My top prog albums. The list will be regularly updated.

1.Opeth - Ghost Reveries

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Gojira - Magma

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That's all.

1.Dream Theater - Awake

2.Dream Theater - Images And Words

3.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

4.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

5.Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity

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Another band that is difficult to rank, with no two lists that are the same.

1.Dream Theater - Awake

2.Dream Theater - Images And Words

3.Dream Theater - When Dream And Day Unite

4.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

5.Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity

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Dream Theater! Once my favourite band of all time, now number 2. I took an involuntary break from them for a while, and upon return realised my feelings had changed to a lot of their music. Also since at some point I stupidly deleted my old ranking of them, I feel now is the time to make a new one.

Feel free to bash my terrible taste.

1.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

2.Dream Theater - Dream Theater

3.Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

4.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

5.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

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1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

3.Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

4.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

5.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

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Revisiting all the DT albums and updating my personal ranking

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

3.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

4.Dream Theater - Awake

5.Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos

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Some stories, themes or concepts are presented not just in one single song but are split in separate tracks that (often) share the same title but are distinguished by a number of the corresponding part of the song series.

However, sometimes these parts are not found together on one album, but are included on different releases of the artist.
They can be found on two (or more) conceptually linked albums (where they function as part of an ensemble together with the other songs), or they can be included on independent releases (where only they alone continue their story).

Therefore, the main purpose of this list is to give an overview that enables the reader to find the missing song pieces - or even to inform that these pieces exist at all.

Please feel free to find and suggest more examples of these "song jigsaw puzzles": one song(concept) in separate parts on different albums.

1.After Forever - Prison Of Desire

2.Agathodaimon - Higher Art Of Rebellion

3.Agathodaimon - Phoenix

4.Alestorm - Sunset On The Golden Age

5.Alestorm - Curse Of The Crystal Coconut

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I feel like my overall favorites list is getting too long. I'm splitting it up by rating.

1.Thy Catafalque - Meta

2.Sepulcros - Vazio

3.Kassad - Faces Turn Away

4.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

5.Xanthochroid - Of Erthe And Axen: Act I

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The goats. The near perfect albums that never get old. Some are full of catchy bangers I'm always humming, and some are so full to the brim of details that I still haven't even uncovered them all.

A brief outline of my ratings:
8.5-9.0 = An excellent album with a few mild drawbacks (Weak song, slightly irritating vocals, odd flow)
9.0-9.5 = Perfect albums that haven't quite warranted the time-earnt 9.5+.
9.5-9.9 = Perfect albums that have stood the test of time, ranked by preference.
10 = I don't expect to hear another album like these, ever.

(I use 'perfect' lightly as it makes no sense for a man-made creation to be flawless. 'Perfect' is simply a term to outline how high a level of enjoyment is, specifically the level of enjoyment when minor faults become insignificant.)

(I evaluate albums outside of metal vastly differently to the ones here, which explains the lack of representation of my other favourite genres. Blue Sky Mining is an exception due to being structured very similarly to my optimal metal album. I may add some picks from other genres down the line.)


STATS:
I know y'all don't look at my lists, so these are purely for my own interest.

-Decades
'10s: 36
'20s: 22
'00s: 7
'90s: 2

-Genres (By best fit or most prominent)
Prog: 35
Death: 11
Power: 9
Symphonic: 4
Black: 3
Contemporary: 2
Folk: 1
Doom: 1
Rock: 1

1.Devin Townsend - Empath

2.Memories Of Old - The Zeramin Game

3.Wintersun - Time I

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Persefone - Aathma

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1.Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition

2.Kauan - Aava Tuulen Maa

3.Katatonia - Night Is The New Day

4.Be'lakor - Stone's Reach

5.Ghost Brigade - Isolation Songs

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1.Powerwolf - Bible Of The Beast

2.Iron Maiden - Brave New World

3.HammerFall - Renegade

4.HammerFall - Crimson Thunder

5.HammerFall - Threshold

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1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Dream Theater - Images And Words

3.Dream Theater - Awake

4.Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

5.Dream Theater - Train Of Thought

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1.Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory

2.Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II

3.Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

4.Metallica - Master Of Puppets

5.Wintersun - Time I

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Must Listen: The First 3

1.Epica - Design Your Universe

2.Voyager - I Am The ReVolution

3.Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us

4.Megadeth - Endgame

5.Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome

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1.Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omniscient

2.In Mourning - Shrouded Divine

3.Circus Maximus - The 1st Chapter

4.Threshold - Dead Reckoning

5.Seventh Wonder - Mercy Falls

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