The premature Friday MP3 Shuffle #27

Alright folks, here's the weekly Friday mp3 shuffle a bit earlier than usual, since I don't know if I'll have access to the internet tomorrow.

(zip) MP3 Shuffle #27 (47 mb)

1. Down - The man that follows hell (2002)
2. Death Breath - Chopping spree (2006)
3. Nasum - Circle of defeat (2004)
4. Kyuss - Conan Troutman (1993)
5. Black Sabbath - Electric funeral (1971)
6. Dellamorte - Lies (1997)
7. Murder Corporation - Out of bullet (1997)
8. Finntroll - Fiskarens fiende (2004)
9. Entombed - Kick out the jams (1997)
10. Mental Hippie Blood - Psychopathic mind (1994)
11. Metallica - Black squirrel (2008)
12. Ribspreader - Morbidity awoken (2004)
13. Converge - Disintegration (2001)

Lika whatcha hear? Buy 'em all @ Amazon.com.

Them Crooked Vultures

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been busy moving into a new apartment and haven't quite gotten teh innernets hooked up yet. I am posting this from my parents house. How glamorous.

A few years ago Dave Grohl said in an interview that his next project would a band with him on drums, John Paul Jones (whom he had just worked with on Foo Fighter's In Your Honor) on bass and Josh Homme on guitar. I thought it was just a dream line-up mentioned as a spur of the moment kinda thing, but apparently not. The trio has been recording in secret will album slated for release early next year.

What I've heard so far has sounded good, especially Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I which somehow manages to sound like all three bands at the same time:


Nobody Loves Me And Neither Do I preview:


Elephants preview:


Dead End Friends live in Belgium on Aug. 20th:


Gunman live @ the Lowlands Festival:

(mp3) Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker
Available on II (1969)

(mp3) Queens of the Stone Age - Monsters in your parasol
Available on Rated R (2000)

(mp3) Foo Fighters - Walking a line
Available on One By One (Japanese edition, 2002)

The Friday MP3 Shuffle #26

Ah yes, finally the Friday MP3 Shuffles are back where they belong.

A really good one, this. I'm quite proud of it.

(zip) MP3 Shuffle #26 (55 mb)

1. Workhorse - Red sea (1971)
2. Nazareth - Bad bad boy (1973)
3. Cathedral - Serpent eve (1992)
4. High On Fire - Cyclopian scape (2007)
5. Kylesa - Only one (2009)
6. Mad Cow Disease - White dove (1996)
7. Kong - Sport (2009)
8. Stajnas Lobos - I want you (2004)
9. Necrophobic - La satanisma murte (2009)
10. MoistBoys - White trash (2005)
11. Meshuggah - Qualms of reality (1991)
12. Municipal Waste - Mind eraser (2005)
13. Teddybears STHLM - Fill in the blanks (1993)
14. Yawning Man - Encounters with an angry god (2005)

Lika whatcha hear? Then buy 'em @ Amazon.com.

Happy birthday, H.P. Lovecraft!

Had H.P. Lovecraft not snuffed it 72 years ago, today would have been his 119th birthday.

Lucky for him, he did not have to live to experience the hundreds, if not thousands, of metal bands writing songs inspired by his works. He also didn't have to endure the psychedelic rock band of the 60's that took name after him. I don't think he would have appreciated either of these, the grumpy miserable old sod.

He may have been the scowling, glass-is-half-empty type, but that didn't stop him from being the author of all authors. The #1 of all time, if you ask me. Here's three songs inspired by the big man himself:

The Thing That Should Not Be is based on Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931), The Face Of Oblivion is a re-telling of At The Mountains Of Madness (also 1931) and Cthulhu Fhtagn! is just a general tribute.

(mp3) Metallica - The thing that should not be
Available on Master Of Puppets (1986)

(mp3) High On Fire - The face of oblivion
Available on Blessed Black Wings (2005)

(mp3) Death Breath - Cthulhu fhtagn!
Available on Stinking Up The Night (2006)

The Best Albums of the 90s - The Wrap-up

So the massive countdown is over.

I've done a few themed posting in the past, such as the Covers Month of April '09 or the Outsider Odyssey of February/March, and each time it's over it makes me feel a bit empty. Kind of like graduating from high school which leaves you with the feeling of "Great! It's finally over!" which then transforms into "Wait, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?". Ah well, I'll think of something.

By the way, did any of you miss the weekly Friday MP3 Shuffles? They were relocated to my other blog while the countdown was going on. Go there and download them, they're amazing.

I know there are some who are grumpy because Neurosis or Kyuss didn't make it on my list (hi Tomi!), but although I love Neurosis and Kyuss it was important to me to only include albums that mean something to me, that I have a personal connection of some sort with. If I had included every album of the 90s that I like, this would have been a top 300.

I find the statistics quite fascinating, as I have always considered 1995 to be a rather weak year in music. Apparently that's not the case at all:

1990: 0
1991: 5
1992: 2
1993: 1
1994: 3
1995: 7
1996: 3
1997: 3
1998: 3
1999: 3

As we can see 1991 and 1995 rule supreme while 1990 is such a total loser. What a lamestain. If you ever see 1990 walking by, point at it and laugh mockingly.

Here follows a little shoutout to the albums that almost made it onto the list. Check them out too.

Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness (1990)
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy (1990)
Naked City - Torture Garden (1990)
Judas Priest - Painkiller (1990)
Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption (1990)
Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican (1990)
Skid Row - Slave To The Grind (1991)
Grave - Into The Grave (1991)
Slint - Spiderland (1991)
Sepultura - Arise (1991)
Gruntruck - Inside Yours (1991)
Ministry - Psalm 69 (1992)
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992)
Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky (1992)
Fear Factory - Soul Of A New Machine (1992)
Zeni Geva - Desire For Agony (1993)
The Melvins - Houdini (1993)
Cynic - Focus (1993)
The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken (1993)
Green Day - Dookie (1994)
Hole - Live Through This (1994)
Disrupt - Unrest (1994)
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)
Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops (1994)
Shellac - At Action Park (1994)
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994)
Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)
Morbid Angel - Domination (1995)
Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves (1995)
Clutch - S/t (1995)
Death - Symbolic (1995)
Brujeria - Raza Odiada (1995)
Daemon - Seven Deadly Sins (1996)
Screaming Trees - Dust (1996)
Eyehategod - Dopesick (1996)
Social Distortion - White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996)
The Tea Party - Transmission (1997)
The Wildhearts - Endless Nameless (1997)
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997)
Machine Head - The More Things Change (1997)
Dellamorte - Uglier And More Disgusting (1997)
System Of A Down - S/t (1998)
At The Drive-In - In/Casino/Out (1998)
Backyard Babies - Total 13 (1998)
Nasum - Inhale/Exhale (1998)
Boredoms - Super æ (1998)
Amon Amarth - Once Sent From The Golden Hall (1998)
The Haunted - S/t (1998)
Haystack - Slave Me (1998)
Darkane - Rusted Angel (1999)
Breach - Venom (1999)
Neurosis - Times of Grace (1999)
Today Is The Day - In The Eyes Of God (1999)
Testament - The Gathering (1999)
Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning (1999)
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)
Mr. Bungle - California (1999)

Alrighty, feels good to have gotten that out of the way. Now I feel a little less guilty about leaving some of these great albums and bands off the list.

I've compiled the top 30 bands into two big zip files for your listening pleasure. I recommend listening to these backwards starting with #30 for that genuine countdown feel.

(zip) Top 30 of the 90s part 1 (1-15)
(zip) Top 30 of the 90s part 2 (16-30)

30. Nirvana - Frances Farmer will have her revenge on Seattle (1993)
29. Refused - Refused are fucking dead (1998)
28. Turbonegro - Hobbit motherfuckers (1996)
27. Sugar Ray - Streaker (1995)
26. Tool - H. (1996)
25. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero (1995)
24. Foo Fighters - Oh, George (1995)
23. Dropkick Murphys - Road of the righteous (1998)
22. Slipknot - Eeyore (1999)
21. Pantera - Suicide note, pt. 2 (1996)
20. Therapy? - Stop it you're killing me (1994)
19. Korn - Ball tongue (1994)
18. Peace, Love And Pitbulls - On/Off (1994)
17. Stone Temple Pilots - Wicked garden (1992)
16. Metallica - The god that failed (1991)
15. Misery Loves Co. - Deny everything (1997)
14. White Zombie - Grease paint and monkey brains (1995)
13. Faith No More - The last to know (1995)
12. Mad Season feat. Mark Lanegan - Long gone day (1995)
11. The Hellacopters - The devil stole the beat from the lord (1999)
10. Queens of the Stone Age - Give the mule what he wants (1998)
9. Opeth - Serenity painted death (1999)
8. Alice In Chains - Dam that river (1992)
7. Mary Beats Jane - Blackeye (1997)
6. Strapping Young Lad - Velvet Kevorkian/All hail the new flesh (1997)
5. Down - Hail the leaf (1995)
4. Temple of the Dog - Say hello 2 heaven (1991)
3. Soundgarden - Holy water (1991)
2. Pearl Jam - Garden (1991)
1. Entombed - Through the collonades (1991)

Enjoy!

Metal Bastard reveals The Best Album of the 90s (for real this time)

So, we're getting close. Approaching the end of our little journey through a wonderful decade. Aw gee, I wonder what album is #1. What could it possibly be? Kyuss perhaps? Blues For The Red Sun or Welcome To Sky Valley?

Nope.

Maybe Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral? Nope, sorry Buster. It's not Fireside either, or Afghan Whigs. Well about Slayer? Seasons In The Abyss is pretty good. Indeed, but not good enough.

At The Gates then? Slaughter Of The Soul is a classic! Yes it is, but also hideously overrated. Ministry's Psalm 69? Anthrax's The Sound Of White Noise? Dismember's Like An Everflowing Stream?

No no and no.

An anonymous person left this comment the other day:

Well, since there's one obvious band you haven't mentioned yet - I'm pretty sure that's the number 1 spot. If you have any sense, you'll pick the '94 album, not the '97 (although great as well) or the '99 (not so great) ones.

I assume this person knows me from the Machine Head fourm and referred to Burn My Eyes (1994), The More Things Change (1997) and The Burning Red (1999). But alas, it's not Machine Head either.

Death's Spiritual Healing? Today Is The Day's In The Eyes Of God or Temple Of The Morning Star? Carcass' Heartwork? Something by Testament perhaps? The Gathering, or Low? No, sorry. Mother Love Bone's Apple? No, I told you there was no grunge at #1. The Haunted's selftitled debut? No.

Some black metal then? Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas? Darkthrone's A Blaze In The Northern Sky? Satyricon's Nemesis Divina? Emperor's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk? Hell no (pun intended).

Judas Priest's Painkiller? Focus by Cynic? Sepultura's Arise or Chaos AD? Obituary's Cause Of Death? Alright, then it HAS to be Meshuggah, right?!

Ha! Don't make me laugh.

What about Neurosis? Nope. Sorry, Tomi.

Perhaps you think I picked Use Your Illusion 1 & 2? Don't insult me. The Melvins? No, but they were really close to making it onto the list. Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante? Nah, but that one also came close.

Morbid Angel? Autopsy? Megadeth? Amorphis? Bathory? Edge Of Sanity? Godflesh? Bolt Thrower? Rancid? Paradise Lost? Breach? Helmet? Poison Idea? Vision Of Disorder? Nailbomb? Type O Negative? Exhorder? Fear Factory? Gruntruck? Life Of Agony? Grave? Vision Of Disorder? Handsome? Both Worlds? Agnostic Front? Dissection? Prong? Cryptopsy? Vader? Crowbar? Nile? Athiest? Anal Cunt? Primus? Anathema? Deicide? Napalm Death? Rage Against The Machine? Tiamat? Corrosion Of Conformity?

Not even close. I'll give you a hint: It was released in 1991. Any ideas?

Fine, I'll tell you what it is.

Are you ready?

I'm not so sure you are.

But here it comes anyway.

Hold on to your seat, kids.

Metal Bastard hereby declares that the best album of 1990s is...

Well, what else?

The best death metal album of all time, and there's plenty of competition. Stockholm's very own Gods of grind, soldiers of slaughter, cohorts of carnage, disciples of decay and minions of mayhem.

This was Entombed's second album, the one were they took everything to the extreme - it's still to this day their most technical and sophisticated. From the caveman-esque stylings of their 1990 debut Left Hand Path to the (relatively) high tech, surgical precision riff fest of Clandestine, the evolution is remarkable.

But then again Entombed had become quite a different band. Bassist Lars Rosenström had been added to the lineup and singer L-G Petrov had been fired after it turned out he and drummer Nicke Andersson had been boning the same girl. Instead Nicke performed the vocals himself for Petrov's replacement Jonny Dordevic to use as a guide, but Dordevic either never got around to recording vocals or the band thought his performance wasn't good enough.

It's hard to know since memories on the matter seems to differ - Entombed is one of those bands where you get a radically different take on things depending on which member you ask. It's not always easy to know exactly what went down as they all give very different testimonies. An official Entombed biography would be a nightmare to write.

Either way, Dordevic stayed with the band for a while and performed at the now legendary Hultsfred gig in 1992 that made the band quite famous in their native land. However, he was soon fired and Petrov was asked to return as the band's singer, a position he holds to this day.

Nicke Andersson's vocals deserve a special mention though. Although quite deep, he never descends into the truly guttural vocals of many death metal singers. His performance is more of an aggressive low shout/scream that fit the music perfectly. As much as I love Petrov's performances on the rest of the Entombed catalogue, I doubt he could've provided more suitable vocals for this album.

In fact, this is as close to a Nicke Andersson solo death metal album as we're likely to come. He had a hand in writing every song, plenty of lyrics, played lead guitar on some tracks, sang lead and painted the back cover. Given what a fucking genious that man is it's no wonder the album is as good as it is.

His drumming is also worth a mention, even if it's only to say that it's completely unhinged (a word I probably use too much) and fucked up. He's all over the place, like a death metal Brann Dailor.

For whatever reason, on Clandestine Entombed sounded, for a lack of a better word, mature.

The songs were more complex, more layered, denser and thicker than ever, each song containing more spine-snapping riffs than most bands can muster in an entire career. Some songs are even so complex the band later complained that they were too difficult to replicate live.

Clandestine also had the best lyrics of Entombed's career. with Kenny Håkansson, Andersson's childhood friend and future bandmate in The Hellacopters, providing lyrics for several songs. The lyrics are incredibly well-written overall and they almost deserve a chapter of their own. There's this evil, dark, almost Lovecraftian feeling permiating the whole record. A feeling of unease, of uncertainty, of ancient evils lurking just beyond the borders of comprehension. This album captures, better than any other album I've heard, the feeling of utter helpness in the face of unimaginable, gargantuan terrors from distant dimensions.

The one thing that really really sets this album apart from the thousands of death metal albums released over the last 20-25 years is the production, courtesy of Tomas Skogsberg at the near mythical Sunlight Studios in Stockholm. And the samples! Oh good god the samples... The sample of the manic cackling laugh from the 1932 classic The Mummy in Sinners Bleed sends shivers down my spine every single time.

Oh fuck it, I'm at a loss for words. I don't get speechless often but I honestly can't think of any way to describe the brilliance of this album. It's a bonafide meisterwerk of Biblical porportions, a flawless wonder, an eloquent demonstration of how beautiful and envigorating death metal can be.

I'll wrap up this epic countdown by letting the music speak for itself - download these four tracks, then buy the album (or download from somewhere, doesn't matter as long as you hear it) and worship till the day the clouds fall from the skies, the angels get AIDS and demons will rule the earth.

(mp3) Entombed - Sinners bleed
(mp3) Entombed - Blessed be (recommended!)
(mp3) Entombed - Chaos breed (recommended!)
(mp3) Entombed - Severe burns

Buy Clandestine @ Amazon.com.

And the Best Album of the 90s is...

...one that won't will be revealed until tomorrow.

I GOTCHA O SNAP! PSYCH!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The 2nd Best Album of the 90s: Pearl Jam - "Ten" (1991)

When announcing this countdown I promised a fair share of grunge, and with Ten we've had three such album so far in the top 5. And I can reveal to you that's all the grunge you'll be getting - #1 is something very different.

Any idea what the #1 might be? Let the guessing game begin.

With a past in bands like Mother Love Bone, Green River, Shadow and Bad Radio, Pearl Jam came storming out of the gates with one hell of a line-up, one hell of a debut album and a hell of a lot of expectations. Accused of posery (I'm pretty sure that's a word) by everyone from music critics to that old bag of whines Kurt Cobain, but a lot of people also embraced Ten and saw it for what it was - a classic 70s style rock album with one epic anthem after another filtered through the grittiness of the late 80s/early 90s Northwestern music scene and singer Eddie Vedder's troubled youth.

No wonder kids all over the world thought it to be the soundtrack to their adolescence. My older sister was one of them and in 1992 she kept playing this album over and over and over and fucking over and little ol'e me was trying to play Super Mario World on the SNES in the next room and had to put up with constantly getting bothered with this album.

When Vedder wailed "But I'm still alive" in Alive I always thought to myself "Yeah but not for long, sounds like you're on your deathbed, you whiny cunt". I never said that out loud because my sister would have hit me repeatedly in the head King of the Ants-style. A classmate used to wear this Pearl Jam shirt to school every single day, and I used to pester him about it. When he snidedly asked me if I had even heard the band, I replied: "Yeah, my sister listens to them. They eat cock".

It was only a few years later that I realise how much I really liked the album. After being systematically subjected to it I knew everything song by heart - and I still do! It's like those lullabies you learn as a child. They stick with you forever and you can sing any of them at the drop of a hat without even trying to remember the words. Ten is a pivotal part of my DNA ladder.

Not long ago a remixed version was released, since the band was never that happy with the reverb-laden original mix. I gave it a listen and I gotta be honest with you - I can hardly tell the difference. Yeah it sounds a little less polished, but way to make a big deal about it.

Sure, compared to Pearl Jam's later, more earthier releases, this sounds like a Meat Loaf record. But that's the beauty of it, the shimmering ethereal production is exactly what songs this emotional needs.

Alright, enough about that. The #1 spot will be revealed this weekend.

I can feel you shivering with anticipation already!

(mp3) Pearl Jam - Once (recommended!)
(mp3) Pearl Jam - Even flow
(mp3) Pearl Jam - Black

The video for Even Flow:


Buy Ten @ Amazon.com.

The 3rd Best Album of the 90s: Soundgarden - "Badmotorfinger" (1991)

Woah top 3, motherfuckers!! Can you feel it?! Can feel the buzz?! Not much longer now! Place your bets folks, who will be #1?! For now, only I know! Bwwahahahahaha!!

Oh lawd, this is too much power for one man!

Ahem. Alrighty, Badmotorfinger. I was a bit torn whether I should put this or 1994's Superunknown on the list. It was a close call, but ultimately I just had to go with this one.

Soundgarden in the prime, at the height of their powers. The songs were the most epic of their career, the riffs were heavier and more technical than ever (imagine Tony Iommi with ADD), Chris Cornell's wailing was that of the gods themselves.

Every single track is a classic, every line pure beauty. Chris Cornell may be as interesting as my morning stool nowadays, but between 1988 and 1996, he was one of the best lyricists in the biz. I don't even know what half of it means, but Soundgarden was one of those very few bands where you could take the booklet and read the lyrics like a collection of poetry.

Perhaps best known for its singles Rusty Cage, Outshined and Jesus Christ Pose, the album consists of so much more, and most people don't even know it. There's the psychedelic, Eastern-tinged Mind Riot which at first only sounds confused and doesn't seem to go anywhere, but once it hits you you'll be humming it forever.

There's the raging quickies Face Pollution and Drawing Flies, there's Room A Thousand Years Wide, not only Soundgarden's best song but one of the best songs made by anyone ever. Listen to Cornell's opening scream, the seemingly endless guitar note screeching like an ambulance siren throughout every verse and the blistering saxophone solo. So beautiful, so perfect, so sublime it makes me tear up just writing about it.

There's Slaves And Bulldozers, the bass line of which will make your speaker vibrate across the room. The Black Sabbath-on-steroids heaviness of New Damage, the Led Zeppelin-on-loco-weed stylings of Somewhere, or Holy Waters, the song Deep Purple never wrote. I could go on forever, but I shant. If these songs were penises I would drop to my knees and gently fellate them til my jaw fell off.

Honestly, I don't know why you're still reading this. You're wasting time that could be spent ordering a copy of Badmotorfinger.

(mp3) Soundgarden - Room a thousand years wide (recommended!)
(mp3) Soundgarden - Mind riot
(mp3) Soundgarden - New damage

Searching With My Good Eye Closed (orgasmic live version):


Buy Badmotorfinger @ Amazon.com.

The 4th Best Album of the 90s: Temple Of The Dog - "S/t" (1991)

Still hot from our #5 on the countdown, here comes another supergroup. An even better one.

Seattle, 1990. Andy Wood, frontman of Mother Love Bone and Malfunkshun, dies of a heroin overdose when the band was on the brink of a major breakthrough. His band mates, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament, team up with their old buddies Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron from Soundgarden and a relative unknown, Mike McCready, who helps out on guitar duties.

Together they form Temple Of The Dog, named after a line in the Mother Love Bone song Man Of Golden Words, to honor their deceased friend and help the healing process. Cornell contributes two songs written for and about Wood - Say Hello 2 Heaven and Reach Down, and the project soon turned into something much bigger.

The band recorded several more of Cornell's songs as well as some of Gossard's material, such as Times Of Trouble which was also the blueprint for Pearl Jam's Footsteps. Eddie Vedder - a Californian surfer dude and beach bum whom had just been recruited by Gossard, Ament and McCready for their new band Pearl Jam - joined the sessions and sang on several tracks, included a duet with Cornell, Hungerstrike.

The album got great reviews but sold quite modestly. That is until a year later when both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam had released successful albums (Badmotorfinger and Ten, respectively) and relaunched the album as a Soundgarden/Pearl Jam collaboration and had a video made for Hungerstrike.

Regarding the quality of the album I have little to add, it's the 4th best album of the decade for a reason - the songs are fucking amazing, the production is perfect, everyone is on fire, especially Cornell who gives what is probably the performance of his career.

The shortlived band only played one gig, and apart from a couple of spur-of-the-moment performances (like when Cornell has joined Pearl Jam on stage), Temple Of The Dog has been completely inactive for the last 18 years.

Which I appreciate, because as any avid reader of this blog would know by now, if there is one thing I detest it's reunions. Let sleeping dogs lie, no need to flog a dead horse for old times sake. Just because something was great once doesn't mean it should be resurrected. The memories are good enough, leave it at that.

Nothing ruins creativity more effectively than nostalgia. Looking back instead of forward and trying to recreate big moments will always fail and only leave you disappointed. Just look what happened in the 90s when Velvet Underground reunited, or perhaps The Sex Pistols. Or when The Stooges got back together. A bunch of crusty old farts trying to reenact something that was vital and exciting once, and in the process going against everything their bands stood for in the first place. Way to rape your legacy, morons.

And don't even get me started on people like The Rolling Stones who should have called it quits in 1969 when "I can't get no satisfaction" still meant something. If you still don't know how to get some satisfaction after 45 years, maybe you're doing it wrong. Throw in the towel and shut the fuck up, Big Lips McGee.

B.B. King has been singing The Thrill Is Gone since 1970. Well maybe it's time to go find a new thrill then and quit moaning about it, you heffer. The Who still playing My Generation? "I hope I die before I get old"? Allow me to wave the flag of massive fail. Why don't they all just fade away?

I'll tell you why: Nostalgia. Clinging on to a moment instead of creating new ones. I don't want to die before I get old, but I hope I die before I get as pathetic as Roger Daltry.

Which is one of the reasons I rank this album higher than Down's NOLA - I have nothing against Down's subsequent output, but just imagine if Down had just made that one album and was never heard from again. By now they would have cult status unlike most things seen in the metal world. Had that been case, perhaps NOLA would have been #4, and TOTD #5. It's quite possible.

So thank you, Temple Of The Dog for never going on tour, for never reuniting and for never ever making a follow-up album. May it stay that way.

(mp3) Temple of the Dog - Call me a dog
(mp3) Temple of the Dog - Times of trouble (recommended!)
(mp3) Temple of the Dog - Wooden Jesus

The video for Hungerstrike:


Buy S/t @ Amazon.com.

The 5th Best Album of the 90s: Down - "NOLA" (1995)

In the early 90s a demo by a band called Down started circulating in the metal underground. The tape consisted of heavy, Black Sabbath-style metal mixed with touches of classic Southern rock and a big slab of sludge.

It soon surfaced that the anonymous members behind this moniker were long-time friends Phil Anselmo (Pantera), Pepper Keenan (Corrosion of Conformity), Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod) and Kirk Windstein and Todd Strange (Crowbar) who instead of competing with each other had decided to join forces in the mightiest metal cartel the world has seen.

Not only a "supergroup" worth the name (unlike most supergroups) but a damn fine group, period. Together they made an album better than anything Pantera, CoC, Crowbar or Eyehategod have ever produced. The sum greater than its parts? No kidding.

When NOLA hit the shelves in 1995 it was met with unanimous praise and sold half a million copies. Rightfully so, as the album not only combines the very best parts of all aforementioned bands, but has stronger Southern influences than all of them. You can smell the hotter-than-hell shrimp gumbo bubbling away and feel the stinking steam rising from swamps. You can hear the cicadas, the mosquitos, Sweet Home Alabama playing loudly at the BBQ party down the dirt road, the gators splashing in the creek, and everyone drives a pick-up truck adorned with a Confederate flag.

A bunch of stereotypes, I know. But listen to the album and you'll see for yourself - that's exactly what NOLA sounds like. A better title (short for "New Orleans, Louisiana") could not have been chosen.

Seven long years went by before the follow-up Down II was released in 2002, and got a much more mixed reception. The band had gotten decidedly softer and the album wasn't nearly as dark as their debut.

True, II doesn't have the classic feel of NOLA, but I happen to like quite a bit. Perhaps people got disappointed when instead of a Sabbathy metal album with Southern tinges, they got a Southern rock album with Sabbath tinges. Or maybe the years of hype and praise had create unrealistic expectations.

However you may feel about Down's current output (their 4th album is expected to be released later this year), you'd have to be a fool not to fall to your knees and worship the wonder that is NOLA.

(mp3) Down - Rehab
(mp3) Down - Eyes of the south
(mp3) Down - Bury me smoke (recommended)

Buy NOLA @ Amazon.com.

The video for Stone The Crow:

The 6th Best Album of the 90s: Strapping Young Lad - "City" (1997)

Ah yes, now we're finally getting to the really brutal shit.

After singing on the only listenable Steve Vai record (Sex And Religion, 1993), playing guitar with The Wildhearts, and releasing the promising but ultimately kinda dull Strapping Young Lad debut Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing, Devin Townsend rallied up his forces (guitarist Jed Simon, bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan) and released City, still to this day the finest moment of his career.

The soundtrack to the futuristic loonie bin of your choice, City is an unstoppable force few bands can compete with. An album consisting of the cold machine-like brutality of industrial metal, the surgical precision riffing of thrash metal and the intensity of grindcore, all buried under layers of the most glorious of white noise and swathes of keyboards providing a savage soundscape worthy of H.R. Giger's most frantic nightmares.

All of which is topped off with Devin Townsend screaming out his distaste for humanity with a sarcastic grin stretching from ear to ear.

That last one is one of the most important ingredients on here: Townsend's sense of humor. Strapping Young Lad's whole career has been one long exercise in taking the piss of the absurdity known as metal music. Every cliche is embraced and taken to the limit. And as a result they are one of the best metal bands in world. Fancy that. After being a SYL fan for too long, it's nearly impossible to listen to metal bands who take themselves too seriously.

The sheer ferocity, mayhem and madness exhibited in its nine tracks are enough to blow the pubes right off your manshaft, it's not until the album's sixth track AAA that the savage beating up lets for a moment. If you look up "Controlled chaos" in a dictonairy, you'll find a picture of this album.

At its finest moments, City feels like being kicked to death in an auto wrecking yard by a cyberpunk clown in a straitjacket while replicant midgets are doing cartwheels in the background and rabid sealions balance the chopped off heads of your loved ones on their noses.

Much of the album's success also lies (not unlike Slayer's Reign In Blood, another quickpaced mental case of a record) in its brevity. Where Townsend often has a tendency to fill each cd to the brim even though the album as a whole would have benefitted from trimming the fat a bit, City's nine tracks in 39 minutes is just right.

Alright, that'll do. Are you ready for the top 5?

You better be.

(mp3) Strapping Young Lad - Oh my fucking god
(mp3) Strapping Young Lad - Detox
(mp3) Strapping Young Lad - Underneath the waves (recommended!)

Buy City @ Amazon.com.

The video for Detox:

The 7th Best Album of the 90s: Mary Beats Jane - "Locust" (1997)

It's sad how Mary Beats Jane continue to be overlooked and neglected. The few people who do rave about Mary Beats Jane always (literally always) talk about their 1994 selftitled debut and act like Locust, their second album and clearly their magnum opus, doesn't even exist.

If you have any interest in modern metal, I'm sure you're familiar with Peter Dolving. If not for his throat shredding performances in The Haunted, then perhaps for his rants on his MySpace Page - rants which frequently make the news section on Blabbermouth.

But before The Haunted there was Mary Beats Jane. Dolving was asked to join the band in the early 90's. At first he was hesitant, because he thought that by "metal" they meant stuff like Guns N' Roses, but when the band started namedropping Mudhoney and Black Flag, he was won over.

Funny thing is, Mary Beats Jane sounded absolutely nothing like either Mudhoney or Black Flag. The aforementioned overrated debut album has a Pantera meets Rollins Band kinda vibe and it hasn't aged very well. Locust however sounds as amazing as it did twelve years ago. Almost like a dirtier, more unhinged version of Tool, only much better (bring your wrath, Tool nerds - I'll take on every last one of you).

Shortly after the release of Locust Mary Beats Jane disbanded. They reunited in 2004, but has yet to produce a follow up to the majestic Locust.

These three songs only hint at the brilliance that is Locust, an album that must be heard in its entirety. Make the right choice and buy it today. Or just download it from somewhere, I don't care.

(mp3) Mary Beats Jane - Pure
(mp3) Mary Beats Jane - Flowered (recommended!)
(mp3) Mary Beats Jane - Cradlewake

Buy Locust @ Amazon.com.

A live performance of Day In Day Out:

The 8th Best Album of the 90s: Alice In Chains - "Dirt" (1992)

The second and best album from Seattle's #1 metal band. Some have labelled them grunge, and while they did feature elements of it, they were metal through and through.

Alice In Chains was the continuation of singer Layne Staley's terrible glam/sleaze outfit Alice N' Chainz, and quickly became one of the most interesting bands in the Pacific Northwest. The debut, 1990's Facelift, was great and showed much promise but AIC didn't fully hit their stride until Dirt.

One of AIC's major themes was always addiction, and the decadence of addiction. On 1995's selftitled album (which I wrote about here - go read it, it's a very good piece) the drugs had taken their toll which resulted in a bleak album with hollow eyes, sunken cheeks and all hope gone. But on Dirt, while it acknowledges that drugs are bad mmkay, many songs do glorify them and the lifestyle that comes with them in a big way.

"Yeah yeah yeah, you shouldn't do drugs kids, blah blah yadda yadda but I do drugs and therefore I am enlightened, I've seen shit you haven't. I'm not condoning it, but I am (wink wink). Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go inject some brown muck into my system."

At this point in time, drugs were still fun and cool and life was a party, but it always hints at the darkness lurking around the corner.

By 1994/95 the destructive lifestyles of the band members, Staley in particular, had escalated. Relationships started breaking down and AIC didn't tour for years. S/t would be their last album, and their MTV Unplugged gig in 1996 would be one of their very last together before Staley finally succumbed to his addiction in 2002.

(mp3) Alice In Chains - Rain when I die (recommended!)
(mp3) Alice In Chains - Junkhead
(mp3) Alice In Chains - Down in a hole

Buy Dirt @ Amazon.com.

Down In A Hole performed on MTV Unplugged: