Triceratopsoil
I'm torn; Emotional Playground probably has the best music, but the worst production of Stone's studios. The drums suffer most, sounding unfortunately a little too tinny to really beat the message across. Some of the guitar solos aren't loud enough, but they rip as hard as anything I've ever heard. Still a very enjoyable listen, and it's only because the other albums sounded so excellent that it is even noticeable.
They've dialed the prog rock back just a titch from Colours, and it works well here. It's a shame that they really came into their own sound so shortly before breaking up. I love the vocal harmonies on the opener, something that doesn't appear on any of their other albums. The vocals in general are much more diverse than the rest of the discography. Also a big fan of the "rattly" bass guitar tone they've found here. Compared to Colours, there is less dissonance, but more variety in tempo, time signature, and heaviness, which makes the whole thing flow quite well. I even heard some acoustic guitar in there. The crushingly awesome downtuned dirge "Years After" stands out as a big stylistic shift, almost an experiment.
Favourite tracks: Small Tales, Last Chance, Mad Hatter's Den, Dead End