I've gave copies of "Thunder and consolation" to four friends of mine who like (rock) music, who are in their 2O's and 40's and who didn't know NMA.
I said to myself that the general consensus is that "Thunder and consolation" is NMA's masterpiece for the lyrics, the melodies, the sound, the musicianship, so let's give them wth this undisputed gem their first listen to NMA's world ...strangely enough, ANY of my friends liked the album!!...

but two of them liked "Navigating by the stars" and "Vengeance", the latter for its "raw, punk sound" (according to a friend)...it seems that these 4 friends didn't like the lyrism vibe of "Thunder" and didn't care about its melodies and choruses...
The guy i was with had never heard of NMA but was absolutely blown away by BDAW to the point that we listened to it in the van 6 times. He has since bought the album. Interestingly he wasn't too keen on the older stuff.
So, later NMA from the 2000's better to recommend to new "ears" than famous old NMA albums??

All people i know who are mixed about NMA or don't like too much their music seem to dig NAVIGATING BY THE STARS.