» Blog Archive What Are Today's Classic Metal Albums? -
Evan Conway Hard Music, News

It has constantly been discussed that the 80’s were a prime time for heavy metal music. The entirety of the decade saw new genres spawn left and right in the forms of thrash metal, death metal, prog metal, and first-wave black metal, and many albums released in that time period have been heralded as classics. No one can argue the impact felt by Slayer’s Reign in Blood, or the importance of Venom’s Black Metal. Even extending into the 90’s, Carcass’ Heartwork, Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell, and Dream Theater’s Images and Words have all lasting impacts felt on the entirety of metal today.

Since the turn of the century, however, there seems to be less and less widely agreed upon classic albums. Albums like Slipknot’s self-titled and Iowa are sure to be recognized, and Avenged Sevenfold’s Waking the Fallen and City of Evil both gather a lot of attention, but since then, it seems to be a period of a lack of certainty.

So, bear with me here, as I present a list of albums that I feel will stand the test of time. Feel free to hate:


 

crack the skyeMastodon – Crack the Skye: Mastodon’s most diverse and alienated release is also their most unique. Make no mistake, Blood Mountain and Leviathan are both perfect albums worthy of love and respect, but Crack the Skye is a one-of-a-kind thing. Darker, proggier, but still as heavy and technical as Mastodon has always been, this album set the band apart from the rest of the sludge metal bands of the time, and propelled the band to a wider audience. Even though The Hunter did the same for them years later, Crack the Skye was, and still is, just perfect from start to finish.

What’s most remarkable is the band’s progressive elements. The jam section on “The Last Baron” is a left-field Dream Theater moment that would make the band in question proud of something so fitting. “Crack the Skye” features Scott Kelly of Neurosis fame, who has appeared on numerous Mastodon elements since, and is arguably his best contribution to the band. Crack the Skye has many amazing moments, and by far Mastodon’s best.


 

obzenMeshuggah – obZen: obZen might not be the ultimate Meshuggah album, but it’s the first album that a lot of people started listening to them from. We can sit here and argue all day which Meshuggah album is their best, but one thing is for certain and it’s that “Bleed” catapulted the band to new heights in the metal community. obZen is full of amazing songs, too: “Pravus” is fast enough to make your heartrate speed up, while the majority of “Bleed” makes a musician’s muscles spasm at the thought of attempting. Every song on the album, even the slower ones like “This Spiteful Snake,” demand your full attention, and are so in your face that it’s no wonder the entire world started paying attention to Meshuggah with this album. Even when the djent bands started to take off some years later, they were all (And still are!) praising Meshuggah as major influences.


 

gojiraGojira – The Way of All Flesh: I was going to put From Mars to Sirius here, but The Way of All Flesh literally builds upon everything its predecessor does and more. The Way of All Flesh continued to gradually expand Gojira’s name in the metal community, and the inclusion of Randy Blythe on “Adoration for None” was without a doubt a helpful contribution, knowing one of metal’s larger bands was working with a then smaller band. And then there’s “Vacuity,” possibly Gojira’s heaviest song that truly captures the dread presented by the titular monster in the same film. “A Sight to Behold” let the band experiment in different, alien ways, while “Toxic Garbage Island” leaves no survivors with how unforgiving it is with its environmentally-rooted anger. Although not a concept album, The Way of All Flesh flowed like one, and remains the band’s defining moment.


 

Amon_Amarth_-_Twlight_of_the_Thunder_GodAmon Amarth – Twilight of the Thunder God: Amon Amarth were already a known band by this point in their careers, but six albums had built up to this legendary seventh album that has stood the test of time. The anthemic title track wow’d the entire metal community, and the hits just kept coming over and over as the album went on. “Guardians of Asgaard” with Entombed’s L.G. Petrov has gone on to be a signature song for the band, and “Tattered Banners and Bloody Flags” conjures images of vikings marching to take the next batch of settlements. Apocalyptica even show up on the album on “Live for the Kill,” which propels the final chorus to dramatic new heights. Amon Amarth exploded worldwide years later thanks to Deceiver of the Gods, but Twilight of the Thunder God  will always be the standard they’re held to.


 

colorsBetween the Buried and Me – Colors: Ask any Between the Buried and Me fan what their favorite album is, and chances are it’s Colors. There’s the few (Hint: me) that will say something else despite loving them intensely, but Colors is the band’s Master of Puppets, in a sense. It was a juggernaut for them in every way and helped form the sound and style that the band would take on for the next few, highly ambitious albums. Colors in itself was presented eight songs that all flowed into one another, but each song could be listened to independently.

There were unexpected turns on the album throughout, such as the western-saloon present on “Ants of the Sky,” but it all just made sense in the end. Colors is still talked about today, as it has gone on to being BTBAM’s go-to release. Safe, in a sense, for the band, but also daring to do things metalcore, let alone progressive ones, weren’t even considering doing at the time. Even today, there’s no album like Colors. Let me know when you find a song like “Informal Gluttony,” at least; You won’t find anything of this quality.


 

all we loveConverge – All We Love We Leave Behind: This one is definitely a bit of a wild card when grouped together with the albums mentioned above. Nobody is saying anything against Converge, but they’ve been essentially doing their own thing on an indie label, as opposed to other bands that have been doing things on a larger scale. Converge have gotten their recognition, though, and have delivered quality album after quality album since… well, forever. All We Love We Leave Behind was just better than the rest, though, and not only did it introduce Converge to a larger audience.

Converge aren’t softening up, either. In fact, All We Love We Leave Behind sees the band’s no-bullshit approach broaden out, leaving 14 tracks of perfection. Even the special edition of the album, which adds 3 more to the tracklisting, is just as rewarding to listen to. From the ferocity of “Trespasses” to the anthemic nature of the title track and everything in between, no one in their right mind can criticize this album.


 

infestissumamGhost – Infestissumam: I’ve been a fan of Ghost since their Facebook page had less than 10,000 likes on it. I’ve watched this band grow to the superstars they are now, and I’m quite proud of them, too. I mean, it’s not every day you can sing “Hail Satan!” with a smile on your face and a catchy hook to it. Opus Eponymous was very, very 70s, and even though the band changed their sound, it was all in favor of a natural progression. The album was larger, catchier, and more powerful overall with its composition, and it made everyone in the band into the rockstars they are today.

Catchier doesn’t mean less heavy or evil, either. “Year Zero” is possibly one of the best songs Ghost will ever produce, while “Depths of Satan’s Eyes” makes use of everything the band is known for and does it better than normal. In fact, that just about summarizes the entire album. It’s Ghost, but Ghost doing Ghost better than Ghost normally does. Ya feel?

It also kickstarted a bunch of bands to attempt a retro-Satanic heavy metal approach to the genre. Certainly such an attempt isn’t something new, but it’s worth noting that they started to come out in droves after Ghost started making the news.


 

peripheryPeriphery – Periphery: This one I was hesitant to include, as well, but it made so much sense considering the impact Periphery made on the modern metalcore scene. Periphery accidentally coined the term “djent” one day and all of a sudden it’s consider it’s own genre, leading to plenty of pun-worthy memes and inspiring bedroom metal projects to adopt an Axe-FX into their rig.

But what about this album? It’s great and timeless, and I’m an unabashed Periphery fan, too. Right from the get-go, Periphery hits you in the face with technicality, soaring melodies, and general insanity. So much ground is covered on this debut album, it’s obvious that Periphery were going to be accomplishing major feats in the future, of which they have with a double-disc concept album and two other studio albums to boast about. The lead single “Icarus Lives!” may have been everyone’s intro to the album, but gems like “Buttersnips,” “Zyglrox,” and the rarely performed “Ow My Feelings” all are constantly wrestling to hog the spotlight. Each time you listen to it, too, you’ll be finding new guitar parts hidden in the mix and layers to the songs that you never even thought possible. Periphery may have moved on from this album in recent years, but the impact this album had over six years ago is still being felt.


This list is by no means a be all, end all release. There’s still plenty of albums and bands that deserve the recognition, but I think it’s safe to agree that these albums hold some sort of impact on the band’s careers or the metal community in general. Very rare is it that we get such amazing albums that are timeless, and given the fact that these albums are still listenable says a lot about each band’s accomplishments.

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