Holy balls, man, now THAT is a killer playlist!!!! All four are gems!!!!SAVIOUR MACHINE / II --
Of all the SM discs, I feel that this one is the most proggy in the classic sense, as well as capturing some of the best SM emotion to date ....... since I loved the latest Eric Clayton solo release, I grabbed this to see how well it would stand the test of time. The music is fabulous - the drama and emotion are still top notch ...... if anything irked me along the way, it was the monotony. Some of the music just dragged on with the same riff over and over and I found myself starting to get antsy during these "samey" passages. That said, this could still be my fav SM disc.
ROYAL HUNT / Paradox -
I hadn't played this for quite awhile .....and I mean quite awhile. I was pleasantly rewarded with goosebumps when I heard some of these songs again, and I was reminded of the "old days" when releases like this just blew us away and it was talked about for months and months to come ...... River of Pain and Message to God just gave me chills to listen to, and to me this is DC at his best. I've been a casual fan since this release, and then dropped off over the years but listening to this disc just excited the hell out of me and I'm ready to pull out the DVD of this show, which is also magic.
SUPERIOR / Behind -
I knew already that this I wasn't going to be disappointed when hearing this one after some time passed......and I was once again rewarded with those goosebumps that I got from Paradox above, but even moreso this time as this disc represents an emotional / personal time for me back during this time ......I will never forget the day that the great Erik Welty laid this and House of Spirits / Turn of the Tide on me at the same time. It could be one of the best 1/2 punches for me ever. The heaviness, the raw emotional vocal delivery (I thought Michal Tangermann was God at the time), the drama in this music was and is nothing short of spectacular. If there was ever a band that I wish would have continued on, it would have been this one along with Dreamscape. Getting to see them at Prog Power (mucho thanks to Glenn) was otherworldly for me.
SHADOW GALLERY / Tyranny -
And now we come to the masterpiece......and is it still a masterpiece to me ? Absolutely and no question about it - YES. This one sails above most of all else for me in the world of music ... and is up there with Operation: Mindcrime for not only desert island disc, but also for concept disc. This disc is just magical on all counts, especially the vocal delivery and music melodies. I would have liked to be in that room when these melodies were being written. How someone could come up with these melodies in each and every song on this disc is beyond my comprehension of music writing. The personal memories that this disc brings are countless, and the release gave me the same feeling I had upon discovering Images and Words when it came out. There was nothing like it. It never gets old, I never FF thru any songs, and it's beyond wife approved every time I play it. And once again, as an added bonus, thanks to Glenn for bringing them to ProgPower - and even though Mike wasn't there (RIP my friend), that show was magic in the making. Just pure bliss. A disc for the ages for me.
Savior Machine - Agreed, SM II is probably the high point of their career. The Revelations (?) trilogy was ambitious as hell and while it has moments of brilliance, it also gets overly caught up in the melodrama and loses the musical element that made the early material special.
Royal Hunt - Couldn't agree more, and you described the emotion of hearing this that first time perfectly. Total goosebump moment. For me, I heard this almost the same time as Symphony X "Divine Wings" with MidKnight Zar, and that made the killer 1/2 punch you mention with Superior!
Superior - Agreed 100% on the loss of this band..... Would LOVE to have heard where they went after Ultima Ratio, as that was a brilliant album. Was actually listening to the new Ricochet album this morning (slightly underwhelming as it has a different singer) and was thinking of Superior as the last album sounded much like where I think they would have gone....
Shadow Gallery - This is objectively their best album, but still and all I will almost always grab one of the first two albums over this one. Personal taste, just LOVE the songwriting on that debut release even though it has the drum machines..... Definitely glad they got to grace the PP stage, and seeing them in the mountains of Pennsylvania at their first live show will always be one of my favorite concert memories.