1001 Metal Albums you should hear before you die

LoathsomePete · 02-01-2015, 10:06 PM

72. Cobalt - Gin (2009)

American black metal inspired by Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson. I remember back in 2009 this album was pretty popular among the metal community on this forum and for good fucking reason. I've heard some people draw comparisons between Cobalt and Neurosis, and while it's an apt comparison, it does sell Cobalt a little short. The band really captures the essence and antipathy towards the human condition through the horrors of war, with a kind of digression from civilized society to the kill-or-be-killed world of the animal kingdom. While that's not exactly something new to the genre, it's not always as elegantly delivered.

**Frownland** · 02-01-2015, 10:17 PM

^I had forgotten about that album, I'll be giving it another listen soon. I remember rating it as highly as you do.

LoathsomePete · 02-01-2015, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

^I had forgotten about that album, I'll be giving it another listen soon. I remember rating it as highly as you do.

6 years later and it holds up surprisingly well. Apparently they also have a new album due this year, so there's that to look forward to.

Urban Hat€monger ? · 02-02-2015, 01:01 AM

All of Norg's defecating in this thread has been removed.
Carry on.

The Batlord · 02-02-2015, 08:45 PM

73. Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare - (1988)

The second coming of Exodus' Bonded By Blood. This is Neanderthal thrash at its Neanderthaliest. It's also pretty much as brutal as thrash gets without a death metal influence---while still being far more intense than any Sepultura album. The vocals are an "acquired taste" perhaps, but any album this trashy needs a vocalist to match, and he has an odd, percussive cadence that really suits this band's energy. This bad mutha also perfected the gang shout; no band before or since has utilized this lost art so perfectly. Thrash².

Spoiler for I've come for the dead:

The rerelease also comes with a full live album, Live @ Slim's, from a reunion show that comes with a version of "Kill On Command" that just blows the studio version out of the water. Best track they ever laid down IMO. Track that version down, as it's a live album worthy of being released all by itself.

Spoiler for "Kill On Command" live:

Metal Connoisseur · 02-03-2015, 09:03 PM

74. Atriarch - Ritual of Passing - (2012)

While this may be just as much punk as it is metal, this record deserves mentioning. Post-punk drones effortlessly meld into blackened doom as Lenny Smith gives a remarkable vocal performance. The tracks here find a nice equilibrium between atmosphere and catharsis, making for a very satisfying album that succeeds at incorporating all the influences Atriarch sought to inject into Ritual of Passing.

Spoiler for Atriarch - Parasite:

Ninetales · 02-03-2015, 11:28 PM

75. Murmuure - Murmuure - (2010)

29 minutes. all you need to get your mind blown by this album is 29 minutes. Im not even sure it's actually metal. black metal certainly has a large influence on this but theres so many sounds and genres furiously shaped into this that its hard to call it anything specific. drone here, industrial there. There is no other album that i would recommend anyone listen to if only to see how reaching the metal genre has gotten. it's dark but romantic; beautiful yet frightening. theres something ritualistic about it. It's like being at a funeral procession. except youre the corpse slowly decaying into another world.

if you've never listened to this you are missing out on one of the most astonishing albums I have ever heard. metal or not.

Spoiler for the whole thing:

Primeval Scum · 02-04-2015, 11:47 PM

76. Cattle Decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity (2012)

This RYM review describes this album better than I ever could:
Ye gods, what a whirlwind of filth! It’s a pleasingly rare happenstance to find a death metal album that feels intrinsically unique, a beacon of individuality in a storm of sameness that also does nothing to betray the established archetypes of genre. Indeed, Cattle Decapitation are planted firmly within the established bounds of their constituent influences, those being technical death metal and grindcore, respectively. However, the way they utilize these building blocks is unlike anything we’ve yet seen, blurring the boundaries and sculpting their own filthy icon, brick by brick. The end result is a mentally unhinged, brutal, and dare I say progressive take on their chosen stylistic marriage, eliciting reactions of fear, excitement, and pure disgust at the resplendent decrepitude of this malevolent monument.

Aside from the insane finger-f*cking riffing, what truly needs focusing on here is vocalist Travis Ryan, who has developed the most interesting vocal style I’ve heard in years. Yes, his gurgling lows and shrieking highs have continued to grow stronger, but now he bellows out this unsettling, inhuman… "clean" vocal style. It sounds completely inhuman, like some disheveled apocalyptic mutant bellowing to the sky on top of some corpse-strewn altar of damnation. It’s so weird, so different, and so unbelievably filthy that it adds a strange weight to the whirling, grinding predilection of Monolith of Inhumanity. That’s perhaps the most fitting title imaginable, I must say. In every aspect, this is a Monolith of Inhumanity.

The Batlord · 02-05-2015, 10:56 AM

^^^

I listened to a bit of Cattle Decapitation back in the day when they only had like two albums out, and they just sounded like a second-rate Suffocation. Good to listen to if you had that itch, but not much to call home about. Have they evolved since then?

LoathsomePete · 02-05-2015, 12:17 PM

77. Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005)

I've written about this album before in my 101 Albums... thread so this will be more of a summation of that particular post (you can read the full thing here).

This is easily one of the most ambitious debuts of a band I have ever had the fortune to hear. Essentially it's a double album, with one disc being the harder metal, and the other being ambient noise. When you sync bother albums you get an incredibly heavy and atmospheric album that really feels crushing with the right headphones. The "Post-Metal" term is pretty nebulous, and this band in particular have not endorsed it or considered themselves to fall under the umbrella, however sometimes people have a way of making things stick, and enough people in the metal community have tried there hardest to make it a real genre label. Whatever you want to call it, if you like sludgey metal with a deep wall of sound and lyrics about exploring the cosmos, Rosetta's debut album definitely deserves your attention.

Spoiler for Rosetta - Departe (synced version):

02-01-2015, 10:06 PM	#121 (permalink)
LoathsomePete Cardboard Box Realtor Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hobb's End Posts: 7,648	72. Cobalt - Gin (2009) American black metal inspired by Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson. I remember back in 2009 this album was pretty popular among the metal community on this forum and for good fucking reason. I've heard some people draw comparisons between Cobalt and Neurosis, and while it's an apt comparison, it does sell Cobalt a little short. The band really captures the essence and antipathy towards the human condition through the horrors of war, with a kind of digression from civilized society to the kill-or-be-killed world of the animal kingdom. While that's not exactly something new to the genre, it's not always as elegantly delivered. __________________ Last.FM 101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too

02-01-2015, 10:17 PM	#122 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	^I had forgotten about that album, I'll be giving it another listen soon. I remember rating it as highly as you do. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

02-02-2015, 01:01 AM	#124 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	All of Norg's defecating in this thread has been removed. Carry on. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

02-03-2015, 09:03 PM	#126 (permalink)
Metal Connoisseur Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 539	74. Atriarch - Ritual of Passing - (2012) While this may be just as much punk as it is metal, this record deserves mentioning. Post-punk drones effortlessly meld into blackened doom as Lenny Smith gives a remarkable vocal performance. The tracks here find a nice equilibrium between atmosphere and catharsis, making for a very satisfying album that succeeds at incorporating all the influences Atriarch sought to inject into Ritual of Passing. Spoiler for Atriarch - Parasite: __________________ Metal Connoisseur's Last.fm

02-04-2015, 11:47 PM	#128 (permalink)
Primeval Scum Music Addict Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 146	76. Cattle Decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity (2012) This RYM review describes this album better than I ever could: Ye gods, what a whirlwind of filth! It’s a pleasingly rare happenstance to find a death metal album that feels intrinsically unique, a beacon of individuality in a storm of sameness that also does nothing to betray the established archetypes of genre. Indeed, Cattle Decapitation are planted firmly within the established bounds of their constituent influences, those being technical death metal and grindcore, respectively. However, the way they utilize these building blocks is unlike anything we’ve yet seen, blurring the boundaries and sculpting their own filthy icon, brick by brick. The end result is a mentally unhinged, brutal, and dare I say progressive take on their chosen stylistic marriage, eliciting reactions of fear, excitement, and pure disgust at the resplendent decrepitude of this malevolent monument. Aside from the insane finger-fcking riffing, what truly needs focusing on here is vocalist Travis Ryan, who has developed the most interesting vocal style I’ve heard in years. Yes, his gurgling lows and shrieking highs have continued to grow stronger, but now he bellows out this unsettling, inhuman… "clean" vocal style. It sounds completely inhuman, like some disheveled apocalyptic mutant bellowing to the sky on top of some corpse-strewn altar of damnation. It’s so weird, so different, and so unbelievably filthy that it adds a strange weight to the whirling, grinding predilection of Monolith of Inhumanity. That’s perhaps the most fitting title imaginable, I must say. In every aspect, this is a Monolith of Inhumanity. __________________ Last.fm RateYourMusic Don't grieve for me, I'm not there. I am the gentle autumn rain. Hold up my lamp to light your way. Farewell to thee...*

02-03-2015, 11:28 PM	#127 (permalink)
Ninetales Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: livin wild Posts: 2,179	75. Murmuure - Murmuure - (2010) 29 minutes. all you need to get your mind blown by this album is 29 minutes. Im not even sure it's actually metal. black metal certainly has a large influence on this but theres so many sounds and genres furiously shaped into this that its hard to call it anything specific. drone here, industrial there. There is no other album that i would recommend anyone listen to if only to see how reaching the metal genre has gotten. it's dark but romantic; beautiful yet frightening. theres something ritualistic about it. It's like being at a funeral procession. except youre the corpse slowly decaying into another world. if you've never listened to this you are missing out on one of the most astonishing albums I have ever heard. metal or not. Spoiler for the whole thing:

02-05-2015, 12:17 PM	#130 (permalink)
LoathsomePete Cardboard Box Realtor Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hobb's End Posts: 7,648	77. Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005) I've written about this album before in my 101 Albums... thread so this will be more of a summation of that particular post (you can read the full thing here). This is easily one of the most ambitious debuts of a band I have ever had the fortune to hear. Essentially it's a double album, with one disc being the harder metal, and the other being ambient noise. When you sync bother albums you get an incredibly heavy and atmospheric album that really feels crushing with the right headphones. The "Post-Metal" term is pretty nebulous, and this band in particular have not endorsed it or considered themselves to fall under the umbrella, however sometimes people have a way of making things stick, and enough people in the metal community have tried there hardest to make it a real genre label. Whatever you want to call it, if you like sludgey metal with a deep wall of sound and lyrics about exploring the cosmos, Rosetta's debut album definitely deserves your attention. Spoiler for Rosetta - Departe (synced version): __________________ Last.FM 101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too