Every idiot on last.fm has got a blog like this, so I decided to be an idiot too! :)
The most important thing is that you know that this lists consist to 95% of my opinion and my feelings. I do NOT rate talent in any way.

Female vocalists:

1. Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries)
Propably the most beautiful voice I have ever listened to. Very nice colour and tune.
2. Ann Wilson (Heart)
Nowadays she's not that pretty anymore but her voice became even more asskicking.
3. Andrea Corr (The Corrs)
Lovely, smooth voice. Makes me feel very comfortable.
4. Simone Simons (Epica)
Her voice is nearly as beautiful as the rest of her )
5. Floor Jansen (After Forever)
Great variety.

I also like to mention the two Nightwish' vocalists Tarja Turunen and Anette Olzon.
I do not listen to much female fronted music anyway, so this list isn't that long ;)

Male vocalists #1(clean):

1. Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy)
Sooo cool :)
2. Marco Hietala (Tarot, Nightwish)
Beautiful voice, very variable.
3. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
Smoothing and friendly voice. I especially like his movements at live performances :)
4. Warrel Dane (Nevermore)
Just great.
5. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
The awesome voice of the best metal band in history.

I also like James Hetfield, Mikael Akerfelt, Rob Halford, Steven Wilson and Freddy Mercury very much.

Male vocalists #2(harsh vocals, screams, growls etc.)

1. Johann Hegg (Amon Amarth)
<33
2. Anders Friden (In Flames)
Used to be my favourite, but he kinda sucks since Reroute To Remain.
3. Tapio Wilska (Sethian, Finntroll, Nightwish)
Low and dark, clear pronounciation. Very nice.
4. Marcus Bischoff (Heaven Shall Burn)
Awesome brutal growling
5. Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity)

Guitarists:


1. Jari Mäenpää (Wintersun, Ensiferum)
Amazing solos and songwriting <33
2. Gary Moore (Skid Row, Thin Lizzy)
+Phil Lynott = dreamteam no. 1 ))
3. John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
Just a great guitar player
4. Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
Seriously the most underrated guitar player ever
5. Eric Clapton
Wrote wonderful songs

Guitarists I need to mention: Jeff Loomis - awesome solos, great riffs, Carlos Santana, James Hetfield - one of the best songwriters ever, Jesper Strömblad - writes awesome riffs and melodies, Empuu Vuorinen - nice melodic solos, Mikael Akerfelt

Feel free to leave a comment! =)

Dream Theater's best album, mm? I haven't listened to it in six months.

Dream Theater fans? Mm? Mm?

Dream Theater

I listen to many different genres of music; metal, rock, trance, hip-hop, country----you name it. While my overall artist will display that I mostly like metal, I personally enjoy metal because I appreciate the technicality of a lot of it, and a lot of passion/anger can be displayed in the music itself. These albums are organized by genre/alphabetically.

Hip-Hop:
#001: 2Pac - Resurrection
#002: 3Oh!3 - Want
#003: Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
#004: Binary Star - Masters of the Universe
#005: Blue Scholars - Bayani
#006: Blue Scholars - Blue Scholars
#007: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal
#008: Busdriver - Fear of a Black Tangent
#009: Busdriver - Temporary Forever
#010: Busta Rhymes - E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front
#011: Del tha Funkee Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here
#012: Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
#013: Dr. Dre - 2001
#014: Dr. Dre - The Chronic
#015: Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
#016: GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords
#017: Kanye West - The College Dropout
#018: Method Man - Tical
#019: Nas - God's Son
#020: Nas - I Am
#021: Nas - Illmatic
#022: Nas - Stillmatic
#023: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & The Soul Brother
#024: Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
#025: Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle
#026: Swollen Members - Bad Dreams
#027: Tech N9ne - Absolute Power
#028: Tech N9ne - Anghellic
#029: Tech N9ne - Everready (The Religion)
#030: Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
#031: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Metal:
#032: All Shall Perish - The Price Of Existence
#033: All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals
#034: Amon Amarth - With Oden on Our Side
#035: Arch Enemy - Burning Bridges
#036: Arch Enemy - Rise Of The Tyrant
#037: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
#038: Carcass - Heartwork
#039: Children of Bodom - Follow the Reaper
#040: Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll
#041: Cryptopsy - Whisper Supremacy
#042: DevilDriver - [The Fury of Our Maker's Hand
#043: DevilDriver - The Last Kind Words
#044: Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
#045: Divine Heresy - Bleed The Fifth
#046: Dream Theater - Metropolis Part II - Scenes From A Memory
#047: Dream Theater - Octavarium
#048: Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
#049: Enter Shikari - Take To The Skies
#050: Fear Factory - Demanufacture
#051: Heaven Shall Burn - Antigone
#052: Heaven Shall Burn - Deaf To Our Prayers
#053: Heaven Shall Burn - Iconoclast (Part One: The Final Resistance)
#054: HORSE the band - Natural Death
#055: HORSE the band - The Mechanical Hand
#056: Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider
#057: Ill Niño - Confession
#058: Ill Niño - Enigma
#059: In Flames - Clayman
#060: In Flames - Come Clarity
#061: In Flames - Jester Race/Black-Ash Inheritance
#062: In Flames - Reroute to Remain
#063: In Flames - Whoracle
#064: Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage
#065: KoЯn - Untouchables
#066: Lamb of God - As the Palaces Burn
#067: Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
#068: Machine Head - Burn My Eyes
#069: Machine Head - The Blackening
#070: Machine Head - Through the Ashes of Empires
#071: Meshuggah - Nothing
#072: Meshuggah - obZen
#073: Oh, Sleeper - When I Am God
#074: Opeth - Blackwater Park
#075: Opeth - Damnation
#076: Opeth - Deliverance
#077: Opeth - Ghost Reveries
#078: Opeth - Watershed
#079: Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
#080: Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
#081: Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
#082: Pig Destroyer - Prowler in the Yard
#083: Protest the Hero - Fortress
#084: Protest the Hero - Kezia
#085: Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait
#086: Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos
#087: The Haunted - One Kill Wonder
#088: The Haunted - rEVOLVEr
#089: Unearth - The March
#090: Unearth - The Oncoming Storm
#091: Vader - XXV
#092: Wintersun - Wintersun

Electronic:
#093: Above & Beyond - Tri-State
#094: Aphex Twin - Drukqs
#095: Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
#096: Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
#097: Daft Punk - Homework
#098: DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
#099: Hallucinogen - Twisted
#100: Infected Mushroom - Converting Vegetarians
#101: Juno Reactor - Bible of Dreams
#102: Juno Reactor - Samurai
#103: Noisia - FabricLive 40
#104: Ott - Blumenkraft
#105: Paul Oakenfold - Tranceport
#106: Pendulum - Hold Your Colour
#107: Pendulum - In Silico
#108: Shpongle - Are You Shpongled?
#109: Shpongle - Nothing Lasts...But Nothing is Lost
#110: Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible
#111: The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation
#112: The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land

Industrial:
#113: Agonoize - Evil Gets an Upgrade
#114: Combichrist - Everybody Hates You
#115: Combichrist - What the fuck is wrong with you people?
#116: Grendel - End of Ages
#117: Grendel - Harsh Generation
#118: KMFDM - Nihil
#119: KMFDM - Symbols
#120: KMFDM - XTORT
#121: Ministry - Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed & the Way to Suck Eggs
#122: Nine Inch Nails - Broken
#123: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
#124: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
#125: Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile

Rock:
#126: Audioslave - Audioslave
#127: Beck - Odelay
#128: Buckethead - Crime Slunk Scene
#129: Buckethead - Monsters And Robots
#130: Cassino - Sounds Of Salvation
#131: Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness
#132: Crossfade - Crossfade
#133: Danzig - Danzig
#134: Deerhunter - Microcastle
#135: Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
#136: Judas Priest - Painkiller
#137: Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
#138: Megadeth - Rust in Peace
#139: Metallica - Master of Puppets
#140: Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
#141: Queen - A Night at the Opera
#142: Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
#143: Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
#144: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
#145: Radiohead - In Rainbows
#146: Radiohead - Kid A
#147: Radiohead - OK Computer
#148: Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You
#149: Sum 41 - Chuck
#150: Testament - Practice What You Preach
#151: Testament - The Formation Of Damnation
#152: The Beatles - Abbey Road
#153: The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
#154: The Fall of Troy - Doppelganger
#155: The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
#156: The Strokes - Room on Fire
#157: Tool - Aenima
#158: Tool - Lateralus
#159: Volbeat - Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil
#160: Volbeat - The Strength/the Sound/the Songs
#161: Whitestarr - Luv Machine

So I'm turning 20 and I'm bored as shit, so let's arbitrarily pick a "metal" album from every year of my current physical manifestation's existence.

1988 - Megadeth's So Far, So Good... So What!
1989 - Sepultura's Beneath the Remains
1990 - Judas Priest's Painkiller
1991 - Morbid Angel's Blessed are the Sick
1992 - Iced Earth's Night of the Stormrider
1993 - Cynic's Focus
1994 - Bolt Thrower's ...For Victory
1995 - At the Gates's Slaughter of the Soul
1996 - Edge of Sanity's Crimson
1997 - Iron Savior's Iron Savior
1998 - Death's The Sound Of Perseverance
1999 - Sodom's Code Red
2000 - Vader's Litany
2001 - Destruction's The Antichrist
2002 - Amon Amarth's Versus the World
2003 - Dream Theater's Train of Thought
2004 -Probot's Probot
2005 -Dark Tranquillity's Character
2006 - Ghoul's Splatterthrash
2007 - Dethklok's The Dethalbum
2008 - Amon Amarth's Twilight of the Thunder God

Some notes:
(1) I wish I was alive 1983-1987.
(2) I had a really hard time picking 1996-2008 with the exception of one or two years.
(3) I changed some of my picks so I could avoid having the same artist twice. Thus, some of my favorite albums are missing.

Finally out!

Dream Theater


Disc One:

"Around The World In 180 Minutes" Live Concert Footage
Intro / Also Sprach Zarathustra
Constant Motion
Panic Attack
Blind Faith
Surrounded
The Dark Eternal Night
Keyboard Solo
Lines In The Sand
Scarred
Forsaken
The Ministry Of Lost Souls
Take The Time
In The Presence Of Enemies
Schmedley Wilcox:
Trial Of Tears
Finally Free
Learning To Live
In The Name Of God
Octavarium

Disc Two:
"Behind The Chaos On The Road" Documentary
Promo Videos:
Constant Motion
Forsaken, Forsaken (In Studio)
The Dark Eternal Night (In Studio)
Live Screen Projection Films:
The Dark Eternal Night (N.A.D.S)
The Ministry Of Lost Souls
In The Presence Of Enemies Pt. 2
"Mike Portnoy Stage Tour"
"Mike Portnoy Backstage Tour"
Photo Gallery

THE ULTIMATE MUSIC SURVEY

Let’s start with the good stuff.

What is your favorite genre of music?
Don't have one really. Good music is my favourite genre :)

Why?
Because you can't narrow down good music to one or two, or even three specific genres. You cannot actually compare goregrind to trip-hop, for example.

Name your favorite band(s)
Too many, really. I like to separate this question into "current" and "all-time". All time, always enjoy a spot of Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Rage Against the Machine, The Mars Volta, Battles, Death... and others that have high ratings in the ole Top 50. Currently, I'm going through a bit of an Aussie heavy rock thing, digging the sounds of Cog, Mammal, Dead Letter Circus, etc etc.

What is your favorite album?
One album?! Well, near the top would be Focus, Human, Blues for the Red Sun, but there's loads more.

Name your favorite song(s)
Tooooooo maaaaaany.

Favorite song you DON'T have
Oh that's an interesting one. Ummmmm... I can't think of one. If I like the song that much, I usually make sure I have it.

Favorite lyrics
"I know what you're thinking, you're thinkin' you're a mouse click, a drag and a piece of auto-tune away from being a pop star!" - Think (Ezekiel Ox)

Favorite vocalist
Can we break that down a bit further?
Clean/male: Ian Kenny (Karnivool, Birds of Tokyo), Kim Benzie (Dead Letter Circus), Flynn Gower (Cog), Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta/ex-At the Drive-In).
Clean/female: Björk, Regina Spektor... can't really think of more. Don't really listen to too much chick singing.
Death/black/other metal: Chuck Schuldiner (Death), Matthew "Chalky" Chalk (Psycroptic, Jason Mendonca (Akercocke), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Ihsahn (Emperor).

Favorite rapper
Zack De La Rocha (Rage Against the Machine), Ezekiel Ox (Mammal, yes, he counts as a rapper IMO), all members of Wu-Tang Clan but particularly Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard, Naeem Juwan aka Spank Rock.

Favorite of anything not mentioned
Uh, favourite guitarist. Chuck Schuldiner all the way!

The bad stuff

What's your least favorite genre of music?
Emo, that watered-down crap that commercial radio passes off as "dance" or "rap" music.

Who's your least favorite band?
Gah, many! Far too many in fact. I do particularly despise Fall Out Boy, any other bands along that line.

Who's your least favorite solo artist?
I don't know the names of them, but any of that rnb/urban/hip-hop/rap filth that my housemate listens to.

Who do you think is the most annoying musician?
I dunno. There's too many.

If you could shoot any "artist" or "band", who would it be?
I would say whichever rapper that the kiddies are listening to these days, but I'd probably get shot myself :)

Who do you think is the least talented?
Emo bands in general. It really does sound all the same to me.

Least favorite song
Ummm... that Metro Station song. Whatever it's called. I've had the misfortune of accidentally coming across it a few times, terrible, terrible piece of crap.

Most annoying song
Um... is it possible to name one?

Most repetitive song
The Rockafeller Skank. Love it a lot, but geez, Dylan Moran makes a good point about it :)

Last song to be stuck in your head
Uhh... there's always one floating around. It's hard to name one though when I'm sitting here listening to music anyway. It was probably something by Birds of Tokyo or something catchy like that.

Did this survey just get that song stuck in your head again? (sorry)
Nah 'cause it wasn't already in there.

Worst band that used to be good?
Cryptopsy! Their new singer is atrocious. Children of Bodom really wrecked themselves too.

A good band that used to suck?
Slipknot. I go through varying degrees of like/dislike (not really as extreme as love/hate) with that band all the time, and in a few weeks' time I'm seeing them, so I guess it's like at the moment. Their last two albums have been so much more mature.

Your musical background

What was the first music you remember listening to?
Umm... Phil Collins. My parents didn't really do the kiddie music thing... and yeah, I apparently used to enjoy Phil quite a lot! Weird, hey. Not much of a fan these days.

What type of music do your parents listen to?
(Usually) not rubbish music, that's for sure. Some of my earliest memories of music are stuff like Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones being played at home. Dad's got some crap taste though.

Do you play any musical instruments, or sing?
Guitar and bass, do fancy myself as a bit of a singer.

Do you take lessons for instruments or voice? If so, for how long?
No, but I used to take guitar lessons, which I threw in after about... three years?

Do you plan to / have you gone to college for music?
I'd like to. Especially for the technical/production aspect of it.

Who are your musical inspirations?
For guitar: Chuck Schuldiner, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Josh Homme, Matt Pike, Tom Morello
For vocals: Ezekiel Ox, Ian Kenny, Kim Benzie, Josh Pyke, Zack De La Rocha, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson
Pure creativity: Gotye, Björk, Stephen O'Malley, That 1 Guy

Who was your first favorite band or artist?
It's hard to recall, but I think the earliest would've probably been Silverchair.

Who is your most recent favorite band or artist?
Cog, definitely. Always been a casual fan, but I've actually got some of their discography now, and I realise now what truly great musicians they are.

This or that

Classical or jazz?
Jazz, although I've never really delved much into either.

Classic rock or modern rock?
Well, both have spawned good and bad. It's all in the band.

Rock or rap?
Rock!

Emo or punk?
Punk, quite obviously!

Funk or blues?
Blues.

Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin?
Ouch, that's a toughie, but I'll go with Floyd.

Coldplay or Radiohead?
Radiohead. Come on.

John Mayer or Jack Johnson?
Jack, but I keep hearing that John Mayer's a lot better than the radio would have you believe. I do want to investigate this rumour further.

Eminem or 50 Cent?
Eminem. It's the lesser of two evils, and up until The Eminem Show he was still quite respectable.

Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera?
Oh, neither.

Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC?
I was quite the Backstreet Boys fan as a kid. Never really got into *NSYNC at all really.

The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
The Stones! After all, I haven't seen The Beatles live :), nah, but both are amazing bands.

Ludwig van Beethoven or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
Classical music isn't really my thing. I do respect its enormous importance in music though!

Electric or acoustic?
That's not a fair question. They both have their applications!

Mandolin or ukulele?
Can't really pinpoint good songs that feature either. Maybe the uke?

Saxophone or trumpet?
Sax! Us and Them, Another Day, Aberinkula, anyone?

Miscellaneous

Why do you like music?
Because... it's great.

When you're angry, what type of music do you listen to?
Nothing specific. I often go the opposite to mellow me out though.

Has music ever made you cry? When?
Yeah. When I'm sad.

Has music ever made you laugh? When?
Yeah. When it's comedic, ala Flight of the Conchords... or sometimes when it's so bad it's funny.

Do you like local music?
Yeah, local scene is amazing at the moment.

Do you enjoy being on stage?
As a performer, haven't really done it. But I'd like to.

Do you like to sing, even if you don't consider yourself a singer?
Hells yeah.

If you could just chill with any musician, who would it be?
Mikael Akerfeldt.

What instrument that you don't play now would you like to learn next?
I always want to learn more instruments. Keys are probably my first preference, followed by drums, and eventually, I really want to learn sampling/mixing/whatnot one of these days.

Do you like foreign types of music? If so, what types?
Well, country-specific doesn't really matter. If it sounds good, that's it.

(this journal was "borrowed" from Nobodylikesyou. :)

Well we are now entering the final months of 2008, and it's time to start on those end of year lists. This post is a list of all the albums I've bought this year, with the ones I've liked the most at the bottom and the ones I didn't care for as much at the top. Whatever album manages to hold onto the number one spot through the end of the year gets my oh-so-prestigious album of the year award and a journal post dedicated to it.

Keep in mind these are only albums I bought and have the physical CD for. I downloaded plenty of others but they aren't on here.

10. Greatest Hit (...& 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (Dream Theater)


Notes: Great band, unnecessary collection. Doesn't include many of their best songs, almost every song is edited, sound is compressed like crazy and sounds much worse than the original releases.

9. Dropping Like Flies (Matt Carlson)


Notes: This CD is by a friend of mine, who is also my classmate. His music is alternative rock/soft rock so it's not exactly what I like to listen to, but he is talented and I'm glad to support him :)

8. Blooddrunk (Children of Bodom)


Notes: Unlike a lot CoB fans, I thought this was a solid release that was fun to listen to and had some great tracks. That being said, it doesn't live up to the great "Hatebreeder" and "Follow the Reaper".

7. H.A.A.R.P (Muse)


Notes: The DVD was shot very well. It was an exciting show and the filmmakers did a good job bringing that excitement home. The audio on the CD is also of pretty good quality making this a solid package...I'm just not the biggest Muse fan :)

6. Ghosts I-IV (Nine Inch Nails)

My Review

5. The Dragons of Eden (Buckethead)


Notes: A very solid release from Buckethead, with collaboration from Travis Dickerson and Brain. It's a structured and melodic album, which I usually prefer to his more experimental work. It also has a surprisingly slow tempo and not much shredding. Overall recommended.

4. Chaos In Motion 2007-2008 ( Dream Theater)


My Review

3. The Slip (Nine Inch Nails)


Notes: Very solid NIN release. "Discipline", "Echoplex", "Lights in the Sky", "Corana Radiata" and "Demon Seed" stand out, but every song is strong.

2. Death Magnetic (Metallica)

My Review

1. Watershed (Opeth)

My Review

Ordered:

Colors Live (Between the Buried and Me)
Traced in Air (Cynic)
Under the Running Board (The Dillinger Escape Plan)
Happiness is the Road (Marillion)

Planning to buy:

Albino Slug (Buckethead)
Dark Thrones & Black Flags (Darkthrone)

...uno se pone nostálgico y se pone a recordar a esas bandas tan importantes para uno. A lo largo de estos años, entre muchos otros, me han acompañado Dream Theater, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Pain of Salvation, Pink Floyd, The Mars Volta, Cabbage... ¿Cuáles son las tuyas?

Puedes comentarlo en este post recopilatorio...