Mondo Bungle

31. Burzum - Burzum (1992)



Varg is the undisputed king of black metal, no doubt about it. When this came out, his contemporaries in Mayhem and such were still screwing around with their thrashy/deathy sound, but the sound on Burzum nailed it. Black metal was dialed in now, the riffs, the imagery, all came from this. I can only imagine some Norwegian metalheads walking into Helvete and seeing that cover, thinking "damn, what is this all about?" Buying and listening to it on impulse and being utterly dumbfounded when "Feeble Screams From Forests Unknown" began.

The first thing they'd hear, I bet they were thinking it was sick.


And then Immortal released Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism a couple months later, and black metal was in full swing.

__________________

Mondo Bungle

32. Merciless - The Awakening (1989)



The first album to come from Euronymous' Deathlike Silence label, and pretty much a gold standard death/thrash album. Much like PTK Kreator, but a whole new animal on it's own. Tremolos and shrieks, and never ending speed make this album not only a classic, but high among the ranks of late 80s extreme metal, and surely this would inspire a legion of bands trying to mimic the sound. But Merciless was just that, merciless. An unmatched album of pure speed and brutality. Maybe not as "good" as Morbid Angel and the others around, but you still gotta give credit where credit is due.

__________________

The Batlord

Out of the four big bands of the Swedish death metal scene (Nihilist and Carnage having broken up before things really gelled) Grave probably get the least press: Entombed kicked the whole scene off, Dismember released arguably the most critically acclaimed Swedish DM album, and Unleashed have those Viking lyrics. But this album might just be my fav release from that part of the metal world. Combining the simpler, groove-laden sound and buzzsaw production of Swedish death metal, and the more aggressive brutality of their brothers in Florida, Grave were easily the most brutal of the Swedish bands. This release is just a brutish monster of a death metal album that rips out your throat and sacrifices it to its unholy lord.

__________________

Trollheart

Think of it as I said: someone like Justin who's young, has no idea what metal is and didn't even know about Maiden till a few months ago. Someone like that would not know SfV. Don't assume that just because we all know it that it isn't eligible or worth including. You're educating the metalheads of tomorrow, Batty, so make sure their education is total, yeah?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

mythsofmetal

An excellent yet sadly belated/delayed debut album headed by one of the two guys to initially create and start to pioneer the second wave of Black Metal's style of guitar riffing, Euronymous of Mayhem being the other. However due to certain circumstances, Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch was sentenced to prison for aiding Varg Vikernes in carrying out the murder of Euronymous. This album is great, and intense, with an interesting addition of synths and industrial influences. This album probably wouldn't have been what his debut would've been if he hadn't been jailed, but it's great nonetheless, and feels like the bands' style had been carefully adapted to the times to stay relatively fresh, yet be just as dark, menacing and interesting as his early demos presented.

The Batlord

Need more doom. Epic, heavy, and bleak, this album may not be the first doom metal album, but its influence is such that it almost might as well be. With this album Candlemass pretty much laid down the trad doom sound which countless bands have been copying ever since. Even today, there aren't any albums I can think of that can so vividly conjure an atmosphere of gothic horror.

__________________

Trollheart

Italian metal band singing about Celtic heroes and legends? This album seriously blew me away when I reviewed it for the original Metal Month. Needs to be heard.

For more read here: http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1372399

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Batlord

^^^

You do realize you didn't mention anything about what the band actually sounds like, don't you?

__________________

Frownland

Italian. Need he say more?

Ja, probably.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

The Batlord

I guess that means they play opera.

__________________