Jump to content

Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year


NTNR

Recommended Posts

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

I could only do this for decades not specific years so here goes my top ten albums of the eighties in no particular order Judas Priest - British Steel Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell Slayer - Hell Awaits Dio - Holy Diver Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying Anthrax - Among The Living Overkill - The Years Of Decay Accept - Restless And Wild Sanctuary - Refuge Denied
ok so here's why I went for those ten albums (aside from the fact that I don't have a huge amount of eighties albums) British Steel - one of the best Priest albums of the eighties and perhaps the last Priest album that was entirely metal Number Of The Beast - A classic, consitently great all the way through, perhaps one or two songs are overplayed but still one of Maiden's best Heaven And Hell - pretty much saved Black Sabbath, it was questionable whether Sabbath would survive without Ozzy but Dio's voice combined with Sabbath's musicianship works wonders Hell Awaits - In my opinion Slayer's best album, it's heavy as hell, has riffs that will snap your neck and showcases perfectly what Slayer is all about Holy Diver - such a great album, it's got some of Dio's best songs and showcases Ronnie's voice at its very best Peace Sells - second only to Rust In Peace as Megadeth's best album, the combination of Chris Poland and Dave Mustaine's guitar playing and the jazzy feel of Gar Samuelson's drumming, with the solid bass work, not to mention the brilliant lyrics throughout the album and the interesting feel to the album overall Among The Living - Joey Belladonna's vocals are at their best on this album, it's fun loving and captures what Anthrax are all about The Years Of Decay - it's hard to say one Overkill album is better then another since in my opinion all their albums are great, but with such hard hitting songs like Elimination this is in my opinoin Overkill at their best Restless And Wild - it's hard hitting German metal from the eighties with some great songs like Fast As A Shark it's hard to overlook as one of the best albums from the eighties Refuge Denied - classic power metal the way it should be played, with hard hitting riffs and a fantastic vocal performance, songs like Battle Angels and the cover of White Rabbit show how varied this band can be (although I understand they went downhill fast)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

British Steel - one of the best Priest albums of the eighties and perhaps the last Priest album that was entirely metal
Thank you for your input, sir. I have to say, however, that this a bold claim. My eyes literally popped out of my head. :lol: For example, "United" is a hard rock song! Edit: Now that I think about it, British Steel is more hard rock-based than anything. Priest really dumbed down their sound on some of the '80s releases. Much weaker than the '70s albums. Much.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year My Favorite Albums Of 2008: 'Immortal' by Pyramaze - this album was where they switched singers to Matt Barlow rather than Lance King and the atmosphere changed substantially. The eldritch and eerie atmosphere was replaced with a heavier, oppressive one (at least, as far as power metal goes). 'Invisible' by Random Eyes - This is a sort of unknown melodic progressive metal band, and this is probably their best overall release though it is noticeably low on guitar solos. Otherwise, the riffs and choruses are well done. 'Pikki Lihassa' by HB - this band is very hit or miss with me...their lead singer, Joanna Aaltonen, is probably my second favorite vocalist, but only when she's performing well. Much of the time she adopts this more low-pitched delivery which in English tends to sound like a middle-school boy hitting puberty. :? This album features the smallest amount of that, and definitely the strongest musical effort on the part of the band. 'The Art Of War' by Sabaton - not their strongest album in my opinion, but probably second place. This album had several of Sabaton's highly catchy, melodic and militaristic songs and delivered what fans would expect. 'The Last Alliance' by Battlelore - This is probably Battlelore's most consistent effort. 'Sword's Song' had a few really great songs but 'The Last Alliance' shows a little more variety while still providing a great microcosm of Battlelore. My first metal shirt was for this album. :mrgreen: 'Waiting For Silence' by Dungortheb - another great technical death metal album. This band helps make tech-death much less monotonous than many bands (SPAWN OF POSSESSION) in the genre and has a very groovy sound without getting too simple. 'Anagogic Tyranny' by Sympathy - one of my favorite technical death metal albums. It only has one song that could be considered weak, and even then the song, 'The Iscariot Aspect' is still very good at the beginning of the song. The rest of the album is a vicious technical storm. 'Fallen Sanctuary' by Serenity - this was a BIG improvement from their debut and thankfully the sound pioneered on this album became their defining sound on the next one. This album stands out substantially in the field of symphonic power metal bands - the lyrics are darker, the guitar work is better, the keyboard work is a lot more grand and technical. Great stuff. 'Mercy Falls' by Seventh Wonder - a fantastic prog album. Seventh Wonder is already a talented band, but this album helped to solidify and refine their sound. Wonderful melodies and technical proficiency. 'Chapter II: The Aftermath' by Harmony. This is my favorite metal album. Everything's pretty well done, even the ballad, which I usually don't like. Excellent progressive power metal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year I've heard Anagogic Tyranny and totally agree it's a brilliant album, however I disagree on Sabaton, that one album put me off the entire band, I don't know what it is about their vocalist but I don't like the way he goes about the business of singing and I simply cannot make it through the full album, in fact that album joins a long-ish list of albums I really regret buying

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

looks like I'm out voted on the metalness of British Steel' date=' oh well it's still more metal then most of if not all of their eighties albums[/quote'] Have you still not listened to Defenders of the Faith? That's probably their most metal album (and best album) of the 80's, and British Steel is very poppy on many songs, like Livin' After Midnight and Metal Gods. It does still have Rapid Fire, Steeler, and Breakin' the Law, but it was clearly Priest in a transitional phase.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year 1998: 1. Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast 2. Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth 3. Cannibal Corpse - Gallery of Suicide 4. Theatre Of Tragedy - Aegis 5. My Dying Bride - 34.788%...Complete 6. Amorphis - Tuonela 7. Slayer - Diabolus In Musica 8. Borknagar - The Archaic Course 9. Helloween - Better Than Raw 10. Grave Digger - Knights of the Cross Honorable Mention: Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding Death - Sound of Perseverance Primal Fear - Primal Fear Iron Maiden - Virtual XI Katatonia - Discouraged Ones Blue Oyster Cult - Heaven Forbid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year 1999: 1. Type O Negative - World Coming Down 2. Lacrimas Profundere - Memorandum 3. Gamma Ray - Powerplant 4. Bal-Sagoth - The Power Cosmic 5. Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black 6. Entwine - The Treasures Within Hearts 7. My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World 8. Annihilator - Criteria for a Black Widow 9. Sentenced - Crimson 10. Pegazus - Breaking the Chains Honorable Mention: Anathema - Judgement Lacuna Coil - In a Reverie Finntroll - Midnattens Widunder

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year Let's see if I can get another year narrowed down. BlutAusNerd's Top 10 Albums of 1991: Autopsy: Mental Funeral - One of the grimiest, filthiest death metal albums ever, with tons of awesome doom riffs too Bolt Thrower: War Master - Heavy, brutal, and war crazed death metal the old way, like being run over by a tank Cathedral: Forest of Equilibrium - One of the slowest and best doom metal albums of all time, also hugely influential Dark Angel: Time Does Not Heal - 9 songs, 67 minutes, 246 riffs, enough said Darkthrone: Soulside Journey - One of the best and most atmospheric death metal albums ever, unique riffs and songs Dismember: Like An Everflowing Stream - Pretty much the ultimate Swedish death metal album, flawlessly vicious Master's Hammer: Ritual - Unique and amazing Czech black metal, incredibly well written and original Overkill: Horrorscope - Overkill's best album IMO, and one of thrash's finest in general Pungent Stench: Been Caught Buttering - Sick, fun, and catchy grooving death metal, nasty and hilarious Ripping Corpse: Dreaming With the Dead - The ultimate death/thrash album, intense riffs and entrancing melodies Another year with mostly death metal winners, and many more that almost made the cut. I had to narrow this down from almost 30 potential candidates, and it was tough to cut albums like Considered Dead, Effigy of the Forgotten, and Dawn of Possession, but those bands would do better work down the line, though other bands like Convulse would not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year Lol @ shitty Dismember beating out Suffocation's classic Effigy of the forgotten,the only good song off that album is Override of the Overture. Suffocation's weakest song is better than all of Dismember's discography, and Mental funeral is boring as well Severed survival is their best. What's next Bolt thrower making a top ten for someone? :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

I guess I'll take NTNR's lead and start in the 90's. BlutAusNerd's Top 10 Albums of 1990: Atrocity: Hallucinations - One of the first tech/death albums, killer and unique Bathory: Hammerheart - First viking metal album, huge atmosphere and entrancing mood Deicide: Deicide - Deicide's most savage and memorable, total hate filled brutality Merciless: The Awakening - Absolutely destructive Swedish death/thrash, ripping greatness Nuclear Death: Bride of Insect - Sick noisy death/grind, a monument of disgusting insanity Obituary: Cause of Death - Dark, heavy, and catchy, Obituary's best Paradise Lost: Lost Paradise - One of the first doom/death album, amazing creepy atmosphere and rough heaviness Pungent Stench: For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh - Morbid, sick, and fucking fun death metal classic Trouble: Trouble - Pretty much the best stoner/doom album ever, one of Trouble's best Entombed: Left Hand Path - Classic Swedish death metal, best guitar tone EVER and one of the best death metal songs ever in the title track In no particular order, I had to make some tough cuts to even get down to 10, so I won't be organizing it. Mostly a death metal year for me, I guess... EDIT: Included a brief explanation for each as suggested by The Metal Adviser, I like the idea of an explanation, especially for albums others haven't heard.
Well at least you got the Bathory pick right.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

Lol @ shitty Dismember beating out Suffocation's classic Effigy of the forgotten' date='the only good song off that album is Override of the Overture. Suffocation's weakest song is better than all of Dismember's discography, and Mental funeral is boring as well Severed survival is their best. What's next Bolt thrower making a top ten for someone? :lol:[/quote'] No, Dismember owns, not sure why that concept seems to elude so many. Effigy is good, but Breeding the Spawn is their best, and I still like Dismember better. Mental Funeral destroys Severed Survival, it's darker, heavier, nastier, and just better in every way, which is really saying something because Severed Survival is still pretty fucking good. And yes, Bolt Thrower was in my top 10 for 1991.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year I don't hate old school death metal, I just dislike Swedish/Finnish death metal on a massive scale. Its musically inferior on all fronts to American death metal, its not as technical, not as intense, nor is it as interesting to hear. There are a few good bands from the style stuff like Vomitory, Demigod, Funebre, and a little Grave but the style just bores me. As for Mental funeral its heavy but also boring, plodding is the perfect term for it and it isn't as lively as Severed Survival. An album can be heavy and dark but it doesn't keep me interested if its like that for every song. I've said it before Dismember is a band of good songs not good albums :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year

I don't hate old school death metal, I just dislike Swedish/Finnish death metal on a massive scale. Its musically inferior on all fronts to American death metal, its not as technical, not as intense, nor is it as interesting to hear. There are a few good bands from the style stuff like Vomitory, Demigod, Funebre, and a little Grave but the style just bores me. As for Mental funeral its heavy but also boring, plodding is the perfect term for it and it isn't as lively as Severed Survival. An album can be heavy and dark but it doesn't keep me interested if its like that for every song. I've said it before Dismember is a band of good songs not good albums :D
I used to feel the same way, and yes, American death metal is by and large more "brutal" in the modern day sense of the term perpetuated by bands like Origin and pretty much all of Unique Leader's roster, but it's also frequently less interesting. European death metal tends to be heavier, more memorable, and more original, but of course there are exceptions to both of these. Suffocation are still pretty much the only brutal death metal band I enjoy because they came from the old school, when you had to write songs instead of cramming a bunch of mindlessly unconnected riffs together into a group before stopping to start another sequence on the next track. Suffocation could remove any part of your anatomy with surgical precision in a way you would feel and remember for more than 12 seconds after the song finished, something that their followers like Dying Fetus forgot because they were too busy trying to splice hip hop grooves into death metal. I dont have a problem with people liking modern death metal, but much of it is not for me, and I would prefer the same respect over you bitching about my selections. Or, you could come up with some picks of your own so I can have a chance to rip them apart as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year BlutAusNerd's Top 10 Albums of 1992: Asphyx: Last One On Earth - Heavy and fucking savage Dutch death metal, brutal and great with awesomely sick vocals At the Gates: The Red In the Sky Is Ours - Twisted, creepy, and highly original death metal, their best album easily Atrocity: Todessehnsucht - Avant-Garde, jazzy, atmospheric very ahead of it's time death metal, best German DM album Cadaver: ...In Pains - Groovy, morbid death metal, almost like a death metal version of Coroner, very cool album Darkthrone: A Blaze In the Northern Sky - Darkthrone's best black metal album and one of Norway's best ever Incantation: Onward To Golgotha - One of the most evil sounding death metal albums ever, brutally heavy and punishing Neurosis: Souls At Zero - Huge atmosphere, massive songs and entrancing atmosphere, probably my favorite Neurosis Pan.Thy.Monium: Dawn of Dreams - Weird death metal with saxophones, but it's incredibly well written, Swano's best Purtenance: Member of Immortal Damnation - Like a heavier and darker early Amorphis, some of Finland's finest DM Sinister: Cross the Styx - Nonstop fucking chaos on this album, you're assaulted without ever being let up, and it rules I promise that I don't just listen to death metal, but the only 3 years I've done have been from it's golden years, and I did have to cut a great many more that I really wished I hadn't. While it still had a couple more years to shine it's brightest, black metal and doom metal are going to start gaining steam against it in the coming years. These things to tend to work in waves though, you'll notice (when I get to them) that my 80's lists will be mostly thrash oriented.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Join Metal Forum

    joinus-home.jpg

  • Our picks

    • Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments.  "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little to comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears.  A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years.  2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co.  A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length.

      Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean.  Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto.  'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough.  The looming build to 'Manifest Reality' delivers a real punch when the song starts proper.  Frenzied riffs and drums with shots of lead work to hold the interest.


      There's a problem already though (I know, I am such a fucking mood hoover).  I don't like Phil's vocals.  I never had if I am being honest.  The aggression to them seems a little forced even when they are at their best on tracks like 'Manifest Reality'.  When he tries to sing it just feels weak though ('Salvation') and tracks lose real punch.  Give him a riffy number such as 'Killing Machine' and he is fine with the Reich engine (probably a poor choice of phrase) up in sixth gear.  For every thrashy riff there's a fair share of rock edged, local bar act rhythm aplenty too.

      Let's not poo-poo proceedings though, because overall I actually enjoy "Awakening".  It is stacked full of catchy riffs that are sticky on the old ears.  Whilst not as raw as perhaps the - brilliant - artwork suggests with its black and white, tattoo flash sheet style design it is enjoyable enough.  Yes, 'Death Valley' & 'Something to Believe' have no place here, saved only by Arnett and Radziwill's lead work but 'Revolution' is a fucking 80's thrash heyday throwback to the extent that if you turn the TV on during it you might catch a new episode of Cheers!

      3/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 10 replies
    • I
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/52-vltimas-something-wicked-marches-in/
      • Reputation Points

      • 3 replies

    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/48-candlemass-the-door-to-doom/
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • Full length number 19 from overkill certainly makes a splash in the energy stakes, I mean there's some modern thrash bands that are a good two decades younger than Overkill who can only hope to achieve the levels of spunk that New Jersey's finest produce here.  That in itself is an achievement, for a band of Overkill's stature and reputation to be able to still sound relevant four decades into their career is no mean feat.  Even in the albums weaker moments it never gets redundant and the energy levels remain high.  There's a real sense of a band in a state of some renewed vigour, helped in no small part by the addition of Jason Bittner on drums.  The former Flotsam & Jetsam skinsman is nothing short of superb throughout "The Wings of War" and seems to have squeezed a little extra out of the rest of his peers.

      The album kicks of with a great build to opening track "Last Man Standing" and for the first 4 tracks of the album the Overkill crew stomp, bash and groove their way to a solid level of consistency.  The lead work is of particular note and Blitz sounds as sneery and scathing as ever.  The album is well produced and mixed too with all parts of the thrash machine audible as the five piece hammer away at your skull with the usual blend of chugging riffs and infectious anthems.  


      There are weak moments as mentioned but they are more a victim of how good the strong tracks are.  In it's own right "Distortion" is a solid enough - if not slightly varied a journey from the last offering - but it just doesn't stand up well against a "Bat Shit Crazy" or a "Head of a Pin".  As the album draws to a close you get the increasing impression that the last few tracks are rescued really by some great solos and stomping skin work which is a shame because trimming of a couple of tracks may have made this less obvious. 

      4/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...