Volume 3 is all over the map; but from madness comes brilliance. This third edition of the 100 Essential Albums of the Decade is chock-full of surprises, apexes, and kinetic energy.
THUD!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Polish death metal rose to great popularity early in this
decade, thus it is quite fitting that the god-fathers of the scene should open
new millennium with one of their best albums. Litany showcases Vader at the peak of their powers. With the late Doc’s kick-drums-on-steroids leading the way, Vader assaults the listener with the
devastating precision of mechanized warfare. With eleven tracks crammed into a brutally intense thirty minutes, Litany
could well be considered Vader’s Reign in Blood. [Metal Blade, 2000]
Anyone who thinks
that “metalcore” is shorthand for melodeath with breakdowns needs to track down
a copy of Jane Doe post-haste. Converge is best-known for amping up hardcore
punk into a spasmodic, grinding shitstorm, but this album’s greatness stems
from its emotional charge and noise-riddled melodic sensibility. Jane Doe
balances crestfallen beauty and vicious rage perfectly, and none of Converge’s
scores of imitators have ever replicated its seamless narrative flow. This album
made Converge the legends they are today, and deservedly so. [Equal Vision,
2001]
Arghoslent -
Incorrigible Bigotry
Well, at least
there’s no veil of deception here—the album's title is as blatant as it gets, and
those with an aversion to headbanging to a song titled “Flogging the Cargo”
should move along to the next entry. However, those with an insatiatable desire for some
of the decade's nastiest, gnashingest melodic death riffage should
consider this mandatory. These semi-anonymous bigots bring the thrash-bred,
jugular-targeting shreddery with severity, and with nary a smidge of Gothenwank in
sight. Unrivalled hatred, indeed. [Drakkar, 2002]
Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
Smooth. Silky fucking
smooth. That's the only way to describe this svelte Arcturus release, which saw the
band step away completely from their black metal heritage into warm,
progressive and ultimately genre defying territory. Spearheaded by Garm's
velvety croons and a robust, crystal clear production, The Sham Mirrors was a
collection of crunchy-but-hypnotic cosmic hymns and stellar sonic psalms that
melted stars and minds alike. A rare, truly landmark album--one that, to this day, has
yet to be topped by themselves--or any so-called "avant-garde"
pretenders. [Ad Astra, 2002]
Dan Swano spends most
of his time behind a mixing console these days, but Crimson II proved that his
musical acumen lives on. Swano revived his underappreciated melodeath band
single-handedly in 2003 and recorded a musical and conceptual follow-up to the band’s
magnum opus, the one-track Crimson. Stretching out a single song to 45 minutes—even a song laden with tricky
grooves, layered synths, and gorgeous clean moments—is no mean feat, but
Swano’s heroic effort and incredible skill makes Crimson II a ride worth
taking. [Black Mark, 2003]
Not
particularly groundbreaking--and free of jaw-dropping antics--but there's a
sick sway to it that just cannot be denied. Yyrkoon is an oddly named driving force to be reckoned with, and Occult
Medicine was no one-trick pony. Its follow up, Unhealthy Opera, showed their teeth and claws un-dulled and still famished. Make no mistake that Medicine
is where the hot streak began, and hopefully with no end in sight. Equal parts
blast furnace to slow tank....what a prescription. [Osmose, 2004]
We’ve all heard the
criticism for Municipal Waste, and to be fair, there is merit in some of
it. But this has little bearing on the fact that Hazardous
Mutation is one of the best thrash albums to surface in the last decade, if not the best. You’d have to be a truly jaded, callous soul to resist
the hooks in songs like “Deathripper” and “Accelerated Vision,” the manic
energy of Tony Foresta’s lyrical rants, and the never-ending barrage of
top-notch riffs dispensed by Ryan Waste. Hazardous Mutation may
in many ways serve as a tribute to the bands of yore, but that doesn’t mean
that Municipal Waste don’t do what they do better than anyone else in
contemporary metal. [Earache, 2005]
It seems things have
settled a bit in the Candlemass camp since the arrival of Robert Lowe,
but there was a 5-year dryspell at the start of 2000 that left some fans
wondering if they'd actually heard the last from Leif's baby. Certainly one of
the last things we expected was the return of Messiah Marcolin for another
album's worth of material! The union didn't last long, of course, but the
results were nothing short of stunning. This self-titled release
definitely injected some serious life back into the Candlemass tank.
[Nuclear Blast, 2005]
The
Longest Night
caught a lot of folks completely off guard; the only bit of familiarity to many
of us being the distinct, rasped power vocals also heard on the lone Control
Denied full-length. And while Tim Aymar's unique voicee stands as one of Pharaoh's
strongest selling points, it was the impeccable song-crafting and melodic
noodling of Matt Johnsen that helped push The Longest Night into
many metal fans' top spot for 2006. [Cruz del Sur, 2006]
Riff-heavy black
metal, dripping with gobs of thrash and death, We Own the Mountains
encompasses everything great about metal: excellent hard-and-heavy riffing,
melodic urgency, intense vocals, and epic storytelling. In a marked departure from previous records, Elite
extended their reach from the periphery of extreme music to the center with
modern production that helped to circumvent black metal’s typical
hindrances. From the endless barrage of
icy riffs to its nearly immeasurable raw energy, this record is damn near
irresistible. [Folter, 2008]
Thirty down, seventy to go. See you next week!
Posted
Oct 02 2009, 01:04 PM
by
Rev
Filed under: Vader, Municipal Waste, Pharaoh, Edge of Sanity, Yyrkoon, Converge, Arcturus, Reign in Blood, Candlemass, Elite, Arghoslent