Here are the seven albums we picked for the week of February 17th — February 23rd.

Sunday, February 17th

Testament – The Gathering (1999)

Once the “shuffling musician” years of Testament’s career began, Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson always seemed to surround themselves with only the best talent available, and The Gathering (how fitting) is a prime example of an alliance of heavy metal royalty done right. Containing not only some of the band’s heaviest songs up until this point, this bombastic beast of a thrashsterpiece helped set the bar for modern production among thrashers; those both new and old are following in The Gathering‘s footsteps to this day.

Monday, February 18th

Hypocrisy – Hypocrisy (1999)

The band was pretty much unstoppable on their run from The Fourth Dimension to this record, so picking a favorite was daunting. For sheer devastation, you might want to look elsewhere (The Final Chapter), as Hypocrisy explores the more adventurous regions that were travelled on the second half of Abducted. It’s a bit of an anomaly amongst their discography, as ragers like “Apocalyptic Hybrid” are in the minority. Instead, we get deliberately-paced anthems like “Elastic Inverted Visions” and haunting ballads like “Paled Empty Sphere.” For all of their flirtations with the extra-terrestrial, Hypocrisy stands as the band’s most alien and otherworldly exhibition.

Tuesday, February 19th

Amorphis – Tales From The Thousand Lakes (1994)

This beast of the melodic death metal genre—its true gem and one of the genre’s pillars—is a concept album made by several Finnish dudes that were barely of legal drinking age. Those same Finnish dudes are today some of the most recognizable figures in the metal scene, while Tales from the Thousand Lakes became a true metal classic, anticipating the future blurring of the death and doom subgenre boundaries. Seventeen years later, it still sounds fresh and inspiring.

Wednesday, February 20th

Kyuss – Blues For The Red Sun (1992)

Even though the birds know this as a fact, it doesn’t hurt to repeat: the guys in Kyuss are the fathers of stoner metal and their second full-length, Blues for the Red Sun, is (arguably) their finest achievement and one of the genre’s peaks. It has since been copied by a plague of bands, and although many notable releases have been produced in the genre, none has quite managed to capture the tone and fuzz that made Blues for the Red Sun a landmark stoner metal album.

Thursday, February 21st

Danzig – II: Lucifuge (1990)

Refining the formula of the more rudimentary Danzig debut, the Evil Elvis perfected his blend of goth-tinted blues, rock and metal with Lucifuge. From the blustery “Long Way Back From Hell” to the swaggering shuffle of “Killer Wolf,” Lucifuge is a moody journey through all things dark and devilish, taking a rootsier, less extreme approach to pseudo-Satanic posturing and arriving there in less cartoonish fashion than many more comically demonic peers. Dark and brooding, Lucifuge still rocks like holy Hell.

Friday, February 22nd

Minsk – The Ritual Fires of Abandonment (2007)

Change is essential for progression, even if the foundation remains the same. For instance, the lead-off track to The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment by my Chicago neighbors Minsk, instantly separates itself from promising predecessor Out Of A Center, Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive by taking a slightly different approach as an intro. Shifting from a whisper to nearly “Die Eir von Satan” rigid percussion at first, things almost immediately mellow and glide into a smooth tribal beat accented by floating bass guitar, and throaty, serenely stoned vocals. The voice gradually becomes more urgent, and the inevitable explosion takes place as “Embers” finally roars into full-on metallic life without breaking stride from its initial hypnotic rhythm. The more restrained beginning represents the growth in Minsk, and blooms as time passes.

It isn’t until many minutes later with the raging “White Wings” that Minsk brings back oppressive heaviness and painful groove in a more full-on way for a longer period of time. Overall, I’d say The Ritual Fires… is reliant more on resolute songwriting than guitar-driven power, with Minsk preferring to let the natural flow of the music shine through, and using more aggressive passages for color. While this might seem no different than any other atmospheric, oceanic band, what separates this band from peers such as the fantastic Across Tundras is their exceptional ability to make time fly due to the intelligently calculated, expressive nuances that embellish each moment of this disc. The minutes just vanish with no resistance, but each of those minutes has meaning. [Jim Brandon]

Saturday, February 23rd

Excrutiator – Devouring (2011)

At the risk of damning with faint praise, one of the best things I can say about Excruciator is that, when I listen to the band’s music, I am not immediately reminded of some other band. Excruciator is certainly not offering a novel approach to thrash—the band is about as straight-forward as can be—but it nonetheless has its own voice, and in an oversaturated genre like thrash, that is saying something.

Now to praise Excruciator in a more direct manner: This band can write a damn good thrash metal song. In fact, with Devouring, Excruciator has written nine damn good thrash metal songs. The band’s music leans toward the heavier side of the genre, with a no-frills, riff-after-riff approach. The solos provide a little melody, but any other instances of such come off as incidental. That is not to say that Excruciator’s music is devoid of depth or subtlety, just that the band has no intention of showing you its sensitive side. [Jeremy Morse]

———

See you next week.

The post Last Rites’ Facebook Albums Of The Week: February 17th – February 23rd appeared first on Last Rites.

But Danzig the band started to wane with its fifth record, flirting with a fanbase-dividing take on electro-industrial before sliding into a solid-but-lesser version of their signature bluesy metal. Glenn would tell you that’s him following his muse, him not playing anyone else’s game, and who’s to argue – but for whatever reason, it hasn’t brought him or us anything that really comes close to the vital darkness of Lucifuge or even 4. Add to that the fact that he’s also a notoriously prickly curmudgeon, to put it mildly, and you end up here, with an icon who’s as often mocked as he is lauded, equal parts rock god and internet meme punching bag. (The latter, of course, is somewhat ironic, given his penchant for… you know, actually punching people.)

It’s been five years since the last new Danzig album, 2010’s Deth Red Sabaoth, which was better than the three previous albums. While fans wait patiently for another original effort, Glenn offers us this, the first of two cover records he’s got in the pipeline. The second, Danzig Sings Elvis, has no set release date, although Glenn did debut a version of “Always On My Mind” on satellite radio this past Fall. Per Glenn’s own words, Skeletons is a collection of songs that he’s always wanted to record his way, a clearing out of the proverbial skeletons in his closet. (Although, if anyone has literal skeletons in his literal closet, it’s probably Glenn Danzig.) While some choices fall terribly flat, in its best moments, Skeletons is exactly what a Danzig fan would want from a collection of Glenn’s re-imaginings of old favorites.

A cursory glance at the track listing shows that Danzig has unearthed a mostly long-buried set of skeletons, made up of themes to forgotten movies, garage rock regional hits, and a handful of oldies. And of course, there’s the obligatory Elvis tune, but it’s the b-side to a song that wasn’t a hit, taken from a soundtrack that bombed so badly that Elvis stopped doing soundtrack albums thereafter. Too many of these types of covers collections play it too safe, too obvious. Danzig certainly hasn’t done that with his most of his song choices, and he could’ve gone further down the path of the non-obvious and ended up better off: Of the ten songs on hand, I was initially only familiar with the original versions of three. Those are the most blatant hard rock influences here, and two of them are easily the worst Skeletons has to offer.

Working from worst to first, this cover of “Rough Boy” is utterly abysmal, which is kind of expected, considering that it’s a modern Danzig cover of a 1980s ZZ Top ballad. Show me someone expecting that combination to be anything better than confounding, and I’ll show you someone who’s never heard the lame original, least of all never imagined it darker and full of Tommy Victor pinch harmonics. Concept aside, the cover doesn’t sound good – recorded in bits across an unspecified number of years, Skeletons does have a tendency to differ in terms of its production. For some tracks, the slightly rougher sounds work, but in the case of “Rough Boy,” it compounds with the bad song choice and the ridiculous guitar work to make worse come to worst.

A similar fate befalls this version of Aerosmith’s “Lord Of The Thighs,” which at least has the decency to be a better starting point, but still not something that works terribly well in Danzig fashion. A spin on Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” fares a bit better – it’s a darker tune, of course, and thus, more appropriate cover material for Danzig – but it’s still far from the most interesting track on hand. In these hands, the original’s doomy drive feels more leaden than stomping, and the whole suffers from more of Victor’s overly metallic tone and incessant squeals.

Given Danzig’s long-evident interest in 60s rock, it should be of little surprise that Skeleton’s results are better when he’s working from that source material. He’s always been an unabashed fanboy for the King Of Rock – he is the Evil Elvis, after all – and his heavier take on the slinky groove of Presley’s “Let Yourself Go” works quite well, a promising lead-in to the Sings Elvis effort. Like the original, the heavier take on the Young Rascals’ “Find Somebody” benefits greatly from its catchy-as-hell chorus, one strong enough that it helps transcend the verses’ further unnecessary over-metalling. (Seriously, Tommy: Relax with the pinch harmonics.) The stark, piano-driven darkness of the Everly Brothers’ “Crying In The Rain” closes the album surprisingly well, even with an oddly distant and dampened production, which, if nothing else, makes it sound like it was recorded fifty-odd years ago with the original.

Still, as good as those are, Skeletons’ best are even more obscure, and yet equally perfectly Danzig. The take on Paul Wibier’s “Satan” – herein called “Satan’s Sadists,” after the movie from which it was taken – is great, one where all the parts work together. The production fits the track, while the song itself feels almost tailor-made for Glenn, with its bluesy basis and lyrics like “I was born mean / by the time I was two, they were calling me, calling me Satan.” It’s the type of tune that could appear on a regular Danzig album and no one would bat a jet-black eyelash.

Skeletons’ best track is also its most Misfits-ish: the punked-up take on Davie Allan & The Arrows’ “Devil’s Angels.” As with “Satan’s Sadists,” prior to Skeletons, I’d never heard the original, and like that one, this one’s the title track to a soundtrack from a biker movie of the same name. (I’ve never seen either film, obviously.) The original “Devil’s Angels” is a fuzzed-out 60s surf-rock tune, and no version I could readily find had lyrics, but this one does. Glenn says “Devil’s Angels” is a song that he’s wanted to cover since the 70s, which explains why the arrangement holds closer to his Misfits days, and of course, the muddy and muffled production brings it even closer. After hearing it paired back-to-back with “Satan,” I find myself thinking that maybe an entire album of Danzig Sings Long Forgotten Biker Flick Themes might not be a bad idea…

Like the skeleton make-up he’s returned to on the cover (with its dark-humor nod to Bowie), the best of these old tunes fit Danzig’s past perfectly. Because his tastes are broader and more idiosyncratic than many, he’s come up with a very interesting collection of tunes, and though there are some outright clunkers, most of Skeletons ends up being worth a listen. Here’s hoping Danzig’s re-visiting of songs that inspired him in the past bodes well for the next step in his future…

The post Danzig – Skeletons Review appeared first on Last Rites.

It’s a safe bet that hordes of metal fans were first introduced to Glenn Danzig’s golden pipes via Metallica, as early photos of the group always seemed to find at least one member sporting a Misfits t-shirt. Those who chose to investigate discovered The Misfits’ violent, yet catchy horror-punk had a great deal of crossover appeal. Glenn made even further inroads with his next band, Samhain which carried the Misfits horror-punk sound into even darker realms that bordered on metal.

In 1987, Glenn finally took the plunge into full-on heavy metal, enlisting long-time Samhain bassist Eerie Von, latter-day Samhain guitarist John Christ and veteran punk drummer Chuck Biscuits to form the band that bears his surname.

Over the course of four albums with the original line-up, Danzig played a bare-bones brand of brooding, bluesy heavy metal that harkened back to the genre’s roots and stood out amongst the thrash and death metal that held sway at the time. With Glenn’s powerful and unique vocals, tight songs and tight performances, the band gradually built a devoted following and even managed, somehow, to score a big MTV hit with a “live” version of “Mother” from the groups Thrall/Demonsweatlive EP in 1993.

Following the somewhat uneven, but still worthwhile Danzig 4, everything turned to shit. Already wounded by the departure of Biscuits before 4’s release, Christ and Von followed suit after completing the album’s tour. Glenn then decided he wanted to be Trent Reznor, and the resulting album, Blackacidevil, recorded with a new lineup was primarily comprised of useless industrial bullshit. Glenn pulled his head out of his ass eventually, and, over the years since, has made some respectable music, but the magic of the original lineup has never been recaptured.

With the spirit of ’87-’94 in mind, we present to you a Devil’s Dozen of Danzig.

THIRTEEN

“It’s gonna be a bad-ass folk/blues song called ‘Thirteen,’” Glenn Danzig said when asked about writing a song for Johnny Cash’s American Recordings album. I don’t know why I remember that quote. Anyway, five years later, Danzig decided to offer up his vision of it on 6:66 Satan’s Child. Surprisingly, the whole thing works. Granted, the subdued goth-country clashes with the heavier sounds heard on the rest of the album. But, the lyrical theme of a hard living outlaw translates smoothly to the Danzig mold, painting a grim picture of a doombringer wandering a barren landscape.

LEFT HAND BLACK

The first half of How the Gods Kill is a loaded with somber dirges. Sure, there’s some swagger brewing, but it’s a slow swell—even the relative burner, “Bodies,” is inflicted with a ghastly pallor. But mid-record, Biscuits and Christ really let things fly. As the tag-team partner to the rollicking “Dirty Black Summer,” “Left Hand Black” is III’s token brawler. This is the “yeah, we’re on steroids, so don’t fuck with us,” cut, and their trademark, bone-dry mix lends it the menace to match its bluster. III might be the most complete Danzig record, and this is the track that demands maximum volume.

MOTHER

Alright, one of the last things the metal world needed was another person writing about “Mother,” easily Glenn’s biggest hit and one of the most massive crossover hits in heavy metal history. But away from all of the radio play, single re-releases, and maximum financial whoring, “Mother” is a great song. Scratch that. “Mother” is one of the brashest displays of rock and roll machismo, lay-down-the-gauntlet supremacy, and the-fight-is-won-before-it-begins confidence ever laid to tape. The riffs, the vocals, and the solos are all iconic, but it is the attitude that makes this an undeniable classic. Glenn isn’t going to take your daughter home tonight, because she is already waiting in his hot tub.

SISTINAS

Glenn Danzig has long been called the “Evil Elvis,” and nowhere is his Presley-influenced croon more front-and-center than on this Orbison-ian ballad from How The Gods Kill. Written during a break from tracking Chuck Biscuits’ drums, “Sistinas” is like nothing the band had recorded up to that point — built on muted guitar arpeggios, tremolo shimmers, and moody minor chords, it avoids entirely the blustery blues-metal of the earlier Danzig efforts, instead relying upon timpanis and strings to achieve its darkness. Subtle, sublime, surprising, and sorrowful, “Sistinas” is Danzig’s least characteristic and yet his most timeless tune.

GOING DOWN TO DIE

Despite his many missteps, Danzig’s funereal ballads always manage to resonate. 4 was the transitional record into his creative twilight, yet “Going Down to Die” was fighting mightily against the tide. A little burlier—and definitely more 90s—than any of his previous dirges, it’s an ode to a life cut short, but in retrospect, it’s a fitting end to Danzig’s prime. (A prime that most fail to properly quantify; ’78 to ‘93 is a hell of a run.) It’s an unintentional eulogy, delivered from a pedestal devoid of self-awareness, proving that Danzig’s greatest strengths would eventually become fatal weaknesses.

SNAKES OF CHRIST

Following hot on the fading feedback of “Long Way Back From Hell”, “Snakes of Christ” cruises in on a archetypical Danzig riff: dead-simple, sinister and catchy as Hell. While the track’s lyrics are as aggressively blasphemous as any Glenn has written, the song is, initially, almost laid-back. The verses feature only a few spare chords and some suitably serpentine fills courtesy of John Christ, over which Glenn mostly croons, only occasionally letting some grit slip in. As the song progresses, however, without dramatically altering the songs structure, the mood darkens considerably: Chuck Biscuits begins dropping sledgehammer beats, the band kicks into a lower key for the guitar solo, and Glenn gradually ups the aggression of his delivery to where he practically screams the climactic final chorus “Crawling, All Evil, Yeaaah!” Fuck yeah.

DIRTY BLACK SUMMER

As a teenager discovering metal in the summer of 1992, Danzig’s “Dirty Black Summer” was an interesting revelation. The band seemed evil, yet approachable. The song was dark, yet catchy. The video was minimalistic, but eye-catching. Headbanger’s Ball even did an “End Your Dirty Black Summer with Danzig” contest and special which featured Riki and one lucky winner touring a German castle with a completely disinterested Glenn and Eerie Von. That dark, emotional detachment combined with the notion of blackening what should be one of the best parts of growing up resonated with one who himself was just entering his own age of disenchantment.

AM I DEMON

“Mother” and “Twist-o Cain-o” get the praise, but “Am I Demon?” is the gristle of the first record; Direct and to the point, like a blackjack to the cranium. Christ’s intro riff leaping out of his guitar like he’s trying to murder it. And then Biscuits, the hammer of the Devil, sat way up high on his throne, laying a single-kick beating to keep the ghouls marching in lockstep. Meanwhile, Glenn yowls some of his most poetic lines (seasoned schemes of slimy curs offering up their flu has a nice ring to it) since the Misfits days as he challenges the listener to question his lineage, because their life depends on it. It’s the perfect side-ending thud-rocker, and the perfect counterpoint to “Mother” as you flip the record over.

LONG WAY BACK FROM HELL

Glenn’s status of being Elvis-on-steroids has long been established, but perhaps no song displays that characteristic better than Lucifuge’s “Long Way Back From Hell.” The melody of the bouncing, swaggeriffic chorus would fit in perfectly as a beach ballad in one of Presley’s horrific movies if slowed down about 30 BPM. But beyond this overdone comparison, the track boasts a seriously economical set of riffs and drum patterns, and display’s Danzig’s vocal range at full strength. I’m sure one could also look for some voodoo/slavery meanings in the lyrics, but let’s be honest, like every Danzig tune, it’s just about being a badass.

TWIST OF CAIN

Fans who thought the name change from Samhain to Danzig was merely cosmetic were in for a rude awakening once they heard the lead track from the eponymous debut. Any shred of Misfits left in their noisy, gothic death-rock was completely wiped out in favor of a more pristine, blues-based heavy metal sound. The biblical story of Cain and Abel gets a macabre spin with the titular character presented as a twisted fellow discovering his blood thirst. For Glenn’s part, the change allowed him to unleash the full power the “Evil Elvis” – and all the rock n’ roll bravado that went with it. Also in the mix are backing vocals by noted Misfits fan James Hetfield – not that you’d really notice.

TIRED OF BEING ALIVE

Lucifuge is easily Danzig’s finest record, filled with classic blues-metal darkness, and the world-weary “Tired Of Being Alive” is among the best of those. From the crashing-chord intro through the swinging main riff, “Tired” exudes pure antisocial arena-rock swagger — “Don’t care if’n you die … don’t feel, don’t need to / your world ain’t nothing to me,” Glenn intones in the verse, before soaring into one of Lucifuge’s best choruses: “And I’m tired of the bleeding light / don’t try to feed me / all of your lies.” It’s another “wolf among sheep” anti-religion screed, wrapped in bluesy menace — in other words, it’s classic Danzig.

HER BLACK WINGS

The ominous pules of the opening riff of “Her Black Wings” lets you know the “Her” in question is bad news, before Glenn Danzig even opens his mouth. This ode to the ultimate femme fatale is smoldering in the verses, as Christ plays jarring licks over the main riff, and Glenn serves notice that all the condoms in the world can’t save you; with this unholy temptress there is no safe sex. Yet, there is a sense of blissful surrender in the chorus that makes one think that a night under those black wings might just be worth death, damnation or both.

HOW THE GODS KILL

Metalheads love to argue: Lucifuge was the last “great” Danzig album. Or How The Gods Kill was where it got interesting. If you’re on the right side, you know that this song was one of the reasons why III is one of Danzig’s best. First half of the song is sombre, clean guitar and Danzig’s croon-poetry setting the mood, but when the fucker launches at the halfway point (another infamous Biscuits one-two punch on the floor toms), it kicks off one of the most potent tracks in the Danzig catalog. Sparse and heavy, simple and brutally effective, “How the Gods Kill” will forever remain one of the most potent songs in Danzig’s arsenal.

The post A Devil’s Dozen – Danzig appeared first on Last Rites.

This week’s edition features a host of menacing characters. To start there are the skulls: a demon skull, a bloody skull, some kind of friggin’ cyborg skull and the irascible Sargent “D”. In addition we have space marines, charging cavalry (or maybe dragoons), four pyromaniacs and, for good measure, another goat.

Venture forth, but tread lightly.

SAINT VITUS – BORN TOO LATE

Saint Vitus’s 1986 landmark album Born Too Late marked a dramatic turning point for the band. Original singer Scott Reagers was replaced by the now legendary Scott “Wino” Weinrich. Wino’s voice was much less dynamic than was Reagers’, but his gruff and gritty delivery proved a perfect match to guitarist Dave Chandler’s lyrics. Gone were the tales of zombies, black magic and mystic ladies – in their place were songs that dealt with real-world trials and experiences such as alcoholism (“Dying Inside”), psychedelic drug use (“Clear Window Pane”), and depression (“The lost Feeling”). And, of course, there is the title track, a timeless anthem for anyone who has ever felt out of step with the world.

Saint Vitus – Born Too Late
Released: October, 1986
SST Records
Killing cut: “Born Too Late”

VOIVOD – DIMENSION HATRÖSS

Dimension Hatröss, Voivod’s fourth album, is a landmark for being the mature high point of Voivod’s early career. An unusual band at the time, Voivod would perfect its early, abrasive thrash metal fused with baroque sci-fi themes with Dimension Hatröss before shifting gears to become a progressive metal band with the follow up, Nothingface. Sometimes overlooked by its thrashier predecessor, Killing Technology, Dimension Hatröss is a good means of looking at Voivod as it begins to transition.

Voivod – Dimension Hatröss
Released: 29 June, 1988
Noise Records
Killing cut: “Chaosmongers”

Also Essential:

Voivod – Killing Technology
Released: 3 April, 1987
Noise Records

BOLT THROWER – REALM OF CHAOS

Two years removed from Bolt Thrower’s debut In Battle There Is No Law, and the Coventry crushers had begun to move away from their crustier origins. Proper opener “Eternal War” still flails and howls with a clattering intensity more of a piece with the crust and grindcore scenes that Bolt Thrower had both spawned from and helped create, but as soon as the lumbering swagger of “Through the Eye of Terror” rolls by, it’s clear that Realm of Chaos marks the true beginning of Bolt Thrower’s flawless reputation as the living embodiment of unswayable bulldozers, implacable tank treads, and the rumbling portent of carpet bombing just past the horizon. One listen to the unimpeachably classic riffing on “World Eater” is enough to not just damn the skeptics, but to nuke them to oblivion. Crucial death metal mastery.

Bolt Thrower – Realm of Chaos
Released: 28 October, 1989
Earache Records
Killing cut: “World Eater”

Also Essential:

Bolt Thrower – In Battle There is No Law
Released: 12 June, 1988
Vinyl Solution

DANZIG – DANZIG

Fresh out of the punk group Samhain, Glenn Danzig’s first album with the band that bears his name abandoned the high-tempo punk stylings of his previous bands for a minimalist blues-rooted early metal approach. Despite coming out in ’88, the album feels earlier. Danzig’s erotic occultism mixed perfectly with the subtly overdriven sounds of John Christ’s guitar, the powerful baritone of Glenn’s voice evoking a darker Elvis. While, like Elvis, Glenn eventually went to seed, on Danzig he provided an alternative to the high-soaring sounds of Halford, Dio, and Dickinson for those who wanted to really sing heavy metal.

Danzig – Danzig
Released: 30 August, 1988
Def American Records
Killing cut: “Mother”

METAL CHURCH – METAL CHURCH

Part of the great joy of Metal Church’s classic debut album is that it’s still tough, after all these years, to figure out exactly what it is. Is it thrash? Well, no, not really, but also yes, kind of (cf. “(My Favorite) Nightmare”). NWOBHM? Definitely not, but then again, if you squint at it sideways it might pass (cf. “Battalions”). Power metal? Yeah, sometimes a bit, but it also keeps things pretty traditional (cf. the ball-busting “Gods of Wrath”). What it assuredly is, however, is a mostly dark and brooding album, occasionally epic, occasionally fleet, and pretty much nonstop throttling. Call it another early document of crucial American power/thrash if you must, but whatever you do, sit your ears down too close to the speakers, and get blown away – again, or, if you’re lucky, for the very first time – by David Wayne’s sky-reaching sneer, by Duke Erickson’s hyperactive bass, and those solos, and that punchy, no-nonsense drumming, and those soaring vocals, and oh, just, damn it all – the whole thing.

Metal Church – Metal Church
Released: 1984
Ground Zero Records
Killing cut: “Gods of Wrath”

HOLOCAUST – THE NIGHTCOMERS

The Nightcomers is a Friday pregame ritual of before-bar carnage, lines of coke, and some smokes bottled up in nine songs. Proving the power of a performance is sometimes all in the delivery and not the proficiency of the players, these Scots wobbled through their too-drunk-to-overdub, angel-dusted Judas Priest distillations and somehow bowled every ball for a strike. Part of their success was the canny ability to skate around the rink as an enforcer for power pop, lightning up your pearly whites with fists scarred by smokin’ amp valves if you dared questioning a rote chord progression or lice-ridden hook. But, even that makes Holocaust seem like they focused on something beyond getting hammered and getting anyone within earshot greased up for a party. Rest assured, their mission will still be accomplished as there may be no other album from the decade better at influencing the instinctual need to buddy up with Bacchus and make really dumb mistakes.

Holocaust – The Nightcomers
Released: April, 1981
Phoenix Record & Filmworks
Killing cut: “Heavy Metal Mania”

TESTAMENT – THE LEGACY

There’s just something about Bay-area thrash debuts, isn’t there? Regardless of Testament‘s later efforts, the band was never able to touch the brilliance of The Legacy which, for some strange reason, still feels a bit more underrated than it should be. Be that as it may, if The Legacy ever found itself in a dark alleyway with all of the other debuts from the “Big 4” and it was every album for itself, Testament’s first effort would either be the last man standing, or it would team up with Show No Mercy until the other three albums were quickly disposed of. Its only curse? Perhaps sounding a bit too much like early Metallica. But that’s what everyone wants more of… so who’s complaining? This album is absolutely essential 80’s listening for the sole fact that it just plain shreds.

Testament – The Legacy
Released: 21 April, 1987
Atlantic Records
Killing cut: “First Strike Is Deadly”

OVERKILL – FEEL THE FIRE

In thirty years of thrashing, the New Jersey-based Overkill has maintained a solidity lost by many of their peers – they’ve soldiered ever onwards, stumbling rarely and never falling. And it all began with Feel The Fire, an absolutely glorious slab of East Coast thrash metal, rife with future classics like the title track, “Rotten To The Core,” “Hammerhead,” and a cover of the Dead Boys’ great “Sonic Reducer.” Blitz’s inimitable screech is toned down from later days, though it’s still very much evident, and the rotten core of Verni, Gustafson, and Skates thrashes like mad. Higher, higher, feel the fire…

Overkill – Feel the Fire
Released: 15 April, 1985
Megaforce Records
Killing cut: “Hammerhead”

PENTAGRAM – PENTAGRAM/RELENTLESS

By the time Pentagram finally  cranked out a proper full-length album in 1985, the group bore little resemblance to the bunch of hard-rocking hippies it was in the seventies. Bobbly Liebling’s theatrical vocals and occult-themed lyrics remained, but the heavy hitting rhythm section of Joe Hasselvander and Marin Swaney, combined Victor Griffin’s muscular guitar tone gave the group a decidedly metallic make-over. Tracks such as “Sign of the Wolf”, and “Run My Course” retain some catchy, hard rock swagger, but cuts like “The Ghoul”, “Sinister” and especially the punishing “All Your Sins” are pure, classic doom with a capital “D”.

Pentagram – Pentagram/Relentless
Released: February, 1985
Pentagram Records
Killing cut: “All Your Sins”

Also Essential:

Pentagram – Day of Reckoning
Released: June, 1987
Napalm Records

S.O.D. – SPEAK ENGLISH OR DIE

A side project from Scott Ian and Charlie Benante of Anthrax around the time of the recording of Spreading The Disease, S.O.D. brought former Anthrax member Dan Lilker back into the fold along with one of Anthrax’s roadies, the skinhead Billy Milano. Basically a fast thrash metal album with shouted vocals, Speak English or Die features political incorrectness of the highest order that still comes off, even with today’s sensibilities, as funny as Hell, and contains probably the best riffs that Ian has ever written. You could also argue that the song “Milk” features the first ever blastbeat.

S.O.D. – Speak English or Die
Released: 30 August, 1985
Megaforce Records
Killing cut: “Kill Yourself”

We’re halfway through the list, but let’s consider this chalice of blood half-full, because there is still a shit-load great metal albums to come. See you next week for ten more.

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Volume 8 of MetalReview’s 100 Most Essential Albums Of The 1990s might’ve been subtitled “Groundbreakers” if we had the front page real estate to allow for such shenanigans.

Contained herein are albums that set the standards for several of the 90s and 00s most revered sub-genres: brutal death metal, symphonic black metal, melodic death metal, and even stoner metal. You’ll also find nice evidence that a buff midget named Glenn wasn’t always considered a joke and proof that there is indeed life after (or between?) Iron Maiden.

And after this, there’s only two more to go. Will your personal favorite(s) make the cut? Stay tuned.

DANZIG – II: LUCIFUGE

Refining the formula of the more rudimentary Danzig debut, the Evil Elvis perfected his blend of goth-tinted blues, rock and metal with Lucifuge. From the blustery “Long Way Back From Hell” to the swaggering shuffle of “Killer Wolf,” Lucifuge is a moody journey through all things dark and devilish, taking a rootsier, less extreme approach to pseudo-Satanic posturing and arriving there in less cartoonish fashion than many more comically demonic peers. Dark and brooding, Lucifuge still rocks like holy Hell. [Def American, 1990]

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AUTOPSY – MENTAL FUNERAL

Even today, Autopsy’s Mental Funeral feels like a mutated, deformed oddity in the metal pantheon: the morbid result of slicing apart death metal conventions and stitching them back together in the most repulsive manner possible. And herein lies the utter genius of this album. Odd time signatures, animalistic vocals, and an increasingly prominent doom influence are all seamlessly integrated into the band’s devastating brand of twisted death metal, making for a violent and unpredictable listening experience that never seems to lose an ounce of its thrilling effectiveness. [Peaceville, 1991]

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KYUSS – BLUES FOR THE RED SUN

Even though the birds know this as a fact, it doesn’t hurt to repeat: the guys in Kyuss are the fathers of stoner metal and their second full-length, Blues for the Red Sun, is (arguably) their finest achievement and one of the genre’s peaks. It has since been copied by a plague of bands, and although many notable releases have been produced in the genre, none has quite managed to capture the tone and fuzz that made Blues for the Red Sun a landmark stoner metal album.  [Dali, 1992]

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DISINCARNATE – DREAMS OF THE CARRION KIND

It’s unclear whether Disincarnate was a James Murphy solo project or a band that Murphy happened to help out as he had previously done with Cancer, Death and Obituary. Regardless, the resultant album was a perfect example of Floridian death metal that seemed to cull from all the expected geographic influences. There was nothing truly original in this album, but Murphy’s time in those other bands are all tangible here and when mixed with his writing, supine solos and riffs, the foundation was laid for yet another legendary Floridian death metal act. However, this album was the band’s only release and while there are rumors of the band releasing a new album sometime in the future, we doubt it will surpass their perfect storm of a debut. [Roadrunner, 1993]

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EMPEROR – IN THE NIGHTSIDE ECLIPSE

Emperor’s debut full-length ushered in an epic, sophisticated brand of songwriting dynamics not present in the more minimalist style of most of their Norwegian black metal peers. Songs like “Into the Infinity of Thoughts” and the immortal “I Am the Black Wizards” pioneered a focus on narrative flow and melodic depth that was revolutionary in the wake of the genre’s simplistic roots. Future releases would only expand the band’s grandiose intensity, but In the Nightside Eclipse remains Emperor’s most influential and enduring album, and is undoubtedly symphonic black metal’s first masterpiece. [Candlelight, 1994]

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SUFFOCATION – PIERCED FROM WITHIN

There is brutal and / or technical death metal…and then there is the third LP from New York vets Suffocation. Pierced from Within may be guilty of laying some eggs in the nest of mediocrity and breeding the spawn of half-assed, second-tier, tech-death(core) outfits, but that doesn’t remove the slightest bit of the nonpareil splendor it exhibits. From start to finish, the album is a forty-five minute gallop through a labyrinthine, thick and ground-shattering riff onslaught, the resulting rush of which makes you immediately jump back in. There exists few to none more mountainous landmarks of this epoch and style. [Roadrunner, 1995]

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IN FLAMES – THE JESTER RACE

It may be hard to believe in these days, but there was a four-album stretch where In Flames, as the brightest beacon of the then-burgeoning Gothenburg craze, could seemingly do no wrong. The Jester Race was the cornerstone. Before adopting a sleeker, peppier sound (and logo), In Flames’ first incarnation peaked here, combining somber melodies with positively seething riffery. (Witness the tension within “Artifacts of the Black Rain” and the tightly-boiled “December Flower” for evidence.) Today’s leading lights–such as Insomnium–are still scouring this thing for notes. [Wrong Again, 1996]

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DIMMU BORGIR – ENTHRONE DARKNESS TRIUMPHANT

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Dimmu Borgir’s 1997 album Enthrone Darkness Triumphant could be argued as the template for grandiose symphonic black metal. Languishing for two unspectacular albums in the shadow of Arcturus, Emperor and Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir released a third album that was a watershed for the band and the genre. With English lyrics, a much more lavish production and far more prominent orchestration, Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was the album where black metal started to dip a toe into more commercial territory and out of elitism. Although still consistent to this today, it’s doubtful they will ever top “Mourning Palace,” arguably the sub-genre’s flagship song. [Nuclear Blast, 1997]

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BRUCE DICKINSON – THE CHEMICAL WEDDING

The 90’s were a rough decade for Iron Maiden, and, initially, Bruce Dickinson’s solo work fared little better. But with 1997’s Accident of Birth, Bruce’s solo career began picking up steam. By the time of 1998’s The Chemical Wedding, Bruce and company were firing on all cylinders. With producer / guitarist Roy Z and former Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith lending a hand (and with William Blake’s phantasmagoric art and poetry as inspiration), Bruce gives one of the most powerful performances of his long and storied career. [CMC International, 1998]

• • • •

THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG – TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS

Raw, rollicking and unrelentingly melodic, The Lord Weird Slough Feg‘s second full-length rumbles into town sounding like a motley traveling circus of fire-breathers, knife-jugglers and cartwheeling jesters all drunk on gallons of summer wine. Yet somehow it’s all managed without sounding exceedingly campy. Then again, Slough Feg has always been about finding playful ways to wrap entertaining stories around their folk-soaked ‘old-ways of British heavy metal,’ and Twilight of the Idols manages exactly that in magnificently melodic fashion.  [Dragonheart, 1999]

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We’re almost there, kids.  Only twenty more albums left…  See you next week.

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