My '11/10' Songs Part 1 - Numbers 32-25

A series to tide me over while I listen to the albums for my albums of the year posts (those posts take a while obviously). This is a roughly ordered list of songs that, if 11/10 was an actual thing, would achieve that godly status. They're a cut above all other music to me. I find that songs that elicit an emotional response to me tend to be some of my favourites and this makes them more powerful, and thus more memorable and 'godly'.

Number 32: Voice of the Soul by Death
Voice of the Soul is a beautiful instrumental piece from the grandfathers of death metal's last album. The guitar tone is really awesome here and helps give this track a truly epic feel.

Number 31: Xenoflux by Ne Obliviscaris
The first of a few songs from Ne Obliviscaris' masterpiece Portal of I, Xenoflux showcases masterful riffing and atmospheric buildup. The first part of the song is intense and has some brilliant fast paced riffs which are accompanied by the classic blast beats and it has a lengthy acoustic section in the middle of the song which gives way to an explosion of perfect melodic riffing and phenomenal violin usage.

Number 30: Stockholm Syndrome by Muse
Stockholm Syndrome is basically the perfect heavy Muse song. All three band members are on fire in this song, Dominic Howard's drums particularly stand out on this song, he's clearly a fantastic drummer (and should get more interesting drums on more songs). There's a bit of electronic and piano in this song which are classic Muse elements and of course really awesome riffs and baselines, courtesy of Matt Bellamy and Chris Wolstenhome respectively.

Number 29: Map of the Problematique by Muse
Another Muse song, Map of the Problematique leans more towards the atmospheric side which a truly incredible sounding guitar effect that persists throughout the song. It is insanely cool. ("Shood-a-dam bam-bam bam") The piano is here of course, adding little flourishes to the song just to give it that extra oomph. The vocals are excellent as always.

Number 28: Catch the Rainbow by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
The guitar playing on this song by Ritchie Blackmore is stellar. The guitar tone is emotional and slightly psychedelic and is especially beautiful in the fade out ending. Dio's vocals are immaculate as they always are too. Damn this song is so beautiful.

Number 27: Glassworks: I. Opening by Philip Glass
What makes this song (and the whole album) interesting is how there are many different looping layers all intersecting and dispersing. They don't cross at the same time every time and if you focus on one layer you can get lost in it. It's an incredibly immersive song and contains really beautiful (gonna be using that word a lot) piano work. My only slight problem is that it's a bit too long and would be higher on the list if it were shorter.

Number 26: Absence of Light by Symphony X
The guitar tone on this song is just awesome. So are the riffs, so is the singing, so is the soloing. I love the way that sometimes the guitar sounds like it's 'flowing' like water where you can't hear any stopping between the notes. It's really hard to describe but it happens right at the start with the second riff about 20 seconds in. Love it.

Number 25: Powerslave by Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are riff machines and the title track of their opus is no exception. I adore all the riffs on this album but especially the incredible chorus riff. It's got an excellent lengthy solo too.

Thanks for reading! Have you heard these songs? What do you think of them?