YetAnotherBrick
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02.01.17 2000 Ratings01.05.17 i can show you the ways of the Force!!
12.31.16 2016 Q4 Ranked12.13.16 Don't Sleep On These 2016's
11.27.16 My Go-To Albums Lately10.03.16 2016 Q3 Ranked ♦
09.08.16 Growing Up on Sputnik08.02.16 Rec Me Pop
07.01.16 It's Really Halftime! With Links!06.27.16 Finding Dory
05.13.16 In Love and Tango04.25.16 Tripping Alone
03.31.16 Yet Another Q102.05.16 The Real Greatest Albums Ever Made List
01.30.16 The Greatest Albums Ever Made (Definiti01.23.16 Posted My First Story on My Site
12.29.15 2015, Hastily10.28.15 "Beautiful" Songs
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Relationship Of Command Ranked

Ranking one of your all-time favorite albums is always difficult. For this album, it was like picking a favorite child, if I had eleven children. So yeah, all the songs are either 5's or 4.5's...well, they're probably all 5's...so there isn't really a "worst" song, just a "least best" song.
1At the Drive-In
Cosmonaut

I literally kicked a hole in my wall to this song. (My dad wasn't too happy.) This album is probably most often noted for its energy and passion, and this song is probably the best representation of it. The main riff is reminiscent of that suspenseful, stomach-turning feeling you get when a plane is taking off, or of the flames pouring out from underneath a space shuttle before it shoots off into space. Seriously, just the riff makes this song deserving of a 5. It almost turns the song into an entity of all its own, trying to obliterate its way out of the confines of your speakers. But not only does this song have this riff, but a brilliant verse and chorus structure, (plus a wonderful chorus; "is it heavier than air? Tell us, is the black box lying?") and fantastic lyrical imagery, as always with vocalist-lyricist Cedric Bixler.
Also, it would be a crime not to mention the epic build-up near the end of the song, in which Cedric repeats "is it heavier than air?" four times, with the fourth time being screamed at the top of his lungs, soaring over everything going on in your life at the moment you listen to it. This song (as are most songs on this album) is the very definition of captivating. This song is something else.
2Invalid Litter Dept.

Along with Cosmonaut, this was the song I listened to a lot to try get myself into this album, (the idea of me not adoring this album now seems absolutely ludicrous) which is probably one of the reasons it's so high on this list. But it also has a bit to do with it being one of the most well-written, heart-wrenching songs I've ever heard. And it's so gracefully varied. The blending of the main guitar melody (created with many an entrancing guitar effect) with a pretty piano pattern, and the unique song structure...it all fits together so well it leaves me in awe. And like in most of Cedric's lyrics, the words to this song never come straight out and tell what the song is about, but rather, they work together to paint a picture in your head of what the song is about, and leave you to create your own interpretation of that painting. Brilliant.
3Arcarsenal

One of the best album openers ever. Blistering. Intense. Absolutely merciless. Screaming, shouting, frantic singing. This song must've been a fucking monster live, to say the least. And again, just like every other song on the album, the blending of all the unique riffs by all the different instruments is flawless. This song is a great representation of how alive and inspired-sounding this album is.
4Quarantined

I love the bass riff in the beginning, and how it melds into the the thunder effects and the trance-inducing guitar lead. Not to mention the catchy-as-hell chorus ("feeding frenzy, it's contagious") and the beautifully atmospheric instrumental break, almost sounding like the beginnings of The Mars Volta. And again, awesome lyrical imagery.
5Pattern Against User

There's a lot going on this song. The verses are overflowing with words that seem to be living and breathing along with the vocalist who sings them, and also a slew of great potential band names ("handcuffed to the park bench," "hypodermic people," "poking fun at the living," I could go on..). But the main highlight of this track is the third verse/interlude, a passage that's pretty difficult to describe, referring to both the way it sounds and its quality. It's like...something not of this world. Listen to it.
6Non-Zero Possibility

One of my favorite album closers ever. The ending has the perfect amount of ambient noise (more Mars Volta framework?) that gives the listener just the right amount of rest from the jumping around and kicking holes in the walls that that the previous ten tracks induced. You could call this song a "ballad," I guess, because it's mostly centered around Cedric and a piano. But whatever you want to call it, it's haunting. I can't stress that word enough. Haunting.
7Rolodex Propaganda

MANUSCRIPT REPLICAAA!!! This song is insane and fun. When I'm not jumping around yelling its too-awesome chorus at the top of my lungs ("in infra-red is how we saw..."), I'm sitting back and wondering how a song so wild and off-the-handle-flying can be so controlled and self-aware at the same time. I originally had this one in front of Non Zero Possibility, but I think I put Non Zero ahead because of the extremely strong sense of closure it gives the album. But like I said, every song on this album is fantastic.
8Sleepwalk Capsules

In my mind, this track and One Armed Scissor are close, very animated and energetic brothers. Not only because they're next to each other on the tracklist, but because they have very similar structure as well. But I like this one better because of the awesome chorus ("atop this podium, built on fixation...") the completely insane verses, and the line "snuck inside the sound of sleep."
9One Armed Scissor

Although in my mind, the rest of the songs do it a tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit better, this song still has it all. A memorable chorus ("CUT AWAY! CUT AWAY! SEND TRANSMISSION FROM THE ONE ARMED SCISSOR!"), two verses that do two very different things, along with an awesomely heartfelt third verse ("dissect a trillion sighs away..."). Really great riffing in this song, too.
10Mannequin Republic

This song is heavy, to say the least. Dissonant and crushing riffs. And you gotta love "labor concentrated...in this...SHEEPLESS CHAPELLLL1!!!!11!1"
It's just that the verses and chorus of this song may not be as memorable to people as songs above this one. I mean, they're memorable to me, I'm just nit-picking to justify a ranking of this album.
11Enfilade

In my opinion, the most notable thing about this song is the crowd-chantable chorus ("sacrifice on railroad tracks, FREIGHT FREIGHT TRAIN COMIN', FREIGHT FREIGHT TRAIN COMIN!!"). But it also uses some pretty eerie vocal effects, and contains an equally eerie voice-intro done by Iggy Pop, I believe. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) It's just, I don't know...even though every word and note on this album speaks to me, if I had a gun to my head, I'd probably say the verses on this song are the part of the album that sounds most distant to me, personally. I could see how an eerie vocal effect could go right into someone else's heart, though, rather than the crazy, visceral, effect-less screaming in Cosmonaut and Invalid Litter Dept.
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