Concept Albums

ride-the-spiral

So Rock and Metal, what are you're favourite concept albums or Rock Operas? From The Dark Side of the Moon and Tommy pretty much providing the template for great concept albums, to Operation:Mindcrime bringing it to a heavier sound, to American Idiot for making the format popular among the mainstream again.

Some of my favourite would be from Pain of Salvation, The Perfect Element part 1, Scarsick (A sequel of sorts) and Remedy Lane are all brilliantly written. Re-indroduction of themes galore in these but in a very tasteful way.

Ayreon has great Rock Operas, alot more centred on the story and executed by having different guest singers represent different characters. 01011001 and The Human Equation are his best works IMO.

And my favourite (and most likely alot of others) is Scenes From A Memory by Dream Theater. Seriously, this album is musical gold, the songs all segue together well, different themes are re-introduced and pretty much every song is brilliant. Also the story is quite a deep one so reading up on it adds another layer of awesome.

So discuss your favourite concept albums hither.

cedomination

Protest The Hero - Kezia

Kezia is a concept album, described by the band members as a "situationist requiem". The lyrics tell the story of a woman named Kezia and her execution by firing squad. The story is chronicled in the perspective of three characters: the priest who presides over her execution, one of the prison guards who is to kill her, and Kezia herself. Each character is designated a section containing three songs, with a single retrospective finale concluding the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x3sLH4G0qA

Necronomicon

Sepultura's last two have been terrific concept albums; the latest 'A-lex' which is based on A Clockwork Orange, and 'Dante XXI' based on Dante's Inferno from The Divine Comedy series. Great artwork on both as well.

Baggio

The Tain by Horslips..finest album by any Irish band ever, Rush - 2112Hemispheres, Jethro Tull -Thick As A Brick, Aqualung

great bands...great music

rednik

Floyd's The Wall.

NIBBS

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

one of my favourite albums, period.......absolutely love it, actually listening to it every morning on the way to work at the minute - for some reason this time of year I always listen to it a lot...........

mike65

Baggio wrote: »

, Jethro Tull -Thick As A Brick

But was it a parody or not?

Blue Oyster Cult - Imaginos A barking story arc about an ancient curse controlled by a cult that is unleashed causing the outbreak of WW1 or something like that!

DazMarz

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime II

Somnus

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

The Human Equation.... Scenes From A Memory

They were gonna be my two. Absolutely amazing albums. Particularly in Ayreon's case as there's so many different styles. Really creative.

I'll throw in Camel's The Snow Goose as well. No vocals so it's the music that contains a continual theme. Based on a novel by the same name. The song titles kinda give a timeline of sorts too, but it's a fantastic album.

Edit: Opeth's Still Life is fantastic as well.

RayCon

The Who : Tommy
Pink Floyd : The Wall
Porcupine Tree : Fear Of A Blank Planet
Queensryche : Operation Mindcrime
Rush : 2112

Undergod

Scenes from a Memory, Downward Spiral, and of course Leviathan.

Oh and My Arms Your Hearse and Still Life by Opeth.

Mushy

Scenes From a Memory

The Incident

Songs for the Deaf

amongst others previously mentioned.

bnt

I'd agree with Rush's 2112, even though the concept title track was one side only, and side two had unrelated songs. Genesis' Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a strong concept, but I also like albums where the concept is lighter, such as Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and Afraid of Sunlight.

The grand daddy of concept albums, to me, has to be Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes. It sold millions of copies, but music critics didn't know what hit them, and tried to take it all in at one sitting. That's like trying to read The Lord of the Rings (or watch all three extended movies) in one go, or eat a whole turkey. You need to pace yourself. :cool:

Angron

Damn it, first thing that popped into my head was Godspeed on the Devils Thunder by Cradle of Filth..

I liked Kamelots album The Black Halo, covering Ariel, Mephisto, and Ariels search for love.

Ahabs album The Call of The Wretched Sea, which is based on the legendary tale of Moby Dick

ride-the-spiral

Ones that I forgot...

Kalisia's Cybion. I rec'd this in the 100 must have albums and for good reason. Kalisia released a demo in 1995 and since then had been working on a 70 minute epic concept album. After years or writing and recording and problem after problem, Cybion came out in January this year.
One 71 minute song split into parts it's a sci-fi story concerning immmortality and interplanetary fates, if that's not the meaning of epic then I don't know what is.

Musically it's similiar to Edge of Sanity and Ayreon, but with a clear Cynic and Dream Theater influence. This album is one of my favourites this year and on the best rock operas I've heard. Highly recommend for anybody that likes Progressive metal.

GLaDOS

RayCon wrote: »

Rush : 2112

2112 is not a concept album, how are the likes of Passage to Bangkok and Something for Nothing in any way related to 2112? 2112 itself is a concept, but the rest of the songs don't relate to it.

Useful.Idiot

Mastodon - Crack the Skye.

Ayreon's stuff is fantastic also.

siltirocker

Haven't seen Smashing Pumpkins - Adore or Metallica's Master Of Puppets yet.

JohnnyCrash

Judas Priest-Nostradamus
Couldnt get my head round it for a while.Saw them at PriestFeast,did some tracks off it stripped down,lots better!