Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 104

ARTIST:  Sepultura
ORIGIN:  Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
TITLE:  Against
LABEL:  Roadrunner Records
YEAR:  1998
GENRE:  Groove Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Choke"
NOTES:  I picked this one up at the same time as the prior Testament album, so it was the night before I took the ACT.  I had not heard anything about this album prior to buying it, and if I had I probably would not have gotten it at all.  I did not even know Sepultura had a new album out until seeing this on the shelf.  This was the first album without Max Cavalera.  Derrick Green was the new vocalist and he is not significantly different than Max, but it was still a little tough to get used to him.  Musically this album is not much different than Roots.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 103

ARTIST:  Testament
ORIGIN:  Oakland, CA (United States)
TITLE:  The Ritual
LABEL:  Atlantic Records
YEAR:  1992
GENRE:  Thrash/Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Return to Serenity"
NOTES:  I remember picking this one up the night before I took the ACT.  I had been studying a lot for it and I was ready for a break.  I went over to the music store and bought this as well as another album.  Testament has always been a favorite band and "Return to Serenity" was already my favorite song.  This was Testament's answer to Metallica's Black Album and the increased use of melodies was obvious.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 102

ARTIST:  Ozzy Osbourne
ORIGIN:  Birmingham, England
TITLE:  Bark at the Moon
LABEL:  Epic
YEAR:  1983
GENRE:  Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Waiting for Darkness"
NOTES:  This was the last of the classic-era Ozzy Osbourne albums I picked up.  It was quite a bit different than Ozzy's first couple of releases, mostly due to the addition of Jake Lee on guitar to replace the deceased Randy Rhoads.  Lee had a significantly different style than Rhoads, one more suited to a traditional heavy metal sound than the more classically influenced style of Rhoads.  The title track is the most well-known song on the album.  By and large this was a heavier release without a lot of filler, a common problem with Ozzy albums.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 101

ARTIST:  Faith No More
ORIGIN:  San Francisco, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Album of the Year
LABEL:  Slash Records
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Alternative Rock/Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Collision"
NOTES:  Quite the ironic album title, because this one is fairly boring.  That is a big problem for Faith No More because one major thing they always had going for them was that they were almost never boring.  Their metalness has been in dispute, but they could always craft some decent songs.  This one is tedious all the way through.  The band broke up soon after.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 100

ARTIST:  Prong
ORIGIN:  New York, NY
TITLE:  Cleansing
LABEL:  Sony Music
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Crossover/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck"
NOTES:  I always wanted this album, mostly for "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck", which was once one of the heaviest songs I had ever heard.  Plus it was incredibly violent.  Unfortunately other than a few other decent songs on the album, this is the least impressive overall Prong album I had heard to this point.  To this date, it is still the last album by the band I have picked up.  But "Snap Your Fingers" is still fun.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 99

ARTIST:  Ozzy Osbourne
ORIGIN:  Birmingham, England
TITLE:  Blizzard of Ozz
LABEL:  Jet Records
YEAR:  1980
GENRE:  Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Mr. Crowley"
NOTES:  Ozzy's debut album after being kicked out of Black Sabbath.  I do not know whether he would have been able to do as well or become as popular had it not been for the stunning guitar work of Randy Rhoads.  His classically-based solo work really steals the show on this album.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 98

ARTIST:  Metallica
ORIGIN:  San Francisco, CA (United States)
TITLE:  ReLoad
LABEL:  Vertigo Records
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
FAVORITE SONG:  "Fixxxer"
NOTES:  Originally, Load and ReLoad were supposed to be a double album.  That would have been a really tedious double album though so thankfully they did not do that.  I think I like ReLoad slightly better than Load, but I really do not like either one all that much.  There are some decent songs here, but nothing like their material prior to The Black Album.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 97

ARTIST:  Sepultura
ORIGIN:  Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
TITLE:  Blood-Rooted
LABEL:  Roadrunner Records
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Groove Metal/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Procreation of the Wicked"
NOTES:  This was a collection of oddities, mostly collected from early to mid 1990's and included covers, live tracks, demos, and remixes.  There is some decent stuff on here and it is nice that these harder-to-find tracks are combined into one release, rather than having to track them all down, but this is still the less-interesting part of Sepultura's history.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 96

ARTIST:  Iron Maiden
ORIGIN:  London, England
TITLE:  The X Factor
LABEL:  EMI Records
YEAR:  1995
GENRE:  Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Lord of the Flies"
NOTES:  This was only my second Iron Maiden album, and it is not one of my favorites.  This one caused me to back off on the band for quite awhile because I never really cared that much for it.  The biggest problem is how long and boring it really is.  There are some decent moments, but Blaze Bayley's voice just never really fit in.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 95

ARTIST:  Various
ORIGIN:  Various
TITLE:  Metalmeister
LABEL:  Metal Blade Records
YEAR:  1996
GENRE:  Various
FAVORITE SONG:  Decoryah: "Fall Dark Waters"
NOTES:  Another compilation, this time one by Metal Blade Records.  I still love this compilation and it introduced me to a ton of new bands.  Immolation, Crisis, Armored Saint, Mercyful Fate, Six Feet Under, and Desultory were all new bands to me on this album.  A pretty good introduction into Metal Blade as well.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 94

ARTIST:  Skrew
ORIGIN:  Austin, TX (United States)
TITLE:  Angel Seed XXIII
LABEL:  Metal Blade Records
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Industrial Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Sea Man"
NOTES:  I think I got this one used, almost positive of it in fact.  This was at a time when I really liked industrial-tinged metal, and Skrew certainly qualifies.  I remember dating a girl in high school who really loved this album and borrowed it all the time from me.  It may have been my first Metal Blade Records release.  Not much else to say about this one.  I don't listen to it much anymore, in fact I can't remember the last time I did.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 93

ARTIST:  Jerry Cantrell
ORIGIN:  Seattle, WA (United States)
TITLE:  Boggy Depot
LABEL:  Columbia Records
YEAR:  1998
GENRE:  Heavy Metal/Grunge Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Dickeye"
NOTES:  The guitarist from Alice in Chains released a solo album which had its roots when the band was beginning to have some difficulties.  Some of the songs were meant to appear on a new Alice in Chains album, but that never came to fruition as Layne Staley became a recluse for years before he died.  This has some decent songs on it and I can definitely see some of the tracks as potential Alice in Chains material.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 92

ARTIST:  Testament
ORIGIN:  Oakland, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament
LABEL:  Burnt Offerings
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Return to Serenity"
NOTES:  Another rare Greatest Hits albums in my collection.  I got it because I loved "Return to Serenity" and at the time this was the only album by the band with that song on it that I could find.  This also has a couple of unreleased covers which are basically worthless.  It does provide a nice mix of the band's albums released to that point, including the decidedly more death metal Demonic album.  It was a nice look into the band's larger history that I was previously unaware of, but that is pretty much it.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 91

ARTIST:  Faith No More
ORIGIN:  San Francisco, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Angel Dust
LABEL:  Slash Records
YEAR:  1992
GENRE:  Alternative Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Land of Sunshine"
NOTES:  I bought this one used, just the same as the band's prior album.  This is another one that I had been exposed to from an early time in becoming a metalhead.  This is a little less commercially viable than the prior Faith No More release but it was a very interesting mix of metal, funk, and punk, with some other completely bizarre and off-the-wall elements.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 90

ARTIST:  Paradise Lost
ORIGIN:  Halifax, England
TITLE:  One Second
LABEL:  Music for Nations
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Gothic Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Say Just Words"
NOTES:  I had really gotten into Paradise Lost's brand of gothic metal with the preceding release.  So I was very excited when a new album was due to be released.  Unfortunately, Paradise Lost took things a little bit too far in the gothic rock direction on this album.  It was catchy and sounded pretty decent but most of the metal was gone.  It would get even worse after this and it would be years before I picked up another new Paradise Lost album.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 89

ARTIST:  Sepultura
ORIGIN:  Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
TITLE:  Third World Posse
LABEL:  Roadracer Records
YEAR:  1992
GENRE:  Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Inner Self"
NOTES:  This is a very short but brutal EP, featuring a few live songs, a cover of the Dead Kennedys "Drug Me" and the track "Dead Embryonic Cells".  It certainly is not an essential release, but I was still picking up as many Sepultura albums as I could find at this time.  Anything would do, and this one was pretty cheap.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 88

ARTIST:  Prong
ORIGIN:  New York, NY (United States)
TITLE:  Prove You Wrong
LABEL:  Epic
YEAR:  1991
GENRE:  Crossover/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Irrelevant Thoughts"
NOTES:  This album is seriously worth listening to just for the amazing drumming.  Ted Parsons has always been an amazing drummer but he really showed that off on this release.  I had not really listened to this a lot lately, but used to quite a bit when I was in high school.  Every once in awhile, I will get an urge to listen to some crossover and that is when this album comes out.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 87

ARTIST:  Ozzy Osbourne
ORIGIN:  Birmingham, England
TITLE:  The Ozzman Cometh
LABEL:  Epic
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Mr. Crowley"
NOTES:  I do not have a lot of Greatest Hits albums.  Usually there has to be something that makes the album worth the money, bonus tracks or something.  It has not always been like this though.  Certain artists lend themselves well to a Greatest Hits album.  Ozzy is one of those, due to the large amount of filler material that shows up, particularly on his more recent albums.  This did feature the unreleased track "Back on Earth" which is a decent song, for later Ozzy material.  It also featured demo tracks of early Sabbath material and an interview with Ozzy, that I am not sure I have ever listened to.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 86

ARTIST:  Sepultura
ORIGIN:  Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
TITLE:  Hatred
LABEL:  Oxygen
YEAR:  1996
GENRE:  Thrash/Groove Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Inner Self"
NOTES:  Have you figured out that I liked Sepultura in high school?  Searching for this album in Sepultura's official discography will be fruitless.  This is a bootleg.  It is the only bootleg in my collection.  Much of it is from a live concert in Holland, though there are parts from another concert and some studio tracks as well on it.  I remember finding it at the local music store which had a large amount of bootlegs on sale at one point.  I found the Sepultura album because I was basically obsessed with the band at this point.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 85

ARTIST:  Megadeth
ORIGIN:  Los Angeles, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Cryptic Writings
LABEL:  Capitol Records
YEAR:  1997
GENRE:  Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
FAVORITE SONG:  "A Secret Place"
NOTES:  Megadeth really started to drift away from thrash metal on this one, and even heavy metal on some tracks.  They were trying to follow the Metallica formula I suspect.  But I like this album a lot better than I like Load.  I think a lot of the songs are surprisingly catchy.  It is not the best album by Megadeth, or even remotely close, but it is not the worst either.