Guillaume, yes, I would agree that "Thunder and Consolation" may be NMA's high point. Very strong songs, mature, different styles...a great album. Just saying when I first played it, it sure didn't reach out to me. I had to work hard to get into that album. There are some weak songs on the album ("Archway Towers," "I Love The World" with its incessant "I love the world, I love the world" chorus) and "Inheritance" was way too odd for me to grasp at first. A song with just drums? Never heard anything like that before. (Years later I actually took my guitar and laid guitar chords over it. Made it a better tune.) But, overall, I and most others would say that "Thunder and Consolation" is probably NMA's strongest album.
As for the follow-up album "Impurity," well, that album has two of NMA's greatest songs: "Space" and "Lurhstaap." The other ten songs on the album could be crap and the album would still be great simply because of those two masterpieces. But the other ten songs aren't crap. Some good stuff on "Impurity." It does weaken in the middle with "Marrakesh," "Lust For Power," and "Bury The Hatchet;" but the rest of the album is a blast to listen to. Probably their last great album until 2014's "Dog and Wolf." That's 24 years of just blah albums. Man, the first ten years of NMA's career were just one top album, one top single after another. Those were the days.