For the 250th anniversary of America, Last Rites is featuring 250 of the greatest American metal albums ever made, and here we are at Part 2, already. Please note that these albums are not ranked or ordered in any way — just prime examples of kick-ass heavy metal made by American bands. Got any ideas what entries are still to come? Got any favorites that you’re sure we missed? (You’ll know by Friday, if we did.) Let us know in the comments!
Catch up on Part 1 here.
Acid Bath – When The Kite String Pops
Virgin Steele – The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell – Part 2
Pale Divine – Cemetery Earth
Fates Warning – Awaken The Guardian
The year is 1986. You are a nerdy, pizza-faced kid with a D&D obsession and a different Iron Maiden shirt for every day of the week. You talk someone into driving to the local record store and, after quickly racing to the LP bin like Usain Bolt with a bee up his ass, you eventually find yourself face-to-face with Awaken the Guardian tucked between Fastway’s Waiting for the Roar and the Fifth Angel debut. What do you do?
Simple: You shit your pants. You shit your pants HARD. Like, the lady looking at Kenny Loggins tapes across the way immediately decides to call it a day. Are you to blame, though? Look at that album cover! Look at those song titles! Look at that chill mage mastering new spell combos whilst lotus-posing on the back cover! You want to be in that alien land as QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, and the moment you throw Awaken the Guardian down on the home player, Fates Warning’s wildly adventurous approach to the proven Iron Maiden blueprint transports you there. “What even IS this guy’s voice,” you ask the Eddie posters climbing your bedroom walls. Sadly, Eddie doesn’t always have the answers. Congrats, you’ve just been leveled by one of the greatest US power metal records of all time. [CAPTAIN]
Death Angel – The Ultra-Violence
Exhumed – Gore Metal
Savatage – Hall Of The Mountain King
Order From Chaos – Stillbirth Machine
Look, pal, I’m no scientist, so can we just agree that Stillbirth Machine rips like fucking hell and leave it at that? I suppose, in our Linnaean taxonomy, that Order From Chaos ought to be called war metal, but that feels reductive given that there was no such identified thing at the time. Instead, they were essentially contemporaries of the bands like Blasphemy and Sadistik Execution that eventually came to be seen as war metal. More importantly, though, when you really get into the guts of this trio’s music, it comes from the same deep reverence for the rawest, darkest of its predecessors – an impulse which animates so many – which in the case of Order From Chaos seems to have been early Bathory, Kreator, and maybe the earliest Voivod. You don’t even really need to know that two-thirds of Order From Chaos went on to the unimpeachable Ares Kingdom while the remaining third bashed his way through Angelcorpse and Revenge, but it sure does paint an accurately gruesome picture. The main thing about this pristinely nasty and potently destructive album is: It rips like fucking hell. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
Catacombs – In The Depths Of R’lyeh
Internal Bleeding – Voracious Contempt
Devourment – Obscene Majesty
Argus – Boldly Stride The Doomed
Galloping triumphantly along the border of traditional metal and doom since 2005, Argus is one of the USAs most tragically undercelebrated heavy metal champions. Every album and EP is golden but, in these halls, the topmost banner is emblazoned with the title of their second LP. Because, at its core, this is music to rally the troops against the ill tidings of The World. Low slung riffs bolster the flanks as Erik Johnson and Jason Mucio lace the sky with fiery twin leads and harmonies, and Butch Bailich’s incomparable midregister power pours epic energy into warriors’ hearts. As if to acknowledge things are shitty and that yet we are one. We’re all doomed and we stride boldly into this fucked future together. [LONE WATIE]
Cro-Mags – Best Wishes
Melvins – Houdini
The Gates of Slumber – Conqueror
Agent Steel – Unstoppable Force
Y&T – Earthshaker
In some ways, Earthshaker might be considered a cult classic.
Y&T didn’t receive the same level of notoriety as a Def Leppard or Motley Crue, but their streak of ‘80s albums were easily in the same echelon. “I Believe in You” is one of the best power ballads from that era, “Shake It Loose” is as rockin’ as anything that followed shortly thereafter. And with that said, one of its most alluring qualities is its ability to capture the warmth of that ‘70s sound — think a Montrose — and the freshness of the new era of sleazy ‘80s metal on songs like “Squeeze.”
Earthshaker also captured what made Y&T special as one of the ‘80s premiere live acts. Energetic as all get-out, Dave Meniketti is at the top of his game on Earthshaker. Both on this album and any footage from that era, it’s clear he deserved his flowers as much as anyone else.
In hindsight, it’s hard to argue these guys weren’t severely underrated… even though they still maintain somewhat of a steady following today.
Should they be up there with the greats of that decade?
Hell yes. [BLIZZARD OF JOZZSH]
Burning Witch – Crippled Lucifer
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller
Jag Panzer – Ample Destruction
Van Halen – Van Halen
Negative Plane – Et In Saecula Saeculorum
Origin: Florida → New York
Why it belongs: Though released in 2006, Negative Plane’s debut nevertheless evokes a sound that predates the coinage of the term “black metal.” If the introductory “Ooh” near the top of “The Chaos Before the Light” doesn’t make it abundantly clear, the barrage of riffs that follow will; this is black metal by dint of its pursuit of maximum evil everywhere, all the time. There’s atmosphere aplenty here with reverb soaking guitars and drums like its 1982, but at its very best Negative Plane conjures the old ghosts via the riff; the main one in “A Church in Ruin” is some of best work produced by anyone in the 21st Century.
What’s the most American thing about Negative Plane: While any number of the treatises on trees by Wolves in the Throne Room are better stylistic exemplars of what we call USBM, Negative Plane’s dyspeptic reckoning with the Church is probably more resonant to the many Americans who endured its still sizable influence through the 20th Century. [DAVID FONSECA]
Place Of Skulls – The Black Is Never Far
Malevolent Creation – The Ten Commandments
Deeds Of Flesh – Trading Pieces
Life Of Agony – River Runs Red
Vio-Lence – Eternal Nightmare
Fitting that a band known for an album cover with a huge-ass mouth would later release a D- cover of Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Alles” at the height of COVID quarantine, complete with a video making an anti-mask statement. Grandpa, no. Still, at one point, these Bay Area thrashers were great, and this album is the proof. Sean Killian’s vocals will always be a hurdle for people who like good singers, but the riffs are impossible to deny and prove that late ’80s thrash had plenty of juice heading into the ’90s. We know how that ended up. Whatever. Eternal Nightmare is indeed eternal, and gives Robb Flynn a pass for Machine Head, which is saying a lot. [SETH BUTTNAM]
Deftones – White Pony
Heir Apparent – Graceful Inheritance
L.A. Guns – L.A. Guns
Nuclear Assault – Game Over
Dokken – Tooth And Nail
Born from the same scene that would soon produce many decidedly less heavy hair metal bands, LA’s Dokken occupied a unique space in 1984, the year they would gift the world their sophomore effort, Tooth and Nail. Though Don Dokken’s songwriting is the base, that unique space is largely something guitarist George Lynch carved out with his distinctive sound.
Tooth and Nail is one of four truly great Dokken records—Breaking the Chains, Under Lock and Key, and Back for the Attack also in that mix. It has the benefit of inspired and particularly heavy riffing from Lynch and some of my favorite Dokken songs (“Don’t Close Your Eyes,” the anthemic “Heartless Heart,” the title track, an underrated “Bullets to Spare,” and “Turn on the Action”).
None of those four albums is anything but Dokken doing what Dokken does best—and that’s a pretty great track record over six years—but Tooth and Nail is the place newcomers should start. [CHRIS C]
Malignancy – Intrauterine Cannibalism
Détente – Recognize No Authority
Alice In Chains – Dirt
Watchtower – Control And Resistance
Watchtower debut Energetic Disassembly was a watershed moment in progressive metal, largely creating the “tech” label way back in 1985. So why feature their other full length instead? Simple: It’s better. Control and Resistance is a labyrinthine collection of blindingly technical musicianship – complex rhythms, bubbly bass, and guitars that provide the riffy throughline for everything else – plus “thinking man’s” lyrics and histrionic vocals that touch the stratosphere. Imagine the most technical Rush as a jumping-off point, filtering that through a little of older Fates Warning, then pushing the tech aspect far beyond its logical limit and you’ve got the start of the idea. The truth is that Watchtower was occupying their own space from day one, and Control and Resistance is the perfect execution of that idea. It’s also just so friggin’ cool and sleek, with something awesome and mindboggling happening at every corner and songwriting that keeps things shockingly tight considering all the virtuosity on display. [ZACH DUVALL]
Dim Mak – Knives Of Ice
Beowülf – Beowülf
Giant Squid – The Ichthyologist
Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
Visigoth’s debut album, The Revenant King was a very good album, full of everything you’d expect from traditional/power metal: powerful, soaring vocals, rousing choruses, plenty of galloping riffs and guitar harmonies, and lyrics straight out of Dungeons and Dragons. However, at an hour in length, The Revenant King had a little too much epic in its epic heavy metal. With its second album, Conqueror’s Oath, Visigoth used the same basic formula, but trimmed just a little fat, and that made all the difference. Conqueror’s Oath will inspire sword swinging, head banging and air guitar in equal measure. [JEREMY MORSE]
Dio – The Last In Line
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
Master – Master
Slipknot – Iowa
Yes, I heard some of your eyes roll all the way out of the back of your head so hard that they flung through your window and got run over by a bicycle on the sidewalk. Now, if that’s because you are more partial to the raw and unhinged nature of the band’s debut, kudos on having a very valid opinion. If it’s because you think Slipknot is undeserving of being on this list, well, I’m glad you’re blind now. While the Des Moines nonet’s debut and wild live performances turned them into Ozzfest parking lot legends, Iowa saw them streamline their skills and up their production values (on record and onstage) to become a global powerhouse. Feel free to revisit the live DVD Disasterpieces to witness a band at the peak of their game.
Of course, headlining arenas and selling tons of records doesn’t warrant inclusion on this list on its own. Iowa’s greatest impact on the metal community was becoming a pipeline for nu-metal infants to become extreme-metal grey hairs. While some of the lyrical content may be cringey as an adult, Corey Taylor’s lyrics and visceral rage captured the angst of a new generation, as the rest of the band blended hip-hop hooks with a bevy of death metal tropes that made it easy to take the next step on the stairway down to our beloved genre’s deepest depths.
Ask any Millennial checking out the most recent New Standard Elite release and you’ll probably find a majority still have a copy of Iowa on their shelf. [SPENCER HOTZ]
Pharaoh – The Longest Night
Today is the Day – Temple of the Morning Star
Cattle Decapitation – Monolith Of Inhumanity
Impetigo – Ultimo Mondo Cannibale
Goregrind and horror movie samples are so intertwined today that it’s hard to think that the practice began somewhere. And here’s where, with the early efforts of these Midwestern sickos, whose first album Ultimo Mondo Cannibale blends bits of grindhouse cannibal flicks with bloodsoaked rudimentary, raw-edged death/grind, and then mixes both with a sick twisted sense of humor, and all to create both one of goregrind’s earliest aces and also one of underground metal’s true classics. Sure, the riffs aren’t refined; sure, Stevo’s vocals are… shall we say… unique. But through it all, there’s the undeniable spirit of the thing, the sense that this is exactly what it is: a celebration of trashy awesomeness from four splatter-film nerds who maybe aren’t the most accomplished musicians in the world, but are certainly having more fun than you are if you’re even worried about that to begin with. It ain’t pretty, but it’s damned near mandatory, this one. [ANDREW EDMUNDS]
Type O Negative – Bloody Kisses
Cephalic Carnage – Lucid Interval
THE SECOND 50
Acid Bath – When The Kite String Pops
Virgin Steele – The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell – Part 2
Pale Divine – Cemetery Earth
Fates Warning – Awaken The Guardian
Death Angel – The Ultra-Violence
Exhumed – Gore Metal
Savatage – Hall Of The Mountain King
Order From Chaos – Stillbirth Machine
Catacombs – In The Depths Of R’lyeh
Internal Bleeding – Voracious Contempt
Devourment – Obscene Majesty
Argus – Boldly Stride The Doomed
Cro-Mags – Best Wishes
Melvins – Houdini
The Gates Of Slumber – Conqueror
Agent Steel – Unstoppable Force
Y&T – Earthshaker
Burning Witch – Crippled Lucifer
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller
Jag Panzer – Ample Destruction
Van Halen – Van Halen
Negative Plane – Et In Saecula Saeculorum
Place Of Skulls – The Black Is Never Far
Malevolent Creation – The Ten Commandments
Deeds Of Flesh – Trading Pieces
Life Of Agony – River Runs Red
Vio-Lence – Eternal Nightmare
Deftones – White Pony
Heir Apparent – Graceful Inheritance
L.A. Guns – L.A. Guns
Nuclear Assault – Game Over
Dokken – Tooth And Nail
Malignancy – Intrauterine Cannibalism
Détente – Recognize No Authority
Alice In Chains – Dirt
Watchtower – Control And Resistance
Dim Mak – Knives Of Ice
Beowülf – Beowülf
Giant Squid – The Ichthyologist
Visigoth – Conqueror’s Oath
Dio – The Last In Line
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
Master- Master
Slipknot – Iowa
Pharaoh – The Longest Night
Today Is The Day – Temple Of The Morning Star
Cattle Decapitation – Monolith Of InHumanity
Impetigo – Ultimo Mondo Cannibale
Type O Negative – Bloody Kisses
Cephalic Carnage – Lucid Interval
