Albums Formerly Kicking your Ass

[Eligos]

Recently I've been digging through my post history and my iTunes library and revisiting the bands I enjoyed before I went off to college and my musical palette expanded.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss whether the album(s) you post can still kick your ass, whether your refined taste has brought new ass kicking to light, and the overall impressions of those LP's of yesteryear that would otherwise just sit in Mom's basement and collect dust.



Secrets of the Moon - Antithesis

Secrets of the Moon hopped in and out of the Occult Black Metal bucket when Watain, Ofermod, and DsO were at the forefront of the movement. I can understand why this album kicked my ass back in the day - it's full of odd time signatures and fierce, aggressive guitar tone, coupled with a quality of production that was uncommon in black metal at the time. In retrospect, though, it sounds like the same riff played in different time signatures over simple drum beats.

EDIT: It's been so long since I've listened to this that I'd forgotten that the album really doesn't take off until the final third of its material. Starting at "Seraphim is Dead", I was so into it that it took my whole being not to put my foot up on my desk and start air guitaring whilst making the Abbath frown.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Just listened to this one a couple weeks ago...

When Master of Puppets and Rust in Peace completely owned my listening habits in late elementary/early middle school, I remember later hearing that there was in fact this mystical "Big Four" that was considered on par with the other two, and quickly listened to Among the Living and Reign in Blood with the expectations of more technically-minded and melodic metal. After being devastated not only there but also by all the Overkill, Flotsam & Jetsam, Sepultura, and nearly everything else I tried, I was confident that thrash metal was a giant bag of shit outside of the two biggest. Then, when I was still paranoid about piracy, I heard about this Heathen band that gave their albums out for free and decided to go beyond what my dad had in his CD collection. Once past the Jim Jones intro of Victimized I immediately found what I had always looked for and fell in love quite hard, which spurred my interest in underground metal in general.

Many listens since then I've realized that it doesn't do much that Metallica didn't already, that some of the songs are pretty wimpy, and that it's also hella long, but I still really enjoy parts of it. There's still some good riffing and excellent lead guitar, but it's merely enjoyable for me on a whole now. I still get mild nostalgic chills when I look at the cover art and think about all the other thrash it made me curious about, though.

 

[Eligos]

That album cover is wicked awesome

I don't normally suckle the tit of the harsh goddess thrash metal, but I shall make an exception for this one.

 

[Vamos]

Hell, basically anything by Opeth these days (except Heritage which was a complete disaster that I never liked). Was a fan until about a little more than a year ago and then interest in them started to drop gradually and I found myself less inclined to listen to them over time until now that it has been months since I last played a song by them.

Having listened to and loved My Arms and Still Life, Blackwater Park was the first Opeth album I actually bought back in 2001 and it quickly became my favorite by the band. Something that was to happen with Tool's Lateralus which I picked up the same day as Blackwater Park. The difference being that Lateralus is an album I still enjoy and is my favorite from Tool.

The songs I used to enjoy from Blackwater Park (and Opeth in general), the blending of the hard and mellow/acoustic parts which I found so amazing and innovative at the time and which I was to continue enjoying for years to come; I now find forced and contrived and the songwriting poor. While years ago I would play this album from start to finish (and the rest of Opeth as well) nearly every day, nowadays I can hardly find the interest to listen to the band, let alone sit through an entire album by them.

Opeth still hold a special place for me tho, in that they were a band that lead me to appreciate some new and different music. But these days there are a plethora of other bands I'd rather listen to than them.