5 Personal Time Piece Albums

[Reign in Acai]

We all have certain albums that can be tagged to a certain period/phase of our adult lives.

Which 5 would have the most power to wax nostalgia upon thee. 5 rocking chair albums that can evoke a tear if played in senility.

1) Metallica-AJFA 17-18 year old milk slurp without a clue or an identity. Most of my teens spent listening to garbo alt rock. Whatever the lovely djs of KROQ want to spew in my direction. Oddly enough, most of that shit holds some nostalgia weight with me today.

2) Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black, 20-21 yrs of age. Still without a clue but moving in the right direction. Gateway album along with hypocrisy that opened up all kinds of lovely morsels.

3) Agalloch-Pale Folklore (Age 23) was downtrodden without a clue, but even worse so, as I didnt have nary a kopeck. Just lost my car, was bussing through Mogadishu West for close to a year. Many a plenty experience commuting in such a fashion. Nice little does of humility. May my discman give me strength. Pale Folklore along with a few other class albums were in heavy rotation whilst trekking/bussing

4) Isis-Panopticon (Great road trip music.)Will always connect this to one particular road trip up the 101 to Portland to catch a gig. Went to a good amount of fantastic gigs in my mid 20s, this always stirs up memories of such. Age25-27 specifically

5) Eternal Champion-The Armor of Ire. If the script doesnt flip soon, this will be one of the last metal bands Ive seen. One of the few that kicked my ass and I can link to my 30s. Also fosters memories of the horse shit falling out I had with my mom.

DISCUSS, OR DONT

 

[NAD]

I'm going to keep this to albums that I purchased when they were brand new, because I think that is really important for such experiences. In no particular order...

Metallica - black album
First CD I ever bought when I was 12, first metal album that really converted me. It's a pretty awful album that I haven't listened to in 20+ years but the memories of seeing that thing spinning in a player continue to give me joy. And it opened me up to heavy metal.

Type O Negative - October Rust
Didn't like the band after borrowing Bloody Kisses on tape. Was in Sam Goody in the mall and heard something playing over the shoppe stereo. I walked up to the counter and asked "who is this band? it's amazing!" "Type O Negative man, the new album that just came out." Note: I was an extremely shy 17-year-old at the time so talking to strangers, let alone cool music store people, was very rare indeed.

Agalloch - The Mantle
I don't remember why I bought this, I think it was right when I discovered UM, or The End Records, and it took me a long time to know its power, but when it clicked, that set me on a musical journey that I still haven't recovered from. And I am thankful to these bloody heathens.

Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
I saw Dissection live and did not know who they were. The posters were indecipherable, they opened for Morbid Angel and At the Gates, and all I knew is that they were the best band that night. Whomever these longhaired maniacs that literally started a (small) riot right before ascending the tiny stage. Several months later reading a magazine in my favoUrite local music store, there was a review of the show. "DISSECTION! THAT IS THE BAND!" I ran to the D bin in the "Grindcore" section and bought this album immediately.

Danzig 4p
Best. Album. Ever. And apparently most stolen CD ever. I have yet to experience any work of art that has moved me so much as this. I already loved Danzig when this was released, but this... this was different. This was Magick.

 

[Reign in Acai]

Say what ye will about The Black Album, Wherever I May Roam is a top 10 Metallica song. Shit slays.

 

[SonOfNun]

Opeth - Deliverance (2003 - 16 years old) - I had started choosing my own music to listen to at about 14 when I got into Creed. Then I became a Nirvana fan. My best friend had gotten into a little nu-metal like Slipknot and Mudvayne. I didn't really care for those too much but I was becoming interested in harder music. We had music channels on our satellite TV and I was flipping through and heard something unlike anything I'd ever heard before. The heaviness of the guitars and the deep, growled vocals pulled me in. That song was "Master's Apprentices." I bought the CD online and brought it to school and showed my best friend who about pooped himself when he heard the double bass drumming (he was a drummer). Thus began my love for metal.

Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways (2008 - 21 years old and 2021 - 34 years old) - At this time I was going through an existential crisis and really in a place of utter despair. This album was a light in the darkness and I had a legitimate spiritual experience listening to it that helped to stir a belief in God. I also gave this album to my grandfather a year or two before he passed away because it reminded me of him and I thought he would enjoy it. After he passed my Dad got it from his truck and gave it back to me and I listened to it driving back home when we left town.

Maxwell - Black Summers' Night (2009-2010 - 22-23 years old) - I had always been an introvert and grew up in a very small town. I had started college nearby but was still living at home and my social life was about nil. When we relocated to Texas and I decided to move a few hours drive away from my family to finish college, I decided I needed to branch out. I'd been listening to a little Motown stuff which was evolving into an interest in R&B. R&B gave me some confidence to better myself for the opposite sex and I spent a lot of time in the gym, going to school events, and socializing. This album (and Joe's "Signature") came out while I was single at college and became the soundtrack to that time which, ultimately, culminated in meeting the woman that is now my wife.

Bride - Live to Die (2018 - 31 years old) - I had taken a long break from Metal where I only intermittently listened to Type O Negative or Empyrium or something. Through a lot of those times, music wasn't as regular or significant of an interest. Although I loved Metal, I felt like I couldn't listen to much because I'd become a Christian (and took it seriously) and most of what I had once listened to was blasphemous or anti-Christian. I'd only once heard of "White Metal," mockingly, during my earlier metalhead days and the only band I'd ever heard of was Stryper (whose early work has a lot of cheesy fluff). I had been listening to some Metal earlier that year and it occurred to me to look into these Christian bands and see if the music was actually any good. When I heard this Bride album, I got early Slayer vibes and I was impressed. That opened the door to Saint (a really good Heavy Metal band) and all of a sudden I was in that exhilarating world of exploration and discovery again.

Crimson Moonlight - Eternal Emperor (2018 - 31 years old) - After I started listening to Metal again, I wasn't sure if I was going to be interested in listening to Extreme Metal. I thought maybe it was something that had appealed to my younger self, but that might not appeal to me as 30 year old Dad. Bands like Crimson Moonlight, Vaakevandring, and Antestor reminded me that I enjoy the music and not because of any kind of youthful aggression. My tastes are very similar to what they were 15 years ago except more expansive.

 

[J.]

Metallica - black album
First CD I ever bought when I was 12, first metal album that really converted me. It's a pretty awful album that I haven't listened to in 20+ years but the memories of seeing that thing spinning in a player continue to give me joy. And it opened me up to heavy metal.

Mine too! Bought it at Target....with my parents! I guess I was about 14. Best song on the album is Of Wolf and Man. Never understood why it wasnt a single.

First cassette: Van Halen - 1984

Jump motherfuckers

 

[NAD]

Haha! I bought my copy at Target as well. They had a pretty decent music section for some years there.

First cassette I ever bought was at Target. Twisted Sister - Come Out and Play when I was 6 years old.

Also I still think My Friend of Misery and Through the Never remain pretty rockin' good tunes.