Best Guitar Tone on an album

[Allfader]

13 is a fairly solid record. I think Ozzy's lyrics are fine the way they are. Its still sinister, reminding me of the B horror type aesthetic doom metal has. Iommi's riffs stand above the rest of the sound in the album and I adore that. Too bad Rick Rubin was the one to mix the damn album, the rest of it just kinda bleeds together.

I think the album was a failure from the very beginning. Rubin himself explained that they went to write songs with the mentality of an album that sounded like the follow up to their debut. Self plagiarism is way too obvious, as they took well known songs as templates.

They should have recorded drums with a Sabbath guy, if Ward wasn't able to do it, they should have brought Appice in. Ozzy's vocals are way too edited that sometimes is also too obvious.

In the other hand, the Heaven & Hell album they did with Dio was a far more sincere endeavor. The quality is also superior in songwriting, performances and production.

Continuing with the thread, this album sounds massive too. Great job on production.



And for heavy metal, I totally LOVE the sound of this album. The guitars have that "madmax" feel that fits very well the songs (It's also the strongest Maiden album IMO).



John Sykes' tone on this one is fantastic. Whitesnake never sounded this heavy (This album is metal as fuck, fight me if you want)

 

[Sophii]

Whether you decide this band is metal or not is up to you, but they are certainly metal to me.

All of Uroboros' guitar tone is exceptionally amazing. Die and Kaoru compliment each other perfectly in the riff department

 

[Bruticus]

Continuing with the thread, this album sounds massive too. Great job on production.

Indeed, but I find there are better examples on that record:


the heavy verse that starts at 0:27. Fohhhhhhhhhhhhqqqqqq yeah bitchhhhhh.
To think it came out in 1993 is pretty insane.
Also 5150 amp, like Burn My Eyes.

 

[Bruticus]

not mentioned yet, but all the CC tones starting mid 2000's just simply give a new definition to the word "massive". There's massive, and then there's CC massive.

(one of the lesser known KILLER tracks)


that riff at 0:26. ... also 1:56.

Fuck man, no band in the genre made death metal this fun to listen to. That album is a blast. I think 'Kill' is when the gtrs started sounding like they had more distortion juice than they needed, in a good way, it feels like there's an abundance, just heaps of available dynamic gain to be used. Don't know if any other album/band feels quite that way.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

I think the album was a failure from the very beginning. Rubin himself explained that they went to write songs with the mentality of an album that sounded like the follow up to their debut. Self plagiarism is way too obvious, as they took well known songs as templates.

I'll agree that the fist half of the album is a pretty blatant case of Sabbath covering Sabbath. And it's weird they decided to take that route because The Devil You Know was an album unique unto itself. At no point during that album does it sound like they're referencing Mob Rules or Dehumanizer. Right around "Age of Reason" I'd say 13 starts to have an identity of its own. "Damaged Soul", while obviously going for the blues sound of the first album, does it in a fresh way. "Dear Father" is exceptional and that uptempo mid-section is a classic Sabbath groove.

As for the actual guitar tone, it's fine I guess. One of the few times an Iommi tone hasn't jumped out and grabbed me from the first song. The Devil You Know was rightly mentioned in this thread some posts back. "Follow the Tears" is monstrous.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I know we're mainly talking guitar tone here, but this is basically bass perfection.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

And this is basically perfect in every way. Beautiful pushed tube breakup on the guitars and the P bass is smooth but cutting.

 

[CiG]

I'm a sucker for the classic 90's stoner rock guitar tones, especially Fu Manchu.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Yeah. They've got great tone. Homme's guitar tone on "Songs for the Deaf" is also damn near perfect.

 

[Sophii]

Cantrell knows how to guitar tone very well. Also, Mike Starrs bass presence is NASTY

 

[CiG]

Yeah. They've got great tone. Homme's guitar tone on "Songs for the Deaf" is also damn near perfect.

Have to mention Vitus too, Chandler's guitar tone rules.

 

[Bruticus]

I know we're mainly talking guitar tone here, but this is basically bass perfection.

sounds good, very present, but it's not actually terribly difficult to achieve, especially in the current age. Those gtr tones though take fkng illuminati type knowledge to manage. It's still fkng amazing to me Master of Puppets came out in 1986. It sounds fine if you jam it today, THIRTY years + later. Imagine you were some guitarist teen at the time and you heard that, right in the mid-80's.

 

[Bruticus]

The tone on Obsolete was pretty remarkable in that it's one of the first (THE first ?) guitar tone to sound a bit "digital". I can't think of a mid/late 90's band that sounded that digital, at least without sounding completely electronic and fake. There were processed guitar sounds ofc, NIN and co. but this is from an actual amp (Marshall).
If you compare Dino's sound on that record to other similar acts of the time, SYL or such, the gtr tone is a lot more focused. It sounds like all of the power comes through one channel at once, it doesn't have that spread out organic tone of other bands, and yet again it doesn't sound thin or electronic, it surely features among the heaviest gtr sounds of that year. Impressive how dynamic and how cleanly it cuts through the mix as well when you consider how low it is. 7 strings weren't mainstream yet, and additionally Dino down tuned as well.

 

[Allfader]

sounds good, very present, but it's not actually terribly difficult to achieve, especially in the current age. Those gtr tones though take fkng illuminati type knowledge to manage. It's still fkng amazing to me Master of Puppets came out in 1986. It sounds fine if you jam it today, THIRTY years + later. Imagine you were some guitarist teen at the time and you heard that, right in the mid-80's.

It was probably the best production on metal at the time. I remember listening MoP back in the day and everyone was blown away. AJFA produced similar results.

 

[no country for old wainds]

will always be my favourite.

 

[no country for old wainds]

tried to avoid ones that are great in a traditionally heavy/meaty way.

 

[Bruticus]

It was probably the best production on metal at the time. I remember listening MoP back in the day and everyone was blown away. AJFA produced similar results.

wasn't around jamming on my gtr at the time to really 'know' know, but if you listen to any album in the vicinity of MoP, any of the Bay area bands say, the distortion was much much wider, reminiscent of the older amp sounds of the late 70's early 80's, the gtr sound had that raw amp width that got "sorted" in the 90's by much more clinical production technology. All of a sudden metal sounded clinical and focused. That raw width was gone. MoP has that tightness in gtr tone, I'm no connoisseur of gtr tones or anything but it obviously sounds many years ahead of its time. An example of that is the pre-chorus to the title track ("your life burns faster, obey your master") the lead-riff is an ambitious enterprise when there's a vocal melody on top, and they nail it, every instrument is distinct and perfectly audible thanks to that tightness. A band like Death Angel would've botched it mixing wise, it would've sounded much less accurate and efficient.

If you listen to, say, even Cacophony's Speed Metal Symphony, supposedly a genre landmark, full of articulated guitar leads and precise composition, the distortion has that raw wide sound. And it's 1987. It's like metal, that sounds like hard rock.

 

[Bruticus]

will always be my favourite.

nice. I like the tone. Good music too. Drums sound weird though, esp the snare. I thought maybe they intentionally sought that sound with programmed drums, but I see they have a drummer.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

The floor tom on Watching from a Distance is thunderous.

 

[Bruticus]

The floor tom on Watching from a Distance is thunderous.

a "thunderous" sounding floor tom eh ? The kicks, they wouldn't be scrumtrulescent would they ?

"Warning sounds as intriguingly blasphemous as ever on this record. The guitars are gullible and grotesque, the cymbals give an impression of distant smokiness not far from that of a lebanese hummus serving, the floor toms thunderous and geometrical, while the vocals are somewhat reminiscent of a breakfast meal gone wrong yet where there's a redeeming effervescent aftertaste that comes crashing down immediately after delivery. Production has a back oak flavor, strong hints of vanilla, and twists of elegant strawberry fragrance. The whole dished out in a compact 7-track format. A delight for mammals and amphibians alike".

Jason Newsted - The New York Cake League