Innovators, revivalists, stalwarts. Volume 8 of The 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade contains several bands that fit at least one of those descriptions. Varying from the unabashedly artistic to the totally fucking metal, some of these bands are likely familiar to you. For those that aren’t as familiar, here is where to start your war god education.
A term that fits them all? Flag-bearers.
DESTRÖYER 666 – PHOENIX RISING
Deströyer 666, the masters of black/thrash, unleashed their second album, Phoenix Rising, in 2000. Compared to its predecessor, Unchain the Wolves, Phoenix Rising is a much more polished and modern sounding affair, but the band’s feral spirit remains fully intact. Tracks like “Rise of the Predator” and “Phoenix Rising” are sonic maelstroms, swirling with melody and thrashing violence, while “I am the Wargod” and “The Eternal Glory of War” summon the wolfcult to battle with an air of grim determination and imperial grandeur. [Season of Mist, 2000]
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OPETH – BLACKWATER PARK
The album that has essentially come to define Opeth’s sound, Blackwater Park bridges the band’s organic, grounded past with their more refined and polished output. The trademark beauty-meets-punctuated-death approach is maintained, but given new life courtesy of a Steven Wilson production that maximized the band’s strengths and expanded its reach. Considered by many to represent Opeth’s creative apex, this masterpiece is a must for fans of progressive death metal. [Music for Nations, 2001]
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IMPALED – MONDO MEDICALE
Impaled became the heir apparent to Carcass with The Dead Shall Dead Remain, but completely usurped the throne with this monstrous pile of gore-fucking-metal. Sickening medical lyrics, uniquely named solos, and tracks like “Choke On It,” “The Worms Crawl In,” and “Raise the Stakes” all helped to cement their legacy. Meanwhile, “Rest in Faeces,” an ode to their much-maligned label (and employer, for some) drove home the point that they take shit from no one, a tradition that continues today. [Deathvomit, 2002]
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AMON AMARTH – VERSUS THE WORLD
With three albums of Viking-wrought melodic death metal already under their belts, Amon Amarth upped the hooks and emotion, taking their war global. Each song speaks for both their career and pagan heritage, particularly the new statement of purpose “Death in Fire”, the epic title track, and “Thousand Years of Oppression”, arguably the song of their career. They were heavier before and more accessible later, but only on Vs. The World did the wrath of these Norsemen forge such a brilliant balance in their fires. [Metal Blade, 2003]
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PIG DESTROYER – TERRIFYER
Between Scott Hull’s rifforamic glory and J.R. Hayes’ truly demented lyrics, Pig Destroyer became arguably the most artistically interesting grindcore collective in the new millennium with Prowler In The Yard. The vicious snarl of Terrifyer managed to top even its predecessor’s art-grind mastery by means of improved production, increased riff variety (check out “Gravedancer”) and some seriously killer actual songs. Originally packaged with a DVD–the harrowing one-track album Natasha–this one’s a sort of two-fer of absolutely brilliant 21st century grind. [Relapse, 2004]
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PELICAN – THE FIRE IN OUR THROATS WILL BECKON THE THAW
Instru-metal post-er children Pelican have released some seriously cinematic music in their day, but none so expansive and gripping as this verbosely-titled opus. The band’s trademark crashing chords, chiming guitars, and pounding drums are on full display, transitioning seamlessly between power and peace. So brilliant is their balance of heft and spacey atmosphere that the listener can’t stop marveling at the record’s depth long enough to notice the lack of a vocalist. Dynamic, dense, beautiful, blissful, panoramic post-metal perfection. [Hydra Head, 2005]
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HIGH ON FIRE – BLESSED BLACK WINGS
The metal elite have long had a love affair with Matt Pike, dating back to his days of Sleep. This carried over when he formed High on Fire and continued churning some of the best metal riffs this side of Tony Iommi. In 2005, the rest of the underground–and some of the mainstream–caught up, thanks to this crushingly heavy sonic attack that just keeps coming at you like an overly-aggressive cougar…except that you wouldn’t mind spending the night with this one. [Relapse, 2005]
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SUFFOCATION – SUFFOCATION
New York’s Suffocation re-united post-2000 to drop the solid-but-predictable Souls to Deny, and true to the band’s prediction, it was their second post-reunion record that would truly crush. This self-titled effort is better than its predecessor in every way. Mike Smith’s drumming is always superb, and the interplay between Terrance Hobbs, Guy Marchais and bassist Derek Boyer is top-notch. And who among you wouldn’t want to hear Frank Mullen’s serenade of, “I bathe myself in the entrails of you?” This one’s fun for the whole family. [Relapse, 2006]
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ISOLE – BLISS OF SOLITUDE
Isole have quickly become one of the more consistent bands in the sorrow-soaked gloom-doom realm, and 2008’s excellent Bliss of Solitude did a superb job of expanding on the somber foundation laid down by the band’s previous works. Impressively smooth transitions from surprisingly heavy moments to quietly bleak measures–along with the band’s signature ethereal vocals–are what make this band and this particular album a bona-fide classic in the realm of seriously down-trodden doom metal. [Napalm, 2008]
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GIANT SQUID – THE ICHTHYOLOGIST
Many rock albums over the years have told stories; very few have told them as compellingly as The Ichthyologist. Though Giant Squid’s debut, Metridium Fields, showed serious promise, few could’ve anticipated that the band’s move to ‘Frisco and the addition of Jackie Gratz on cello and vocals would yield a masterpiece of this caliber. Juggling an epochal narrative, massive stoner riffage, kaleidoscopic vox, and a wealth of unorthodox arrangements, Giant Squid took on and conquered a mighty task with this album. As transcendent and emotionally affecting as any listening experience you’ll find this year. [Translation Loss, 2009]
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Twenty more albums to go. The ride is almost over…
