LogFAQs > #979562390

Black Sabbath: Paranoid

^I have a very, very hard time choosing between the first three Black Sabbath albums as to which is their overall best (I have Vol. 4 as #6, the fifth and sixth albums in either order as #5 and #4, and then the first three duking it out for the top three spots), but there is no denying that Paranoid is the bands signature album with their most well-known songs like War Pigs (my favorite), Iron Man, and the title track. The quality does not stop there, the deeper cuts are excellent (Hand of Doom, for example). Its just a terrific album.

Judas Priest: British Steel

^A Judas Priest album needs to be here, and, while there are definitely better albums (Painkiller comes to mind, or my personal favorite of theirs, Stained Class), British Steel must be their most commercially accepted album. And even if I dont believe this is their best, its still pretty damn good. Obviously Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight are two of their most famous songs, and youve got great others like Metal Gods and The Rage. I dont really care for United, but thats a big concert hit.

Metallica: Master of Puppets

^It has to be either Master of Puppets or the Black Album (although if I were picking a personal favorite, it would be a hard call between Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning). While the latter is the bigger commercial success with songs like Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, and The Unforgiven (and I think there are some great, lesser-known songs on the album as well), I really think that Master of Puppets has to be acknowledged for being the more metal of the two. The title track is killer (those of you saying you dont know much about metal may recall hearing it in the movie Old School), and you have another very well known song of theirs in Welcome Home (Sanitarium) which is terrific. Im going to stand up for some lesser-known songs here as well: the instrumental Orion is one of my favorite overall Metallica cuts, and so is Damage, Inc. I also love Leper Messiah.

Candlemass: Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

^Ill readily admit that the objective answer for the fourth kind of has to be Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, but I honestly never got into Iron Maiden when I tried listening to their stuff in the past. Which is kind of a sacrilegious thing to say when it comes to metal, but whatever. So instead Ill use my last slot to highlight perhaps the most classic doom metal album. Six amazing songs, with the opener Solitude probably being the most well-known (I love how both Black Sabbath and Candlemass have songs titled Solitude). My favorite is probably a toss up between Black Stone Wielder and A Sorcerers Pledge. The former is sort of one of these build up songs and when they finally let loose and kick it into high gear toward the end is just amazing. The latter makes excellent use of some female vocalizing to help emphasize parts of the story being told in the lyrics as well as some almost death metal growling the first time that Johan Langqvist gets to the when the sorcerer will rise! lyric. The second time he comes to that lyric, he goes for a more operatic scream and the contrast of just the different deliveries of that specific line is one of my favorite things going on. As for the aforementioned story being told in the lyrics, its appropriately fascinating and creepy.