And the ultimate *musical* influence is probably Shostakovich, 8th Symphony. Beautiful, dark, dramatic and intensely mind-stimulating.


D Mullholand, a dead composer
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NP: Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
 
Musically:
Death-Symbolic
and
Opeth-MAYH

I'd say those are the most important, but COF-Cruelty and ATG-SOTS are not too far behind.

I'm still lucky enough to be hearing new great bands and gaining great influences every day, and I'm thankful for that!
 
Like everyone else, consideration must go to bands/albums who took me from Point A to Point B in terms of musical taste... and in this regard Fear Factory's "Obsolete" was very important for me. When I came to realize that the aspects of the style I particularly appreciated were being done, and had been done, better, and as part of a vast expanse of styles of bands primarily based in Scandanavia, I looked into Hypocrisy, Edge of Sanity and Opeth and came to embrace the underground fully. It bridged the gap for me from "mainstream" North American metal, to, well, the good stuff.

Frank Zappa, obviously, was very important for me to realize the distinctions between music as art and entertainment, and the endless possiblities of musical style. "We're Only in it for the Money" and "Hot Rats" stand as strong achievements in my proverbial personal musical dictionary.

Pink Floyd (primarily Dark Side and The Wall), Led Zeppelin (first 6 albums) and Black Sabbath (first 6 or so albums) were key milestones on my musical exploratory journey.

And, of course, sitting atop my "opinion apex", if you will, is Opeth, with My Arms Your Hearse and Morningrise probably 1 and 2 as my fave records ever.
 
I've got several, it kind of tracks my development....
1st ever album bought was Hysteria by Def Leppard (waaaaay back in '87, I was only 9 but already damned on the path of metal)
'Master of Puppets' got me into the heavier stuff
'Chaos A.D' by Sepultura got me into more 'underground' stuff
'Once upon the cross' by Deicide was my first major exposure to Death Metal
'Principal....' by COF, first black metal
'Realm of Chaos' by Bolt Thrower, the first all-blastbeat album I was able to sit through, much less worship as much as I do. Taught me to love the blast ;)
'The Sound Of Perseverance' by Death- wouldn't be half the guitar player I am today if not for that album!

Number one most important album in my life though, is My Dying Bride's 'The Angel and the Dark River'. Totally changed my life, and I really mean that.
 
So far, i think NIN's music has had a great impact, along with Opeth and The Cure (all musically, and lyrically (is that a word?). They all mean a lot to me. In the future, I think Anathema will (i only just got all their albums).

I also agree, ther wall is a great album, and a really cool film!
 
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, it makes me who i am today :) , hmn, also Nirvana with songs like Floyd the barber and and about a girl take me back into a time warp of my childhood, really wierd:) . Tool - Aenima opened my eyes to a different style to me.