#14: SYSTEM OF A DOWN – TOXICITY
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 5:00pm by MetalSucksSPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER ROB PASBANI OF METAL INJECTION
We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal to find out what they thought the 21 Best Metal Albums of the 21st Century So Far have been. Eligible albums were released between January 1, 2000 and April 1, 2009. Each panelist turned in a ballot, with their #1 album worth 21 points, their #2 album worth 20 points, and so on and so forth. The ballots are now in and we’ll be counting down one album a day until we reach #1. Today we present the #14 album, coming in with a total of 124 points…
System of a Down, Toxicity (American, 2001)
Serj Tankian — Vocals, Keyboards
Daron Malakian — Guitars, Vocals
Shavo Odadjian — Bass
John Dolmayan — Drums
Produced by Rick Rubin, Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian
You know how certain songs or albums trigger memories for you? Well, System of A Down’s sophmore release, Toxicity, definitely brings me back to the late summer/early Fall of 2001. I immediately remember being drunk, joy riding with friends and screaming the chorus to “Deer Dance” at the top of my lungs. I remember the day we got the advanced copy of the CD at my college radio station and how I couldn’t believe how heavy this album was. I remember listening to it non-stop for literally three months straight. I have never done that with an album before or since.
These songs got stuck your head. The band knows how to write hooks. Serj Tankian also happens to have an incredible voice. I always joked that he sounds like a rabbi from hell (that is if Jews believed in hell.) He can yell one second, skat the next second and then bring out the clean vocal to settle you down. Look no further than the lead single “Chop Suey” or “Shimmy” for proof. Oh and the riffs! They were so thick. This CD has something for every fan of rock music.
Compared to their first record, the production was more polished and the composition was far less all over the place. They took the sound from the first record and expanded on it, made it bigger. I’m sure mega-producer Rick Rubin (you know, the dude who also signed/produced Slayer) also had something to do with the added polish.
In an era of bands like Adema an Orgy, SOAD definitely stood out as something more, something bigger than just nu-metal, and Toxicity showed that they weren’t just a one trick pony. They were capable of epic yet accessible hard-rock songs with a pinch of humor. That’s why when going back to listen to this CD again, it was just as awesome as the first time I heard it.
-Rob Pasbani
Download Toxicity from Amazon or iTunes!
THE LIST SO FAR:
#15 – Nachtmystium, Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1
#16 – Machine Head, The Blackening
#18 – Lamb of God, New American Gospel
#20 – Shadows Fall, The War Within
#21 – Slipknot, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses
THE PANEL OF VOTERS
Chris Adler, Lamb of God
Dan And, Bison B.C.
Ben Apatoff, Apatoff for Destruction/Metal Injection
Jason Bittner, Shadows Fall
Tim Brennan, Ferret Music/Channel Zero Entertainment
Freddy Cai, Painkiller Magazine
Ian Christe, Bazillion Points
Reverend David J. Ciancio, Yeah! Management
Betsey Cichoracki, Relapse Records
Paul Conroy, Ferret Music/Channel Zero Entertainment
J. Costa, Thy Will Be Done
Dallas Coyle, ex-God Forbid/Coyle Media
Doc Coyle, God Forbid
CT, Rwake
Anso DF, MetalSucks/Hipsters Out of Metal!
Vince Edwards, Metal Blade Records
Charles Elliott, Abysmal Dawn/Nuclear Blast Records
Brian Fair, Shadows Fall
Leo Ferrante, Warner Music Group
D.X. Ferris, author 33 1/3: Reign in Blood/Freelance Journalist
Mike Gitter, Roadrunner Records
Nick Green, Decibel
Matt Grenier, August Burns Red
Anthony Guzzardo, Earache Records
Kevin Hufnagel, Dysrhythmia
Mark Hunter, Chimaira
Steve Joh, Century Media
EJ Johantgen, Prosthetic Records
Kim Kelly, Metal Injection/Hails & Horns/Freelance Journalist
Josh “The J” Key, Psychostick
Jason Lekberg, Epic Records
Eyal Levi, Daath
Bob Lugowe, Relapse Records
Matt McChesney, The Autumn Offering
Jake McReynolds, Psychostick
Marc Meltzer, The Syndicate
Josh Middleton, Sylosis
Matt Moore, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder
Vince Neilstein, MetalSucks
Sammy O’Hagar, MetalSucks
Anton OyVey, MetalSucks/Bacon Jew
Rob Pasbani, Metal Injection
Alex Preiss, Psychostick
Carlos Ramirez, NoiseCreep/Universal Music Group
Brian Rocha, Fresno Media USA
Jeremy Rosen, Roadrunner Records
Axl Rosenberg, MetalSucks
Satan Rosenbloom, MetalSucks/Cerebral Metalhead
David Bee Roth, MetalSucks
Jason Rudolph, Heavy Hitter, Inc.
Amy Sciarretto, Roadrunner Records/NoiseCreep
Carl Severson, Ferret Music/Channel Zero Entertainment
Gary Suarez, MetalSucks/No Yoko No/Brainwashed
Geoff Summers, The End Records/Crustcake
Bram Teitelman, The Syndicate/Metal Insider
Alisha Turull, Heavy Hitter, Inc.
Christopher R. Weingarten, 1000TimesYes/Freelance Journalist
huh?
TAKE SHELTER, THERE’S A SHITSTORM A COMING.
LOL
This should be a fun one…
My sentiments exactly..
WAKEUP!… GRABABRUSHANDPUTALITTLEMAKEUP!
exactly
hahahha. i fucking hate that song.
System of a Downsyndrome are nothing but irritating pseudo metal, not to mention they’re the worst live band in history.
“Nuff said?
Take your pretentious intentions and cringeworthy production and jump Serj first into a maelstrom. ARG!
Well said my sadistic comrade. Good to see there is at least one person with some taste!
XFD, this list somehow finds a way to lose more credibility. Nu-metal? Seriously? THIS is one of the best METAL albums of the 21st century? I actually don’t even mind the album, but to even put this in the same sentence as metal is an insult to music. Once again, the fools who voted in this prove that they know nothing about music whatsoever, yet they’re the ones either making music, signing artists, or writing reviews. This is why popular music is crap today–because people don’t actually know what they’re doing.
If by shitstorm, you meant the SYL song, I sincerely hope that that album (Alien) will be on the list. Considering this tripe, I doubt it.
By shitstorm I meant copious amounts of butthurt replies denouncing this albums place on the list. Case in point, your post.
I was making a joke. You missed it.
Good one Dane
god, dane cook…what a douche..
This album isn’t soo metal as it is…weird/alt/noise rock….but i could see the metal influence…
this album does bring back those memories…
shimmy shimmy shimmy til the break of dawn yahhhh
By the way, I’m not “butthurt.” I don’t care what these results are. But I do find it unbelievably pathetic how they’ve been so far. They could’ve put any old average, mediocre Kataklysm album here, and I wouldn’t complain or applaud. But to pass this shit off as metal (and “the best” metal at that) just makes me feel like ranting, and since I have the liberty to do so, I might as well.
No It just proves that the people who voted on this list actually have musical taste outside of the heaviest, weirdest, most underground street cred bands. This is just another great pick on this list. Toxicity was heavy as fuck in its own way, and insanely original.
Just because a CD sells a lot doesnt mean it doesn’t deserve to be on here. It means that they are good enough to capture people of different interests.
OR you could think of it the other way and say that the people only have a mainstream taste and have no knowledge whatsoever of the “heaviest, weirdest, most underground street cred” band. Toxicity is a good album, but it is neither metal nor heavy. Anyone can have loud distortion (like Korn or SOAD). Does that make you metal? No. It’s the music you compose and play that makes you metal, and SOAD have never written a metal song in their lives. Also, it’s really not that original. Listen to Ulver’s “Blood Inside.” Not metal at all (electronic-ish avant garde stuff), but that’s fucking original stuff.
But you’re right about one thing: “Just because a CD sells a lot doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve to be on here.” That is completely true. I could actually see Crack The Skye being on here (even though I’m not fond of it) even though it has sold a lot for a metal album.
But this is not: “It means that they are good enough to capture people of different interests.” It means that they had accessible enough music to get on a large label that had the funds to advertise for them, get them a big album budget, and get them on big tours. They “captured” people of different interests because they were shoved in their faces by the label, like most mainstream music. That doesn’t make them bad, but it doesn’t make them good either.
BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WHY ISN’T MY FAVORITE OBSCURE ARTIST ON THIS LIST?
I don’t know why it would not let me comment before the one below me, but oh well.
But to respond to Ziltoid again…You are obviously impossible to argue with. Saying that SOAD have never written a metal song in their lives is straight up ignorance. But as to your final paragraph. Somewhere here you got mixed up that the point of writing good metal is to alienate everyone but the most obscure tech/metal/jazz guitarist sitting in his basement, if thats your goal great.
I think you need to go listen to the beatles and just enjoy some good chill SONG writing
On the contrary, saying that SOAD has written a single metal song is being ignorant to what truly makes a band metal. And I never said that you have to write incredibly technical music and alienate people. The new wave of technical death metal bands (e.g., Obscura, Origin, Arsis) write mostly soul-less, empty music. But someone like Devin Townsend writes accessible music (go listen to “Life” or “Christeen”–well written pop/rock) that happens to be progressive at the same time. Give him the backing of a big label, and he wouldn’t be as obscure.
The point of my last paragraph in that post was to say that just because something is popular doesn’t make it good. That doesn’t mean that only obscure technical whatever is good, but that popularity is a horribly wrong way of judging the quality of music.
@Ziltoid
You also need to keep in mind that your opinion is worthless at best. They took the opinions of 50 or so musicians and people in the industry. The more mainstream the band is, the more likely the voting panel would have been to have listened to it. You are getting bent out of shape and lets be honest here, completely and totally fucking butthurt because of a mainstream band getting recognition on a metal blog. Just because SOAD doesn’t mesh into your opinion of what metal is or fall into one of the numerous metal sub-genres you deem to be worthy of metal doesn’t make your opinion correct. Go grab an icepack for that sore ass.
Ziltoid
crack the skye isn’t ‘metal’ by definition and thus you fail
plus you’re just kind of dumb in a smart way
Holy fuck, Ziltoid, you’ve dug your own grave on this one.
This album is the reason I listen to metal. I’m ecstatic that it made the list.
I second the last comment completly
Maybe Strapping Young Lad simply isn’t any good.
Come on now, let’s not get silly…
SYL is fucking brilliant!
Just because this guy is a tool, don’t blame it on Heavy Devy.
People who disagree with this list aren’t expressing their subjective opinion, nope. They’re just being WRONG and ANNOYING.
amirite?
Hey Ziltoid, nice new name.
I fully expect this album choice to get a lot of shit from the people here, but I want to go on the record right now in completely and totally agreeing with this choice. Part of it may come from the fact that this album was something I really listened to a lot during a period in my life that shaped my current musical tastes, but I fucking love this album (and SOAD in general). They were unlike any other metal band, unique and distinctive, and that’s something very rare in metal. The fact that they managed to do all of this and get played on the radio makes it that much more astounding.
To this day, I can put this album in my cd player and rock out like it’s the first time hearing it. If it were up to me, this album would be ranked a lot higher. No one has been able to fully and successfully copy SOAD’s style to this day (including, unfortunately, the various side projects to come from SOAD’s members), and that’s quite an accomplishment in itself.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. I love System Of A Down the way my cat loves to lick his own ass, and dammit, I’m proud of it (the album part, not my cat licking his own ass, especially when we have company). Commence bitching.
Wow, it’s nice to know that a giant piece of shit means so much to you. To say this album is something you listened to alot during a period of your life is one thing, but the rest of your post is worthless.
This wasn’t a groundbreaking album – unless offkey singing and terrible lyrics mean something special to you. Oh, wait, did you grow up in an orphanage where the only music you received was Limp Bizkit and Korn?
So, because you don’t like the album it’s a giant piece of shit? Congratulations, you have an opinion that differs from mine. I’m so glad that you said that, because it’s completely changed what I think about this album. You’re so right!
SINCE WHEN DOES SYSTEM OF A DOWN SOUND LIKE LIMP BIZKIT AND KORN?
Fuck, just that comparison destroys your point.
wow. a limp bizkit and korn insult. that sure is original (you left out hollywood undead though, tisk tisk). fuck off badseed, SOAD made an album that was completely original at the time and opened the door for many people to make the transition into heavier music, such as myself.
This album still brings back memories from the first few times i ever listened to it. Not many albums had that kind of an impact on me. So keep your bitchy opinion to yourself. This album did a lot of good for a lot of people, im just sorry you had to miss out
fuck off. Korn fucking OWNS. and System of a Down is my favorite band! u think they suck?u don’t know what the fuck u are fucking talking about. and as for Limp Bizkit i happen to love them too. yea i bet u think they suck because u grew up listening to SHIT.
AMEN!
System of a Down happens to be my favorite band
as for all u other ppl, u dont know what real music is.
System of a Down is waaay beyond their time. I grew up listening to that shit. They are soooo much better than any other band i know.
Gotta say, I think I agree with this one… it’s defintely a great album, and I’m sure it proved to be an album that bridged the gap to metal for a lot of people…
I was in high school when this album came out and i remember the cheerleaders and jocks singing along to this album
MIKE PATTON AND MYSELF LOVE METAL CHEERLEADERS!
ahahhahahahha.
Oh I know people are gonna be pissed about this one.
love the band
love the album
however i feel that for people as talented as these crazy fuckers they could do so much more musicly
just my two cents
care to comment?
Definitely an awesome album. one major problem though, they’re probably not getting back together so we don’t even know what other insane stuff they can spit out, Fuckers!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA. Fuck.
I’ll save my breath and just say that it is truly all about the money. The only really surprising choice so far was Remission, but really only if there aren’t any other Mastodon albums on there.
also i def agree with the rabbi from hell description
I like this album too, but i’m just gonna sit here and refresh the page and read the oh so lovely comments that will be coming.
when are we going to see some warbringer up in here?
Love this album good pick, above the blackening? really shouldn’t be…
Exactly
Agreed. Great fucking album, not better than The Blackening.
Yeah, I agree with most of the picks so far, just not the ordering
Agreed, but based on the judges, more of them probably have heard this one over the Blackening. Tragedy, yes. but such is life
Is there like an unlisted team of TRL superdelegates voting on this list?
I guess the voters’ definition of “metal” is far more broad than my definition of “metal”.
Based on this so far, the voters’ definition is blatantly wrong, with the exception of Mastodon, MH, and Nachtmystium. At that point, their definition of “best” is wrong.
When did any of us say that heavy = metal? Have you ever heard a power metal song (as horrible as Dragonforce are, they’re a perfect example here)? Not heavy at all, still metal. Better yet, when did any of us say that heavy = good? Our definition of metal is not to narrow. It is perfect as it is.
Slipknot is nu-metal. SOAD is nu-metal. Hatebreed is hardcore. Those are objectively not metal in any way. It doesn’t matter what any of us define metal as, it’s the truth. If you called a dragonfly a real dragon, correcting you on that would not mean that my definition of a dragon is too narrow, it’s just that yours would be wrong. The same thing applies here.
Also, the line between hardcore and metal has not blurred. It’s just that too many shitty metalcore bands are popping up out of nowhere. putting a few monotonous breakdowns in their songs, and claiming to have fused the two. Hardcore itself is and always will be separate from metal.
Dude you are trying to be way too wordy and confusing. Analogy with the dragon and the dragonfly? Umm are you kidding?
If you are going to go on all day about some “official” definition of metal. Then lets hear yours straight up. There isnt one, the moment you say someone else’s definition is wrong without there be anyway to prove it means your not worth arguing with.
That just means that your definition of metal is too narrow. Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are metal, and this is certainly heavier than anything either of those bands have done.
I personally consider all of the albums on this list metal (well, Hatebreed’s hardcore, but the line between hardcore and metal has blurred so much that it’s a moot point). It doesn’t mean I like all of them, but I still consider them metal.
Fuck, I messed up. Put my comment here:
“When did any of us say that heavy = metal? Have you ever heard a power metal song (as horrible as Dragonforce are, they’re a perfect example here)? Not heavy at all, still metal. Better yet, when did any of us say that heavy = good? Our definition of metal is not to narrow. It is perfect as it is.
Slipknot is nu-metal. SOAD is nu-metal. Hatebreed is hardcore. Those are objectively not metal in any way. It doesn’t matter what any of us define metal as, it’s the truth. If you called a dragonfly a real dragon, correcting you on that would not mean that my definition of a dragon is too narrow, it’s just that yours would be wrong. The same thing applies here.
Also, the line between hardcore and metal has not blurred. It’s just that too many shitty metalcore bands are popping up out of nowhere. putting a few monotonous breakdowns in their songs, and claiming to have fused the two. Hardcore itself is and always will be separate from metal.”
OK, listen, metal is music. Music is an art form. Art is open to interpretation and can’t be categorized so narrowly. If someone thinks these results are metal, that’s their opinion and their interpretation of the music. Maybe you don’t think this is metal, but that’s YOUR interpretation. If you want to think that the results aren’t “legit” enough, blah blah blah, then you can do that, but don’t tell other people that their opinions are wrong.
Yes, it is an art, but it can be categorized so narrowly. For example, there’s a visible difference between Giotto’s and Picasso’s paintings. To connect this, let’s say they painted different “genres” (renaissance and abstract). Regardless of how you interpret their work, their pantings objectively fall into those “genres”. The same can be said for music and metal.
Yeah, a genre/style has characteristics, but one work of art can have characteristics that they borrowed from multiple genres/styles, and even after that, those characteristics are still open to interpretation to the viewer/listener.
And if they borrow from another genre, then they have fused genres. Just look at all of the bands that have incorporated black metal into things. There are more specific subgenres such as blackened death metal, blackened thrash metal, etc.
Even by borrowing from other genres, you still have to conform to what you borrow from. If you write blackened death metal, you have to have stylistic elements of both black and death metal in your songs. This is not open to interpretation–that must be there. You can do it however you want, but to fall under a label, you must actually have elements of both.
You’re right, but now you’re talking about different subgenres , not metal as a broad term. Metal is extremely varied, and System of a Down’s stylistic roots are undeniably metal. I realize this is futile because you’ll tell me that they’re nu metal and that isn’t tr00 metal, but just because they don’t follow the extreme and underground format you’ve alluded to elsewhere, or the classic format laid down by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the ilk, doesn’t mean they can’t be metal.
Pancakes are metal…
Comic relief fail! XD
So you think when a band is writing music, they’re saying: “Okay guys, we’re technical blackened death metal, so ALL of our music has to be a fusion of black met, death metal and technical metal… We can’t write in any other genre or style… guys we’ve given ourselves this label and we can’t stray from it… Get your fucking grandpa’s guitars out of here, we can’t write acoustic songs… get those clean vocals out of the mix… burn the sitar, burn the mandolin, throw out the sax – if we use those instruments we won’t be considered blackened tech. death metal any more.”
my friend… I am a huge Devin Townsend fan like yourself… but you are WAYYY too close minded
What I’m saying is that if they want to be called that, they must, at the very least, have some elements of each genre in their music. Is that too much to ask for? Look at Ne Obliviscaris. They use violins. Even so, they still retain their black metal leanings. They can be labeled as black metal (as well as progressive–the songs are prog as well). They can do whatever they want, but if they want to be called “x genre”, they they must have some qualities of “x genre.” Not a difficult concept.
I know what you’re saying, but what I’m saying is that’s a pretty close minded thing to say. I’m not saying bands don’t do that – wanting to be part of a certain genre – but that’s putting far too many limitations on yourself as an artist… You should make music because you love what you’re doing and you want to create… not because you want your music to fit into a box…
If this is on here then White Pony might as well by number one.
Whats wrong with the white pony album? Deftones are fuckin amazing!
deftones isnt death metal. if something on the list isn’t death metal then it isn’t metal. life ends.
jesus you all need to shut up. deftones are great, and that’s a great album, that’s pretty much the consensus.
si i agree with vis deftones arent metal but they are amazing!
1 yes this album is good and deserves to be on the list
2 this album doesnt deserve to be infront of Machine Head’s the Blackening
how is this album more metal or better than the blackening
3 anyone wanna guess what place a limp bizkit album will get on this list
I’m gonna go with somewhere in the top 5
1. Agree
2. Agree, but no because the blackening is more metal, its just a better record imo
3. Absolutely disagree, if a Limp Bizkit record was on the list, this site would blow up
WHAT THE FLYING FUCK
I think this album will really stand the test of time and turn out to be a classic in 10-20 years. Anyone who says this isn’t metal is just being ridiculous, just like people who say Tool aren’t metal. They didn’t indulge in any metal stereotypes with this album, but the music is clearly metal to anyone with a brain. Come on, the first fucking SECONDS of the album: DUN! DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUDUDUDUN! And then it launches into a riff that, had it come out in the late 80s, would have made Dave Mustaine raise the horns. This album is chock full of killer metal riffs. I don’t really care about their political views and their lyrics can get kind of silly, but that’s what makes them SOAD. They absolutely have the musical skill to back it up. Daron is a severely underrated guitarist, probably because he never ever shows off. Almost every track on Toxicity is full of memorable moments. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s cool, but it’s undeniably a metal album. I wouldn’t really consider the music Nu-Metal , but they did come out of that whole movement and I have to say that along with Mudvayne’s LD.50 this was some of the only great and inventive music to come out of that whole scene. I think it belongs in the top 10.
Well played, sir, well played. I definitely agree, especially with your statement about LD 50 (by far the best thing Mudvayne ever did).
We’re definitely on the same page. This album came out 8 years ago, and since then I’ve delved into all sorts of death metal, black metal, old-school thrash, grindcore, and other things that self-proclaimed “true” metalheads approve of, much of it underground, much of it mainstream (for metal), and I can still throw this album on right now and give myself severe whiplash.
Exactly. This was just one of many steps into heavier and heavier stuff. But I always go back and rock out to this one
“True” Metalheads certainly don’t approve of Gindcore. Theres thatword again :CCore”
Yeah this is metal, good metal at that. Way fucking better than the Blackening, boring ass album.
Great post, I firmly agree. One of my all time favorite metal albums and i think it will stay that way. And while this band was big when nu-metal was doing ok, you have to be out of your mind to classify this as true nu-metal. They mix all kinds of styles, one of the reasons I like them.
I don’t see how people can call this Nu-Metal. If anything, it’s alternative metal. But that’s not the point- the point is that this album isn’t nu metal.
System of a Down is a cheap Psychostick rip off. I’m not surprised it made it on this list.
Obvious troll is obvious.
This record was kindof enjoyable for a few listens and for it’s time, but it is really sloppy and cheesy most of the time and does not belong on this list. Compared to the crappy numetal shit that was big in 2001 this is good. Compared to all of the amazing records of the 2000’s, this is a horrible choice. All of Mastodon’s records are better than this. All of Enslaved’s 00’s records are better than this. Down, Lamb of God, Isis, Meshuggah, Converge, shit, even Deftones newer records tower of this record. What a horrible choice for a METAL list.
PEOPLE!!!! STOP TALKING ABOUT MASTODON!!!!!! I AM SICK OF IT!!!.. THEY ARE NOT THAT GOOD!!!
PRETTY CRAP ACTUALLY!!
Lies.
Yea bro, love Mastodon.
I wasn’t too impressed with 21 to 17…but albums from 16 to 14, now these are really good awesome solid albums. I hope it keeps getting better!
P.S. My question is…is this a popularity contest? Or are these people REALLY listening to the music. C’mon shadows crap and lamb of dog are terrible bands… of course I would vote for my band if I was on this panel. (Kinda lame…)
kickass album, but im way too tire today to try and defend it against the obvious hate coming this way
There are more whiny bitches on these threads than at an 8th grade dance.
This is a great album, and has held up over the years. I detest that anyone who deviates slightly from the accepted formula is “not metal.” Fuck you. These guys pushed the possibilities of the genre in some really great and interesting ways. Too bad they followed it with a self indulgent mess of a double album.
+1
+2
It’s clear that you’re not only the president of the Bad Taste In Music club, you’re also a client.
sweet insult…faggot
What genre did they push the possibilities of? Dressing up standard radio hard rock with bits of thrash and speed metal is not interesting nor great nor is it new: Mordred did exactly this ten years prior.
Too bad for Mordred they’re not eligible for this list then.
How any of their songs could be called “standard radio hard rock” is beyond me. They bring a distinctly eastern european flavor to their melodies and displayed a level of humor alongside the gravity of their message (ala the Dead Kennedys). Beyond that, in the era of nu-metal, they had a frontman who could actually sing, with great range and a unique and interesting voice. Their songs packed a lot of complexity and scale into relatively small packages. They were heavy as hell and yet retained enough melodic hook to make them, dare I say, poppy. They simply fall victim to the typical problem with the metal scene- if too many people like you, or the wrong people like you, then you suck and you aren’t metal. Well balls to that. This is a great album, great enough that they enjoyed a moment of cross-over/mainstream success due to the high quality of their song craft and playing ability. If all you want to do is sulk in the basement and like only the music the cool kids don’t know about yet- fine. Just don’t try and tell me what metal is.
as an eastern european myself, ill have to stop you there. they dont bring anything armenian other than their accents..other than that, they might as well be from cinncinati ohio for all I care. ..
woops. i got a bit trolly there. my apoligies. i agree with the rest of your statement.
Not really…. Mordred pretty much sounded like a bad Anthrax rip-off…
Gorguts album “Obscura” pushed the possibilities of metal in great and interesting ways (an understatement for sure). SOAD played nu-metal. Not innovative at all.
Ziltoid, are you my fucking twin?!?
Haha, no, but I’m glad at least somebody out there shares my train of thought and knows what true metal is. It seems that very few people here know what they’re talking about.
I’m getting tired of you fucker telling other people what metal is tr00 enough and what isn’t and disregarding nu-metal as a whole just because the majority of the bands in that trend are terrible. System of a Down is hardly nu-metal, just because they came out of that whole scene and their music was different from the commonly-accepted blueprint for metal previous to that they get lumped in with the rest. Shut up and stop preaching your clearly biased opinion!
Mitch, nu-metal should be disregarded here because this is a discussion about metal. Nu-metal is a misnomer. It has no elements of metal music (riffs, song structure, instrumentation, vocals, etc.). Just like how dragonfly is a misnomer since dragonflies don’t have any parts of an actual dragon.
A riff is just a repeated and organized sequence of notes, and I know for a fact that System of a Down has those; They also have choruses/verses/bridges, so there’s that oh-so-hard to find song structure; there’s instrumentation, I do believe there is instrumentation, what with all those guitars and drums and whatnot, and I’m pretty sure Serj Tankian performs vocals, and I hope you’re not telling me that sung/yelled vocals don’t fit into metal
I think you missed my point. I meant that it doesn’t have METAL riffs, METAL songwriting, METAL vocals, etc.. And the structure is how the verses, choruses, etc. are arranged.
Find some death metal tabs and compare them to SOAD. They will be very different, because one is metal, the other isn’t.
Death metal is one subgenre of metal. I don’t know what you mean by metal riffs, ’cause a lot of them on this album are in a minor key, I don’t know how specific you can get in that regard. They have metal songwriting, most of your tr00 metal bands still have a verse/chorus/bridge structure. Serj of course has metal vocals, he’s yelling and singing, which is what most (if not all) metal bands incorporate…
You’re a fag bag.
That was to Ziltoid, by the way. He’s a moron. Mitch, I agree with you.
There’s a difference between what Serj does and what most metal vocalists do. Some do sing with clean vocals (99.9% of power metal and heavy metal), but then the harsh vocals are much more guttural. Not screaming. Listen to Bolt Thrower or Amon Amarth or something, and compare that to Serj’s harshest vocal attempts.
By riffs, I literally mean how the notes are arranged, key, etc.
Some metal bands use the unoriginal song structure, but make up for it with their riffs and other stuff I’ve already gone over.
And I normally would just ignore idiotic homophobes like CJ (he sounds like the Waking the Cadaver guy), but after looking at his myspace, all I can do is laugh. He is THE EPITOME of the mallcore, nu-metal, tripp-pants-wearing, “bro-magnon,” pseudo-goth, loser image that came around in the late 90s. Mitch, I would be offended if I were you. Being complemented by CJ is the equivalent of an insult.
The reason I’d be offended is because of the homophobia, not his choice of music. Also, he doesn’t need the harsh vocals that are very similar to other bands if, as you said, he has clean vocals like other metal. Also, you’re trying to classify an often-short series of notes by its arrangement? Even in metal, the note arrangements wildly vary. And the keys are mostly minor, which i would think is the evil-sounding tone you’re looking for. Another thing, most not-so-underground bands have that “generic” song structure. I also don’t understand what’s wrong with having a verse/chorus song structure. I don’t believe that just because a structure is used in almost all music, it doesn’t make it necessarily bad.
Ziltoid is a dumbass maybe? More acceptable?
dragon fly doesnt have any of the same parts as a dragon? no shit dragons dont exist. ha. fuck off who said you decided what was metal. damn troll
Obscura is a fucking fantastic album, and one of my favorites of all time. So is Toxicity. Apparently, in your world, it’s impossible to have this opinion.
There’s nothing wrong with liking Toxicity. It’s a good rock album. You can like it just as much as Obscura if you want. But that doesn’t make Toxicity metal.
I am not of the belief that something has to be metal to be good, but on a list of “the 21 best metal albums of the century,” I expect only excellent metal albums. Is that too much to ask for?
I’m getting kind of sick of this metal/not metal shit but I will say this: I don’t understand how a metalhead can hear the beginning of Prison Song, for example, or the breakdown (for lack of a better term) in Bounce and not say “Damn, that is a METAL riff right there”. But as I said, to each his own. I just don’t like being told my opinion is false.
Dragonflies don’t have any parts of an actual dragon because there are no actual dragons.
oh shit haha, nicely put i missed your post, just said the exact same thing up above.
dude, fuck you. in the 80s, people called iron maiden metal. now, it sounds like glam rock. in the 90s, early 2000s, some people considered system of a down metal.what does metal mean? is it there sound, or is it their money? If these guys were from finland, wore black, had long hair, and called themselves” gothic doom rock” would you still have a crusade against them?
Iron Maiden sound like glam rock? Wow, that’s beyond stupid. Even all of these decades later, Maiden continues to retain their metal sound. They’re certainly not the heaviest band out there, but to this day they have released nothing but metal.
And no actual dragons?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon
you are a cunt
Awesome hard rock/ alternative metal album but not an actual heavy metal though, doesn’t belong on the list.
Well, if you really want to get down into tiny subgenres, ‘heavy metal’ is used to describe bands that play old-school, Maiden/Priest/Ozzy-esque metal, which describes, um, none of these albums on the list.
Alternative metal is metal too, although I detest the term, and it belongs on the list just like any other metal subgenre.
“alternative” metal doesn’t exist. it’s just a mainstream synonym for nu-metal. have you ever looked at the bands labeled “alternative” metal? enough said.
I thought Faith No More was considered an alternative metal band?
ohhhh i get it now. YOU invented all these terms. you defined them and you are the all knowing lord og definition and decideds what is what. well, whether you call my fist a fist or a rabbit, its goin straight in your face!!!! BAMMMMM now, you can call that black bruze by your eye whatever you want-a television, a pancake, a coffee mug, but in the end, it will be whats left of me pounding the shit out of you. good day.
I invented these terms? Seriously? Wow, that was just idiotic and stupid on your part.
no.
alternative metal is quite different from Nu-Metal actually. and sorry, Faith No More is an alt-metal band, among other things.
Faith No More has never been a metal band. Ever.
Well, what i meant by saying alternative metal is that they arent a proper metal band, but i would not call them nu-metal or hard rock. For me they are kinda in between. I might be wrong, but thats how i see it.
Ziltoid, you’re still a fucking dumbass. Grow up dude.
Jumpadafuckup!
Any chance of a Soulfly album making this chart?
I’ll leave now, quietly…
hehe
hahaha im a soulfy fan and that funny. but dark ages actually has a slim chance to make the list though.
This keeps getting worse. I never liked this album, even when I actually did like SOAD. I always felt that it was inferior to their debut album and that opinion has not changed.
Yes sir.
Seconded.
Oh yeah. The s/t is way better than this one but hey whatever.
Clearly this list is a total success…the interaction has been spirited and passionate. Seriously people, keep the cheap troll shots out and try to actually explain why you love/hate something. I’m not a big fan of this record, but I do think that this band is pretty unique. Just because they received mainstream attention doesn’t disqualify them from being “metal”.
It’s the music they play that disqualifies them from being metal. Distortion =/= metal.
I recall you telling other people that they didn’t know what they were talking about…
this fight you guys have goin on is kind of cute
Good album by a douchey band.
care to expand on that thought?
Ever since I saw their interview on Fuse with Julia, on the show Uranium, I’ve lost all respect for this band. She tried to do a sincere, honest interview and they were complete douchebags to her the entire time. Then they tried to justify it by saying some bullshit about being rebels and questioning everything or some shit like that. It was the douchiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Daron’s the worst. Fuck that guy. Toxicity is the only credibility they have and will ever have with me. Ever. I will always fucking hate this band.
You’re calling people douches for having fun? Is everything you do always serious? I hope not…
Maybe they were stoned as fuck… who gives a shit… They’re musicians, they have no need to be serious, especially when it’s one of 100s of interviews they are forced into doing through their record label.
I think that’s a pretty “douchey” thing to say, and a strange way to form opinions on bands.
No. They weren’t just “having fun”, and if they were, that’s fucked up anyways. Personally, I don’t try to be an asshole just for the fun of it. I can dig someone giving an interviewer a hard time when they’re just joking around, but you do have to realize that those interviewers are people too. If you’re gonna take the interview as a joke, let them in on the joke. In the beginning of that episode, she had a real respect for that band. At the end, just by the look in her eyes, you could tell it was all gone. Mine was too. Fuck those assholes.
P.S. Since when is judging someone by their personal characteristics and attitudes strange?
not someone… music… music
If Toxicity is here so should White Pony…
No denying that Toxicity is great album. But on METAL albums list that are presenting 21 best albums of 21st century….Dunno….
ITT: Certain people taking their taste in music way too fucking seriously.
If you’re too ‘metal’ to enjoy System of a Down you’re a very sad person indeed.
Fuck you. If you’re too dumb to understand that people have differing tastes in music then you shouldn’t be on a blog dedicated to arguing about it. Not liking shitty bands doesn’t make me a sad person, having to read garbage like your post is what makes me sad. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!!!!!!
Haha, I’m glad you’re high strung enough that I had that effect on you.
I can’t believe people are complaining this isn’t metal. This album restored my faith in metal, it’s heavy as fuck and has something to say. Great album, thoroughly enjoying this list. Hope Slayers Christ Illusion makes an appearance at some point, love that record.
lol, post 80s Slayer. Almost as funny as thinking that loud distortion = metal.
lol, its nice you think any of us give a shit what your opinion of ‘true’ metal is
Based on what most people here think is metal, you’re all obviously not giving enough shits about my opinion of what true metal is.
In your opinion, what is true metal?
…and I mean what IS, not what isn’t, so no cop-out “not bullshit like System of A Down” answers.
I am sure the world would be better if we labeled the sound coming out of our speakers more appropriately. Lord knows, my enjoyment of band A or B teeters on what genre I accurately assign them to.
Actual metal is music that falls into any of the subgenres of metal, such as death, black, thrash, power, prog, doom, sludge, folk, groove, drone, etc.
Examples:
Gorguts
Demilich
Primordial
Arcturus
Ulver
Mordid Angel
Strapping Young Lad
Emperor
Bathory
Immortal
Death
Atheist
Cynic
Blind Guardian
Tyr
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Black Sabbath
Amon Amarth
Suidakra
Katatonia
Electric Wizard
Boris
Windir
Darkthrone
Kreator
Exodus
Overkill
Heathen
Anubis Gate
Devin Townsend
Antestor
Candlemass
Kamelot
etc.
all of those bands have varying different sounds, yet each writes music respective to their subgenre of metal.
I think that’s a very cold and clincal way of looking at metal, and music in general, having to fit into the boundaries a specific subgenre and stick to it, but to each his own. Most of those bands are very good.
By your own reasoning, most sludge is closer to 90’s hardcore in sound and song structure.
Classifying music into ridiculously concise subgenres almost defeats the purpose of the art itself, and unless i’m mistaken, the METAL part of nu METAL means METAL.
Boris =/= metal
there, your opinion has been discredited now (if not already)
Boris =/= metal? Somebody needs to listen to Absolutego…
Well listened to it…. first of all it’s awful…. second of all you were talking about “metal song structure”… theres no such thing but if that album is metal to you, again your contradicting youself because Absolutego has no song structure at all, it’s just DISTORTED feedaback… and that’s another thing, you said distortion does not a metal album make? Yes? That “music”/”metal” would sound like high pitched dog calls….
You my friend, make no sense..
It’s certainly an acquired taste, but it is certainly a metal album. They’re using the feedback to create an extreme sonic landscape. And Absolutego certainly has structure. There are parts where it’s quieter, and parts where all of the instruments chime in to hit an apex. It’s an abstract album, but structure is definitely there. And have you never heard a doom riff? Absolutego is just an incredibly slowed down version of heavy doom riffs, such as those by Electric Wizard and others of their ilk. They know how to use distortion to their advantage and create a metal masterpiece with it.
I hope Evanescence makes it on this list.
Joking aside I think the list is pretty good so far. Not what i had in mind, to each his own though.
Go White Pony!
I really would like if White Pony were in this list!
What? This? You’re shitting us, aren’t you? The next 13 had better be spec-fucking-tacular.
Quality album, i bought their s/t first then this and i think both are solid, though i like the s/t more. Toxicity i think will stand the test of time and i still enjoy turning on toxicity on once in a while whilst extremely drunk and just enjoy the awesomes.
I get this.It was an album that helped bring people from the radio(like myself in 20001) over to the underground shit.Not everyone can start with Reign in Blood or …And Justice for All.
I won’t start flinging my feces until a Dragonforce record shows up.
no worries, there is already plenty of feces to go around
FUCKING BULLSHIT
FUCKING AY THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT.
SOAD is the only nu metal band that was ever any good, and this album was their best by far. Anyone who doesnt think this is metal and still thinks Maiden, Sabbath, and Priest are metal should get their ears checked. It isn’t Bloodbath or death metal heavy but it’s still a part of the heavy metal genre. After this album came out I progressed into much more extreme metal but I’ll always be a System fan. That said this shit isn’t even close to The Blackening. And I listened to that Hatebreed album. It’s awful. And who the fuck’s idea was it to put Mastodon’s worst album by far on here?!
… also does anybody notice that there aren’t really all that many negative comments on here? Just a bunch of people saying they EXPECT negative comments…?
Totally noticed that. I was gonna say something about it, but nice one getting to it first.
I think you mean Mastodon’s best album.
Next up Taproot
=)
taproot? fail.
although the song calling was good
the toxicity of our city…OF OUR CIIIIIIIITY
i dont know if they’re metal or not, but they can suck a big fat dick
I still remember staying up until midnight to watch the debut video for chop suey.
Wasn’t dissappointed at all. This band was awesome.
Love this album. When this album came out there was NOTHING around that even came close to their sound or how well the songs were written….if u want this list to be full of metal bands hammering on the top string of their guitar for 3 minutes i think you’re going to be dissapointed.
Pssst! Hey Rob. Rick Rubin produced their first album too.
Yes, but a bunch of those songs were written before they even met him.
Not a fan of the band or the album, but I thoughtyour write up brought up a lot of good points about this band standing out creatively above the rest in a genre that will be remembered as a dark time for music. If this band was what it takes to get dumb kids to stop buying Limp Bizkit and Korn records, then so be it.
SOAD!!!???? NO, just….NO!!!
Any band that thinks eating sunflower seeds is a past-time activity is alright with me! Those little salty fuckers are so tasty and addictive. Yum!
I happen to like SOAD. So does my girlfriend, but she HATES metal. Therefore, SOAD are not ‘metal.’
I’m starting to think that this list is just one drawn-out practical joke. And yet, here I am, coming back every afternoon to see who’s next. Damn you Metalsucks! Damn you all to hell!
That is some seriously flawed logic. My girlfriend hates metal too, but she loves Cannibal Corpse. Disregarding everything else about the music and the band, the guitar riffs alone make this album 100% metal.
I’d agree with Sour Deez, but then Lord Bling would say “I was making a joke.” Haha….
and that ladies and gentlemen is a failed use of the transitive property. better luck next time
baaahhhhh… makes sense…. my girlfriend likes Pantera, but hates metal… Therefore Pantera is not metal. His logic makes perfect sense
durka durka kvlt troo durka power chords shred shred shred troo slayer kvlt breakdowns is turrible rawrrawr
Will you marry me?
Thread over.
I’m staying out of this garbage.
Attempting to discuss this with most of you “trve metal fans” would be like in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome when Max fought that hulking retard. I’m sure the retard thought(as much is possible from retards like him or many of you anyway) he was winning but then Max totally fucked him up in the end. The only difference here is that internet “br00tal metalhead fanboy retards like most of you wouldn’t be able to realize just how much you’d been fucked up even though it’s obvious to anyone with a brain that you’re lying, dead on the floor in the middle of the thunderdome. You’ve all disappointed Tina Turner very very much.
One of my favourite albums ever. I remember when it came out, I was only about 11. I loved every fucking second of it.
Ashes of The Wake is # 1.
+1
1# Ashes of The Wake
2# RUUN
I dont know what the fuck you guys are shitting about!! This Album Rocks the fuck Out! and Fuck You Lord Bling, SOAD are Metal. Theyre just different wich is in my opinion awesome.
Funny but Objective lyrics, and Heavy music! SOAD couldnt be out of “the list”
I was semi-trolling, but fuck you right back.
Next time, I’ll make my troll comments a little more obvious.
Any chance of getting a none American band on this list?
heh
no cuz we don’t tolerate a-rabs, jews, blacks, or chinese!! with their..CHING CHANG CHONG
*Is wondering if they’re going to wait until the last album to announce that this whole list is, was, and will always be a giant JOKE*
katy perry power metal>most things on this list so far
This.
Agree wholeheartedly.
10$ says a Korn album made it into this list.
Korn hasn’t done anything worthwhile since the 90s. If this list covered the past 15 or so years instead of the past 10, I would have loved to see their self-titled make the list.
Correction: Korn haven’t done anything worthwhile.
I have an interesting few questions to raise, and I expect some pretty cool answers. This is aimed mostly at two groups of people: Metalheads who hate SOAD and their ilk, people who hate “mainstream” metal, and people in their early 20s/late teens who were first getting into metal around 2000. If you fit into all of these categories you are my main target. But anyone feel free to answer.
What bands/albums got you into metal in the first place?
Do you still put on some of the shit you used to listen to and dig it, or have you burned all your bridges and now only like the stuff you got into once you got older?
Do you have respect for a band just for getting you interested in metal?
I raise these questions because I find it hard to believe that anyone got started with the more extreme or obscure metal that you actually have to look for to find out about. When I say obscure I mean obscure to someone who’s just discovering metal. I’m just wondering if I’m wrong about that, and if I’m right, then how much/little value do you place on the stepping stones that got you to where you are today?
This is not meant to be an argument, but simply people sharing their own history and relationship with metal.
I’m 24. Got into Metal in late 99, with Metallica’s S&M if you can believe it. For a while it was Metallica 24/7 but, after a mercifully brief flirt with nu-metal, which i never found nearly as pleasing as good ol’ Metallica, which i found myself falling back too constantly, I found Slayer, Nevermore, Iced Earth…never looked back.
First bands?
Metallica
Motley Crue
Pantera
Iron Maiden
other usual high school stuff
I do still listen to most of those albums, but I much prefer my newer music. I actually enjoy 90s Metallica more since Load was my first album of theirs.
But respect for a band only relies on the quality of their music. A band may have gotten me into metal, but my taste has changed for the better since then, and if I see that a band that got me into metal actually makes bad music, then I won’t like them (e.g., Pantera).
Um, hello? NINETIES Metallica is not TRUE Metallica! All it is is radio hard rock trimmed with production!
You’re right. But, as with SOAD, it is good, mainstream music. That can exist, it’s just very rare. (Also, it doesn’t hurt that I’m not much of a fan of 80s Metallica outside of a few songs here and there)
But this is a thread to discuss TR00 metal, not the the bastard child of of mildly mainstream music and Metallica! (I hope you sense the sarcasm) I certainly hope there are other people here who know good Metallica when they hear it!
Oh Jesus you guys are making me feel old. I got into metal when Among The Living was big with the metal head upper classmen in school . (Thats Anthrax for you that still hang out at the skating rink). Good album. It is metal. How do I know? I was listening to Ride the Lightning on my tape deck in while banging your mom in the backseat of my Camaro.
Ziltoid: You are a fucking cunt!
I have endured the stupidity of your numerous fucking comments, all the while resisting the urge to respond, likening a disscussion with you to that of live interview with a drunk retard – you are the most narrowminded fuckwit in existence!
However, it is for this comment…
“But respect for a band only relies on the quality of their music. A band may have gotten me into metal, but my taste has changed for the better since then, and if I see that a band that got me into metal actually makes bad music, then I won’t like them (e.g., Pantera).”
…that I must finally suggest that you go top yourself.
Dont you ever, EVER badmouth Pantera ever again, fucker!
You have a good point, but since that list is made up of mostly guys my age(29) or older, Toxicity probably wouldnt be their gateway record into heavier territories. I am 29, have been into metal since i was about 13 and was into Metallica, Pantera, Helmet, Crowbar, Deftones, etc…All of the mainstream records of the early 90’s. I like some of the songs on Toxicity, and i dont hate this record at all, but by the time this came out(2001), i already was a fan of Dillinger, MR Bungle, Coalesce, Faith No More, Meshuggah, etc…to know that this was an ok mainstream band with some decent influences, but nothing lifechanging or classic by any means.
If the people asked to give their answers for this list were from a bunch of new bands and still in their late teens/early 20s i would totally expect to see this on here, but coming from a bunch of older metal/hardcore scene guys is suprising!
I’m even older than yourself and have been listening to metal since the early 80s. SOAD definitely isn’t a gateway band for me since I grew up on the thrash scene when it started, but I still find them to be a great metal band and think this album should be on the list. IMO its better than the ones listed before it. Yes, even better than the Blackening, which I think is decent but nothing extraordinary. Everyone has different taste, wouldn’t be much of a site if we all thought the same way, no matter how much Ziltoid tries to convince that his definition of metal is the correct one.
But then again, I’m probably an oddity. I love technical death but find Meshuggah dull. I grew up on thrash but have yet to hear any of the new thrash revival bands do anything interesting. We all have our preferences, so seeing these more mainstream’ish discs get the nods isn’t surprising since the more obscure stuff probably wouldn’t get as many votes.
1. Metallica definitely was one of the first bands that got me into metal. I also hate to admit it, but Limp Bizkit definitely did bridge the metal gap for me.
2. I still listen to Metallica. I burned all of the other stuff (e.g., Limp Bizkit). Found other metal bands and my love grew.
3. I still somewhat respect the band that helped bridge the gap for me. I still love Metallica. As far as Limp Bizkit, I grew out of it and I can’t explain why I did like it (there really is no musical value); however, I’ll still smile for nostalgia stake if it’s being played.
With that being said, I want to know what makes other metal fans so perfect? Like how did someone not in the in nu-metal age find metal bands and become fans?
I started with punk in junior high/high school and from there progressively got into heavier and heavier stuff. I think the first real metal i was listening to outside of some occasional metallica was maybe early in flames/unearth/all that remains. Im not positive though as I listen to tons and tons of music from many genres so its hard to say with any certainty. The first metal band/album that I heard that really blew me away though was Children of Bodom’s Hatebreeder. That really set me on the path of metal fandom that Im following now.
For me its not about specifically hating mainstream music, its just that im more interested in the bands that are actually creating interesting and unique pieces of art; that are putting the work in to really create a sound of their own. Mainstream music is tailored to sell to the most amount of people possible which means that it is usually watered down versions of less popular, more “extreme” bands. And now, after listening to so much music, it takes those more extreme bands to elicit interest in me because I don’t have time to listen to the same album from 20 different bands. Also, I don’t mean extreme in a super brutal ultra dense death metal way, I just mean as in they may take repeated listens to really bring out the intricacies. I like listening to an album a hundred times and still finding new shit that I hadn’t noticed before. Most mainstream music just doesn’t have that depth (though there are definitely some good mainstream bands that do this as well).
And just to give some examples of what I consider truly awesome albums so you can ignore my opinions easier: Arsis – A Celebration of Guilt, Autechre – Amber, Om – A Conference of Birds, Death – Individual Thought Patterns, Animal Collective – Feels, Souls of Mischief – ‘93 ’til Infinity, High on Fire – Blessed Black Wings, Coffins – Buried Death, Battles – Mirrored, Deep Purple – Machine Head, Wintersun – Wintersun. Just off the top of my head that is all stuff that I have listened to and enjoyed in the last couple of days.
oh and i forgot to answer your last question, i still throw on the oncoming storm, and random old in flames all the time, but Im pretty sure I deleted the All that Remains. And I still love CoB even though if you own one or two of their cd’s you basically own them all, I’ve seen them live every time they come through S.F.
I’m 21.. I got into metal when i was 8 years old.. I listened To Pantera, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Cradle Of Filth, and Cryogenic (Local Band).. Now i listen to every sub-genre there is… Buti hate the whole Sub-genre thing anyway..
Metal is Metal
Oops forgot In Flames.. They started me aswell
Judas Priest – Unleashed in the East
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Both on tape when I was about nine or ten years old. I didn’t discover Iron Maiden until a year later, after Somewhere in Time came out, probably around ‘87 or ‘88 and the quest for the next heaviest/fastest/meanest/intenser band began to continue ad infinitum. I have been listening to metal for almost twenty-three years and still delight in “underground” metal and after all these years can say I have rarely ever heard a song on hard rock/lite metal radio that was actually good: tolerable sometimes, but never good.
It’s unfortunate that nu metal has so many supporters. Listening to nu metal and claiming it to be metal is like listening to Top 40 pop rap and claiming it to be hip hop. While they might have some similarities, the one has co-opted the other for purposes of popularity and shifting units. There is nothing inherently wrong with nu metal, it serves its purpose quite well I suppose: seemingly angry music for hordes of bored and angst-ridden teenagers, but that’s about it. But don’t tell me nu metal and metal are the same thing or even close to the same thing. Throwing a BMW emblem on a Kia does not make the Kia a BMW.
This has been pretty good so far. I’ll answer my own question, for the fuck of it. I’m 20, and absolutely got into metal during the full moon of the nu-metal era. I never liked Limp Bizkit, but when I was 12/13 I loved Linkin Park, Korn, Mudvayne, Nothingface, and The Deftones. My favorite albums were Toxicity, LD.50, and Hybrid Theory. I was actually quite big on nu-metal when I was still in middle school. Then when I was in my freshman year of high school the metalcore boom happened, and I was into that entire scene for about 10 minutes. This included Lamb of God, Avenged Sevenfold (pre-City of Shit), Bleeding Through, Shadows Fall, etc. but I never got into the emo side of some of that stuff. Luckily that same year I bought Mastodon’s Remission and I was introduced to Iron Maiden, and that changed my fucking life. I stopped listening to nu-metal entirely, and cut out most of the metalcore. In less than a year I discovered ALL of the classics. Priest, Megadeth, Metallica, Sabbath, Pantera, Van Halen (not metal, but definitely crucial), etc. and went through a period where I thought I was living in the 80s. I even got into non-metal shit like Foreigner, that heavy rock stuff. After fully familiarizing myself with the true classics, I turned 15 and started delving into the darker stuff like Candlemass as well as some Swedish melodeath. At this point, I also started listening to a shitload of death metal, like Obituary, Suffocation, Gorguts, Death, Nile, and black metal like Darkthrone, Emperor, Burzum, Deathspell Omega, Peste Noire, Enslaved etc. Stoner rock definitely fit in there somewhere, I don’t know what my life would be like if I’d never heard Kyuss. So by the time I turned 17 I was a full blown metal addict, well-versed in all of the various subgenres. The 3+ years after that I’ve been discovering all kinds of excellent metal, and other music as well. At this point I don’t give a fuck what genre it fits into, who the fans are, or whether or not their album was reviewed by Rolling Stone. I just have a gut feeling when I like something, and although I get that feeling primarily from the more inventive and under-the-radar metal bands, I’m not ashamed at all to say I dig some mainstream shit or even some rap and hip-hop.
As for how connected I am to my musical past, I certainly don’t listen to Linkin Park or Korn anymore, but Toxicity will always be one of my all time faves. I can definitely still get down on LD.50 and sometimes I throw on Nothingface’s Skeletons. That’s it when it comes to nu-metal, everything else is dead to me. I don’t listen to metalcore at all anymore, except for the first couple of Lamb of God albums, if you can call that metalcore. I still enjoy the first two Avenged Sevenfold albums that no one has ever heard, that’s right, preemptive fuck you to anyone who says that makes me less of a metalhead. It’s not my favorite shit in the universe, but I like it more than Shadows Fall or anything else I listened to when I was 14.
I’m still pretty young, and in the span of 8 years I’ve gone from nu-metal fan to full-blown metal encyclopedia. I look forward to many more years of excellent headbanging, but I hope that as I get older I never get so jaded on the music I’ve heard a lot that I can’t listen to the classics or anything that’s somewhat popular. If my tastes ever fall to elitism or I feel ashamed about liking something, I’ll put on a gorilla suit, stuff it full of cocaine, and jump off the Empire State Building.
I guess where I am right now is where most people on this thread say they went right after getting into metal, which is all about metalcore and hardcore. I’ll admit it, that’s where I am right now. I love me some good metalcore. Slipknot, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, As I Lay Dying, Lamb Of God, Stutterfly, Between Home And Serenity, I Killed The Prom Queen, Bury Your Dead, Bleeding Thorough, The Agony Scene, It Dies Today, Parkway Drive, Bleed The Sky, Bring Me The Horizon, Beneath The Sky, Sinai Beach, and many others (that no one else on this site will like). My first metal album was Vol. 3: (the subliminal verses) by Slipknot. Before then it was the Backstreet Boys and stupid shit like that. I saw the Duality video (which is still my favorite video of all time) when I was 14 and never looked back.
If you want good metalcore, just skip to Protest the Hero and Between the Buried and Me. Everything else is generic, unoriginal, and boring. Really, and awful genre to say the least.
I’ve heard Between The Buried And Me. Good shit. Colors was amazing. I’ll have to check out Protest The Hero.
I’m coming into this a bit late, but my first real introduction to metal came back when I was still under the religious influence of my parents. The first metal band I listened to was Mortification (followed up by the vaguely Christian industrial stuff like Argyle Park and Chatterbox… not so metal, but definitely more extreme than anything I had listened to up to that point, and stuff that I still listen to and enjoy to this day). Beyond that, Metallica was my introduction to the wide world of metal (and helped me break away from the religious shit I had been fed my whole life). From there I was mostly discovering bands based on who was on Ozzfest, so I spent a lot of time listening to the nu-metal bands and such. From there, my tastes branched out a great deal, especially once I got a decent internet connection and was able to download music.
And now, here I am, a person with some wide and varied musical tastes, constantly evolving. I only recently acquired a taste for tech-death, and I listen to a broad range of stuff, from Primus to Metallica to Necrophagist to Jesse Dangerously (underground/nerdcore hip-hop) to Johnny Cash to Finntroll to QOTSA to Nine Inch Nails to Bad Religion to Strapping Young Lad and a buttload of stuff in between. I just wish so many more metalheads would keep an open mind about stuff instead of having a dick-measuring contest to decide how much more metal they are than everyone else.
everyone will probably trash me for saying this but my first album was linkin park’s hybrid theory. I still love it…anyway yeah i agree with what you are saying in the sense that in order to get into metal you need a bridge and SOAD was sort of like a bridge into harder stuff like for some of my friends in middle school. It took a little while for me to get into it, now I listen to slayer, metallica, pantera, death, etc all the time. After talking with my friends who don’t like metal I’ve come to the conclusion that metal is an aquired taste over time and you have to start somewhere that has at least some sort of musical elements that are pleasing to the ear, like sung choruses.
I haven’t listened to Metal for a long time at all, but the first band that I listened to before I actually listened to a Metal band was Cynic. I could say Avenged Sevenfold helped me get there when I clicked a YouTube video on the facebook status of my classmates and I was like “Oh god… not ‘I’m s00 Xkore m3tal!!!oneone11.” It was bland, it had lyrics full of shitty fluff, and just plain bad. I googled “Avenged Sevenfold sucks” and came upon a website with a dude posting about how Avenged Sevenfold sucks, and his username was Cynic. I went to the dude’s profile, and he had a few band suggestions on his page. Got to the first one meh, and then “OH MY GOD, CYNIC”.
I only stayed away from Metal because all you would hear about are the extremely overrated bands, the “sup3r Xkore m3tal” bands that talks about how they want to just “break stuff and be rebels”, and other shit like that. I tried out some Japanese metal, and I briefly enjoyed Onmyou-za. However, I’m not sure I could consider them my first metal band that I legitimately enjoyed. They were worth a listen, but it never sparked a huge love for metal like Cynic did. Either way, they’re both bands I’m lucky to have as “first metal bands”.
Of course, my case isn’t the typical case at all, and bad mainstream “metal” bands like SOAD. Yes, like Ziltoid has said they may not be “metal”, but the part that matters with them being a mainstream gateway “metal” band is that people consider them metal. They may not be metal, but they’re considered metal to some people thus it introduces them to other metal bands and all. I guess I prefer SOAD listeners than ones that listen to Green Day because that means they might actually have music tastes worth saving.
Anyways, I enjoy people b*tching about music, and getting an army of “UR A FAYGIT STOP DIZZIN MY MUSIC YO” kids jumping on them. I like people who can b*tch about music on an intelligent level because that says to me that somebody actually gives a damn about people who work their ass off writing godly music rather than just “music that is listenable” or “music you can pretend you’re really enjoying”. I almost cried tears of blood when I saw a Brokencyde video on youtube and didn’t see enough people trash talking them.
The role bad “metal” bands fill still doesn’t give them the right to be respected as actual good music. They won’t disappear if we trash talk them, and we might get people to actually get a taste in music that doesn’t suck. When it comes to good or bad music, there are no opinions. What you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy is your opinion, not what is good or bad music. If I played drums for a band and I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, the guitar dude was trying to play a guitar like bass, and we have a chihuahua doing our lead “screamo” vocals… You can’t honestly tell me that is a good band, even if a 4 year old kids loves it.
What bands/albums got you into metal in the first place?originally it was zeppelin and sabbath(dads addicted to classic rock so i was introduced early) but actual metal metal? system of a down, killswitch engage, slipknot(i still kinda hate myself for buying a shirt), cradle of filth–>children of bodom–> nightwish/arch enemy(i know not the same genre at all but found them about the same time)also lamb of god–>then bands like job for a cowboy and war from a harlots mouth–>black dahlia murder/whitechapel/halftheshitilistentotoday
Do you still put on some of the shit you used to listen to and dig it, or have you burned all your bridges and now only like the stuff you got into once you got older?i still rock out with my cock out to almost every system of a down album on a bi monthly basis at least. but cradle and slipknot and even killswitch? not so much. i still also get my heavy with children of bodom and arch enemy from time to time.
Do you have respect for a band just for getting you interested in metal? i have a lot of respect for killswitch and soad and even a little for slipknot. without slipknot i wouldnt know a lot of the music i do today to be frank…or carl. i respect what they’ve done for metal in the mainstream and their ability to put on one fucking amazing live show(all they’re good for)
i probably should not leave out my brief soiree into black metal with mayhem, burzum, emperor, stuff like that.
i forgot to say this though. what really pushed me into the deeper reaches of extreme metal was actually christian metal haha. i was into the whole jesus scene for a couple years in junior high and again in highschool after a brief break into atheism and eastern religion
bands that got me into the hardest of the hard were bands like
demonhunter
august burns red
becoming the archetype
zao
stuff like that. before that i had barely been able to suffer through screaming vocals let alone gutterals that i worship today.
I would like to point out that the mini-review referred to the album as “hard-rock” and not “metal”.
I think that’s fine. This site constantly covers regular rock, not constantly just metal.
I think this list is just using a loose definition of the term “metal”.
Well, I actually will say I’ve never thought of SOAD as metal..but that’s ok, cause this album is pretty sick regardless…tho I think it pales in comparison to Mesmerize/Hypnotize.
really this album rates higher then Slipknot,lamb of god, Mastodon, hatebreed and machine head… that is disappointing… people really are idiots
proving once again in this Biz, especially in Los Angeles-its not how good you are, its who you blow/know
System of a Clown, sorry, but NO
It’s definitely a metal album, and a kickass album all around. Really glad it’s on the list!!!
Wow, just wow. THIS is the 14th best metal album of the 21st century according to you? What a joke. Sure, it’s a pretty decent album but it’s definitely not one of the best, at all. This band is way too overrated, and this album is even more overrated.
I’d have to agree wholeheartedly with Ziltoid. SOAD are definitely not metal. They’re not nu-metal, though, either. The singer himself, in multiple interviews, has stated that SOAD is pop music. While I can see why some people would love this album, it doesn’t really appeal to me due to the political lyrics. But, to each his own. I just figured I’d help clear up the little “genre dispute” with words from the main man’s own mouth.
While I agree they aren’t metal and I’ve made it clear that numetal is about as legit a genre as monkeynutsdeathbitch, I gotta disagree with listening to what the singer says. Good Charlotte called themselves a punk band…a punk band they are not. Just saying.
It’s sad to see so many closed minds listening to metal, not really a mindset i’d associate with the genre. Good thing Priest and Maiden didn’t chose to start their careers 12 months ago.
Well, you should start associating that mindset with metal, especially if you come to this site. Because the majority of the dickless, brainless wonders are the most closed minded individuals I’ve ever come across.
This is sad, but so true.
Yes, agreed.
I started in ‘88 with Metallica; moved into Pantera, Slayer, Sepultura, Fear Factory; listened to tonnes of different stuff for decades; now into Behemoth, Necrophagist, Nile, Chimaira, as well as tonnes of other shit, and still all the old shit…and also fucking love Toxicity.
So your dead right – way too many close minded people here.
you fuckers all have way too much time on your hands
lots of people sit have jobs sitting in front of computers all day. the lack of sunlight saps the will to do anything besides surf the net.
Still waiting to see my boys Static-X on the list. But in all seriousness, I really dislike SOAD
Holy Shit…. can’t wait to read the comments of the top 5 !!!!!!
This album isn’t bad, there are some great moments musically and some heavy tunes. The first few cuts just kill. … But song slike Chop Suey and Psycho are just pure garbage. Also Serj has one of the worst voices in the history of metal, I seriously do not understand how his bullshit yelping is cool. Not a bad record, but just about every other album on this list (so far) is light years ahead of it.
And no, this band is not metal and should not be considered as such – therefor it shouldn’t even have been considered on this list. Whoever is making this list needs their heads out of their asses.. I’m curious to see what number one will be.
yeah this is a great, heavy record. not ‘metal’ as i see it tho.
it’s an interesting list for sure, but i’d prefer a narrowing of terms; a lot of these are just Loud Rock. that’s fine and all, but again this list is not called 21 Best Albums With Heavy Guitars.
I agree with this selection.
this album came out when I was in 4th or 5th grade and I was obsessed with it, so it is technicly my first metal album. I then got into a classic rock and forgot about metal. Then when i got back into metal in a big way in highschool, i still thought this album kicked ass. thats fucking diversity for ya
Godawful band, godwaful album, godawful taste! Dudes at Guitar Center are stoked though.
Ok, I’m already seeing the ‘tr00 metallers’ coming here to say that ‘blah blah blah it’s not metal’…. and I don’t give any fuck for their opinion. Toxicity was an awesome choice, dudes!
Good choice, this has always been one of my favorites
I do enjoy this album, but I’m not sure it would be on this list.
Tim is a poser. Also.
I enjoyed it when it first came out, however I can’t say I’ve listened to it in at least a half-decade, it’s had no staying power for me.
Gotta admit, I think this album is pretty weak. It’s pretty much THE definition of “pop metal”. Like if someone forced good charlotte or falloutboy to play on downtuned guitars and write rather silly lyrics, this would be the result. Could even be considered a side project more than an actual serious album.
I do like some of the songs, but I thought the self titled was raw, brilliant and original, and with better production would have easily been a landmark. Toxicity totally felt like they jumped on the ‘mass appeal’ bandwagon WAY too fast. And Daron really could have played a bit more away from the first 3 frets of his guitar…
And even though 99 out of 100 people completely disagree with me, I say Steal this Album was FAR better than Toxicity. And everything since has been GARBAGE.
SOAD’s first album is and always will be their best.
yea they self-titled album is GREAT. Toxicity was good (im one of the few who think it or STA may deserve a spot on this list, but i love SOAD so thats why). STA was also really good. Mezmerize and Hypnotize were interesting, to put it nicely.
Steal this album was an amazing b-side, hypnotize sucked, mezmerized owns
Listeing to Forest still gives me goosebumps.
I must admit seeing this on the list surprised me as well, but I am glad it is hear. The joy however has nothing to do with whether or not I necessarily believe it should be hear or not, Instead this just stands as a reminder for the children on hear silly enough to think their trueness actually means something beyond this website that this music is important too.
SOAD is one of the few nu-metal bands I don’t mind. They have a lot of talent. But Serj is fucking annoying solo
I actually don’t mind Serj’s solo stuff. Empty Walls and Unthinking Majority are damn catchy. Plus his solo album is loads better than Scars on Broadway
I liked Serj’s solo stuff, but it’s basically… SOAD with more piano.
SOAD is the best of the “mainstream” metal
I’m gonna say this is the 2nd (after remission) album that actually should be on here
I’m hoping the top 10 will have some more lamb of god and mastodon + tool, pantera, opeth, children of bodom, black label society maybe?, i know im forgeting something big
dream theater should be in there, nile too (i dont like them that much but they are quite metal). considering slipknots 2nd worst album is already in there i wont be surprised to see, Iowa. i bet trivium and disturbed might pop in, which is alright. But ill be really pissed if dragonforce is in this list.
Pig destroyer, damn thats what i forgot. wow ive replied to myself twice now
If Annihilation Of The Wicked doesn’t make it onto this list, I will be seriously disappointed.
Mastodon – definately
Lamb of God – not exactly my cup of tea, some of their stuff is interesting, I’ll say they deserve another spot
Tool – same as LoG
Pantera – loved CFH, VDoP, etc. but I don’t think RtS was really anything new that needs to be in the top for the 2000s
Opeth – same as LoG + Tool
CoB – liked follow the reaper, thought it should have been in the 21 – 16 range, but after seeing SOAD this high I’ll accept it
Black Label Society – Zakk Wylde’s a good guitarist, but fuck no
Mastodon and Opeth? Ok. The rest? Not at all. And Zakk Wlde is a fucking awful guitarist. He has a pinch harmonic addiction and can’t write any decent solos.
Zakk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg9iBK0Hu6U
He arrogantly mutates the song. Truly a crime against humanity.
Are you fucking kidding me? Im not a huge fan or anything, but Zakk is an amazing BLUES soloist. If you don’t realize that than you may as well commit the final act.
so far you guys are only two for seven on this list (mastodon and lamb of god)… i don’t know that i would’ve called any of the other albums (minus “the blackening”) the top 20 lists of their respective years, let alone of the decade. too bad this isn’t baseball, where a .285 average is respectable.
sorry… two for eight. you’re batting .250
ziltoid is a meat head fuck face
Am I supposed to be offended, or should I pity you for coming up with an insult that a third grader could make up.
Never mind, I see your blog is named “Far Beyond Driven.” You’re a Pantera fan. That explains the stupidity.
I really, really hope “Alien” makes this list, so I can be a condescending prick to you and explain why it isn’t “tr00 enough” and doesn’t deserve to be there. And I’ll do it, even if I think it *should* be there, because I’m sick of your elitist shithead attitude and you need to know you’re not better than everyone else because you like prog metal.
You want to have Devin Townshend’s babies. We fucking get it. Do you really have to comb through every word of these comments, and spew off your little diatribes as though your infinite wisdom is the only reason people are visiting this site? Do you really have such little else to do?
Rather than brush off the above insult, you visit his blog and take a dig at him for liking Pantera, a band you yourself admitted to still enjoying from time to time. By the way, what was the incorrigible act that made you fall out with them? Pro Tools?
I hope that I’ve used enough big words to validate my comment as being of a suitable intelligence level. And I apologize that I don’t have a blog that you can peruse whilst red faced and looking for retribution.
Go ahead and try to argue against Alien if you want. I don’t really care. It’s still a great album that certainly more deserving than anything else on this list so far.
And I like my diatribes. If I’m bored (as I’ve been lately), I’ll post as much as I want.
I admitted to liking Pantera in the past, but I never said I enjoyed them any more. If you go back and read what I said, I said that I don’t like/respect them anymore because I’ve realized how awful their music is. I hate their crap because their music is pseudo-tough guy, bro-magnon, oversimplified chugging, “RE SPEK WOK” filled, tripe that killed thrash. Also, the simplification that Pantera did basically led the way towards nu-metal.
you keep proving my point and i’m sure everyone agrees with me
To make a point, you tend to actually need an argument. You called me a name. By your standards, name calling is the equivalent of a substantiated argument. Ugh…
It sure does. I will team up with you to take these foo’ s down!
lol
I really didn’t like this album. It sold a ton of units but do people really still listen to this? I liked their first one quite a bit, it was quirky, catchy, and heavy but Toxicity lost a lot of the thoughtful songwriting the first one had. Instead of being quirky it’s just kinda annoying. I’m not pretending to throw out any facts to be argued, this is just my opinion.
I think it would be more productive to produce a list of albums that typify the best of a particular sub-genre of metal (while still having space on the list for a few of the odd-ball standout albums that don’t typify anything except kick-ass originality). This would stimulate a more “nuts-and-bolts” discussion that readers could actually gain something from instead of just arguing over the opinions of a select few label goons and musicians.
I don’t think the list is that bad so far…and this album definitely deserves to be on some list…
I actually enjoy(ed) all of these albums apart from #15 simply because I am not really a fan of black metal…
..and finally, I also revere Lamb Of God’s & Mastodon’s recent works more than the ones on this list, although I must say that Remission is a flawless piece of music to me…it’s just the natural progression that most bands have to go through, then suffer being called sell outs .. it’s a shame .. because everything must forward and prevail or die .. not to get off the main topic … but I think SOAD are too critic-friendly, some good songs here and there…they got lucky with this one [there I said it].
KUDOS TO ALL @ METALSUCKS FOR THIS LIST:
HATE IT OR LOVE IT…. ALL MUST AGREE IT IS GREAT MARKETING!
To all the haters at there, shut the fuck up, if you dont like the choice make you own site and make your own list. I was in 6th grade when this came out and was blown away when i heard it cause i had never heard anything like it. Like the subliminal versus this was a gateway band for thousands of people, i cant say that i like soad new stuff but this album is one that i will always hold in high regard by what it accomplished.
I love how every entry begins with “We recently polled a wide array of musicians, managers, publicists, label reps, and writers from within the world of metal…” as if the folks behind this site are trying to displace the blame for the sheer incredulity of this list so far. Hopefully this is all one big joke, or one big, awful Lynch-esque dream sequence that we’ll all wake up from soon.
I had forgotten about this album but every track on it is solid.
This is the last straw.
Jesus Christ monkey-balls… That’s a lot of pissed off posters.
I really liked this CD and their self-titled debut.
But then I heard “Chop Suey!” and “Toxicity” a million times on the radio.
I’m not saying that it sucks just because it’s mainstream and got airplay. I am saying that it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.
Proof-positive that Clear Channel is the worst thing EVER to happen to music.
I agree….radio play doesn’t help. It just makes me hate songs.
You couldn’t be more right about Clear Channel! Think of all the great music that those assholes will never play. I’m not even talking about the twisted underground stuff that a lot of us dig. Think of bands like Porcupine Tree or The Devin Townsend Band. They could very easily fit in with a typical rock format station but those pay-to-play fucks won’t touch anything on an Indie label these days.
These bands have their loyal following but could be absolutely huge if enough people heard them and the radio is the only place that is really going to happen. The internet is great but I think those people that really use it as a tool of discovery (when it comes to music) are still in the minority. Most people either don’t have the time or the know-how to find music they like by digging through random myspace or reocrd label pages. The radio is easy, you don’t have to think about, you just turn it on and listen. And for the most part what you listen to is crap because people don’t know any better.
In all the back and forth about downloading thieves and money hungry labels I think Clear Channel is the real villain here. Or rather, radio market deregulation. Of course now with craigslist siphoning off ad revenue from newspapers it may have had the same effect on locally owned and controlled radio stations if there were any still around. So, whatever. Rant over…
This album is the shit. I dont care what any of yall thinks. If you dont like this album odds are you do not really like music…you just like loud shit that makes you feel like you arent the little scrawny piece of shit that you are because your music makes you threatening to the elderly.
i love this list for the endless entertainment it has provided us all
i seriously doubt that axl and vince would waste their sweet time reading this giant array of false internet badassness.
but you have to think of SOAD in a good way; they made it onto the radio and gave people heavier music that made them want to explore the vast underground of metal and find greater more symbolic music. if it weren’t for SOAD id probably be listening to hannah montana and not trying to listen to better music unlike my gay cousin.
You all have proven to me that music fans, who I once thought were different and better, are exactly like the rest of the world. You are all self-righteous, hipster elitist.
I like everything from Paramore all the way to Gojira. If it is good, listen to it.
If you say you hate a certain type of genre you are cheating yourself out of a good listen.
Stop being close minded and stop thinking that your opinion is the right one.
This album IMO is great. Is it metal? Well…even if it’s catchy/pop-metal, it still have the word metal in it.
If you want to call is nu-metal…still have metal in it. Either way it’s a good album written by dudes who do love music and by four dudes who are very creative.
lol this CD is obviously metal and its a good CD plain and simple.
just because a CD isn’t br00tal doesn’t mean it’s not metal.
funny how people get so fucking butt hurt I LOVEIT!!
makes for some good laughs.
Errr…NO.
BLACK SABBATH FOREVER!!!
*runs*
first album on the list that is also one of my personal favorites. one of my favorite bands and my gateway into the world of metal. anyone who doesn’t think this is metal is crazy. anyone who thinks this is nu-metal is crazy.
People are going to be really angry when Staind takes the #1 spot.
Staind are hard rock.. no-where near as heavy as SOAD.. who are metal.
I listened to the shit out of this album when it came out, before I got into metal. It was my favorite album for a good long time…..but jesus christ. This is supposed to be a list of metal albums not “heavier rock that might have been gateway music to metal”
Oh but they have riffs so they are metal! Blues has riffs(Blues are awesome btw) so they must me metal, too! This list makes me pretty much sad all around.
Nu-Metal is about as metal as Pop-Punk is punk.
Oh, and I think I’m gonna make my vote for #1 a Nightwish album…that would be hilarious.
Finally! Another person with common sense posts here! I can’t believe so many idiots think that nu-metal is actually metal.
You’re such a fucking retard it’s not even funny. How about you pull your head out of your ass(along with about a dozen other objects that I’d assume are up there) and realize that your musical taste is not the be all and end all you egotistical piece of shit. Talk about common sense… you have none. How about you just go eat buckshot… I’ve heard it tastes like gummy bears.
Oh, and I’m going to crack up when there’s less people bitching about Tool being on this list than SOAD. I love Tool but they’re the perfect example of how full of shit most of you are when it comes to how you try to make yourselves sound all bad ass with the br00tal music you listen to(when in reality you really just show how closed minded you are). Tool ARE nu metal. They’re from the period and they have a shit ton more in common with nu metal bands(Deftones, for example) than something like Slipknot, for example, ever has.
Patrick, you hit the nail on the head. I’d like to buy you a beer my friend.
To be fair, Tool started in 1992, so they’re grunge poseurs :)
That was a joke, although I would respectfully disagree with the nu-metal comparison, and liken them more to some of the darker grunge/hard rock of the day, like a darker Soundgarden or Alice in Chains. At least their early stuff.
Oh no, you called me a retard! And you made jokes about objects being in my ass? Talk about juvenile…
Well, at least a Tool argument might be a bit more interesting. I don’t like them at all, and they’re not metal, but I can see them being on this list based on what we’ve seen so far.
Some of the wisest word on this blog so far. Nicely done Ben.
*words* (I rep. for grammar)
who the fuck likes tool?
Your mom likes tool…
(Sorry… I had to make that joke.)
This album isn’t metal because it has riffs. It’s metal because it has metal riffs.
Blues riffs = more metal than SoaD riffs
most metal music stems from blues scales and musical arrangements.
Who gives a shit if it’s hard rock, metal, nu-metal, blah blah blah. It’s a melter, and that’s all that matters.
you’re on a metal blog. dumbass. twitter is for fags.
Hey metalsucks dudes…….. for every album on this list you guys should keep a running tally of for and against…..i’ll bet its close to 50/50
Easily the most comments on any MetalSucks post since I started visiting the site. Although, I’m pretty sure this is only warm-up compared to what we’ll see as the list draws down.
can’t wait for death magnetic
Ironically enough, I just put this one in my CD player for the first time in years today, and spent an hour driving around blaring it, singing every word. It definitely brought back memories, and I definitely love this fucking album. Absolute classic, scenesters who won’t give this band/album a chance because listening to music that’s played on the radio will hurt their kvlt status are missing out. Good music is good music, I don’t care who listens to it.
St. Anger is probably up next on the list.
All the angry readers are forgetting that this is a list of 21st century biggest albums, (of the metal masses)…
they are mostly annoying/embarrassing albums, but they are on the right track.
i hate this album now, but i used to like it.
nachtisinmtyim or however the fuck you spell it… i completely disagree with, thats just shit. haha
It looks like it’s only asking for the 21 best metal albums. Nothing more. It’s failing miserably.
Look at the albums’ overall impact and popularity instead of whining that your personal favorites haven’t made it yet and I think you’ll all realize this list has been pretty dead-on.
You know what’s metal, Ziltoid?
Jazz
Yes, jazz is quite great, either on its own, or fused with metal.
No no, though, seriously. It is.
They rape the tritone just as much.
You were talking about the structure of metal. So I was just saying.
I think that this actually kinda deserves it, i mean ok i cant say ive found myself listening to it properly in the last few years but a while back i used to love it. Plus i still think these guys give one of the best performences you’re gonna see in mainstream metal.
Unless you really are a baby eating, devil worshipping, panda faced, monkey brained, screeching banshee from Norway – then stop fucking whinging.
This album was huge at the time, and entry level material for many I’m sure. At the time, I remember being just as snooty about the whole nu-metal thing as the next self respecting metal head, but actually I liked this album. The same as the other stuff on this list – its not “the most fucking obscure shit ever” – that’s a list for actual hipsters (there’s that word again). I think that, whilst not all of these records are in my personal list, so far this is a generous spirited look at the decade, and celebrates the achievements of metal in general.
And if you really are a baby eating, devil worshipping, panda faced, monkey brained, screeching banshee from Norway – then fuck you anyway… wierdo.
Totally concur! This band turned me from the hip-hop only poser I used to be, to the present day long-haired headbanging listener to many genres of music who puts metal at number 1 for freeing my musical soul! Toxicity is so heavy I’m sure a world record would be broken if someone could bench press it! I hope I like enough obscure bands like The Catalan Garrote and Outcast to keep the cool kids away, while I just sit here and watch one of the best ALBUMS of all time get bashed…once again…by cool people.
I don’t have to be a baby eating, devil worshipping, panda faced, monkey brained, screeching banshee from Norway to know that this is not a list for “hard rock that got people into metal.” That’s what SOAD is.
if they ever made a poll of ‘people you would be most likely to punch in real life based on their idiotic writings on metalsucks’ itd be Ziltoid
everyone agree hes a nob?
I think the drawback to punching him would be that he’d argue with you that you didn’t actually punch him. And while he couldn’t actually define what a ‘true’ punch is, he’d refer you to some unknown monostary on some uncharted island in southeast asia where a cloister of 8 monks live that have developed the proper technique for hitting someone in the face. Only then if you studied under them could you deliver a true punch, otherwise you’re just flailing your arms around.
I actually find that mildly funny. Nicely written.
Yes. Could I please buy a ticket to the “Punch Ziltoid in the face” interactive gameshow?
Yes, he is a festering bell-end, and no body likes him.
Thankyou…
This album requires no mention whatsoever. Horrible. Dam.
All I have to say in general is when this album came out I thought it was really cool and every now and then I listen to it again and it’s still cool. I saw them not long after this album came out at Ozzfest and up until that point it was one of the best sets I’d seen (still is to an extent). If this album being on the list actually pisses people off…if a metal-blog’s opinion on albums on the fucking INTERNET pisses you off…then you really aren’t much more than an elitist shitstain who needs to get a life or at least a job.
Shut up fag. I have a good job. Suck my left nut.SOAD sucks it.
I think Nothingface’s ‘Skeletons’ fits this spot better.
Nothingface’s ‘Skeletons’ would’ve been a much better choice. They better have some fuckin Crowbar on this list!! Oh, and that Hatebreed album sucks donkeys for quarters.
absolutely awesome album,
whenever my dad talks about “driving music” from when he was in his twenties, he always refers to some awesome classic zeppelin, or floyd or something…. when I tell my kids what I listened to while driving in the car when I was a young shitdisturber, this album is the FIRST thing that comes to mind. It is just a fucking amazing album that came out at a time when mainstream “metal” was not looking to good for me. I can’t agree more with this album being on this list…
I like it… I’d probably have picked their first CD, but this is a decent showing for a killer band.
Great album.
Seeing all the children arguing over this is why we have so many fucking ridiculous sub-genre’s of metal. I can’t even keep up with all the labels anymore. Everybody is so damned tribalistic about what they like..if it doesn’t fall under a specific category they automatically reject it.
I love metal but goddamn metal fans are the biggest bunch of whining pussies I’ve ever been around. Seriously. So busy trying to conform to a mold of what you THINK metal should be..fucking lemmings.
Shut up. Your the kid. You listen to nu metal and core. Learn something about metal before posting. Die.
You are trying too hard internet tough guy
Trying too hard to what?
that was addressed to ‘ihateyou’, I agree with your post
You are trying too hard by saying that II’m trying too hard. Anyone who like SOAD is gay. Period. Deal with it.
lol, that’s all you can come up with? thanks for proving my point
And let the metal pissing contest begin, lol! I know plenty about metal..been up to my neck in it since 1985. I also know douchebags when I see them and many metal fans are close-minded douchebags of a caliber I don’t come across elsewhere. It’s one thing to be passionate about what you love, but it’s quite another to condemn everything outside of your own narrow field of vision.
knowing what you like doesn’t make you close minded. i listen to tons and tons of music from a thousand different genres, but i don’t have to like system of a down. people talking shit about soad have perfectly valid reasons for not liking them that has nothing to do with image. like the fact that they blow balls. don’t be thin skinned pussies.
agreed.
fucking lemming = ziltoid
DON’T BE A ZILTOID!
It’s good to be “a Ziltoid.” That means that you’re intelligent and know what you’re talking about.
It’s not hard at all to keep up with the metal subgenres. Does Electric Wizard sound anything like Kamelot? Mayhem like Iron Maiden? Morbid Angel like Korpiklaani? Fuck no. Not at all.
‘Ihateyou’ is trying very hard to win the Douchebag of the Week award.
Sin and Death is trying to win the ‘loosest anus’ award of the millennium.
57 voters, top spot gets 21 points. These guys got 124 out of a possible 1200 or so? I’m holding out that later in the list we will see some legitimate metal albums (sans the blackening)
It’s a list of metal albums.
It’s not Schindler’s List.
So the albums/groups that doesn’t make the list will not be sent to the gaschamber (I’m not joking about the Holocaust, just a metaphor – sorry if I offended someone). Instead they will probably be featured on some other list on another blog.
Don’t cry fanboys – everything is gonna be alright.
Ps. Toxicity is a good metal (yes I said it) album.
saying it doesn’t make you right.
No it is not metal. And if you all don’t start agreeing with me soon, I’m going to type something so unbelievably METAL that you are all gonna, like, simultaneously pee your pants.
GRRRRR!!!
wow over 300 comments. wonder what happens when The Sickness ends up in the top 5…
whats next, st anger?
WORST FUCKING LIST EVER
Ok. Imma make this short and sweet: System of a Down is better than any other band. EVER. They are unique and WAYYY beyond their time.
This list, so far is total fail. Complete utter failure. I now am certain that the number one album will be by IWrestledABearOnce. Go ahead admit it. Just get there already.
here’s some more bitching: Toxicity should have been top 5 in my opinion…
What the fuck is metal?!
I think it fits where it is. And just because a band is mainstream and popular doesn’t mean it isn’t metal anymore. This album definitely opened some new doors for me, and I have some great memories tied to it, as do many others. Reading the comments up until here has been pretty entertaining though, so please, keep going :-)
Number 1 will be Linkin Park – Meteora.
Naw man, Minutes to Midnight of course!
Are you two Joking?!
Its got to be Reanimation for sure…
SHHHHHHH Listen everyone….. something positive………..wait for it…..
Nice Pick.
+1
I like it too. SOAD are an amazing band and deserve to be in this list especially with Toxicity.
This is actually my least favourite SOAD album. I don’t really mind it being on the list though…
Also, people need to realise that “best albums”, doesn’t always mean “technically best” or “band’s most diverse work”. It also means “groundbreaking”, or “influential” as well. For example, my brother (who is 10 years younger than me) will come up to me all the time and whine that he doesn’t understand why all these old timers like Hendrix or Clapton or Santana are considered by many to be the “best” guitarists ever, when John Petrucci, for example, can play like 1 billion notes per second or what have you. And I always tell him the same thing…it isn’t always the pure skill or speed or technique…the impact and originality of the music plays a huge role too. I feel that this list is more of a reflection of the latter. And I’m not trying to compare them to Hendrix by any means, but System of a Down, whether you like it or not, made an appealing and original metal album. Sorry for the double post.
If they wanted a list of influential albums, why not call it that? This is asking for the best metal albums, and it’s failing at both “best” and “metal.” Just because music was influential doesn’t mean it’s good. To be influential to a large amount of people, you must be popular. Compare a band like Slauter Xstroyes to Judas Priest. Both recorded material in the 80s. SX’s material is much better than anything JP did in the 80s, but JP is much more influential and popular. I like JP quite a bit, but there are better bands out there.
But when looking for the best music, we must take it out of the context of it’s time period and just compare the music itself. And if you think that means that a “best of” list will only have new albums, since they’re supposedly an evolution of the old stuff, then you would be wrong. Since this is a best of the 21st century, I have no clue how any of these albums could have been influential yet, since they;ve been around for a relatively short time.
So you are telling me that nothing in the last nine years could possibly sound new? I am influenced by music that I listen to on a day to day basis….it doesn’t have to be old to be influential, or to sound fresh or interesting. Beyond that, commercial success will definitely help bands get into lists like these…go figure. I agree that the music must also be considered to be in a list like this, but influence/impact/sales go a long way to demonstrate that point as well.
SOAD is not metal. They are alternative. Political alternative. That is all.
You know what? Metal sucks.
I like SOAD.
You are gay to the tenth power.
my vagina hurts
That is what happens when you have sex with jungle bunnies.
I give up on this list
Well, this list is definitely serving its purpose of sparking debate… I just wish that there weren’t so many idiots posting “Ur gay” and the like instead of structured, reasonably intelligent arguments.
For example, Ziltoid, although I fully disagree with him on this, has at least shown that he has an IQ higher than that of a pineapple by backing up his arguments with intelligent debate. (He’s also obviously a big Devin Townsend fan, which tells me has some decent taste at least and earns him brownie points, but that’s another debate.) It’s a pity more posters can’t follow his lead, because the stereotype of metalheads being mouth-breathing idiots is unfortunately backed up by a decent number of posters here. (There have been others posting intelligent stuff, but he’s the one that stands out to me. Don’t be insulted if I didn’t mention you.)
As for Ziltoid, I hope that a Devin Townsend album makes this list, even though I’m sure you’ll find yourself on the other side of the debate. Personally, I think that if anything ends up on this list, it’ll be The New Black rather than Alien (seeing as TNB is probably SYL’s most accessible work), and I’d be fine with that, because TNB is the album that grabbed me the most out of all of SYL’s stuff and actually led to me listening to the other stuff more. Should be interesting.
By the sounds of it, you are one of those basement-dwelling metal geeks. I bet you listen to dragonforce and masturbate to your mothers undergarments. Seriously, you must have no life. SYL sucks and Devin Townsend is a skullet-rockin goof.
Thank you for providing a great example of the opposite end of the spectrum.
By the ‘other end of the spectrum’, do you mean people who have real lives and get laid? Pussy.
I mean mouth-breathing idiots… although I suppose you’re actually more of a troll, considering you’re following the Internet Troll Playbook page for page.
Accusing others of being basement-dwellers? Check.
Accusing others of having no life? Check.
Claiming to have a life? Check.
Claiming to get laid? Check.
Let me guess… I’m also a faggot, right? And you’re a chick magnet who only posts insults on here in the brief breaks you have between fucking assorted chicks? Gotcha, loud and clear.
I guess I could be considered a troll by some peoples standards but once again THAT IS WHAT THESE FUCKING BLOGS ARE FOR!!!!!!!!! I never said you were a faggot. I am not a chick magnet, I am in a long term relationship with a woman you could never even dream of being with. And by the way, THIS IS THE INTERNET. If I saw you in real life your fucking teeth would be on the pit floor. Where are you located so I can make that a reality for you?
Claims of being with a hot chick? Check.
Claims of kicking my ass if you ever met me in real life? Check.
Page by page.
You crack me up. But seriously, are you located in Canada by any chance?
Yeah, I live in a cabin in the woods surrounded by moose. WTF?
Glad to see that someone here who disagrees with me is also intelligent. As for which Devy albums I’d want on the list, I’d be happy with Accelerated Evolution (contrary to my name, it’s my favorite post-2000 solo album) and/or Alien/The New Black. Even though it’s certainly more accessible, I really like TNB (although I prefer Alien obviously). It’s a great album that’s still better than this entire list.
But I do agree about the intelligence of people here. I do wis hthat more people learned how to say things other than “ur gay lol,” “u suck,” “no way fag,” and other similar insults. It certainly makes the stereotype seem true.
Hey ziltoid. Devin Townsend sucks. SYL sucks. They are the most unoriginal, annoying band ever.
Are you still here? Thanks for the contribution.
Ya im just fuckin around anyway bro. This is going on for way too long as it is.
Hey grover. I live in Canada. It is the best country in the world. I assume you are an arrogant American piece of shit like most people on here. Fucking yank. FUCK THE U.S.A. Yes, I said it.
Oh, you mean you’re from that big state up north?
Dude, seriously, you need to relax, unclench your anus, and take a break. You’re gonna blow out your o-ring at this rate.
I think it’s a good album. Maybe not one of the best since 2000 but still really good. Howgh!
You think wrong.
this “best-of” list is SO working for MetalSucks…just look at the amount of comments on each post. congrats guys!
This album is great.
There was a time i did listen to Mudvayne and SOAD alot. But I nearly don’t touch their stuff nowadays.
Anyway, love the list…hopefully it will cover all types of metal. :)
I wouldn’t put this on any metal list, though it definitely reassures me this list will be ever so hip and irreverent, staying true to trends.
I guess I can’t complain, the majority of lists are either trendy crap like this or nostalgic crap like 100% of VH1 or Rolling Stone, in both cases the alternative sucks.
Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music[1] that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States.[2] With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo.[3]
Early heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, though they were often critically reviled, a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the genre’s evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal had attracted a worldwide following of fans known as “metalheads” or “headbangers”.
In the 1980s, glam metal became a major commercial force with groups like Mötley Crüe. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, while other styles like death metal and black metal remain subcultural phenomena. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles such as nu metal, which often incorporates elements of funk and hip hop; and metalcore, which blends extreme metal with hardcore punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre.
Nice copypasta haha
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a cross-genre term used to describe heavy metal bands with a pronounced experimental edge. Bands often use typical heavy metal instruments, but include unconventional lyrics, odd time signatures and unusual technique. In many instances it is described as a fusion of metal and alternative rock, and distinguished from nu metal by its lack of hip-hop influence. Examples include Deftones, Tool and System of a Down.
An btw all these bands you keep reffering to as troo- metal bands are not actually Troo- metal bands they are part of sub genre’s or cross genre’s metal is just a huge umbrella to describe many different genres here’s your definition of metal !!
Extreme metal
Main article: Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a cross-genre term used to describe heavy metal that is considerably heavier, faster, more aggressive and more abrasive. For example; vocalists may often use death growls or high-pitched shrieks and more obscene lyrics, drummers may often use blast beats, and the band’s appearance may be intended to shock. Bands of this grouping are typically of the black metal, death metal, doom metal and thrash metal genres.
look i can do it too
I. Noobish
Often, but not always, noobs will attempt to communicate in their own primitive language, known as “n00bish.” It is a variant of the hacker language that exposes them as having little intelligence or will to learn. Here is an example of some noobish. Do not attempt to comprehend it: it cannot be discerned without professionals at hand.
stFU /../..an, i r teh r0xx0rz liek emin3m, u cna go tO EHLL OR ATLE4St help m3 wit hthIS!!111!!!!!!!1~~1!!“!! LOLLOLOLLOLOLlOoLLOlollLLl u n00b
This may have been said already but I’m hoping that this so called “Best” list starts showcasing something “good” at some point soon. Hopefully, they contributors got all of the bullshit out of the way first.
Is this the top rock/opera list? Even so why do these clowns make the cut?
i dont care what any of u other ppl think. I LOVE system of a down. they are so far beyond their time and they are so unique. thats why stupid ppl hate them, SOAD is different.
i could spend so much time saying how this is a perfect album for this list, from an amazing band, but i will only say this:
if you dont like SOAD, you dont truly get music..
okay SOAD is my favourite band, but this is my least favourite album by them. Dont get me wrong, its still great, just not my fav. To all you people who say SOAD is a nu-metal band, youre most likely getting your opinions from hearing maybe 2 or 3 songs like Chop Suey, Toxicity, etc. I agree these arent theyre shining moments. But go listen to their debut album. You listen to Suite Pee and Mind and then you tell me SOAD isnt metal. And they definately arent nu-metal. Theyre not trying to rap over boring riffs and turntables. Im pretty pissed that one of the most overrated bands in history made it on this list (Slipknot). Dont ever compare SOAD to shit like this or Limp Biscuit.
This band sucks so bad… they aren’t even from Japan XD
Any Metal that doesn’t come out of Japan is garbage. Pretty much everything that doesent come from Japan is.
lordy lordy i done spotted me a troll..
God Forbid you haters listen to a Band with a singer who can actually (GASP) SING! It’s much more enjoyable then a Band who’s lead singer is constantly Shouting inaudible nonsense, Don’t get me Wrong, I like a good Mosh Pit but fuckin A if I can’t understand wtf it is your singing your whole album fuck off.