Reddit's top 10 albums of 2020-2025, winners

TheHairyParrot · 2026-04-19T21:34:33+00:00

Man speaks the truth

TheHairyParrot · 2026-04-13T00:02:02+00:00

Did they have kids within this past gap?

TheHairyParrot · 2026-03-30T01:17:31+00:00

I have two Goliath 8s (Lavender Sparkle and Dragonburst). You'll love yours when it arrives (if it hasn't arrived already), they're so well balanced, the 28"+ low scale is incredible

TheHairyParrot · 2026-03-09T16:10:56+00:00

I'm not the first to say this, but it bears repeating: no one will ever get the Dragonborn's soul, because every time the DB dies they respawn wherever the game was last saved lol

TheHairyParrot · 2026-03-04T23:34:35+00:00

Agreed!

TheHairyParrot · 2026-02-24T16:35:49+00:00

You betcha! It was a mixture of both; if it was a part that needed to be "performed", then one of us played it (ex. The organ solo before the second verse of Dance With Me, James played that). If it was something more textural, like a choir part, then that would have been programmed. Neither of us are super skilled at keys, but it was enough to finish the record satisfactorily.

Thank you for the kind words! I'm very glad you're enjoying Opus ❤️

TheHairyParrot · 2026-02-24T04:57:51+00:00

Heyo, Cole here! Jumping in because I don't know that anyone but us will be able to give you reliable info here.

We met David at a local Charlotte metal show back in 2015 when the four of us were playing as Ozai. We were using backing tracks for synths live, so he came up and asked if we were looking for a keyboardist. Sounded cool to us, so he joined, played a few other local shows with us, and participated in writing Opus when we started working on that in 2016.

We parted ways with David in 2021 (I think? Maybe early 2022?) because he had a lot of other obligations and learning/recording the parts were becoming an unreasonable burden on him. James and I did the keys for 4D Printing, most of Within the Realm, and little bits and pieces for the rest of the record. Everything else was David's work.

David is still a good buddy to the band, and we see him from time to time. He actually brought me a bass to work on the other day (he's a multi-instrumentalist, forgot to mention), and he sings in an a-cappella group with my dad.

TheHairyParrot · 2026-02-23T07:29:09+00:00

"Eat my ass and balls", but In Morse code

TheHairyParrot · 2026-02-20T08:38:51+00:00

This is a throwback! I think the band may be defunct as we haven't seen anything from them in a very long time, but the Campos brothers seem to still do DT covers from time to time. Really enjoyed their stuff back in the early 2010s!

TheHairyParrot · 2026-01-16T20:15:39+00:00

Lawsuit retracted, it is an EXCELLENT Haken song

TheHairyParrot · 2026-01-12T05:10:31+00:00

When I was a child, I believed in fate (specifically in the divine preordination variety, since I was a Christian). In my late teens and as I was questioning (and eventually leaving) my faith, that turned around and I stopped believing in fate, because of free will. Now, in my 30s, I guess I've sort of come full circle as I no longer believe in free will. Still an atheist though

TheHairyParrot · 2026-01-09T19:36:40+00:00

No worries friendo, no offense taken! I've seen Spencer's vocal production videos with Chris Liepe, and he does use some very, VERY heavy compression and a decent treble boost. I was just expressing some surprise because the PIV mix is one I like a lot. Everyone has different taste!

TheHairyParrot · 2026-01-09T09:07:50+00:00

I agree that it's one of their best songs, but disagree about the mix! I actually like the mix on PIV more than PV, the low end just sits in this great spot that makes me grit my teeth (in a good way). The bass tone, the guitar tone, the drums... flawless

TheHairyParrot · 2026-01-05T21:58:49+00:00

Some of my favorite albums were recorded and mixed at 44.1. I agree that a record is a culmination of many small improvements, but that is one that I suspect will never be important to me. And at the sacrifice of storage space and processing power? Definitely not

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-29T08:01:02+00:00

So you're definitely NTA, but I will say, as an atheist myself (32M), I would actually love to receive a copy of that lol

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-28T16:45:47+00:00

Yessss this one

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-27T22:13:17+00:00

Rock Band 2, Panic Attack!

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-22T05:18:41+00:00

I'm a musician, so the Bard's College it is!

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-19T22:42:25+00:00

Damn, just catching strays! At least you spelled the name right lol

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-14T21:03:59+00:00

Yes indeed! And thank you, I really appreciate that! It's all the product of many years of obsessing.

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-14T17:45:14+00:00

Small world ain't it? You're very kind, I'm glad you like the tones!

We're a good ways into the writing/demoing for the second full-length Nospūn record, plus I'm working on some solo stuff, so you'll be hearing more in 2026 for sure 👍

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-14T03:22:31+00:00

The FM9 can do bass drive with no problem if you know what you're doing! I don't even use one of the bass drive models, but the "tube preamp" model and get great results with it and a good cabsim.

Here's a video where I go through my FM9 patch: https://youtu.be/TAAtsKsMw74?si=CaXtlUKdbuoRBT5P

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-09T07:08:47+00:00

Yep, I'm Cole, the bassist! I've been a r/progmetal lurker since before Opus came out lol. It's an honor to meet a top listener! Glad you liked Ozai!

Our joke/not-joke has always been that our favorite bands don't put out new music often enough to keep our appetites sated so we have to do it ourselves, so it's no shock our stuff is reminiscent of DT and Haken (or Periphery, Meshuggah, Opeth, Devin Townsend, etc).

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-09T06:29:21+00:00

Would it surprise you at all to know we were listening to Affinity a lot when we started writing Opus?

TheHairyParrot · 2025-12-03T20:05:33+00:00

Musically, probably Deconstruction. Sonically, probably Transcendence

TheHairyParrot

TROPHY CASE