Best audiophile metal and rock albums - Page 7

Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning is my reference for great mastering with a lot of dynamic range. It sounds awesome.

The new Holy Diver released by audio fidelity is the best it's ever sounded. Plus you can get most AF releases for about 10 dollars cheaper on amazon they're the only audiophile discs I still purchase. I got mine for about 15 bucks (as opposed to the ca. $25 buck list price which you WILL pay anywhere else)! All of you should get yourselves one before its OOP!


I agree with others about the Metallica DCC's, also if you can find one, the Van Halen self titled DCC is mighty fine as well. The AF Alice coopers are also top notch. I recently picked up some SHM CDs of Alice as well and I have no complaints.

another vote for holy diver in general . perhaps my fav recorded and perfomed rock lps. and the cd is decent too for all that i've heard. great reference even the standard issue discs          RIP ronnie

I don't have high (or even mid) tier equipment at the moment, and I haven't gone to look at any frequency measurements or anything like that, but here are some albums I FEEL are well produced. All opinion based:

 

Carcass - Heartwork

Hellhammer - Apocalyptic Raids 1990 AD re-release

Unleashed - Where No Life Dwells/ .... and the Laughter Has Died (little bit loud and fatiguing, but damn is it worth every minute)

Agalloch - The Mantle & Marrow of the Spirit

Eluveitie - Slania

Kekal - The Habit of Fire and Acidity

Kreator - Dead Certainty

Malevolent Creation - Retribution re-release

Opeth - Ghost Reveries

Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend (prog rock fans will "see what they did there")

Sympathy - Anagogic Tyranny

Vit - "-"

Alcest - Escailles Des Lune

Really, anything by Albini.  Notably The Jesus Lizard Head - Liar era stuff:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxXKKQYJYQ

 

Drums sound absolutely unreal, and IMO, better than even the Sufer Rosa and In Utero.  The new Cloud Nothing's album has some nice production as well for those who haven't hear it:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X1URP5eg6I

Has anyone tried the 24/96 download of Dream Theater or Megadeth's latest albums from HDTracks?  Much improvement over the CD's, especially for dynamic range?

Edited by Iron_Dreamer - 3/25/12 at 11:58pm

No but I will be downloading Dream Theater's album here in the next week or so. Once I do I'll let you know.

 

 

Thanks, apparently is does sound pretty good: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=279454&page=2

 

I'm downloading it now.

Wolverine - Communication Lost (progressive metal)

 

Exceptional album both soundwise and qualitywise (vocals and lyrics are sheer quality). Highly recommended!!

 

If you like Pain of Salvation (but not necessarily), especially their latest work, you will dig this

Edited by ma_t14 - 4/9/12 at 8:20pm

Deftones. Their music has lot of dynamics.

Between The Buried and Me - Colors (studio and live albums)

 

Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache and As Daylight Dies albums

 

Deftones - Diamond Eyes, Saturday Night Wrist, White Pony, even self-titled sound good.

 

Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug, and all albums since/including The Downward Spiral

 

Garbage - Version 2.0.  It sounds good. Done.

 

Trivium - Shogun

 

Machine Head - The Blackening, The More Things Change

 

Norma Jean - The Anti-Mother

 

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine, Ire Works

 

Unearth - Darkness In The Light (for production gloss), In the Eyes of Fire (for raw-sounding everything)

 

Mastodon - Crack The Skye

 

Animals As Leaders - Weghtless.  I am pushing it with this one, but keep in mind, the musicians have chosen to use solid-state guitar amps. This album is here because it somehow still sounds good, especially when compared with their debut.

 

The Contortionist - Exoplanet - I have very similar guitar gear to what was used on the album and what the band plays live. The guitar tone is texturally perfect and similar to what I have. for those not familiar with guitar gear, what you hear on the album is exactly how it will sound live. Great production, sick guitar tone.

 

Textures - Dualism, Silhouette. Both cds have layers of very simply produced instruments that sound awesome together. Also, this is one of the very few metal bands that seem to have a good idea how to incorporate keyboards seamlessly.

 

Chimaira - self-titled. Awesome production, great song writing. Done.

 

*of note: I personally do not believe that it makes sense to record metal without compression. It is a very 2 dimensional sounding genre due to the wall of noise from guitar amps. Trying to make a metal album sound like it has the same overall sound signature as an orchestra recording simply won't work. Metal has been produced since the 80s and I feel that it is actually one of the harder genres to produce due to volume levels and dependency on . With acoustic instruments, you can talk about things like "air" and "dimension" because the sound is very 3D, very dependent upon surroundings. You typical don't mic a grand piano, add effects pedals, then amp it back out. Distorted guitar tone is amplified and artificial to begin with, especially since it doesn't exist without the speakers in the cabinet. Trying to find an audiophile recording in metal is a difficult task, to say the least. With all that said, I love metal, hardcore, death metal, 80s, 90s, and at least one band in all the sub-genres.

Nine inch nails, TDS and everything after and the PHM remaster.

Anything by Primus and Opeth.

Metallica, self titled.

Lamb of God, AOTW and Sacrament.

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Wintersun - Wintersun

Kalmah - 12 Gauge

Norther - N

Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays

Borknagar - Urd

 

Some I've been enjoying lately at least :P

Edited by marts30 - 4/19/12 at 10:37pm

I've really been enjoying Hands Like Houses 'Ground Dweller' lately, but then again the whole 'wall of sound' argument comes into play. I think they did a somewhat decent job producing their album. Personally, I am impressed.

 

 

Ok, I'm A huge AAL fan, and yes Weightless is a great album, but it is slightly wearing to listen to, because it does need a bigger Dynamic range really.
When you say the guitarists used 'solid state' guitar amps, they actually used their Axe-fx units, which are effects processors/preamps. They're pretty much the best thing anyone can possibly record guitar with, because they're totally DI, every aspect of the sound can be altered, tweaked, it's DI so you don't need any special room to record in, and there won't be any annoying room reflections. Go listen to  some of the clips people post using an Axe-fx they're flawless.
rant/

Also, In regards to Textures-Dualism, I love the album, but I find the guitars are slightly too muddy, and lack a little impact, and The bass is very difficult to pick out in the mix, to the point where I usually can't hear it at all, which annoys me, I can pick out the bass on most metal albums alot more than on Dualism.