Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory

One of the best modern concept albums from perhaps the most famous prog metal band. It follows a man named Nicholas using hypnotherapy to find the truth about his past life as a girl named Victoria and trying to solve the mystery of her murder. This album, as well as the great storytelling, shows a virtuoso level of musicianship that most can only dream of.

Porcupine Tree – Deadwing

While most would consider their breakout album ‘In Absentia’ to be their finest work, I would argue the point for ‘Deadwing’. I find it to be both more musically diverse and more consistently high quality. It features some of the band’s finest moments, from the radio friendly piano driven ‘Lazarus’, to the heavy riffage of ‘Shallow’ to the intricate shifting time signature of ‘Start of Something Beautiful’.

Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime

One of the all time greatest concept albums and quite possibly the greatest piece of musical storytelling. It follows a drug addict who joins a revolutionary group to help overthrow the corrupt society he lives in. The group’s leader Dr. X uses brainwashing and mind control to turn the protagonist into his own personal assassin.

Tool – Lateralus

The musical equivalent of the world’s most intense acid trip. It’s the high point of a band that is dark, brooding, bewildering and unlike anything that came before it. It is intricate and otherworldly, most of all on the title track whose lyrics and complex time signatures follow the Fibonacci  sequence.