90's Progressive Rock to me

This is my list of the top 10 albums in the 90's progressive rock movement as I see it. Of course these are all some of my favorite albums. I believe they best encompass what I think of when considering the best rock of the 1990's. This list is biased. It is a reflection of what I perceive 90's rock to be and the most important albums of the era. Everyone of these albums is a must listen to type of album. These albums shaped my idea of 90's rock and set the stage for alot of my expectations and ideals of music. This is the best decade in music.

10. Refused "The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts" 1998 In this album Refused takes punk music and completely reevaluates its purpose and sound. While still being fundamentally punk, Refused reformulates the wheel giving it new life, and ultimately new hope. The album is musically diverse: songs are longer and vary in tone. The overall theme of the album however is this lyrically and musically expressed sentiment of change. The band openly criticizes stylistic punk while still realizing that they themselves are a part of it. This album is a masterpiece and a cry to a culture to reinvent itself and find true change, not merely manufactured duplications. And they are communists...Highs: Liberation Frequency, The Deadly Rhythm, Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine, New Noise, Refused Party Program, The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused Are Fucking Dead, Tannhauser/Derive

9. Slipknot "Slipknot" 1999 This album blew me away the first time I heard it. It was the hardest album I had ever heard in my life. The unique thing about early Slipknot is their ability to drive the music in another world of fierceness and abhorring anguish. Slipknot removes you from the listener's seat and places your emotions into the song... interwoven with the pain and frustrations that seems to resonate throughout this album. I think it is a masterpiece of American metal. I use it often to cope with despair. The album, as well as 2001's Iowa, depicts a narrative of musical and lyrical raging despair and decay. It's quite beautifully done.Highs: (Sic), Eyeless, Wait and Bleed, Surfacing, Spit It Out, Liberate, No Life, Liberate, Scissors, Eeyore.

8. Bad Religion "Against the Grain" 1990 Bad Religion... the most intelligent and long lasting band in punk. This is probably their second best album and that's saying something. Greg's lyrics are just as distinct as his voice. This album takes you on a ride through satire and hope stopping along the way at various political and social observations. Get a dictionary though... you'll need it. Greg's vocabulary is far beyond the average bear’s. This album transcends punk stereotypes and brings about an expressive driving punk album full of useful knowledge. It's faced paced, political, atheist, and from one of the most influential bands in punk music.Highs: Anesthesia, Modern Man, Turn on the Light, The Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking, Faith Alone, Walk Away, 21st Century (Digital Boy)

7. Nirvana "In Utero" 1993 Of course Nirvana makes the list but I’d say the best representation of Nirvana is, in fact, In Utero. It's much more aggressive then Nevermind and really maps its course with lyrical metaphor and heavy distortion. Again, an artistic feel is much more present on this album then previous Nirvana releases. Kurt's voice chills me on this album. It's as if they did it all in one take... that has really left an impression on me. The album appears to be exactly that first run through. Something is quite appealing about that... something very sincere.Highs: Rape Me, Heartshaped Box, Dumb, Milk It, All Apologies, tourette's, Very Ape, Scentless Apprentice.

6. Propagandhi "How to Clean Everything" 1993 To me this is the incarnation of 90's punk music. It is done hard, fast, anrgy, and with plenty of hooks. This album is in your face from beginning to end. These guys lyrically challenge every nook and cranny of capitalism, nation-states, patriarchy, war, and white arrogance. Lots of profanity. This album really excited me when I first heard it. Not only did it fulfill everything that I thought punk should be, but it also echoed my political and social beliefs almost to a T. Chris Hannah's guitar playing is perfect to me. The way he uses his breaks make this album.... that and the lyrical "fuck you" it sends to the power that controls the world.Highs:Anti-Manifesto, Showdown, Stick the Fucking Flag up Your Goddamn Ass, you Sonofabitch, Hate, Myth, Muscle, Etiquette Haille Sellasse, Up Your Ass,Who Will Help Me Bake This Bread?

5. Rage Against the Machine "Evil Empire" 1996 How could you leave off a staple band of 90's rock? I like this album best from them because it is largely a rock album... lessening the hip hop influence present on their other studio albums. You have to love the awareness of this socialist influenced quartet. Tom's guitar is at its best here. His versatility and genius really shows. The album is well written and collects a bunch of songs that all together attack wealth, property, excess, and capitalist oppression. Of course I love it. The hip hop tones are still present, which is reoccurring in many popular 90's rock. This album just gets me excited really. Great fucking album.Highs: Revolver, People of the Sun, Vietnow, Bulls on Parade, Tire Me, Down Rodeo, Snakecharmer.

4. Marilyn Manson "Antichrist Superstar" 1996 I'm a huge Manson fan. This album shows why. Not only was it unexpected success among goth and mainstream culture alike, but it brought atheism, androgyny, and cultural criticisms to the forefront of many sectors of 90's rock. Shock rock was the new term. This album is an artistic nightmare of self actualization and personal demons. It lyrically and musically highlights the haunting images of upbringings, culture, and desire that seem inescapable in human life. Manson's voice seeps through these tracks with haunting presence and intense emotion. The mix between industrial art and hard rock is brought to you courtesy of album producer Trent Reznor. The album is hauntingly poetic and eerie at every turn. It is one of my favorite albums of all time and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to bend their concept of music. This album really touched me on so many levels. Don't let the visual shock value blur the fact that this album is a true conceptual piece of art... in everyway Highs: Tourniquet, The Beautiful People, Irresponsible Hate Anthem, Dried Up, Tied Up, and Dead to the World, Little Horn, Wormboy, Mister Superstar, Kinderfeld, Angel With the Scabbed Wings, 1996, Minute of Decay, The Reflecting God.

3. Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral" 1994 This album is one of the greatest albums of all time. This album, as well as all other Nine Inch Nails' albums, redefined the boundaries of my concept of music. The music is ground breaking and the concept is too. The art of the album represented the entire atmosphere of the album. The Downward Spiral takes you or a self-loathing ride into personal destruction and a sense of pain that is never been conveyed to me better in any other form of art. Trent's voice is intensely painful throughout this entire album. Through, the music, lyrics, and flow Nine Inch Nails creates the closest synonym for human self alienation and disintegration that runs hauntingly close to consuming your mind. This album doesn't just create a mood... it creates one that sharply penetrates you at some points, and seeps into at others. It's an album of hopelessness. It's unmatched in conveying its theme. This album and everything associated with it are high forms of art.Highs: This album must be listened to as a whole. There is no other way to truly understand and experience it.

2. Tool "Ænima" 1996 This, to me, is the greatest album ever made. However it does not fully encompass all elements of 90's rock. This album changed music for me. Tool is characterized for their deep meaning, odd time signatures, and their ability to create true art in everything they do. Ænima is the pinnacle of Tool's work. The album challenges the listener to remove all previous concepts of musical "entertainment" and become part of the fabric and atmosphere of it. Through their lyrics AND music, Tool achieves what no other band does: they create an encompassing atmosphere... you don't listen to Tool... you experience it. This album IS a mood. From the opening track to the last beat (if you allow it) your mind is taken on a spiral through various true works of music. This album breaks all the conceptual rules of popular music fashion. 4/4 timing, 3:30 time length, and easy to comprehend lyrics all become instances of a lesser musical expression. Tool rises above all these elements as they utilize every instrument, every note, every word as a vehicle. A vehicle of meticulous expression. Adam's riffs are on q and never excessive... Danny's eastern style drumming brings a spirituality...Justin's bass transcends normal rhythm bridges and becomes a haunting tone that glides through both the guitar and drums... all this is capped off by the poetic and ambiguous lyrics and the most beautiful voice in the world. Maynard perfectly accents all these elements and finalizes the ever piece to perfection. To me this album is perfect and beautiful.Highs: The album is one piece... there is no other way to experience it.

1. Deftones "Around the Fur" 1997 This is 90's progressive rock incarnate to me. It encompasses elements of every album on this list: hardcore, metal, artistic, expressive, powerful, hip hop and it's from a California band. I mean this album is want I imagine alot of the 90's rock movement being. California artistic decay... but a beautiful one. Deftones bring a driving album full of metal and mellow in their unique blend of progressive art rock. The drums on this album set the tone. Stephen's guitar playing is minimally heavy... very heavy while Abe's drumming seems to be taking a different course.... Chino's voice then seeps through at points and then explodes at others. His voice trumps Manson's eerie tones and blows away Corey Taylor's fierceness. Chino is so versatile and it shows here. Some tracks are distinctly melodic. Others bridge the gap between metal, hardcore, and mellow ambience. This album just makes me want to lower my head, close my eyes softly, and just mouth the words. The elements present here ARE 90's progressive rock to me.