Getting to Know You

[Crimson Velvet]

Age: 29. Born and raised in Oslo, Norway. Lived in Tønsberg for a while, during my education.

Metallica - No Life 'till Leather (1986)

An album presented to me by my uncle, and definately the most important album in my nearly twenty years of listening to metal. I can't even begin to say how many doors this opened for me. I discovered only weeks ago that it's scratched beyond repair, though...

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

If I remember correctly, this is the album that got me into Maiden. Still a favorite that I give a spin on a regular basis. Not the first Maiden album I bought, but I don't think they ever were a clear favorite before I got this one.

Death - Leprosy (1990)

My first taste of death metal. I loved the raw and savage nature of it, and it gave a satisfaction that only Slayer had managed earlier. Inspired me to seek out more extreme metal.

Bathory - Blood Fire Death (1990)

The first black metal album I heard, although it's brilliance didn't hit 'till later in life, after I had truly discovered the beauty of black metal.

Immortal - Pure Holocaust (1993)

Quite possibly the album that truly got me into black metal. I had heard several demos and EPs by the other titans, such as Darkthrone, Burzum, Mayhem, Emperor, Enslaved, and by Immortal themselves, and I had even been to several concerts, but the cold and stark beauty of this album was what truly inspired me to explore this genre more thoroughly.

At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours (1992)

I think this is the first melodeath album I heard and liked, although I'm not quite sure. Anyways, it was this album that made me open to death metal beyond Death.

Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery (1995)

Definately the album that got me into that whole swedish death metal thing. After hearing this, I frantically started searching out the entire At the Gates catalogue and In Flames, Eucharist, and even Opeth a little bit later.



Well, I think that just about covers it... I'm probably leaving something out, but this definately covers most of it. Sort of odd, though. I haven't heard a single truly "influental" album since '95.

EDIT: All the "()"s marks when I first heard the different albums.

 

[Dev]

Bio : 19 (20 on the 29th of April) , born in Cannes and (was ) moved to Paris' Suburbs more precisely in Fonteany-sous-bois...

The Offspring - Americana : The first album I dig from the beggining to the end , at least at the time ; it definitely brought me into the Rock field , I met a guy who was quite fond of Offpsring too and it lead me to :

Megadeth - Cryptic Writings : First Metal (well..) album I bought , I listened to it non stop for several months . Tracks like The Disintegrators and Vortex I'll remember forever although the album isn't part of my collection anymore

Megadeth - Rust In Peace : For obvious reasons

Devin Townsend - Terria : Well it's no question I am "dev" and Devin on most of the forums I post on.Townsend changed my life forever , never before I heard such emotions and such an amazing vocal trademark.I checked Infinity and thus everything was possible ...I will always follow his career though I'm not fond of SYL and DTB very much ."Bastard" from Ocean Machine is still in my top 10 songs of all time.

Opeth - Blackwater Park : Introduction to real Death vocals and my first extreme metal album. I remember the time when I got albums like these , and thought they were the best thing that could exsit.I still enjoy Opeth very much right now.

Emperor - Anthems to The Welkin At Dusk : My first amazingly rewarding album , the one kind you have to listen at least ten times before getting the bulk of it.Previously checked Dimmu Borgir without great/during enthusiasm (the substance vanished quite fast)

Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors : See Opeth , same causes same effects

Converge - Jane Doe : INTENSE.Sometimes I wish I could listen to the album on volume max. but it's nearly impossible

Dissection - SOTLB : it hasn't changed since I discovered it : perhaps the greatest black/death (dark wtf..) release.Masterful.Lucky I am for having listened to it quickly after getting into Black Metal.

Dredg - El Cielo : an album which , I had discovered on my own (well at this time it was pretty rare) and who changed the way I perceived simple pop/rock , it could be actually GOOD! Lead to Oceansize and the rediscovery of Tool

Isis - Oceanic : Well this is my introduction to post- music and to a newer sense of tension through it . The gateway to a numerous amount of wonderful discoveries.

 

[Krilons Resa]

4) Psychotic Waltz - Bleeding
I discovered a whole new way of appreciating music

10/10 ... BUY OR DIE!!!

 

[lizard]

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the areas of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and god like trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am as expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a ghow and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.

I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

I have played Hamlet, at Stratford on Avon.
...........................................................

Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye. Too mind boggling to really describe. my introduction to post-rock. led me to GSYBE, Explosions in the Sky, and hopefully soon, I'll hear me some Mogwai.

Grateful Dead - Live. Complete free improvisation and the amazing Dark Star. The Dead were my thing for five or six heavy duty years and lots of amazing partying.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Mafia Stole My Guitar. I found this at the Crimson Galleria in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it's wierd, wacky, and endlessly listenable.

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Exodus. Movement of Jah People, oh yeah!

there is not really one "metal" album which changed the course of my life.

 

[snow2fall]

For me it was more single songs that were influential, rather than whole albums. It all started at about age 14 when I discovered Pink Floyd's "The Wall" among my dad's records. I could immediately relate to the lyrics of "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 3" back then. Took me another four or five years before I stumbled across Paradise Lost and a friend from Northern Ireland introduced me to Anathema... That was the point I started exploring the world of darker, heavier music. My metalhead buddies have provided me with heaps of CD-Rs since then.

Here are some songs that were or still are important to me...

Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Part 3
I don't need no arms around me
I don't need no drugs to calm me
I have seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I'll need anything at all

Paradise Lost - Our Saviour
Pray.. to... rest... your conscience - for the sins you have done...
Where is your god now as you're dying alone
Brutal wounds cut deep
No miracles to heal
Watch your life now fade
He's not there to help you die...

Pearl Jam – Black
How quick the sun can drop away
And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass
Of what was everything...

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound Of Silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence...

Anathema - Inner Silence
When the silence beckons
And the day draws to a close
When the light of your life sighs
And love dies in your eyes
Only then will I realize
What you mean to me.

Therapy? – Stop It You’re Killing Me
The world is fucked and so am I maybe it's the other way round I can't seem to decide...
Don't know what's worse the loss of death or the gain of birth
I try to understand I can't accept just what I am
Idiots authority promising equality so where is the land of the free?
Stop it you're killing me...

Bad Religion - Better Off Dead
I'm sorry about the world,
how could I know you'd take it so bad?,
and I'll never make the same mistake,
the next time I create the universe
I'll make sure you participate
But until then... better off dead...
The next time I create the universe
I'll make sure we communicate
...just in case

Faith No More - Last Cup Of Sorrow
This is getting old and so are you.
Everything you know and never knew.
Will run through your fingers just like sand.
Enjoy it while you can.

Opeth - To Bid You Farewell
Devotion eludes
And in sadness I lumber
In my own ashes I am standing without a soul...

Morgion - Nightfall Infernal
I dream the dreams of redemption,
a reflection of what I am,
and what I could have been...

Elend - Worn Out With Dreams
If my voice is unsteady
I'm just worn out with dreams
Under your pale, sardonic sky
I am watching myself crawl
Down to me
Down with me
Onward a new path


That's it for today. :Spin:

 

[Nate The Great]

Damn! You're one depressing person.

Anathema's "Inner Silence" makes me cry every time, though.

 

[Ayeka]

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound Of Silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence...

 

[snow2fall]

Haha, I put the sad stuff a bit aside recently and replaced it by punk, now that spring's in the air.
"Inner Silence" was one of the first Anathema songs I ever heard, I fell in love with Anathema's music right away. As favourite Anathema album I'd pick "The Silent Enigma" though, closely followed by "Pentecost III" and "Eternity".

Damn! You're one depressing person.

Anathema's "Inner Silence" makes me cry every time, though.

 

[snow2fall]

*hands tissue*

 

[NAD]

"This is getting old and so are you."

Nobody can insult quite like Patton.

 

[Caelum Adustum]

311 - Music/Grassroots/311
Oi, fuck you. I was in 3rd (or 2nd) grade and my cousin was the only person I knew that listened to "good" music. Though I'm not fond of them now at all, they got me into music.

Metallica - Ride the Lightning/Meshuggah - Destroy, Erase, Improve
"Creeping Death" was probably the first metal song I ever heard (and liked). Meshuggah was the first metal band I was ever fully into.

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Got me into death and extreme metal.

Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Got me into "black" metal.

Burzum
Introduced me to minimalist music.

Empyrium - Weiland
Got me into acoustic music.

Dmitri Shostakovich/Franz Schubert/(insert Beethoven here but like most people I've known him since a very young age, but didn't actually listen to him until later in life)
Showed me that "classical" music is more than Bach and Mozart.

Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3/Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa
Introduced me to minimalist "classical" music.

Alfred Schnittke/Arvo Pärt/Górecki
Introduced me to good choral music. (And Schnittke also led me to much more odd, but excellent, modern composers)

Nicolò Paganini
Changed the face of virtuosity.

You may also blame some of these composers for my declining interest in metal (listening mostly, as I still enjoy playing/recording stuff).

 

[snow2fall]

Empyrium - Weiland

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

Cool idea Nate. I'll bite.

(not in order)

AC/DC - Back In Black (pretty much the first album I ever owned, not coincidentally it was a hard rock one. Got this on cassette when I was 7, my parents bought it for me, so this is all their fault)

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (my friend Aaron and I used to honestly listen to this non-fucking-stop when we were about 10 years old; I mean, I saw the video for Run to the Hills and that was all she wrote. It did take 15+ years for me to truly appreciate the genius of this record)

Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance (the blame for this one is entirely on "Another Thing Comin," back when MTV would play those videos in the middle of the day

; plus Priest were just so damned metal)

Def Leppard - Pyromania (Another all-time favorite of mine, I must have called in to vote for "Rock of Ages" and "Pyromania" for the video countdown several hundred times to the chagrin of my parents)

Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil (were they metal? who the fuck cares. In 6th grade, I wanted to be Nikki Sixx. This album not only rules, but their fuck you attitude was crucial to my growing up)

Metallica - Ride The Lightning (the first thrash album I ever heard, a friend's older brother left it laying around one day and we checked it out: that was pretty much all she wrote. I wore out at least 3 cassettes)

Anthrax - Among The Living (fuck if this wasn't my favorite album of 1987. I think part of it was the homage they paid to cool shit like Stephen King books and Judge Dredd - I knew that Scott Ian and the gang were deep-down, geeks like me - and part was obviously how well they repped NYC/East Coast when it came to bone-crushingly heavy (and catchy) thrash metal)

In Flames - Clayman (I know, strange band to have on here given the other choices, but when I heard this in 2000, it opened my ears to a whole new world that I had missed in the mid/late '90s and it also got me used to extreme vocals, which obviously led to bigger & better & more varied tastes)

Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. I (this was the album that made me walk around high school thinking I was so fucking cool; I mean, yeah, everyone knew Iron Maiden & Judas Priest, but no one knew Helloween. I was absolutely in love with the birth of European power/speed metal, and still am)

Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (my favorite album of all time, nothing more needs be said)

 

[Dead_Lioness]

greetings mortals, my name is Karen, I'm 25 years old, yes, I am a female.
I love this forum by the way.... I read it regularly

Thats such a tough question,, I love too many albums,
but I like this thread... It teaches you so much about people!
Great reading all of your choices!
some nice ones out there!

OK, I'll try to narrow it down to 10 only...



not in a specific order:


Slayer - Reign In Blood
I was 12 years old when I bought this album for the first time, in 1991, and I just remember
How I felt like I'm the coolest girl in the universe for liking this "HEAVY" music...
discovering the "coolest cd in the plannet" is something no one can take from me... aye, that was reign In Blood


Anathema - Alternative 4/ Judgment
sorry, I can not, and will not chose between those two master pieces of Anathema
I absolutely 100% love every note on those albums



At The gates - red in the sky in ours
I agree with the guy above me who said that this album is the first melodeth album I've heard (and back then I was DEEP into the death scene, which I'm still)
and liked actually, this album has opened my mind towards more melodeath back then...
plus, my friends and me, used to fool this nerd from our school, that the crazy guy who lived up the street is the violinist from that album hehehe fun times....
fun times...


Venom - Black Metal
what a classic album. I hate calling Venom "a black metal band" dont get me wrong,
for me they are "Evil Thrash"
however, this album was a huge influence on extreme metal, and specifically black metal, I absolutely love it!



Carcass – Heartwork
AMAZING ALBUM NO WORDS NEEDED



Tori Amos - Crucify
12 years ago, I started my romance with this amazing female singer. she captured me completely!
I'm a huge huge fan ever since... I own probably around 50 albums of her, including every single and b-side and vinyl that ever came out...
love every song she released, and know them all by heard...
LOVE her!!!!!!



Sadus – A Vision Of Misery
This album made me fall in love with the bass work of D’Giorgio. This album and this band made me go take bass lessons, I’m serious, I love Sadus with all my heart, one of the best bay area Thrash bands EVER!


Possessed- Seven Churches
For me, it’s a timeless album, one of the best albums out there, that started (among others) the death metal scene, gotta love it.


Immortal - At The Heart of Winter
Immortal fucking owns us all, and there is nothing no one can do about it.
A brilliant band, I wish they’d release another album….
I love all of their CDs, but this one is my choice for a fantastic Black metal, that back then just made me jump out of my boots…


Nevermore – Dreaming neon Black
who can come out and give me another band that sounds like nevermore, that is talented as nevermore, that writes albums like nevermore, and that have their unique style, please stand up!
Oh wait, I see no one is standing up.. ok then, you’re all right, they are one of a kind, and they’ll get my vote any day.



Iron Maiden- 7th son…
Anything I’ll say will make any difference.. we all love this album, we all appreciate it
Nuff said. One of my all time fav albums.

 

[lurch70]

Slayer - Reign In Blood
I was 12 years old when I bought this album for the first time, in 1991, and I just remember
How I felt like I'm the coolest girl in the universe for liking this "HEAVY" music...
discovering the "coolest cd in the plannet" is something no one can take from me... aye, that was reign In Blood

will you marry me?
do you have any ploughing experience?

 

[Black Winter Day]

Bryan Adams - "Cuts Like a Knife"
Richard Marx - "My Own Best Enemy"
Johnny Hates Jazz - "Turn Back the Clock"
Information Society - s/t
Moby - "Play"
New Radicals - "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"
Spirit - "12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus"
Michelle Branch - "The Spirit Room"
Jewel - "Pieces of You"
Shawn Colvin - "A Few Small Repairs"

 

[Crimson Velvet]

Immortal - At The Heart of Winter
Immortal fucking owns us all, and there is nothing no one can do about it.
A brilliant band, I wish they’d release another album….
I love all of their CDs, but this one is my choice for a fantastic Black metal, that back then just made me jump out of my boots…

Take notes, all you fuckers! This is a pearl of wisdom!

 

[Ellestin]

Name: Bertrand
Description: French peasant-bastard, roving planet Earth for fresh food and toxic music since the late 70's.
Whereabouts: Cologne (Germany), quite ugly and horrendously unclean swamp of cement rags with low cultural values close to the Dutch border.
Milestones: I'll narrow it down to four, 'cause I can't say there have been that many life-changing albums for me...

Therion - Theli
where the gates of heavy metal opened for the first time
In The Woods... - Omnio
where I ceased being a dumb Therion-asshole and started digging actual music
Isis - Oceanic
though I hold - and will for a long time hold - "Panopticon" for the best album in the world, "Oceanic" has been a decisive occurence for me when it comes to liking emotional hardcore in a broad sense. Other great listening experiences followed that I would have probably missed miserably hadn't "Oceanic" unlocked my brain.
Elend - Winds Devouring Men
This album was such a shock...

 

[dill_the_devil]

BIO : Currently 21 years old. Starting raiding my dad's vinyl collection at around age 8. Been playing guitar since I was around 17, started picking up bass this year.

Top 10 albums :

1) Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

The first one of my dad's vinyls I managed to fumble into the record player by myself - I remember initially being weirded out by the cover artwork, then being blown away by the album itself. I read through the lyrics as the album progressed, jumping out of my skin when the needle started skipping at the end of 'The Evil That Men Do' (making Bruce go 'wah-AAAH!' about fifty times before I stopped it happening anymore), and practically ruining the album with many, many repeated plays.

2) Faith No More - King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime

This was the first 'modern' album I'd heard at the time, my listening before now being restricted to what was in my dad's record collection (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Pirates, Judas Priest, etc.). I'd borrowed it from my local library, after having discovered they did a CD section, took it home, and was blown away by the diversity of the music on the album and the utterly strange things Patton did with his voice on 'Cuckoo For Caca'. I rented that album about ten more times from the library before caving in and buying it.

3) Metallica - Load
Yeah, yeah, I know, not a popular choice - but this was, amazingly enough, the first Metallica album I ever heard. (Sheltered childhood, don't you know). So suffice it to say, 'The House Jack Built' practically made me shit bricks - it sounded evil! 'The Outlaw Torn' is still one of my favourite tracks to this day as well.

4) Nasum - Human 2.0
Grind had been established for a while as one of my preferred styles of music, but when this album came along, it even usurped 'Scum' as my preferred grindcore platter. Face-strippingly intense and chock-full of stunning riffage.

5) Opeth - Blackwater Park
The first Opeth album I bought, and the album that introduced me to my favourite band. Say what you like about them and their apparent decline since Morningrise, the first time I heard 'The Drapery Falls' I was absolutely mesmerised - the mix of heaviness, melody and poetic lyricism had me hooked.

6) Godflesh - 'Hymns'
Yet another band I was a hideous latecomer to, this was the first Godflesh release I had heard (I'd had a few mp3s knocking around, though). I was amazed by the sheer racket that three people could make, as well as the hypnotic effect that the riffs had through skillful use of mantra-like repetetive structures.

7) Hatebreed - Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire
Single-handedly turned me on to hardcore/metalcore. I remember Terrorizer describing the band as playing 'music to play to your pit-bull terrier' - sheer testosterone-core, bruising riffage and palpable anger. I was a pissed-off guy back then, so this connected with me.

8) Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
This is an album that's had more spins than practically any other in my collection - sure, there are a few filler tracks, but on a double-disc release there are practically bound to be. 'The Day The World Went Away' is wall-of-noise atmospherics at their best to my mind, and the instrumental tracks 'Complication' and 'The Mark Has Been Made' are industria electro-rock headfuck classics.

9)My Dying Bride - Turn Loose The Swans
The first time I heard this was the first time I realised that heaviness could be utilised to convey an atmosphere of misery and sorrow, as well as of fury and nihilism.

10) The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
I've wanted to break my own fingers many times over listening to this album, just so I'll have a viable excuse for never, ever being able to play like this.

 

[lizard]

I take back what I said about metal albums:

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
as at about ten I had been aware of only pop music, I discovered this in a cousin's collection....what was not to like for a boy? gory cover, aggressive music, endlessly listenable, and a drummer with the same last name as mine!