Articles

Cd’s:

AC/DC - Back in Black
AC/DC - Black Ice (Deluxe Edition)
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
AC/DC - High Voltage
AC/DC - Powerage
AC/DC - The Razor's Edge
Aeveron - The Ancient Realm
Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God (Book Edition 2 Cd + Dvd)
At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (Dvd Edition)
Arch Enemy - Anthems of Rebellion
Arch Enemy - Doomsday Machine
Arch Enemy - Rise Of The Tyrant
Arch Enemy - The Root Of All Evil
Bathory - Blood Fire Death
Bizarra Locomotiva - Album Negro
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Blacksunrise - Engulf The World In Frozen Flames
Blacksunrise - The Azrael
Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Bonded By Blood - Feed The Beast (is sign by the all band members)
Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth
Burzum - Filosofem
Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated
Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet?
Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery (Deluxe Edition)
Death - Leprosy
Death - Human
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Death - Symbolic
Desire - Crowcifix EP
Desire - Locus Horrendus: The Night Cries of a Sullen Soul...
Divine Lust - The Bitterest Flavours
Down - Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow
Down - Down III - Over The Under
Down - NOLA
Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons
Dream Theater - Awake
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (Special Edition 3 Cd’s)
Dream Theater - Greatest Hit [...and 21 other pretty cool songs]
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Dream Theater - Live Scenes From New York
Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Dream Theater - Once in a Livetime
Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Echidna - Insidious Awakening
Enslaved - Vertebrae
Entombed - Clandestine (Dvd Edition)
Evile - Enter the Grave
Exodus - Bonded by Blood (Silver Edition)
Gama Bomb - Citizen Brain (Dvd Edition)
Gorod - Process of a New Decline
Green Day - Dookie
Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I
Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion II
HIM - Love Metal
Hordes of Yore - Of Splendour And Ruin
Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes
If Lucy Fell - Zebra Dance
In Flames - The Jester Race/Black: Ash Inheritance
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death (Dvd Edition)
Iron Maiden - A Real Live Dead One
Iron Maiden - Brave New World
Iron Maiden - Dance of Death
Iron Maiden - Death On The Road
Iron Maiden - Different World (Dvd single)
Iron Maiden - Ed Hunter
Iron Maiden - Edward the Great
Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden - Flight 666
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden - Killers
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Iron Maiden - Live at Donington
Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Iron Maiden - Rainmaker (Single) (Japonese Edition)
Iron Maiden - Rock in Rio
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Iron Maiden - Somewhere Back In Time
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden - The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
Iron Maiden - The X Factor
Iron Maiden - Virtual
Iron Maiden - Wildest Dreams (Single)
Johnny Cash - The Essential
Joy Division - Closer
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution (Dvd Edition)
Judas Priest - British Steel
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Judas Priest - The Essential
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Kalmah - Swanpsong
Korpiklaani - Tales Along This Road
Kreator - Enemy of God (Dvd Edition)
Kylesa - Static Tensions
Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
Lamb of God - Sacrament (Dvd Edition)
Lamb of God - Wrath
Linkin Park - Live in Texas
Machine Head - Burn My Eyes
Machine Head - The Blackening (Dvd Edition)
Machine Head - The Blackening (2008 Edition - 2 Cd’s+Dvd)
Machine Head - Through the Ashes of Empires (Demos Cd Editon)
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Mastodon - Crack The Skye
Mastodon - Leviathan
Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
Megadeth - Greatest Hits: Back to the Start
Megadeth - The World Needs A Hero
Metallica - Kill ‘Em All
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica - Reload
Metallica - Ride The Rightning
Metallica - S&M
Metallica - St. Anger (Dvd Edition)
Metallica - The Black Album
Minsk - With Echoes in the Movement of Stone
Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind
Moonspell - Memorial (Dvd Edition)
Moonspell - Night Eternal (Dvd Edition)
Moonspell - The Antidote
Moonspell - The Butterfly Effect
Moonspell - Wolfheart (2007 Edition 2 Cd’s)
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Morbid Death - Unlocked (is sign by the all band members)
Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying
Nasum - Grind Finale
Nightwish - Amaranth (Single) (2 Cd's Edition)
Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (Dvd Edition)
Nile - Ithyphallic
Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Nirvana - Nevermind
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Opeth - Damnation
Opeth - Deliverance
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Opeth - Morningrise
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Opeth - Orchid
Opeth - Still Life (Dvd Edition)
Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes
Opeth - Watershed (Dvd Edition)
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
Paradise Lost - Drown In Darkness (The Early Demos)
Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us (Book Edition)
Paradise Lost - Gothic (2008 Edition with Dvd)
Pearl Jam - Riot Act
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Pitch Black - Hate Division
Portishead - Dummy
Portishead - Portishead
Queensrÿche - Greatest Hits
Ramp - Visions (2009 Edition Visions Tour)
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
Sepultura - Roots
Simbiose - Fake Dimension
Shining - IV: The Eerie Cold
Slayer - God Hates Us All
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Slayer - South of Heaven
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Switchtense - Confrontation of Souls
Sworn Amongst - And So It Begins
Testament - Souls of Black
Testament - The Formation of Damnation (Dvd Edition)
The Doors - The Doors
The Doors - The Very Best of The Doors (Book Edition 2 Cd + Dvd)
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
Theriomorphic - Enter The Mighty Theriomorphic
Theriomorphic - The Beast Brigade
Tom Waits - Closing Time
Tom Waits - Heartattack And Vine
Trinacria - Travel Now Journey Infinitely
Venom - Black Metal
V/A - A Tribute to the Beast
V/A - Maiden Heaven
V/A - Numbers from the Beast: An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden

Box’s:

Bob Dylan - Dylan
Opeth - The Candlelight Years

Dvd’s:

Arch Enemy - Tyrants of the Rising Sun
Dream Theater - Chaos In Motion 2007-2008 (Special Collector’s Edition 2 Dvd + 3 Cd)
Dream Theater - Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York
Iron Maiden - Donington Live 1992
Iron Maiden - Death on the Road
Iron Maiden - Ed Force One, The Route To Brasil (2008 Bootleg)
Iron Maiden - Flight 666 (Book Edition)
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Iron Maiden - Maiden England
Iron Maiden - Raising Hell
Iron Maiden - Return Of The Beast To Argentina (2009 Bootleg)
Iron Maiden - Rock in Rio
Iron Maiden - The Early Days
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden - Visions of the Beast
Moonspell - Lusitanium Metal (Special Box Edition 2 Dvd + Cd)
Opeth - Lamentations: Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire
Opeth - The Roundhouse Tapes (Special Edition with postcard’s and book)
Testament - Live in London

Vinyls:

Desire - Crowcifix EP (is sign by the all band members)
Iron Maiden - Flight 666
Iron Maiden - The Trooper (Original 1983 UK limited edition 2-track 7" 'Eddie The Soldier' shaped vinyl Picture Disc Single, also including their version of Jethro Tull's 'Cross Eyed Mary’) - Front - Back

kiqmax's top albums (overall)
1. O Teatro Mágico - Entrada para Raros (2036) 2. O Teatro Mágico - 2º Ato (1180) 3. O Teatro Mágico - Voz & Violão (956) 4. Megadeth - Hidden Treasures (802) 5. Galdino - OctOpus I - Quem Tem Ouvidos Ouça (735) 6. Whitesnake - Starkers In Tokyo (522) 7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle (408) 8. Tenacious D - Tenacious D (387) 9. Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny (289) 10. The Beatles - Love Songs (227) 11. The Beatles - The Beatles 1 (220) 12. Bruce Dickinson - Balls To Picasso (201) 13. Journey - Revelation Disc 2 (188) 14. Bruce Dickinson - The Best Of Bruce Dickinson (Disc 2) (183) 15. The Beatles - Abbey Road (173) 16. Ratos de Porão - Brasil (nacional) (171) 17. KISS - Alive II (Disc One) (169) 18. Nina Simone - Legends CD3 (167) 19. Iron Maiden - Ed Hunter (165) 20. Nina Simone - Compact Jazz: Nina Simone (165)

kiqmax's top albums (overall)
1. O Teatro Mágico - Entrada para Raros (2036) 2. O Teatro Mágico - 2º Ato (1180) 3. O Teatro Mágico - Voz & Violão (956) 4. Megadeth - Hidden Treasures (802) 5. Galdino - OctOpus I - Quem Tem Ouvidos Ouça (735) 6. Whitesnake - Starkers In Tokyo (522) 7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle (408) 8. Tenacious D - Tenacious D (387) 9. Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny (289) 10. The Beatles - Love Songs (227) 11. The Beatles - The Beatles 1 (220) 12. Bruce Dickinson - Balls To Picasso (201) 13. Journey - Revelation Disc 2 (188) 14. Bruce Dickinson - The Best Of Bruce Dickinson (Disc 2) (183) 15. The Beatles - Abbey Road (173) 16. Ratos de Porão - Brasil (nacional) (171) 17. KISS - Alive II (Disc One) (169) 18. Nina Simone - Legends CD3 (167) 19. Iron Maiden - Ed Hunter (165) 20. Nina Simone - Compact Jazz: Nina Simone (165)

Hepimiz melodi ve ritmin oluşturabildiği armoni olmadan müziğe ulaşamayacağımızı biliyoruz. Benim kafama takılan şey şu; seslerin oluşturduğu bu güzelliğin kendisi mi yoksa anlamı mı daha önemlidir? Yani kulağa hoş gelen bir melodinin varlığı, o müziğe eziyor diyebilmek için yeterli midir?

Bu mantıkla ilerleyen bir müzik dinleyicisinin Cazdan başka bir şey dinlememesi gerekir gibime geliyor. Şöyle ki; ben müzikte güzel melodinin veya güzel ritmin ona anlam katabilecek kabiliyette olduğunu düşünmüyorum. Yani kulağımıza güzel gelen her armonik ses müzik için yeterli midir? Örnek verelim hemen:

Manowar'ın Power Of Thy Sword'u vokal olarak çok üst düzey bir melodikliğe sahiptir öyle değil mi? Bunun yanına aynı düzeyde komplike melodikliğe sahip olmayan Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast'i koyalım. Eric Adams'ın bu şarkıdaki amacı ortadaki besteye bir melodi şablonu daha eklemekken; Bruce Dickinson dinleyici ile bundan daha farklı bir iletişim kurma çabasındadır öyle değil mi?

En başta Bruce'un müzikal kabiliyetlerinin düşük olmasıyla alakalandırmadığımı söyleyerek başlayayım. Iron Maiden'ın şarkısındaki vokal şablonu; melodiklikten çok dinleyici ve eser arasında bir iletişim bir diyalog kurmaya çalışmaktadır. Eric Adams ile amaç olarak besteye bir diğer enstrumantal bölüm ekleme amacındadır diye düşünüyorum. Ha bu demek değil ki; ikisini birlikte yapamazsınız. Yaparsınız elbet; çok da şahane olur ve bu iki isminde bunu gerçekleştirdiği onlarca örnek vardır.

Benim anlatmak sizce istediğim müziğin amacı sadece güzel seslerin uyumunun dinletisi mi olmalıdır yoksa müzisyen bunun ötesine mi geçmelidir? Tekrar Caz örneğine dönersem eğer; Cazı yüzde yüz olarak algılayabilmek için bir miktar teknik bilgi sahibi olmak gerektiğini düşünüyorum. Az çok komplike müziklere aşina olan bir kulak, cazdaki onlarca belki de yüzlerce armonik melodiyi duyacaktır. Lakin; Caz teorik olarak bu armoninin varlığı üzerine bir müziktir(ben böyle düşünüyorum en azından). Bu sebeple farklı tür müziklerin dinleyicileri için ona alışmak zor olabilir.

Bunu konuya şöyle bağlayayım, aşağı yukarı tüm Caz müzisyenleri(aslında tüm müzisyenler de diyebiliriz) amaç olarak çok gelişkin bir melodik uyumu belirlerler ve yüzde doksan dokuzu da bu konuda başarılıdır sanıyorum. Lakin; bu melodik gelişkinlik bu insanların ürettiği her müzikte bir anlam ile birleşmez, birleşenlerin bazılarını da Caz dinleyicisinin ihtiyaç duyduğu o bir miktar bilgi birikimi ile algılamak gerekir. Bu sebeple kulağı buna alışık olmayan insanlar için çoğu eser ortada güzel melodi bütününden fazlasını ifade etmez.

Sonuç olarak, benim düşünceme göre müzisyenin beste yaparken amaçlaması gereken şey melodi ve ritmsel uyumdan öte bir şey olmalıdır.Bunun üstünde bir anlam içermelidir eser.

Bazı durumlarda; yaratılan melodisel uyum zaten o müzisyen için başlı başına bir anlam olabilir elbet. Lakin; bildiğimiz gibi müzik lisanı kelimelerin ötesindeki şeyler için vardır(gerçi belli başlı bazı kavramları da anlatabilirsin müzik ile, aşk-öfke vs. gibi duygular. Fakat bunu anlatış biçimin müzik lisanında o duyguların kelimelere dökülemeyen yanlarıyla değil midir?) bu sebeple benim düşünceme göre; insan lisanı olarak gördüğümüz kelimeler ve cümleler ile birbirini tamamlayan şeylerdir(Ying ve Yang gibi). Bu sebeple, kelimelerin ötesindeki müzik bazen kelimelerin kendisini anlatamayabilir, başka bir hisse bürünür ve ondan dinleyicinin hangi kavrama ilişkilendirmesi beklenir. Yani müzik duyguyu, duygunun öz haliyle anlatamayabilir. Dinleyiciyi o öze yönlendirebilecek başka bir varlık oluşturur. Benim sorun olarak gördüğüm şey şudur ki; bu varlık kendi başına hiç bir şeye ilişkilenmeden güzel ses bütününden öteye geçemeyebilir. Elbette ki insan doğası bu varlığa karşı otomatikman bir reaksiyon gösterir ve ona bazı şeyleri atar. Ama müzik geliştikçe ve değiştikçe bu reaksiyon gerçekleşmeyebilir, benim görüşümce bunda insanın algısal kapalılığı kadar müzikte de bir sorumluluk vardır.

Yasal uyarı: Bu demek değildir ki, ikisi bir arada gerçekleştirilemez. Yapanlar var; ben gördüm.
Yasal uyarı 2: Bu başlık açılırken hiç bir müzisyene işkence edilmemiştir... sanırım.

Yes, I'm bored to death... and no, I don't have anything else to do. So I'll post my top 10 Albums of all time... or at least untill now, what means... well... a bit more than 21 years pure experience of life.

But before I get to the top ten, here are a few albums that didn't make it, but I still wanted to mention

Nirvana - Nirvana
What is such a list without Nirvana? Well, they didn't make it INTO it, but at least i mentioned them before so I can go to sleep tonight without feeling that bad... or maybe I have to because I took the best-of and not Nevermind like everyone else... Uhm...
Well... whatever... nevermind...

Iron Maiden - Dance of Death / Powerslave / A Matter of Life and Death / Brave New World / The X Factor / Fear Of The Dark
So many great albums and none of them made it into the top 10. No one is more surprised than myself as i consider Iron Maiden as one of my most favourite bands, but the albums just don't deliver a constant feel, there are always awesome songs that stand out and a few that feel bit left behind. These "left behind"-song are not bad, but just don't stand the comparison with the rest and as I search for the best complete album, I can't just ignore that fact
The albums that were the closest to get into the top 10 were: A Matter Of Life And Death and The X Factor.

Lacrimosa - Elodia
An atmospheric gothic album with brilliant musically realization. Why this one didn't make it into the top 10? Because of Anne Nurmi and the Song The Turning Point...

Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory / Meteora
Nu-Metal at its best, no real let-downs (except of the two Mr. Han tracks), but also no atmosphere and a laughable playing time... I have singles which are longer than a Linkin Park album...

X JAPAN - ART OF LIFE
This is one phenomenal piece of art. It's deep, it's intelligent, it's well played and Toshis voice is just awesome on this one. So why is it not on the list? Simple answer: it is just one song. It got a playing time of 30 minutes and so it is nearly as long as a Linkin Park album, but it is just one song... it will probably make it's way in my list for the top songs (when I will ever make such a list...).

Muse - Absolution
One great album, but some songs are just not as great as the others, don't stand the test of time and get a bit boring after a while. It also loses a bit of it's intensity with the break in the middle.

Deadsy - Phantasmagore
I actually can't discribe this one... let's just move on to the next...

Sentenced - The Funeral Album
With this one you get what it promises, well it's not an album for a funeral, but it makes a good last album for a band. Atmospheric and just well made.

Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Maybe the biggest candidate that missed the top ten. This album is really, really great, but the following 10 were just slightly better... sorry Bruce...


So here we come to the top 10 of my greatest albums of all time:

10. The Dreaming - The Dreaming EP / Bonus Tracks / Dreamo (Acoustic EP)
Oh, well... okay as you can see, these 3 CDs are only EPs and not Albums, but together it becomes a mighty 12 song strong force. These were the first 3 outputs from The Dreaming and were followed by an Club Remix EP and the actual Longplayer "Etched In Blood" which contains mainly new tracks but also some reworked versions of songs that they already released with these EPs. The real Album was pretty good, but couldn't catch the intensity and the emotions from the EPs. I espacially admire the acoustic EP which contains 4 beautiful songs with such an emotional voice only supportet by an acoustic guitar and a violin (and it is the only EP which is still available, like on fixtstore.com).
So all three make it together to the 10. place of this ranking, the only reason which stops them from getting at least one or two places higher on that list is that this is no album but 3 phenomenal EPs.


9. Blaze Bayley - Blood and Belief
The 3. solo Album of Mr. Blaze Bayley, ex-singer of Iron Maiden, did that what Maiden could not. It's in the list for my top 10 albums. And when that wouldn't be enough, he also left Bruce Dickinsons solo-masterpiece The Chemical Wedding, which was maybe the hottest aspirant besides Blaze, behind and grabs himself place number nine.
I never listened to Wolfsbane, but since his appearance on Maidens X Factor album, you were able to hear how his singing gets better and better with its time. He still might not be one of the best singers, but you can feel and hear his effort and sometimes that just means so much more... So with Blood and Belief you got a emotional, powerful and heavy f'n piece of metal.
And you have to see the video to Hollow Head, pure awesomeness. xD
And it stays heavy with my number 8:


8. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
The strange thing about me and this band ist... it's the only album I have and I don't know why. I love it. I adore it. I would kill for it... or maybe because of it...
Anyway, I read the lyrics while I was puting the CD in my player for the first time and as I were reading them and the first song has just started I was very sceptical if this album would survive in my player long enough to hear it to the end. I mean, I never expected that such unusual passages like:
"I'm the power of pain and pleasure symbiotic, I am, I am
In a medicated nation of blind neurotics, I am, I am
Psychotic pain baptised in pure narcotics, I am, I am"
from Medicated Nation
could sound that good. They understand it perfectly to let complex passages sound complex but smooth. You never have the feeling that it gets ardously to listen to them. Also the perfect vocal work of Warrel Dane will leave you absolutely satisfied.


7. Dream Theater - Octavarium
I don't believe that many Dream Theater fans will agree with me when I say Octavarium ist the best longplayer they have ever released. This one is the most diversified album they have put out so far, no matter what song you play, they all have a different feel and most importantly James LaBrie is doing a phenomenal job on this one. I always considered him as one of the best vocalist I've ever heared, another thing most people won't agree with, but this might be his best performance ever. On this very album he is able to show the whole world that he does not stand in the shadows of the vitousity of his bandmates and of course they are playing their part as great as always. No song on this really stands out of the rest, but thats also one thing that makes this one so great. Everythings equall. On Train of Thought you got In the Name of God, on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance there is The Glass Prison, even Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory got one outstanding song with Home, but on this one everything flows on the same wave, every song for itself... held together by equal quality.


6. ASP - Horror Vacui
The only band from my native country that made it on this list... come to germany we have beer, sauerkraut and horrible music and with bands like Tokio Hotel we spread this desease all over the world and make you listen to what we have to suffer from.
But wait, not everything that comes from germany is bad... we haven't invaded a country for quite a while now, which is a good thing... well... at least not on our own, we only support the americans doing it. Jeez, how will I get out of this one now?
Okay, well... as I said, not everything from germany is bad when it comes to music: ASP is one of the few exclusions. One thing I didn't want to include in this list were best-of compilations, as these don't represent an album as that. Well, this best-of made it into it anyway, because it is able to give it it's own feel that no other ASP album was able to deliver (even when these were very good too). It doesn't feel like a usual compilation, maybe because of the few new songs, maybe because some of the old got rerecorded or even remixed for this 2-CD gothic-masterpiece. It just doesn't feels like these songs are taken from other CDs, everything fits so well into another, everything feels like it belongs right there and that is something usual best-of CDs don't do. The songs may be on regular ASP albums too, but this one still feels so unique on it's own, that it totaly deserves this place.


5. Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin
Okay, who expected that? You got Blaze Bayley. You got Nevermore and Dream Theater. You got heavy guitars, monsterous drums and a few of the best metal vocalists on this planet, where some of them didn't even make it on this list, and who gets number 5? A small girl from Canada!
I don't know how she made it, but she did it. Avril has outdone so many longtime favourites with this very album. Under My Skin got a depth I never expected from a pop-rock album, there is just one negative thing about it: my favourite Avril Lavigne song Losing Grip is on her debut album Let Go and not on this one, but beside that, Under My Skin is a very emotional, well produced pop-rock masterpiece... not only for girls. ;)
To bad that her third album The Best Damn Thing was a huge letdown...


4. X JAPAN - BLUE BLOOD & Dahlia
I can't understand a f*cking word but I love it. Well at least I understand it partially as some passages or sometimes even whole songs are in english. The first song I've heared from X Japan was ENDLESS RAIN live from their last concert. Maybe not the best way to get to know a new band, but I didn't knew that it was and I also didn't knew that it was already 9 years ago to that time... but that very song with all its emotions made me instantly a fan of X Japan. Like I said, I don't even understand a word, but emotions don't need languages, you can understand them no matter where you come from. With Endless Rain X made one of the most beautiful ballads I've ever listened to, but that one song doesn't got them to the fourth place and as you can see there isn't only one, no, two albums made it up here. Two albums that also show the progess the band made over the years and both albums deserve this place.
The first is Blue Blood. What I like about Blue Blood is on one side these quite songs like Endless Rain or UNFINISHED, on the other side there are the heavy tunes like X, BLUE BLOOD or Kurenai, which bring you such an intensity.
The second album is Dahlia and this one sounds much more experimental. Even though the ballads got much more playtime on this album, songs like DAHLIA and SCARS show the progress the band made from Blue Blood over to Jealousy upto this very album.
The intensity, emotions, progress and love to the details are the main factors that bring X Japan this close to the best 3.


3. Stabbing Westward - Ungod & Wither Blister Burn & Peel
Again we have 2 albums sharing one place, this time we have Stabbing Westwards debut album Ungod and the one that came right after it, Wither Blister Burn & Peel.
Ungod got maybe the best album intro of all time (that what I call "intro" are actually the first 5 songs) and builds an intensive depressive pressure on the listener, which pulls them right into the struggle of despair. Especially Red on White represents everything this album is about, the voice gets one with the music until it gets to the chorus that is as simple as it is brilliant.
The second album Wither Blister Burn & Peel, gets abit away from that pressure of the debut and drifts more into aggressiveness and hate.
Both albums got their very own feel and emotion and both deserve this third place.


The next entry was actually planed for the 7. place... but while I was writing the short text to it and listened to exactly that CD I was asking myself, why is it only on the 7? Well... I didn't know... this is about the best ALBUM, not the CD you find the best songs on. And to be an great album it must deliver a feeling, an expirience, an atmosphere... This CD does all that so great, that I pushed it all the way up to the second place:

2. Poisonblack - Escapexstacy
The songs all sound like they're the same. Well, that was at least my first thought when I listened to Escapexstacy the first time and now they made it to position 2 on this list. You have to give this one a little while until the songs can unfold all the little nuances that makes this musik so great. Except of maybe Love Infernal, this longplayer contains nothing you could make a hit-single from, but the whole album is perfectly atmospheric and well balanced that you will give a damn about it. The warm voice of Charons J.P. Leppälouto takes you into an emotional trip right into a broken heart and won't let you out until all the 44 minutes and 21 seconds are done. But don't get me wrong, this is not a CD that will make you depressed or anything, it's just that this whole atmosphere that the instruments build and which get so greatly supported by the vocals and the lyrics and that will totaly make it's way into your heart and soul and won't let you go until it's over.


1. Stabbing Westward - Darkest Days
Well, this is it. The first place and the greates album of all time. This one unifies everything that makes every other mentioned album on this list so great. The intensity, the emotions, the atmosphere. Carried by the great voice of Christopher Hall and the oppressive industrial rock sound. This album unites the depression, the hate, the desperation, that made the previous Stabbing Westward longplayers so great, but they don't just copy their old concepts, they give a whole new feel to it. Their sound evolved and found its peak in this 16 song-masterpiece of perfection. It starts with Darkest Days, the perfect atmospheric opener for this album, and ends with the half-ballad Waking Up Beside You, a track that perfectly closes the story and the album and will release you softly from the struggle of emotions you just have experienced.

mindgameinc's top albums (overall)
1. Volker Pispers - Bis neulich (193) 2. Dimension Zero - He Who Shall Not Bleed (186) 3. Dimension Zero (Sweden) - Silent Night Fever (161) 4. All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals (148) 5. In This Moment - Beautiful Tragedy (147) 6. Billy Talent - Billy Talent (146) 7. Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness (145) 8. As I Lay Dying - frail words collaps (142) 9. Dark Tranquillity - The Mind's I (141) 10. Omen - The Curse (128) 11. Omen - Battle Cry (126) 12. As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security (115) 13. Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing (113) 14. Billy Talent - Billy Talent II (109) 15. Pride & Glory - Pride & Glory (105) 16. Kalmah - The Black Waltz (104) 17. Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists (102) 18. Iron Maiden - Live After Death (100) 19. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory (99) 20. Helloween - Walls of Jericho (99) 21. Hagen Rether - Liebe (98) 22. Dark Tranquillity - Fiction (96) 23. Judas Priest - '98 Live Meltdown CD1 (96) 24. Omen - Warning Of Danger (96) 25. Rise Against - Revolutions Per Minute (94) 26. Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache (94) 27. Metallica - Kill 'em All (94) 28. Motörhead - The Essential Motörhead (93) 29. The Black Dahlia Murder - Nocturnal (92) 30. Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth (91) 31. Brimstone - Carving a Crimson Career (91) 32. Morgana Lefay - Grand Materia (90) 33. Spineshank - Self-Destructive Pattern (88) 34. Metallica - Master of Puppets (87) 35. Winter Solstice - The Fall of Rome (87) 36. Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies (87) 37. Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free (87) 38. Black Sabbath - Iron Man (86) 39. Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture (86) 40. Trivium - Ascendancy (86) 41. Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side (86) 42. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (85) 43. Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World (85) 44. Disturbed - Believe (85) 45. Lizzy Borden - The Murderess Metal Road Show (83) 46. Led Zeppelin - Mothership CD1 (83) 47. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power (82) 48. Michale Graves - Illusions (82) 49. Dark Tranquillity - Haven (82) 50. Agent Steel - Omega Conspiracy (81)

Monthly Top Artists

Aug-2008 In Flames (113 plays)
Sep-2008 Annihilator (135 plays)
Oct-2008 Running Wild (98 plays)
Nov-2008 Bruce Dickinson (62 plays)
Dec-2008 Blind Guardian (96 plays)
Jan-2009 In Flames (69 plays)
Feb-2009 Dream Theater (50 plays)
Mar-2009 HIM (52 plays)
Apr-2009 Metallica (39 plays)
May-2009 System of a Down (59 plays)
Jun-2009 Dimension Zero (71 plays)
Jul-2009 Die Ärzte (121 plays)
Aug-2009 In Flames (70 plays)
Sep-2009 Rise Against (182 plays)
Oct-2009 King Diamond (47 plays)


Monthly Top Tracks

Aug-2008 In Flames : Episode 666 (7 plays)
Sep-2008 In Flames : Episode 666 (6 plays)
Oct-2008 In Flames : Only for the Weak (6 plays)
Nov-2008 Matze Wurm : Crossbreeding Snails (10 plays)
Dec-2008 In This Moment : When the Storm Subsides (6 plays)
Jan-2009 Annihilator : Human Insecticide (6 plays)
Feb-2009 Dimension Zero : Deny (7 plays)
Mar-2009 Annihilator : Hell Bent for Leather (5 plays)
Apr-2009 Iced Earth : The Pierced Spirit (7 plays)
May-2009 Pantera : Becoming (5 plays)
Jun-2009 Lacuna Coil : Tight Rope (23 plays)
Jul-2009 Hagen Rether : Desperado (9 plays)
Aug-2009 In Flames : Square Nothing (8 plays)
Sep-2009 Rise Against : Everchanging (acoustic) (41 plays)
Oct-2009 Kalmah : Svieri Doroga (6 plays)

In alphabetical order by artist:

Jerusalem - Bruce Dickinson - from the album Chemical Wedding


On the Page - Chroma Key - from the album Dead Air For Radios


Caleb Meyer - Gillian Welch - from the album Hell Among The Yearlings


Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill - from the album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill


Desaparecido - Manu Chao - from the album Clandestino


Natural Blues - Moby - from the album Play


Demon of the Fall - Opeth - from the album My Arms, Your Hearse


Hard Times Come Easy - Richie Sambora - from the album Undiscovered Soul


Estaré Prendido en tus Dedos - Skank - from the compilation album of Latin American The Police covers: Outlandos D'Americas


Carrie Brown - Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band - from the album The Mountain