Audiophile quality Metal albums?
Oct 24, 2008 at 3:24 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 22
scytheavatar

scytheavatar

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What are some metal albums that has production values that can be considered audiophile quality? Not Pink Floyd level of awesomeness, but at least respectable? The ones I can think of include:

Crimson Glory - Transcendence
Persefone - Core
Opeth albums post MAYH
Symphony X albums except Paradise Lost
Gorod - Leading Vision
Suspyre - A Great Divide
Kamelot - The Black Halo
Mirrorthrone - Carriers of Dust
Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness
 
Oct 24, 2008 at 4:03 AM Post #3 of 22
Yeah, Devin is himself really coming into being a great producer

Excited to hear some of these albums that I already own (some of which are sitting sealed next to me) but have not yet heard with a good setup
 
Oct 24, 2008 at 4:38 AM Post #4 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by RationalGaze /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Few that come to my mind
Isis - Panopticon
Devin Townsend - Mostly all
Pain of Salvation - 12:5


I'll back these up. I picked up 12:5 a couple of weeks ago and I'm floored by the production quality of this live album.

Some others:

Ayreon - The Human Equation (I haven't listened to any of Lucassen's other albums but I suspect they also have great production)
Gordian Knot - Emergent
Textures - Silhouettes
 
Oct 24, 2008 at 5:02 AM Post #5 of 22
Dark Tranquillity's Skydancer has excellent soundstaging and dynamics.
Otherwise, I've found most metal albums I've heard to have quite good mastering/mixing (apart from AJFA, and a few first/second albums that have been done on the cheap and are a bit cloudy/dirty sounding).

Dream Theater - Images and Words
Sadus - Swallowed in Black
Metal Church - The Dark
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
Iron Maiden from NotB on

Depends what you're talking about though. None are particularly reference class apart from Skydancer, but that's just because they don't have any gimmicks going on. But they have nothing that interferes with the enjoyment of the music, and that's my biggest ask of them.
 
Oct 24, 2008 at 5:12 AM Post #7 of 22
I have always found Elegant... and Dying from Virgin Black to have very good dynamics and sound. It is not compressed in any way (unlike the more recent two albums from the Requiem trilogy unfortunately), so when you crank it, there are parts that really catch you off guard during the first couple of listens.
 
Oct 24, 2008 at 12:53 PM Post #9 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by scytheavatar /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Symphony X albums except Paradise Lost


That I must agree with. What happened during Paradise Lost? Did they get a new producer? I thought they did all their producing themselves?
 
Oct 25, 2008 at 5:41 PM Post #11 of 22
Symphony X has some well mastered albums, but V (The New Mythology Suite) is definitely NOT audiophile quality. Great album, but still not the best mastering.



Some early iron maiden is nice though :p
 
Oct 27, 2008 at 3:15 PM Post #13 of 22
Three that really stand out for me:

Demons & Wizards - Touched by the Crimson King

Therion - Gothic Kabballah

Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup
 
Oct 30, 2008 at 4:46 PM Post #14 of 22
There's a few in the OP's list that are definitely not what I would call Audiophile recordings (Kamelot and all of the post MAYH Opeth albums bar Ghost Reveries)

I'd have to add

Mournful Congregation - The Monad of Creation

Saturnus - Paradise Belongs to You

Isis - Oceanic

Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side

and second Virgin Black - Elegant and Dying
 
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