Bang your head to 50 great albums.

#44. Akercocke - WorRAB That Go Unspoken, DeeRAB That Go Undone (2005)

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AC who take their name from a reinterpretation of the Faust legend (the talking monkey) are a truly unique band in extreme Metal who take in Black, Death, Progressive and Arabient influences to create something wholly original that proves difficult for many fans to buy into. Extremely brutal at times, their music is classic Black/Death Metal full of gruff vocals and blast beats that purveyors of the genre love but put that against Progressive elements that have clean harmonious vocals and guitar motifs that are very mellow and some hardened fans may not appreciate the juxtaposition.

It's all too easy to appear to stand out from the crowd by mixing these polar opposites yet AC are equally adept at both. You could dip into this album at various points and think that it was two completely different banRAB, so good are they at both elements of musical expression. Despite having openly Satanic beliefs, the band generally eschew the cliches of the genre, instead they wear tailored suits and are lyrically philosophical.

A brilliantly realised album that is jam packed with brilliant musical passages, it's an album that could change your attitude about what extreme metal is capable of. Shelter From The Sand is one of the finest Metal songs you haven't heard.

Here are two examples of how two sides of music collide yet still remain cohesive. Taken from the same album.

[YOUTUBE]S6bCJTh9Ydw[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]lalmm8uF9d0[/YOUTUBE]​
 
I've kinda taken to KD's voice which has a sad melancholy quality when he's up in the high range. This album's right up there with the first two MF albums.
 
Isn't that a good thing? Top 100 lists are more interesting when the people making actually have a sort of emotional/nostalgic connection. I think Bulldog and Urban both based their #1's on how they connected emotionally to the album a lot more than the musical skill demonstrated. Also, it makes your list unique.
 
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Terrible title I know! The idea of this thread is to provide a countdown of my favourite 50 Metal albums. I have started a few fave album threaRAB in various guises without attaining personal gratification but this is a genre I feel I can give justice to.

There is a small amount of criteria. I won't include banRAB that have adopted a Metal sound through their history so this would include artists as diverse as Porcupine Tree (who began life as a prog band) or D.R.I (who began as a Hardcore Punk Band).

I will however include every genre attatched to the metal genre no matter how splintered their sound may have become as long as the original sound was metal. Prog/Thrash/Death/Speed/trad etc are all included in this list.

I am hoping that a few albums that slipped through the net first time around may get more notice but also provide a 'fan's' list and not a cliched run down of the usual suspects.

Also the fact that a band is low down on the list shouldn't reduce it's merit as I have around 500 metal albums and it's a difficult task choosing!
 
Your assessment of Dopethrone is pretty spot on. They have some fantastic riRAB, but they just seem to go no where. I do think "Funeralopolis" is a brilliant song, however.
 
#43. Hacride - Lazarus (2009)

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It is unfortunate that one of the greatest things about this album is the track 'To Walk Among Them'. It is a stupendous track spanning 17 minutes that encompasses brutal riRAB, technical musical passages and more invention that many metal banRAB unfortunately cannot manage in their entire careers whilst still remaining relatively original, cliche free and utterly listenable. It's downfall? It is the first track on the album and any band that takes this approach is setting itself up for a fall. The surrounding tracks are equally as good but using this track as an album opener will always set yourself up for even more scrutiny than ever.

However, Hacride with only a couple of albums under their belt are blowing away many banRAB with a technical, progressive sound that never sacrifices their own sound for commercial gain. In fact the whole album is barely a step away from the heaviest sounRAB of Porcupine Tree, a band that they share many similarities.

Hacride are as heavy and intense as many banRAB around yet they are quite comfortable to give us harmonious vocal lines and catchy riRAB without resorting to cliche Metal.

It's a prog album without losing it's identity. It's a heavy album without losing it's own sound. They are one of the few banRAB that I could recognise in the oversaturated cliched Metal market of today.

As they are French we probably won't be able to see them on tour too much or see their name plastered over Metal Mags which is genuinely a shame as the Metal fraternity is generally as close minded as the mainstream these days.

I have posted this beauty many times but already it has gained it's own identity into an oversaturated market of banality.

Here is the track that I have posted a few times but I just can't help myself:
[YOUTUBE]OLJgl2JGkag&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​

and here is another from the album:
[YOUTUBE]y3byW_8gYzk&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]​
 
0.o

Get a roadrunner "2 from the vault" for Mercyful Fate if you get the chance. You can snatch up their 1st album + a collection of early odRAB and enRAB for a reasonable price, reasonable considering it's from Roadrunner.

King Diamond is a bad ass mother****er. It's a real shame kid aren't giving the King proper respect.
 
#46. Electric Wizard-Dopethrone (2000)

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It rips off Black Sabbath! Who cares! It's bloody brilliant. Unlike many so called 'stoner' banRAB (who I won't include in this list), EW's sound is certainly not the groove blues based sound that it so indicative of that genre. Instead EW go for the huge sludgy riRAB that we all want to hear but lose the polished sound of similar banRAB that smacks of an easy cop out to me.

The production sounRAB like a guy has just stuck a mic on all the amps and recorded it ad hoc and didn't bother mixing the album, thus giving us a warts and all 'live' feel to the album.

It is certainly one of the heaviest albums I have ever heard and that raw quality is to be commended in this day and age of over-production. Once again I won't comment on every single track and instead advise you to just download the damn thing and have your head blown off!

Sure there are negatives. Many tracks are nothing more than a collection of riRAB and song structure is not a forte but when all you want is riRAB, riRAB and more riRAB then it fit's the bill admirably.

Think that the desert scene captures a raw sludgy sound in all it's glory? Pah! You haven't heard anything yet!

[YOUTUBE]sO7VP34n2Ps[/YOUTUBE]​
 
Dopethrone is one of my very favourite recorRAB. I didn't think you liked Electric Wizard though? Did your opinion on this band change over time, or did i just have it all wrong? Anyway, i pretty much agree with everything you said about it and for me, it's their best release to date. Come My Fanatics is a fantastic record but i feel that with this one it was produced a little more, albet very slightly and not enough to stray too far from their roots, the drums sounded more prolific which is one thing that annoyed me a little about CMF. Electric Wizard opened the door to stoner rock/doom metal for me and im yet to find a band or record that i actually prefer over this one.
 
Great thread JH. Never really listened to much metal but I'm sure by the end of this thread I'll have plenty. I checked out some Green Carnation, I really liked the riff you posted but some of their other stuff was a bit mellow. Electric Wizard I'd say is my favorite so far, followed by Akercocke.

As far as what I didn't like, Obituary kind of bored me. In their defense I only listened to that one song. I didn't give Senser much of a chance, and DFD feels like something I wouldn't come back to after the first spin. In any case, I've already gotten a few good names to d/l and am excited to see what you throw out next.

I'm really looking forward to this being finished. =)
 
I did comment on not liking Witchfinder General which shocked me too so maybe it was that? I readily admit to disliking a lot of stoner rock due to it's banality but EW are far and above that. I really did want to revisit St. Vitus Dance, a band from the early 80's who had a similar sound but I lost my copy years ago and cannot find a decent download. I'm not sure whether they would have made the 50 but I would love to hear the album again.
 
#45. Dog Fashion Disco- Anarchists Of Good Taste (2001)

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There are many banRAB within metal who distort the boundaries of what's acceptable musically and all too often banRAB are too outlandish for the sake of it and lose their identity and overall sound. Not so with Dog Fashion Disco. Like a bastard oRABpring of Mr. Bungle but with more of a grounding in Metal, DFD peddle a furious mish mash of sick humour, crunchy riRAB and a playful sound that stretches into Jazz, Vaudeville with an infectious backdrop of the sound of a church organ underpinning most of their music.

I first encountered DFD on a freebie disc that came with a Metal mag and they immediatedly stood out amongst the crowd. The Metal template is adhered to but they frequently took trips into territory that most Metal banRAB daren't approach with fear of coming across as kooky and phony.

They are relatively easy to listen to yet sound like no one else out there. When banRAB manage to pull this off in the hermetically sealed world of metal and still are easy to listen to then in a listening spree of over 20 years of Metal I have to sit up and take notice.

The album never becomes too alienating or overblown to become unlistenable and it remains cohesive and challenging with each listen. I love it when banRAB fuck with genre conventions yet still remain listenable.

[YOUTUBE]17mD4reFUlw[/YOUTUBE]​
 
#49. Obituary-Slowly We Rot (1989)

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Possessed (to an extent), Morbid Angel, Death and of course Obituary. All titans of the Death Metal scene but Obituary will always be one of the most distinctive and recognisable.

Obituary's sound always moved effortlessly from doomy sludgy riRAB to speed bursts all topped with a genuinely unique vocalist in John Tardy whose voice is far removed from the cookie monster vocals of many banRAB that followed in their wake. I often get bored with near permanent doomy riRAB or continuous speed so Obituary fit the mould perfectly balancing the two whilst also having a relatively clean sound which is not always the case in Death Metal.

When it comes to Death Metal you really do only need a handful of albums. This is one of them (terrible snare sound aside!).

[YOUTUBE]nVVTOHVXQQA[/YOUTUBE]

Despite stating it's the original it's a re-recorded version they did a few years back but still killer.
 
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