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Top 10 Albums of Any Given Year


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17 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Wow, I didn't know this thread existed. (searching is so 2020, it's much easier to wait for links to be posted in other thread)

I'm going to have to look at some of my lists and post them up when I get time.

This is the thread for the completely insane.

I'll be back and have a good look at it after my morning run...

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You mean someone did bump this? Must have skimmed right past it in my search. Instead I had to find it the old-fashioned way going through all my old posts… Seriously how am I still here? Question for another time.

 

Doing this one year at a time.

 

1990 first: 10. Nuclear Death - Bride of Insect

Punky, nasty thrash which has only recently come to my attention.

9. Judas Priest - Painkiller

Its still a classic.

8. Megadeth - Rust in Peace

Another classic album Almost everyone has heard of.

almost everyone has heard of.

7. Massacra - Final Holocaust

A thrashy and raw death metal record which might appeal to fans of both genres.

6. Sanctuary - Into the Mirror Black

Almost a precursor to Nevermore, it’s heavy and progressive in all the right ways.

5. Entombed - Left Hand Path

That chainsaw guitar tone which typified early Swedeath started right here.

4. Forbidden - Twisted into Form

Dark, Heavy, melodic and technical this is close to thrash perfection.

3. Artillery - By Inheritance

Speaking of which everything I said about the last entry just a little bit more.

2. Death - Spiritual Healimg

This was the start of Death’s transition away from caveman death metal and towards the more complex, technical band they would become. It makes for an outstanding listen.

1. Bathory - Hammerheart

I could wax lyrical about this album all night. In the interests of time though this is where Viking metal started, if that’s your thing you’ve probably heard this.

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Interesting choice 1990. The 80's was winding down and what we now think of musically as the 90's was just getting started, we had no idea what was in store for us. I only owned 5 of these albums back in the 90's, all the rest of them were much later discoveries.

 

1990

Celtic Frost - Vanity/Nemesis, the last album of their first incarnation and coming after Cold Lake this one gets no respect at all. But I love every minute of it. Probably my favorite CF after To Mega. If Tom had written more metal for the other side of Pandemonium instead of all that avant-weirdness then that one might be my favorite overall. 

Bathory - Hammerheart, the one album I have in common with Blivvie. I'm sure everyone's heard this viking classic a few times by now. I much prefer this one to Blood Fire Death.

Carnage - Dark Recollections, I just find this so much better than anything they did as Dismember. Not that it's so very different.

Alice in Chains - Facelift, I've loved AiC from the very first time I heard Man in the Box on MTV on my way out the door leaving on a two week cross country road trip to California and I had to wait 2 weeks to find out who the fuck the band was. I have always preferred this one over Dirt by just a little. But Dirt has gained ground in recent years so they're almost tied.

Circus of Power - Vices, hard rock from NYC, I've always thought of this band as biker rock because of the bikes in their videos I guess, but I had some bikers living downstairs in the house I was renting in '88 - '90 and we hung out together a lot to drink beer and BBQ, this album got played frequently so hearing this always takes me right back there.

Obituary - Cause of Death, don't know what needs to be said about this legacy band. I enjoy their first 7 albums but the first two and World Demise get played the most.

Autopsy - Mental Funeral, the grandfathers of filthy death metal. Hugely influential band that I don't listen to as much anymore as a lot of the bands they've influenced. But still I can't leave it off a 1990 list, that'd be sacrilege.

Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death, sounds like sloppy garage band thrash, great album. Thrashy death or deathy thrash whatever you wanna call it it's killer.

Hellbastard - Natural Order, one of the pioneers of crust punk with their 80's material, but this particular album is really just a thrash metal album and it's great.

Master - Master, one of the very best of the early thrashy death metal albums from a band that often gets overlooked.

Sacred Reich - The American Way, I was big into SR's commercial thrash back in the early 90's. Don't listen very often anymore but still think this is a really good album. 

Sisters of Mercy - Vision Thing, not metal obviously but the Sisters were a favorite band of mine from the late 80's into the early 90's, there are some days I like this one the best out of their 3 albums. 

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 Hadn't been planning on it, but FA gave me the idea to do a 2006 list.

 

            2006  

1. Archgoat - Whore of Bethlehem, Finland, If I have to explain Archgoat's filth to you then just assume you probably wouldn't like them. One of my top 5 black metal bands of all time and this is their best album.

Darkthrone - The Cult Is Alive, the first of their crusty-punky albums marking a major shift in direction. I love this one even more than some of their black metal albums. This is what I always imagine my avatar singing: Too Old, Too Fucking Cold

Hellish Crossfire - Slavery of the Burning Pentagram, Germany, seems almost no one's ever heard of these guys but this is my favorite thrash album since the dawning of the new millennium.

Diaboli - The Antichrist, Finland, Pete can do no wrong, he's a one man band and all his albums are mandatory.

Coffins - The Other Side of Blasphemy, Japan, Forgot just how great this one was until I listened to it earlier today. Such a massively heavy sound they get on their records. A doomy groovy death metal band that has a unique sound all their own. Killer live band too.

Grave - As Rapture Comes, Grave are my all-around favorite caveman death metal band. I enjoy pretty much everything they've done except Soulless, and I'm not in love with the debut Into the Grave either. Been 7 yers since the last one wonder if we'll get another.

Urgehal - Goatcraft Torment, very solid but sometimes overlooked 90's Norwegian black metal band, maybe because they didn't start putting demos out until '94. Always liked this album the best of theirs, but main man Trondr died in 2012 so sadly there won't be any more. 

Necrophobic - Hrimthursum, I love this album of melodic blackened death metal, even dig the symphonic elements present here. At the time of release this was the best thing they'd done since their amazing debut 13 years earlier.

Incantation - Primordial Domination, like Grave they're a solid death metal outfit with satanic and doom overtones that can basically do no wrong. Best atmosphere of all the American death metal bands. You either like their sound or you don't. They've spawned 1,000 clones so they must be doing something right, and I like most of them (especially Father Befouled who sound so much like them they're almost a tribute band)

The Ruins of Beverast - Rain Upon the Impure, one of those bands that has some black death and doom all mixed together. This one sounded more atmo-blackish than his other albums and it had that fuzzy muffled production that made it stand out from the rest. A little long at 80 minutes but what a journey it takes you on.

Antaeus - Blood Libels, savage caustic French black metal. 

Kult - Winds of War, killer Italian black metal. I won't call it raw, but it's definitely unrefined and unpolished.

 

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Might as well do 1991: 10. Paradise Lost - Gothic

Other than the guitar tone, which I always felt was a little thin, this is a masterpiece in early doom/death. Definitely my favourite album from the skies.

Definitely my favourite album from these guys.

9. Type O Negative - Slow, Deep, and Hard

definitely the album where pete’s Brooklyn hardcore influence was at its strongest, the result is a pretty unique blend of Punky doom I haven’t really heard any other band pull off.

I haven’t really heard any other band pull off.

8. Carcass - Necroticism

My favourite carcass album no question, it’s kind of the midway point between the war Grindcore oriented sound they first started with and the death metal approach they would adopt with hot work, nasty in all the right ways.

my favourite carcass album no question, it’s kind of the midway point between the Grindcore oriented sound they first started with and the death metal approach they would adopt with Heartwork, nasty in all the right ways.

7. Ripping Corpse - Dreaming with the Dead

Thrashy death metal with appeal for fans of either genre, need I say more?

6. Immolation - Dawn of Possession

Death Metal fans are probably familiar with these guys already, the debut is a little less polished and there later albums but you still get that slightly chaotic and dissonant sound they have persisted with their whole career.

5. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence

Atheist produced this spazzy, technical, almost progressive DM masterpiece in 1991. This kind of death metal was all but unheard of at the time, and is unique even by the standards of today.

4. Darkthrone - Soulside Journey

This, this exhibition of dark, menacing, and technical Death Metal, was produced by one of the most well known black metal bands in existence. Just let that sink in.

3. Autopsy - Mental Funeral

Crushingly heavy, that’s the only way to describe this album. I have always felt mental funeral to be one of the early examples of death/doom and just one listen while deciding where it fits on my list has reaffirmed that position for me.

2. Morbid Angel - Blessed are the Sick

It’s Morbid Angel, You know what to expect dark atmosphere, furious refs, the odd slurp Griffey section there’s really not much that needs saying here.

you know what to expect dark atmosphere, furious riffs, the odd slower Groovy section it’s really not much that needs saying here.

1. Sadistik - Swallowed in Black

The only pure thrash on this list. Fast? You bet it is, aggressive? Album packs more then a grizzly on steroids. Basically this is everything I want in my thrash.

 

Well talk about a list dominated by death metal, literally only two albums where it doesn’t feature in the sound at least somewhere.

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Don't know how I'm supposed to rank these, they're all great albums. And looking at all my '91 stuff even between me and Blivvie we're still missing a bunch of good ones that I'm surprised didn't make either of our lists. And yeah Bliv, I deffo dig the odd Slurp Griffey section although I can't stand Morbid. Nice list though man. Can't believe Mental Funeral didn't make mine but I just had way too many albums to keep them all. I'm over 10 as it is. Listening to Gothic now to see if I'm making a mistake leaving it off. I'm not. Album needed a much beefier sound. But anyway here's 1991 put them in any order you like top to bottom or bottom to top or shuffled doesn't matter they're all rippers.

 

   1991

Overkill - Horrorscope

Therion - of Darkness

Funebre - Children of the Scorn

Sorcery - Bloodchilling Tales

Pungent Stench - Been Caught Buttering

Gorguts - Considered Dead

Master - On the Seventh Day God Created Master

Messiah - Choir of Horrors

Asphyx- The Rack

Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow

Devastation - Idolatry

Sepultura - Arise

Cancer - Death Shall Rise

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11 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Might as well do 1991: 10. Paradise Lost - Gothic

Other than the guitar tone, which I always felt was a little thin, this is a masterpiece in early doom/death. Definitely my favourite album from the skies.

Definitely my favourite album from these guys.

9. Type O Negative - Slow, Deep, and Hard

definitely the album where pete’s Brooklyn hardcore influence was at its strongest, the result is a pretty unique blend of Punky doom I haven’t really heard any other band pull off.

I haven’t really heard any other band pull off.

8. Carcass - Necroticism

My favourite carcass album no question, it’s kind of the midway point between the war Grindcore oriented sound they first started with and the death metal approach they would adopt with hot work, nasty in all the right ways.

my favourite carcass album no question, it’s kind of the midway point between the Grindcore oriented sound they first started with and the death metal approach they would adopt with Heartwork, nasty in all the right ways.

7. Ripping Corpse - Dreaming with the Dead

Thrashy death metal with appeal for fans of either genre, need I say more?

Worth noting that Ripping Corpse is a free download on bandcamp:

https://rippingcorpse.bandcamp.com/album/dreaming-with-the-dead

A hidden gem. The bandcamp blurb is pretty funny. 

Your 8 and 9 would probably be my 1 and 2. Along with Human, Arise, Clandestine (how could anyone overlook that!), Twilight of the Goods (I seem to be an outlier, but always loved that album), Testimony of the Ancients, No More Tears (probably), The Black Album (embarrassing now but I probably did listen to it enough at the time to qualify).

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16 minutes ago, JonoBlade said:

Worth noting that Ripping Corpse is a free download on bandcamp:

https://rippingcorpse.bandcamp.com/album/dreaming-with-the-dead

A hidden gem. The bandcamp blurb is pretty funny. 

Your 8 and 9 would probably be my 1 and 2. Along with Human, Arise, Clandestine (how could anyone overlook that!), Twilight of the Goods (I seem to be an outlier, but always loved that album), Testimony of the Ancients, No More Tears (probably), The Black Album (embarrassing now but I probably did listen to it enough at the time to qualify).

 

3 1991 lists in a row and yet still nobody's picked: Like An Everflowing Stream, Effigy of the Forgotten, Into the Grave, World Without God, Dawn of Possession, The Ten Commandments, Enjoy the Violence. Into the Depths of Sorrow, Where No Life Dwells, The Oath of Black Blood, For the Security, From Beyond, Fuckin' Death, 1916, Prophecies of a Dying World, Psalm 69, Warmaster, or Tortured Existence. Could make a pretty decent list just out of these leftovers.

 

Not judging Jon-O but I did not have you pegged as a No More Tears man.

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1 hour ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Not judging Jon-O but I did not have you pegged as a No More Tears man.

Not listened to it for 20 years because I only had it on cassette, but I think it was pretty good at the time. 

That was the last album before Ozzy retired. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

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1 hour ago, JonoBlade said:

Not listened to it for 20 years because I only had it on cassette, but I think it was pretty good at the time. 

That was the last album before Ozzy retired. I wonder whatever happened to that guy.

Ozzy rules. That album also rules.

Even in his advancing years Ozzy continued to put on the most energetic and engaging shows. You really had to see him live to get his full appeal. Just one of those showmen that has 'it' - impossible not to be drawn in. Plus he demanded the highest skill and professionalism and production from the team even when he was a drunk or drug addled mess. 

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....Making lists is always a pain in the ass....As someone who collects and consumes a large amount of music every year, I have a hard time narrowing down to a specific amount on a list....I've never been one who believes that there are only a given few terrific records in any given year...there is just too many good releases to choose from if you look for them....I also feel that what you listen to, read or appreciate, in general, informs what you'll enjoy in the future....

...to me 1987- 1990 were pivotal years in music for what was to come in the future of quite a few genres of music...not just extreme music....

...with that in mind here is a list of 1990 releases that got the most of my attention...

WINTER - Into Darkness

MEGADETH - Rust In Peace

DEPECHE MODE - Violator

NAPALM DEATH - Harmony Corruption

FUGAZI - Repeater

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - The Good Son

POISON IDEA - Feel The Darkness

NOCTURNUS - The Key

KING DIAMOND - The Eye

JOHN ZORN - Naked City

SONIC YOUTH - Too

NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE - Ragged Glory

KILLING JOKE - Extremities, Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions

DEICIDE - Decide

BASTARD - Wind Of Pain

THE OBSESSED - The Obsessed

THE POGUES - Hell's Ditch

BOB MOULD - Black Sheets Of Rain

RORSCHACH - Remain Sedate

NAUSEA - Extinction

SHEER TERROR - Just Can't Hate Enough

LARD - The Last Temptation Of Reid

NEUROSIS - The Word As Law

TIAMAT - Sumerian Cry

THE QUEERS - Grow Up

HELIOS CREED - Boxing The Clown

IGGY POP - Brick By Brick

REAGAN YOUTH - Volume Two

S.O.B. - What's The Truth?

HELLKRUSHER - Wasteland

DEVIATED INSTINCT - Guttural Breath

CANNIBAL CORPSE - Eaten Back To Life

FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY - Caustic Grip

THE FALL - Extricate

BLASPHEMY - Fallen Angel Of Death

THE DARK SIDE - All That Noise

MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT - Confessions Of A Knife

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES - The Hard Way

ANTI CIMEX - Absolut Country Of Sweden

SODOM - Better Off Dead

RIGHTEOUS PIGS - Stress Related

DWARVES - Blood, Guts And Pussy

BASTRO - Sing The Troubled Beast

PROPHECY OF DOOM - Acknowledge The Confusion Master

DWIGHT YOAKAM - If There Was A Way

CODEINE - Frigid Stars 

LUSTMORD - Heresy

SADUS - Swallowed In Black

SUN CITY GIRLS - Torch Of The Mystics

THE CRAMPS - Stay Sick

RATOS DE PORAO - Anarkophobia 

COP SHOOT COP - Consumer Revolt

CRIME & THE CITY SOLUTION - Paradise Discotheque

THE JESUS LIZARD - Head

TURNING POINT - It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn

SKINNY PUPPY - Too Dark Park

ALICE IN CHAINS - Facelift

ATHEIST - Piece Of Time

ENTOMBED - Left Hand Path

RIDE - Nowhere

OBITUARY - Cause Of Death

LOU REED & JOHN CALE - Songs For Drella

SPACEMEN 3 - Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To

JOE ELY - Live At Liberty Lunch

 

...I'm not one to put an explanation behind what I list, simply because I believe it's up to the listener to make up their own mind about the value of art and discover it for themself....adding my commentary doesn't add to the value....

 

....way too long of a post, but I'm sure WhiteNoise will probably appreciate the effort....I'm pretty sure most if not all of these records are familiar to everyone, but maybe one or two might be of interest to anyone interested in exploring something beyond metal music....

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 7/26/2022 at 11:49 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Interesting choice 1990. The 80's was winding down and what we now think of musically as the 90's was just getting started, we had no idea what was in store for us. I only owned 5 of these albums back in the 90's, all the rest of them were much later discoveries.

 

1990

Celtic Frost - Vanity/Nemesis, the last album of their first incarnation and coming after Cold Lake this one gets no respect at all. But I love every minute of it. Probably my favorite CF after To Mega. If Tom had written more metal for the other side of Pandemonium instead of all that avant-weirdness then that one might be my favorite overall. 

Bathory - Hammerheart, the one album I have in common with Blivvie. I'm sure everyone's heard this viking classic a few times by now. I much prefer this one to Blood Fire Death.

Carnage - Dark Recollections, I just find this so much better than anything they did as Dismember. Not that it's so very different.

Alice in Chains - Facelift, I've loved AiC from the very first time I heard Man in the Box on MTV on my way out the door leaving on a two week cross country road trip to California and I had to wait 2 weeks to find out who the fuck the band was. I have always preferred this one over Dirt by just a little. But Dirt has gained ground in recent years so they're almost tied.

Circus of Power - Vices, hard rock from NYC, I've always thought of this band as biker rock because of the bikes in their videos I guess, but I had some bikers living downstairs in the house I was renting in '88 - '90 and we hung out together a lot to drink beer and BBQ, this album got played frequently so hearing this always takes me right back there.

Obituary - Cause of Death, don't know what needs to be said about this legacy band. I enjoy their first 7 albums but the first two and World Demise get played the most.

Autopsy - Mental Funeral, the grandfathers of filthy death metal. Hugely influential band that I don't listen to as much anymore as a lot of the bands they've influenced. But still I can't leave it off a 1990 list, that'd be sacrilege.

Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death, sounds like sloppy garage band thrash, great album. Thrashy death or deathy thrash whatever you wanna call it it's killer.

Hellbastard - Natural Order, one of the pioneers of crust punk with their 80's material, but this particular album is really just a thrash metal album and it's great.

Master - Master, one of the very best of the early thrashy death metal albums from a band that often gets overlooked.

Sacred Reich - The American Way, I was big into SR's commercial thrash back in the early 90's. Don't listen very often anymore but still think this is a really good album. 

Sisters of Mercy - Vision Thing, not metal obviously but the Sisters were a favorite band of mine from the late 80's into the early 90's, there are some days I like this one the best out of their 3 albums. 

 

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1990

Entombed -Left hand Path

Delerium – Zzooouhh

King Diamond – The Eye

Thanatos – Emerging from the Netherworld

Cancer – To the Gory End

Carnage – Dark Recollections

Merciless – The Awakening

Demolition Hammer – Tortured Existence

Bathory – Hammerheart

Mortuary – Blackened Images

 

1991 (Things are starting to pick up for me in ’91)

Dismember – Like an Everflowing Stream

Revenant – Prophecies of a Dying World

Sororicide – The Entity

Desecrator – Subconscious release

Authorize – The Source of Dominion

Sorcery – Bloodchilling Tales

Death Strike – Fuckin Death

Asphyx – The Rack

Sabbat – Envenom

Convulse – World Without God

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I'm skipping 1990 since I'm just realizing now that there actually weren't too many albums that year that I like all that much....

1991

 

10. Sadistic Exekution - The Magnus

One of the OG Bestial black/death metal albums and one of the better ones for the time. I vastly prefer these guys to Blasphemy or Beherit. It's amateurish and messy as fuck but still a lot of fun.

9. Sepultura - Arise

As far as I'm concerned, Sepultura disbanded after this album. This was them at their apex and now that I think about it, this is the only thrash album from the 90's that I hold in very high regard.

8. Bolt Thrower - War Master 

Far from my favourite Bolt Thrower album, I much prefer the ones before and after this one (Realm of Chaos, IVth Crusade), but it's still a damn good album and one of the better death metal albums from a monumental year for the genre.

7. Sentenced - Shadows of The Past 

A very good and very overlooked Finnish death metal release. Doomy, melodious and even atmospheric at times but nonetheless still pummeling.

6. Suffocation - Effigy of The Forgotten

The album that birthed brutal death metal (and slam, unfortunately) and one of the first death metal albums to completely forgo any thrash influence. This thing still goes hard even by today's standards. Just absolutely crushing.

5. Master's Hammer - Ritual 

Most people would probably call 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky' the first proper second wave black metal album but I think there's a good argument to be made for Ritual being the one to really kick it all off. At the very least, it's one of the more influential albums to shape what black metal would become. An underrated classic, to be sure.

4. Convulse - World Without God 

One of the pillars of Finnish death metal and an undisputed classic release. This thing is basically perfect.

3. Immolation - Dawn of Possession 

Probably my number one favourite death metal band. These guys wouldn't truly find their footing until the latter half of the 90's but Dawn of Possession is still a classic. Much more "conventional" than what Immolation would become known for and because of that I kinda see it as the odd duck in Immolation's discography.

2. Death - Human

Everyone has a favourite Death album and this one is mine. This album to me is the perfection of Death's sound. Just on the cusp of being a prog/tech death album but not quite. It sits right in the pocket. The perfect bridge between their primitive early style and the proggy melodic stuff they would move on to soon after.

1. Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

This is the best Swedish death metal album ever made, if you ask me. If this was the only Swedeath album I ever heard again for the rest of my life I'd be perfectly fine with that I wouldn't feel like I was missing out at all. This is the gold standard by which all others are judged. Just the opening track alone is better than everything Entombed and Bloodbath have ever done, and I will die on this hill.

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…and while I’m here

1992: 10. Order From Chaos - Stillbirth Machine

Fuzzy, demented, chaotic death metal. Reminds me a lot of Deicide.

9. Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation

Crushing tone, heavy riffs, and just enough melody to be memorable, phenomenal stuff.

8. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky

does anything really need to be said about this one? throw it on and let yourself bask in the shadow of the horns.

7. Pan.Thy.Monium - Dawn of Dreams

Some DM is crushing, some melodic, some pummeling. Then there’s this weird, progressive almost free form album. It borders on avant-garde at times making it a challenging but rewarding listen.

6. Grave - You’ll Never See

from here albums really could go in any order quite easily. This is one of my favourite Swedeath albums, crushing and groovy at the same time.

5. Asphyx - Last One on Earth

This is the aural equivalent of being crushed by a tank. In other words it’s a relentless grind of riffs and an incredibly heavy tone.

4. Atrocity - Todessenacht

melodic, dissonant, heavy this album is as hard to describe as it is to spell definitely atrocity at absolute best.

3. Sinister - Cross the Styx

This is just punishing, thrashy death metal perfection. Headbanging strongly advised.

2. Incantation - Onward to Golgotha

Grimy, murky, and disgusting in the best ways. If The last entry was depicting hell as a burning pit then incantation imagine it as a fetid sewer.

1. Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

This is a skull fracturing nightmare of an album. EoV truly blurs the lines between thrash and death metal.

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14 hours ago, Hungarino said:

Ozzy rules. That album also rules.

Even in his advancing years Ozzy continued to put on the most energetic and engaging shows. You really had to see him live to get his full appeal. Just one of those showmen that has 'it' - impossible not to be drawn in. Plus he demanded the highest skill and professionalism and production from the team even when he was a drunk or drug addled mess. 

My relationship with Ozzy is a little like Schrödinger's cat. I simultaneously consider him an essential component/enigmatic muse in the history of heavy metal and an embarrassing train wreck both as a performer and in terms of off stage antics.

I have watched many eras of Ozzy and seen him live a couple of times, but never did I think "wow that is a great performer." In most instances he looks like a lost child stumbling around, unsure why he is on stage with musicians that far outclass his own abilities.  Musical abilities that are practically non-existent. 

He sang for Black Sabbath because his dad bought him a PA. The bass player wrote the lyrics and the guitarist wrote the riffs that changed the world.

Ozzy was in the room when some of the greatest music ever to grace humanity was composed. And then sang along exactly following the guitar line. If you can call it singing.

But yet. He is Ozzy and deserves every success that found its way to him. 

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I was a huge Sabbath fan as a teenager in the 70's so naturally I bought Ozzy's first 2 solo albums in 80/81. But I havent paid any attention to him or heard any of the albums since then so I have no idea which radio hits came from which albums.

The idea of seeing him live though has always made me laugh. Why would anyone seriously want to do that? That whole everybody clap your hands schtick is fucking stupid. To each his own but he's certainly not my idea of a great front man.

While he's not ever going to be mistaken for a virtuoso singer I will say I always thought his voice fit Sabbath's music pretty well. And I don't think he just followed the guitar melody as Jon-O stated. At least not in every song. Early songs like Iron Man he obviously did, but by about the 4th & 5th albums he was starting to get away from that crutch a little bit. Unless maybe someone was helping him. I've heard Geezer say Ozzy was a fookin' idiot but he did come up with most of the vocal melodies. In the early days Geezer says he had to write the lyrics out for him phonetically, syllable by syllable.

I still laugh when I think of the interview when Geezer said the Paranoid album was already finished and one day Ozzy asked him "What's paranoid mean anyway?"

Here's the interview, I found it. Even funnier, Zack Wylde said one time on tour someone was reading a book about Allister Crowley and the occult. Ozzy asks "what's that rubbish about?" and they had to explain to him that it was the same dude "Mr Crowley" he'd been singing about for 40 years. He had no idea.

 

Geezer Butler interview with Eddie Trunk

 

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11 hours ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

…and while I’m here

1992: 10. Order From Chaos - Stillbirth Machine

Fuzzy, demented, chaotic death metal. Reminds me a lot of Deicide.

9. Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation

Crushing tone, heavy riffs, and just enough melody to be memorable, phenomenal stuff.

8. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky

does anything really need to be said about this one? throw it on and let yourself bask in the shadow of the horns.

7. Pan.Thy.Monium - Dawn of Dreams

Some DM is crushing, some melodic, some pummeling. Then there’s this weird, progressive almost free form album. It borders on avant-garde at times making it a challenging but rewarding listen.

6. Grave - You’ll Never See

from here albums really could go in any order quite easily. This is one of my favourite Swedeath albums, crushing and groovy at the same time.

5. Asphyx - Last One on Earth

This is the aural equivalent of being crushed by a tank. In other words it’s a relentless grind of riffs and an incredibly heavy tone.

4. Atrocity - Todessenacht

melodic, dissonant, heavy this album is as hard to describe as it is to spell definitely atrocity at absolute best.

3. Sinister - Cross the Styx

This is just punishing, thrashy death metal perfection. Headbanging strongly advised.

2. Incantation - Onward to Golgotha

Grimy, murky, and disgusting in the best ways. If The last entry was depicting hell as a burning pit then incantation imagine it as a fetid sewer.

1. Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

This is a skull fracturing nightmare of an album. EoV truly blurs the lines between thrash and death metal.

Ugh...'92 is going to be harder than even '91. Think this one is going to require a little time

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9 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

My relationship with Ozzy is a little like Schrödinger's cat. I simultaneously consider him an essential component/enigmatic muse in the history of heavy metal and an embarrassing train wreck both as a performer and in terms of off stage antics.

I have watched many eras of Ozzy and seen him live a couple of times, but never did I think "wow that is a great performer." In most instances he looks like a lost child stumbling around, unsure why he is on stage with musicians that far outclass his own abilities.  Musical abilities that are practically non-existent. 

I know you have a different perspective on this as an accomplished musician JB, but from my perspective as just a dude listening he wasn't that limited as a vocalist. Note: For those that don't know, go click on JB's link. I was not being a smart ass. This music is phenomenal and I can barely play a scale, so I truly have nothing but respect for anyone in a band (or multiple bands). \M/

I mean, he can carry a tune, has decent enough range, a unique voice, good timing. Whatever his shortcomings as a musician he had 'something' that helped to define heavy music still to this day. You cannot separate his vocal delivery from iconic early Sabbath.

As you say, he is essential, enigmatic and embarrassing. Its that duality that makes him endearing, imo.

Was Ozzy always a clownish drunk who never really grew out of being a degenerate from Birmingham? Yes, but you could try a million times to take another drunk degenerate and plug him in with world class musicians and get nothing. He never stopped being in awe that he of all people ascended the way he did. He never bought into his own hype from what I could tell, but had undeniable passion to keep making metal, and some how managed to carve out a space for more aggressive yet palatable metal throughout the 80s and into the 90s, despite the dominance of hair metal. Pretty remarkable output and staying power.

As far as the live shows I am that guy who either fully buys in to an act and is totally absorbed, or makes my way to the bar. I am not one to stand with arms folded stone faced taking mental notes of an act. I am usually all-in headbanging like an idiot or all-out. So I am the one clapping hands and all that shit, and like the overwhelming majority of audiences that I have seen I found Ozzy to be a great front man and showman.

 

 

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Was ready to do 1987 next because Marko had said he found '87 - '90 to be pivotal years in the evolution of music and I wanted to see what happened in '87. But if we're doing 1992 next then that's coool, I'll play along. This time it seems me and Blivvie have several albums in common. Like Marko though I really see no real added value in sticking to just 10. Especially for a year like 1992. A banner year for death metal obviously but there was other cool shit happning in '92 as well.

 

Paradise Lost - Shades of God, this served a lengthy term as my #1 favorite metal album of all time for 15 years from its release in 1992 until it was dethroned by Inquisition in 2007.

Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky, bask in the shadow of the horns indeed.

Incantation - Onward to Golgotha, monstrous album from a band that spawned its own sub-genre of clones.

Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes, this is probably my favorite Finndeath album if I had to pick one. This or MOID. 

Grave - You'll Never See, Maybe the best album from my favorite all-time caveman death metal band.

Extreme Noise Terror - Phonophobia

Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses

Purtenance - Member of Immortal Damnation

Therion - Beyond Sanctorum

Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade

Asphyx- Last One On Earth

Seance - Fornever Laid to Rest

Centinex - Subconcious Lobotomy

Social D - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

Morpheus Descends - Ritual of Infinity

Necrosanct - Incarnate

Sabbat - Evoke

Mystifier - Wicca

Demo Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

Monster Magnet - Spine of God

Alice in Chains - SAP & Dirt

My Sister's Machine - Diva

Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Impaled Nazarene - Tol Cormpt Norz Norz

Solstice - Solstice

Sinister - Cross the Styx

Baphomet - The Dead Shall Inherit

Napalm Death - Utopia Banished

Solitude Aeturnus - Beyond the Crimson Horizon

L7 - Bricks Are Heavy

Cianide - The Dying Truth

Belial - Wisdom of Darkness

Fester - Winter of Sin

Samael - Blood Ritual

Tiamat - Clouds

 

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