2001 - Best Albums

[Chisel Chin]

My Top 20 best of 2001 (in alphabetical order)

 

Anathema - A Fine Day To Exit

The Black Crowes - Lions

Dare - Belief

Evergrey - In Search Of Truth

Flickerstick - Welcoming Home The Astronauts

The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker

Gotthard - Homerun

Lost Horizon - Awakening The World

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Pendragon - Not Of This World

Pride - Far From The Edge

Remy Zero - The Golden Hum

Rhapsody Of Fire - Rain Of A Thousand Flames

Secret Sphere - A Time Never Come

Shakra - Power Ride

Soul Doctor - Soul Doctor

Threshold - Hypothetical

Train - Drops Of Jupiter

Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever

Zero Hour - The Towers Of Avarice

 

Honourable mention:

Mike Tramp - Recovering The Wasted Years

(only because the CD is copyright 2001, but apparently released 1st January 2002, so I couldn't be bothered to decide which year to file it under, lol)

 

 

2001 saw some great melodic hard rocking albums from newcomers Pride and Soul Doctor (the latter being Fair Warning singer Tommy Heart's new band), whilst established acts Gotthard and Shakra offered up some great albums. I also liked a few of the more modern sounding rock releases around this time in the form of Flickerstick and Remy Zero, as well as Train's second album. Meanwhile, Dare had settled into their lovely mellow Celtic style by this point, miles away from the sound of their classic debut album.

 

Power metal was represented by my album of the year, the stunning debut from Lost Horizon (wow, those high-pitched vocals!!), and also the impressive Secret Sphere with a very heavy but melodic album. Another really noteworthy album is a great release from Rhapsody (Of Fire) with a lengthy "E.P." of songs that they didn't consider suitable for their regular albums, and possibly the reason this turned out to be my favourite album of theirs, because it was different and more varied.

 

More great prog rock albums came from Pendragon, The Flower Kings and Anathema, as well as Transatlantic who demonstrated that their debut wasn't just a one-off project. And on the heavier side of prog, Threshold and Zero Hour were the highlights for me. Finally, my introduction to progressive death metal with Opeth's magnificent "Blackwater Park", although not a style I'm interested to bother following apart from this band.

 

Biggest disappointment for me this year was Marillion's "Anoraknophobia"... come on guys, don't try all that modern experimental stuff now that we (the fans) are advance-funding your albums! Stick with what you're good at !!!

[Geoff]

I just did a google to see what on earth was going on with those Flower Kings. I have never heard of them in my life (and know it's not my type of music) but I have seen them, and Anathema pop up in almost every single list you've posted and I've been all like, wtf, how many albums did these fuckers actually release?

 

So I googled it, and noted that The Flower Kings released an album every single year from 1995 to 2002 (except for 1998)!! Craziness.

[Chisel Chin]

Lol, and some of those Flower Kings are double albums as well!!

 

Band leader Roine Stolt is one of my favourite artists. As well as his main band, he has done solo albums, and is part of Transatlantic, and has been in other prog bands like Kaipa and The Tangent, all concurrently with his time in the Flower Kings. He's a very prolific and talented multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter in the genre.

 

I find quite a few of these prog rock bands are very consistent quality-wise with each album. I guess the nature of Prog means they don't have to follow standard conventions for song structures, and can just write long songs with plenty of "noodling". So writing an album of, say, 5 lengthy songs might be easier than trying to come up with twice the amount of different tunes if they were playing standard rock... 30-minute songs can be quite commonplace with some of them!

 

And it is my favourite type of music, hence the reason these bands appear in many of my lists.

[Nightrain]

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

[Nightrain]

anyway, based on my own collection, I think maybe some of the goodies of this year are :

 

BRASS KITTEN Across America
BURNING RAIN Pleasure To Burn
COLDPLAY Parachutes
DREAMHUNTER Bad Attitude
EDGUY Mandrake
GIANT III
GOTTHARD Homerun
HEAVENLY Sign of The Winner
SHAKRA Power Ride
SONATA ARCTICA Silence

damn i only own a few haha need to explore more so maybe I assume this year is about alternative rock, prog rock/metal, and maybe power metal ?

[Chisel Chin]

I think a lot of the genres had become more "niche" around this time, including melodic rock. And presumably advances in technology meant bands could record more cheaply, and the smaller specialist labels could sign more acts in each genre.

 

Not sure what was mainstream, was it still grunge, or had modern rock like Nickelback become more popular instead?

[Chisel Chin]

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

It doesn't matter who asks the question, there will be other people reading the replies as well.

 

There's plenty of stuff on people's lists that I've not heard, so if any of us ends up discovering new bands from these lists then that's a good thing...

[Nightrain]

 

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

It doesn't matter who asks the question, there will be other people reading the replies as well.

 

There's plenty of stuff on people's lists that I've not heard, so if any of us ends up discovering new bands from these lists then that's a good thing...

 

 

That statement wasn't intended to you, but for Geoff mate

 

I myself have appreciated several FK and Anathema albums but not all, I think Anathema's have moved toward atmospheric with alternative rock touch while the early era is a fusion between doom and death if I'm not mistaken. I prefer their latter era though

[Geoff]

 

 

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

It doesn't matter who asks the question, there will be other people reading the replies as well.

 

There's plenty of stuff on people's lists that I've not heard, so if any of us ends up discovering new bands from these lists then that's a good thing...

 

 

That statement wasn't intended to you, but for Geoff mate

 

 

Don't worry, I hadn't even remotely thought of even possibly trying them out, in this lifetime or a next one.

 

Anyway, my most well rated ones so far:

 

1. Giant - III

2. Terry Brock - Back To Eden

3. Hush - II

4. Eclipse - The Truth & A Little More

5. Dreamhunter - Bad Attitude

6. David Glen Eisley - The Lost Tapes

7. Kick - Sweet Lick Of Fire

8. Bonfire - Strike X

9. Gotthard - Homerun

10. Contagious - The Calling

11. Hotwire - Middle Of Nowhere

12. Emerald Rain - Perplexed In The Extreme

[Nightrain]

Where's the scores on that list?

I see you rated every albums of AMAZE ME quite high, while I remember they have pretty solid songs, don't you think the vocal is a bit average and some songs sound like 2nd rate AOR ? and EMERALD RAIN is like a 2nd rate HAREM SCAREM if I'm not mistaken ?

[Geoff]

Where's the scores on that list?

I see you rated every albums of AMAZE ME quite high, while I remember they have pretty solid songs, don't you think the vocal is a bit average and some songs sound like 2nd rate AOR ? and EMERALD RAIN is like a 2nd rate HAREM SCAREM if I'm not mistaken ?

 

There's nothing solid about Amaze Me songs - they're amazing. The dude has a strong accent, but I actually honestly really like it. Love the dude's voice because it's part of their sound, which I love. The only issue I have with any Amaze Me CD is the production, which was very average on those first two albums. Nothing second rate about the songs, though.

 

Emerald Rain second rate? In the end, yes, but have you heard their first two albums?? A perfect blend of Harem Scarem and Dokken (albeit with weaker vocals). Nothing second rate about those first two albums at all.

[Jez]

Asia - Aura

Heartplay -The Album

Saga - House Of Cards

Threshold - Hypothetical

Journey - Arrival

Urban Tale - S/T

Pendragon - Not Of This World

Radioactive - Ceremony Of Innocence

The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker

Glenn Hughes - Building The Machine

Hobbit - Rockin' The Shire

Seventh Key - S/T

Terry Brock - Back To Eden

Adam Bomb - New York Times

Paul Allan - Falling Awake

Molly Hatchet - Kingdom Of XII

Van Zant - II

A.C.T - Imaginary Friends

Saxon - Killing Ground

Giant - III

Honeymoon Suite - Lemon Tongue

Broke N' Blue - Northern Light

John Waite - Figure In a Landscape

Alice Cooper - Dragontown

Gary Moore - Back To The Blues

Jump - On Impulse

Aerosmith - Just Push Play

Niagara - Fall Higher

[Geoff]

Niagara - Fall Higher

 

Compilation of tunes from 1988-1994, innit?

[Jez]

 

Niagara - Fall Higher

 

Compilation of tunes from 1988-1994, innit?

 

 

Sure is . I thought I'd slip it in there, as there are some good tunes on it

[Geoff]

 

 

Niagara - Fall Higher

 

Compilation of tunes from 1988-1994, innit?

 

 

Sure is . I thought I'd slip it in there, as there are some good tunes on it

 

 

Yeah, they're not a bad band. If I'm being honest, they're a little inconsistent across their 3 albums (solid highs, low lows) but they're definitely worth a place in the collection.

[kourosofsteel3]

My Top 20 best of 2001 (in alphabetical order)

 

Zero Hour - The Towers Of Avarice

 

 

 

 

 

Easily in my list! I still didn't manage to find a better prog metal album than this since its date of release(only Mekong Delta came close). I'm also surprised that you didn't include some Arcturus in your lists. They wipe the floor with all the opeths/flower kings of this wolrd/galaxy.

[Chisel Chin]

I've not heard Arcturus, can you recommend something on YouTube for me to check out?

[Nightrain]

 

Where's the scores on that list?

I see you rated every albums of AMAZE ME quite high, while I remember they have pretty solid songs, don't you think the vocal is a bit average and some songs sound like 2nd rate AOR ? and EMERALD RAIN is like a 2nd rate HAREM SCAREM if I'm not mistaken ?

 

There's nothing solid about Amaze Me songs - they're amazing. The dude has a strong accent, but I actually honestly really like it. Love the dude's voice because it's part of their sound, which I love. The only issue I have with any Amaze Me CD is the production, which was very average on those first two albums. Nothing second rate about the songs, though.

 

Emerald Rain second rate? In the end, yes, but have you heard their first two albums?? A perfect blend of Harem Scarem and Dokken (albeit with weaker vocals). Nothing second rate about those first two albums at all.

 

 

Actually I own only the first two Emerald Rain and I rarely spin them, but I get to spin the first album again yesterday and I think it's a consistent album with probably 3-4 weaker tracks around 6.75 to 7.25 but yes the lead vocal is kinda weak although they did a fine harmony vocals.

 

I don't know, I just think bands like Amaze Me, Emerald Rain, or Change of Heart, they have couple of awesome songs but the rest are just good for me, so probably a typical 73-78%, perhaps 80% is max, kind of band haha

[Gibbo]

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

A few guys from The Flower Kings were also in Spellbound back in the early 80s

[Nightrain]

 

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

A few guys from The Flower Kings were also in Spellbound back in the early 80s

 

 

Don't know about Spellbound, are they worth checking out ?

[Geoff]

 

 

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

A few guys from The Flower Kings were also in Spellbound back in the early 80s

 

 

Don't know about Spellbound, are they worth checking out ?

 

 

If they're the same band I'm thinking of, they are amazingly awful. 10th rate rubbish hard rock. Hated them.

[kourosofsteel3]

 

 

 

Flower Kings and Anathema are definitely not for Geoff so don't bother to try dude

 

A few guys from The Flower Kings were also in Spellbound back in the early 80s

 

 

Don't know about Spellbound, are they worth checking out ?

 

 

If they're the same band I'm thinking of, they are amazingly awful. 10th rate rubbish hard rock. Hated them.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy

 

 

[Nightrain]

looks like a typical early 80s heavy metal band, not bad but bordering average although it's like a polar opposite of Flower Kings

[kourosofsteel3]

looks like a typical early 80s heavy metal band, not bad but bordering average although it's like a polar opposite of Flower Kings

 

 

 

Nah, they're way too average. I never bothered to get their stuff and I have tons of Scandi stuff. Spot on F. Kings. Mostly they appeal to the regular 70's prog fans, I've tried them, some nice compositions, but alas I don't have unlimited amount of time anymore. I prefer to listen to camel/eloy/w.ash/tarkus/ELP/k.crimson when in the mood. I don't have, unfortunately, neither time nor discipline to expand the whole neo-prog rock movement.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Avantasia - The Metal Opera Part I

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet! Easily my favourite from this year. I'll throw up a few more later.