Someone gave me an album to listen to a few years ago and I had never heard of the band before. The album was called Amaryllis and the band was called Shinedown. I listened to the album and then listened again, and again! It’s one of my favourite albums and one that I play regularly. I have since bought (or have been given as presents) all of their albums and can proudly say that they are one of my favourite bands.

I wasn't a big fan of thrash metal when it first broke through, but after hearing Harvester Of Sorrow by Metallica on the top 40 show, I bought the And Justice For All album.

This lead me to buying the previous 3 albums and I was knocked out by the brilliance of Master Of Puppets, a classic album that I am proud to have in my record collection.

An album i took a punt on after hearing one track (Blue Skies Red), i was really surprised as it turned out to be a great album. On the strength of it i bought other albums by the same band and have to say they are all very good.

I knew him from his Strawbs and Yes days, but I never expected his first solo album The Six Wives of Henry VIII to be so momentous when bought it in 1973. Based on the book he bought about the life of Henry VIII during the 'Fragile' tour with Yes, the album is based around his own interpretations of the six women. A true masterpiece of instrumental Prog Rock - and the start of a long line of themed solo albums over the years from this wizard of the keyboards.

Another album that totally blew me away unexpectedly was The Crimson Idol by WASP. I enjoyed a lot of the WASP previous material - great fun, high energy and slightly naughty, a good time band. Nothing they had done could have prepared you for this album- a semi-autobiographical rant about abuse, life choices and the dangers of getting what you wished for. Musically, mature and dynamic, lyrically hard hitting and to the point, this album is a top 20 all time best metal album in anyone's collection. Totally superb.

The album that was the biggest surprise for me, because nothing they had done previously- whilst fun- had led anyone to believe this kind of album was in them, is The Plague by Demon!

A concept album based in a dystopian Britain that arose after the policies of Thatcher's right wing Government ran on unchecked, the album is almost visceral in the anger of its lyrics, whereas musically the album sets sail with metal, pomp and prog fused seamlessly to the mast.

I bought it because I had enjoyed the first two albums because they were simply good fun, even though really they were a poor man's Ozzy era Black Sabbath. I had no idea that this album was going to be such a massive leap forward, awesomely so!