What are some good concept albums?

TRENCH by Twenty One Pilots

BLACK PARADE by My Chemical Romance

SLEEPWALKER by The Anix

Platforms/album stories below:

TRENCH:

"Trench continues the band's exploration of themes surrounding insecurity, faith, suicide, and mental health, prominent themes on Twenty One Pilots' previous albums..."

"Much of the album and its marketing material discusses the city of "Dema". Dema, literally meaning "Tower of Silence", is a fictional location set inside of Trench that draws its name from Zoroastrianism."

"Trench's city, Dema, is ruled by nine "bishops", whose names are Nico, Andre, Lisden, Keons, Reisdro, Sacarver, Nills, Vetomo, and Listo.The chief bishop, Nico, was revealed by Joseph to be Blurryface, the personification of his insecurities from their previous album of the same name.Other characters involved are part of a group who call themselves the "Banditos", whose aim is to liberate the people of Dema. They adopt the color yellow, specifically, which the bishops are unable to see, instead seeing it as grey."

(quotes: Wikipedia)

BLACK PARADE :

*"The Black Parade is a rock opera centering around the character of "The Patient". It is about his passage out of life and the memories he has of it. "The Patient" dies and death comes for him in the form of a parade.This is based on singer Gerard Way's notion of death appearing to a person in the form of their fondest memory, in this case seeing a marching band as a child."

**"THE END: Patient’s last moments, invites others to follow his painful journey along the album

DEAD!: “now you’re dead” pretty simple, Patient temporarily dies

HOW I DISAPPEAR: Patient worrying about his legacy on Earth

THE SHARPEST LIVES: Patient regretting his reckless lifestyle and his ex-love

WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE: Patient joins the Black Parade (because his most vivid memory is his father taking him to a parade as a child (implying his life was sad and lacking triumphant moments)), who will escort him to the afterlife. Remembers his father’s words about leaving a legacy

I DON'T LOVE YOU: Patient realizes his old relationship had nothing of substance, stops worrying about the breakup

HOUSE OF WOLVES: marching on with the Black Parade, Patient starts noticing signs (possibly an arsonist who he meets) that they may be going to Hell rather than Heaven

CANCER: flashback to patient dying in the hospital, set here so the album doesn’t start on a ballad, and gets a more energetic/dramatic opening

MAMA: The patient meets an insane war criminal who tells his life story. More hints at going to Hell

SLEEP: the Patient embraces his fate, admits defeat, wants others to forget him

TEENAGERS: the Patient meets a school shooter? (MCR admits this song is not a perfect fit into the album)

DISENCHANTED: Patient looks back on life, missed opportunities, full of regret

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: Patient realizes that he can redeem himself in life, finds the strength to carry on alone, leaves the Black Parade, returns to life

BLOOD: wakes up in the hospital, realizes that while death is awful, life isn’t always great either

*Wikipedia **Quora

SLEEPWALKER:

More from experience than a concept, so it became a platform for telling his story.

This album was created by Brandon Smith as he had a 3 year battle with insomnia and somnambulism (sleepwalking). He said the album was born out of darkness and "presents a vision of the future being a dark and desolate place." He felt it was okay to produce a depressing album because the world has enough albums with positive messages, why not get real?

(sources: myself & ReGen Magazine)

Les Friction's albums! Their 2 albums are a continuation of the same story. They're a genre is a mix of symphonic, industrial rock, orchestra, rock opera.

The story goes:

Humans have gained the ability to leave earth and travel to other dimensions but this leaves a shell of their body back at home. While everyone is traveling, earth is going to shambles and people send out SOSs for ppl who left to come back and so the ppl who left have to fight to get back.

None of the songs mention this directly but you can see how they would all relate.

Another album:

The Eyes of Tomorrow - Broken Iris

  - They made an audiobook that uses this album that ties together the songs, the description is: 

"Delve inside the world of William Iris, a young man who discovers his dreams are far more real than anyone could ever imagine. As a virus quickly spreads to epidemic proportions, William soon realizes things are not as they seem. "

I haven't listened to the book, but I can see how all the songs would relate to that story. 

Brian Wilson Presents Smile- the "lost" album becomes" Found" thanks to Brian's band  members support, patience, and talents.

Crime of the Century- SupertrampBetween the Wars- Al StewartRoad Songs for Lovers Chris Rea

Le Orme - "Felona & Sorona"

Wasp - "The crimson idol"

The Ocean - "Pelagial"

'Days of Future Passed' by the Moody Blues, one of the first and still one of the best, 53 years after it came out. 'Thick as a Brick' by Jethro Tull.  One entire side of '2112' by Rush. 

Henry Cow/Slap Happy - "In Praise Of Learning" (1975)

Edge Of Sanity - "Crimson" (1996)

Worship - "The Last CD Before Doomsday"

"Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" by Dream Theater. 

It is the best concept album I have come across in a long time. It narrates a story about a person in the modern day who keeps having flashbacks or dreams of this other world, this other life, and he goes to a hypnotherapist and gets regressed. It is a murder mystery, where the protagonist is investigating the murders. Throughout the album, you are led down one path towards solving the mystery, but at the end…well, the end will shock you! 😊

"Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche 

The story follows a recovering drug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes involved with a revolutionary group as an assassin of political leaders.“Operation Mindcrime” has some of the best singing ever on a rock/metal album by Geoff Tate. I think fans of any genre of music should enjoy this album.

"Zarathustra" by Museo Rosenbach 

It is in Italian, but I am posting it because it is simply monumental. One of the brightest examples of prog-rock. Someone was kind enough to translate the lyrics to English in the commentary section. It is based on the book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” written by Nietzsche.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqZZwrc-BNM

EDIT: I had to remove the links, I'll try and sneak them in after this answer posts.

EDIT2: Well, I persisted, but Y!A would just allow me to post one link.

(please copy and paste the line into youtube search since hot links are now iffy at best)

Since Genesis has been mentioned ..... "Selling England By the Pound"

Genesis - Firth Of Fifth

This album from Nektar beginning to end describes a Circus and the performers

Astral Man

Esperanza Spalding Presents: Emily's D+Evolution - Good Lava (101.9 KINK)

This from following these kids I think is about their (difficult) experience trying to record their first album. The oldest is 15 or 16, the Bass Is played by a 13 year old

You’ve been warned! | The Warning | TEDxUniversityofNevada

The First Concept album I can remember was HAIR in the 70s I think.

"Hair" Hair (the original Broadway cast) (lyrics)

Camel: Nude, The Snow Goose.

Jeff Wayne: War of the Worlds.

Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Fairport Convention: Babbacombe Lee.

The Albion Band: Lark Rise to Candleford.

The Who: Tommy.

Bo Hanson: Lord of the Rings.

Love all of those. I really love both Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from Smashing Pumpkins.