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TvvrAskesis
Marathon Man

Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:33 am
Posts: 179
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:49 am 
 

1 Fates Warning: Parallels
2 Cynic: Focus
3 Atheist: Unquestionable Presence
4 Dream Theater: Images and Words
5 Arcturus: Aspera Hiems Symfonia
6 Satyricon: Nemesis Divina
7 Dark Funeral: The Secrets of the Black Arts
8 Setherial: Lords of the Nightrealm
9 Setherial: Nord...
10 Marduk: Panzer Division Marduk

Spoiler: show
11 Marduk: Heaven Shall Burn
12 Loudness: Loudness
13 Death: Human
14 Gehenna: First Spell
15 Hecate Enthroned: Upon Promeathean Shores
16 Earthshaker: Real
17 Cradle of Filth: Vempire
18 Cradle of Filth: Dusk and Her Embrace
19 Anthem: No Smoke Without Fire
20 Earthshaker: Pretty Good
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 6:38 am
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:09 am 
 

Fates Warning's Parallels as no. 1?

Unusual but nice :)
'Eye to Eye' is such a catchy tune, 'Life In Still Water' and 'We Only Say Goodbye' are still oh so memorable and 'The Eleventh Hour' is a brooding affair of a song and one of their very best. A very replayable album all in all.
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Oblarg
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:02 pm 
 

This is a really tough one. I'm going to try not to repeat bands, otherwise Virgin Steele would show up on here three or four times. There's an awful lot of good 90s metal.

1. Virgin Steele - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Pt. 1
2. Solstice - New Dark Age
3. Phantom - Cyberchrist
4. Conception - In Your Multitude
5. Eldritch - Headquake
6. Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
7. Agent Steel - Omega Conspiracy
8. Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
9. Riot - The Privilege of Power
10. Iron Savior - Unification
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Metal_Detector
Reticular Modular Unit

Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:15 pm
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Location: Japan
PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:13 pm 
 

TvvrAskesis wrote:
1 Fates Warning: Parallels


Love your top 4. Parallels was a childhood fave of mine. It's like if Queensryche was actually good in the 90s.
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Zelkiiro
Pounding the world with a fish of steel

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:30 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:22 pm 
 

Metal_Detector wrote:
TvvrAskesis wrote:
1 Fates Warning: Parallels


Love your top 4. Parallels was a childhood fave of mine. It's like if Queensryche was actually good in the 90s.

I actually really like Queensryche's 90s albums (aside from the awful Q2K), and Tribe + Mindcrime II are pretty decent, as well. It's only from 2007 to 2011 (and that brief stint in 1999) that Queensryche were entirely unlistenable.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:24 pm 
 

Those 90s Queensryche albums aged so so badly. Hear In The Now Frontier is laughable.
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Invocation
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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:11 pm
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 2:59 pm 
 

Just submitted my list. Picking the first few was easy, but there was a lot of competition for the last few spots.

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Krist4Lyne
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Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:03 am
Posts: 53
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:03 pm 
 

Arfff, a few days late.
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~Guest 1454256
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:39 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:20 pm 
 

Just submitted mine - the order of the last 6 changed from when I last posted my list in this thread. I guess aside from the top 4 (which is pretty much static), the rest will always fluctuate depending on my mood.

Oblarg wrote:
5. Eldritch - Headquake

Cool, I'm glad this won't be in the rando corner now. :)

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Oblarg
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 4:41 pm 
 

Deadened wrote:
Oblarg wrote:
5. Eldritch - Headquake

Cool, I'm glad this won't be in the rando corner now. :)


Nice! Failsafeman hipped me to that album some years ago, and it's really one of my favorite pieces of prog/power ever recorded. Very weird, very good.
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manowar are literally five times the band that fates warning are: each member is as good as fates warning alone, then joey's bass solos are like an entire extra fates warning

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~Guest 1454256
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:39 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:35 pm 
 

That album I got into back in 2003, I didn't even like it at first, but it grew on me something fierce. One of my favorite power/prog albums as well. Highly emotional album as well, which is a major plus for me.

Their debut album "Seeds of Rage" I couldn't stand for the longest time, but I'm finally slowly warming up to that one too. "El Nino" I didn't like a first either, but that one eventually grew on me. (I'm seeing a pattern here lol)

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:56 pm 
 

I think I tried a song or two from them way back in my teen years and didn't get it... I keep hearing great stuff so I ought to look into trying it again.

edit - https://eldritch-official.bandcamp.com/

Ah there's always a good way these days.
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Dungeon_Vic
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:01 am 
 

Headquake and El Nino are great. Some of the greatest Italian metal imo. El Nino was my first contact, Bleed Mask Bleed, which is a GREAT song. I love Simone on the guitars but at some point Eldritch blended the cheese with the groove in a way that seemed disjointed. And then they really went full on cheese with the Al Gore album.
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Voidsel
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Joined: Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:13 am 
 

  1. Judas Priest - Painkiller
  2. Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
  3. Ulver - Bergtatt: Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler
  4. Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
  5. Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery
  6. Death - Symbolic
  7. Algaion - Vox Clamentis
  8. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
  9. Tourniquet - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
  10. W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

Honourable mentions
  • At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
  • Believer - Dimensions
  • Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace
  • Dawn - Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)
  • In Flames - Colony
  • Marduk - Opus Nocturne
  • Satyricon - Dark Medieval Times
  • The 3rd and the Mortal - Sorrow

This was an exercise in disappointment and confusion, exploring that mysterious space between 'best' and 'favourite'. Even letting it sit for a few days I came back and was confused at why I chose the original order. Some things you just can't rank.

Nothing too obscure for me. Vox Clamentis is likely to be a rando but that's an EP that firmly sits in the category of favourite for me.

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DoomMetalAlchemist
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Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:10 am
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:21 am 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
And then they really went full on cheese with the Al Gore album.


Whoa whoa whoa.... The WHAT album????

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
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Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:42 am 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
Headquake and El Nino are great. Some of the greatest Italian metal imo. El Nino was my first contact, Bleed Mask Bleed, which is a GREAT song. I love Simone on the guitars but at some point Eldritch blended the cheese with the groove in a way that seemed disjointed. And then they really went full on cheese with the Al Gore album.


Finishing up a play of Headquake now - yeah, this is quite beautiful stuff, heavy and complex but with a real sense of the epic. Some real standouts like "Lord of an Empty Place" and "Salome's Dance." This is definitely in line with the kind of underground melodic stuff I always got into, a real DIY kinda vibe.
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CoconutBackwards
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:29 am 
 

1. In Flames - The Jester Race (This album will always be extremely special to me no matter how far they go out of their way to shit on their legacy).
2. Carcass - Heartwork (Just like The Jester Race, the guitar melodies on this album are other worldly good in my opinion)
3. Fear Factory - Demanufacture (The amount of emotions and good feelings I have whenever I hear this album will live with me forever)
4. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
5. Pantera - Cowboys from Hell (it took me a long time to listen to this album. I heard Vulgar Display back in the 90s and wrongly assumed that was their peak. This is by far their best album in my opinion)
6. Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
7. Agalloch - Pale Folklore
8. Symphony X - Divine Wings of Tragedy
9. Edguy - Vain Glory Opera
10. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (This could arguably be higher on the list due to the music it led me to listening to, but I have zero interest in revisiting this album these days, so I think that's a knock against it)

It was not easy to put these in order.
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Dungeon_Vic
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Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:00 am
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 10:45 am 
 

DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
Dungeon_Vic wrote:
And then they really went full on cheese with the Al Gore album.


Whoa whoa whoa.... The WHAT album????


https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/E ... acy/315031

"Concept on global warming based on Al Gore’s documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", directed by Davis Guggenheim, from which all intros are taken. Most of the spoken words are by Al Gore except on track 6 by George Bush."
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Vic's Dungeon - Remember the Fallen:
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CannibalCorpse
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:55 pm
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Location: Austria
PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:39 pm 
 

Here we go! Some of these were REALLY hard (DT's Projector is such a unique and great album that it ALMOST got the In Flames spot. Stanne is 100 times better on vocals in any way, but still...that era of In Flames.....damn) but the first few were probably already set in stone for some time.

1. Rotting Christ - Triarchy of the Lost Lovers

Not only the climax of the entire Hellenic scene, but also the finest, most "complete" melodic black metal record of all times. Sublime, memorable melodies, fantastic production, perfect vocals and instantly recognizable too.

2. Rotting Christ - Non Serviam

I couldn't do the "one album per band" thing because Non Serviam is also an eternal classic. The song structuring, tempo shifts and especially the overall riffcraft is maybe the best in the whole genre. Its only weakness is the rather flat production job which doesn't do the material enough justice. Still, the writing is eternal.

3. Danzig - III - How the Gods Kill

Lucifuge might be the catchier album - probably because it's more blues rock on steroids - but this one is incredibly heavy, doomy and atmospheric to the core. Prime Glenn vocals as well, with an extra shoutout to Chuck's fiercest Danzig drum performance.

4. Varathron - Walpurgisnacht

These guys have been delivering great Hellenic BM until this day but this is the album where they first peaked. Despite the Storm Studios drum machine being what it is (kinda positively nostalgic about it though, I gotta admit), the riffs, demonish Necroabyssious-vocals and dreamy interludes are first class BM.

5. Sepultura - Arise

Best thrash records of the 90s, still. Heavy as fuck, just enough groove to switch things up and Max as the perfect vocalist for this gruff journey. Oh boy, that lead tone too!

6. Annihilator - Never, Neverland

Best lead guitars this side of Megadeth (rhythmic precision is ace too) but with even better songs (and vocals, to be fair) and one of the few occasions where Jeff Waters delivers throughout the entire thing without falling into songwriting traps.

7. Heathen - Victims of Deception

Is "Heathen's Song" the best thrash metal anthem ever? Could be. That guitar tone is monstrous and David's voice is the perfect fit. Soloing's a Dream too. Super diverse record.

8. Hypocrisy - The Fourth Dimension

Post-apocalyptic Wild West on Mars. Such a strange atmosphere on this record, yet so strong. This is the album that starts and ends doom/death for me. Just melodic enough for spice, but devastating as well. Peter introduces his cleans and makes this my favourite DM record of the 90s.

9. Type O Negative - World Coming Down

As always with Type O - not every song is on the same level, but this is the most consistent album of theirs and "Everything Dies" is the best thing they ever did. Here come the tears, even after decades.

10. In Flames - Colony

Great band until the year 2000. Colony is the best 90s album of theirs and their least dated sounding (along with Clayman), super-powerful and ultra-catchy testament to a scene nobody really cares about anymore.

Runner-Ups:

Spoiler: show
Agatus - Dawn of Martyrdom
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Arch Enemy - Burning Bridges
Bathory - Twilight of the Gods
Beseech - From a Bleeding Heart
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth
Bruce Dickinson - Chemical Wedding
Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst
Danzig - II - Lucifuge
Dark Tranquillity - Projector
Death - Spiritual Healing
Dio - Lock Up the Wolves
Dio - Strange Highways
Gorgoroth - Pentagram
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Megadeth - Rust in Piece
Metal Church - The Human Factor
Nightwish - Oceanborn
Overkill - Horrorscope
Paradise Lost - Draconian Times
Rotting Christ - A Dead Poem
Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract
Running Wild - Black Hand Inn
Running Wild - Blazon Stone
Sanctuary - Into the Mirror Black
Septic Flesh - Esoptron
Septic Flesh - The Ophidian Wheel
Sodom - Tapping the Vein
Thou Art Lord - Eosforos
Type O Negative - October Rust
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Deathdoom1992
Metalhead

Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 9:19 am
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:15 pm 
 

Here is my (largely pretty basic) shortlist from which my ten will be drawn, but I've gotta boil it down some more and maybe some new contenders will throw themselves into the mix late on.

Alice in Chains - Facelift
Opeth - Still Life
Opeth - Orchid
Uncle Slam - Will Work for Food
Annihilator - Never, Neverland
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Candlemass - Chapter VI
Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal
Death - Spiritual Healing
Corrosion of Conformity - Blind
Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger


There are tonnes of albums that I love dearly but aren't on this list (practically everything Paradise Lost did in the '90s for example deserves to be in consideration to some extent but it just doesn't crack into that pantheon). EDITED now to what I believe is the final shortlist of 12. As to which 2 miss out - I have no clue.

CannibalCorpse wrote:
6. Annihilator - Never, Neverland

Best lead guitars this side of Megadeth (rhythmic precision is ace too) but with even better songs (and vocals, to be fair) and one of the few occasions where Jeff Waters delivers throughout the entire thing without falling into songwriting traps.


Great to see some love for this one - will 100% be in my final 10 somewhere.

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ThStealthK
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:45 pm 
 

If Death wins the first place, I will fulfill my promise to send the free download link of Spotify Premium for Android where you don't need to pay to enjoy its advantages to the interested users through PM.
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des91
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Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:51 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:11 am 
 

Death will be hurt by vote splitting most definitely. But Human and Symbolic will probably be in the top 25. Those 2 are both top 10 worthy.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:19 pm 
 

Rust In Peace is clearly gonna win with Painkiller runnering up.
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milosh111
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:53 pm 
 

I wonder which band will have the most albums on the list (not including randos). Darkthrone? Death?

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CannibalCorpse
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:55 pm
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Location: Austria
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 1:49 pm 
 

Deathdoom1992 wrote:
Great to see some love for this one - will 100% be in my final 10 somewhere.


There is no other album out there that sounds quite like Never, Neverland. Not even Annihilator themselves do, apart from a few select songs later on (Brain Dance or the blatant rehashes on Ballistic Sadistic).

Yeah, it's a classic and needs to be up there.
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quickbeam
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Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:09 am
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:12 pm 
 

milosh111 wrote:
I wonder which band will have the most albums on the list (not including randos). Darkthrone? Death?


Certainly a prestigious achievement; reckon Marduk have a shot, seen a few of theirs mentioned.

So, anyone else never listened to Rust in Peace? :lol:

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Lagartija
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:21 pm 
 

Deathdoom1992 wrote:
Uncle Slam - Will Work for Food.

Now there's an unexpected mention, as well as a blast from the past. I picked that CD up somewhere along the line and I remember really liking it. Haven't listened to it for years but still have the chorus for the title track in my mind, I'll have a hunt for it whenever I'm reunited with my collection...
By the way, when are these results out?
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HeavenDuff
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:49 pm 
 

milosh111 wrote:
I wonder which band will have the most albums on the list (not including randos). Darkthrone? Death?


I don't know about most albums, but most points scattered throughout various releases, I'm thinking Death will finish first. Darkthrone also has good chances. But I was talking with ThStealthK in PM earlier, and he said that Judas Priest and Cradle of Filth also have a lot of votes.

So yeah, any band with a good quantity of quality releases has good chances, although they will suffer from vote splitting in terms of individual albums rankings.

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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:31 pm 
 

Just submitted my final ballot.

1: In Flames - Colony - (Whoracle and The Jester Race would otherwise also be here)
2: Type O Negative - October Rust
3: Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse (very hard to decide between this, Still Life, Morningrise, and Orchid)
4: Katatonia - Tonight's Decision (painful to leave off Discouraged Ones and Brave Murder Day)
5: Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle
6: Alice In Chains - Dirt (Facelift is great as well)
7: Dark Tranquillity - Projector (leaving off The Mind's I, The Gallery, and Skydancer, ugh)
8: Dan Swano - Moontower
9: Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black (wish I could put The Politics of Ecstasy too, maybe even the debut)
10: The Gathering - Mandylion (would love to have Nighttime Birds as well)

I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I'll never be completely satisfied with it. The order and included albums kept shifting every other day it seemed. I'm most nettled at these albums missing the cut:

Amorphis - Tuonela (also Elegy, Tales From a Thousand Lakes, and Karelian Isthmus)
Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes (also Dark Saga and Burnt Offerings, or even Days of Purgatory, but that feels like cheating)
Megadeth - Rust In Peace
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica

I tried to finesse orders that included each of these. RIP was on there initially, and I opted to exclude it because it doesn't need my vote, and it has easily the weakest vocals of the top contenders, possibly other than In Flames. Other major changes from my initial list were adding Ayreon, which I somehow overlooked, Alice In Chains (sometimes I forget that they're on the archives), and Dark Tranquillity, another glaring omission. I also initially had Devin Townsend's Ocean Machine on my list, and while I love that album, due to how I have some of my playlists set up, I had conflated it and Infinity. Both stellar albums, but individually not quite strong enough for the top 10.

The next tier is also really strong:

Arch Enemy - Stigmata
At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Carcass - Heartwork
Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence
Cynic - Focus
Death - Symbolic
Dismember - Like an Everflowing Stream
Dream Theater - Awake
Edge of Sanity - Crimson
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Explorer's Club - Age of Impact
Fear Factory - Demanufacture
Lacuna Coil - In a Reverie
Mercenary - First Breath
The Sins of Thy Beloved - Lake of Sorrow
Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide
Testament - The Gathering
The Third and the Mortal - Tears Laid in Earth
Within Temptation - Enter

So that's almost a top 30 (or 50 if you count multiple by the same artists). Then there are dozens of other excellent albums, a lot of which are in my original honorable mentions list on the first page or so.

Gravetemplar wrote:
Jophelerx wrote:
jimbies wrote:
9. Demons & Wizards - Demons & Wizards (1999)
While some of Blind Guardian leaves me a little cold, because of the over-the-top fantasy/medieval imagery/lyrics, this was dialled back just enough for me to enjoy the pure power of Hansi. Fiddler on the Green? One of the best ballads in metal history.


Nice pick! I totally forgot about that album as I keep thinking it's from 2000. I think some version I had (maybe iTunes, as that's where I originally got the album, in 2009) said such? Or I'm just dumb. Wouldn't have quite made my top 10 either way, but I feel it's quite underrated and certainly the best D&W record (and better than any Iced Earth record). It's really the middle where "Path of Glory" and "Blood on my Hands" leave me a bit cold, otherwise every track is killer. Aside from the obvious "Fiddler on the Green," "The Whistler" has always been a personal favorite.

Yeah, definitely better than anything Iced Earth ever did. Blood on My Hands is a perfect track in my opinion.


I can't go that far, mainly because I'm a much bigger fan of Barlow's vocals than Hansi's, but it's historically been underrated for sure. "Poor Man's Crusade" is incredible.

Voidsel wrote:
Tourniquet - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance


Love that album. "Phantom Limb" is a mindblowing track.

CoconutBackwards wrote:
1. In Flames - The Jester Race
2. Carcass - Heartwork
3. Fear Factory - Demanufacture
4. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
10. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul


That's almost a quarter of my top 20 or so (Colony is on my list, but TJR is damn close), and the other five are all solid as well.

milosh111 wrote:
I wonder which band will have the most albums on the list (not including randos). Darkthrone? Death?


Blind Guardian and Opeth are also two others that will heavily suffer from vote splitting because there isn't enough consensus on their top album.


Last edited by LithoJazzoSphere on Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:16 am, edited 5 times in total.
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~Guest 1452000
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Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2022 1:28 am
Posts: 260
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:46 pm 
 

1. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
2. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
3. Kyuss- Welcome to Sky Valley
4. Strapping Young Lad - City
5. Cradle of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace
6. Burzum - Hvis lyset tar oss
7. Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes
8. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
9. Death - Symbolic
10. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky

There were some albums I really wanted to include but couldn't justify their inclusion over any of these. I'm pretty sure Rust in Peace is going to win :lol:

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Slater922
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 6:24 pm
Posts: 2342
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:53 pm 
 

Spiral Architect wrote:
I'm pretty sure Rust in Peace is going to win :lol:

Yeah, that's my prediction on who's gonna win this poll. Either that or Painkiller.
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Sunioj_Paul
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 4:46 pm
Posts: 160
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 4:58 pm 
 

Spent weeks agonizing over this! Naming my top ten favourites is simply impossible as I had a shortlist of about 60 albums! My top ten wouldn't necessary be the best albums so I decided to list my favourite albums that were MOST INFLUENTIAL from the 90s. Even then the list was over 20 but it eased my conscience a little! These album are all exceptional releases but also highly influential too. Here goes:

1 EMPEROR - IN THE NIGHTSIDE ECLIPSE
A masterpiece in pure atmosphere, love the production on this. My favourite album ever.

2 MORBID ANGEL - COVENANT
Revolutionized death metal in terms of riffing style, everyone on top form here, massive influence from the 2000s onwards.

3 DISSECTION - STORM OF THE LIGHT'S BANE
The best melodic black metal album ever, extreme and emotive at the same time.

4 DEATH - HUMAN
A game changer in death metal, the perfect marriage between heavy riffing and progressiveness.

5 MAYHEM - DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS
Proved that you could have a brilliant production in black metal but still underground and evil.

6 CARCASS - HEARTWORK
Songwriting perfection that proved that you could be melodic and catchy but still heavy as fuck.

7 HYPOCRISY - ABDUCTED
This was the album that really brought heaviness, melody and atmosphere together in a fantastic production.

8 FEAR FACTORY - DEMANUFACTURE
In 1995 this was like listening to an album 50 years in the future. The sound of machines playing metal.

9 CRADLE OF FILTH - DUSK AND HER EMBRACE
Completely unique at the time. Mixing black metal, with female vocals, keyboards and a romantic gothic atmosphere. So many different vocal styles too.

10 METALLICA - METALLICA
Absolutely groundbreaking in bringing metal to the masses. Hasn't been an album like it since. Responsible for getting more people into metal than any other album in history. Nevermind metal, this album is a cultural phenomenon. Its the biggest selling metal album of all time for a reason.

Albums that should make the list and would on another day:

At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
Entombed - Left Hand Path
My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans
Paradise Lost - Gothic
Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
Burzum - Filosofem
Darkthrone - A Blaze In the Nothern Sky
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka

Special mention goes out to Slayer, Megadeth and Kreator who all released 3 exceptional thrash metal albums in 1990. I feel these were more a part of the 80s thrash scene and don't really see them as 90s albums if you know what i mean? These were the last albums of a genre nearly gone at the start of the decade.


Last edited by Sunioj_Paul on Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BombaAlaMode
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:53 pm
Posts: 11
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:14 pm 
 

Finally turned my list in after plenty of re-listens. Metal was going damn strong in the 90s. Plenty of highly honorable mentions, but that's how it goes.

    1) Gorguts - Obscura (1998)
    2) Opeth - Morningrise (1996)
    3) Katatonia - Dance of December Souls (1993)
    4) Megadeth - Rust in Peace (1990)
    5) Death - Symbolic (1995)
    6) Judas Priest - Painkiller (1990)
    7) In Flames - Lunar Strain (1994)
    8) Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)
    9) Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated (1992)
    10) Autopsy - Mental Funeral (1991)

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MoonlitKnight
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:54 am
Posts: 74
Location: Brazil
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:33 pm 
 

Here's how my list went:

1. Death - Symbolic (1995)
My favorite album from my favorite metal band. Decided to go for the "one album per band" rule otherwise half of this list would be just Death albums.
2. Megadeth - Rust in Peace (1990)
Boring choice, I know, but I just love this thing. Insanely catchy and memorable guitar work.
3. Angra - Holy Land (1996)
I'm not usually a fan of power metal this melodic and "soft" but I make a big exception for this album. Top-notch musicianship and songwriting and the Brazilian influences are tastefully done. Carolina IV is one of my favorite songs and I love how it quotes a melody from Brazilian jazz legend Hermeto Paschoal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-S7iJ56VlQ for the original song).
4. Paradise Lost - Draconian Times (1995)
This is how you "sell out". A goth-pop-metal masterpiece.
5. Immortal - Pure Holocaust (1993)
At the Heart of Winter is going to place better on the list, I'm sure (and it's terrific of course) but to me this is their finest (half-)hour. Relentless but never feels boring or samey. Kudos for using the Imperial March as a basis for a black metal riff as well.
6. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)
Tough call between this and Still Life, but MAYH feels more cohesive and I like the riffs better. And it has Demon of the Fall.
7. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (1992)
It's a coin toss between this one and For Victory. Spearhead gives The IVth Crusade a slight edge.
8. Type O Negative - World Coming Down (1999)
Not only their gloomiest, but also their most consistent album IMO, suffers the least from filler tracks.
9. Solitude Aeturnus - Through the Darkest Hour (1994)
Here they drop that Fates Warning influence that made their first 2 albums so unique, but they make up for it with an improved vocal performance from Lowe and catchier riffs.
10. Sepultura - Arise (1991)
I do love Chaos A.D. and I am a bit of a Roots apologist, but this is clearly their best 90s effort. One of the last hurrahs of the "golden age" of thrash metal as well.

Plus 15 albums I felt bad about excluding:
Spoiler: show
Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
Boris - Amplifier Worship
The Chasm - Deathcult for Eternity
Coroner - Mental Vortex
Darkthrone - Under a Funeral Moon
Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics
Intestine Baalism - An Anatomy of the Beast
Gorguts - Obscura
Morbid Angel - Covenant
Neurosis - Times of Grace
Running Wild - Pile of Skulls
Sigh - Hail Horror Hail
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Trouble - Trouble

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Lyrici17
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:20 am
Posts: 1445
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:17 pm 
 

I finally submitted my list:

01. Megadeth - "Rust in Peace" (1990)
02. Judas Priest - "Painkller" (1990)
03. Agalloch - "Pale Foklore" (1999)
04. Iron Maiden - "Fear of the Dark" (1992)
05. Bruce Dickinson - "Accident of Birth" (1997)
06. Burzum - "Filosofem" (1996)
07. Bathory - "Hammerheart" (1990)
08. Bathory - "Blood on Ice" (1996)
09. Immortal - "At the Heart of Winter" (1999)
10. Cradle of Filth - "Cruelty and the Beast" (1998)

Some really obvious selections, and then I think some vote-splitters (based on some very casual perusal of this thread). Maybe even a rando corner with Iron Maiden (as I would be surprised, but also not surprised if I was the only one to vote for "Fear of the Dark" in their top 10).
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
Posts: 10857
Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 7:28 pm 
 

HeavenDuff wrote:
But I was talking with ThStealthK in PM earlier, and he said that Judas Priest and Cradle of Filth also have a lot of votes.


Unless he's personally counting everything mentioned in this thread himself, he has absolutely no fucking way of knowing who is winning in whichever metric, lmao.

In terms of the overall winningest artist/vote split victim: My prediction ahead of time would've probably been Darkthrone, simply because we did the black metal poll already and they had three albums in the top ten (plus one just outside the top 20), all of which were 90s records. They obviously dominated that poll in that respect (even though none of them took the top spot) but I think spread out across a whole decade and contending with every other genre, they probably wouldn't be quite so dominant and would instead have a surprisingly mediocre showing as a result. I won't say whether or not that's come to pass, but I will say that basically every band* that had a stellar decade across the board has no single album performing better than a band that had one stunner and nothing else of worth. That's not a spoiler really, it's just kinda how math would predict it anyway, but it's always interesting to see which album is TRULY remembered as the best of the best when it comes to a band like that.

* There is one exception of a band with multiple releases that are all crushing it, but the jury is out on whether or not it's sustainable since I'm still pretty far behind on tallying
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
Veteran

Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 6:38 am
Posts: 2973
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:45 pm 
 

BastardHead wrote:
* There is one exception of a band with multiple releases that are all crushing it, but the jury is out on whether or not it's sustainable since I'm still pretty far behind on tallying


:hyper:
Spoiler: show
Image
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Terri23
Veteran

Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 3:53 am
Posts: 3177
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 9:22 pm 
 

Great to see the UK band Solstice getting some attention. New Dark Age is a monster of a record, and does deserve a place in the top 10. Not sure if it's getting enough attention to even be close to the top ten, but it is a bit of an underground gem. Rich Walker does have something of a reputation, but this should be about the music, not the man.
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beer_snob
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:30 am
Posts: 124
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:31 pm 
 

1. Savatage - The Wake of Magellan
2. Sodom - Tapping the Vein
3. Manilla Road - The Courts of Chaos
4. Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops
5. Motörhead - 1916
6. Atheist - Piece of Time
7. Sabbat - Karisma
8. Bathory - Hammerheart
9. Psychotic Waltz - A Social Grace
10. Deceased - Fearless Undead Machines


Other notables:

Anacrusis - Screams and Whispers
Anathema - Alternative 4
Artillery - By Inheritance
Autopsy - Mental Funeral
DarkThrone - Transilvanian Hunger
Demilich - Nespithe
Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Mekong Delta - Dances of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)
Metalucifer - Heavy Metal Drill
Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death
Nocturnal Rites - The Sacred Talisman
Opeth - Still Life
Paul Chain - Alkahest
Root - The Temple in the Underworld
Running Wild - Pile of Skulls
Saint Vitus - Die Healing
The Lord Weird Slough Feg - The Lord Weird Slough Feg
Type O Negative - October Rust
W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

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HeavenDuff
Metal freak

Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:35 pm
Posts: 5158
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:02 pm 
 

Spiral Architect wrote:
2. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
3. Kyuss- Welcome to Sky Valley
9. Death - Symbolic
10. Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky


I considered all these for my top 10, but I didn't end up voting for any of them, altough I did place another Death record in my 1st spot. I'm actually surprised with myself not including A Blaze in the Northern Sky. It easily made my top 10 black metal records list a few years back. But when I compared it to other records of the 90's, my insane love for death metal became a bit too obvious, haha!

I also really wanted to include some Kyuss, be it Blues for the Red Sun or Welcome to Sky Valley. Again, the 10 albums limit kept me from including them. With a top 20, I would have most likely ended up including both ABitNS and Blues for the Red Sun.

Sunioj_Paul wrote:
1 EMPEROR - IN THE NIGHTSIDE ECLIPSE
A masterpiece in pure atmosphere, love the production on this. My favourite album ever.

4 DEATH - HUMAN
A game changer in death metal, the perfect marriage between heavy riffing and progressiveness.

6 CARCASS - HEARTWORK
Songwriting perfection that proved that you could be melodic and catchy but still heavy as fuck.


Nice to see some more votes for Human so close to the end of the poll. It's one of my all time favorites, and like you said, it's a complete game changer for death metal.

Also glad to see some more votes for In the Nighside Eclipse. I didn't vote for it, but actually spent a good chunk of the month relistening to it. It's an amazing black metal record and highly deserving of all the praise it gets.

As for Carcass, I didn't vote for Heartwork but did consider it, and I included Necroticism. Heartwork is also such a massively important record, and still one of the greats of the groovier, more melodic side of death metal. It took me a while to warm up to that kind of sound, but Carcass really knows how to make death n' roll work.

MoonlitKnight wrote:
7. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade (1992)
It's a coin toss between this one and For Victory. Spearhead gives The IVth Crusade a slight edge.


The vote splitting between Bolt Thrower records is hurting my soul!

BastardHead wrote:
HeavenDuff wrote:
But I was talking with ThStealthK in PM earlier, and he said that Judas Priest and Cradle of Filth also have a lot of votes.


Unless he's personally counting everything mentioned in this thread himself, he has absolutely no fucking way of knowing who is winning in whichever metric, lmao.

In terms of the overall winningest artist/vote split victim: My prediction ahead of time would've probably been Darkthrone, simply because we did the black metal poll already and they had three albums in the top ten (plus one just outside the top 20), all of which were 90s records. They obviously dominated that poll in that respect (even though none of them took the top spot) but I think spread out across a whole decade and contending with every other genre, they probably wouldn't be quite so dominant and would instead have a surprisingly mediocre showing as a result. I won't say whether or not that's come to pass, but I will say that basically every band* that had a stellar decade across the board has no single album performing better than a band that had one stunner and nothing else of worth. That's not a spoiler really, it's just kinda how math would predict it anyway, but it's always interesting to see which album is TRULY remembered as the best of the best when it comes to a band like that.

* There is one exception of a band with multiple releases that are all crushing it, but the jury is out on whether or not it's sustainable since I'm still pretty far behind on tallying


It seems pretty obvious that Death is that band, haha :P

As for other predictions, they are just that, predictions. And yeah, looking at the votes we can kind of see trends even without the final numbers. I was expecting Death, Darkthrone and Bolt Thrower to all get a good amount of votes spread across their 90's catalog, but I've seen quite a few mentions of Cradle of Filth so far, and I mean, it makes sense. I'm not a big fan myself, but they released their three most appreciated records in the 90's, and they were basically the only bm band playing in that specific style at the time. I'm not expecting any of their records to break the top 10, but still, I'm curious to see how well Dusk and Her Embrace will rank.

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