No World For Tomorrow, by Coheed and Cambria.
They have a good track record for putting out albums that feel like a musical journey, and though part of if is because they are a concept album, long before I even looked into The Amory Wars (Comic storyline that paralells the bands music) I thought each album was an experience.
On one hand, their albums tend to start and end in a specific order. Short intro track (often instrumental) followed by a heavy hitter, which is usually followed by a quicker song, then a more upbeat poppy song. Being this album marks what is supposed to be "the end of the concepts story line" the intro track instills a sense of hopelessness, and sets the mood perfectly. Then it jumps into one of the heavier, more metal-ish songs they have released. These are the first two songs for reference.
About halfway through the album, they have a long progressive song called Mother Superior that sort of turns the album around, and gives a sense of inspiration and hope. After that they jump into Gravemakers and Gunslingers, which IMO is one of the most bad ass songs out there. It gets me PUMPED. Im not sure where it sits in the concept/story arc, but it gives the impression that the good guys found a weakness to exploit and are ready to fuck shit up.
Like several other albums in Coheeds discography, No World For Tomorrow has a suite of tracks, this time around called "The End Complete." The first one is a weird finger picking sequence with gloomy vocals (no lyrics though) which sets up the rest of the songs, which are awesome. Good fast paced riffs in Radio Bye Bye, long proggy heavy tone in The End Complete, and a sense of closure with the final two tracks.
All in all, its not the most well recieved Coheed album, as well as apparently not highly ranked by many core Coheed fans, (largely due to a lack of Josh Eppard on the drums) but I love it. It has a bit of heavier elements, some good poppy sounding songs (Feathers, Justice In Murder) while still having the traditional Coheed and Cambria elements.
Well that turned into a text wall pretty quick. It was tough for me to decide between No World For Tomorrow, and In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3, as they are both phenominal albums with awesome tracklists, but something the first two tracks take the cake as far as starting an album for me.