GMD Votes: Top 10 Traditional/Doom albums

[rms]

I can't remember what it's like to not enjoy great music

 

[no country for old wainds]

if you can't see the magic in a song like necropolis or the title track you probs don't understand heavy metal tbh. maybe try dubstep or chillwave

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Title track is one of the worst on the album. Maybe if it was three minutes long like Necropolis it would be listenable, but the repetition there (and in most of the songs) is ridiculous. That album is only halfway out the barroom-rock-band door anyways, not even close to the archetype of USPM that many people credit it as.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

if you can't see the magic in a song like necropolis or the title track you probs don't understand heavy metal tbh. maybe try dubstep or chillwave

We'd be bros in real life.

 

[Rumpole]

1. Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
2. Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath
3. Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
4. Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
5. Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
6. Trouble - Psalm 9
7. Pagan Altar - Volume 1
8. Satan - Court in the Act
9. Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
10. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

 

[The Ozzman]

I can't remember what it's like to not enjoy great music

So, you haven't listened to any albums in the list then? Because I enjoyed at least 60% of the list. Stop being a fucking jackass.

 

[rms]

Says the guy who enjoys to talk shit on Manilla Road every time it's brought up. Seriously, get over yourself

 

[crimsonfloyd]

These people ranking Paranoid and Master of Reality 9 and 10 should be banned.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

1. Judas Priest- Sad Wings of Destiny
2. Black Sabbath- Paranoid
3. Manilla Road- Crystal Logic
4. Black Sabbath- Master of Reality
5. Fates Warning- Awken the Guardian
6. Pagan Altar- Volume 1
7. Candlemass- Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
8. Mercyful Fate- Don't Break the Oath
9. Trouble- Psalm 9
10. Satan- Court in the Act

I can see the appeal of Psalm 9 more after a few more listens, but I still don't think it's anything great.

 

[The Ozzman]

Says the guy who enjoys to talk shit on Manilla Road every time it's brought up. Seriously, get over yourself

So, talking shit about metalcore and Pantera is okay when it's brought up, but not bands whose material you hold sacrosanct?

I have reiterated over a dozen times that I do not hate Manilla Road. A simple search will yield results for this. I just do not find why they are so highly regarded when nothing I find of their material deserves to be in the upper echelon of heavy metal.

I have to balance out all the hate for Pantera and other bands that are found untr00 because some miscreant in some underground webzine tells you what to listen to and what should be disregarded.

I can see the appeal of Psalm 9 more after a few more listens, but I still don't think it's anything great.

I can see the appeal as well. There are some good riffs on the album, but nothing special overall in my opinion.

 

[no country for old wainds]

as i've said before i think trouble struggle for momentum at times and occasionally get bogged down in stoned out grooves that don't suit their vision, but on the whole i find them one of the most distinctive and expressive bands in doom's history. i think the appeal (and this applies even moreso to warning, for me anyway) goes beyond "good riffs" or finding them headbangable or atmospheric or etc. people who really love that band (for example) tend to share the existential anxieties that fuel and bleed through their music, connecting with the passion, the naked emotion, the intense personal expression. it's this quality that makes them one of black sabbath's truest descendants methinks.

speaking of sabbath, for me the issue is just that they were a very wide-ranging band (admirably so) and i only find them really relatable when they're doing certain kinds of songs. if you let me pick and choose a ten track album of songs from each of these bands' discographies, sabbath would probably break the top 3, but i don't think these sabbath records work as albums as much as some of the others. i'd rank the s/t and vol. 4 a little higher than either but those have their issues too. it's also possible i hold sabbath to higher standards than anybody else because i'm so much more familiar with them and probably a little burnt out on certain songs. idk.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Title track is one of the worst on the album. Maybe if it was three minutes long like Necropolis it would be listenable, but the repetition there (and in most of the songs) is ridiculous. That album is only halfway out the barroom-rock-band door anyways, not even close to the archetype of USPM that many people credit it as.

not really sure what you mean by barroom-rock-band or how you could justify applying that label to anything other than 'feeling free again'. obviously there's a strong '70s flavour running through it and it's on the soft end of the metal spectrum, but i kinda wish that was the case for more metal bands tbh - as a general rule i prefer hypnotic, ethereal, reflective metal to the all guns blazing kinda stuff (although if there's one USPM band i do like more than manilla road it's probably jag panzer, so maybe i'm full of shit there).

even if you don't, i'm genuinely curious about why some people seem to hate manilla road so much. i get why shelton's somewhat old school crooning would be offputting for some but other than that...? there's just too much in common with other widely loved bands for there to be such a deviation in how the same people react to both. they don't sound exactly like, say, omen or brocas helm, but they're obviously in the same kind of ballpark stylistically speaking. just doesn't make sense to me to love those and *hate* the 'road or consider them a joke or w/e.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Paranoid has some excellent tracks on it but it doesn't have the umph that their self-titled or Master of Reality has. In fact, I think it's my least favorite of Sabbath's first 6 albums.

 

[no country for old wainds]

'war pigs' and 'hand of doom' are easily top 10 sabbath tracks for me. title track, 'iron man' and 'fairies wear boots' are a rung below but still great. not so fond of the others.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I'll agree with Hand of Doom and Fairies Wear Boots are top tier, but I can't say the rest for the album.

 

[no country for old wainds]

what's your favourite sabbath song out of interest?

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Probably "Black Sabbath" or "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Wow, if you guys think Electric Funeral is anything less than pure art you're clueless. It's the pathos of the Cold War manifested through heavy metal. Rat Salad is an excellent piece that shows off a jazzy side Sabbath rarely displayed and Planet Caravan is an excellent piece of depressive psychedlic folk. Every track accomplishes its goal, so that record in my eyes is a perfect record.

Master of Reality is a notch below because of the preachy After Forever and the ubderdeveloped guitar instrumentals. However, the other four metal tracks are the epitome of the genre and Solitude is exquisite.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i don't think achieving what you set out to do with each song is praiseworthy in and of itself - some goals are modest or downright misguided in context. but anyway. i always found 'electric funeral' kind of cartoonish and 'planet caravan' is just too relaxed for my tastes (while sober anyway), but sure, i get their appeal. i have no intention of shitting on any sabbath, and i do actually think objectively speaking PARANOID may be their best album - i'm just stating why they weren't higher for me (i had PARANOID 6th for the record). i do dispute that a generic jam like 'rat salad' is worthy of such high praise though.

 

[J.]

after forever is awesome. its not preachy, just a song to get god botherers off their back for perceived satanic leanings. riff wise, its one of their best.

changes ruins vol. 4. remove it and the albums value goes up.

fairies wear boots is the best on paranoid