A buddy of mine and I discussed the various decades and the impact of metal on each. As with many, he's of the opinion that the 90s was a terrible time....but I completelly disagree. Better than the 70s and 80s? Probably not, but there were many awesome releases. And the defining point about 90s metal was that, after going back underground, metal branched off, reinventing itself in many exotic subgenres. Creativity and the quest for 'doing something new' were in full swing!
Black metal alone spawned a number of post-black sub-genres that are (or were) entirely original and creative.
Anyway, my fav 90s records are:
1) My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans 1993 (after Heaven and Hell, my all time fav record. NO record has such atmosphere or feeling of dreadful dark emotion)
2) In the Woods - Omnio 1997 (true 90s progressive metal. The epic songs, the gorgeous vocals, the buckets of introspective emotion....clearly an album for the ages).
3) Paradise Lost - Icon 1993 (sure, they stink now, but this record spawned an entire genre - heavy melancholy. And it's aged VERY well....sounds as fresh and as vibrant today as it did upon it's release)
4) Alice in Chains - Dirt 1992 (most call this grunge-rock. In my view, it's doom metal without question. ANd heavy as f*ck. This record just screams hopelessness, deprivation and misery as few others do. Awesome)
5) Opeth - My Arms, Your Hears 1998 (after their first two records, a change was needed: to marry the various instrumental parts & sections with a sense of cohesion to create true songs. Well "My Arms" was it. And they've never looked back).
6) Katatonia - Tonight's Decision 1999 (This record takes the heavy melancholy of PLost's Icon and expounds upon it to deliver an album that at once can only be enjoyed by the darkest of metal minds, but can simaltaneously receive radio airplay in a fair & just world!)
7) Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black 1999 (an epic, monster of a record. As I see it, this record was a heavier version of what Katatonia and Anathema were doing at the time: delivering dark, doomy tunes with an emphasis on conveying emotion. Nevermore really made the jump to elite status with this one)
8) Judas Priest - Painkiller 1990 (probaly the Priest's heaviest record and a clear return to form after some late 80s misfires. The title track alone represents the bluest flame of metal. The metal God at his best!)
9) Emperor - Anthems To the Welkin at Dusk 1997 (metal's most intense record not named "Reign in Blood". Black metal is mostly crap. Emperor, however, were bette than most traditional metal bands. Again, it's all about melody, and it's here in tremendous quantities.....but married with an intensity and heaviness rarely achieved)
10) the Gathering - How To Measure A Planet 1998 (the band that single-handedly wrote the blueprint copied by Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, ad infinitum released their absolute masterpiece in this double-disc set. Sparse, lightly-distorted, yet claustrophopic, this album's atmosphere is thick enough to be cut with a knife)
Other notables:
Glenn Hughes - Addiction, The Way It Is
Queenryche - Empire
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River
Pearl Jam - Ten
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth / Chemical Wedding
Black Sabbath - TYR
Lillian Axe - Psychoshizophrenia
Anathema - Alternative 4
Tea Party - Edges of Twilight
Tiamat - A Deeper Kind of Slumber
Extreme - III Sides to Every Story
and numerous others
90s metal:
Black metal alone spawned a number of post-black sub-genres that are (or were) entirely original and creative.
Anyway, my fav 90s records are:
1) My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans 1993 (after Heaven and Hell, my all time fav record. NO record has such atmosphere or feeling of dreadful dark emotion)
2) In the Woods - Omnio 1997 (true 90s progressive metal. The epic songs, the gorgeous vocals, the buckets of introspective emotion....clearly an album for the ages).
3) Paradise Lost - Icon 1993 (sure, they stink now, but this record spawned an entire genre - heavy melancholy. And it's aged VERY well....sounds as fresh and as vibrant today as it did upon it's release)
4) Alice in Chains - Dirt 1992 (most call this grunge-rock. In my view, it's doom metal without question. ANd heavy as f*ck. This record just screams hopelessness, deprivation and misery as few others do. Awesome)
5) Opeth - My Arms, Your Hears 1998 (after their first two records, a change was needed: to marry the various instrumental parts & sections with a sense of cohesion to create true songs. Well "My Arms" was it. And they've never looked back).
6) Katatonia - Tonight's Decision 1999 (This record takes the heavy melancholy of PLost's Icon and expounds upon it to deliver an album that at once can only be enjoyed by the darkest of metal minds, but can simaltaneously receive radio airplay in a fair & just world!)
7) Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black 1999 (an epic, monster of a record. As I see it, this record was a heavier version of what Katatonia and Anathema were doing at the time: delivering dark, doomy tunes with an emphasis on conveying emotion. Nevermore really made the jump to elite status with this one)
8) Judas Priest - Painkiller 1990 (probaly the Priest's heaviest record and a clear return to form after some late 80s misfires. The title track alone represents the bluest flame of metal. The metal God at his best!)
9) Emperor - Anthems To the Welkin at Dusk 1997 (metal's most intense record not named "Reign in Blood". Black metal is mostly crap. Emperor, however, were bette than most traditional metal bands. Again, it's all about melody, and it's here in tremendous quantities.....but married with an intensity and heaviness rarely achieved)
10) the Gathering - How To Measure A Planet 1998 (the band that single-handedly wrote the blueprint copied by Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, ad infinitum released their absolute masterpiece in this double-disc set. Sparse, lightly-distorted, yet claustrophopic, this album's atmosphere is thick enough to be cut with a knife)
Other notables:
Glenn Hughes - Addiction, The Way It Is
Queenryche - Empire
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
My Dying Bride - The Angel and the Dark River
Pearl Jam - Ten
Arcturus - La Masquerade Infernale
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth / Chemical Wedding
Black Sabbath - TYR
Lillian Axe - Psychoshizophrenia
Anathema - Alternative 4
Tea Party - Edges of Twilight
Tiamat - A Deeper Kind of Slumber
Extreme - III Sides to Every Story
and numerous others
90s metal:
