Yo everybody! I've been listening to a lot of stuff lately, particularly thrash metal, and I've been thinking a lot of how some bands are really overrated. Particularly in thrash there are many bands to be found that meet that criteria. I'm sure you're already on to a few of those which I'm about to talk about. But instead of dragging my shit any further, let's start looking the actual overrated metal bands (of all styles).
***Just note***This list doesn't necessarily intend to make these bands appear as bad ones. Just overrated in some kind of sense, which I will also describe in their descriptions respectively.
***Extra note***If you xpected to see some shitty band that is missing, then maybe it's just so shitty that I simply don't listen to it altogether. Examples: Limb Bizkit, FFDP, Slipknot, etc.
10. Iron Maiden
To start off this list I'll go with my very first favorite band in metal. Now, Iron Maiden is awesome, most of us agree on that, but many of us also cannot deny the fact that they're very, very repetitive. I mean, how many galloping bass lines can you make songs out of? Many, apparently. Also, let me just point out that my favorite songwriter in Maiden is Adrian Smith.
9. Sepultura
Another great band ... until "Roots" came along. I absolutely love Sepultura pre-"Chaos A.D." and post-"Kairos", but most of those records in between there were not at all my kind of metal, and my opinion says that I don't understand how "Roots" (in particular) could become so popular.
8. Van Halen
An absolutely amazing quartet of musicians, both the Van Roth and Van Hagar eras, although I never ever liked the Van Hagar era. I listened a lot to these guys during my first few years as a headbanger, and while they're perhaps not that "metal", they still apply to us metalheads, I believe. But what happened is that they did an awesome debut record, and went straight downhill after that. The other David Lee Roth-fronted albums all had a few songs each of interest, but not really that much worthy of noting (although the musicianship was always great).
7. Kreator
Three words plus one equals? "Pleasure To Kill" = awesome. I love that record. The one before it, the debut, was pretty okey as well. However, after PTK I just don't know what the fuck happened. I just find the rest of their stuff to be very boring thrash. Also, "Extreme Aggression" is one of those classic examples of what kind of sound/production a metal record should not have. It just strips away all the weight from the music. It's supposed to sound heavy, right? Well, it fucking doesn't.
6. Morbid Angel
Much like the Kreator of death metal to me. "Altars Of Madness", of course, is an awesome classic. After that I just thought they lost it. I know many people like a few more records they did, but I just don't think they could ever match the success of their debut ever again.
5. Metallica
"Oh, what an obvious choice!", I can hear you thinking. Well, people are right about Metallica being overrated. Partially. Their first four are fucking awesome, I will always love them. However, post-"...And Justice For All" they've been most mediocre or outright bad. I mean, I understand why people love the first four albums, but that's not enough to make them as big as they indeed are. So yes, they are one of the most overrated metal bands. Plain and simple.
4. Sodom
Oooo, now I'm starting to invade on dangerous territory. I am very well aware of how much appreciated Sodom are with metal fans, but I simply could never really understand the fuzz about them. I found it even harder after hearing "Agent Orange", their perhaps most loved and well-known record, because to me it just sounds like a manifest of stolen riffs. I can hear Megadeth, Sacred Reich and other stuff in that. They just never came along as very original to me. With that said there still are some stuff I appreciate, like "Tapping The Vein" for instance. That one is pretty cool.
3. Exodus
Now I'm slowly conquering just about every thrasher's closed-minded ego here. If any band on this list were plain out bad, then that one band certainly is Exodus. I can honestly say that I've never ever understood what so many people see in their music. To me, they just sound so goddamn fucking boring. Unimaginative riffs, uninspired songs, and worst of all are the extremely cartoonish B-rate vocals a'la Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill) style.All I can say whenever I hear Steve "Zetro" Souza, at least in Exodus (he was pretty good in Tenet), is "thank Satan that Testament got Chuck Billy instead". I honestly did not even think that the widely acclaimed "Bonded By Blood" album was anything special. Thanks but no thanks, Exodus.
2. Slayer
And now I've officially pissed off every metal around the world. Well, honestly, I know I don't have. I actually think it's relatively common to see metalheads express their distaste for Slayer these days. Not that I don't like 'em, fuck no, I love Slayer! Don't get me wrong, they're fucking awesome! I especially love the "Hell Awaits" album, but everything up till "Divine Intervention" is very good, really. It's just that they lost their steam after that, and there are so many other bands that do or did a similar thing to what Slayer did, but even better. I mean, "Reign In Blood" is by far the most overrated thing about Slayer. Ever heard Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" album, or Kreator's "Pleasure To Kill"? Pretty much the same thing, only way better, and both of those were (also) released in 1986. Catch my drift? Very good band, just not that good.
1. Nirvana
And the crowned king of this list is none other than the grunge kings Nirvana. I'll admit that I at one point in time did listen to them, a bit (like five songs), when I was like 12 (I am almost 26 now). As I grew up, however, they sound like nothing but children's or angsty teens' "punk" rock to my ears. I'm not overly too fond of grunge otherwise either, but I do love Alice in Chains in particular, and I enjoy listening to some earlier Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone as well. But Nirvana? No. Once again, they're not really a metal band, but since grunge is generally affiliated with metal and its fans, I chose to include (and crown) them for this list.
...
I hope you enjoyed this list. Remember, this is just my opinion. It doesn't mean shit to you, just like yours means shit to me. But it can be fun to share and discuss. Well, this is my invitation to discussion, agreement or disagreement.
Peace! //J.
tisdag 24 maj 2016
söndag 22 maj 2016
My Top-10 Favorite TV Shows Of All Time
In all my boredom at night I decided to do a top-10 of my favorite TV shows of all time. Really a quite simple task, except I stopped watching TV in 2007 pretty much altogether. I was fed up with all the fake-ass competition shows, stupid reality shows, uninspired series, and most of all those never-ending fucking commercials, a.k.a. propaganda. I didn't even have any TV channels for almost three years when I lived on my own, before I met my girlfriend. Now she wants TV, but I rarely watch it to this day.
So basically this is now rather a list of a top-10 few shows I actually did watch at some point, but I still managed to try out a bunch more throughout the years via Netflix, watching with friends and whatnot. But these ten are the shows I remember with most joy.
10. Biker Mice From Mars
This was likely the first show I ever truly loved. I remember in like 1995, as a kid, sitting on the floor before the TV and watching this show in awe. I loved everything about it: they were cool mice-men, rode motorcycles, had attitude, listened to heavy metal, and drank root beer - which in Sweden was dubbed to "läskeblask", meaning soda pop rather than root beer, which I of course thought looked like Coke, which was and still is my favorite drink ever. I guess this show had a great impact on my future, as I grew up listening to metal music and loving motorcycles. My favorite character was Throttle.
9. Hell On Wheels
The latest TV shows I've watched about cowboys. Perhaps not so much about cowboys as I initially had hoped for, but it's still a very interesting show from a historical point of view, and some of the acting is very good as well. A rather underrated TV show in modern TV history, that sadly has gone through a lot of trouble and is now sadly ending after a delayed, but also partially disappointing, last fifth season. My favorite characters are Durant and "the Swede" (who is really Norwegian, and totally hilarious).
8. Prison Break
I watched this faithfully during in its entire original run from 2005-2009. I even remember the third season being delayed and shortened to a half-season in 2007, because the economy crashed and Hollywood was striking, if I remember correctly? Anyway, this show had an an absolutely amazing and thrilling first season with a great plot, characters and MacGuyver-ish solutions for the escape plan. But the show's downfall was in a way it's own name, as a prison break can only go on for so long. The break was done and over by the first season's end, and after that it was just a constant bland soup of repetitiveness and new story turns.
The second season was really an unimaginative and very repetitive 22-episode series of cat-and-mouse play where several characters, including keys, were caught and escaped, over and over by several times. By it's end, some of them went back to (another, more brutal) prison. Season 3 dealt with a prison break from the new prison, which was nowhere near as good or interesting as the first, but managed to at least keep relevant to the series name. Season 4 was the last season and dealt with another irrelevant story line, which only served a few purposes for the story's background to the first imprisonment. Not very interesting or original, to say the least.
Though most people probably didn't reflect on it, this show pretty much doomed itself right from the start by choosing its name. Season 2 were basically cops and robbers, while season 3 only served the show's name and initial story theme half-hearted, while season 4 certainly had gone from Prison Break to Conspiracy Break. Lame. It was sad to follow such a good and promising series just become dull and uninspired, for the money-hungry assholes willing only.
My favorite characters are Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, John Abruzzi, and Alexander Mahone.
7. The Simpsons
Teen cartoons. I kind of started with South Park when I was 12 or so, but later stopped watching it (probably because MTV is gay and stopped airing it just like music), only to later watch The Simpsons daily after school. It's so light, fun, and down-to-earth. I love it still. My favorite characters are Homer, Bart, Otto, Mr. Burns, and Chief Wiggum.
6. Hem Till Midgård
An old Swedish series which in English translates to "Home To Midgard", and is a comedy show about failed vikings. It's rather silly at pretty much all times, holding itself at a rather childish level with a lot of poop jokes and similar themes. But they're so funny in their different personas and how they fight among themselves, not to mention how they always fail at trying to be successful vikings. If you could find it with English subtitles, I'd totally recommend it. My favorite characters are all four of the key characters, they're just so awesome each one of them.
5. Vikings
And another series about vikings, simply called "Vikings", but this time in a serious and historical/educational way. This series is not only good but indeed very educational. I don't quite know how accurate its facts are, but it's interesting to watch and learn anyway. The show also keeps a good pace throughout with a lot of fighting and progression, as well as spontaneous character killings, going on at all times. It's very unpredictable to say the least, but it's also well-acted and looks good - nice settings, scenery, clothing, etc. My favorite characters are Ragnar, Lagertha, and Floki.
4. Miami Vice
I obviously wasn't around when this show originally aired, being born the year after it ended in fact. But my love and fascination for the 1980's grew strong early on with the music, clothing and great movies that decade offered. I started watching Miami Vice when I was 15 and the DVD boxes were released. People were talking about the show as something of the best to come out of that decade, and I understand why. I've seen so many 80's shows like Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., and MacGuyver, and none of those hold up to this day in comparison with Miami Vice.
Now, what made me love this show so much is its way of perfectly put together story with scenery and music. That is also what really makes it hold up to this day, despite it really being overly 80's because of its traits. But, that is also exactly why it's still so good - because it's a great historical documentation about what the 80's were. Well, the American 1980's anyway. Watching this show really gives a nice look into that decade's clothing and car fashion, music, architecture and much else. I can only say that I was born and am young in the wrong era. My favorite characters are Sonny Crockett, Zito and Gina.
3. Married With Children
The first and last sitcom on this list. I never was much for them to be honest. I always found shows like Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory to be rather boring, while other shows like Friends were a lot better. But Married With Children took the cake for me. It was actually the last show I discovered through TV and started to watch regularly, still to this day. I was talking with my buddy on the phone in 2007 while he suddenly shouted, "dude, turn on channel 6! There's a really hot girl on right now!", and so I did. Kelly Bundy, that's who he meant of course. It was a re-run of one of the earlier seasons, like 1989 maybe, when she was this mega-hot rocker chick with big hair, which I just love. After that, I started watching the series simply because I wanted to see more of her.
Quickly I started to recognize the series from my childhood. It was Al Bundy sitting on that ugly-ass couch that I recognized rather strongly. I must've watched it with my mom or something as a small kid. Anyway, I was turning 17 in late 2007, so I was probably 16 when I first saw this show, and a 16 year old puberty rocker into 80's hair metal girls ... let me tell you, my friends, ... that certainly is something to get the testosterone and hormones going. From that moment and for the two years to come, Kelly Bundy actually became my teenage crush, even though Christina Applegate at the time was pushing 40. But still, her Kelly Bundy character (and appearance) was immortalized in this show, and I was living in my own little made-up 80's world during all my teens.
But looking beyond that, the show was not all about Kelly Bundy, but I actually found it to be a great and fun show as well. All the characters, especially Al, are just hilarious and in many ways even role-models for the common man. In the end, I watched through all the episodes and I still to this day think of Al Bundy in many everyday scenarios, especially when life sucks (haha). I also remember Kelly Bundy as a big part of my later teens, and though she was a fictional character which happened to be my teenage crush (15 years too late, but still), she made a better, not to mention sexier, dream-girlfriend than what my actual girlfriends did during my teens.
2. Game of Thrones
Everybody knows GoT, right? Perhaps not everyone watches it, but they are certainly well aware of it. It's just, like, the biggest show in the world right now, and rightly so if you ask me. Initially it took me like three times trying before I got into it - it was just too many characters and too much blab to go through. But I started to like it eventually. Now I am somewhat of a fanboy over it, despite not having read the books (I hate reading books). I just love the deep characters and unpredictable story, and of course, the sex and violence. My favorite characters are Tyrion, Bronn, the Hound, Oberyn Martell, and Dolorous Edd.
1. Sons of Anarchy
And here we have the king of this list. Like with Game of Thrones, many of you people surely did follow SoA during its run, at least at some point. It had a good seven season long run and ended about a year and a half ago. The biker lifestyle depicted in this show is just very interesting to follow, to me as a motorcycle enthusiast. The acting was also very good most of the times, with only a few very minor character sometimes not being quite up-to-par with the otherwise amazing regular cast. This is the kind of show I'd like to follow, a deep and rich story arc that ends in a bittersweet way.
So basically this is now rather a list of a top-10 few shows I actually did watch at some point, but I still managed to try out a bunch more throughout the years via Netflix, watching with friends and whatnot. But these ten are the shows I remember with most joy.
10. Biker Mice From Mars
This was likely the first show I ever truly loved. I remember in like 1995, as a kid, sitting on the floor before the TV and watching this show in awe. I loved everything about it: they were cool mice-men, rode motorcycles, had attitude, listened to heavy metal, and drank root beer - which in Sweden was dubbed to "läskeblask", meaning soda pop rather than root beer, which I of course thought looked like Coke, which was and still is my favorite drink ever. I guess this show had a great impact on my future, as I grew up listening to metal music and loving motorcycles. My favorite character was Throttle.
9. Hell On Wheels
The latest TV shows I've watched about cowboys. Perhaps not so much about cowboys as I initially had hoped for, but it's still a very interesting show from a historical point of view, and some of the acting is very good as well. A rather underrated TV show in modern TV history, that sadly has gone through a lot of trouble and is now sadly ending after a delayed, but also partially disappointing, last fifth season. My favorite characters are Durant and "the Swede" (who is really Norwegian, and totally hilarious).
8. Prison Break
I watched this faithfully during in its entire original run from 2005-2009. I even remember the third season being delayed and shortened to a half-season in 2007, because the economy crashed and Hollywood was striking, if I remember correctly? Anyway, this show had an an absolutely amazing and thrilling first season with a great plot, characters and MacGuyver-ish solutions for the escape plan. But the show's downfall was in a way it's own name, as a prison break can only go on for so long. The break was done and over by the first season's end, and after that it was just a constant bland soup of repetitiveness and new story turns.
The second season was really an unimaginative and very repetitive 22-episode series of cat-and-mouse play where several characters, including keys, were caught and escaped, over and over by several times. By it's end, some of them went back to (another, more brutal) prison. Season 3 dealt with a prison break from the new prison, which was nowhere near as good or interesting as the first, but managed to at least keep relevant to the series name. Season 4 was the last season and dealt with another irrelevant story line, which only served a few purposes for the story's background to the first imprisonment. Not very interesting or original, to say the least.
Though most people probably didn't reflect on it, this show pretty much doomed itself right from the start by choosing its name. Season 2 were basically cops and robbers, while season 3 only served the show's name and initial story theme half-hearted, while season 4 certainly had gone from Prison Break to Conspiracy Break. Lame. It was sad to follow such a good and promising series just become dull and uninspired, for the money-hungry assholes willing only.
My favorite characters are Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell, John Abruzzi, and Alexander Mahone.
7. The Simpsons
Teen cartoons. I kind of started with South Park when I was 12 or so, but later stopped watching it (probably because MTV is gay and stopped airing it just like music), only to later watch The Simpsons daily after school. It's so light, fun, and down-to-earth. I love it still. My favorite characters are Homer, Bart, Otto, Mr. Burns, and Chief Wiggum.
6. Hem Till Midgård
An old Swedish series which in English translates to "Home To Midgard", and is a comedy show about failed vikings. It's rather silly at pretty much all times, holding itself at a rather childish level with a lot of poop jokes and similar themes. But they're so funny in their different personas and how they fight among themselves, not to mention how they always fail at trying to be successful vikings. If you could find it with English subtitles, I'd totally recommend it. My favorite characters are all four of the key characters, they're just so awesome each one of them.
5. Vikings
And another series about vikings, simply called "Vikings", but this time in a serious and historical/educational way. This series is not only good but indeed very educational. I don't quite know how accurate its facts are, but it's interesting to watch and learn anyway. The show also keeps a good pace throughout with a lot of fighting and progression, as well as spontaneous character killings, going on at all times. It's very unpredictable to say the least, but it's also well-acted and looks good - nice settings, scenery, clothing, etc. My favorite characters are Ragnar, Lagertha, and Floki.
4. Miami Vice
I obviously wasn't around when this show originally aired, being born the year after it ended in fact. But my love and fascination for the 1980's grew strong early on with the music, clothing and great movies that decade offered. I started watching Miami Vice when I was 15 and the DVD boxes were released. People were talking about the show as something of the best to come out of that decade, and I understand why. I've seen so many 80's shows like Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., and MacGuyver, and none of those hold up to this day in comparison with Miami Vice.
Now, what made me love this show so much is its way of perfectly put together story with scenery and music. That is also what really makes it hold up to this day, despite it really being overly 80's because of its traits. But, that is also exactly why it's still so good - because it's a great historical documentation about what the 80's were. Well, the American 1980's anyway. Watching this show really gives a nice look into that decade's clothing and car fashion, music, architecture and much else. I can only say that I was born and am young in the wrong era. My favorite characters are Sonny Crockett, Zito and Gina.
3. Married With Children
The first and last sitcom on this list. I never was much for them to be honest. I always found shows like Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory to be rather boring, while other shows like Friends were a lot better. But Married With Children took the cake for me. It was actually the last show I discovered through TV and started to watch regularly, still to this day. I was talking with my buddy on the phone in 2007 while he suddenly shouted, "dude, turn on channel 6! There's a really hot girl on right now!", and so I did. Kelly Bundy, that's who he meant of course. It was a re-run of one of the earlier seasons, like 1989 maybe, when she was this mega-hot rocker chick with big hair, which I just love. After that, I started watching the series simply because I wanted to see more of her.
Quickly I started to recognize the series from my childhood. It was Al Bundy sitting on that ugly-ass couch that I recognized rather strongly. I must've watched it with my mom or something as a small kid. Anyway, I was turning 17 in late 2007, so I was probably 16 when I first saw this show, and a 16 year old puberty rocker into 80's hair metal girls ... let me tell you, my friends, ... that certainly is something to get the testosterone and hormones going. From that moment and for the two years to come, Kelly Bundy actually became my teenage crush, even though Christina Applegate at the time was pushing 40. But still, her Kelly Bundy character (and appearance) was immortalized in this show, and I was living in my own little made-up 80's world during all my teens.
But looking beyond that, the show was not all about Kelly Bundy, but I actually found it to be a great and fun show as well. All the characters, especially Al, are just hilarious and in many ways even role-models for the common man. In the end, I watched through all the episodes and I still to this day think of Al Bundy in many everyday scenarios, especially when life sucks (haha). I also remember Kelly Bundy as a big part of my later teens, and though she was a fictional character which happened to be my teenage crush (15 years too late, but still), she made a better, not to mention sexier, dream-girlfriend than what my actual girlfriends did during my teens.
2. Game of Thrones
Everybody knows GoT, right? Perhaps not everyone watches it, but they are certainly well aware of it. It's just, like, the biggest show in the world right now, and rightly so if you ask me. Initially it took me like three times trying before I got into it - it was just too many characters and too much blab to go through. But I started to like it eventually. Now I am somewhat of a fanboy over it, despite not having read the books (I hate reading books). I just love the deep characters and unpredictable story, and of course, the sex and violence. My favorite characters are Tyrion, Bronn, the Hound, Oberyn Martell, and Dolorous Edd.
1. Sons of Anarchy
And here we have the king of this list. Like with Game of Thrones, many of you people surely did follow SoA during its run, at least at some point. It had a good seven season long run and ended about a year and a half ago. The biker lifestyle depicted in this show is just very interesting to follow, to me as a motorcycle enthusiast. The acting was also very good most of the times, with only a few very minor character sometimes not being quite up-to-par with the otherwise amazing regular cast. This is the kind of show I'd like to follow, a deep and rich story arc that ends in a bittersweet way.
torsdag 3 mars 2016
10 of the most disappointing metal albums ever
Have you ever been massively anticipating a band's new album, or discovered a new band whose shit you just seem to absolutely love, only to discover that most of their discography isn't at all the same quality as that which you discovered them through? I can be honest when I say that I rarely get disappointed by an album by bands I like, really just about whatever band it is in question. But sometimes, hell yeah, I have felt failed by my sworn idols.
Now, I really do support artistic freedom. After all - as a musician myself, I'd like to do whatever the fuck I want to do, but sometimes...your supporters just won't accept it. I'm gonna list ten albums down below that I felt disappointed about. This does not necessarily mean that I completely dislike the album, not at all, but simply that it (like really) didn't live up to my expectations, or just felt too different. Here we go...
10. DevilDriver - Beast
When this album hit in 2011 I wasn't exactly stoked - I wasn't really the bigget DevilDriver fan at that time, yet, but I knew them a little bit and I was fairly new to modern metal, so I figured I'd give 'em a fair chance. Well, after a fair chance I thought it was fair enough to say that it was one big disappointment. I didn't look back on it for several years after that, but these days I'm quite keen on their sound - like 'em a lot. However, while this certainly is not bad by any means, this does not really remain among my favorite DD albums either.
9. Chimaira - Crown Of Phantoms
I started listening to Chimaira in 2009 when they released "The Infection", which is my favorite album of theirs btw. They were, together with Lamb of God, like the first bands of modern metal that I came to appreciate. However, after a lot of touring for "The Infection", half of the band left, including powerhouse drummer Andols Herrick and their most unique addition to their sound, keyboardist/electronics specialist Chris Spicuzza. They made another album, "The Age Of Hell", in 2011 which wasn't really well received (I love it, though), and then both of the bands' longtime guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries left too.
2013 came and an all-new Chimaira, apart from ever-lasting frontman Mark Hunter, delivered "Crown Of Phantoms". What can I say about it? Some people think it kicks ass while others seem to dislike it. I, personally, just don't feel like it was Chimaira anymore. I mean, it obviously sounds completely like another band to me. The guitars (especially the solo stuff) and drums have different vibes and styles compared to before, which is logical, but just not the same. I simply just didn't like its sound and direction very much, and (un)fortunately(?) they broke up after this album. As I see it, it was for the better - the original band was already gone since a long time, and it didn't sound like Chimaira anymore. Yet, it's fucking sad that they're not around anymore.
8. Mötley Crüe - Theatre Of Pain
After a great debut album in "Too Fast For Love" and even greater follow-up in the legendary "Shout At The Devil", the Crüe traded in the red and black satanic leathers and imagery for happy-colored women's clothing with dots and shit on 'em. I just think their new image spoke for itself in the music as well - having closed the "Shout At The Devil" album with a song called "Danger", it was the last time the Crüe actually sounded and/or appeared dangerous as well. On this one, they just sound like whatever fucking party glam band there ever was. Some tunes are still good though, but I hate most of it.
7. Life of Agony - Ugly
After unleashing the lyrically deep, musically awesome and just ripping debut "River Runs Red" in 1993, as well as some great hardcore demos before it, Brooklyn's LoA released this in 1995. It's not a bad album, but it's fucking let down after the assault the debut provided. This just sounds a lot more "safe" and influenced by alternative/grunge music (something that would only progress further on later albums as well). Mjah, I just never quite felt this album.
6. Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying
I love Iron Maiden but after ten years they released this piece of shit. Yes, I called it that. I'm not a fucking fanboy - if a band, even if I really love 'em, releases a shit record, I will regard it as such. This was a shit record, kind of acknowledged by Steve Harris himself as well, but I was okey with it. Why was I? Because Maiden worked hard for over a decade, provided seven(!) amazing albums throughout the 80's, lost one of their key-writers (and my favorite writer in Maiden) in guitarist Adrian Smith the year before this album. They had a lot to live up to, and they failed this time around. It was understandable after so many years and albums. Sometime there must be a shit record. This was their first one (of very few). They compensated this failure with several amazing albums in the 2000's instead.
5. Megadeth - Th1rt3en
Dave Mustaine and his many different setups of company have been riding a lengthy roller-coaster when it comes to good and bad albums. They started off greatly with some awesome thrash albums in the 80's, then they made the highly acclaimed "Rust In Peace" which I actually never were very fond of, before jumpin' on Metallica's "black album-train" like so many others. They did the melodic "Youthanasia" in 1994 which I love, but after that they fucking lost it - well, until 2004's "The System Has Failed" anyway.
Dave and some of his companies did "United Abominations" and "Endgame" in the late 00's which I really liked as well, but after those came "Th1rt3en" - a mix of re-worked old vault songs as well as some new stuff, if I remember correctly. Well, I'd like to think that there was a reason for much of this material to have been scrapped before - and much of it should've just stayed that way.
This whole album is just a mix of aged turds that Dave and co. in vain tried to polish up. Some stuff here, especially lyrics, make me fucking cringe. I cannot shake the thought that this is the same mastermind who wrote "Peace Sells", "In My Darkest Hour" or "A Tout Le Monde". This album is just plain fucking crap, and fans were surprised by how shitty "Super Collider" was. Let me tell you, after this piece of crap I didn't expect anything from "Super Collider" at all, but I actually prefer that one over this seasoned crap collection. At least that was experimental and explored new ideas, for better or (probably) worse.
4. Danzig - Skeletons
Glenn Danzig - legendary frontman and musician - love the guy's works - from the Misfits to, well, Danzig. He announced in, like, 2011 or something already, that he was working on a covers album. I didn't think much about it, his music hadn't been all that great since 1994, even if I did really enjoy "6:66 Satan's Child" and "Deth Red Sabaoth".
Anyway, this album was finally released in 2015 - so it was at least four years in the making. Let's just say that... Glenn is cool, he's still got a nice voice, but his fucking band (especially Tommy Victor of Prong on guitar) is just so wrong for Danzig's music, not to mention that Glenn's own production skills sound like shite. Half of the covers on here aren't that interesting or good either, unfortunately. Let's just say that it was a too long wait for almost nothing. Glenn should stick to making originals - his original arrangements for covers on this album were the only good ones as well.
3. Spread Eagle - Open To The Public
Not many people know this band but they were a sleaze band that came out with their most excellent debut in 1990. Think a punkier and/or thrashier version of Skid Row, even if you think of "Slave To The Grind". These guys were from NYC, not L.A. They were raw - not polished.
Anyway, their debut went by pretty much unnoticed, which is a real fucking shame (it's actually my favorite album of genre glam/sleaze - ever). Three years later they release their follow-up and ultimately last album - "(Spread Eagle -) Open To The Public" (ha, that's funny). The first song is really cool, I like a lot, but after that one is just one endless fucking shitfest of boring songs leaning more towards alternative crap than their original sound. Disappointing to say the least.
2. Fate - Cruisin' For A Bruisin'
These guys are from Denmark and released a really nice debut in 1985. It was actually Hank Shermann from Mercyful Fate who went on to form this band after MF disbanded, but it's not the same musical style. These guys were more towards the same sound as, let's say early Europe, early Bon Jovi, and such likes. However, the guitar tone and style was just the same as on MF's "Don't Break The Oath" album, so it was still fucking cool. Next they did another album where the guitar was turned down a lot in favor of keyboards, you figure the rest. It was an okey album but Hank Shermann left after that one in 1986.
Now, fast forward to 1988 and Fate's third album - this sausage fest. I have honestly don't listened to this album too many times throughout the years, and I will let the reason for that be obvious. I'll just tell you - if you hate Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet", Europe's "Out Of This World", or...whatever, then you'll fucking hate this one too. It's just one of the shittiest records I've ever heard, and a most disappoint album (and direction) after their great debut three years prior to this one. Fear not though, Fate actually redeemed themselves already in 1990, and also in latter years, with several (at least) solid albums again.
1. Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
And the winner of this shitfest sausage makarov blöjkaka is the very same band that is now also officially listen twice on this list: Mötley Crüe. First off, let me tell you. I am a huge fan of the Crüe's first two albums as well as "Girls, Girls, Girls", but obviously "Theatre Of Pain" wasn't on par with those to my ears, and this album...well.
Let me just put it like this: when a formerly constantly drugged-out band did a few great records, and they all of sudden decide to get sober to do an album, it can only end in one way: this way. And let me tell you, the Crüe's music lost all of its fucking balls when the drugs went out of the picture. This is truly the most disappointing record I've ever heard in my life. I just think Mötley Crüe should be junkies, that's the way they did great music. This shit is just lame, like glam metal for middle-aged moms who'd like to party while believing themselves to still be 20 when they're really 40. Fuck this shit.
Now, I really do support artistic freedom. After all - as a musician myself, I'd like to do whatever the fuck I want to do, but sometimes...your supporters just won't accept it. I'm gonna list ten albums down below that I felt disappointed about. This does not necessarily mean that I completely dislike the album, not at all, but simply that it (like really) didn't live up to my expectations, or just felt too different. Here we go...
10. DevilDriver - Beast
When this album hit in 2011 I wasn't exactly stoked - I wasn't really the bigget DevilDriver fan at that time, yet, but I knew them a little bit and I was fairly new to modern metal, so I figured I'd give 'em a fair chance. Well, after a fair chance I thought it was fair enough to say that it was one big disappointment. I didn't look back on it for several years after that, but these days I'm quite keen on their sound - like 'em a lot. However, while this certainly is not bad by any means, this does not really remain among my favorite DD albums either.
9. Chimaira - Crown Of Phantoms
I started listening to Chimaira in 2009 when they released "The Infection", which is my favorite album of theirs btw. They were, together with Lamb of God, like the first bands of modern metal that I came to appreciate. However, after a lot of touring for "The Infection", half of the band left, including powerhouse drummer Andols Herrick and their most unique addition to their sound, keyboardist/electronics specialist Chris Spicuzza. They made another album, "The Age Of Hell", in 2011 which wasn't really well received (I love it, though), and then both of the bands' longtime guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries left too.
2013 came and an all-new Chimaira, apart from ever-lasting frontman Mark Hunter, delivered "Crown Of Phantoms". What can I say about it? Some people think it kicks ass while others seem to dislike it. I, personally, just don't feel like it was Chimaira anymore. I mean, it obviously sounds completely like another band to me. The guitars (especially the solo stuff) and drums have different vibes and styles compared to before, which is logical, but just not the same. I simply just didn't like its sound and direction very much, and (un)fortunately(?) they broke up after this album. As I see it, it was for the better - the original band was already gone since a long time, and it didn't sound like Chimaira anymore. Yet, it's fucking sad that they're not around anymore.
8. Mötley Crüe - Theatre Of Pain
After a great debut album in "Too Fast For Love" and even greater follow-up in the legendary "Shout At The Devil", the Crüe traded in the red and black satanic leathers and imagery for happy-colored women's clothing with dots and shit on 'em. I just think their new image spoke for itself in the music as well - having closed the "Shout At The Devil" album with a song called "Danger", it was the last time the Crüe actually sounded and/or appeared dangerous as well. On this one, they just sound like whatever fucking party glam band there ever was. Some tunes are still good though, but I hate most of it.
7. Life of Agony - Ugly
After unleashing the lyrically deep, musically awesome and just ripping debut "River Runs Red" in 1993, as well as some great hardcore demos before it, Brooklyn's LoA released this in 1995. It's not a bad album, but it's fucking let down after the assault the debut provided. This just sounds a lot more "safe" and influenced by alternative/grunge music (something that would only progress further on later albums as well). Mjah, I just never quite felt this album.
6. Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying
I love Iron Maiden but after ten years they released this piece of shit. Yes, I called it that. I'm not a fucking fanboy - if a band, even if I really love 'em, releases a shit record, I will regard it as such. This was a shit record, kind of acknowledged by Steve Harris himself as well, but I was okey with it. Why was I? Because Maiden worked hard for over a decade, provided seven(!) amazing albums throughout the 80's, lost one of their key-writers (and my favorite writer in Maiden) in guitarist Adrian Smith the year before this album. They had a lot to live up to, and they failed this time around. It was understandable after so many years and albums. Sometime there must be a shit record. This was their first one (of very few). They compensated this failure with several amazing albums in the 2000's instead.
5. Megadeth - Th1rt3en
Dave Mustaine and his many different setups of company have been riding a lengthy roller-coaster when it comes to good and bad albums. They started off greatly with some awesome thrash albums in the 80's, then they made the highly acclaimed "Rust In Peace" which I actually never were very fond of, before jumpin' on Metallica's "black album-train" like so many others. They did the melodic "Youthanasia" in 1994 which I love, but after that they fucking lost it - well, until 2004's "The System Has Failed" anyway.
Dave and some of his companies did "United Abominations" and "Endgame" in the late 00's which I really liked as well, but after those came "Th1rt3en" - a mix of re-worked old vault songs as well as some new stuff, if I remember correctly. Well, I'd like to think that there was a reason for much of this material to have been scrapped before - and much of it should've just stayed that way.
This whole album is just a mix of aged turds that Dave and co. in vain tried to polish up. Some stuff here, especially lyrics, make me fucking cringe. I cannot shake the thought that this is the same mastermind who wrote "Peace Sells", "In My Darkest Hour" or "A Tout Le Monde". This album is just plain fucking crap, and fans were surprised by how shitty "Super Collider" was. Let me tell you, after this piece of crap I didn't expect anything from "Super Collider" at all, but I actually prefer that one over this seasoned crap collection. At least that was experimental and explored new ideas, for better or (probably) worse.
4. Danzig - Skeletons
Glenn Danzig - legendary frontman and musician - love the guy's works - from the Misfits to, well, Danzig. He announced in, like, 2011 or something already, that he was working on a covers album. I didn't think much about it, his music hadn't been all that great since 1994, even if I did really enjoy "6:66 Satan's Child" and "Deth Red Sabaoth".
Anyway, this album was finally released in 2015 - so it was at least four years in the making. Let's just say that... Glenn is cool, he's still got a nice voice, but his fucking band (especially Tommy Victor of Prong on guitar) is just so wrong for Danzig's music, not to mention that Glenn's own production skills sound like shite. Half of the covers on here aren't that interesting or good either, unfortunately. Let's just say that it was a too long wait for almost nothing. Glenn should stick to making originals - his original arrangements for covers on this album were the only good ones as well.
3. Spread Eagle - Open To The Public
Not many people know this band but they were a sleaze band that came out with their most excellent debut in 1990. Think a punkier and/or thrashier version of Skid Row, even if you think of "Slave To The Grind". These guys were from NYC, not L.A. They were raw - not polished.
Anyway, their debut went by pretty much unnoticed, which is a real fucking shame (it's actually my favorite album of genre glam/sleaze - ever). Three years later they release their follow-up and ultimately last album - "(Spread Eagle -) Open To The Public" (ha, that's funny). The first song is really cool, I like a lot, but after that one is just one endless fucking shitfest of boring songs leaning more towards alternative crap than their original sound. Disappointing to say the least.
2. Fate - Cruisin' For A Bruisin'
These guys are from Denmark and released a really nice debut in 1985. It was actually Hank Shermann from Mercyful Fate who went on to form this band after MF disbanded, but it's not the same musical style. These guys were more towards the same sound as, let's say early Europe, early Bon Jovi, and such likes. However, the guitar tone and style was just the same as on MF's "Don't Break The Oath" album, so it was still fucking cool. Next they did another album where the guitar was turned down a lot in favor of keyboards, you figure the rest. It was an okey album but Hank Shermann left after that one in 1986.
Now, fast forward to 1988 and Fate's third album - this sausage fest. I have honestly don't listened to this album too many times throughout the years, and I will let the reason for that be obvious. I'll just tell you - if you hate Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet", Europe's "Out Of This World", or...whatever, then you'll fucking hate this one too. It's just one of the shittiest records I've ever heard, and a most disappoint album (and direction) after their great debut three years prior to this one. Fear not though, Fate actually redeemed themselves already in 1990, and also in latter years, with several (at least) solid albums again.
1. Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
And the winner of this shitfest sausage makarov blöjkaka is the very same band that is now also officially listen twice on this list: Mötley Crüe. First off, let me tell you. I am a huge fan of the Crüe's first two albums as well as "Girls, Girls, Girls", but obviously "Theatre Of Pain" wasn't on par with those to my ears, and this album...well.
Let me just put it like this: when a formerly constantly drugged-out band did a few great records, and they all of sudden decide to get sober to do an album, it can only end in one way: this way. And let me tell you, the Crüe's music lost all of its fucking balls when the drugs went out of the picture. This is truly the most disappointing record I've ever heard in my life. I just think Mötley Crüe should be junkies, that's the way they did great music. This shit is just lame, like glam metal for middle-aged moms who'd like to party while believing themselves to still be 20 when they're really 40. Fuck this shit.
onsdag 2 mars 2016
Top-10 Best Metal Records By Each Year: 2003-2015
Yo everybody! I've been going back and forth over the
years after 1996 or 1997, basically from where the last list stopped. There
were some years, like 1998-2002, that are too hard to even find as much as
ten(!) metal records that I like from each of those years. It's impossible to
be honest.
Anyway, from 2003 it was manageable to find ten from
each year, even if that wasn't the easiest task either. Anyways, here are the
lists for my personal - top-10 favorite metal records - by year - each year -
2003 to 2015. I will also comment some short thoughts on each year
respectively. I hope you enjoy!
----------------------------------------------------
2003:
Type O Negative – Life Is Killing Me
Chimaira – The Impossibility Of Reason
Watain - Casus Luciferi
Lamb of God – As The Palaces Burn
Children of Bodom – Hate Crew Deathroll
Septic Flesh - Sumerian Daemons
Iron Maiden – Dance Of Death
Jane’s Addiction - Strays
Strapping Young Lad – S/T
Black Label Society – The Blessed Hellride
Comment: The first year in quite many
that actually began to take metal music uphill again. Not a very rich year
(metal) musically, the the first 5-7 albums in this list are rather strong
efforts in my opinion.
2004:
Lamb of God – Ashes Of The Wake
Mastodon - Leviathan
Megadeth – The System Has Failed
God Forbid – Gone Forever
Scarve – Irradiant
Motörhead - Inferno
Fear Factory – Archetype
Amon Amarth – Fate Of Norns
Saxon – Lionheart
Damageplan – New Found Power
Comment: A small step backwards,
decreasing the strength in musical quality from the previous year, and not a
very good year overall. What's in this list is pretty much "it" of
what I either liked or found the slightest interest in.
2005:
Chimaira – S/T
Strapping Young Lad - Alien
DevilDriver – The Fury Of Our Maker’s Hand
Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal
Judas Priest – Angel Of Retribution
Crashdïet – Rest In Sleaze
Grand Magus – Wolf’s Return
Kreator – Enemy Of God
Soulfly – Dark Ages
Trivium – Ascendancy
Comment: A pretty big improvement from
the previous two years, and quite a massive improvement if looking back to,
like, 1998-1999 and onward. This was where (good) metal started to get a firm
base to build upon again.
2006:
Iron Maiden – A Matter Of Life And Death
Lamb of God - Sacrament
Mastodon – Blood Mountain
Mastodon – Blood Mountain
Trivium – The Crusade
DragonForce – Inhuman Rampage
Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side
DragonForce – Inhuman Rampage
Amon Amarth – With Oden On Our Side
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Cannibal Corpse - Kill
Strapping Young Lad – The New Black
Tool – 10.000 Days
Cannibal Corpse - Kill
Strapping Young Lad – The New Black
Tool – 10.000 Days
Comment: I'd say this year was not
worrying as it was a quite good one, but it's a slight decrease in quality from
the previous year. At least it was nothing that worried me at the time. Lamb of God and Trivium step it up a notch each, while Celtic Frost returns with a brooding dark album, and DragonForce gets interesting (I actually do like them).
2007:
Type O Negative – Dead Again
Chimaira – Resurrection
DevilDriver – The Last Kind Words
Samael – Solar Sun
DevilDriver – The Last Kind Words
Samael – Solar Sun
Machine Head – The Blackening
Ozzy Osbourne – Black Rain
Megadeth – United Abominations
W.A.S.P. – Dominator
Helloween – Gambling With The Devil
A Perfect Murder – War Of Aggression
Comment: Now this was the best year in
over ten years time, I believe. 1996 and '97 weren't bad years at all (I have
not listed anything for them in my previous list, though), but this year was
like an official statement that "yes, metal is back, and it's here to stay".
Bands like Machine Head and Helloween release their best albums in many years,
while Type O Negative unknowingly releases what would ultimately be their last
album, but a damn fine one.
2008:
Judas Priest – Nostradamus
Amon Amarth – Twilight Of The Thunder Gods
DragonForce – Ultra Beatdown
Trivium - Shogun
Cavalera Conspiracy – Inflikted
Soulfly - Conquer
Cannabis Corpse – Tube Of The Resinated
Cannabis Corpse – Tube Of The Resinated
Dismember – S/T
Unleashed – Hammer Battalion
Unleashed – Hammer Battalion
Texas Hippie Coalition – Pride Of Texas
Comment: After an excellent year in
2007, this year had a lot to do if it was going to top it, and it just didn't -
unsurprisingly and understandably so. I for one loved "Nostradamus",
like my favorite form Priest to be honest. Amon Amarth, Soulfly and DragonForce
released their best albums (so far) respectively in my opinion.
2009:
Chimaira – The Infection
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
DevilDriver – Pray For Villains
God Forbid - Earthsblood
Lamb of God - Wrath
God Forbid - Earthsblood
Lamb of God - Wrath
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know
Dethklok – Dethalbum II
Devin Townsend - Addicted
Immortal – All Shall Fall
W.A.S.P. – Babylon
Comment: Despite this list being fucking
awesome, with Chimaira, LoG, Mastodon, God Forbid and DevilDriver all releasing my favorite
albums of theirs respectively in this year, the year as a whole (outside of
this list) was pretty poor. Not really a weak year musically, but just too few
interesting releases. A thin but strong year.
2010:
Watain – Lawless Darkness
Enforcer – Diamonds
Helloween – 7 Sinners
Death Angel - Relentless Retribution
Death Angel - Relentless Retribution
Raintime – Psychromatic
Overkill – Ironbound
Fear Factory – Mechanize
Black Label Society – Order Of The Black
Accept – Blood Of The Nations
Valkyrja - Contamination
Comment: A new decade, new trends and
possibilities ahead, and it started rather good I'd say. First off, and of most
worth to me, the current trend of "retro metal" crawls out of the
underground and starts to become popular, with bands like the almighty Enforcer
leading the pack to my ears. Watain also just kills everything in their way,
and Helloween, Death Angel, Fear Factory and Overkill release their strongest material in a
long time.
2011:
Skull Fist – Head Öf The Pack
Samael – Lux Mundi
Chimaira – The Age Of Hell
Mastodon – The Hunter
DevilDriver – Beast
DevilDriver – Beast
Revocation – Chaos Of Forms
Jane’s Addiction – The Great Escape Artist
Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising
Vicious Rumors – Razorback Killers
Vicious Rumors – Razorback Killers
Machine Head – Unto The Locust
Comment: This was a really long/slow and
worrying year for me. Not only was the amount of interesting albums very small
this year, but some bands like Machine Head and DevilDriver delivered a lot
weaker material than their previous releases. Fans of Chimaira and Mastodon
thought the same of their releases this year, but I actually liked both
"The Age Of Hell" and "The Hunter" a lot. All in all
though, this was not a very good or fun year for me as a metal music fan.
2012:
Steelwing – Zone Of Alienation
Overkill – The Electric Age
Unleashed - Odalheim
God Forbid - Equilibrium
God Forbid - Equilibrium
Accept – Stalingrad
Bleeding Through – The Great Fire
DragonForce – The Power Within
Fear Factory - The Industrialist
Lamb of God – Resolution
Cauldron – Tomorrow’s Lost
Comment: After the most mediocre year of
2011, this year was to become a whole lot better. More "retro
metallers" deliver some great albums (Steelwing and Cauldron), while an
old band like Unleashed suddenly comes back and releases their best album
like...ever! It was at least an interesting year again, even if it wasn't on
par with, say 2007 and 2010.
2013:
Power Trip – Manifest Decimation
Enforcer – Death By Fire
Death Angel - The Dream Calls For Blood
Death Angel - The Dream Calls For Blood
Watain – The Wild Hunt
Carcass – Surgical Steel
In Solitude – Sister
Sepultura – The Mediator Between The Head And Hands
Must Be The Heart
DevilDriver – Winter Kills
Motörhead - Aftershock
Motörhead - Aftershock
Chaos Invocation – Black Mirror Hours
Comment: Once more, this particular year
was an improvement over the last year(s). This year really passed by fast for
me, I found my life's love and everything just went by so goddamn fast. There
was a lot of good music this year, even outside of the actual top-list.
Enforcer and Watain continue to release really strong and great albums, while
DevilDriver returns with their strongest album for a while, and the
biggest surprises of all: Sepultura delivers their best album since Chaos A.D.,
possibly even Arise. If fans weren't convinced of their quality without Max
after this year, then those fans are fucking inbred or brainless or something.
The second: Hardcore-thrashers Power Trip just rip metal a new asshole with
their awesome debut.
2014:
DragonForce – Maximum Overload
Mastodon – Once More ‘Round The Sun
Accept – Blind Rage
Satanic Warmaster - Fimbulwinter
Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestite
At The Gates – At War With Reality
Behemoth – The Satanist
Arch Enemy – War Eternal
Skull Fist – Chasing The Dream
Revocation – Deathless
Comment: Once again a strong year, even
though if it wasn't perhaps just quite as good as the previous one. Anyway, I
had nothing to complain about - apart from time passing by so fucking fast.
These albums feel like they were released yesterday to me. Fuck, I feel old.
2015:
Enforcer – From Beyond
Lamb of God – VII: Sturm Und Drang
Fear Factory - Genexus
Ghost – Meliora
Motörhead - Bad Magic
Motörhead - Bad Magic
Queensrÿche – Condition Hüman
W.A.S.P. – Golgotha
Europe – War Of Kings
Tribulation – The Children Of The Night
Saxon – Battering Ram
Comment: Another strong year to my ears,
even if it's still on a slight downfall (again). At this pace however, it will
be a few years till metal is truly gone to shitters again. I must admit though,
I did not have as much focus on releases during this year than the years
before. So much happened in my life last year, so I just didn't have the same
time to discover music, and thus I don't really have an overall picture of what
the year provided as a whole, but I really enjoyed these albums at least.
söndag 21 februari 2016
Top-10 Best NWoAHM / Metalcore / 2000's Metal Bands
YO:es! I hope y'all doin' alright. I was going through a regular music listening session and thought I'd a list of my ten favorite NWoAHM (New Wave of American Heavy Metal) bands since I've never done that. Simple as that. Now, for those of y'all who don't know, the NWoAHM movement was the metal wave that came in the early 2000's, a.k.a. metalcore (as most people know it) and overall modern and newer metal bands.
These likes will be from the 2000-2010 scene (as there's a huge movement of so called Deathcore going on these days, rather than ol' metalcore), and it does NOT necessarily have to come from the USA. I'm not really a huge fan of the genre as whole compared to, let's say death metal, but there are a bunch of bands that are pretty fuckin' rad, so check this list out, alright?!
-------------------
10. The Browning
First one out to kick off this list is The Browning. They're an English band, at least I believe so (not 100 % sure) and they currently have two albums under their belt. Besides having a rather...shitty name, which could be easy to make fun of for elitists, they're pretty unique as far as their sound goes: combining electronic music with groovy death metal stuff. They're even signed to the old death metal label Earache.
Album(s) to check out: all of them (pretty much the same deal).
9. Austrian Death Machine
Some of you might say, "what? An Austrian industrial, ehm, death metal band?", but no. As some others of you probably know, this is Tim Lambesis (of As I Lay Dying fame) side project based around all the amazing quotes and movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The sound is pretty laden with thrash, but is probably still more accurately described as thrashy metalcore for the purists. I placed 'em as number nine since the music is not actually THAT good or original, but the Arnold Schwarzenegger themes are fucking awesome and will sure trigger some laughing. This is now on hold though, since the bad boy ex-christian Timmy tried to kill his wife and now most likely receives lots of wood in prison.
Album(s) to check out: "Total Brutal" for music, "Double Brutal" for the themes.
8. Mutiny Within
I like to relate this band's situation to that of all the many glam bands in 1990, just when grunge was right around the corner. These boys unleashed their debut in 2010 just as metalcore was more or less on a steady decline, and the current and still strong retro wave of metal was picking up speed. I loved their self-titled debut and its progressive influences along with some 80's style shredding and power metal vocals.
Unfortunately, they probably came too late and went by mostly unnoticed. They also had shitloads of label troubles and got dropped, disbanded, reformed, put out another album, but I just don't quite like it. It's missing all the essential cores that the debut has, so these days, after hearing how their sophomore album turned out, Mutiny Within could've just remained disbanded for me and left that one debut album to its legacy.
Album(s) to check out: S/T (Mutiny Within)
7. Machine Head
It's up for debate whether or not they should be included or not. They were around in the 90's already, and were well known back then already as well. While I also like their 90's stuff more, they still put out some great albums later on as well, and one of those albums played a very large role in the metalcore movement in the late 00's. While they always had a signature sound, they also constantly progresses and do something new, for better or worse. Personally, I just don't think they ever matched their hardcore-furious groove metal they put out in the 90's, but their post-90's stuff goes from some rather bad to some pretty awesome albums anyway.
Album(s) to check out: "The Blackening", "Burn My Eyes" (90's album, though)
6. God Forbid
A massively underrated band of the 2000's metal scene. God Forbid is another band that was really good, melodic, heavy and aggressive in a nice mix. Their use of multi-vocals also made them sound a bit like Mastodon, which in book is a very cool thing. I would rate them higher than Trivium judging by the albums mentioned below, but unfortunately God Forbid made some not-nearly-as-good albums early on in their career.
Album(s) to check out: "Gone Forever", "Earthsblood", "Equilibrium".
5. Trivium
This band is probably the closest thing to a Metallica type-band in this bunch. They share several similarities as far as music, vocals and album progression goes. Their fan base is pretty torn apart because of this, though maybe in even more camps than Metallica's fan base. Some fans love their early stuff where they looked emo, some people like their middle stuff which was a lot thrashier, and some like their more recent stuff.
I'm not really a regular fan of theirs - I love their thrash stuff, but I do in fact like one of their more recent works a lot as well, though most fans bash it as their shittiest album. I just think that they can be really fucking good when they head into certain styles of metal, but not everything they've done has suited my taste. Yet, their good stuff is so good it puts 'em in the top-5 on my list.
Album(s) to check out: "Shogun", "The Crusade", "Vengeance Falls".
4. Mastodon
Just a bit like Trivium, Mastodon tend to be a roller-coaster when it comes to music. While I still dislike to describe them as that, because it's not really true, I have to admit that I'm less fond/have a harder time listening to some of their stuff than others. Their earlier stuff, particularly their debut, are not-as-interesting to me as their later stuff. While their most recent stuff is a lot more commercial though, I still fucking like it a lot. But Mastodon's finest work is to be found in their middle era.
Album(s) to check out: "Crack The Skye", "The Hunter", "Leviathan".
3. Lamb of God
These guys don't really need a further explanation. If you don't know, then you're either just a fucking poseur or very late to the party.
Album(s) to check out: "Wrath", "VII: Sturm Und Drang", "As The Palaces Burn".
2. DevilDriver
Out of the bands in this list, this one took the longest for me to "understand". I had some hard times getting into their music before most of the other bands, but it wasn't because it was bad or weird or anything. Now I do know why that was, however. DD has this unique kind of guitar vibe/sound that is pretty special. It really forms their sound to what it is, and I just simply wasn't familiar with anything quite like it before, so I didn't understand their music.
Like so many other bands, though, DD has a fan base where people tend to bash some of their more recent albums, while really favoring their early stuff. I think they're actually fucking good all-around - they progress constantly, but it's always DD and at least some interesting stuff to be found on albums. Guitar-wise, when it comes to harmonic shit, DD takes the cream of the crop in this list. I just love their more clean and ballad-esque stuff.
Album(s) to check out: "The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand", "Pray For Villains", "Winter Kills".
1. Chimaira
And so comes #1 - Chimaira, my favorite band of the genre known as either metalcore or NWoAHM. What I truly love about these guys is the bad-ass sound they've got goin' on, and the riffing is fucking hard, sometimes fast and just killer most of the times. The drumming, particularly that of Andols Herrick, is fucking awesome as well - he knows exactly how to put in all the good shite.
The most important thing that makes Chimaira extra special for me is their electronic department. They use quite a lot of atmospheric electronic effects and sounds to enhance their sound, and it also truly pays off. Compared to so many other bands in the genre, it just adds so much more to the music, and that's all what I'm here for. Chimaira is the Faith No More or Type O Negative or Samael or whatever of metalcore to me. I'm not gonna expand on it any further, but they're just exactly my kind of thing.
Album(s) to check out: "The Infection", "Chimaira", "The Impossibility Of Reason".
-----------------------
BONUS! Worthy of mention but didn't make the list:
These likes will be from the 2000-2010 scene (as there's a huge movement of so called Deathcore going on these days, rather than ol' metalcore), and it does NOT necessarily have to come from the USA. I'm not really a huge fan of the genre as whole compared to, let's say death metal, but there are a bunch of bands that are pretty fuckin' rad, so check this list out, alright?!
-------------------
10. The Browning
First one out to kick off this list is The Browning. They're an English band, at least I believe so (not 100 % sure) and they currently have two albums under their belt. Besides having a rather...shitty name, which could be easy to make fun of for elitists, they're pretty unique as far as their sound goes: combining electronic music with groovy death metal stuff. They're even signed to the old death metal label Earache.
Album(s) to check out: all of them (pretty much the same deal).
9. Austrian Death Machine
Some of you might say, "what? An Austrian industrial, ehm, death metal band?", but no. As some others of you probably know, this is Tim Lambesis (of As I Lay Dying fame) side project based around all the amazing quotes and movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The sound is pretty laden with thrash, but is probably still more accurately described as thrashy metalcore for the purists. I placed 'em as number nine since the music is not actually THAT good or original, but the Arnold Schwarzenegger themes are fucking awesome and will sure trigger some laughing. This is now on hold though, since the bad boy ex-christian Timmy tried to kill his wife and now most likely receives lots of wood in prison.
Album(s) to check out: "Total Brutal" for music, "Double Brutal" for the themes.
8. Mutiny Within
I like to relate this band's situation to that of all the many glam bands in 1990, just when grunge was right around the corner. These boys unleashed their debut in 2010 just as metalcore was more or less on a steady decline, and the current and still strong retro wave of metal was picking up speed. I loved their self-titled debut and its progressive influences along with some 80's style shredding and power metal vocals.
Unfortunately, they probably came too late and went by mostly unnoticed. They also had shitloads of label troubles and got dropped, disbanded, reformed, put out another album, but I just don't quite like it. It's missing all the essential cores that the debut has, so these days, after hearing how their sophomore album turned out, Mutiny Within could've just remained disbanded for me and left that one debut album to its legacy.
Album(s) to check out: S/T (Mutiny Within)
7. Machine Head
It's up for debate whether or not they should be included or not. They were around in the 90's already, and were well known back then already as well. While I also like their 90's stuff more, they still put out some great albums later on as well, and one of those albums played a very large role in the metalcore movement in the late 00's. While they always had a signature sound, they also constantly progresses and do something new, for better or worse. Personally, I just don't think they ever matched their hardcore-furious groove metal they put out in the 90's, but their post-90's stuff goes from some rather bad to some pretty awesome albums anyway.
Album(s) to check out: "The Blackening", "Burn My Eyes" (90's album, though)
6. God Forbid
A massively underrated band of the 2000's metal scene. God Forbid is another band that was really good, melodic, heavy and aggressive in a nice mix. Their use of multi-vocals also made them sound a bit like Mastodon, which in book is a very cool thing. I would rate them higher than Trivium judging by the albums mentioned below, but unfortunately God Forbid made some not-nearly-as-good albums early on in their career.
Album(s) to check out: "Gone Forever", "Earthsblood", "Equilibrium".
5. Trivium
This band is probably the closest thing to a Metallica type-band in this bunch. They share several similarities as far as music, vocals and album progression goes. Their fan base is pretty torn apart because of this, though maybe in even more camps than Metallica's fan base. Some fans love their early stuff where they looked emo, some people like their middle stuff which was a lot thrashier, and some like their more recent stuff.
I'm not really a regular fan of theirs - I love their thrash stuff, but I do in fact like one of their more recent works a lot as well, though most fans bash it as their shittiest album. I just think that they can be really fucking good when they head into certain styles of metal, but not everything they've done has suited my taste. Yet, their good stuff is so good it puts 'em in the top-5 on my list.
Album(s) to check out: "Shogun", "The Crusade", "Vengeance Falls".
4. Mastodon
Just a bit like Trivium, Mastodon tend to be a roller-coaster when it comes to music. While I still dislike to describe them as that, because it's not really true, I have to admit that I'm less fond/have a harder time listening to some of their stuff than others. Their earlier stuff, particularly their debut, are not-as-interesting to me as their later stuff. While their most recent stuff is a lot more commercial though, I still fucking like it a lot. But Mastodon's finest work is to be found in their middle era.
Album(s) to check out: "Crack The Skye", "The Hunter", "Leviathan".
3. Lamb of God
These guys don't really need a further explanation. If you don't know, then you're either just a fucking poseur or very late to the party.
Album(s) to check out: "Wrath", "VII: Sturm Und Drang", "As The Palaces Burn".
2. DevilDriver
Out of the bands in this list, this one took the longest for me to "understand". I had some hard times getting into their music before most of the other bands, but it wasn't because it was bad or weird or anything. Now I do know why that was, however. DD has this unique kind of guitar vibe/sound that is pretty special. It really forms their sound to what it is, and I just simply wasn't familiar with anything quite like it before, so I didn't understand their music.
Like so many other bands, though, DD has a fan base where people tend to bash some of their more recent albums, while really favoring their early stuff. I think they're actually fucking good all-around - they progress constantly, but it's always DD and at least some interesting stuff to be found on albums. Guitar-wise, when it comes to harmonic shit, DD takes the cream of the crop in this list. I just love their more clean and ballad-esque stuff.
Album(s) to check out: "The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand", "Pray For Villains", "Winter Kills".
1. Chimaira
And so comes #1 - Chimaira, my favorite band of the genre known as either metalcore or NWoAHM. What I truly love about these guys is the bad-ass sound they've got goin' on, and the riffing is fucking hard, sometimes fast and just killer most of the times. The drumming, particularly that of Andols Herrick, is fucking awesome as well - he knows exactly how to put in all the good shite.
The most important thing that makes Chimaira extra special for me is their electronic department. They use quite a lot of atmospheric electronic effects and sounds to enhance their sound, and it also truly pays off. Compared to so many other bands in the genre, it just adds so much more to the music, and that's all what I'm here for. Chimaira is the Faith No More or Type O Negative or Samael or whatever of metalcore to me. I'm not gonna expand on it any further, but they're just exactly my kind of thing.
Album(s) to check out: "The Infection", "Chimaira", "The Impossibility Of Reason".
-----------------------
BONUS! Worthy of mention but didn't make the list:
- Himsa
- Bleed The Sky
- Bleeding Through
- DragonForce
- Amon Amarth
söndag 14 februari 2016
Top-10 Best Metal Records By Each Year 1980-1995
I decided to put together a list of my favorite ten metal records of each year for every year between 1980-1995. Well, I tried anyway. It was easier said than done, but I managed and I think it turned out somewhat accurately presentable. I simply chose the years 1980-1995 because those are the years from which most of my music has come from.
To do an extended list beyond 1995 would be a rather difficult task as I found the 2000's in particular to provide little metal of interest, with Chimaira, Lamb of God and DevilDriver a few worthy of mention. Even for the 1970's it would be quite hard to find ten albums for each year, because I simply never really fell that much in love with the 70's sound, and it would only be the obvious bands like AC/DC, Sabbath, Priest, and so on.
Anyway, here is my list of my favorite 10 records of each year between the years 1980 to 1995. It will be an overall collection of metal - heavy, NWoBHM, thrash, death, black, etc. Anything that I simply love and regard as something extraordinary from those individual years will be listed by their release years down below.
I hope you enjoy my personal favorites-list, even if some of the choices are nothing unique or surprising, though I hope you'll find some surprises at least and perhaps even introduce some new bands to y'all.
Later //J.
--------------------------
This list is presented in a somewhat correct order. The top-listed records for each year is my favorite album of that year, but after that there's not necessarily a certain order. To be honest - it's way too hard to actually rank them in a certain order.
Comment: Grunge is still at large, unfortunately. Most of the last few (notable) traces of glam and thrash bands are to be found in this year - many of them released their final albums (at the time) and broke-up. If not, they changed to adapt to the style that Metallica had made famous the previous year (Testament, Megadeth, etc.). Fortunately for me, a few bands managed to actually held back grunge a bit and showed 'em how it's done. Faith No More and newcomers RATM and Fear Factory were all modern, but were not grunge bands but instead mixes of several other styles that would prove to be very, if not more so than grunge, influential to future bands of the 90's.
To do an extended list beyond 1995 would be a rather difficult task as I found the 2000's in particular to provide little metal of interest, with Chimaira, Lamb of God and DevilDriver a few worthy of mention. Even for the 1970's it would be quite hard to find ten albums for each year, because I simply never really fell that much in love with the 70's sound, and it would only be the obvious bands like AC/DC, Sabbath, Priest, and so on.
Anyway, here is my list of my favorite 10 records of each year between the years 1980 to 1995. It will be an overall collection of metal - heavy, NWoBHM, thrash, death, black, etc. Anything that I simply love and regard as something extraordinary from those individual years will be listed by their release years down below.
I hope you enjoy my personal favorites-list, even if some of the choices are nothing unique or surprising, though I hope you'll find some surprises at least and perhaps even introduce some new bands to y'all.
Later //J.
--------------------------
This list is presented in a somewhat correct order. The top-listed records for each year is my favorite album of that year, but after that there's not necessarily a certain order. To be honest - it's way too hard to actually rank them in a certain order.
1980:
Black Sabbath –
Heaven And Hell
Saxon – Wheels Of
Steel
Motörhead – Ace of
Spades
Ozzy Osbourne –
Blizzard of Ozz
Iron Maiden – S/T
Diamond Head –
Lightning To The Nations
Judas Priest –
British Steel
AC/DC – Back In Black
Angel Witch – S/T
Tygers Of Pan Tang –
Wild Cat
Comment: The start of the almighty 80's. Musically this was a very important year for music (overall), but especially for us metal fans - it was gonna change and expand the metal scene forever. However, apart from a few albums on this list that I will forever regard as some of the very best metal records of all time, the best was yet to come in later years.
Comment: The start of the almighty 80's. Musically this was a very important year for music (overall), but especially for us metal fans - it was gonna change and expand the metal scene forever. However, apart from a few albums on this list that I will forever regard as some of the very best metal records of all time, the best was yet to come in later years.
1981:
Ozzy Osbourne – Diary
Of A Madman
Black Sabbath – Mob
Rules
Tygers Of Pan Tang –
Spellbound
Iron Maiden – Killers
Mötley Crüe – Too
Fast For Love
Accept – Breaker
Venom – Welcome To
Hell
Van Halen – Fair
Warning
Def Leppard – High
‘n’ Dry
Thin Lizzy – Renegade
Comment: An improvement from the previous year, which still was a damn good one. Ozzy makes his best album ever (imo), Sab release their best one with Dio, and Tygers release their best album as well. I'll let this top-10 speak for itself.
Comment: An improvement from the previous year, which still was a damn good one. Ozzy makes his best album ever (imo), Sab release their best one with Dio, and Tygers release their best album as well. I'll let this top-10 speak for itself.
1982:
Judas Priest –
Screaming For Vengeance
Accept – Restless And
Wild
Plasmatics – Coup
d’Etat
Iron Maiden – The
Number Of The Beast
Diamond Head –
Borrowed Time
Venom – Black Metal
Scorpions – Blackout
Motörhead – Iron Fist
MSG – Assault Attack
Kiss – Creatures Of
The Night
Comment: Not much change here, around the same quality as '81. Some bands (Motörhead) do, however, release some less-good albums than before. Overall this year maybe wasn't as strong as the previous two anyway. This list kind of marks the finest moments of the year, and I think that was pretty much "it". NWoBHM was already on a downfall and American heavy metal was slowly starting to arise.
Comment: Not much change here, around the same quality as '81. Some bands (Motörhead) do, however, release some less-good albums than before. Overall this year maybe wasn't as strong as the previous two anyway. This list kind of marks the finest moments of the year, and I think that was pretty much "it". NWoBHM was already on a downfall and American heavy metal was slowly starting to arise.
1983:
Accept – Balls To The
Wall
Dio – Holy Diver
Def Leppard –
Pyromania
Mercyful Fate –
Melissa
Ozzy Osbourne – Bark
At The Moon
Thin Lizzy – Thunder
And Lightning
Mötley Crüe – Shout
At The Devil
Slayer – Show No
Mercy
Iron Maiden – Peace
Of Mind
Exciter – Heavy Metal
Maniac
Comment: Wow! This was quite a year! A very rich year musically. Many bands release their finest albums this year (Accept, Mötley Crüe, Dio...) while there are a lot of interesting newcomers (Exciter, Slayer, Mercyful Fate...). A good year, a very good year indeed.
Comment: Wow! This was quite a year! A very rich year musically. Many bands release their finest albums this year (Accept, Mötley Crüe, Dio...) while there are a lot of interesting newcomers (Exciter, Slayer, Mercyful Fate...). A good year, a very good year indeed.
1984:
Mercyful Fate – Don’t
Break The Oath
W.A.S.P. – S/T
Judas Priest –
Defenders Of The Faith
Dio – The Last In
Line
Madison – Diamond
Mistress
Warlock – Burning The
Witches
Metallica – Ride The
Lightning
Queensrÿche – The
Warning
Iron Maiden –
Powerslave
Ratt – Out Of The
Cellar
Comment: Wow!, pt. 2. Not much changes quality-wise from the previous year. Bands like Dio, Priest and Maiden continue to put out really strong records, while newcomers W.A.S.P., Warlock, Queensrÿche and Ratt releases great debut (full-length) albums. Metallica keeps on changing the metal industry and Mercyful Fate releases their very best record, as well as one of the most sinister metal records of all time.
Comment: Wow!, pt. 2. Not much changes quality-wise from the previous year. Bands like Dio, Priest and Maiden continue to put out really strong records, while newcomers W.A.S.P., Warlock, Queensrÿche and Ratt releases great debut (full-length) albums. Metallica keeps on changing the metal industry and Mercyful Fate releases their very best record, as well as one of the most sinister metal records of all time.
1985:
Saxon – Innocence Is
No Excuse
Anthrax – Spreading
The Disease
Slayer – Hell Awaits
Twisted Sister – Come
Out And Play
Dio – Sacred Heart
Fate – S/T
Treat – Scratch And
Bite
Ratt – Invasion Of
Your Privacy
Celtic Frost – To
Mega Therion
Warlock - Hellbound
Comment: After the excellent '83 and '84, or simply after a great half-decade of metal bands/records, I always felt that 1985 was kind of a "sabbatical year" for metal. Yes, the quality dropped quite a bit I have to admit, with some bands (Dio, Ratt, Warlock...) releasing not-as-strong albums as previously. But the biggest thing is that it just felt like a like a poor year, if counting actual records released during the year. I guess most bands just were getting really big and toured throughout, or that they needed their first lengthier break in many years. Not a bad year, but perhaps the weakest year of the decade.
Comment: After the excellent '83 and '84, or simply after a great half-decade of metal bands/records, I always felt that 1985 was kind of a "sabbatical year" for metal. Yes, the quality dropped quite a bit I have to admit, with some bands (Dio, Ratt, Warlock...) releasing not-as-strong albums as previously. But the biggest thing is that it just felt like a like a poor year, if counting actual records released during the year. I guess most bands just were getting really big and toured throughout, or that they needed their first lengthier break in many years. Not a bad year, but perhaps the weakest year of the decade.
1986:
Iron Maiden –
Somewhere In Time
Dark Angel – Darkness
Descends
Ozzy Osbourne – The
Ultimate Sin
Crimson Glory – S/T
Metallica – Master Of
Puppets
Megadeth – Peace
Sells…But Who’s Buying?
Queensrÿche – Rage
For Order
Cinderella – Night
Songs
Onslaught – The Force
Kreator – Pleasure To
Kill
Comment: Wow!, pt. 3. After the kind of "pause" year of '85, the musical quality returned this year with a lot of awesome records. Not only just that either, but now the latter half of the 80's will be a change from the previous half. Almost gone is the NWoBHM scene, at least as far as any releases worth of mention go (only Maiden pretty much continue to be relevant or good/appreciated). Thrash metal makes an official entry and this also marks the strongest year in thrash metal records. Opposite thrash we now also start to see an increase of glam metal bands, with only a few like Cinderella that are of any greater (musical) interest to me personally.
Comment: Wow!, pt. 3. After the kind of "pause" year of '85, the musical quality returned this year with a lot of awesome records. Not only just that either, but now the latter half of the 80's will be a change from the previous half. Almost gone is the NWoBHM scene, at least as far as any releases worth of mention go (only Maiden pretty much continue to be relevant or good/appreciated). Thrash metal makes an official entry and this also marks the strongest year in thrash metal records. Opposite thrash we now also start to see an increase of glam metal bands, with only a few like Cinderella that are of any greater (musical) interest to me personally.
1987:
King Diamond –
Abigail
Dio – Dream Evil
Testament – The
Legacy
Guns N’ Roses –
Appetite For Destruction
Bathory – Under The
Sign Of The Black Mark
Coroner – R.I.P.
Overkill – Taking
Over
Savatage – Hall Of
The Mountain King
Anthrax – Among The
Living
Death Angel – The
Ultra-Violence
Comment: Another really strong and interesting year, although not quite as strong as '86. The thrash vs. glam battle is still a bit on the rise, although it's already quite big. You know, it's just metalheads in a fucking nutshell - you can't like everything, like I do, but you must choose sides. If not, then you're either a poser (glam) or a fucking hobo (thrash). Fuck that. I rage and fight to thrash, and I fuck and party to glam.
Comment: Another really strong and interesting year, although not quite as strong as '86. The thrash vs. glam battle is still a bit on the rise, although it's already quite big. You know, it's just metalheads in a fucking nutshell - you can't like everything, like I do, but you must choose sides. If not, then you're either a poser (glam) or a fucking hobo (thrash). Fuck that. I rage and fight to thrash, and I fuck and party to glam.
1988:
Ozzy Osbourne – No
Rest For The Wicked
Danzig – S/T
Testament – The New
Order
Bathory – Blood Fire
Death
Vicious Rumors –
Digital Dictator
Jane’s Addiction –
Nothing’s Shocking
Metallica - …And
Justice For All
Overkill – Under The
Influence
Anthrax – State Of
Euphoria
Crimson Glory –
Transcendence
Comment: For many years I thought of this year to be somewhat of an "odd" year, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around what I thought of it. I guess I did in fact not like the music released this year that much, but in latter years I've really discovered or rethought my feelings of what was actually released in '88. These days I really think it was a good year in metal music, although not the best year of the decade. Some new favorite bands of mine like Danzig and Jane's Addiciton really came through this year, and Bathory semi-started a new era.
Comment: For many years I thought of this year to be somewhat of an "odd" year, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around what I thought of it. I guess I did in fact not like the music released this year that much, but in latter years I've really discovered or rethought my feelings of what was actually released in '88. These days I really think it was a good year in metal music, although not the best year of the decade. Some new favorite bands of mine like Danzig and Jane's Addiciton really came through this year, and Bathory semi-started a new era.
1989:
W.A.S.P. – The
Headless Children
Faith No More – The
Real Thing
Cro-Mags – Best
Wishes
Coroner – No More
Color
Sepultura – Beneath
The Remains
Overkill – The Years
Of Decay
The Almighty – Blood,
Fire & Love
Babylon A.D. – S/T
Black Sabbath –
Headless Cross
Blue Murder – S/T
Comment: Last year of the great 80's. Not the decade's strongest year, but an improvement from the previous year, perhaps over '87 as well. The thrash vs. glam battle is at its largest at this point and I would probably think that few was expecting what was lying around the corner, waiting... Anyway, while there were simply too many bands in (particularly) the thrash and glam scenes to count, some of the more unnoticed bands (The Almighty, Babylon A.D., Coroner...) of both sub-genres released some of the best albums of the year. Bands like Faith No More, W.A.S.P. and Sepultura release their strongest works (imo), while Black Sabbath makes their best record in many years.
Comment: Last year of the great 80's. Not the decade's strongest year, but an improvement from the previous year, perhaps over '87 as well. The thrash vs. glam battle is at its largest at this point and I would probably think that few was expecting what was lying around the corner, waiting... Anyway, while there were simply too many bands in (particularly) the thrash and glam scenes to count, some of the more unnoticed bands (The Almighty, Babylon A.D., Coroner...) of both sub-genres released some of the best albums of the year. Bands like Faith No More, W.A.S.P. and Sepultura release their strongest works (imo), while Black Sabbath makes their best record in many years.
1990:
Alice in Chains –
Facelift
Spread Eagle – S/T
Danzig – II: Lucifuge
Anthrax – Persistence
Of Time
Entombed – Left Hand
Path
Nocturnus – The Key
Sleeze Beez – Screwed
Blued & Tattooed
Warrior Soul – Last Decade
Dead Century
Jane’s Addiction –
Ritual De Lo Habitual
Pantera – Cowboys
From Hell
Comment: With the 80's officially over and the 90's started, I figure many people were expecting some huge changes to all kinds of media. In metal, there were some larger changes indeed, but I would say that they had already been developed in the last years of the 80's, and just kind of broke out of the underground during this year. Of course I'm talkin' about death metal. Thrash metal is pretty much a thing of the passed 80's now, and death metal is its successor - freshly so. I would also argue, I think, that this year was the best year in death metal? Anyway, death metal and alternative music (Faith No More, Jane's Addiciton, etc.) are at large as the 90's kick off, but soon there will be another uprising as we all know.
Comment: With the 80's officially over and the 90's started, I figure many people were expecting some huge changes to all kinds of media. In metal, there were some larger changes indeed, but I would say that they had already been developed in the last years of the 80's, and just kind of broke out of the underground during this year. Of course I'm talkin' about death metal. Thrash metal is pretty much a thing of the passed 80's now, and death metal is its successor - freshly so. I would also argue, I think, that this year was the best year in death metal? Anyway, death metal and alternative music (Faith No More, Jane's Addiciton, etc.) are at large as the 90's kick off, but soon there will be another uprising as we all know.
1991:
Dismember – Like An
Ever Flowing Stream
Mordred – In This
Life
Entombed –
Clandestine
Overkill –
Horrorscope
Type O Negative –
Slow, Deep & Hard
Skid Row – Slave To
The Grind
Ozzy Osbourne – No
More Tears
Coroner – Mental
Vortex
Mr. Bungle – S/T
Sepultura - Arise
Comment: Grunge. Well, fuck that. I never were a big fan of grunge. It just felt like a shittier style of...everything. You know, the grunge bands just never appealed to me (apart from the heavy and awesome Alice in Chains...and earlier Soundgarden). Grunge just exploded in '91 thanks to fucking Nirvana. While it actually was a strong year in the metal music department, all that was pretty much overshadowed by Nirvana, Soundgarden and some others. They were like shittier versions of punk bands, of rock bands, of metal bands. Just fucking...shit.
This year was like the final nail in the coffin for most glam and thrash bands still lurking around, and death metal was largely held back because of this musical change as well, and don't even get me started on fucking Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and what they did to the scene during this year.
Comment: Grunge. Well, fuck that. I never were a big fan of grunge. It just felt like a shittier style of...everything. You know, the grunge bands just never appealed to me (apart from the heavy and awesome Alice in Chains...and earlier Soundgarden). Grunge just exploded in '91 thanks to fucking Nirvana. While it actually was a strong year in the metal music department, all that was pretty much overshadowed by Nirvana, Soundgarden and some others. They were like shittier versions of punk bands, of rock bands, of metal bands. Just fucking...shit.
This year was like the final nail in the coffin for most glam and thrash bands still lurking around, and death metal was largely held back because of this musical change as well, and don't even get me started on fucking Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and what they did to the scene during this year.
1992:
Faith No More – Angel
Dust
Danzig – III: How The
Gods Kill
Alice in Chains –
Dirt
Cro-Mags – Alpha
Omega
Fear Factory – Soul
Of A New Machine
W.A.S.P. – The
Crimson Idol
Saigon Kick – The
Lizard
Malevolent Creation - Retribution
Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power
Malevolent Creation - Retribution
Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power
Rage Against The
Machine – S/T
Comment: Grunge is still at large, unfortunately. Most of the last few (notable) traces of glam and thrash bands are to be found in this year - many of them released their final albums (at the time) and broke-up. If not, they changed to adapt to the style that Metallica had made famous the previous year (Testament, Megadeth, etc.). Fortunately for me, a few bands managed to actually held back grunge a bit and showed 'em how it's done. Faith No More and newcomers RATM and Fear Factory were all modern, but were not grunge bands but instead mixes of several other styles that would prove to be very, if not more so than grunge, influential to future bands of the 90's.
1993:
Life of Agony – River
Runs Red
Carcass – Heartwork
Dismember – Indecent
& Obscene
Coroner – Grin
Benediction –
Transcend The Rubicon
Dio – Strange
Highways
Dissection – The
Somberlain
Saigon Kick – Water
Death – Individual
Thought Patterns
Type O Negative –
Bloody Kisses
Comment: While grunge was still the biggest thing at this point, together with Metallica and RHCP of course, there actually were opportunities for other styles to shine again. Many of the greatest death metal records were released in this year, many of which were rather successful. Some other bands such as the crossover-groovy Life of Agony and the gothic Type O Negative really came on and put in new influences for future groove and alternative bands respectively. Not an exceptional year, but a very good one nonetheless. Oh, and fuck grunge.
Comment: While grunge was still the biggest thing at this point, together with Metallica and RHCP of course, there actually were opportunities for other styles to shine again. Many of the greatest death metal records were released in this year, many of which were rather successful. Some other bands such as the crossover-groovy Life of Agony and the gothic Type O Negative really came on and put in new influences for future groove and alternative bands respectively. Not an exceptional year, but a very good one nonetheless. Oh, and fuck grunge.
1994:
Septic Flesh – Mystic
Places Of Dawn
Machine Head – Burn
My Eyes
Megadeth –
Youthanasia
Danzig – 4p
Bolt Thrower - …For
Victory
Running Wild – Black
Hand Inn
Testament – Low
Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger
Pantera – Far Beyond Driven
Body Count – Born Dead
Comment: R.I.P. Kurt Cobain, and pretty much the whole grunge scene with you. While I never were a big fan of Nirvana, or most other grunge bands, I did not have anything against people like Kurt Cobain personally. But with his tragic death, so went grunge with him, kind of. I guess that is just the sad reality of people - they fanboy/girl one person rather than the actual legacy of his/her. I really do believe so was the case with Kurt as well. I mean, what are the odds? He died - grunge died. There were lots of better grunge bands than Nirvana, but he was like the God of it, and when he was gone, so was the whole musical genre basically.
Besides grunge's last breaths, death metal was not really prevailing this year either. Instead the year was rather filled with new styles such as rap/nu metal, groove metal and some more underground black metal stuff that was slowly rising up.
Comment: R.I.P. Kurt Cobain, and pretty much the whole grunge scene with you. While I never were a big fan of Nirvana, or most other grunge bands, I did not have anything against people like Kurt Cobain personally. But with his tragic death, so went grunge with him, kind of. I guess that is just the sad reality of people - they fanboy/girl one person rather than the actual legacy of his/her. I really do believe so was the case with Kurt as well. I mean, what are the odds? He died - grunge died. There were lots of better grunge bands than Nirvana, but he was like the God of it, and when he was gone, so was the whole musical genre basically.
Besides grunge's last breaths, death metal was not really prevailing this year either. Instead the year was rather filled with new styles such as rap/nu metal, groove metal and some more underground black metal stuff that was slowly rising up.
1995:
Face Down - Mindfield
Fear Factory –
Demanufacture
Dissection – Storm Of
The Light’s Bain
The Gathering -
Mandylion
Death – Symbolic
Death – Symbolic
Hate Squad – I.Q.
Zero
Dismember – Massive
Killing Capacity
White Zombie –
Astro-Creep 2000
Grip Inc. – Power Of
Inner Strength
Suffocation - Pierced From Within
Comment: The last awesome year of the 90's, to me. After this year, I honestly have a rather hard time finding more than ten albums a year that appealed to me, at least until 2003. I know I could find it for 1996 and 1997 as well, but it's just, literally, scraping the good out of the pile of shit.
1995 showed us as well as set the bars for what the remainder of the 90's would pretty much come to be like. We get more groove metal as well as industrial metal, which at this point had become a popular (and rather commercial) style of metal. Death metal is pretty much over, at least as far as records worthy of listening to goes. Death, the band that pretty much started the whole sub-genre, are the last to be really good at it, so at least that was a fitting touch.
Otherwise there not really overly much of interest during this year in my opinion. I really do like the massively overlooked bands like Face Down, Hate Squad and Grip Inc. - all of who played groove/post-thrash metal. The Gathering's "Mandylion" was also a rather simplistic but just wonderful and beautiful album that expanded the goth scene.
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I hope you enjoyed my lists and thoughts about the years. Check out my new list that covers the years 2003-2015, if you did enjoy this one. Peace!
Comment: The last awesome year of the 90's, to me. After this year, I honestly have a rather hard time finding more than ten albums a year that appealed to me, at least until 2003. I know I could find it for 1996 and 1997 as well, but it's just, literally, scraping the good out of the pile of shit.
1995 showed us as well as set the bars for what the remainder of the 90's would pretty much come to be like. We get more groove metal as well as industrial metal, which at this point had become a popular (and rather commercial) style of metal. Death metal is pretty much over, at least as far as records worthy of listening to goes. Death, the band that pretty much started the whole sub-genre, are the last to be really good at it, so at least that was a fitting touch.
Otherwise there not really overly much of interest during this year in my opinion. I really do like the massively overlooked bands like Face Down, Hate Squad and Grip Inc. - all of who played groove/post-thrash metal. The Gathering's "Mandylion" was also a rather simplistic but just wonderful and beautiful album that expanded the goth scene.
----------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed my lists and thoughts about the years. Check out my new list that covers the years 2003-2015, if you did enjoy this one. Peace!
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