ACID BATH: WHEN THE KITE STRING POPSAcid Bath was an early pioneer in the sludge metal sound. Featuring members who would later comprise groups like Crowbar and Goatwhore, Acid Bath was ahead of its time. The band blended sounds from doom metal, hardcore, blues rock, black metal, death metal, and virtually anything else. This is a fantastic album with extremely strong dynamics and range. The band only released two full length albums, of which this is the debut.
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CORROSION OF CONFORMITY: DELIVERANCECorrosion of Conformity (C.O.C. from now on) has had many different sounds over the years. Beginning as a hardcore band and slowly incorporating more and more thrash and metal influences, the band changed a lot. This was a complete change however, with the band adding classic rock and southern influences into their more traditional metal sound. The band was one of the leaders in the New Orleans sound along with Crowbar and Eyehategod, and of course, the above Acid Bath.
IN FLAMES: LUNAR STRAINHere we go, the first sign of the Swedish melodeath scene in this series. This was In Flames's first album and at this time, they had a very different sound than what they have now. This was pure melodic death metal with occasional folksy interludes, such as a soft string section. The band was also different in that Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity fame was the band's lead vocalist instead of Anders Frieden, who was fronting Dark Tranquillity at this time. Weird.
MAYHEM: DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANASMayhem's masterpiece is a dark and brooding album, perfect for this season. This album features Attila Csihar on vocals and his performance can best be described as manic and frightening. The album was the last to have guitarist Euronymous and bassist Varg Vikernes prior to Varg murdering Euronymous. For that reason alone, this album is far more infamous than it is famous. The music though is one of the best examples of the Norwegian black metal scene.
TESTAMENT: LOWI kept wanting to get Testament on one of these things. Well the time has finally come. Testament was never really an elite thrash metal band, until this album, when they combined elements of groove and death metal with their thrash metal and Chuck Billy started growling far more often. This is when the band truly came into their own. This is a heavy and brutal album, far moreso than anything the band put out before it. This is the band's best album to this point, and it's not even really close.
Honorable Mentions: Black Sabbath: Cross Purposes, Cannibal Corpse: The Bleeding, Cryptopsy: Blasphemy Made Flesh, Dream Theater: Awake, Emperor: In the Nightside Eclipse, King's X: Dogman, Machine Head: Burn My Eyes, Megadeth: Youthanasia, Pantera: Far Beyond Driven, Queensryche: Promised Land.
Bands that formed in 1994: Abscess, Destroyer 666, Lacuna Coil, Six Feet Under, Strapping Young Lad, Symphony X.
I'm a bit disappointed you didn't do Cross Purposes for this. A vastly underrated album.
ReplyDeleteI just recently discovered Acid Bath, and I am absolutely loving the hell out of that album. Simply brilliant.
Alright, go In Flames! They are my favorite band, so it's cool to see them on the list. It seems like, since their tragic fall from the peak of Swedish melodeath to their current pissed-off-Korn sound, a lot of metal fans have given them something of a revisionist history and attacked even their great early work. Makes me happy to see them still getting some credit.
ReplyDeleteKelly, I agree with you on Black Sabbath. I had a hard time leaving it off. I have covered in as a highly underrated album earlier on in the blog.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I actually do really enjoy In Flames's early material. I still like some of their more recent stuff as well, but not nearly as much. It's more of a guilty pleasure for me now.
Yeah, their newer material is a bit like that for me too. It's just nice to see that you can separate the band's 90s work from their new stuff and look at it fairly, since I've noticed recently that many people can't seem to do that. In Flames has instead become a band that most "true" metalheads feel obligated to hate.
ReplyDeleteI like all the In Flames albums I have, which is a pretty good sampling across their career.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, you may be interested to read True Metal vs. False Metal, my own (very involved) take on the issue. I didn't specifically talk about bands that start "trve" but later become labeled as sellouts. I think the discussion is relevant anyway.
I'll take a look at it. Oh, the majority of the anonymous posts made on this blog recently have been me, by the way. I've just been too monumentally lazy to type my own name for some reason. The point is, Patrick is quicker (and less weird sounding) for you guys to call me.
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