Influential Albums - make a list

[JayKeeley]

Can we do this? It'll be tough, but let's give it a try.

List albums that have been influential for some reason or other. This does not automatically equate to a debut release - for example, the Black Sabbath debut was indeed awe-inspiring, but it wasn't until on later albums that they truly delivered better song material.

The albums don't have to be listed in any particular order, and they can belong to any genre - just list them out, and keep adding to the thread as you remember more....

...if you disagree with any entry, back it up and say why - or offer an alternative.

I'll start then:

BLACK SABBATH - Master of Reality
It's the heaviest and darkest album they ever put out IMO. Each song is concise and to the point with less meandering jazzy blues stuff going on that sometimes plagues a good Sabbath tune.

METALLICA - Ride the Lightning
It's the epitome of Bay Area thrash. More intelligent than Kill em All, and more memorable than Master of Puppets, just because they went with a "less is more" approach.

 

[NAD]

Master of Reality always sounds a little weak to me, but it is still good and far ahead of its time.

Ride the Lightning is the best Metallica though, never understood why Puppets gets more credit, since this one came a few years earlier (and was much better).

Anyhow...

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Practically started heavy metal in the first place, what else can you say?

Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Any drugged out, trippy, and meandering passage you have ever heard was probably ripped off from this album.

Korn - debut
How can one band begin, master, and subsequently ruin a genre all by themselves? Ask Korn.

 

[bloodfiredeath]

Aside from some obvious ones, one of the first off the top of my head:

Paradise Lost - Lost Paradise/Gothic
Can't say for sure if one was more influencial then the other. I'd probably say Gothic, but it's hard to leave out their first. Anyways, helped spawn an entire genre, and I still hear guitar playing all the time that reminds me of the work Mackintosh and Aedy pull off on these albums.

This is one that though I love these albums, I hate what it influenced. The next time I hear female vocals described as 'haunting' someone is getting punched in the throat.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Bathory - Hammerheart

Helloween - Keeper. . .

Dream Theater - Images and Words

 

[JayKeeley]

VENOM - Black Metal
What could this have started I wonder? Never even heard this album, but I bet someone here has...any comments?

IRON MAIDEN - s/t
Although Number of the Beast is constantly praised as the most influential (and perhaps rightfully so), I can't deny the ingenuity of songs like Phantom of the Opera, Strange World, and Transylvania.

HELLOWEEN - Keeper of the Seven Keys part II
Just to elaborate on BWD, although very obviously inspired themselves by bands like Iron Maiden and Dio, this album pretty much started power metal as we know it today - and I quote Ayeka, "Heavy metal with high pitched vocals".

 

[bloodfiredeath]

VENOM - Black Metal
What could this have started I wonder? Never even heard this album, but I bet someone here has...any comments?

Personally, as a fan of Venom, I've never found them to have much to do with the black metal genre, other than the name of the album and song.

Give Bathory's s/t and The Return credit for that.

 

[JayKeeley]

Personally, as a fan of Venom, I've never found them to have much to do with the black metal genre, other than the name of the album and song.

Give Bathory's s/t and The Return credit for that.

Interesting. I think I was going on what I read in Lords of Chaos re: the Norwegian BM scene looking to Venom for themes and imagery.

I knew about Bathory kicking off the Viking genre with your namesake, but what we're saying is that Bathory also had a big part to play in shaping BM....?

There should also be mention of:
POSSESSED - Seven Churches
MERCYFUL FATE - Melissa

What about something by Celtic Frost or Hellhammer?

 

[Black Winter Day]

What about something by Celtic Frost?

no!

 

[bloodfiredeath]

Interesting. I think I was going on what I read in Lords of Chaos re: the Norwegian BM scene looking to Venom for themes and imagery.

Themes and images I'll give you, but musically, no.

I knew about Bathory kicking off the Viking genre with your namesake, but what we're saying is that Bathory also had a big part to play in shaping BM....?

Absolutely. That's one of the amazing things about Bathory. Quorthon essentially helped forge two different genres of metal.

 

[bloodfiredeath]

Oh, as for Lords of Chaos, I thought it was somewhat entertaining when it read like a true crime book. But when it got into the whole history of metal, it was severely uninformed.

 

[NAD]

Slayer - Show No Mercy
It was before Reign In Blood, give it some credit. So what if it was more punk than metal, it was frickin' evil!

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness
Pretty insane even by today's standards, especially when many band's crazy albums in the '80s are considered tame.

Dissection - The Somberlain
I'm not sure if this one single handedly launched the melodic death genre, but it sure had a lot to do with it.

 

[JayKeeley]

Dissection - The Somberlain

I've yet to hear this - has it stood the test of time?

I'm not sure if this one single handedly launched the melodic death genre, but it sure had a lot to do with it.

Quick Poll: Which of these were most influential in the melo-death scene?

1. Eucharist
2. In Flames
3. Dark Tranquility
4. At the Gates
5. Dissection
6. Other

Which album(s)?

 

[NAD]

I've always preferred Storm of the Light's Bane, but the Somberlain is high on the kickassedness meter. The Somberlain does have a very distinct production that is very appealing, it's slick but not. If that makes sense.

I'm going with Dissection, but I'm not familiar with much Dark Tranquility and I've never heard Eucharist.

 

[Hell Mike]

As already stated, I'd say the Hellhammer demos, first two Celtic Frost (Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion) and also throw in the 7" which was released in between (The Emperor's return? Somthing with emperor at least), Bathory's first four (!). I don't want to leave any of those out as they don't sound quite the same and very much black metal in all times past it has copied it to one degree or other. Also, I'd say Venom's "In League With Satan" which was their first, and helped form not only the black metal movement but also the thrash (especially bay area, I'd say).

 

[Black Winter Day]

death - scream bloody gore

 

[lurch70]

CELTIC FROST - Into the Pandemonium ... it was the beginning of the end for them, becuase of their past, but it gave future extreme bands the green light to experiment with electronica, keyboards, samples and other avant-garde material ... not a bad record by any means, but becuase of what came before it (the brilliant To Mega Therion) it was considered a major sellout. I don't think you would have your Agallochs and such if this release never happened ...

SLAYER - Reign in Blood ... you can all kneel down and bow to this release. The scene would not be the same without it.

NAPALM DEATH - Scum ... and more so Harmony Corruption and CARCASS - Necroticism ... for fusing grindcore and death metal into something freaking brilliant.

 

[commandante]

At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

In Flames - The Jester Race

Carcass - Heartwork

 

[Black Winter Day]

darkthrone - a blaze in the northern sky

 

[Erik]

I'd say Venom's "In League With Satan" which was their first, and helped form not only the black metal movement but also the thrash (especially bay area, I'd say).

Glöööh... Venom's first album was called Welcome to Hell...

 

[JayKeeley]

Glöööh... Venom's first album was called Welcome to Hell...

What was the foundation of Black Metal?

Venom - Welcome to Hell (part of NWOBHM movement): 1981
Bathory - s/t: 1984
Possessed - Seven Churches: 1985
Mayhem - Deathcrush: 1986
Ulver - Bergtatt (95), Kveldsjanger (96), Nattens Madrigal (97)

Was there anything else going on between Venom (81) and Bathory (84)?

Darkthrone, Emperor, Immortal are all 90's bands so I guess they fall into the aftermath...although they might have been recording demos in the very late 80's.