How would you rank the classic band's albums?

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Young Man, Old Soul
Jul 9, 2007
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London, England
I'd be interested to see how you guys rate some of the classic bands (studio) albums. I know in some cases it'll be hard to rank 'em (especially when it comes to bands you love everything by!)

I'll start off with my all time favourite...

Rust in Peace
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?
So Far, So Good... So What!
Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!
Cryptic Writings
Countdown to Extinction
Endgame
United Abominations
Youthanasia
Thirteen
The System Has Failed
The World Needs a Hero
Risk
Super Collider
 
I never listened Megadeth's entire discography. So instead I'm going to do this with Death.

This is going to be tough...



Spiritual Healing - Every song here is a classic. 45 minutes of brilliance. 10/10.

Human - See above. But it's only 35 minutes... Yes, that's the only reason it's behind SH.

Leprosy - Really breaks my heart to see this in 3rd place. I feel like it loses steam toward the end.

Symbolic - I don't like Perennial Quest. Sorry. It kinda bores me. BTW, this album would still get a score above 90/100.

Individual Thought Patterns - Again, this albums is freaking great but it's a bit less great the ones above it. Trapped in a Corner tho... God damn, son...

Sound of Perseverance - I just couldn't put this anywhere but here. Songs get kinda long, Chuck's voice is kinda too high pitched. Still love it. Just not as much as everything else, except...

Scream Bloody Gore - Lack of polish puts this one on the bottom. There's some great riffs to be found here. Eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil... DEAD
 
Mine would probably look like this,

Human
Individual Thought Patterns
Spiritual Healing
Symbolic
Scream Bloody Gore
Leprosy
The Sound of Perseverance

Though I'm pretty each one has been my favourite at some point or another...
 
What do you mean by classic bands? Older Metal bands from the 80's in general or just random stuff?

Well I couldn't say it about Megadeth. Haven't listened to em for longer.

But I'd say Rust In Peace, Peace Sells.., Countdown to Extinction are really one of my favorites (I guess) also like albums like Youthanasia and esp. Cryptic Writings alot!

About Death I'd say Leprosy and The Sound of Perseverance are probably my 'over favorites' but it's difficult. Death are such amazing, unique band - almost every album is just pure genius.
Chuck Schuldiner wasn't from this earth.

I'd go like that:

Leprosy (probably the best DM album ever written)
The Sound of Perseverance (the guitar work is just uncomparable)
Human
Spiritual Healing
Symbolic
Individual Thought Patterns
Scream Bloody Gore

each one is great.

So if it isn't about certain albums in particular I'd also mention Despair for example. If not then ignore this post ;) They're rather obscure but I dig em alot at the time. Very underrated great german Technical thrash.
My favorites:

Decay of Humanity
Beyond all Reason
History of Hate


another "classic" band. I think I could rate Kreator's discography (except the live albums) the best:

Pleasure To Kill
Terrible Certainty
Coma of Souls
Cause For Conflict
Violent Revolution
Enemy of God
Phantom Antichrist


too many bands...
 
What do you mean by classic bands? Older Metal bands from the 80's in general or just random stuff?

Not just the 80s bands... any band you consider a classic act within their genre I guess. Death, Cannibal Corpse... Slayer, Metallica... Candlemass, My Dying Bride... Stratovarius, Blind Guardian... etc etc.
 
If I were to use Annihilator as an example...

Never Neverland
Alice In Hell
King Of the Kill
Set The World On Fire
Schizo Deluxe

Any albums not mentioned (Feast, s/t, All For You) I've probably rate either equally or I haven't listened to them as much. The above five are definite rankings.
 
Set the World on Fire
Never, Neverland
Alice in Hell
King of the Kill
Schizo Deluxe
Criteria for a Black Widow
Refresh the Demon
Carnival Diablos
Annihilator
Metal
All for You
Waking the Fury
Remains

...and I really need to listen to Feast a few more times before I can place it. Probably stands between Carnival... and Annihilator at the moment though.
 
I'll do two.

Strapping Young Lad :

City
Alien
The New Black
SYL
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing


Coroner :

Mental Vortex
No More Color
Punishment for Decadence
R.I.P.
Grin
Coroner (If that even counts)


As for the stuff mentioned above, I can't really do Megadeth because I don't own all their albums, and I've never actually listened to Annihilator. Like, ever.
 
I can't really do Annihilator past the first 4 albums, since it was all just a cavalcade of average to shit albums after that.

What I can do is Coroner:

No More Color - Can't top this. Ever.
Mental Vortex - They tried really hard, though.
Punishment for Decadence - "Your house needs to be put in order, too."
R.I.P. - The production on this is pretty terrible.
Grin - This one is a different beast altogether. It almost doesn't belong in the same discography as all the others...
Coroner - Not even 30 minutes of new music. But what's in it is pretty good.

And... Sadus, sure, why not:

Swallowed in Black - *headbangs*
Elements of Anger - This album pisses me off. I like it way too much.
Illusions/Chemical Exposure - *heabangs again*
A Vision of Misery - This one always seemed kinda dry to me.
Out For Blood - There were some comebacks that just didn't need to happen...
 
Megadeth:
Rust in Peace
Peace Sells
Countdown to Extinction
United Abominations
Killing is My Business
The System Has Failed
So Far....
Cryptic Writings
Youthanasia
Endgame
13
Super Collider

I'm sure I left a few out
 
Megadeth:
Rust in Peace
Peace Sells
Countdown to Extinction
United Abominations
Killing is My Business
The System Has Failed
So Far....
Cryptic Writings
Youthanasia
Endgame
13
Super Collider

I'm sure I left a few out

Good list man! Lovin' your love for United Abominations. A lot of people hate(ed) on that didn't they but it's so good! Sleepwalker is a great opening and I remember being really into Washington Is Next! straight away. And obviously we agree on #1 ;)

The ones you missed were The World Needs a Hero (which were 3rd from bottom on my list, but I feel's a worthy mention 'cause of the cool beginning of the album, the fact I always get "Moto Psycho" stuck in my head for hours... and the fucking hilarious "1000 Times Goodbye", oh my god. That, and Risk... so :wave:

Anyway

Megadeth-Risk_(2004)-Interior_Frontal.jpg


Avoid.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Train of Thought
Images and Words
Awake
Systematic Chaos
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
Octavarium
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Got to come clean, with it being Dream Theater, I haven't listened to the other two albums enough to list.
 
United Abominations is underrated by a lot of fans. Rust in Peace might be the best thrash metal ever..definitely one of my top three.

Overkill:
The Years of Decay
Under the Influence
Feel the Fire
Taking Over
Ironbound
The Electric Age
Immortalis
Horrorscope
Necroshine
RelixIV

Sepultura
Beneath the Remains
Schizophrenia
Arise
Chaos A.D.
Dante XXI
Nation
Against
Roorback
A-Lex
Kairos
Roots
 
Not just the 80s bands... any band you consider a classic act within their genre I guess. Death, Cannibal Corpse... Slayer, Metallica... Candlemass, My Dying Bride... Stratovarius, Blind Guardian... etc etc.

that's cool. I thought it's only about the "well known" bands ;)
I'd go with Slayer as next:

Hell Awaits (still their best album. A blast everytime)
Show No Mercy (One of my definitive favorites by Slayer)
South of Heaven (classic album. Excellent tempo changes and high level of technical diversity)
Reign In Blood (ANGEL OF DEATH!!)
Seasons In the Abyss (my ex-favorite album)
Divine Intervention
Christ Illusion
World Painted Blood
Diabolus In Musica
....God Hates Us all (I consider that utter crap album as 'never happened')


Another classic band which discography I know pretty well.

Testament favorites:

Souls of Black (my alltime favorite)
The New Order
The Legacy
Low
The Ritual (that album is definitly underrated. Great melo-Thrash)
Practice What you Preach
The Gathering (my ex-favorite. Great musicianship)
Dark Roots of Earth (needs another proper listen!)
The Formation of Damnation
..Demonic (Testament's worst album ever. Considering 'Never happened')


Just another word to that album. Chuck Billy just imitates Death metal vocals so hard. It doesn't fit in no fuckin way. Also the music just sucks with that lame Groove/Death riffs all the time.

Another one of my favorites - Coroner. It's difficult because all of their albums are just a class of their own - even Grin.

I'd go for that listing although it could change in any time very short:

No More Color (my recent favorite. Love the lyrics, the compositions are just the best ever by a Thrash metal band)
Coroner (one of the best compilation albums ever)
R.I.P. (Perfect debut album. I admire it)
Mental Vortex
Grin
Death Cult
Punishment For Decadence (I still love it but I just think other albums showed more progression. Still a masterpiece)
 
Death:
Symbolic
Leprosy
Sound of Perseverance
Spiritual Healing
Scream Bloody Gore
Human
Individual Thought Patterns

Testament:
Practice What You Preach
Souls of Black
The Formation of Damnation
Dark Roots of Earth
Low
The Legacy
The Ritual
The New Order
The Gathering
Demonic
 
Megadeth:
Rust in Peace
Youthanasia
Peace Sells
Hidden Treasures
Countdown to Extinction
Killing is My Business
So Far So Good So What
----------- The greats, the masterpieces, the shit we love Dave for. So far gets in there because of sentimental reasons, it is otherwise an uneven album.

The System has Failed
Endgame
Cryptic Writings
---------------- Very good shit but there is definite drop in quality or there is something wrong going on.
13
United Abominations
The World Needs a Hero
Risk
Super Collider
--------- Fuck these. Either the vocals or the songwriting sucks ass. Sleepwalker should be sang at Tornado of Souls' pitch. But Dave cannot do that anymore. So, the songs SUFFER.



Slayer:
Reign in Blood
Live Undead + Haunting the Chapel (had to put these somewhere)
Seasons in the Abyss
Hell Awaits
Show No Mercy
South of Heaven
Decade of Aggression
-------- The greats, the masterpieces, etc.

Divine Intervention
World Painted Blood
God Hates Us All
Christ Illusion
---------- the "ok, there is stuff here that is worth listening to" (meaning a couple of songs)

Undisputed Attitude (no Lombardo, this is so wrong for this album, if anyone knows his history)
Diabolus in Musica (shit, Hanneman's lowest moment)
------------ the wtf is this shit man?


Blind Guardian:
Somewhere Far Beyond
Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Imaginations from the Other Side
----------- the "I don't know how to order them" masterpieces.

Tales from the Twilight World
------------the "I know this goes fourth" masterpiece
Tokyo Tales
Forgotten Tales
Follow the Blind
A Night at the Opera
------------------- Great and awesome with some reservations

Battalions of Fear
At the Edge of Time
------------------ A lot of reservations but some awesomeness

A Twist in the Myth

BLind Guardian needs Thomen the Omen behind the drumkit. ASAP.

Coroner:
Mental Vortex
No More Color
Grin
Punishment for Decadence
R.I.P.
--------- all great and fuck off :)


Death
Individual Thought Patterns
Human
Symbolic
-------------- see Blind Guardian's top 3
Spiritual Healing
Scream Bloody Gore
Leprosy
The Sound of Perseverance
Control Denied - The Fragile Art of Existence



Testament:

The Legacy
The Gathering
Low
The New Order
Practice What You Preach
The Formation of Damnation
The Dark Roots of Earth
Souls of Black
The Ritual
Demonic


Sepultura:
Beneath the Remains
Chaos AD
Arise
Scizophrenia
-----------
Morbid Visions
Roots
------------
...and from ALL THE REST: Prophecy and Dark Ages


Overkill:
Taking Over
The Years of Decay
Under the Influence
Feel the Fire
Horrorscope
-------------- the golden

Ironbound
The Electric Age
W.F.O.
Necroshine
------------ the silver
...and the rest. Haven't really bothered with any of the rest after listening to them for a few times when they were released. I Hear Black, Immortalis, ReliXIV had especially left me with a bad taste...



Annihilator:
Alice in Hell
Never, Neverland
------------------- 11/10 albums
Set the World on Fire
Criteria for a Black Widow
Carnival Diablos
Waking the Fury
-------------------- some very good stuff in there
ugh... Schizo Deluxe and King of the Kill I guess? Both were disappointments though when I bought them.
Fuck Remains.



Kreator:
Pleasure to Kill
Extreme Agression
Coma of Souls
Endless Pain
Terrible Certainty
----------------- the awesome
Violent Revolution
Renewal
Enemy of God
Hordes of Chaos
Phantom Antichrist
-------------------- some great stuff, some tiresome repetition as well.
Cause for Conflict
Endorama
---------------------- SHIT



Strapping Young Lad:

City
---------- 11/10
Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing
Alien
The New Black
SYL
----------- some great stuff, some forgettable stuff, all worth owning. All vastly inferior to City.


Now, for some real fire:

King Diamond:
"Them"
Abigail
Fatal Portrait
The Eye
Conspiracy
------------- HOLY SHIT 11/10
Voodoo
Spider's Lullabye
The Graveyard
The Puppet Master
House of God
--------------- Inferior band but still one of a kind and moments of metal genius. Shame about the drumming in particular.
Give me Your Soul Please
Abigail II - The Revenge
--------------- Mediocre. Which is the equivalent for "shit" for an artist of King Diamond's calibre.


Mercyful Fate:
Don't Break the Oath
Melissa
---------- HOLY SHIT 11/10
The Beginning
In the Shadows
Time
9
------------ GREAT to great.
Return of the Vampire
Into the Unknown
Dead Again
------------ not bad, not great.

Gotta work now!
 
Obvious Dingram post;

The Force
Sounds of Violence
VI
Power from Hell
Killing Peace
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
In Search of Sanity

My list would be something like that. Though I would put Killing Peace over VI and Power from Hell. What's so wrong with In Search of Sanity? Sure, there's plenty of cheese and Welcome to Dying bores me to tears but I happen to like some cuts like Shellshock, Blood Upon the Ice and the title track..

Endorama
---------------------- SHIT

But, but... Tommy T....
 
Good lists Vic! I agree about Live Undead, it's worthy of a studio album slot.

Obvious Dingram post;

The Force
Sounds of Violence
VI
Power from Hell
Killing Peace
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
In Search of Sanity

Mmm...

VI
The Force
Sounds of Violence
Power from Hell
Killing Peace
In Search of Sanity (although I don't think I've ever even listened to it all to be fair)
 
But, but... Tommy T....

Ι know, which made the albums or the more disappointing. It's not that Endorama is particularly bad music. It's just totally foreign to what I want Kreator to sound like. Goth and mellow, sentimental passages? Fuck that.

And I seem to have forgotten Outcast. I would put that above Cause for Conflict. Maybe their experimental mood in those albums is more commendable than the recycling of their Violent Revolution style they have adopted the past years. But I just don't dig the music at all.
 
Granted, i only ranked The Force over VI due to a nostalgia filter. ISOS is a good album, but a shitty Onslaught album; it's certainly nothing that you'd call representative of the band's sound.

Also, Fuck the Kreator albums that Vetterli played on. He was a wasted talent on those records :(