As a musician and someone who is also constantly not only listening to music, but looking into new artists, its hard to really choose a group of favorite albums without putting restrictions on the choices. Lets do this this way, the 80s had a distinct metal sound, glam was big and even the bad boys wore make up! The 90s...well, lets face it, grunge altered hard rock music. If it didnt turn into Sevendust, Coal Chamber, or The Deftones, then it remained underground and had no rules, no gimmicks, no filler, and more importantly; no makeup (lol)! The 2000s changes the face of rock and metal. Everything was digital, programmed, auto-tuned, and pro-toolsed up to appear perfect, thus raising the mainstream bar for the true musicians who didnt cheat in the studio and cut corners like that. That being said, this is my list of favorite metal records post 2000, who I believe didnt cheat in the studio (or wear makeup)! 10. Blood Ceremony: Living With The Ancients- Great record, if youve ever wondered what Black Sabbath meets Jethro Tull with a female vocalist sounds like, now is your chance to find out! 9. Orchid: The Mouths Of Madness- what I consider to be the perfect doom record! No fillers, genuine writing where you can hear the influences, but it doesnt sound like youve heard it before! For fans of Black Sabbath and Trouble. 8. Judas Priest: Demolition- Not considered a classic album by fans standards; this cd has the updated sound that I wanted to hear from JP! Hints of industrial can be uncovered in the percussion and guitar tones, as well as Tim Ripper Owens making this album his own! Already out of print (which I think is sad), this album is a dark and heavy powerhouse. 7. In This Moment: Star-Crossed Wasteland: This is an incredible album! ITM had broken away from the radio pop-metal sound and got down to the gritty, heavy, raw Maria Brink vocals! The music got heavier, the writing got stronger, and this is where they really started to establish their identity as a band. 6. Evergrey: The Inner Circle- great cd! A concept album dealing with a cult and becoming Christian, this album is progressive, without 10 minute long songs, making it easy to keep up with! Thomas Englund has as good of vocals as hes ever had and this album has as strong of songs as theyve ever written! Features 3 bonus tracks of acoustic versions of other Evergrey classics as well! 5. Witherscape: The Inheritance- Metal legend, Dan Swano takes his normal amazing approach to put in his two cents in modern metal, and not only gives us a quality album, but gives us an album that could have potentially had a few mainstream radio singles without sacrificing his writing ethics. This album is definitely worth the price! 4. Megadeth: Endgame- Easily the strongest record recoded by Dave Mustaine since anything in the 90s. The World Needs A Hero and Risk left me in a panic, but this album has a non-stop thrash sound from start to finish! Well written, engineered and mixed well, definitely in my top two favorite Megadeth albums! 3. Helloween: The Dark Ride- this album is the perfect bridge between 80s metal and 2000s metal! This album is not only well-written as well, but it features the best vocals by Andy Deris! Great cd! 2. Machine Head: The Blackenning- this album was brought to my attention by Matthew Danbeck, this album is not only well written, and well executed, it also received the award for Metal Album Of The Decade! Worth checking out for all metal fans! 1. Opeth: Blackwater Park- This is the album where Opeth significantly changed! Mixed and Engineered by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, this album is a journey! Beginning to end, maintains your interest! Great writing, great mixing, and great execution! Dean Blank, Nj Smith, Steve Danbeck, Mike Trowbridge, Susan Allen-David, Kristin Noble, Melissa Burkett
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 01:55:35 +0000
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