1) Atheist - Unquestionable Presence
"It's always hard to comment on a number 1. Because the reasoning behind someone placing something as #1 is strong and very personal. nevertheless, aside from the personal aspect of it, this album turned me on to jazz, progressive, latin rhythms and everything else that it mixes. To be terse, it made me open my mind. Funny thing is i was hooked to this album since the very first few seconds of it (from the beginning of the song "Mother Man"). i tried to be as objective as possible with this description, otherwise it would've read something like "ATHEIIIIISTTTt!!!!!" Plus, they're the nicest guys i know. (notice i said "guys" and not just "band"...so yeah...that broad...that NICE!).
2) Cynic - Focus
"How did that Neil Armstrong quote go...'one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind' Well replace 'man' with 'band' and 'mankind' with 'metal' and it pretty much justifies my decision to regard this album so highly. Every song is a previously unexplored terrain that only these 4 brave and highly talented musicians had the guts to bring out and to craft so well. Even though their second album is great (as well as the Portal stuff), Cynic will always be a one-album-wonder for me, because that's exactly what "Focus" is: one of the huge wonders of metal and music as a whole. Simply genious."
3) Death - Individual Thought Patterns
"It was hard for me to pick which Death album to place in the top 10...so in order to make it easier, i considered the line-up off each album. Now it was between "Human" and this one. Since Cynic is already in the top and Andy LaRocque is one of my favorite guitarists, with Gene Hoglan and Steve DiGiorgio being from two of my favorite thrash bands (Sadus and Dark Angel)...i think it was pretty easy. Each of the musicians play Chuck's game very adequately, the music works for all of them perfectly and all of them work perfectly for Chuck. I think it's their strongest release. Although the rest of their 90's releases are not too shabby either. And it's the mighty Death for Pete Griffin's sake!"
4) Pestilence - Testimony Of The Ancients
"Another mind-blowing album! Just like "Unquestionable Presence" or "Focus"...hearing this album was a new experience for me, it was something i never heard before and while hearing it, i realized that it was somehting that was missing from my mental music files. It was that well-needed factor to expand my mentality and abilities in music (playing and listening to it). Every song on this album is perfect, the lyrical concept, the artwork, the sound (a perfect representation of Morrisound Studios)...plus i'm a very big fan of well-used keyboards in metal, and this album is the main reason for it. The perfect keyboards quantity, a perfect warm lead guitar tone, face-melting vocals from the great Patrick Mameli (who i have the honor of personally knowing)..it's one of those perfect albums!"
5) Nocturnus - The Key
"An album in which guitar shredding and sci-fi keyboards are predominant. An album on which the amazing Mike Browning (another acquaintance of mine, ex-Morbid Angel, Incubus, now After Death) sings and plays drums, an album which in my opinion birthed a new subgenre of death metal: sci-fi death metal. Very few bands (if any) have adopted that style since then and this makes this album a heavyweight champion of its genre. Another innovative effort hailing from Florida. It's got everything it needs to be considered the avantgarde classic album it is!"
6) Sadist - Tribe
"This italian band is so underrated that not only does it sadden me...but it sickens me! Literally i feel like throwing up everytime i listen to their records and realize that very few have heard of them. This record mixes the best elements of all the aforementioned albums on this list...but also adds a whole lot more. More keyboards than Nocturnus, more melodic solos than Pestilence, more technicality than Death, more insanity than Atheist, more fretless bass than Cynic (well...maybe not but i didn't want to break the alliteration i had going)...another perfect album! PLEASE check it out if you haven't already done so. It's impossible not to like it, especially if you agree with this top 10 so far!"
7) Obituary - Cause Of Death
"Oh mannn....John Tardy's vocals are a blessing!! my favorite death metal vocalist which two of the above bands tried to imitate. And John is so awesome, that even the two bands/vocalists that tried to imitate him sound awesome! Another great representation of Morrisound Studios, this album emanates a sort of...i don't know...rap feel to it! Because it's so damn groovy, i even see the gangsters and their low-riders cruisin' and blasting this album form the speakers. A band that stayed true to their style from the beginning like Slayer and AC/DC. Every second of this album feels like someone is bashing your face! It's so grim, kind of like Celtic Frost brought up to a more extreme level. It still sounds as strong as ever whenever i listen to it. I just love it."
8) Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness
"An album that made extreme metal a bit more extreme. Goddamn, the intensity of this album is ridiculous! Trey Azagthoth is an artist in the true sense of the term, he has created a force so strong in extreme music that it cannot be stopped! Morbid Angel is one of those rare bands that improve their sound on each new album, yet still keep the old ones sound fresh and amazing. That's what i would call 'originality'. And it's hard to achieve this. The blast-beat is made official on this album by the machine itself Pete Sandoval and aside form that, shredding, evil and Satan all lurk around this album. The whole album is nothing short of revolutionary."
9) Acheron - Those Who Have Risen
"Another great album that's often overlooked. Vincent Crowley & Co. manage to create an album on which every song can be considered cult, classic, ritualistic...however you wanna call it, it just sends you to another place, an out of body experience (pun intended)! You have the feeling that you're at a satanic ceremony, you feel that unknown life force (i'm full of puns and intentions) creeping up on you and showing you secrets you thought unreal. It's an amazing album, the shredding on it competes with Nocturnus, whereas the atmosphere competes with Pestilence and Morbid Angel."
10) Resurrection - Embalmed Existence
"Much in the vein of Obituary, this album is a fresh bash in the face, it mixes groove with subtle technicality (courtesy of ex-Malevolent Creation drummer), the voice and sound of all instruments arethe meaning of the term "brutal", and the narration before each song makes this album a unique masterpiece. Lots of memorable rhythms that will make you want to break things and never fix them again!!!"
11) Martyr - Hopeless Hopes
"Another really underrated band. I think they're all jazz teachers at various great universities in Canada. These guys KNOW music. This is their debut album and they get way better from one album to another, but i had to choose this one because it was the first one i heard and it has the most "classic" vibe out of their 3 albums. It just sounds like a classic death metal album. The other ones are much better instrumental-wise, but this is a great way to get into Martyr. In fact, i think Chuck Schuldiner got a bit too much into them, listen for the opening riff in "Spirit Crusher"..it can be found in a song off this album...which was released 3 years prior to "The Sound Of Perseverance". I guess that's ONE way of appreciating them.
12) Meshuggah - Chaosphere
"Meshuggah is the new Metallica in terms of creating something new. Slowly but surely, they created their own sound. It's so personal, that whenever they get copied by other bands, the bands admit they wanted it to sound like Meshuggah. Cause it's not easy at all...and is brutal as fuck! Ever since Destroy, Erase, Improve they started following their own path and got better from album to album. Obzen is nothing short of genius, but i placed this one here because it was the first one to be concise in sounding like Meshuggah does today. Mind-blowing!"
13) Carcass - Heartwork
"Nothing sounded like them before this album. Actually they were hinting what was to come on this album from "Necroticism blablabla" but as i said with the meshuggah album, this is the perfect mixture between death metal and melody. in fact it was among the very first. You can still find a similar approach in Mike Amott's playing in Arch Enemy. It's a very original album and has all the necessary ingredients to be among the top albums in any death metal ranking."
14) Massacre - From Beyond
"So legend has it that before Chuck Schuldiner growled, the ones that invented it were Paul Speckmann (Master) and Kam Lee (Massacre, ex-Death, Denial Fiend). Now this in my opinion is, besides John Tardy (Obituary) and George Fischer (Cannibal Corpse), the best example of death metal growling. the only difference between the aforementioned is that Kam Lee did it before them. Plus, this album is the only Massacre album (Kam Lee claims "Promise" doesn't count) and it's about H.P Lovecraft so...you can;t really go wrong with that. Featuring members that will later be heard in Death and Six Feet Under."
15) Benediction - Dark Is The Season
"It was among the first death metal cd's i ever bought, because i just loved the cover, the logo, the old-schoolness of it all. The sound didn't let me down either, i really enjoy it and it's another example of what pure old-school death metal should sound like. The best death metal EP!"
16) Slaughter - strappado
17) Death - Human / Symbolic
18) Immolation - here in after / shadows in the light
19) Necrophagist - onset of putrefaction / epitaph
20) Cadaver - in pains...
21) Demolition hammer - tortured existence
22) Atheist - elements/piece of time
23) Nile - In The Beginning / black seeds of vengeance
24) Carnage - dark recollections
25) Edge Of Sanity - Crimson
26) Capharnaum - reality only fantasized
27) Incubus - beyond the unknown
28) Morta Skuld - For All Eternity
29) Cannibal corpse - gallery of suicide
30) Deicide - legion
31) Hypocrisy - the fourth dimension
32) Six feet under - maximum violence
33) At The Gates - suicidal final art (best of)
34) Mortician - domain of death
35) Taine - cealalta parte
36) Afflicted - prodigal sun
37) Master - on the seventh day god created master
38) Exorcist - nightmare theater
39) Nuclear death - bride of insect/carrion for worm
40) Disincarnate - Dreams Of The Carrion Kind
41) Death - sound of perseverance
42) Minotaur - power of darkness
43) Deathstrike - fuckin death
44) Hexx - morbid reality
45) Abomination - debut
46) Possessed - seven churches
47) Repulsion - horrified
48) Nocturnus - thresholds / ethereal tomb
49) Cianide - the dying truth
50) Omnium gatherum - spirits and autumn light
51) In flames - the jester race
52) Incantation - onward to golgotha
53) Morbid angel - covenant / blessed are the sick / domination
54) Monstrosity - imperial doom
55) Acid death - randoms manifest
56) Gorguts - obscura
57) Hellwitch - syzigial miscreancy
58) Gorguts - considered dead
59) Demilich - nesphite
60) Cancer - death shall rise
61) Deicide - deicide
62) Infernal majesty - none shall defy
63) Asphyx - asphyx
64) Atrocity - longing for death/hallucinations
65) Sadist - Crust
66) Suffocation - pierced from within
67) Avatar - the alchemist
68) Protector - golem
69) Godgory - resurrection / sea of dreams
70) Arch enemy - wages of sin
71) Rigor mortis - rigor mortis
72) Entombed - wolverine blues
73) Soilwork - steelbath suicide
74) Ghostorm - frozen in fire
75) Messiah - rotten perish / hymn to abremelin
76) Alarum - eventuality...
77) Autopsy - severed survival
78) Bolt thrower - realm of chaos
79) Chastisement - but lost we are
80) Sadistik execution - the magus
81) Acheron - satanic victory
82) Cattle decapitation - to serve man
83) Cannibal corpse - tomb of the mutilated
84) Death - spiritual healing
85) Pungent stench - for god your soul, for me your flesh
86) Suffocation - effigy of the forgotten
87) Agressor - neverending destiny / towards beyond
88) Dead Horse - horsecore
89) Massacra - final holocaust
90) Agathocles - mincecore history
91) Angelcorpse - hammer of gods
92) Amon amarth - the crusher
93) Master - master
94) Deceased - Luck of the corpse
95) Baphomet - no answers
96) Brutality - screams of anguish
97) Carcass - symphonies of sickness
98) Amorphis - Tales Of A Thousand Lakes
99) Loudblast - disincarnate
100) Napalm death - scum
