| 5.0 classic |
| Alice in Chains Dirt |
| Circa Survive Blue Sky Noise |
| Cynic Traced in Air |
| dredg El Cielo |
| Metallica Master of Puppets |
| Thrash's finest moment. This was Metallica at their peak, on every level. Their other 80s albums were strong, but they had weak links in the chain. This album top to bottom has no tracks that I would skip. This was also the last album to feature their 'classic' lineup; and unlike AJFA you can hear the bass! |
| Opeth Damnation |
| Opeth Blackwater Park |
| Opeth took a successful formula they had with albums like Still Life and tweaked it with things like the E-bow and mellotrons to add to the atmosphere. There are many that thin this is their greatest album, and I could easily make a case for it. |
| Opeth Still Life |
| This is the heaviest, pulse-pounding album about lost love ever. I am not sure how they did it, but Opeth takes you on a journey to 16th century Europe. That is just how this album feels. Still Life also features my favorite ballad (Face of Melinda) and one of my favorite heavy songs (The Moor). |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries |
| This album is criminally underrated amongst the Opeth fan-base in my opinion. This is probably their most experimental album: featuring an eclectic tuning (Open D Minor with an added 9th), more keyboard playing than ever, and Mikael's most versatile performances. I love this album to death; Reveries/Harlequin Forest may be my favorite Opeth song period. |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| My "gateway drug" as it were into progressive music. While my love of the Mars Volta has faded through the years I still have tremendous respect for this album. This is a masterpiece, and I am saddened that they will never recapture this level of performance. |
| Thrice Vheissu |
| Thrice enters the world of art-rock, and just in time. Right around this time the post-hardcore/metalcore sound, that they helped popularize with albums like Illusion of Safety and Artist in the Ambulance, was being copied by countless wannabe teenagers. Thrice, being the musically savvy people that they are, wanted something more. Vheissu was their leap forward. |
| Tool Lateralus |
| This album is a testament to Tool's immense talent at composition. They have created a masterpiece, one that is difficult to categorize by genre. This album has the most replay value of any album I have. You can listen to this album and always find something that you didn't notice before. The way that they craft these complex poly-rhythmic passages is sheer genius. Maynard James Keenan may get all the attention, but the musicianship makes Tool. |
| Tool Ænima |
| Not quite as consistent as Lateralus is, but that is just nitpicking. This album saw the fusion of their early 90s LA Metal with their love of 70s Progressive Rock bands like King Crimson. That combination led to AENIMA; enigmatic, mysterious, and yet still heavy. |
