I'm sorry but this album is just the most genius thing to come from my favourite band ever. How can anyone not listen to the opening title track and not be transported to storm-blasted fishing boat in violent seas. It's mind bogglingly epic! And Stein Um Stein feels, to me, like some violent catharsis (musically that is, the lyrics are pretty creepy but hardly cathartic).
Best Track: "Stein Um Stein"
Love this album so much... It's so gloomy and melancholy and it just ozzes darkness. You can practically smell the wine and warm summer air during "L'amour detruit..."
Best Track: "Thy Raven Wings"
Got to have Opeth in here. Mikael Akerfeldt is a genius. Like, properly. Listen to it. LISTEN TO IIIIT!!!
Best track: "The Leper Affinity"
I know a lot of people think this is too "commercial" but this album is soooo heavy! "The God That Failed" has the most brutish riffing of anything recorded by the Big 4 and "The Unforgiven" is an awesome slice of mellow, spaghetti western influenced prog.
Best Track: Hard to choose but... "The Unforgiven"
Ah, the album that got me into extreme metal. Mock Slipknot all you will but they were pretty damned extreme considering most kids were listening to Blink 182 and shit. Before I heard this I only listened to Metallica and Guns 'N' Roses! The whole album has this weird, unhinged, bug-eyed intensity that I love!
Best Track: "Left Behind"
Katatonia are really cool. Dunno if you would even describe them as "metal..." More "Dark Rock." They really create this atmosphere of frailty, despair and futility which I love in music! That's why I love doom metal so much! The lyrics on this album are awesome and worth the price alone...
Best Track: "In the White"
Enslaved are a really special band. They move beyond black metal's irritating, pouting and cartoonish "Nihilism" or "Satanism" and create music that transcends genre and becomes an almost spiritual experience. RUUN has amazing examples of this such as "Essence" and "Entroper."
Best Track: "Essence"
The Blues is easily one of my favourite styles of music. SRV is my favourite blues guitarist ever, took what Buddy Guy had done and just went crazy with it. SRV was the first music I ever remember hearing and watching his videotapes is my first memory!
Best Track: "Dirty Pool"
This was actually the first AIC album I bought, which was good as I had no Layne Staley-influenced prejudice towards William Duval and Jerry Cantrell (who actually does lead vocals for most of the album). Anyone who lets that prejudice overcome them is missing out on an album of classy, emotionally powerful hard rock.
Best Track: "Black Gives Way To Blue"
Actually only got this recently! But even in the short time I've owned it, this album has really moved me and made me just fall in love with it (and Anathema generally). This album still carries a metallic edge and is full of heart-breakingly emotive vocals and deep, brooding and surprisingly blues-y guitars. Stunning...
Best Track: "Deep"
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