Have I really never covered music on this Substack before now? How is that possible? Well, I’m going to fill in that gap today. As you could probably tell by the title of this post, I’m a bit of a metalhead. I don’t exclusively listen to metal music, but it is my personal favorite genre. My long personal history with the genre means I also know how utterly impenetrable so many people find it. With that in mind, I decided to run through the metal albums I have listened to the most in my life to offer up a window into the genre for folks who may be curious about giving the genre a try. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to limit this list to only one album from any given artist. Putting fifteen Black Sabbath albums on this list probably isn’t going to awaken any new metal fans. I also want to limit this list to only metal albums. You won’t see any metal adjacent genres like hard rock, hardcore punk, or powerviolence here. That means there will be a heaping helping of distorted electric guitars, wall of sound, blast beats, and ripping solos throughout. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite metal albums organized in chronological order by release date.
Album: Black Sabbath (1970)
Artist: Black Sabbath
Favorite Track: “Black Sabbath”
Subgenres: heavy metal, proto-doom metal
I kept going back and forth between this album and Paranoid to start with, but I ultimately landed on Black Sabbath’s debut album. This is generally regarded as the first heavy metal album, and it really created the template that all future metal bands would follow. The occult lyrical content, distorted guitars, and minor chords all combine to create a brand new genre that has continued to endure fifty-four years later. Also, I feel pretty confident in saying that Black Sabbath also invented headbanging.
Album: Ride the Lightning (1984)
Artist: Metallica
Favorite Track: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
Subgenres: thrash metal
The 1970s birthed heavy metal, but the 1980s are when heavy metal exploded into numerous different subgenres. Metallica is the band that really ushered in the era of extreme metal, and Ride the Lightning is the album that really defined their sound for me. Metallica pioneered the thrash metal subgenre that took the traditional characteristics of heavy metal and cranked up the tempo to supersonic speeds. Tacks like “Fight Fire with Fire,” “Ride the Lightning,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “Creeping Death” all burst out of the speakers with a blistering ferocity while “Fade to Black” straddles the line between a power ballad and a traditional thrash song. It’s a killer album that never gets old.
Album: To Mega Therion (1985)
Artist: Celtic Frost
Favorite Track: “The Usurper”
Subgenres: thrash metal, death metal, black metal, doom metal
Celtic Frost did for the European extreme metal scene what Metallica did for the American extreme metal scene. This Swiss thrash band incorporated elements of what would become death metal, black metal, and doom metal into their sound that helped push all of those subgenres to a wider audience. To Mega Therion was their true breakout hit, and its influence on the extreme metal scene can’t be overstated.
Album: Broken (1992)
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Favorite Track: “Last”
Subgenres: Industrial metal, alternative metal
I know. Nine Inch Nails isn’t really a metal band. They’re more accurately defined as an industrial band. That being said, Broken is unequivocally a metal album. I also listen to it way too much to not include it here. This is Trent Reznor’s foray into metal inspired by touring with a band following the release of Pretty Hate Machine (the studio album featured few traditional instruments in favor of electronic sounds). “Wish” won Nine Inch Nails the Grammy for Best Metal Performance, and tracks like “Last,” “Happiness in Slavery,” and “Gave Up” endure as some of Nine Inch Nails’ most popular songs.
Album: Evil Empire (1996)
Artist: Rage Against the Machine
Favorite Track: “Bulls on Parade”
Subgenres: rap metal, alternative metal
Rage Against the Machine is a band that is truly one of one, and Evil Empire is their masterpiece. They pioneered the fusion of rap and metal into its own unique genre, and their songs are filled to the brim with revolutionary righteousness. They make no apologies for their beliefs or their music, and the world is all the better for it.
Album: Dopesmoker (1999)
Artist: Sleep
Favorite Track: “Dopesmoker”
Subgenres: doom metal, stoner metal
Sleep to me is the platonic ideal of a vdoom metal and stoner metal band, Dopesmoker is the platonic ideal of a doom metal and stoner metal album, and “Dopesmoker” is the platonic ideal of a doom metal and stoner metal song. The entire album is just two songs: “Dopesmoker” and “Sonic Titan,” and “Dopesmoker” clocks in at a brisk 63:31. Yes, this one track is over an hour long.
Album: Iowa (2001)
Artist: Slipknot
Favorite Track: “New Abortion”
Subgenres: nu metal, groove metal
Slipknot is probably the biggest and most popular metal band since Metallica, and Iowa is the album that really put them on the map. They took the nu metal sound made popular by bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit, and they added a ferocity to it that was more associated with extreme metal subgenres like thrash metal and death metal. They also came up with a killer gimmick by having each member of the band wear a different mask, and the look of the masks changes from album to album.
Album: Toxicity (2001)
Artist: System of a Down
Favorite Track: “Chop Suey!”
Subgenres: nu metal, alternative metal
System of a Down is one of the most unique metal bands I’ve ever heard, and Toxicity is easily their most popular album. Serj Tankian’s vocals are unmatched, and the riffs courtesy of Daron Malakian are out of this world. The album is full of tracks that range from overtly political bangers to quiet ballads to heartfelt nu metal anthems. It’s the best example of what makes System of a Down so special.
Album: Twilight of the Idols (2003)
Artist: Gorgoroth
Favorite Track: “Procreating Satan”
Subgenres: black metal
Of all of the various subgenres of metal, black metal is probably the least accessible. Drilling down deeper, so-called “True Norwegian Black Metal” is the least accessible of the least accessible subgenre. If you haven’t already guessed, Gorgoroth is one of the original Norwegian black metal bands that made the subgenre so infamous. Twilight of the Idols is their magnum opus, and a lot of that is due to the addition of Gaahl on vocals to compliment the ferocious guitar riffs from Infernus. Unfortunately, Gaahl and Infernus went their separate ways after an acrimonious split. That makes it incredibly difficult to find this album as it is not available on any music streaming service, and physical copies are outrageously expensive. Thank goodness for YouTube.
Album: Sacrament (2006)
Artist: Lamb of God
Favorite Track: “Blacken the Cursed Sun”
Subgenres: groove metal, metalcore, thrash metal
Lamb of God is probably the most successful band of the “new wave of American heavy metal” movement that swept across the metal scene in the 2000s, and Sacrament is the album that really made me a fan. The entire album is just anthem after anthem of rebellious metal full of solos, riffs, and call-and-response vocals. It’s also about as catchy as extreme metal is ever going to get.
Album: In Sorte Diaboli (2007)
Artist: Dimmu Borgir
Favorite Track: “The Invaluable Darkness”
Subgenres: symphonic black metal
Dimmu Borgir took a look at the black metal scene in Norway and said, “What if we made this accessible?” Even asking such a question made them pariahs among many black metal fans, but they sure as hell succeeded at opening up the world of black metal to more casual metal fans. They essentially took the characteristics of black metal (shrieking vocals, stripped down guitars, occult lyrics, etc.) and added in symphonic and orchestral instruments and melodic passages. Of all of their albums, In Sorte Diaboli is probably their most accessible. It sounds like the music you’d hear while watching an epic fantasy movie.
Album: The Satanist (2014)
Artist: Behemoth
Favorite Track: “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”
Subgenres: blackened death metal
The Satanist, in my estimation, is the greatest extreme metal album of all time. It is a perfect blend of black metal and death metal that is synthesized into its own separate subgenre of blackened death metal. Nergal (the vocalist and lead guitarist) has the unparalleled ability to make his harsh vocals somehow easy to understand. He has a heavy growling vocal style that still annunciates every syllable. I don’t know how he does it, but the end result is incredible. This album also mixes in plenty of brass horns and string instruments (including the most metal use of a French horn you’ve ever heard) to supplement the shredding guitar riffs and blast beats. It’s a damn near perfect album.
Album: Purple (2015)
Artist: Baroness
Favorite Track: “Shock Me”
Subgenres: progressive metal, sludge metal
Baroness is just a kickass band putting out kickass sludge metal, and Purple is the album that best embodies their sound and energy. It is such a fun and heartfelt album that can be played over and over again without ever getting old. The dueling guitar solos on “Shock Me” is guaranteed to get you on your feet, and it’s a blast to see it performed live.
Album: You Will Never Be One of Us (2016)
Artist: Nails
Favorite Track: “You Will Never Be One of Us”
Subgenres: grindcore
Last but not least, we finally have a grindcore album. Nails is the most popular of the “Entombedcore” wave of bands that took the “chainsaw” guitar sound of the Swedish death metal band Entombed and adopted it into grindcore and hardcore punk music. Grindcore is the polar opposite of doom metal insofar as the songs tend to be short and fast. This entire album clocks in at 21:43, so that makes it the band’s longest album. While it might be short, it certainly doesn’t lack intensity.
There you have it. Hopefully you found at least one or two songs that piqued your curiosity.