Not since the 1980's has thrash metal been this good, and it's rarely been in such capable hands. Brutal all the way through, but with maturity and innovative songwriting, great guitars, and harsh metalcore-esque vocals, the record is a violent treat from start to finish. "Fire Alive" is perhaps the highlight of the album, but other tracks such as "99" and "Burnt to a Shell" (along with all the rest) are also excellent.
Ah, the single most definitive statement of technical death metal. "Technical" is the order of the day: the band play with such precision on this track it's hard to believe it wasn't played by a computer, except for the fact they also play with a conviction a computer could never reproduce. While Turkish-German vocalist/guitarist Muhammed Suiçmez gets most of the attention for his shredding (and he deserves every ounce of attention he gets), bassist Stephan Fimmers deserves as much attention. This album not only crushes with its surgical assault, it is also a thinking-man's album, with pieces derived by composers Sergei Prokofiev and good old Ludwig van. The only problem with this one is it's over far too soon, at only about 33 minutes.
Yes, more death metal, but it was a great year for the genre. This is another album which introduced me to the splendors of the same, along with the works of Meshuggah. The album comes after a long hiatus by the band, time which was well spent, because they come back refreshed and ready to split eardrums. William York of Allmusic says it better than I can: There seems to be a sort of hidden logic at work in it, since it's hard for even an astute listener to figure out what's going on in terms of the song structure, yet it obviously all makes perfect sense to the band, who deliver this perplexing material with a natural, freely flowing sense of brutality. Many bands have attempted to copy Suffocation's sound, and most of them are extremely boring because they either don't grasp the subtleties or don't have the intuition that these guys obviously possess as songwriters and musicians. "Souls to Deny" is a reminder of what makes good death metal good, and a refreshing break from the uninspired landfill fodder that constitutes so much of the genre's output circa the early- to mid-'00s.Remember to comment and add your picks for the other two albums to round out the list for 2004, and then come back next Friday for the 2005 list. When they're all posted, you can see the whole list by clicking here.
The other day I finished reading The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
, by an author who truly needs no introduction, and of course edited by his son. 
This album is easily the best symphonic black metal album of all time. The band is assisted by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, who provide a melodic counterpoint to the band's crushing assault. As often, John Serba of Allmusic explains quite well: The orchestra lends overwhelming and full-bodied sonic bombast to "Vredsbyrd," "Eradication Instincts Defined," and "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse," the latter two so vast and epic in scope they seem to spot weld John Williams/Star Wars compositional soundtrack drama to blastbeating black metal nastiness -- and while naysayers claim strings make metal wimpy, here they're seamlessly integrated and lend power and profundity to the arrangements.Personally, I believe "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" to be one of the greatest metal tracks of all time, but everything on this record destroys.
The kings of progressive metal released their heaviest album to date with Train of Thought, a nearly-70 minute opus which puts the considerable chops of these Berklee College of Music alumni to full use. The best tracks on here are the 11-plus minute epics "This Dying Soul" and "Endless Sacrifice," and the album also includes Dream Theater's longest instrumental-only studio track, "Stream of Consciousness," which clocks in at 11:16, and while it's more difficult to manage an instrumental which goes into epic lengths, they managed it beautifully.
The Finnish quartet's debut album was seen by many as breathing life into the stale doom metal genre. Of course, it would take a new group to do that, and there is no better country than Finland to do so, with their wide variety of experimental and against-the-grain metal bands. Technically, it is death/doom, the best kind of doom. And it's absolutely brilliant, without any low points. High points include "Deadly Nightshade" and "Hold This Woe."
Probably the first great album in the post-metal genre, it inspired many imitators, and with good reason. The slowly-developing songs completely eschew conventional song structure, and demand your full attention in order to truly appreciate them. It would be folly to try to pick out the best tracks, because it can't be fully understood without listening to the recording all the way through, an experience which feels, well, oceanic, as if you are drifting along on a ship in the high seas.
This is the band that opened the door to death metal for me, and they practically invented my favorite subgenre, technical death metal. And this is one of the experimental quintet's finest hours (or at least 53 minutes). This is despite having mixed it in two days and mastering it in one. The polyrhythmic beats the band is known for are definitely present, as well as their odd, counter-intuitive solos and harsh vocals, and as always it is relentless throughout the recording. Top picks include "Rational Gaze," "Closed Eye Visuals," and "Spasm."
Yes, 2002 was a great year for technical death metal, and these Egyptian mythology-obsessed guys delivered one of the defining statements of the genre with this album. "Unas Slayer of the Gods" is probably the best track on the album, but the four-part title song is really the core of the album. I don't think I can say it any better than Allmusic's John Serba: Shrines is an utterly convincing realization of Nile's passion and intelligence, incorporating jarring tempo changes -- from downtuned doom/sludge metal to concise hyper-blasts -- laser-precise riffing and guttural grindcore vocals into the bowel-twisting, and occasionally startlingly melodic, structures of "Sarcophagus," "Unas Slayer of Gods," and "Wind of Horus." But the album's crowning achievement is a four-part suite "In Their Darkened Shrines," a truly epic masterpiece in both concept and execution, seamlessly incorporating majestic, sweeping keyboards, chanting choirs, tribal drumming, and battle horns into the mix, with recurring melodic themes marking what is easily the band's most ambitious and effective composition to date -- a pseudo-symphonic death metal soundtrack that conjures up visions of tyranny, slavery, rebellion, and sacrifice to cruel gods. While other acts in the genre are content to create the musical equivalent of slasher flicks, Nile aspires to Lawrence of Arabia heights, essentially beating old tyrants Morbid Angel at their own game.Be sure to add your own picks for the remaining two albums for 2002 in the comments, and check back next Friday for the list for 2003. When they're all posted, you can see the whole list by clicking here.
, by legendary Dune author Frank Herbert.
The novel explores a distant-future society which had been devastated by a galactic war, resulting in many planets becoming isolated. The protagonist begins the novel as a member of an organization charged with teaching and observing the people of re-discovered planets. If any sign of a war-like history is uncovered, the planet is "occupied," rendering the population harmless but damaging its culture and people permanently in the process. The protagonist is quickly identified as a very gifted individual, and is promoted and then given successively more difficult tasks. Eventually, the book degenerates into one of Herbert's ideological-religious-philosophical digressions, which are almost invariably indulgent, a trend which is true here as well.
I had a hell of a time with the rule I set up that each band could only be on the list once, because Opeth could have made the list in 2008, 2005, and even 2002 on top of this one. But this is where I decided to put them, with a phenomenal progressive death metal album which combines the brutality of death metal with melodic passages and even--gasp!--major chords as emphasis. This album marks Opeth's finding their real voice, and is certainly the first album to pick up if you're unfamiliar with these metal geniuses. The best track is likely "The Drapery Falls," but other top picks include "Bleak," "The Funeral Portrait," and the title track (though all the tracks are great).
Again, an album I will probably catch flak for including. However, this is a masterpiece any way you look at it. I'm not sure what it is about nu metal that makes "true" metalheads hate it, but whatever that is, surely it should not apply to this band and certainly not this album. The whole thing is as brutal as the most brutal thrash metal albums out there. As this professional review notes, this is a serious metal band, and I quote: Every genre needs its defining record, its high watermark, and this 66-minute tantrum is nu-metal's gift to history. A classic, terrifyingly.Another source has this to say:
[I]f Slipknot act as a gateway drug for a few thousand future death metallers, well, all the better. Slipknot might be the biggest band in metal that no metalhead should actually feel ashamed for enjoying.I agree completely. The best track is "Left Behind," but the whole thing is great (except, perhaps, for the title track).
This album is where Therion perfected their brand of symphonic metal, on this nearly hour-long exploration of Norse cosmology. Combining pure heavy metal (and the traditional metal vocals) with a complete symphony and operatic vocals (in several languages), this disc delivers on the promise many saw in the combination of the two most dramatic forms of music. Standouts include "Ginnungagap," "Asgård," "Schwarzalbenheim," "Vanaheim," and the title track.
, and I thought it would be worthwhile to share my thoughts about it. 
The movie explores themes of racism, apartheid (hence the setting in South Africa), and corporate greed/corruption, among other things. The film provides an interesting take on the racially-based themes, because it has never before been attempted (to my knowledge) with the premise of racism-against-aliens. 
This album is a true triumph of pure heavy metal. The vocals and guitar are both superb on nearly every track. Highlights include opener "Narcosynthesis" with its catchy chorus, the title track, the very interesting cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence," and, well, just about every other track on the album. My personal favorite is the shredding "The River Dragon Has Come," with its numerous guitar embellishments.
I'm sure I will probably catch some flak for including a nu metal album on this list (it isn't the only one, either), but this album is truly brilliant. Mudvayne has never been able to match their debut in terms of rawness or heart. The bass guitar is the real star on this one, driving every track through this seamless opus which explores human nature and evolution along with madness and drug abuse. The best track is "Nothing to Gein," which explores the thought processes, sexual frustrations, and mommy issues of murderer/grave robber Ed Gein, has brutal and funk/metal passages and lyrics which somehow manage to be both sensitive and sensational at the same time. Other standouts include "Dig" and "Death Blooms."
A concept album which both tells a story and manages to keep the music interesting throughout, this album is everything it was intended to be. Even great bands can be hit and miss when it comes to them, but King and the rest have
over
two
decades
of
experience
consistently
making
great
concept
albums
. The story is told in vivid detail, scene by scene, with appropriate music accompanying--but the music obviously comes first. King's vocals go from scary falsetto to scary growl, and could be the focus of the album if the guitars didn't have such a great, loping rhythm and excellent solos. The best track is the title track, but other standouts are "Follow the Wolf" and "Black Devil."
