june gloom on 21/11/2008 at 15:51
Here's a list of metal albums you should own (for various reasons.)
They're not in alphabetical order because I've discussed all of them at length in a couple of metal communities and I'm just listing them in the order I talked about them (I discussed them at a rate of one a week, except for a month where I talked about two a week to describe how a band changed.) I won't go into any details about an album here unless someone asks my opinion about a specific album. I've mentioned a few of these before, though.
This is not "fun" metal like the kid who likes the Hives and System of a Down thinks metal should be, but it's all damn good and there's a varied selection from all subgenres of metal, including death metal, which contrary to common belief does not all sound like Cannibal Corpse.
[EDIT] Right, I've gone back and rearranged this list, dividing it up by subgenre and listing each album in order of accessibility from most to least. I've managed to mostly figure out what's accessible and what's not, with a lot of help from a non-metal friend who mostly indulges in really faggy Eurodance and is thusly my accessibility litmus test. However as everyone's tastes are different your mileage may vary- she goes from Roy Orbison to Devin Townsend, which I'm fairly certain is a freak accident. I'm including as many samples as I can get a hold of on Youtube. Simply click the album name to go to the youtube link. I try not to use live vids as they're not really all that representative usually.
This post's taken me a couple hours to put together so I hope someone finds it informative. I realize BEAR has a point in that like Zappa fans I'm providing a huge list here, but he's totally wrong in that I don't diversify- I wonder if he's actually heard half the shit on here.
<b>This group of bands is part of what I call "Sabbathcore", which is basically an umbrella term for epic, stoner and traditional doom that evokes a Black Sabbath sound. Some of it's very accessible- Orange Goblin for example- and some of it's very not, i.e. the earth-shaking, chandelier-crashing Electric Wizard.</b>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C2hgivqwJ8">Orange Goblin - Time Travelling Blues</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4om2Floe3Pg">Pentagram - Self-titled/Relentless</a> (same album, different names depending on the era)
Reverend Bizarre - In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ouIsiqdvA">Sleep - Holy Mountain</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO7VP34n2Ps">Electric Wizard - Dopethrone</a>
Acid King - Busse Woods
This group is all post-metal. Death, black, and doom metal are three of my top four favourite subgenres, this being the fourth one and it couldn't be more different. Like all genres, there's a range of accessibility. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQn53Zz0sMc">Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw</a> (all instrumental and very beautiful)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWTAkBRe6aI">Isis - Panopticon</a> (my favourite album ever)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Dk7OocmtY">Battle of Mice - A Day of Nights</a> (female vocalist)
This is what's called "art metal"- an umbrella term for a combination of avant-garde and progressive, accompanied (depending on the band) by other genres such as black, death, doom, and even non-metal elements such as jazz fusion or classical music. Very often, it's all at once.Star of Ash - iter.viator (female vocalist, very pretty)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdMb9VHLrE">Dark Suns - Existence</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBzVeWgyrDw">Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdEOPZb4ilg">Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness</a> (one 60 minute track meant to be listened to in a single sitting)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSz-0v7tkE8">Celtic Frost - Monotheist</a> (kind of black/death metallish, hence its placement here)
Black metal. 'Nuff said. It comes as no suprise that the older the album or band is the further down the accessibility list it is.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBPUAkwopE">Arcturus - Aspera Hiems Symfonia</a> (very artsy, which is normal for Arcturus)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNyIWBCFq5Y">Ulver - Bergtatt: Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler</a> (pretty low-key as black metal goes, very folk if that's your thing- this is their very first album, they quit doing BM after 3 albums)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-rrwS9D6Tw">Windir - Arntor</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEPbYh8_CMg">Sabbat (Japan) - The Dwelling</a> (one-hour track of Japan being weird)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcXPZS72kRo">...And Oceans - The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts</a> (earlier album, less industrial than later work)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBNl_F5qucM">Mayhem - Grand Declaration of War</a> (very experimental, lots of weird shit going on here, basically a giant middle finger to BM purists)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBwu83RR6ZU">Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger</a> (one of my favourite black metal albums of all time)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWu2evduvME">Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2qGV-HRc9Q">Marduk - Panzer Division Marduk</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6_MMo4rKFY">Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro</a> (gave me a splitting headache)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27LFm9zHhp8">The Axis of Perdition - Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital</a> (will scare the shit out of you)
Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - The Key to the Gates of Apocalypses (75-minute single black ambient track)
Death metal. Again, 'nuff said. Remember that not everything sounds like Cannibal Corpse.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB1NuL-8Dhc">Opeth - Blackwater Park</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YeKZpfnmfk">Edge of Sanity - Crimson</a> (40 minute track)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQEr_PlN9NM">...And Oceans - Cypher</a> (industrial death metal from before they went all incoherent)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvRLbWZJ2wo">SHRUM - Red Devils and Purple Ringers</a> (this is all bass, no regular guitar is used, was included for this oddity)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wb1mHy9i30">Bolt Thrower - Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness</a> (sort of a WH40K tribute album)
Doom metal. Anything that doesn't fall under the Sabbathcore category (or isn't drone doom) winds up here. They do include other elements and genres, however- Agalloch is frequently mistaken for black metal at times. This stuff tends to be really dark at times.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1aJPEFtoNg">Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain</a> (should be noted for having what may be the first blend of black metal and post-rock, can be heard in the youtube link- very beautiful work sometimes)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-CLHuRNznE">Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ-DCT1QTdk">Katatonia - Dance of December Souls</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1g4r0NHsMU">Cathedral - The Garden of Unearthly Delights</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uMij4bNJR0">Katatonia - Brave Murder Day</a> (features Mikael of Opeth)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWGiNLbmhs">Thorr's Hammer - Dommedagsnatt</a> (female vocalist, teeny tiny little thing, was about 17 when she made this)
Drone doom: absolutely the least accessible of anything here, 99% of you are guaranteed to hate this shit.Khlyst - Chaos is My Name (same vocalist from Thorr's Hammer, all growed up, very weird and experimental and kind of creepy)
Asva - Futurists Against the Ocean (mostly standard BZZT drone except for the 2nd half)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG97k6DMNVM">Sunn O))) - BlackOne</a> (Sunn O))) makes people throw up or involuntarily cream themselves if they stand too close to the speakers at live shows due to the bass)
Thrash. Self-explanatory.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqbnFV-wcI">Megadeth - The System Has Failed</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiCRf5mWvFk">Megadeth - The World Needs A Hero</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdsZd05ugI4">Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black</a> (one of my top 5 favourite albums)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPtpzGlaYUk">Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMwhJ6JV25Y">God Forbid - IV - Constitution of Treason</a> (cross of thrash and metalcore)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLYfTkl2Ycs">God Forbid - Gone Forever</a> (like the above, but a bit better)
Traditional/power metal. If you've heard Iron Maiden (which is on here) you know what to expect. Beginners may want to start here.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBhAUtMUF2M">Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNpSYPv0Sjw">Iced Earth - The Dark Saga</a> (if Jon Schaefer didn't have comic books, horror movies or American history he'd have no idea what to write songs about)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeRA2dsxOtg">Iron Maiden - Brave New World</a>
Proto-metal. Really old bands from before metal was an official genre.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A9OHtk1Ubc">Deep Purple - Deep Purple</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEPS5c4is-M">Deep Purple - Rapture of the Deep</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5F6XgGHeuY">Rush - Feedback</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhbVIxnW2qY">Rush - Vapor Trails</a> (suffers from poor production but is still a good album)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sunueD30XME">Scorpions - Humanity: Hour I</a>
Miscellaneous. Non-metal, nu-metal, dark rock (lot of doom/black metal bands switched to dark rock), or otherwise lone representations of a given subgenre. All of these are quite accessible to varying degrees.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWb1ppSvSjY">Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull</a> (Earth was originally the founders of drone doom, now they make all-instrumental soundtracks to westerns that don't exist)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFib44tTXRU">Ulver - Shadows of the Sun</a> (makes Sigur Ros look like a grindcore band)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGPhRuNOr2Y">After Forever - Decipher</a> (best female vocals, Tarja can gtfo)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzqxr7WFzuI">Ulver - Perdition City</a> (nowhere near metal and yet still an amazing album, weird jazz ambient noise experimental etc. etc. etc. I could go on for days)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usZRk4Z3emc">Sentenced - The Cold White Light</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPKRYovvi8">Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koo-_L03n2k">Soilwork - Stabbing the Drama</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acc8HrxzXW0">OTEP - the_Ascension</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLQSnJArELE">Chimaira - Pass out of Existence</a>
