Top 6 metal albums to cure the metal blues

[Stevepage]

Carcass - Heartwork

Judas Priest - Painkiller

Meshuggah - Obzen

Megadeth - Rust In Peace

Fear Factory - Demanufacture

[Antag]

Dammit Antag, if I am not mistaken it's the second time you say you were at a show I mentionned.
the first one was this one right ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5cdMwWWV4o&feature=related

:lol: Yeah - they played consecutive nights at the Hammy Odeon & I went to both of 'em so whichever one it was, I was there :)

I enjoyed the first night so much that I was thinking of going again, then that afternoon my employers announced they were bankrupt & that we were all out of a job, so I thought "what the hell, may as well go see Megadeth again before I hit the dole queue tomorrow" :lol:

Pantera supported & were brilliant (was the first time I've seen them).  Some say they blew 'Deth away, but I'm not so sure - Megadeth were VERY good - probably the best I ever saw them play...

[Alex]

There have been a lot of great classic albums mentioned here, so I felt that I should maybe add in some current great metal albums, to show that YES, the classics rule, but there is some good stuff being put out still nowadays.

1. Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant; not everyone will like the death/blackmetal vocals, but the music and playing is superb.
2. Trivium - Shogun - truly one of the best metal albums last year; somewhat screamy vocals though and Trivium suffers from a bad teenie image (just like Bullet For My Valentine).
3. Def Leppard - Songs from the Sparkle Lounge - I love this one
4. Black Stone Cherry - Folklore and Superstition. Makes you want to crack out the bourbon and sit on the front porch (or shoot small animals in the backyard with your shotgun, ok not in the UK though).
5. Megadeth - United Abominations. It's not as great as the classics, but it does remind you why you should still keep an eye on this band.
6. Lordi - largely overlooked, Kiss on Steroids. Deadache or The Arockaplypse are both kickass albums.

[Alex]

Some great suggestions here (really happy to see Bolt Thrower mentioned :)).  Anyway, here are mine (again, in any order):

CARCASS: HEARTWORK
A full decade before Bullet for my valentine et al tried to combine rock phrasing with detuned heaviness, Carcass released pretty much the last word in this style.  Absolutely great album. If you like this, then check out the half dozen or so albums that Arch Enemy (Mike Amott played on Heartwork too) have since released.

AT THE GATES: SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL
This is how fast songs with detuned guitars should be played :twisted: It is one of the great tragedies of metal that ATG split after this one.  The Haunted don't even come close...

ENTOMBED: WOLVERINE BLUES
Absolutely manic effort from a band that were expanding their horizons from their pure death metal roots.  Many bands that tried to "move on" from DM lost their power in the process (as did Entombed on subsequent albums).  But this album shows how it should be done.

FEAR FACTORY: DEMANUFACTURE
As Kerrang said a the time: a f*cking masterpiece.  The tack-sharp, diamond-hard production is perfect for the futuristic tone of the album & Burton C Bell's vocals were at their best here.

MESHUGGAH: CHAOSPHERE
Others have mentioned Obzen which is indeed a great CD, but for sheer unrelenting brutality, Chaosphere trumps it IMHO.  Anyone wondering what a 7-string guitar is for should buy this :)

OBITUARY: THE END COMPLETE
The greatest death metal album ever released?  I think so.  Unlike many/most DM, Obituary don't use blast beats, relying instead on a brutal sludgy mid-paced crawl.  It's massively heavy in it's own tortured way & John Tardy is the best DM vocalist by a distance...

I agree 100% on your review here, these are really influential albums. I just felt you should have squeezed in Morbid Angel's "Altars Of Madness", as it is somehow an album even these bands were influence by.

I remember buying that Fear Factory record still, I listened to it at a record store and just thought "I must have this, this is just out of this world".

[MDV]

And the music god said LET THERE BE METAL :twisted: And there was, and He saw that it was good, and said unto man, thou shalt toil the fretboard and labour most br00tally, in thine home, thine stage and thine studio, that thine metal might sound like dogfights between nuclear powered hypersonic fighter jets with infinite tourque, that it might be most savage and crushing and spread headbanging and silly grins among all who listen to its mighty goodness.

Metallica - And justice for all
Nile - Annihilation of the wicked
Origin - Antithesis
Machine Head - Burn my Eyes
Byzantine - The Fundamental Component
Neuraxis - Trilateral Progression

[nfe]

Some great suggestions here (really happy to see Bolt Thrower mentioned :)).  Anyway, here are mine (again, in any order):

CARCASS: HEARTWORK
A full decade before Bullet for my valentine et al tried to combine rock phrasing with detuned heaviness, Carcass released pretty much the last word in this style.  Absolutely great album. If you like this, then check out the half dozen or so albums that Arch Enemy (Mike Amott played on Heartwork too) have since released.

AT THE GATES: SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL
This is how fast songs with detuned guitars should be played :twisted: It is one of the great tragedies of metal that ATG split after this one.  The Haunted don't even come close...

Gah! Stop picking band's worst albums  :( :lol: Horrifically overrated mince from two fantastic bands.  :lol:

Right, top six metal albums off the top of my head right now?

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer

Anaal Nathrakh - Domine Non Es Dingus

Eyehategod - Dopesick

Enslaved - Vertebrae

Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses

All required listening for anyone into metal.

[JDC]

recently I've been on an Annihilator binge on spotify, almost all the albums are great!

+1 for Meshuggah but I'd go with the release of the Nothing album, polyrhythmtastic and killer tone, as much as I like obzen, sometimes I feel it has a tad too much dissonance

[headtheball]

Necroticism > Heartwork. Discuss.

[donovan.x]

Alex ^ Nice choice with Sparkle lounge how great is 'Go', infact great album from start to finish.

[_tom_]

Any Electric Wizard album.
Down - Nola
Kreator - Coma of Souls

Dont think I can name 6, not really into metal at the minute

Necroticism > Heartwork. Discuss.

Not really a huge fan. Its ok I just prefer the style of the songs on Heartwork.

[nfe]

Necroticism > Heartwork. Discuss.

The only Carcass album worse than Heartwork is Swansong.

[Ratrod]

One album I somehow forgot and I wonder why no-one mentioned it yet:

Slayer - Reign In Blood

Also works well against loitering hippies, chavs, elderly people and religeous fundamentalists.

[Crazy_Joe]

Steel Panther - Feel The Steel

That is all.

[James C]

Slayer - God Hates Us All
Testament - The Formation Of Damnation
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavour
Blaze Bayley - The Man Who Would Not Die
Iron Maiden - 7th Son of a 7th Son
Soilwork - A Predators Portrait

[Muttley]

Trouble - Trouble
Mindfunk - Dropped
Sabbat - History of a Time to Come
Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavour
Overkill - Horrorscope