Perfect Albums?

[chromewarriorXIII]

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater. I loved how the whole album told a story and there was the perfect blend of slow and heavy songs. Train of Thought (also by Dream Theater) comes close but falls short because of Vacant which breaks up the album too much.

 

[jpoon]

Tool - Lateralus album also their Aenima album, both were f'ing amazing!
Opeth - Blackwater Park, amazing too!

 

[theSovietConnection]

I consider A Matter of Life and Death by Iron Maiden a perfect album. There isn't a single song on it that I don't like, I love every one.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Incesticide, Nevermind - Nirvana
Youth and young manhood - Kings of Leon
Surfa Rosa - The Pixies
Self Titled, Elephant and Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash
Dirt - Alice in Chains
Two Headed Cow - Flat Duo Jets
One Minute Science - Sunna
Bomb the Twist, Teenage Mojo Workout - The 5, 6, 7, 8's
Tarantism - Tito and Tarantula
Dark side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Sgt. Peppers - The Beatles

I was tempted by a few "best of" compilations, but I don't think they count.

 

[SeksEin]

My (short) list of almost perfect albums:

Lost and Found - Mudvayne (A little underrated IMO)
Thirteenth Step - A Perfect Circle (Each song was great on their own but didn't flow well)
Ænima - Tool
Elect the Dead - Serj Tankian (...beyond greatness)
Ghost in the Machine - The Police

 

[aruseusx]

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem. Norwegian black metal masterpiece.
Rust in Peace and Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, by Megadeth.
All Behemoth albums. Specifically Demigod and Satanica.

 

[CHARGIN]

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater. I loved how the whole album told a story and there was the perfect blend of slow and heavy songs. Train of Thought (also by Dream Theater) comes close but falls short because of Vacant which breaks up the album too much.

I endorse this statement.

In other news: list time! A few albums that are my favorites, listed alphabetically by band name.

Revolver - The Beatles
Boston - Boston
Machine Head - Deep Purple
Scenes From a Memory - Dream Theater
Strays - Jane's Addiction
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Fly By Night - Rush
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
Strati - Stemage

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but at any rate, I enjoy these.

 

[Russian Redneck]

Painkiller is the perfect heavy metal album. I don't think there's anyone capable of disagreeing with this irrefutable statement.

 

[Mozared]

I thought I'd have troubles naming just one, but it's easier than I thought. Streetlight Manifesto's "Somewhere in the Between" and "Everything Goes Numb" albums are flawless, as are pretty much all Ayreon albums I've listened to ("Into the Electric Castle", "The Human Equation", "The Final Experiment", "The Universal Migrator Part I"), and the "Career Suicide" album by A Wilhelm Scream.

It's mostly because Ayreon's albums are whole (metal) operas rather than just albums; they'd have to be flawless to work. A Wilhelm Scream and Streetlight Manifesto actually have other albums that are, while good, not flawless.

Outside of those 3 artists, the only album to even get close is "The Rising Tied" by Fort Minor. Next on my list are the "Destroy to Create" and "The Great Awake" albums by the Flatliners, of which the first half of the first of those two is brilliant and the rest is "meh" while vice versa applies to the second one.

 

[aruseusx]

Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

Lifelover - Dekadens

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

Slayer - Reign In Blood

Megadeth - Rust In Peace

Alice In Chains - Dirt

Death - Human

I agree with all of those except the Death one. The Sound of Perseverance in my opinion was the perfect death album.

 

[BonsaiK]

Slayer - Reign In Blood - a dark brooding classic, never equalled in consistency or intensity of mood in the metal genre by Slayer or anyone else
Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth - basically to rap what Reign In Blood is to metal, no concessions to R&B here like on all other Mobb Deep albums, instead just track after track of bleak moody atmosphere so relentless and overpowering that it completely overshadows the actual rappers who end up all sounding more or less interchangeable. Proof that the secret to a good rap record isn't the rapping - half these guys don't bother to even rhyme their words but it doesn't end up mattering and actually makes the final product sound bleaker and more apocalyptic than any other rap record before or since. It's like they've given up hope...
This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears - amazingly consistent especially as it wasn't even put together by a real group.
Front 242 - 05:22:09:12 OFF - the only good album by Front 242 ever, where they made the wise decision of hiring an outside singer who could write sensible lyrics and melodies to complement their sample-drenched sound, instead of relying on their usual abstract nonsense and monotone voices. Pity they never did another one like this.
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal - the final word on grindcore, all other bands in this style officially lost the game as soon as this came out. Bolt Thrower binned a whole new album recently that they were going to release because it wasn't as good as this one.

Plenty of other albums I love too but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head which don't have a dud track in them somewhere.

 

[rynocerator]

Reign in Blood - Slayer
The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

They're really the only two albums in which I normally don't skip songs. (Orion basically prevents me from listing Master of Puppets as well, as does Call of Ctulu for Ride the Lightning)

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

master of puppets.

I feel bad for saying this for something based on opinion but
/thread

it always has a honorable position next to me.

I don't get how this thread got 5 pages of replies when it clearly ended at post 6 as indicated by this obviously intelligent person with fantastic taste in music.

 

[SpAc3man]

Automatic For The People - R.E.M.

This is the soundtrack to my childhood. My mum used to listen to this almost all the time in the car which i would spend about an hour in every day before I started school. I "borrowed" it a while ago and all the songs were very familiar to me. Like sing along familiar. Hadn't heard it in around 8 years. Love it.



Doesn't really count cos its an ep but I love the Hormoaning EP by Nirvana

Stop Drop And Roll!!! by The Foxboro Hot Tubs

Every Green Day album... cant think of one with a song I don't like despite each album sounding completely different

Doolittle by The Pixies

Energy by Operation Ivy

 

[Anarchy In Detroit]

anything by clutch.

 

[SpAc3man]

I cant take the people who say System Of A Down seriously, they would be great if it was a consistent beat, not just random shit with the retarded singer.

Makes for interesting Guitar Hero songs lol

 

[axia777]

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails. Nuff said.

 

[DarkMessiah]

The Blackening by Machine Head is flawless.

 

[SonicKoala]

I've just realised I've posted several times in this thread, and not actually given my opinion. Oh well... here goes.

In my eyes, there is no such thing as a perfect album. If there were, then I would have no need to ever listen to any album ever again. I would just listen to that one. Thus there is no perfect album, just many imperfect ones. Though the album that has come closest is Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout...

That makes no sense whatsoever, a "perfect" album doesn't need to mean that it is the absolute and ultimate culmination of any music ever, hence making every other album inferior. Your definition is infuriatingly irrational. Just many imperfect ones? How can you declare every album "imperfect" when the only logical way to judge any musical album is to go by track, and how these songs stand up both by themselves, and as a collective whole; going by this method of judgment, ANY person would be able to find several albums (except you, it seems) in which every song is expertly crafted, and without any noticable flaw (hence the definition of "perfect"). Also, say you did find this "perfect" album that you described - you would get tired of listening to it eventually if that was ALL you listened to. As well, to do so would be to arrogantly ignore the plethora of fantastic music out there.

My favourite album (and I say this with great hesitation) is "London Calling" by The Clash - there is not one single bad song on this album. Quite the contrary, every song is fantastic, and together those 19 songs represent one of the greatest musical achievements of the 20th century. However, just because I love it more than every other album and it IS indeed perfect, that doesn't mean that's ALL I listen to. Why would I spoil such an amazing work of art by playing it to death? Also, like I said before, just because "London Calling" is perfect doesn't mean I'm not interested in all that other FANTASTIC music that is out there.

Yeah, I know you're entitled to your opinion and all that shit, but your opinion is kind of stupid (and I mean that in the nicest, least offensive way possible).