I'm bored sitting here on a Saturday night after spending most of the day listening to Motorhead, Grim Reaper, Omen, Forced Entry and Mercyful Fate today. So yeah, I'm in a big metal mood. Which got me opening up links on my homepage and led me to this list here. This is the Top 15 Most Underrated Albums by Metal Legends. I used to do a lot of list posts where I would rip apart the opinions of the writers. They are generally easier to do than album review posts, so let's see what we have here.
BLACK SABBATH: HEADLESS CROSS
I really do like this album, which has the less-than-legendary singer Tony Martin on it instead of Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio or Ian Gillan. This era also saw the release of the very forgettable Forbidden album (which featured an Ice-T cameo). This one is not my favorite release from the Tony Martin era though, I really preferred Cross Purposes myself. This one is fine, but like I said, I would have picked something different.
JUDAS PRIEST: TURBO
No. Just no. This is the album where Judas Priest decided to bend to the trends and incorporate synth-rock and hair metal. It's not all bad, but to call it underrated is incredibly generous. If I were to pick a Judas Priest album that is underrated, it's Jugulator which was the first album with Tim "Ripper" Owens taking over for Rob Halford on vocals. That album has some great riffs and Owens's soaring vocals are a close approximation for Halford. And it's almost universally hated because of Halford's absence. Had it come out under a different band name, it would likely get more respect.
PANTERA: POWER METAL
Here we go. This is one I can agree with. Most Pantera fans have completely disavowed anything prior to Cowboys from Hell. The band has too. It doesn't make a ton of sense because Power Metal sounds a LOT like Cowboys. It does feature some rather regrettable tracks and some of the lyrics are rather juvenile, but this is where Dimebag really started coming into his own. He just perfected it on the next album.
BLACK SABBATH: SABOTAGE
Apparently Black Sabbath gets two entries on this list. I am not sure I would call this one underrated. This is from the classic era of Sabbath with Ozzy on vocals, but internal strife was tearing the band apart. The album features some great songs like "Hole in the Sky" and "Symptom of the Universe" that are highly regarded by fans. It also features the annoying "Am I Going Insane", so it's not all positive.
VAN HALEN: WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
I know very little about this album. First of all, Van Halen is not a metal band. Secondly, I never really liked Van Halen other than a few songs here and there. The only song I am familiar with is "Everybody Wants Some", which is a song I played in pep band in high school. So I don't have an opinion one way or the other either about this album or if there is a better album to consider from Van Halen. They would not have made my list at all for obvious reasons.
METALLICA: LOAD
The least surprising entry in this list, not because I agree with it, but because people have been waxing nostalgic about this album for a long time. Everybody says it's not really that bad. Yes it is. There's some good songs on here. I can agree with that, but I haven't listened to this album in probably 20 years and there's a damn good reason for it. I was utterly disappointed with it when it came out, and my feelings have not really changed much since. There is a Metallica album I would put on this list, but it's coming up later in the post.
QUEENSRYCHE: PROMISED LAND
I do love this album. This was my first Queensryche album after hearing songs like "I Am I" and "One More Time" on the radio. This album has some really great songs on it. It's dark and brooding and catchy as hell. And "Someone Else?" is one of the most beautiful and heart-breaking songs I have ever heard. I am a little surprised at its inclusion here because I was not aware it was not well-regarded (it has an 80% review score on Metal Archives), but I guess it was basically the last great album the band released before descending into mediocrity and it's not much like the much more well-known Operation: Mindcrime.
DIO: STRANGE HIGHWAYS
I am going to admit something embarrassing. I am actually not all that familiar with Dio's solo work after The Last in Line. I love Dio's voice, but generally preferred him during his time with Rainbow and Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell. So this is another album I don't actually have an opinion about just due to my unfamiliarity with Dio's work in the 1990's in particular. I do have Magica and I like that album quite a bit. Maybe I will track this one down.
MEGADETH: YOUTHANASIA
This is another album I truly love. It was the first Megadeth album I bought (the same week I bought the above Queensryche album in fact), though I had heard my brother's copy of Countdown to Extinction enough to be familiar with the band. This was the beginning of a rough patch for Megadeth that took years to come back from, but there is not a bad track on this one. "A Tout Le Monde" is the classic and it is a chilling song about depression and suicide, but the album also features the crushing "Train of Consequences" and "Addicted to Chaos".
METALLICA: DEATH MAGNETIC
This is the Metallica album I hinted at earlier. This was finally a decent return to form for the band with their best album since the black album. It was oddly polarizing though. Lots of people still hated it, so it definitely deserves its spot on this list. "All Nightmare Long" is a damn good track and a worthy addition to the band's catalog.
MASTODON: ONCE MORE 'ROUND THE SUN
I may be kind of in the minority, but my favorite Mastodon songs are the ones that are catchy as hell with drummer Brann Dailor on vocals ("Show Yourself" is one of my favorite Mastodon songs). This album features several of them, such as "The Mother Load" and "Ember City". So, I actually like this album quite a bit. I had actually taken a break from Mastodon for a couple of albums before this one came out and I had to grab it after hearing a few songs. I understand this album's placement here because it is a little more radio-friendly and not as complex. But, that's what makes it so good.
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TESTAMENT: LOW
Maybe it's because I am such a huge Testament fan (I still consider them my favorite band of all time), but I am surprised at this album being on the list. This is another one that was my first album by the band, so I have soft feelings for it, but this is still maybe my favorite album by the band, or at the least very close. It is true that Alex Skolnick was gone at this point, but James Murphy filled in admirably in his absence. This album took Testament in a darker, more aggressive direction and even saw them experimenting with death metal ("Dog Faced Gods"). I would put the far more death metal-leaning Demonic on this list, as it is often maligned. I think Low is fairly well-regarded.
LAMB OF GOD: VII: STURM UND DRANG
I don't dislike Lamb of God, I'm just not a big fan and find them kind of boring. I haven't checked out anything from the band since 2006's Sacrament and I do not really see that changing. They are fine, just don't really do much for me. I did not even stick around for the entirety of their set when I saw them live (I was there for Napalm Death). So this is another one I have no opinion on one way or the other. I have never heard it.
BLACK SABBATH: DEHUMANIZER
Black Sabbath gets a THIRD entry on this list? Come on, now I know this thing is messing with me, plus that's just kind of lazy. Dehumanizer was a reunion album with Dio and it is very well-loved in metal circles. Maybe not as much as Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, but it is considered a classic. It has a review score of 89% on Metal Archives. That is not an underrated album. If you want another truly underrated Black Sabbath album, it's Born Again, the only album with Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan on it.
OPETH: PALE COMMUNION
This is another band that I lost track of for awhile. I think 2005's Ghost Reveries was the last album I checked out by Opeth. I just got kind of bored by them. They were becoming so focused on unconventionality that they kind of forgot how to write good songs. So no, once again I do not have an opinion on this one. I haven't heard it and I do not see that changing any time soon. I have liked what I have heard of their new song though. You know what is an underrated Opeth album? Still Life. I never see that one mentioned when people discuss the band and that one is my favorite by them.
If I wanted to form my own list, I would start with some of the albums I named and try to work out a definition of "Metal Legends". I suppose we are looking for bands that mainstream metalheads would know well, but I kind of feel like we are pushing that boundary with Opeth and Van Halen is not even a metal band. So I guess some of the following would be included:
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