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prosecutorgodot wrote:Also, going off of Jackson I'm hoping ITAOTS reaches the top 100, though there is only a miniscule chance.

Why would you say that? It was #113 in 2014. Doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think it might climb into the top 100.

Harold wrote:

prosecutorgodot wrote:Also, going off of Jackson I'm hoping ITAOTS reaches the top 100, though there is only a miniscule chance.

Why would you say that? It was #113 in 2014. Doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think it might climb into the top 100.

Oh, I see. I haven't looked much at the 2014 poll, as it makes it a bit more exciting watching the results come out. But if that is the case, then I will officially make that my prediction

prosecutorgodot wrote:No one's mentioned this, but doesn't Nevermind have a chance of taking #1?

I haven't eyeballed the submissions, but we have new voters and anything's possible... but you could also say that about several other albums that could surge to #1. It's my #1, but I've never sensed OK Computer levels of love for it here. But hey, Bleach out-performed, so I can get my hopes up a little...

I hope In Utero is part of this predicted Nirvana surge.

A few comments. One, I'm glad Contra is getting more shine in this forum than it has been getting in the larger critics realm (though it does seem to be slowly rising in the ranks).
Two, it's too bad Al Green dropped out of the top 500, though I guess I can't complain too much since I didn't vote for it. But it's definitely one of those albums I want to go back to one day.
Third, and it was probably because I was going too much off of my own personal opinion of the album, but I was wrong about DAMN. I thought it was just pretty good, but some new voters thought otherwise. It also makes the EOY poll pretty clear already haha.

None of these are predictions, so I might as well add: Innervisions will beat SITKOL (though I disagree), and by at least 10 places.

To Be Kind will cross the Top 500. The Seer could make the Top 200.

Dirt will be in the Top 500.

TPAB will be in the Top 100 and challenge Kanye for the 2010s title.

Blackstar will NOT breach the Top 100 but may hit the Top 250.

There will be at least three more albums from 2016 represented.

Dark Side of the Moon will be Top 10.

OK Computer will win it all. It lost by the narrowest of margins last time, so with more votes, it seems more likely to win again than to lose by a larger margin. In fact, I would anticipate the new voters to vote more for this than VU.

I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:
The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
John Zorn - Naked City
Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
James Blake - James Blake

As always, electronic music massively underperforms on this forum even compared to critics who already show an obvious preference for rock. Even the most lauded electronic albums can fail to make the slightest dent here. I'm not sure why there's such resistance to the genre here.

BleuPanda wrote:James Blake - James Blake

#704. James Blake | James Blake (2011)
# of Voters: 8 | Score: 285.500
Rank in 2014: #627
AM 3000 Rank: #345
Top Fans: BleuPanda (#94)

I wouldn't be so sure about Devo and The Knife. I think they both still stand a chance at cracking the top 500.

Bruno wrote:

BleuPanda wrote:James Blake - James Blake

#704. James Blake | James Blake (2011)
# of Voters: 8 | Score: 285.500
Rank in 2014: #627
AM 3000 Rank: #345
Top Fans: BleuPanda (#94)

Thanks for pointing that out to me. I did a quick search for my name in the results topic to track which of my top 100 had already landed, so I must have missed it (I also missed Bright Eyes, but remembered it placed and noticed my name was simply misspelled). Still, over 350 spots lower than the critics...

78 albums from the 2014 poll top 500 have already appeared in the top 1000. Hard for me to imagine any of the remaining 422 not repeating in the new top 500, but you never know with these polls.

It will be interesting to see how many albums released since 2014 make the top 500. We've seen a lot already - including 11 from 2016 alone - but here are the remaining 2014-2016 albums that I believe have at least a shot at making it:

2014:
D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black Messiah
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
Swans - To Be Kind
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

2015:
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
Bjork - Vulnicura
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Grimes - Art Angels
Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (obviously - the only question is how high)
Joanna Newsom - Divers
Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
Kamasi Washington - The Epic
Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
Tame Impala - Currents

2016:
Beyonce - Lemonade
David Bowie - Blackstar
Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
Frank Ocean - Blonde
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

BleuPanda wrote:I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

I'd been assuming that was still to come. But it does seem increasingly unlikely. Disappointing omission.

DaveC wrote:

BleuPanda wrote:I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

I'd been assuming that was still to come. But it does seem increasingly unlikely. Disappointing omission.

Yeah, I got excited after seeing Super AE...but who knows. I might be underrating its presence. I just don't feel like I see them discussed much.

BleuPanda wrote:

DaveC wrote:

BleuPanda wrote:I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

I'd been assuming that was still to come. But it does seem increasingly unlikely. Disappointing omission.

Yeah, I got excited after seeing Super AE...but who knows. I might be underrating its presence. I just don't feel like I see them discussed much.

Got at least 3 top 100 votes, and a couple other votes including mine, still (probably soon) to come for sure.

Harold wrote:here are the remaining 2014-2016 albums that I believe have at least a shot at making it:

I'd count Atrocity Exhibition, probably Coloring Book and Vulnicura and possibly the Epic and Divers out, but the rest is quite likely.

DaveC wrote:

BleuPanda wrote:I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

I'd been assuming that was still to come. But it does seem increasingly unlikely. Disappointing omission.

Actually, VCN was #512 in 2014. It's quite likely that it will, in fact, be in the top 500.

BleuPanda wrote:I'll make predictions from my own list. These are the albums that will have missed the top 1000 entirely:
The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
John Zorn - Naked City
Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
James Blake - James Blake

As always, electronic music massively underperforms on this forum even compared to critics who already show an obvious preference for rock. Even the most lauded electronic albums can fail to make the slightest dent here. I'm not sure why there's such resistance to the genre here.

Just wait until you see how badly Untrue, one of the greatest and most famous electronic albums this century, does in the all time and 2007 polls...I'm hoping that's not the case, but it's never done well in forum polls before.

Jackson wrote:Just wait until you see how badly Untrue, one of the greatest and most famous electronic albums this century, does in the all time and 2007 polls...I'm hoping that's not the case, but it's never done well in forum polls before.

You mean like how it finished all the way down at #217 on the 2014 poll?

Harold wrote:

Jackson wrote:Just wait until you see how badly Untrue, one of the greatest and most famous electronic albums this century, does in the all time and 2007 polls...I'm hoping that's not the case, but it's never done well in forum polls before.

You mean like how it finished all the way down at #217 on the 2014 poll?

Hmm, maybe I'm thinking of a different past poll. 217 is definitely satisfactory. I also might be thinking of Archangel underperforming in the songs polls.

While browsing the RESULTS thread, I read notbrianeno reminding us that there was another thread for discussion. So I looked and thought "I can't find it, I can only see the Prediction Thread". But now I happened to read the first comment in this thread...

notbrianeno wrote:Hi all, use this thread to comment and predict about the results rollout

Oh, ok. I just assumed that because this was called the Prediction Thread, it was only about predicting results. And I suspect that many other users think the same, and that's why we've been using the Results Thread to comment about results. Should this be made more obvious?

So I didn't really join the Linkin Park conversation, but I must say while I was a bit into the nü metal and melodic hardcore scenes (and it shows, I have Toxicity and thefakesoundofprogress still in my top 100 of all time and Slipknot's self titled not far behind), I never really enjoyed Linkin Park.
While this video is funny and sums up some of the issues, how formulaic their songs was especially
It doesn't really insist and 2 of my biggest issues :
- Mike Shinoda is a terrible rapper
- the rythmic section is pretty meh. Might have been a bit unfair to compare them with other groups of the genre, as Joey Jordison and John Dolmayan are impressive (and very physical drummers) but other bands of related genres of those years had awesome drummers (whether the rest of the music like good, like Thrice, or not so much, like Yellowcard).
Actually, less rapping and a very propulsive beat made me really like Faint, so I didn't dislike everything they did (actually dislike is not the word, it's more that I didn't care. I'll keep dislike for Nickelback or Limp Bizkit).

That being said, that's true for their first 2 albums : Shadow of the Day was in my ballot for the worst songs ever poll, and I'll stick to my opinion on that one.

spiderpig wrote:While browsing the RESULTS thread, I read notbrianeno reminding us that there was another thread for discussion. So I looked and thought "I can't find it, I can only see the Prediction Thread". But now I happened to read the first comment in this thread...

notbrianeno wrote:Hi all, use this thread to comment and predict about the results rollout

Oh, ok. I just assumed that because this was called the Prediction Thread, it was only about predicting results. And I suspect that many other users think the same, and that's why we've been using the Results Thread to comment about results. Should this be made more obvious?

I apologize for the confusion, due to the majority of the conversations that unfold during rollout each poll being about the remainder of the list or expectations of the list, the prediction thread ends up being the "discussion thread"

Aarrgghh!! I knew I'd forget one. Benji's appearance in the top 500 reminded me that the album had already been released when the 2014 poll was compiled and had actually made the top 500 then. My prediction numbers for "new" 2014 albums remain the same, however, because I realized I'd completely forgotten one surefire finisher:

Harold wrote: 2014:
D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black Messiah
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Swans - To Be Kind
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

St. Vincent's s/t had also been released prior to the last poll, and just missed the top 500. It won't miss this time around.

Will Atrocity Exhibition make it? I'm thinking there's a 50/50 chance right now.

prosecutorgodot wrote:Will Atrocity Exhibition make it? I'm thinking there's a 50/50 chance right now.

No way José ! Probably didn't miss the top 1000 by much though.

Nassim wrote:

prosecutorgodot wrote:Will Atrocity Exhibition make it? I'm thinking there's a 50/50 chance right now.

No way José ! Probably didn't miss the top 1000 by much though.

The reason I included it in my predictions is because it's startlingly high on the 2016 lists at both RYM (currently #3, right beyond Bowie and Radiohead) and Best Ever Albums (currently #7). Since this is a reader-generated list as well, I thought maybe it had a shot.

Harold wrote:

Nassim wrote:

prosecutorgodot wrote:Will Atrocity Exhibition make it? I'm thinking there's a 50/50 chance right now.

No way José ! Probably didn't miss the top 1000 by much though.

The reason I included it in my predictions is because it's startlingly high on the 2016 lists at both RYM (currently #3, right beyond Bowie and Radiohead) and Best Ever Albums (currently #7). Since this is a reader-generated list as well, I thought maybe it had a shot.

Only finished #10 of 2016's poll in here though.
Differences with the current poll and RYM or Best Ever Albums that those sites (well, especially RYM), don't penalize an album that's been less heard as mostly the average grade counts, and also that they probably favor rap albums a bit more than on AM.

I wonder if any of the following will be revealed before we get to 250:

Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority (my all-time rating= 6, AM all-time rating as of 2015=1431, 2014 poll rank = 959) - very doubtful
Arcade Fire - Reflektor (385, 354, 281)
Billy Joel - The Stranger (36, 622, 334)
Boston - Boston (115, 699, 462, 372)
Carole King - Tapestry (62, 71, 209)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Deja Vu (60, 177, 231, 255) - small move down
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (438, 532, 344, 292) substantial move up
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (554, 876, 311, 305) slight move up
Dave Brubeck - Time Out (496, 358, 329)
Derek and the Dominos - Layla and other assorted love songs (73, 81, 233)
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (173, 621, 332, 345) - small change from 2014
Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac (79, 935, 743, 382) - very large move up from 2014 -
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (256, 319, 287, 280) very small move up
Green Day - American Idiot (267, 451, 294)
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (220, 179, 325, 321) - not much movement from the 2014 poll
King Crimson - Red (684, 680, 330)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (159, 116, 226)
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (113, 568, 236)
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (145, 200, 341, 275) - nice move up
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (696, 92, 264)
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (308, 378, 322, 273) - nice move up
Paul McCartney / Wings - Band on the Run (143, 477, 234)
Peter Gabriel - So (90, 232, 346, 398)
Pink Floyd - Animals (127, 1734, 434, 341) big move up from 2014
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story (188, 169, 296)
Santana - Abraxas (80, 237, 419)
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends (61, 388, 274)
Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (147, 750, 410, 388) -
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (182, 273, 219)
Soundgarden - Superunknown (565, 281, 279)
Steely Dan - Aja (12, 329, 252)
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic (14, 317, 350, 405)
Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair (82, 1430, 516, 290) - what a surprise move up
The Band - Music From Big Pink (283, 85, 249, 274) - small move down
The Doors - LA Woman (499, 235, 278, 297) small move down
The Eagles - Hotel California (76, 128, 285)
The Police - Synchronicity (260, 272, 258, 270) - small move down
The Pretenders - Pretenders (184, 175, 253, 277) - small move down
The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come (726, 548, 271, 350) substantial move down
The Who - Quadrophenia (63, 467, 256, 271) another small move down
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything? (3, 307, 420, 356) - nice move up from 2014, but with only 11 voters not likely to climb any higher
Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes (134, 638, 670, 389) - big move up from 2014 poll -
Yes - Close to the Edge (117, 619, 283, 294) - still almost 100 places higher than Fragile
Yes - Fragile (19, 876, 531, 393) - big move up in the new poll

Henry wrote: Yes - Fragile (19, 876, 531) - I'm prepared to be disappointed and see this album below 1000

A bit puzzled by that one, no way it got less than 200 points but surprised it got more than 500.

Besides Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, here are albums that I think will be new entries to the top 1000, that existed at the time of the 2014 poll:
Predictions: Adele - 21 (2011) and Drake - Take Care (2011)

Maybe: Beyonce - Beyonce (2013)

2010s albums still left to appear?

2010:

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
This Is Happening
Halcyon Digest
The Suburbs
Teen Dream
The ArchAndroid
High Violet

2011:

Let England Shake
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
21
Take Care

2012:

Channel Orange
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Lonerism

2013:

Modern Vampires of the City
Random Access Memories
Yeezus
Reflektor
AM
Beyonce

2014:

Lost in the Dream
Black Messiah
Run the Jewels 2

2015:

To Pimp a Butterfly
Currents
Carrie & Lowell
Art Angels

2016:

Blackstar
Lemonade
Blonde
A Moon Shaped Pool
Skeleton Tree

2017:

???

I would add Ultraviolence to your list Nick.

Expecting the first AM top 100 album, i.e. Back in Black, pretty much any moment.

Live in Phoenix wrote:Expecting the first AM top 100 album, i.e. Back in Black, pretty much any moment.

Or perhaps Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs? I don't think that one is particularly popular over here either.

Unpopular enough to be 7th-worst last time, but some others quietly beat Layla.

91. John Lennon - Imagine (#205)
92. Carole King - Tapestry (#209)
93. Primal Scream - Screamadelica (#232)
94. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (#233)
95. Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (#238)
96. The Band - Music from Big Pink (#249)
97. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (#261)
98. Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (#262)
99. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (#264)
100. AC/DC - Back in Black (#385)

Live in Phoenix wrote:Unpopular enough to be 7th-worst last time, but some others quietly beat Layla.

91. John Lennon - Imagine (#205)
92. Carole King - Tapestry (#209)
93. Primal Scream - Screamadelica (#232)
94. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (#233)
95. Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (#238)
96. The Band - Music from Big Pink (#249)
97. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (#261)
98. Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (#262)
99. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (#264)
100. AC/DC - Back in Black (#385)

Man, most of these are actually really good! Especially Tapestry.

Live in Phoenix wrote:Unpopular enough to be 7th-worst last time, but some others quietly beat Layla.

91. John Lennon - Imagine (#205)
92. Carole King - Tapestry (#209)
93. Primal Scream - Screamadelica (#232)
94. Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (#233)
95. Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (#238)
96. The Band - Music from Big Pink (#249)
97. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (#261)
98. Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (#262)
99. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (#264)
100. AC/DC - Back in Black (#385)

Most of these still did pretty well, getting close to the top 200.

I would love to see Trout Mask Replica be the first to fall from the top 100 personally.

Does Billy Joel have a prayer at this point? I'm starting to lose hope.

StevieFan13 wrote:Does Billy Joel have a prayer at this point? I'm starting to lose hope.

The Stranger was #334 in 2014. That's all I'll say. Maybe it completely dropped out, maybe it's the same, or maybe it rose.

babydoll wrote:

StevieFan13 wrote:Does Billy Joel have a prayer at this point? I'm starting to lose hope.

The Stranger was #334 in 2014. That's all I'll say. Maybe it completely dropped out, maybe it's the same, or maybe it rose.

I will gladly take any top 500 spot as long as it means it didn't drop out completely. I mean, I have no idea, but a guy can hope.

I think most people are waiting for see their favourites than discover new artists on the top, am I wrong?

panam wrote:I think most people are waiting for see their favourites than discover new artists on the top, am I wrong?

I think that's everyone's initial reaction, yeah. And then at the very end it's almost like watching a horse race. But I feel like after the whole thing finishes, we'll see people starting to deep dive into the odder choices or to check out the high-rankers they've not heard or perhaps dismissed after a first listen.

panam wrote:I think most people are waiting for see their favourites than discover new artists on the top, am I wrong?

Well, we're all excited and surprised by the unexpected high-placers, but we have a right to get excited if a favorite shows up.

acroamor wrote:

panam wrote:I think most people are waiting for see their favourites than discover new artists on the top, am I wrong?

I think that's everyone's initial reaction, yeah. And then at the very end it's almost like watching a horse race. But I feel like after the whole thing finishes, we'll see people starting to deep dive into the odder choices or to check out the high-rankers they've not heard or perhaps dismissed after a first listen.

yeah, I do the same

StevieFan13 wrote:

panam wrote:I think most people are waiting for see their favourites than discover new artists on the top, am I wrong?

Well, we're all excited and surprised by the unexpected high-placers, but we have a right to get excited if a favorite shows up.

of course, because after all we're fans too!

babydoll wrote:

StevieFan13 wrote:Does Billy Joel have a prayer at this point? I'm starting to lose hope.

The Stranger was #334 in 2014. That's all I'll say. Maybe it completely dropped out, maybe it's the same, or maybe it rose.

Yeah given it's 2014 rank and the surge in popularity for less conventional AM favorites, I wouldn't be shocked if the album was in the top 300.

The Stranger is a very good album, and it should do pretty well. I voted for it Stevie, so I did my part.

Of course I understand that many of my obscure and unheralded favorites won't make the list, but I'm disappointed that The Mars Volta doesn't have more fans here. Their 2003 debut De-Loused in the Comatorium was ranked #1139 in the last official update and it's one of the most energetic and creative albums I have ever heard. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar playing in particular is uncanny--it's not riff-oriented, but it's not flashy or textural either; it's something else altogether.

At least the band's predecessor, At the Drive-In, made the list, but what I've heard of that band isn't nearly as interesting as De-Loused.

Dang, even though Ray Charles' "Modern Sounds" appearance messed up my prediction, I am very happy to see him. Check it out if you haven't yet. Even if the whole album doesn't please you, the singles get stuck in your head for days (in a good way).

Rob wrote:

Live in Phoenix wrote:Expecting the first AM top 100 album, i.e. Back in Black, pretty much any moment.

Or perhaps Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs? I don't think that one is particularly popular over here either.

Worst album of AM top 200 in my opinion, by a big margin, but the classic rock wing of the forum would strongly disagree with me. At least enough to prevent it from falling too low.

veganvalentine wrote:
Of course I understand that many of my obscure and unheralded favorites won't make the list, but I'm disappointed that The Mars Volta doesn't have more fans here. Their 2003 debut De-Loused in the Comatorium was ranked #1139 in the last official update and it's one of the most energetic and creative albums I have ever heard. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar playing in particular is uncanny--it's not riff-oriented, but it's not flashy or textural either; it's something else altogether.

At least the band's predecessor, At the Drive-In, made the list, but what I've heard of that band isn't nearly as interesting as De-Loused.

I strongly disagree, Relationship of Command is like no other album: raw, energetic, freaking intense but at time gut-wrenching, impossible to define... Omar Rodriguez-Lopez already had the amazing guitar playing but Jim Ward was there to keep him grounded and stop him from the pretentious experimentations and sound manipulation that would ruin most of the Mars Volta for me. It had its moments but even one of their best songs, Cicatriz Esp, is bogged down by a marathon bridge.
Relationship of Command is lightning in a bottle, At the Drive-in never came close before (or since, now that they're back together) and neither did Sparta nor Mars Volta.

Nassim wrote:

veganvalentine wrote:
Of course I understand that many of my obscure and unheralded favorites won't make the list, but I'm disappointed that The Mars Volta doesn't have more fans here. Their 2003 debut De-Loused in the Comatorium was ranked #1139 in the last official update and it's one of the most energetic and creative albums I have ever heard. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's guitar playing in particular is uncanny--it's not riff-oriented, but it's not flashy or textural either; it's something else altogether.

At least the band's predecessor, At the Drive-In, made the list, but what I've heard of that band isn't nearly as interesting as De-Loused.

I strongly disagree, Relationship of Command is like no other album: raw, energetic, freaking intense but at time gut-wrenching, impossible to define... Omar Rodriguez-Lopez already had the amazing guitar playing but Jim Ward was there to keep him grounded and stop him from the pretentious experimentations and sound manipulation that would ruin most of the Mars Volta for me. It had its moments but even one of their best songs, Cicatriz Esp, is bogged down by a marathon bridge.
Relationship of Command is lightning in a bottle, At the Drive-in never came close before (or since, now that they're back together) and neither did Sparta nor Mars Volta.

I started listening to Relationship of Command recently and couldn't get into it, but I'll probably give it another chance one of these days. As for De-Loused, Cicatriz ESP is one of my least favorite songs on the album, so I agree with you there, although I think a lot of experimental, conceptual, and/or long-form music is unfairly labeled "pretentious." Anyways, it's the first half of the album that I really love, in particular Son et lumiere/Inertiatic ESP, Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of), and especially Eriatarka.

Most of The Mars Volta's albums are uneven, but their first two albums, De-Loused in the Comatorium and Frances the Mute, are great, even if they occasionally go off the rails.