A list that belongs on the METAL top ten.... imagine that
Jun 10 '01
The Bottom Line A purely metal list.
OK, I'm sick of reading the other lists. Plenty of good lists, but by god I got to this topic by clicking on freakin metal, not hard rock. Here's a list of ten albums/bands that make the grade in my book. In no particular order, just off the top of my head.
Type O Negative- World Coming Down
This is one of very few metal bands played on the radio, and while Bloody Kisses will always have a special place in my heart for being the album that inspired me to dig in the underground and thus find the real metal underworld, World Coming Down is slightly better. Awesome vocals and very satisfyingly gothic (and I don't mean gothic like the sorry average "gothic" club plays), Type O melded a bit of Black Sabbath like riffing into their somber sound to make this masterpiece.
Moonspell- All
You either love or hate this band generally, and you can argue that they got weaker or jumped on a bandwagon, but I say whatever sound they have used, it has ALWAYS sounded original and very good. From the black metal with gothic tones heard on Under The Moonspell and Wolfheart (my favorite) to the ultimate gothic metal sound on Irreligious to the spacey erotic sounds on Sin/Pecado to the current industrial tinged Butterfly Effect, Moonspell sounds great every time. Every album is very different, so I included Moonspell on the list as a band, but if you must know Wolfheart gets the nod as their best.
At The Gates- Slaughter of the Soul
On many lists, this album is second to Slayer's Reign In Blood. I say Slayer sucks elephant balls and At The Gates destroys them with this album. The ultimate in p!ssed off, aggressive death/thrash, this album will take your head off with relentless blast beats that give way just before they annoy you to ripping grooves and rhythms garunteed to make you bang various appendages in time and want to organize a mosh pit just because you can. Intense and VERY heavy.
In Flames- Everything
I cannot in good conscience name just one album.... I must nominate everything I've heard, The Jester Race, Wh@reacle, Clayman, and Colony. Learn the names and go find them. Pioneers of the melodic death metal coined the Gothenburg sound, these guys will amaze with their technical skills as well as sheer heaviness. Incredible band.
Mental Home- Black Art
I love atmosphere and gothic elements in my metal music, I like tasteful and relevant keyboards. Until I heard this album, I never knew what it would sound like if the keyboards served as a dueling instrument alongside the guitars WITHOUT COMPROMISING HEAVINESS. More than just an excuse for a mystical sounding mellow break or a haunting noodling piece here and there, the 'boards swirl around the guitar parts, which are engaged in a battle of tight and incredible rhythms and fluid and frenetic leads. Throw in chorus like samples and atmosphereic samples that once again do not compromise heaviness in the slightest, and I garuntee this album will leave you wondering what you just heard the first time. WAY too much too absorb with only a few listens. A year after I first purchased this album, I'm still hearing new and exciting elements every time I listen. Timeless.
Tiamat- Wildhoney
I love the heavier sounds on The Astral Sleep and Clouds, but Wildhoney is a unique listening experience that entrances me every time. Disturbingly beautiful, haunting, cryptic, and at times heavy all at once. The best in atmospheric/gothic metal, DO NOT listen to this album alone if you are depressed! Pink Floyd goes metal and wrestles with some real internal issues! The sound Tiamat achieved on this album is the one they should've stopped with instead of delving into the drivel they put out on later albums.
Amorphis- take your pick
Amorphis slays, from the old pure death metal on the incredible Tales From The Thousand Lakes to the experiments resulting in Elegy and Tuonela to the perfection achieved in their newest, Am Universum. Tales and Am Universum are my personal favorites. Tales From The Thousand Lakes is one of my favorite death metal albums of all time, dominated by astounding european folk set to metal meeting up with riffing on par with Metallica's best from back in the day. Only rather monotone vocal delivery holds this album back, but the music is in a league of its own. Am Universum is the culmination of their experimentation with new sounds. I can only describe it as straight ahead rock/metal with trippy seventies elements that sounds too original and to good for the radio masses that thickens and gets louder as each song goes on. They use multiple instruments that shouldn't have any business being on a metal album, such as trumpets and a sax, but they pull it off somehow. Hypnotic.
Ocean Machine- Biomech
This is a one album side project from Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad). If any of you have listened to any Strapping Young Lad, you already know Devin has some twisted thoughts running around in his mind, and through Strapping Young Lad he lets loose his anger, agression, and frustration on the world, not holding back anything. Ocean Machine strikes me as a vehicle for his frustration, sadness, boredom, and depression. The music is some tight industrial tinged metal minus the arhythmic qualities present in most SYL, much mellower and more melodic. The music, like SYL, is absolutely fueled with emotion. This is music with the writer's heart into it. Anyone into metal period should get their hands on this, including fans of SYL.
Dammit, that's eight.... oh well, a few quickie bands that more people have probably heard of, and some honorable mentions.
Metallica.... Master of Puppets
Pantera.... Vulgar Display of Power
Megadeth.... Rust In Peace
Samael.... Ceremony of Opposites, Eternal
Therion.... Symphony Masses Ho Draken Ho Megas
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supraliminal
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Location: norfolk, VA United States
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Guitar playing song writing freak for 8 of my 22 years.
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