Heavy metal!
Posted: September 13th, 2018, 6:10 pm
It's come up in the other music threads, but it really deserves one of its own. I'll start with my three favorite metal albums.
Autumn – Осень – Вечна... (2003)
A deeply beautiful album with a strong Romantic sensibility (it reminds me a lot of Lermontov's poetry, if you'll pardon a bit of grad-student name-dropping). Gorgeous, expansive sound. Probably the only growled metal vocals that count as actual singing – the Opeth guy sounds like the Cookie Monster in comparison. One of the most emotional albums I've heard, metal or otherwise, but without a trace of the adolescent BS that so often passes for emotion in the genre. I don't think I'll ever hear a metal album to top it.
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (1971)
Timeless, even with the dumb stoner cough at the beginning. This is the one album where it all comes together for Sabbath – Tony's guitar has never sounded more like an earthquake, Ozzy's shrieking has never been less corny (except on Sabotage, maybe), and the rhythm players are relentless. How they put out an album like this in 1971, fully transcending their blues-rock roots for an unadulterated style of heavy metal completely their own, is a mystery for the ages.
Voïvod – Dimension Hatröss (1988)
I'm pretty sure that these guys are actual aliens. I could probably find weirder chords played by any number of "tech"-subgenre bands, but none of them would sound half as natural as Voïvod's. Their gift for making the bizarre seem obvious rivals even Rush's talent, which is some of the highest praise that I can think of. Following this album, they would turn almost completely into a progressive rock group like their countrymen (even getting Rush's producer!), but this is the unique point where the raging force of their earlier music is elevated by the sophistication of their subsequent work.
Autumn – Осень – Вечна... (2003)
A deeply beautiful album with a strong Romantic sensibility (it reminds me a lot of Lermontov's poetry, if you'll pardon a bit of grad-student name-dropping). Gorgeous, expansive sound. Probably the only growled metal vocals that count as actual singing – the Opeth guy sounds like the Cookie Monster in comparison. One of the most emotional albums I've heard, metal or otherwise, but without a trace of the adolescent BS that so often passes for emotion in the genre. I don't think I'll ever hear a metal album to top it.
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (1971)
Timeless, even with the dumb stoner cough at the beginning. This is the one album where it all comes together for Sabbath – Tony's guitar has never sounded more like an earthquake, Ozzy's shrieking has never been less corny (except on Sabotage, maybe), and the rhythm players are relentless. How they put out an album like this in 1971, fully transcending their blues-rock roots for an unadulterated style of heavy metal completely their own, is a mystery for the ages.
Voïvod – Dimension Hatröss (1988)
I'm pretty sure that these guys are actual aliens. I could probably find weirder chords played by any number of "tech"-subgenre bands, but none of them would sound half as natural as Voïvod's. Their gift for making the bizarre seem obvious rivals even Rush's talent, which is some of the highest praise that I can think of. Following this album, they would turn almost completely into a progressive rock group like their countrymen (even getting Rush's producer!), but this is the unique point where the raging force of their earlier music is elevated by the sophistication of their subsequent work.