The Most Influential Metal Albums

Release Date	Album	Band	Description
1970	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath	This album was metal's genesis. Most famously, the band's members were: John "Ozzy" Osbourne (Vocals and keyboard), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terry "Geezer" Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums). The title track brings in the album with thunder and lighting, backed by Iommi's ominous guitar. Ozzy's vocals brim with suffering as he spins his tale of horrors. The very next track, "The Wizard," was a radio hit. The title describes what the song's about on the surface, but speculation could hint at "the wizard," of actually being a drug dealer ("everyone's happy when the wizard walks by"). N.I.B., another hit from the album tells of an odd love story between Lucifer and an unnamed woman. Its catchy bass line and vocals make it a great song.
1983	Peice of Mind	Iron Maiden	Iron Maiden's fourth album and second album with lead singer Bruce Dickinson, argueably the greatest vocalist in metal. This album carries Iron Maiden's greatest hit, "Flight of Icarus," which looks on the tragic flight of Icarus, who in the greek myth, flew too close to the sun on wings made of wax and feathers. Due to flying to close, his wings melted and he fell into the ocean and drowned. "The Trooper" is also on this album--a song dealing with the famous poem, "The Light Brigade." It also contains "To Tame a Land," a song about Frank Herbert's book, "Dune." Iron Maiden set the standard of aggressive metal. It goes beyond the ominous guitars of Black Sabbath and into more fast-paced music, also known as "thrash."
1990	Seasons in the Abyss	Slayer	Slayer, one of the powerhouses of thrash metal, evolved their sound into something more melodic. Their previous albums, such as "No Mercy," and "Hell Awaits" were pure brutality--fast played drums, with slamming power chords from guitar. This album, however, goes beyond the redundant speed of their previous works. Songs like "Dead Skin Mask," and "Seasons in the Abyss" come with catchy choruses, something most metal at the time was without.
1992	Vulgar Display of Power	Pantera	Pantera, another band with evolving music. They began their career with a "hair metal" album entitled "Cowboys From Hell." As good as this album was, this second release blew it out of the water. Moving away from the high-pitched standards of metal, vocalist Phil Anselmo began using more low-pitched screaming vocals. Hits such as "Walk," and "This Love" have become heavy metal classics. The band has since broken up due to disagreements between Phil Anselmo and guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbot, who was shot and killed at one of his shows in Columbus in December of 2004.
1995	Symbolic	Death	The founders of death metal. This album, easily the greatest of their releases, supplies listeners with brutal, yet surprisingly melodic tracks such as "Crystal Mountain." Guitar player and vocalist, Chuck Schuldiner, growls and shreds his way through the entire album.
1995	Slaughter of the Soul	At The Gates	The founders of melodic death metal. At The Gates differed from the hell-bent anti-melodic of death metal's standards. Their guitar work brought a sense of harmony to their music, even in its undeniable aggression. This album contains their 'greatest hits,' so to speak of their three album career. The band broke up quickly, but their music started a revolution.
1999	Colony	In Flames	The evolutionary force behind melodic death metal today. This album meets their overly-melodic newer music with their not-melodic-enough past. Colony is a perfect mixture of brutality and harmony. The lyrics don't relate to death and destruction as others of the genre seem to resort to. Their songs move from the questioning of humanity, to simple emotions, such as love.
1999	Still Life	Opeth	This band, possibly the most ingenius band today, push a unique type of music. Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt has combined influences from death metal and progressive rock from the 60's. What has spawned from this mixture is a band which averages ten-minute long tracks that throb with mixtures of growling death metal and smooth progressive melodies. The band's fourth release "Still Life" proves this uniquity. The album itself is a concept--the entire thing seems to be a single ballad about a man coming back to a hometown he was banished from and seeking his lost love. This love, this "Melinda," he names her, however, has already sworn her vows to marry another man. The narrator is barely detered, however, and continues to speak with Melinda, who admits her heart is still his. After this, she sees her sin and kills herself. The town blames the narrator and they publicly hang him. The album ends when he finally meet Melinda in the afterlife.

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