MP's Decade's End Album Poll

soccerdad


(I see now that this has been addressed. Sorry. Maybe multiple posts on the issue will drive it home! ;)

Not to be pedantic (or bring up Y2K arguments ;), but it's *not the end of the decade yet*! The first year (as we count years in the west) was year 1, not year 0. That means the end of the first decade was year 10, not year 9. This decade started in 2001 and ends in 2010.

Sorry, but it had to be said. ;)

Donnie

Scars Unseen

DTFan93


Mikey, Mikey... not to bust your balls too much, but you've fallen victim to the old "Not knowing what year the decade ends" trick... this is a common mistake that people make though- assuming that the decade runs from 0-9, when it's actually 1-10. Although by its very definition, a decade is any period of 10 years- the current decade for your purposes actually runs from 2001-2010, not 2000-2009. So, shall we reconvene this time next year to make this list? :)

Fail.  Decades don't work like centuries.  Centuries start at XXX1 because of the lack of a year 0 on the Gregorian Calendar.  Decades, on the other hand are generally considered to have started on year XXXX0.  You could make an abstract argument that since there was no year 1 the first decade had to have ended on year 10, but the reality is that we didn't start using decades as a cultural measure until the 20th century anyway.

Think of it this way.  You could correctly say that both 1901 and 2000 were in the twentieth century, formally speaking.  But you would not say that 2000 was in the 1900s.  Same thing. 

If you'd like a (non-wiki) reference, here you go.  Scroll down to the Thesaurus section where it lists related words/

I can't believe how unpopular Systematic chaos is!!

"There is no accountig for tastes" indeed...

DT- 6DOIT
NM- Sola Scriptura
Opeth- Blackwater Park
PT- In Absentia
PoS- Be

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

OPETH:
-- Damnation (2003)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Deadwing (2005)

DT: SDOIT
NM:Sola Scriptura
Opeth:Blackwater Park
PT: In Absentia
POS-The Perfect Element

DT:  Octavarium

This album is incredibly well balanced and showcases all sides of the band.  

Opeth:  Ghost Reveries

This album is perfect.  Nuff Said.  My other favorite Opeth record is Still Life, which is last decade...so there you go.

PT:  In Absentia

Production may be a little iffy...but still amazing record.  While the album versions of some of the songs may be a little crappy, the songs themselves still shine.  Also "Meantime" is a phenomenal B-Side!



P.S.,

@ DTfan93:


you're...well...wrong. lulz





@ MP/everyone else:

I've had trouble picking a favorite Mastodon release for the decade as well.  All of them are excellent in their own ways, though I tend to go with Blood Mountain for it's balance.  Thoughts?

Dream Theater: Train of Thought
Neal Morse: ?
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia
Pain of Salvation: The Perfect Element, Pt. 1

POS - Remedy Lane
Opeth - Blackwater Park
DT - BCSL

DT: 6 Degrees

NM: Sola Scriptura

Opeth: BP

PT: In Absentia

PoS: Be

Dream Theater: Black Clouds


Neal Morse: Sola Scriptura

Opeth: Watershed

Porcupine Tree: Deadwing

DREAM THEATER:
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
-It summarizes all the things l love about all of this decades DT albums.

NEAL MORSE:
Sola Scriptura (2007)
-The new Transatlantic is even ten times better! Album of the year!

OPETH:
Ghost Reveries (2005)
-It has the best written songs and my favourite Opeth linup.


PORCUPINE TREE:
Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)
- Procupine Tree + Robert Fripp...Say no more!

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-Excelent musicans, never heard an album that I wanted to listen to twice...

DT: BC&SL
PT: The Incident
Opeth: Ghost Reveries

I would choose ToT but I was in a BC&SL mood.
The Incident is the only PT album I've heard.
 And Opeth is just a difficult choice, could have been Watershed or any of the other ones.

Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Neal Morse - One
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

Easy decisions for me, since these three albums are also my favorite overall from each band.

My picks:

DT: Systematic Chaos

NEAL MORSE: ?

OPETH: Blackwater Park

PORCUPINE TREE: Lightbulb Sun

PAIN OF SALVATION: The Perfect Element Pt 1


Yes, I know I picked the earliest album in three of the five cases. Sad to say, but I think many great bands peaked in the early part of this decade.

Dream Theater - Octavarium ... Well I generally agree that 6DOIT is probably the "best" of this decade's albums, there's some undescribable magic on Octavarium that just makes me listen to it quite often. Of course the title track alone rocks my face off every time and has not been matched by anything DT have done since but the way the whole album weaves together with all its clever little twists and really cool interludes (please do them again DT!!!) is just stellar. It's exactly where DT should've been in 2005.

Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura ... Actually this choice is based somewhat on ignorance as it's his only album I've heard in its complete entirety (I have heard bits and bobs of the others but not completely). I largely enjoy it; the opening instrumental section of the first song has some incredible material on it and MP just slays (on a Christian album; fuck yeah!)

Opeth - Ghost Reveries ... Ah there was really no competition for me here. This album is just perfect from start to finish with not an inch of extra musical fat. It is the greatest metal album ever made. Nuff said.

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing ... Really tough choice especially with their STELLAR new album, The Incident which may just take Deadwing's place one day. But Deadwing has such a lasting beauty about it, it seems so delicate and its slightly theatrical feeling (for me at least - in a 50s washed out technicolour type of manner) is achingly beautiful. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here is just such a well constructed composition and has got the water works going once or twice so thats good enough for me.

Pain of Salvation - Be ... My favourite album of the decade so there really was no contest. I know people have issues about its over the top pretentiousness but I have NEVER witnessed such ambition on any album in this fashion and I personally am a HUGE fan of the mix of styles that they incorporate here. It was a brave album to do and an album that any forward thinking band would've done (in their own way) because as muich as I totally LOVE their first four albums, there is a string of similarity running through all of them (whether musically or production wise) and I think the reason Remedy Lane is so highly rated is because it was finally the perfect blend of all the elements within the first three albums...So then why would they need to make another album in that musical vein? They didn't need to, and so they didn't. Instead they crafted a masterpiece of enormous beauty and intellect (which are the two perfect elements of any music for me) and I think it is completey unmatched for what it does.
IMO of course hehe

DREAM THEATER:
-- Train Of Thought (2003)

NEAL MORSE:
-- Testimony (2003)

OPETH:
-- Watershed (2008)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002)
 

DT- 6degrees ( not an easy choice but BCSL a very close 2nd) glass prison is the greatest song, Count of Tuscany 2nd
NM- sola scriptura (epic album)
OPETH- ghost reveries (they were brilliant each time i saw them on PN09 but GR is still their best)

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

Not such a difficult choice this...


OPETH:
-- Ghost Reveries (2005)

Difficult decision between this and Blackwater Park.

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Deadwing (2005)



PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002)

DT - Octavarium
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
PT - Deadwing

Six Degrees
One
Ghost Reveries
Deadwing
Remedy Lane

Dream Theater - Octavarium
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane

I don't know the others well enough (yet)

Dream Theater:
SDoIT

Neal Morse:
One

Opeth:
Ghost Reveries

Porcupine Tree:
The Incident (very hard choice)

Pain of Salvation:
BE (Remedy Lane close second)

This thread prompted me to finally get into the PoS discography. I orderd Remedy Lane and it will be in my paws on Friday. 

DREAM THEATER:
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

The first DT album I ever listened to.  Everything changed after that.  Still, imo, possibly their best release. (Even though I REALLY like everything else as well)

NEAL MORSE:
Testimony (2003)

Again, first Neal Morse I ever heard, and it had a tremendous impact on me.  Nothing has come close to stealing this from the spotlight except maybe some sections of Sola Criptura.
 
OPETH:
-- Damnation (2003)

I like Opeth, but for some reason the creativity and style change in this really clicked with me.  I love Mikael's clean voice and this made me revisit some of their heavier catalog ironically enough.


PORCUPINE TREE:
-- In Absentia (2002)

This is a no brainer for me.

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- The Perfect Element Pt 1 (2000)

I haven't listened to this in a while, but I remember out of all of the PoS releases I have listened to, this is the one that impressed me the most for some reason.

for that matter, just look at Mike's Other Lists. Would King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King" album originally released in 1969, belong in the "From the 70's" list? of course not.

That makes no sense. No one has ever argued that a year ending in 9 belongs to the group of years (decade, century, or millennium) beginning the next year. In fact, it's the people who are willing to accept any definition of a decade that would be most likely to say it was OK to group the year 1969 with the 1970s (since it's just "cultural" and precision isn't important).

It doesn't matter whether we like that there was no year zero, the fact is that there wasn't one. For consistency and precision sake, the decades, centuries, and millennia since then end on a year ending in '0', not '9'.

Donnie

Hmmm, not as hard as I thought it would be..

DT - 6DOIT

I feel this is their most creative and inspired album (of the decade). I love every song on disc 1 and disc 2 is absolutely brilliant and genius IMO. On of those albums I still enjoy every minute of, even after listening to it a 1000 times.

NM - One

Same story here. While I love all of his solo stuff (except lifeline, I think that one is just OK), this one is my absolute favourite. I put it on my mp3 player last week to get new inspiration. I never get tired of it! :-)

Opeth - Watershed

I'm not really a huge Opeth fan, but this one is my favorite. A bit radom at times, but a lot of great moments and songs!

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

Hard choice, but this album really got me into PT, so...

POS - Remedy Lane

Very hard choice between this one and The Perfect Element pt.1
But I think I enjoy Remedy Lane just a little bit more. Great album.




 

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

NEAL MORSE:  
-- ? (2005) 

OPETH:
-- Blackwater Park (2001) 

PORCUPINE TREE:  
-- Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)

Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
Pain Of Salvation - Remedy Lane

soccerdad

for that matter, just look at Mike's Other Lists. Would King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King" album originally released in 1969, belong in the "From the 70's" list? of course not.

That makes no sense. No one has ever argued that a year ending in 9 belongs to the group of years (decade, century, or millennium) beginning the next year. In fact, it's the people who are willing to accept any definition of a decade that would be most likely to say it was OK to group the year 1969 with the 1970s (since it's just "cultural" and precision isn't important).

It doesn't matter whether we like that there was no year zero, the fact is that there wasn't one. For consistency and precision sake, the decades, centuries, and millennia since then end on a year ending in '0', not '9'.

Donnie

Once again, this would be correct if you wanted to talk about the two-hundred and first decade.  It is incorrect reasoning when speaking of the 2000s, however.  The former is the formal designation of this decade as it appears on the Gregorian calendar, but you won't find anyone refer to it as such.  The latter is a tradition of categorizing culture and history that has only started in the twentieth century(not to be confused with the 1900s, which started a year earlier), and you will find this method referenced pretty much exclusively. 
 
In any case, if you are looking for accuracy and consistency in your calendar system, look elsewhere.  The Gregorian calendar is missing days, and in any case didn't start at year 1, but rather 1582, when it was adopted.
 
Either way you look at it, there was some good music this decade.

Either way you look at it, there was some good music this decade.

That we can definitely agree on. I was introduced to DT, Neal Morse, Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, Redemption, Transatlantic, and others this decade. Most excellent.

And we have another 13 months this decade in which to get more great music. ;)

Donnie

DTFan93
Mikey, Mikey... not to bust your balls too much, but you've fallen victim to the old "Not knowing what year the decade ends" trick... this is a common mistake that people make though- assuming that the decade runs from 0-9, when it's actually 1-10. Although by its very definition, a decade is any period of 10 years- the current decade for your purposes actually runs from 2001-2010, not 2000-2009.

I like being a know-it-all myself, but this doesn't make sense. "For your purposes"? I think
Mike's purposes in this case are pretty clear, as he has included two albums from 2000.
You might as well correct him for allegedly mis-using the word "decade" when he speaks
of "a career spanning two and a half decades" when DT celebrate their 25th in 2011 ('cause
when "the decade" has just begun in 2011, so how could it possibly be "two and a half"?).
 
 

Scars Unseen

Once again, this would be correct if you wanted to talk about the two-hundred and first decade. 

This is exactly the point. And since nobody does that, the common use of
the word "decade" for a period from, e.g., 1990 to 1999 is perfectly fine.

camando133

PT:  In Absentia

Production may be a little iffy...but still amazing record.  While the album versions of some of the songs may be a little crappy, the songs themselves still shine.  Also "Meantime" is a phenomenal B-Side!

Excuse me? In Absentia is one of the best sounding albums I have ever heard, the production is pretty much perfect, not just to my ears.

Different strokes ...

Dream Theater - Six Degrees (tough choice between this and train of thought FOR ME, but I ended up going with this one since it still is along with SfaM my favourite album by DT)
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing

I can only comment on DT and PoS. Choosing is very hard, but here is my take:

PoS: BE (very hard choice between this and Remedy Lane, but in the end, BE is more epic).

DT: SDOIT

Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence - I feel it's the most balanced of all DT albums, and both discs are awesome for different reasons.

Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet - Drew me right in the first time. Can't think of a skippable track on this masterpiece.

Opeth - Deliverance - Also immediately drew me in. I love it.

Neal Morse - Never listened to his solo work.

Pain Of Salvation - Only listened to Remedy Lane and Scarsick, and I don't think either of those are good albums, so I'll have to pass on this band too.

DT - Six Degrees
Neal Morse - Testimony
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

all 2002 albums except Opeth's

-Six Degrees
-In Absentia
-Ghost Reveries
-Remedy Lane

the alternate list would be

-BC&SL
-Deadwing
-Damnation
-Scarsick

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

NEAL MORSE:
-- none

OPETH:
-- Ghost Reveries (2005)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- In Absentia (2002)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- none

DREAM THEATER: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
NEAL MORSE: Sola Scriptura
OPETH: Blackwater Park
PORCUPINE TREE: Fear Of A Blank Planet
PAIN OF SALVATION: The Perfect Element Pt 1