Bang your head to 50 great albums.
 

Terrible title I know! The idea of this thread is to provide a countdown of my favourite 50 Metal albums. I have started a few fave album threads in various guises without attaining personal gratification but this is a genre I feel I can give justice to.

There is a small amount of criteria. I won't include bands that have adopted a Metal sound through their history so this would include artists as diverse as Porcupine Tree (who began life as a prog band) or D.R.I (who began as a Hardcore Punk Band).

I will however include every genre attatched to the metal genre no matter how splintered their sound may have become as long as the original sound was metal. Prog/Thrash/Death/Speed/trad etc are all included in this list.

I am hoping that a few albums that slipped through the net first time around may get more notice but also provide a 'fan's' list and not a cliched run down of the usual suspects.

Also the fact that a band is low down on the list shouldn't reduce it's merit as I have around 500 metal albums and it's a difficult task choosing!

Possessed (to an extent), Morbid Angel, Death and of course Obituary. All titans of the Death Metal scene but Obituary will always be one of the most distinctive and recognisable.

Obituary's sound always moved effortlessly from doomy sludgy riffs to speed bursts all topped with a genuinely unique vocalist in John Tardy whose voice is far removed from the cookie monster vocals of many bands that followed in their wake. I often get bored with near permanent doomy riffs or continuous speed so Obituary fit the mould perfectly balancing the two whilst also having a relatively clean sound which is not always the case in Death Metal.

When it comes to Death Metal you really do only need a handful of albums. This is one of them (terrible snare sound aside!).



Despite stating it's the original it's a re-recorded version they did a few years back but still killer.

No PM'S are available to all.

I have decided not to include any stoner rock and Anant Garde Metal if it comes from that background and uses metal riffs instead of a metal band using avant garde techniques (if that makes sense).

Onwards and upwards.


Well here we have some nu metal but this is no ordinary nu metal. For a start it's one of the earliest examples of the genre. It is also most certainly not groove based and the sampling and scratching used is an integral part of their sound and not just an add on to be used as a gimmick.

Senser were a part of the infamous 'Squat' bands who formed in squats in the ealy 90's and often had political agendas and played music with various genre styles.

Before the whole Rap/Metal hybrid became a walking cliche, Senser was making music with genuine attitude and a sound that borrowed as much from late 80's Hip Hop as it did Metal. What makes them so effective is the rapping of Heitham Al-Sayed and the melodic vocals of Kerstin Haigh giving each song an identity and not always a 'rapping over crunchy riff' banality. Many songs barely feature guitar at all adding another dimension.

Undeniably dated yet ridiculously forgotten with the explosion stateside of many inferior (IMO) bands with a Nu Metal tag, it still is very listenable and distinctive. I caught them live last year in a small 300 capacity club and they absolutely kicked ass after a hiatus whilst Kerstin Haigh bore children.

You may find this old hat but you have to remember the time it came out and at that time very few bands were fusing these genres and not many bands since have done it so well.

hearing that Obituary track made me whip out my only classic straight death metal album, 'Scream Bloody Gore', whicn i treasure. I will hassle you for a rink in due course if that's okay.

Senser are amazing, i take it they're british? old skool british hip hop is few and far between so that would be a real treat, they remind me alot of some of those early PE tracks where they sampled metal - the same hard-hitting raw politicking (made up word/spelling)
this is the best kind of thread you could have stickied, whatever happened to your history of thrash metal project? If that died a death it goes without saying i hope you will be incorporating it into this one

Green Carnation album/song is just fantastic except for the female vocals in the middle. Otherwise though it was a great ride.

Do you have the original version of Slowly We Rot?

Yes I do. An upload will be forthcoming.

Senser are indeed British but alas; I think only a few of us will like them due to the Hip Hop influences, compared to say Stinkin Fart who just add a few lines to each track and made bloody millions!

Can a mod clean this thread up a little please as it's turned into another bitchfest :(


It's happened again hasn't it? Yet another Metal album that balances musical dexterity with passion and intelligence get's completely overlooked. Probably because it's not deemed 'heavy' enough by the usual close minded crowd.

Imagine a combination of Opeth's more mellow moments, Porcupine Tree's juxtapostion of light and dark with a smattering of Tool without the obvious chugging riffs and you are half way there.

The album works more on mood and atmosphere than conventional riffs and is all the better for it. If you dislike metal due to the ill percieved simplicity and crass delivery then this album should change your mind.

Lyrically poignant and musically uplifting yet sombre, Anathema are a thinking mans Metal band who barely conform to the cliches associated with the genre.

Quite simply it is one of those albums that sneaks up on you and ensnares you it's eloquence and beauty.

Only Anathema album I have is A Natural Disaster but after this little write up I might check out this one.

It rips off Black Sabbath! Who cares! It's bloody brilliant. Unlike many so called 'stoner' bands (who I won't include in this list), EW's sound is certainly not the groove blues based sound that it so indicative of that genre. Instead EW go for the huge sludgy riffs that we all want to hear but lose the polished sound of similar bands that smacks of an easy cop out to me.

The production sounds like a guy has just stuck a mic on all the amps and recorded it ad hoc and didn't bother mixing the album, thus giving us a warts and all 'live' feel to the album.

It is certainly one of the heaviest albums I have ever heard and that raw quality is to be commended in this day and age of over-production. Once again I won't comment on every single track and instead advise you to just download the damn thing and have your head blown off!

Sure there are negatives. Many tracks are nothing more than a collection of riffs and song structure is not a forte but when all you want is riffs, riffs and more riffs then it fit's the bill admirably.

Think that the desert scene captures a raw sludgy sound in all it's glory? Pah! You haven't heard anything yet!

Dopethrone is one of my very favourite records. I didn't think you liked Electric Wizard though? Did your opinion on this band change over time, or did i just have it all wrong? Anyway, i pretty much agree with everything you said about it and for me, it's their best release to date. Come My Fanatics is a fantastic record but i feel that with this one it was produced a little more, albet very slightly and not enough to stray too far from their roots, the drums sounded more prolific which is one thing that annoyed me a little about CMF. Electric Wizard opened the door to stoner rock/doom metal for me and im yet to find a band or record that i actually prefer over this one.

I did comment on not liking Witchfinder General which shocked me too so maybe it was that? I readily admit to disliking a lot of stoner rock due to it's banality but EW are far and above that. I really did want to revisit St. Vitus Dance, a band from the early 80's who had a similar sound but I lost my copy years ago and cannot find a decent download. I'm not sure whether they would have made the 50 but I would love to hear the album again.

That Anathema record is another of the few that lasted from my days of metal, along with Natural Disaster and Alternative 4, which is much much much heavier. Judgement is the best of the crop though. I think it's generally overlooked because a lot of metal fans just want the heaviest, most intense experience and completely overlook beautiful albums such as this and Damnation by Opeth. At least, all the metal people I hung out with at school called it a *** album. Obviously that's just a bunch of idiots that overlook some of the best music of the only genre they listen to to uphold an image. Sad, if you ask me.

EDIT: And I can't believe that some noob actually posted in here saying he hopes you don't put up Slipknot. That's quite an insult, though I'm sure he doesn't know your musical tastes yet.

If I can get a link to #50 and #48 it'd be greatly appreciated. Those tracks were truly rad.

PM on way. Hope you like and respond in the thread :)

dopethrone, great choice. funeralopolis has one of the greatest riffs ever. only album i have by electric wizard though, any recommendations?

yeah I am also a big fan of Dopethrone, isn't it great that they're from Dorset? about as far removed from the desert as you can get
to CC i would recommend Come My Fanatics

I'm impressed with your list making skills, usually you get a terribly biased and one sided list bu you're covering a lot. Keep it up! I'm really curious if some of my favorite albums will be on here.

hmm so far this list is pretty trash sorry .....

Each to their own not that I give a toss really. The world would be boring if we all liked the same albums.

Your assessment of Dopethrone is pretty spot on. They have some fantastic riffs, but they just seem to go no where. I do think "Funeralopolis" is a brilliant song, however.

There are many bands within metal who distort the boundaries of what's acceptable musically and all too often bands are too outlandish for the sake of it and lose their identity and overall sound. Not so with Dog Fashion Disco. Like a bastard offspring of Mr. Bungle but with more of a grounding in Metal, DFD peddle a furious mish mash of sick humour, crunchy riffs and a playful sound that stretches into Jazz, Vaudeville with an infectious backdrop of the sound of a church organ underpinning most of their music.

I first encountered DFD on a freebie disc that came with a Metal mag and they immediatedly stood out amongst the crowd. The Metal template is adhered to but they frequently took trips into territory that most Metal bands daren't approach with fear of coming across as kooky and phony.

They are relatively easy to listen to yet sound like no one else out there. When bands manage to pull this off in the hermetically sealed world of metal and still are easy to listen to then in a listening spree of over 20 years of Metal I have to sit up and take notice.

The album never becomes too alienating or overblown to become unlistenable and it remains cohesive and challenging with each listen. I love it when bands fuck with genre conventions yet still remain listenable.

Care to elaborate or are you just going to continue to think that your opinion on its is worth two shits?

Like others on here, I`m enjoying the list and the first couple of entries like Obituary I was familiar with. Both Electric Wizard and Anathema are both new to me though and its kind of good to see some British bands doing some great metal again despite being very different styles........hey, and a band from Dorset!

Electric Wizard sounded how I expected it to sound so no surprises there, but as you say its gut wrenchingly heavy and a great listen but the only downside is the length 71 mins!!!

Anathema are a completely different kettle a fish and it`s hard to believe that they started off a death/doom metal outfit and by the time "Judgement" had come around they were producing I suppose a kind of ambient metal. I noticed the group has had a large amount of line-up changes as well. When I was listening to the album, it had a metal feel but it was without the metal sound and as you say its rather like some of Opeth`s more mellow moments but I could certainly hear bits of Radiohead and even more interestingly Wishbone Ash, I expected them at anytime to go on and sing the Wishbone Ash line "Time Was......" Anyway I`m certainly going to investigate more stuff by them.

Keep up the good work with the reviews.

Waiting to see how many Scott Hull bands are on the list.

Who were you thinking of?

Well Pig Destroyer has to be on there somewhere.
Head in a Pickle jar might not make a top 50, but Agorophobic Nosebleed should.
How people enjoy Anal **** varies, so I doubt it will be on the list.
Japanese Comedy Torture Hour (I think it's called) could be there.

Man that album is so good! I don't listen to much metal nowdays, but when i do it's proper stuff like this.

AC who take their name from a reinterpretation of the Faust legend (the talking monkey) are a truly unique band in extreme Metal who take in Black, Death, Progressive and Ambient influences to create something wholly original that proves difficult for many fans to buy into. Extremely brutal at times, their music is classic Black/Death Metal full of gruff vocals and blast beats that purveyors of the genre love but put that against Progressive elements that have clean harmonious vocals and guitar motifs that are very mellow and some hardened fans may not appreciate the juxtaposition.

It's all too easy to appear to stand out from the crowd by mixing these polar opposites yet AC are equally adept at both. You could dip into this album at various points and think that it was two completely different bands, so good are they at both elements of musical expression. Despite having openly Satanic beliefs, the band generally eschew the cliches of the genre, instead they wear tailored suits and are lyrically philosophical.

A brilliantly realised album that is jam packed with brilliant musical passages, it's an album that could change your attitude about what extreme metal is capable of. Shelter From The Sand is one of the finest Metal songs you haven't heard.

Here are two examples of how two sides of music collide yet still remain cohesive. Taken from the same album.

Some very tasteful metal ekcords thus far. Would like to see some more of the kind I can actually bang me head to, though.

I did say that the thread title sucked!

Nice thread! I'm looking forward to reading more.

A few seem undecided on this album. Maybe this will change your mind. It's a long track so I was hesitant to post it but it's so damn good.

Okay, I'm sold. I have to check this album out. Some of the guitar playing on that actually reminded me of Killing Joke strangely enough. Definitely a welcome change coming from a metal guitarist.

I gave a listen to that Akercocke album this morning, great stuff JH! Hearing the whole thing I have to say I noticed even more of a Killing Joke influence. Definitely unusual for this kind of band and pretty cool for a Killing Joke fan like myself.

It's funny that you mention Killing Joke because during my first listen I really didn't hear it, but after my second one I really can. I ended up listening to their debut album twice today and then Hosannas from the Basement of Hell in the car while running errands.

I must admit to not noticing that before but now you mention it- there is a whiff of their sound especially regarding the guitars. Glad you liked it!

That Senser album you sent me was absolutely mind blowing.
Do you recomend anything else by them?