Rust In Peace - Megadeth. The greatest album of the genre; arguably also one of the
best air-guitar records of all time. Dave Mustaine and company slash and burn
their way through 9 tunes that are both complex and memorable – then-new
guitarist Marty Friedman tied it all together with solo after scorching solo,
adding a new dimension to Megadeth’s sound that had previously been untapped.
Addiction, aliens, the ravages of war, relationships gone horribly awry – all
the bases are covered here.
Standout tracks: All of ‘em, really, but from this perspective, the opening salvo of “Holy Wars … The Punishment Due”, “Hangar 18” and “Take No Prisoners” still stands on its own as a trifecta of Metal par excellence.
Reign In Blood - Slayer. Without a doubt, an epic record; 29
blistering minutes of sheer sonic fury. Forget the Mafia; Slayer were kings
of the underworld, and this record is proof. At this point in their careers,
Slayer were aggressive, fast and downright scary - Tom Araya's vocals are
graphic enough and sang with such conviction to give 14-year-old closet Satanists
something to rally around. (For the best live record of the genre, their Decade of Aggression stands above all else.)
Standout tracks: “Angel of Death”, “Altar of Sacrifice”, “Jesus Saves”.
Among The Living - Anthrax. A case could be made for including their previous record, Spreading The Disease in lieu of this one; you can’t go wrong either way. A reminder of the day when they didn't take themselves too seriously, before Attack of the Killer B's proved they were becoming a one-joke ("I'm The Man") band.
Standout tracks: “Among The Living”, "I Am The Law", "Caught In A Mosh"
Master of Puppets - Metallica. For a time, I avoided Metallica because that was the one Metal band that had semblance of credibility in our high school (and because they fired Dave Mustaine). Eventually, I gave in and bought their back catalog, up to and including … And Justice For All. For my money, this is the best of the lot.
Standout tracks: "Master of Puppets"
Symbol of Salvation - Armored Saint. This was their last gasp before disintegrating; singer John Bush then took over frontman duties for Anthrax after the latter sacked Joey Belladonna. SoS is power metal at its finest: simplistic yet incredibly melodic.
Standout tracks: “Dropping Like Flies”, “Burning Question”, “Tainted Past”.
The End Complete - Obituary. In the subgenre of death metal, it doesn’t get any deader. Vocals from beyond the grave (courtesy of John Tardy) layered over heaping spoonfuls of downtuned, ssssslllllllooooooowwwww riffage - it's not just for breakfast anymore.
Standout tracks: “I’m In Pain”, “The End Complete”.
Utopia Banished - Napalm Death. The definitive grindcore record. With engines on warp speed, Mitch Harris, Jesse Pintado, Danny Herrera and Shane Embury jackhammer away at 400 beats per minute while singer Barney Greenway bellows with the intensity of five blast furnaces - if you could record white light, it would be this record. Yeah, so you can’t make out the words; that’s why they made lyric sheets, and if you read the lyrics to Utopia, you’ll find a group of articulate, socially conscious guys. Go figure.
Standout tracks: Most of the tunes are indistinguishable from one another; these aren’t so much songs as much as they are sonic lobotomies.
Hollywood Vampires - L.A. Guns. Just kidding. But this is a really bad record, and with that, we would be remiss if we didn’t include the following:
Youthanasia - Megadeth. Oh, how the mighty fell. With this record, Megadeth became your standard, run-of-the-mill, mid-tempo metal band that diluted its sound in an ill-advised effort for MTV and radio airplay. For God’s sake, Mustaine sings in *French* on one song. I won’t be so trite as to label this record a sell-out, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it sure as hell isn’t a swan.
Unquestionable Presence - Atheist. Some genres just don’t mix; jazz and death metal is an example. This record is a poorly executed stab at bringing the two together (death jazz?). Bad not only for the attempted marriage of the two breeds, but also for the tinny din that typified the sound coming from the Florida death metal scene in the early ‘90s.
March or Die - Motorhead. They tried to recreate their masterpiece, 1916. They failed. Some artists are helped by inviting Ozzy Osbourne to share vocalist chores on one song (reference point: Lita Ford). They weren’t. An awful record, memorable only for its utter inferiority (and for its watered-down version of “Cat Scratch Fever”).
Tomb of the Mutilated - Cannibal Corpse. You might think there’s something adorable about a band with a singer who sounds like Cookie Monster; there’s nothing cuddly about this band at all. Some species of animals eat their dead; Cannibal Corpse’s songs are about, among other things, having sex with the dead. Not only are the lyrics ultra-violent and ultra-offensive, but the musicianship is shoddy as well. Fortunately, singer Chris Barnes’ vocals are completely indecipherable even *with* a lyric sheet (thankfully); he makes Obituary’s John Tardy sound scholarly by comparison. The fact that I once owned this record is one of the five things I'm most ashamed of in my life. Totally irredeemable; the worst record ever. Really.
--Brandon Grimes