Best Death Metal
SLAYER - SEASONS IN THE ABYSS (SPECIAL EDITION/180G) [ADVISORY] - VINYL.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Although Reign in Blood is generally regarded as Slayer's magnum opus, for me personally Seasons In the Abyss is definitely of their musical and lyrical prowess. The album largely turned away from the lyrical themes of Slayer’s previous works to focus on more earthly pursuits – war, murder, corruption, and greed."
"After opening some other records I bought on Amazon and being disappointed ( but not surprised ) by them being warped, scratched, scuffed, having spindle holes that are drilled too small, all the usual nonsense that comes from buying records on Amazon, I opened the Slayer to find a nicely pressed, very flat record."
"Classic Slayer, I actually got this album when it came out when I was in the 8th grade and the songs are still going strong."
"A very consistant and refined Slayer LP and the last featuring the great Dave Lombardo on drums (probably the best metal drummer of all time)."
"Original metal at its best."
"Classic metal album."
2 x LP 180-gram pressing.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"First off,the legacy edition comes like a hardcover book,but the size of a CD case,with a DVD with the making of the album,and surround sound 5.1 audio of the album,along with liner notes & a small few pages by Mikael talking about the recording process. Bleak is another absolutely amazing track,as is their album titled Blackwater Park. This whole album shifts tempos on a dime,from chaotic and death metal- ish to jazzy and melodic."
"But back to Blackwater park the first track starts off as a acoustic jam before bursting into a full on death metal opus with Michael trading off death metal vocals with clean vocals. Mixing folk like acoustic bliss with some of the heaviness death metal I have ever heard, then changing the tempo to a 70s prog song or a ten minute tool or dream theater song the next."
"is the best thing I've ever heard. If you are viewing this item, you are an Opeth fan, and there is no such thing as a "casual" Opeth fan, so take my advice and buy one of their best albums in 5.0 (again, it sounds/feels like 5.1 so I'm not sure why it is advertised as 5.0) It's almost as good as hearing it live in its' entirety like I heard on their Evolution XX: An Opeth Anthology tour (amazing show by the way, flew out to NYC for it)."
"The first "metal" Opeth album I heard was "Blackwater Park," and it hooked me right away. The liner notes have some additional artwork (very cool) as well as an introduction to the album written by Mike Ackerfeldt that sheds some very cool light on where Opeth was at the junction and the humor and easygoing nature of Mike really comes out (it would be great to kick back some beers with him with Camel playing in the background...). The second disc also has a documentary that was filmed during the recording of the album that is quite enjoyable as well. If you've already purchased the album in past, I would recommend checking it out for the 5.0 mix (depending on how much extra cash you have to throw around on import special edition CDs, that is)."
Out of print in the U.S.!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Although Reign in Blood is generally regarded as Slayer's magnum opus, for me personally Seasons In the Abyss is definitely of their musical and lyrical prowess. The album largely turned away from the lyrical themes of Slayer’s previous works to focus on more earthly pursuits – war, murder, corruption, and greed."
"After opening some other records I bought on Amazon and being disappointed ( but not surprised ) by them being warped, scratched, scuffed, having spindle holes that are drilled too small, all the usual nonsense that comes from buying records on Amazon, I opened the Slayer to find a nicely pressed, very flat record."
"Classic Slayer, I actually got this album when it came out when I was in the 8th grade and the songs are still going strong."
"A very consistant and refined Slayer LP and the last featuring the great Dave Lombardo on drums (probably the best metal drummer of all time)."
"Original metal at its best."
"Classic metal album."
Best Swiss Music
Back from a 15 year hiatus, Celtic Frost return with Monotheist, their brand new studio album.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Clearly visionaries Warrior and Ain have being studying their contemporary metal as there are shades of Sunn 0))) here. Monotheist sounds like everything up until "Into the Pandemonium" pulled together, and because of this the mood shifts from aggressive to avant-garde. And lastly, I absolutely dig the last track "winter", it's the perfect ending song to celebrate the death of one of greatest metal bands ever to live."
"Celtic Frost have come back in an amazing way with this awesome album."
"The atmosphere is darker, heavier, and slower than any of their other albums."
"Some people will argue it's not really CF without Reed St. Mark or what have you, Sesa is awesome on the drums by the way at least in my opinion. Hats off to Tom for always being creative and knowing when to move on, it's not Frost without Martin or Tom and Tom has his next project allready going."
"So, the long and short of it is, fourteen whole years after what was supposed to be their initial swansong came out ("Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying" was released in the early Nineties), Celtic Frost finally blasted back onto the scene with "Monotheist" in 2006. Still armed with huge instrumental chops, the rest of the band employ the perfect amount of propulsive drumming (including just the right number of blasts and thrash beats), and augment it with memorably heavy, darkly sludgy/doomy riffs, musclebound rhythms, and a handful of emphatic guitar solos, to boot. The set begins with "Progeny," which blasts out of the starting gate with thundering, churning power chords anchored by double-kick drumming and iced by really memorable vocals any lyrics. "Ground" brings back that eminently memorable lyricism (in the form of an anthemic chorus, where Fischer belts out "Oh God, why have you forsaken me?! "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" begins with a melodic guitar and bass intro before taking a turn for the heavy side by filtering in some huge, booming riffage. The curiously-named "Os Abysmi Vei Daath," with its crunchy, churning power chords and punching rhythms, and the succeeding "Temple Of Depression," which boasts some ultra-chunky riffage, both work similarly. Then, following a bouncy little introductory drum solo, the seven-minute-long epic, aptly-entitled "Obscured" adopts a heavy doom metal vibe, and one with another truly unforgettable performance from "Warrior." The first part of it, "Totengott," is a positively bone-chilling piece that evokes vintage Sunn O))) (and, subsequently, Black Sabbath); and is sure to get the tiny little hairs on the back of your neck to stand up."
Best British Metal
The DVD Features include: Excerpts from Danish and French television performances, Australian television interviews with Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones, fan-shot bootleg performance of "Heartbreaker", Behind the scenes footage of Knebworth, and an NBC interview with the band from 1970. Disc 2. Immigrant Song / Black Dog / Misty Mountain Hop / Since I've Been Loving You / Going To California / That's The Way / Bron-Y-Aur Stomp / In My Time Of Dying / Trampled Underfoot / Stairway To Heaven / Rock And Roll / Nobody's Fault But Mine / Sick Again / Achilles Last Stand / In The Evening / Kashmir / Whole Lotta Love. While this new set presents some previously unseen footage from the same 1973 Madison Square Garden gigs, its real wonders lie in the earlier (1970) Royal Albert Hall footage and the later Earls Court (1975) and Knebworth (1979) concerts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The maturity that they display, not to mention the raw talent, is nothing short of remarkable!!!! Robert is singing several octaves lower than normal and boy does it work! The fact that he started out singing the blues shines as bright as the sun especially in "Dazed and Confused" and (my new personal favorite) "How Many More Times". One of the best parts is the absolute beautiful quality of the black and white film. The emotion that he lets loose for this small group of teenagers is nothing short of INCREDIBLE! After introducing the band, it's as if the music takes over and he really starts move and he does NOT stop!!! I haven't yet allowed the disc to play past my obsession, but it starts out with a kickass version of "We're Gonna Groove". He is so young, and actually looks younger than he did in the 1969 Danish clip where he is dressed in an uncustomary formal shirt AND jacket (it was probably the last time he that many clothes!)."
"I thought the 3-CD "How the West Was Won" set was pretty good, but it is nothing compared to what is on these two DVDs, which make "The Song Remains the Same" look like a student film. One of the reasons I was never overly impressed with "The Song Remains the Same" was that I already had several bootleg albums of Led Zeppelin concerts from that same period, so I pretty much had live versions of everything that was in the film (albeit, with inferior sound). There is just so much here for fans of Led Zeppelin to treasure and for the first time since Bonzo's untimely death prematurely ended the group's existence I feel like I am once again listening to the greatest rock `n' roll band in the world."
"It sure seemed like most of the difference that I perceived between the two came from the fact that the performance that the performance that has been captured on the Who at the Isle of Wight 1970 Blu-ray disc, that I am comparing to the first DVD in 2-DVD Zep set, seemed incomplete."
Best Black Metal
Vinyl reissue of THE grim, unholy masterpiece is an undisputed black metal classic.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Fantastic Black Metal album."
"The mpeg movie on the multimedia portion of the CD has an interview with Fenriz (drums, words) conducted and shot by Nocturno Culto (vocals, guitars). The lyrics written by Fenriz and Count Grishnakh - Varg Vikernes of Burzum, are darkly poetic and evocative, capturing in words an essence of horror that few other bands ever achieve. This is dark, evil music, to call it grim doesn't begin to describe the sound Darkthrone achieved on Transylvanian Hunger. Yes the production is intentionaly "bad", but it only adds to the cold wall of noise aesthetic Darkthrone were attempting."
"Transilvanian Hunger is one of the most influential black metal albums of all time."
"This album had quite an effect on me when I first heard it years ago and I still enjoy hearing it upon every listen..... One of my favorite from the Norwegians."
"Great digipak package."
"Fennriz is always great to listen to."
"I like this album more than the other Darkthrone albums."
"you have two types of (moronic) approaches for this album: 1) people who ignorantly worship it because they're "supposed to" 2) people who hate it for it's minimalist approach, and "bad" production. those in the first group, we all know them, and chances are at one time we were them (and probably still are if we reflect a little deeper)and the second group, your (i hate this word) typical "more riffs please" metalhead."
Best Pop Metal
young,ypung,johnson.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great album!"
"Love this album."
"Gets 10 stars in my book....R.I.P Malcolm Young!"
"The sound is tighter and fuller, and the songs seem more enjoyable and free of the dirty joke garge band sound from their early days. This is to say that ACDC still sound like ACDC only somehow better and refreshed You can probabaly even recognize the chords they are usning."
"Excellent collection of ac/DC songs!"
"Aside from the fact that it's AC/DC (which already makes it awesome) the presentation of this record excellent."
Best Alternative Metal
The materials used to create picture discs and color vinyl are not the same as traditional vinyl.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The vinyl arrived in great condition with no scuffs, scratches, or other flaws."
"There is some surface hiss and a couple of pops throughout, but if you play it loud enough the hiss is indiscernible. I'm spinning on a AT-LP120 with a classic stanton stylus/cartridge which is fairly high quality, so if you're spinning on, say, a Crosley you'll get questionable results."
"This is a great album. “Disposition” is track 10 on the CD and is track 8 (LP:1, side:2, track:3) on the picture disc version."
"Great purchase, a great item for my collection!!!"
"The most chilling part of the entire album, for me, was the very end of Faaip de Oiad, where the sounds slowly converge to a close.. the surface noise always associated with records added to that just made my hair stand."
"My original CD was beat and wanted a replacement before they quit making them."
"The artwork is incredible."
"What am I supposed to do with this CD Amazon?"
Best Progressive Metal
Rather like Metallica circa ...And Justice for All, the sound is focused heavily on texture, with vocals and guitars layered one atop the other, and heart-pounding drums underlying everything.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I missed this one."
"Love this CD, would rank it right with 10,000 days and Lateralus."
"all perfecft."
"Great CD. 10/10. Can't stream Tool's music anywhere, so I had to buy it."
"Was a birthday present for my husband."
"Needed to replace my old disc."
"21 years old and it still just as good as it was back 1996."
Best Thrash & Speed Metal
Megadeth - Rust In Peace Vinyl LP.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Rust in Peace is one of those albums that has the mark of greatness."
"Great album and a great pressing."
"I love this album."
"Great sound and no skips!"
"Good album, no problems with quality."
"I ordered this record and it's completely warped."