The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #3
3. Orphaned Land – Mabool (2004)
Fuck Axl Rose. This was the album with the ridiculous production time that was worth waiting for.
Surf's up, man
Eight years. Eight years of hell during the second intifada that completely grounded Orphaned Land. But during those eight years the members of the band worked together to create an album so grandiose in ambition that it could only have been created from the harsh circumstances that it was forged in. By the time that the band was able to record Mabool, they had a full sixty-eight minutes of music with the need for additional instruments not typical of the metal genre, a session female vocalist and an entire vocal choir. No matter how many shekels that may have cost the band members, the result was worth it. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #10
10. Arch Enemy – Rise of the Tyrant (2007)
A comeback that demolished all that came before
It sees you...
Rise of the Tyrant was exactly what Arch Enemy needed to boost their career after the front-loaded Anthems of Rebellion and the good but not great follow-up Doomsday Machine. Anyone who thought that the band had run out of steam after Wages of Sin was wrong, dead wrong. Rise of the Tyrant is simply the best melodeath album of the decade and the best of Arch Enemy’s career. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #13
13. Light This City – Facing the Thousand (2006)
No, they weren’t -core. Now shut the fuck up.
Remember how in Metal Gear Solid 3, you could kill a guard, then eat the vulture that was feeding on him?
1991, the year when Metallica’s black album killed off glam and brought the extreme metal underground which may have been mostly a good thing, except for the fact that it took away something the metal scene… fun. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #15
15. Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal (2005)
They should win a fucking medal for this
To quote the demoman from Team Fortress 2, "KABOOM!"
Bolt Thrower have always stuck to their guns. Preferring the path of refinement to any sort of change ever since their 1991 release War Master, Bolt Thrower have always kept their Pantera meets Morbid Angel style of metal true to the core without ever getting stale. As with any groove-death hybrid, Bolt Thrower are going to be judged by the quality of their riffs and in that respect, Those Once Loyal slays like a fucking Apache helicopter. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #21
21. Landmine Marathon – Wounded (2006)
Tomorrorw’s Metal, Today!
Tis But a Flesh Wound!
Landmine Marathon are going to dominate the next decade. The best way to describe them is as a cross between Vader and Converge but even that is a very poor comparison. Yeah, it’s deathrash meets grindy metalcore but it’s so incredibly innovative and original that this band may very well be the American Children of Bodom or Mnemic. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #22
22. Opeth – Blackwater Park (2001)
This review is looking kind of Bleak and I mean that in a good way
Don't Sink Into the Swamp, Artax!
Your Arms, My Hearse established Opeth’s name amongst the underground, Still Life game them their breakthrough and then Blackwater Park made Opeth into legends. Opeth aren’t a band that you find yourself listening to often for various reasons but perhaps that’s for the best since it ensures that each and every time that you listen to an Opeth album you’ll always have a strong emotional reaction to the music that simply won’t dull with time. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #27
27. Dark Tranquillity – Damage Done (2002)
Format A: For Awesome
Meanwhile, on the surface below Cloud City...
Dark Tranquillity have never released a bad album so does it surprise anyone that three out of their four full lengths released in this decade have made the list? Unlike In Flames and Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity stayed true to the ideals of early melodic death metal while never making the same album twice. Their commitment to their ideals has made them perhaps the definitive melodeath band. Read more »
10 Questions with Carnal Rapture
Carnal Rapture (via MySpace)
Well, I’ve been doing these interviews for a little while now; I’ve had my share of good and bad ones. This one I just finished with Emilio from Carnal Rapture? There’s a good chance it may be the best interview I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on. You want authoritative? This guy gives it to you. You want outspoken and opinionated? He gives you that too. Regardless of whether you like Carnal Rapture, you don’t like Carnal Rapture, or you don’t even know who the hell this band is, this is one of the few Spine Language posts that is actually worth reading. Seriously.
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #33
33. Behemoth – Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond) (2002)
The Darkest and Most Evil Album Ever Devised
It's a goat, see?
It’s apparent from Behemoth’s lyrics that unlike most occult-obsessed bands, Behemoth actually know what they’re talking about. Whereas most bands who cover similar ground lyrically chose to spout random Satanic drivel about performing rituals in the forest, Behemoth is led by a frontman who has a degree in theology who actually knows a thing or two about magick and is a completely non-ironic pagan and magician. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #34
34. The Berzerker – Dissimulate (2002)
Why the fuck didn’t somebody think of this earlier?
Something tells me that the Green Ranger isn't in here.
Let’s face it, death metal and speedcore techno are two of the most noisy and extreme things to happen to music (along with noise and hardcore) so it was only a matter of time before somebody combined them together. The most amazing part of this album isn’t so much the fact that somebody dared to combine two of the greatest* genres of music of all time, but the fact that it took until the year 2000 to do it. Read more »
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AUTHORS
Chris Catharsis
dasher10