When you think of the earliest days of black metal, specifically all the proto-black metal bands like Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory, etc. what comes to mind?  Music that sounds thrash in nature but even edgier and dirtier?  Do you envision lots of denim, leather, chains, spikes and maybe the occasional inverted crucifixes?  Well allow me to direct you to this live footage of Sweden’s Nifelheim playing the track “Sodomizer” off their self-titled debut.

As you can probably tell by the quality of the video (and the video description) this footage was filmed in 2006.  Not 1986.  2006.  You see Nifelheim are one of those second wave black metal bands that did everything they could to rekindle the magic of the earliest days of the genre.  Call them rip-offs, call them cheesy, call them whatever you want…they don’t give a f*ck.  And really why should they?  Isn’t black metal all about not giving a f*ck?  In all seriousness though Nifelheim was one of the more extreme black metal bands to emerge in that gloried second wave of black metal in the mid-90s.  This, their debut album, was released through Necropolis Records in 1995.  From the absolute throat-slitting songs to the insanely creepy/campy album cover Nifelheim was pretty blatant in their desire to burn Poseurs and Falses at the stake.

For an album that was trying to be as nasty and gritty as possible this actually had better production than half of what Necropolis was putting out at the time.  So you don’t have to be an extreme black metal fan to appreciate what these guys were doing (but it doesn’t hurt either).  I highly recommend you check out the track “Black Curse” for starters.

When you talk about grindcore, especially over the last decade there are a handful of bands that absolutely need mention when discussing the greats of the genre.  Not the least of which is Virginia’s Pig Destroyer.  You want a band that puts out quality release after quality release then look no further than these guys.  Needless to say this will not be the last time we see them on this list.

Pig Destroyer play a type of grindcore that mixes in elements of everything from death metal to hardcore. (Listen to those breakdowns on “Heathen Temple” and tell me they don’t have hardcore roots…)  Compared to some other grindcore bands it can come off as a somewhat polished sound.  However when you talk perspective, calling Pig Destroyer “polished” is like calling Nicki Minaj “talented”.  It’s a misnomer from the word go.  But there is something to be said about the pristine production that accompanies Pig Destroyer albums, including this one.  But the sick barrage of deranged lyrics, crazy blast beats, monster riffs and psychotic samples make you forget how clean it all sounds.  (I know, I know, who the hell wants to listen to lo-fi crap all the time?  I don’t.  Not all the time.  I can appreciate solid production as much as the next guy.)

Phantom Limb was the band’s fourth studio album, released in 2007 on Relapse.  It’s not their best release but it’s still an absolute must-have for any and all grindcore fans – really all metal fans in general.  Even Pig Destroyer on a bad day is still better than about 90% of all other grindcore bands.  That’s got to be scientific fact or something by now.  Thanks to the lovely lads at Relapse you can listen to this entire album for free over at the Pig Destroyer Bandcamp page.  I highly recommend you take a trip over there sooner than later.

A little bit ago we mentioned the highly underrated and influential California doom metal band by the name of Mindrot.  So why do I mention this?  Because Relapse Records was lucky enough to work with not one but two highly influential and extremely underrated doom bands from California.  The other one being Morgion.

At a time when the biggest bands on the Relapse roster consisted of the likes of Amorphis, Neurosis, Unsane, Soilent Green, and Today is the Day to name a few, a band like Morgion could easily be forgotten on that roster.  It’s a testament really to how good this band was really that they didn’t just vanish on their own label.  Morgion’s sound wouldn’t allow it.  Mixing atmospheric and epic doom with death metal, Morgion was an absolute beast of a band.  Their sound was all-encompassing. (And yet they weren’t just a studio band.  I had the pleasure of seeing them live about a half dozen times and they brought down the skies and rained doom upon every venue, leaving it trembling in their wake.)

Solinari was the band’s second album, released on Relapse in 1999.  Their one previous album was sort of cobbled together from various recording sessions, so although it’s exceptional it doesn’t feel as complete and whole as this album to me.  Solinari was really the first time these guys sat down to write a full album and it shows.  Songs blend and flow into each other telling this really compelling musical narrative.  If you are a doom fan at all, specifically the ambient style favored by many European bands, then this is a record you need to hear.  I suggest you start with the track “Canticle” as it’s one of the better doom tracks you may hear for quite some time.

When a band shows up on here more than once it’s up to me to explain why a band is taking up multiple spots on this list.  Such is the case with Brazil’s Krisiun.  So with all the great death metal albums out there, including ones that got left off this list (of which I’m sure there will be an endless supply of complaints) how does Krisiun rate that we are onto album #2 from them?  The fact is that Krisiun absolutely deserve to have more than one album on this list but if I was forced to choose just one…this album might be the one.

Krisiun play death metal one of the best ways possible.  Take early thrash metal albums from bands like Slayer, Sodom, Kreater and Possessed  – all the great proto-death metal stuff and combine it with the delivery of bands like Deicide and Morbid Angel and what you are left with is a pretty decent summary of the Krisiun sound.  It’s fast, it’s pissed, it’s unrelenting and frankly it’s the sheer definition of brutal.  But unlike some bands that just try to be brutal for brutal’s sake, Krisiun are also extremely technically proficient.  Check out this killer live version of “Kings of Killing” for great example of all of the above.

Apocalyptic Revelation was the band’s second full-length album, originally released in 1998 on GUN Records out of Germany.  This is the album that would lead them to a record deal with Century Media and eventually allowing them to claim their place as one of the better and most renowned death metal bands in the world. I highly recommend that you check out the track “Apocalyptic Victory“.

So we’ve talked in the past about how a handful of really prominent European metal bands decided in the late 90′s/early 00′s to sort of soften their sound.  Whether that was taking a more goth approach, making their sound more accessible to potential mainstream fans or both, there was no denying the complete overhaul some bands went through.  One such band was Katatonia, although I feel like their progression wasn’t as drastic as a lot of other bands of their ilk.  Regradless, what we haven’t talked about yet were the bands that formed out of these other bands as former and still current members were looking to satisfy their desire to continue to play heavier music.  One such project was Sweden’s Diabolical Masquerade.

So at one point Anders Nystrom (or Blakkheim as he called himself) must have said to himself, “This is cool and all but I want some real darkness in my music”…or something along those lines I’m guessing.  Because in the mid-90′s he formed a one-man symphonic black metal project called Diabolical Masquerade.  Their sound would progress from album to album growing more and more avant garde in nature, incorporating odd time-signature changes, a virtual symphony’s worth of orchestration and a penchant for intriguing story-telling in each song.  What makes it even more impressive is that, with the exception of recruiting producer and metal legend Dan Swano to fill in on a few instruments here and there, this is almost completely a one-man show.  I know we tend to think of one-man black metal bands as lo-fi stuff recorded in some dudes bedroom.  But this is anything but.

In 1998, Diabolical Masquerade released their third album, Nightwork, on Avant-garde Music.  So why single out the third of four albums that Blakkheim would cobble together?  Good question.  Possibly because this is the first album to me where he really hits his stride as a songwriter.  There’s a lot going on in the music here and I think this album is much more adventurous than the previous two.  I highly suggest you give the album a spin.  Here’s a link to the entire album.  Go listen now before someone rips it down.

You hear a lot of talk about ‘lost classics’.  I’ll admit I’m partial to the term myself.  But really it’s rare to stumble across a band that everyone has seemingly forgotten, only to discover how truly awesome their material was.  Well let me introduce you to Milwaukee’s Realm.

Realm played an awesome hybrid of speed and power metal, especially on their first album (they went a slightly more progressive way on their second release).  I’m not sure if anyone has ever coined the term “progressive speed metal” but if they did they were probably talking about this band.  Realm’s debut full length album Endless War was released in 1988 on Roadrunner Records.  I have to wonder if this album had been released maybe two or three years earlier if we wouldn’t be talking about these guys in the same breathe as some of their contemporaries like Anthrax for example.  The vocal performance from Mark Antoni alone is worth the price of admission.  This dude has got some serious lungs.  The guitar work is also exceptional.  Really just a solid record all-around, especially for being a debut.

Sadly these guys would put out only one more album for Roadrunner after this one.  From what I’ve heard, when their contract ended they went looking for another label/deal and nothing came from it.  This was 1992 and the metal landscape was changing drastically.  These guys I’m sure no longer fit the plans of the bigger labels in the scene.  They wound up breaking up and a third full length album they recorded remains unreleased to this day.  Bummer.  I highly suggest you check out the title track.  It’s a ripper.  If you’re feeling a little more adventurous I suggest their cover of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby“.  It’s a speed metal version of a song that has no right being a speed metal song…and it totally works.

Metal is a very emotion-packed form of expression.  That’s kind of an understatement I know but follow me on this one.  So you often hear about bands setting up certain moods and whatnot.  X album sounds nature oriented, Y album sounds like something off a horror movie soundtrack, etc., etc., etc.  Well let me add to this.  If you had to pick one album off this list that sounds like what’s going on inside the head of a madman looked in a rubber room it might just be this album.

Kiss It Goodbye formed out of the ashes of two of the most influential hardcore bands of all-time  – Deadguy and Rorschach.  Originally from New Jersey the band relocated to Seattle and produced their debut full-length album, She Love Me, She Loves Me Not in 1997 for Revelation Records.  Sadly this band would be gone about a year later, having only recorded one more EP that was supposed to come out on Sub Pop.  I look back at this band and part of me thinks that for 1998, when they broke up, the indie world wasn’t ready for these guys.  But part of me thinks that they are so good that Sub Pop would have delivered them to a ton more fans and, who knows, 15 years later we may be talking about these guys as possible the biggest hardcore band in the world.  Such as the wheel turns I suppose…

If you are familiar at all with Deadguy and/or Rorschach then you’ll be ahead of the game in picking up what this band is putting down.  They are similar in style to both bands but in a way heavier and darker than either of them as well.  Tim Singer was easily one of the best vocalists in the history of hardcore for my money and his throat-shredding, maniacal performance on this album is worth the price of admission alone.  I highly recommend you check out this link to the entire album (before someone pulls it down).

When we look back at the history of black metal, the rise of the American scene is going to eventually get its own chapter.  One of the bands that will feature prominently in said chapter is Wolves In The Throne Room.  However, it’s not going to be because they followed the ‘rules’ of black metal.  On the contrary, it will be because they absolutely did not and created a vision of what black metal could be on their own terms.

There are those that hesitate to call WITTR a black metal band because of all the experimentation that goes on with their albums.  Hogwash.  There is zero doubt in my mind that this is a black metal band first no matter what certain fans and journalists will tell you.  However the fact that they dabble in doom, ambient, various forms of folk music, etc. can not be understated.  There is as much of a Neurosis influence on this band as there is Emperor.  Obviously a lot of it has to do with them building these atmospheres to fit their lyrical content and their over all “eco-metal” vibe.  I mean, few bands commune with nature the way this band does.

This is the second album we’ve seen on the list from these guys.  Two Hunters was the band’s  second full length album, released in 2007 on Southern Lord.  This album was seminal for two reasons.  First and foremost this was the album where they really started to experiment and expand their sound.  (Ambient music with the sound of fire crackling in the background, the rhythmic banging of drums and all while a haunting female voice serenades us?  Yes, please.)  It’s also their first album with Southern Lord and therefore their first album with proper distribution.  This was the album that really put WITTR on the metal map.  It’s an absolute gem of a record and a triumph of the American black metal scene.  A lot of USBM bands that have come since owe this record a debt of gratitude.  While the link is still active I suggest you go check out the entire album.

Listen, I’ll be the first to tell you that there are some bands on this list, that even for the fans of the most extreme forms of metal, are an acquired taste.  One of those bands for sure is Sweden’s Regurgitate.  It’s not just that this band plays goregrind.  No, that alone usually disqualifies a band from making someone’s year end Top 10 list.  It’s more so that they play such an abrasive, lo-fi version of goregrind.  This is extreme metal with the emphasis on the ‘extreme’ part.

Regurgitate spent the 1990s in virtual obscurity, only really known to the select audiophiles who somehow stumbled upon them.  But in 1999 that thankfully changed.  That was the year that Relapse Records released the compilation album. Effortless Regurgitation…The Torture Sessions.  First of all the album has 63 tracks to it…63!  So you know right off the bat there is a lot of grinding goodness on here.  The album comprises they 1994 album, Effortless Regurgitation of Bright Red Blood, their Concrete Human Torture demo, and a bunch of tracks from various splits and 7″s.  As a general rule I’m not a huge fan of comp albums…unless it’s one that culls together a bunch of stuff that would be otherwise unavailable to me. This would be the case here.  Good luck trying to find this stuff in their original formats.  Therefore this album is absolutely key in introducing one of the better goregrind bands in the world to a worldwide audience.

If you’re a fan of the super extreme death metal and grindcore then this album may be for you.  If you aren’t I still suggest you give it a go.  Here’s a link to the original Effortless Regurgitation… album which comprises the first 37 tracks of this album.  I’ll also apologize now for all the gross (and probably NSFW) album artwork…

There are some bands that people (read: journalists) never really agree on how to classify.  Take Massachusetts’ The Red Chord for example.  I’ve seen this band categorized about 15 way s from Sunday – hardcore, metalcore, death metal, grindcore, deathgrind (which I swear is something music journalists made up when they were forced to write about metal bands with growling vocals they knew nothing about), etc. For me, I just call this band and particularly this album, awesome.

Let’s try to get this right before we move on.  First, The Red Chord is not a grindcore band.  Whoever was the first to dub them that is an idiot.  Secondly, we will not call them metalcore because it’s a bad word and they are 1000 times better and more talented than any band that proudly wears the “metalcore” tag.  Thirdly, “deathgrind” might vaguely apply to bands that first pioneered the grindcore sound while dabbling in death metal (i.e. Carcass) but it doesn’t apply here.  So that leaves us with hardcore and death metal.  I don’t think either fully applies but the closest is probably death metal.  Listen to the track “Fixation on Plastics” and you can’t deny that it doesn’t sound like a damn death metal song.  However, this band emerged out of the very rich Massachusetts hardcore scene and the breakdowns/spoken word passages you get in a song like “Black Santa” it’s hard to deny their hardcore roots.  I think people are mostly hesitant though to call them “death metal” because they don’t look the part.  It sucks that fashion dictates how people view bands even in the metal underground but such is life.

Clients was the band’s second full-length album, but first for Metal Blade, released in 2005.  Their debut album was the one that helped grow their fan base and get them on Metal Blade.  But it was this album that would sell a ton and lead to an eventual spot on an Ozzfest…where a ton of Falses in Emmure t-shirts would call them “metalcore”.  Seriously though, this album has a huge, pummeling sound with an awesome lyrical concept/theme and I’m hoping it proved to be a gateway band for Innocents and Falses to get into bands like Suffocation, Morbid Angel, and Obituary.

Some labels are going to show up on this list a lot.  By now you can probably figure out who some of them are – Metal Blade, Earache, Century Media, etc.  One of those labels is Relapse.  When you look at the history of Relapse it’s littered with seminal releases from bands that will be all over this list – Neurosis, Amorphis, Suffocation, Mastodon, Nile, High On Fire, etc., etc., etc.  One band though that never gets mentioned in the same breath as some of these heavyweights when talking about the great albums Relapse has put out is California’s Mindrot.  That’s something I hope we can change.

Mindrot had been kicking around for quite some time when Relapse finally picked them up.  They had put out three demos and various 7″s.  But their proper debut full-length album, Dawning, wasn’t released until 1995.  At the risk of sounding hyperbolic this album was absolutely trend-setting.  Sure the gothic-inspired, atmospheric doom thing had been around for quite some time.  But I’m not sure if any band (or at least any American band) had mastered the art of atmospheric doom the way Mindrot had.

When I go back and listen to this album I can’t help but wonder how much of an influence it’s had on everyone from Opeth (Yes, Opeth) to a band like Woods of Ypres.  They blend the gruff and clean vocals in a way that’s not pretentious at all.  The music itself is downright mesmerizing at certain points with the sweeping, listener-encompassing riffs.  Plus, like a lot of great doom albums, it’s meant to be listened to in one continuous listen, front-to-back.  There’s something to be said when a band can tell a seemingly continuous story for 40+ minutes (even if lyrically there’s no clear theme).

I highly suggest you give the opening two tracks “Dawning” and “Anguish” a go.  If you are a fan of atmospheric doom then you will not be disappointed.

This is going to be one of those records where someone, somewhere is going to sit at their keyboard and either figuratively or literally type me a nasty message about how this isn’t a “metal” record.  I can see it now.  It’ll read something like, “This is beyond the metal genre and is far and away better than any boring metal record. This is art rock/noisecore/post-hardcore/<insert made up genre here> and it’s wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah…”  Or something along those lines.

The truth of it is that this will be one of the most unique records you’ll see on this list.  It’s true that this band employs the synths in ways that almost no other band on this list does.  It absolutely includes influences from all of the above genres.  But it also borrows quite freely from grindcore and other extreme forms of metal to form a pretty blistering sound.  So anyone looking to argue with me over whether this album should be included on a “metal” list is clearly a) not a metal fan and b) someone who probably doesn’t think metal “deserves” to have a band like The Locust included amongst their ranks…which therefore means c) they can piss right off.

Plague Soundscapes was the second full length album from San Diego’s The Locust, released in 2003 on ANTI-Records (which is the sister label of Epitaph).  Up to this point the band did not have the same distribution as this album so for many people this was their first taste of this sonic hodgepodge.  What a hodgepodge it is.  The entire album, all 23 tracks clocks in at roughly 21 minutes.  But what this band does with roughly 50 second songs is more than what a lot of bands an pull off in three or four minutes.  It’s pretty jaw-dropping at certain points.  I suggest if you have 20 minutes to spare (maybe you’re in line at the DMV…) that you give this entire album a quick listen.